Rock Werchter 2023

[Archi]

The newsletter only says Arctic Monkeys is an headliner and will play on the Main Stage. They didn't mention they'll close the festival. Fingers crossed we'll have a great co-headline! A bit like Imagine Dragons + Twenty One Pilots this year.

[Aech2ElectricBoogaloo]

3 hours ago, VCF said:

Stromae / Kendrick Lamar 

Taylor Swift or Dua Lipa / Florence and the Machine 

Muse / QOTSA

Blur / Arctic Monkeys

I could do with that.

I wouldn't bother with that personally might be pinkpop and glasto for me this year. Can't stand Taylor Swift ever since she did the whole get "fan" points by tweeting her, buying her new album etc to increase your chance of being able to pay her $500 to sit in nosebleeds, only had to buy 13 albums to guarantee a ticket! Get Lizzo back to play before Harry Styles on the Friday if they wanna go pop next year. 

[polnico]

40 minutes ago, Scarnic said:

RATM have called off their gigs up to 2 April 23.  I'm sure they want to get back on the road so no reason why Zack shouldn't be fully fit to start again. 

The main problem with RATM is uncertainty. It seems like they're not certain when they'll tour again, so I am not sure RW can gamble on that (I don't actually think the band would "advertise" themselves as available for a festival tour). I hope I am wrong though..

[BenG92]

2 hours ago, Scarnic said:

RATM have called off their gigs up to 2 April 23.  I'm sure they want to get back on the road so no reason why Zack shouldn't be fully fit to start again. 

Mate, he's cancelled everything to let a torn Achilles tendon repair. They won't be playing at all next year. Maybe at the back end at a push, but certainly not June.

[BenG92]

2 hours ago, Aech2ElectricBoogaloo said:

I wouldn't bother with that personally might be pinkpop and glasto for me this year. Can't stand Taylor Swift ever since she did the whole get "fan" points by tweeting her, buying her new album etc to increase your chance of being able to pay her $500 to sit in nosebleeds, only had to buy 13 albums to guarantee a ticket! Get Lizzo back to play before Harry Styles on the Friday if they wanna go pop next year. 

Swift will probably be Glasto too though, although at least you have 500 other options there

[thewayiam]

5 hours ago, VCF said:

Stromae / Kendrick Lamar 

Taylor Swift or Dua Lipa / Florence and the Machine 

Muse / QOTSA

Blur / Arctic Monkeys

I could do with that.

That would be one an overall top set I wouldn't go for.

[arcuse]

8 hours ago, Emile Jol said:

Thursday:

Stromae

Kendick Lamar

Editors

The 1975

Foals

 

Barn

The Smile

Liam Gallagher

 

Vrijdag:

Rage Against The Machine 

System Of A Down

Faith No More

Greta Van Fleet

Machine Gun Kelly

 

Barn

Nine Inch Nails

Stone Temple Pilots

 

Zaterdag:

The Chemical Brothers

Muse

Queens Of The Stone Age

Royal Blood

dEUS

Selah Sue

 

Barn

Portishead

PJ Harvey

 

 

Zondag:

Blur

Arctic Monkeys

The Black Keys

LIVE

Stereophonics 

 

Barn

Pulp

Sam Fender 

 

 

 

something like this?

No. To stacked.

[VolkIreland]

On 10/7/2022 at 4:38 PM, VolkIreland said:

If I have to go through another AM close I'm gonna drink myself into an early grave.

 

However the rest I'd be totally on board for***

I guess I'll be drinking myself into an early grave so. FFS. 🤮

[49Lawson]

And there’s the Muse confirmation. There’s the ones we knew out of the way, now the real fun can begin…

[polnico]

1 hour ago, 49Lawson said:

And there’s the Muse confirmation. There’s the ones we knew out of the way, now the real fun can begin…

Indeed, this is only getting exciting ! I am hoping for :

1) A big "poppier" co-head for Thursday (Dua Lipa, Kendrick, Billie Eilish...)

2) A nice combi on the Friday: I'd love a Blur / The Strokes combo

3) A bigger sub than 2019 for Muse, the Greta experiment didn't work so well as the day didn't sold out in the end. Maybe Placebo or QOTSA ?

4) A nice closing name to play after the Monkeys in the dark. My dream: Tame Impala.

 

Edited October 21, 2022 by polnico

[Archi]

1. As Stromae is obviously big in Belgium, I can't see him co-headline with such a big act...
2. I'd prefer to see someone like Billie Eilish headline that day. With strong/young undercards.
3. The best name would he Queens Of The Stone Age as co-headline I think.
4. A co-headline Blur/Arctic Monkeys would be great on this one as AM is not mentioned as closing act.

[polnico]

10 minutes ago, Archi said:

1. As Stromae is obviously big in Belgium, I can't see him co-headline with such a big act...
2. I'd prefer to see someone like Billie Eilish headline that day. With strong/young undercards.
3. The best name would he Queens Of The Stone Age as co-headline I think.
4. A co-headline Blur/Arctic Monkeys would be great on this one as AM is not mentioned as closing act.

I am not sure about 1.  My group of friends which went last year and are planning to come back next year and are not huge festival/music heads, all expect another very big name with him. (Important to say we're all from french speaking part of Belgium).

We all love him, but compared to other "regular" Werchter heads, he feels too small to be the "biggest" name on the day. Again, I think he could do it, but not sure whether this will work out for Werchter to have him + a smaller name, especially since it'll already be quite deep in his tour.

[Floyd_Ams]

1. If that would be the case (poppier co-head or sub) I am hoping for strong Barn and KlubC heads of different style. The Smile in the Barn and Chase & Status in KlubC would do the trick for me. I'd actually expect someone like Gorillaz (not necessarily them) on the main before Stromae closes the day.

2. Blur/The Strokes would be a nice combo indeed. Although we miss a "heavier" headliner this year for variety (e.g. SOAD).

3. QOTSA would be the best choice indeed. And maybe Foals and Rival Sons before them.

4. I'd like to see Tame Impala on the poster (and probably we will) but not after a "low-energy" act like AM 😴. Either close the festival with a big party (The Prodigy, Chemical Brothers, etc.) or put a strong head in the Barn. And then people will exit gradually and avoid a congestion at the doors 😉

[VCF]

Thursday is the hardest day to sell out and as big as Stromae is in Belgium, he’ll need a strong sub/undercard to do so. 

Muse... No surprise here, let’s hope for a solid tent headliner that day.

Opener Festival has just started to follow Taylor Swift on IG. She was due to play there in 2020 after Boutique...

[BenG92]

Aye, again expected. Not bothered about watching Muse or AM again so it'll have to be a crazy rest of the bill for us to go this time around probably.

Placebo are doing festivals in June, expect to see them there. Same with QOTSA. 

6 minutes ago, Floyd_Ams said:

someone like Gorillaz (not necessarily them) on the main before Stromae closes the day.

That's actually a great shout. Big enough to co-headline but not take the limelight, similarly outside-of-genres artists. 

[polnico]

10 minutes ago, Floyd_Ams said:

I'd actually expect someone like Gorillaz (not necessarily them) on the main before Stromae closes the day.

1 minute ago, BenG92 said:

That's actually a great shout. Big enough to co-headline but not take the limelight, similarly outside-of-genres artists. 

An exact repeat of their Boutique combo last year but in the opposite order ? Seems a bit like too much of a repeat even if different events, maybe on different days though ?

[neacaisa]

100% there will be a strong co-headliner with stromae.

[Floyd_Ams]

3 minutes ago, polnico said:

An exact repeat of their Boutique combo last year but in the opposite order ? Seems a bit like too much of a repeat even if different events, maybe on different days though ?

It doesn't have to be Gorillaz per se (although with a new album coming it's not unlikely). But someone of that caliber.

[BenG92]

3 minutes ago, polnico said:

An exact repeat of their Boutique combo last year but in the opposite order ? Seems a bit like too much of a repeat even if different events, maybe on different days though ?

I mean, so far RW23 is big acts from 18, 19 and 22 😅 hardly inventive with the big names, but yeah, maybe that's a step too far

[BenG92]

Grain of salt as always: user on another board apparently spoke to Jarvis Cocker at the races, 13 Pulp dates to be announced a week today, no idea if that includes Europe, two at Eden Project according to someone else. 

[misterplow]

Muse, sheez. This fest really likes to recycle things huh. 😴

Hopefully the remainder of the headliners are a bit more exciting. 

[Floyd_Ams]

17 minutes ago, BenG92 said:

Grain of salt as always: user on another board apparently spoke to Jarvis Cocker at the races, 13 Pulp dates to be announced a week today, no idea if that includes Europe, two at Eden Project according to someone else. 

Interesting. I could definitely see them being picked by RW for any of the 4 days if they tour Europe. But 13 dates sounds more like a UK tour. Unless they add more later on.

[BenG92]

3 minutes ago, Floyd_Ams said:

Interesting. I could definitely see them being picked by RW for any of the 4 days if they tour Europe. But 13 dates sounds more like a UK tour. Unless they add more later on.

Yeah hard to say, they might just do a few stadiums and not require a big tour, hard to grasp how big Pulp are here in 2022.

One of those bands I'd happily watch at a festival but I'm not gonna shell out £80 to see alone 

[Floyd_Ams]

15 minutes ago, BenG92 said:

Yeah hard to say, they might just do a few stadiums and not require a big tour, hard to grasp how big Pulp are here in 2022.

One of those bands I'd happily watch at a festival but I'm not gonna shell out £80 to see alone 

I second that! As for their popularity, well...everyone knows common people and nostalgia always works in festivals like this as long as it's placed at the right spot and not repeated too often (and Pulp haven't played RW since...forever!) 😉 

[polnico]

To get off the headliner's discussion for a sec, Brutus (band from Leuven, right next to Werchter) just released an album today, gorgeous stuff. Really hope to see them either as main opener, or an early tent band in the afternoon. If it's The Slope, give them the headline spot.