Rock Werchter 2023

[Orens]

40 minutes ago, Gossard said:

If Ken is right about the Friday headliner being a first timer, I think this is the only spot Blur could take...

 

Blur have played back in 2013

[Gossard]

1 hour ago, Orens said:

Blur have played back in 2013

Yes I know, I was there 😉

I meant if Thursday headliner is a first timer, Saturday before Muse is the only spot for Blur

[Jefb]

11 minutes ago, Gossard said:

Yes I know, I was there 😉

I meant if Thursday headliner is a first timer, Saturday before Muse is the only spot for Blur

No O&TW plays before Muse

Edited December 7, 2022 by Jefb

[e2p2]

5 hours ago, OwenL said:

How easy/difficult is it to stay in Brussels/Leuven and go to the festival every day?

If you stay in Leuven it's really great. Lots of shuttles, 15 to 20 minutes trip and another 15-20 minutes walk. In the past I know that staying in Brussels was a headache because there was no public transportation in the night, but I do remember that they advertised last year that they have shuttles to Brussels and other places (Mechelen?)

[clasher]

5 hours ago, MrTobs said:

Hm, yeah, I understand your point too. But even if we take those four "mixed" bands out of consideration: there are 6 percent entirely female acts against 80 percent entirely male acts, that's an unusually huge difference for a festival in 2023 (that books acts from many genres).

That's all fine and dandy, but you can't name 6 all-female acts to fill up the 50% of headliners in the next 3 editions, let alone name enough all-female acts to fill 50% of the next three lineups. And that's before we consider who's actually available. Not to mention Rock Werchter is - while booking a wide range of genres - still a rock festival and the all-female acts seem to be much more concentrated in the pop/hip-hop field, as opposed to the classic rock band thing.

I'm not saying how things ought to be, I'm not saying what's right or wrong, I'm just saying how it is at the moment.

[tmolvik]

5 hours ago, OwenL said:

How easy/difficult is it to stay in Brussels/Leuven and go to the festival every day?

We always stay at a hotel in Leuven, and that's no problem at all. Busses go constantly (about 20 minute ride) and from the bus stop, it's about another 15-20 minutes walk to the entrance through the area with a lot of food/drink stalls. The walk back at night might be considered a hassel by some, but for me it's a nice way to get the alcohol out of the system 🙂

 

[neacaisa]

8 hours ago, Jefferke said:

He's Australian. 

sorry, not sure who i am confusing him with right now, but i was certain he is belgian for some reason. 

[mikebat]

I'm lost to choose the good day.
I can attend only 1 day but I want to see :
Tamino, Sigur ros, Jacob Collier, Amen Ra, Puscifer, and my wife want to see Muse..
I have to wait more names to choose the good day.

Hope Porcupine Tree will be there.

[MrTobs]

5 hours ago, clasher said:

That's all fine and dandy, but you can't name 6 all-female acts to fill up the 50% of headliners in the next 3 editions, let alone name enough all-female acts to fill 50% of the next three lineups. And that's before we consider who's actually available. Not to mention Rock Werchter is - while booking a wide range of genres - still a rock festival and the all-female acts seem to be much more concentrated in the pop/hip-hop field, as opposed to the classic rock band thing.

I'm not saying how things ought to be, I'm not saying what's right or wrong, I'm just saying how it is at the moment.

I never said anything about 50% tho, or that it should always be the goal for Werchter to book 50% female acts. That's quite unrealistic. Actually I'm not a fan of looking at percentages at all (so maybe I shouldn't have written about them). And normaly I neither notice nor care too much if there are 50, 40 or 25 percent female acts, as long as it feels somehow natural I guess. But yeah, it seems that when there is barely any female act, especially in the top lines I start to notice it^^, and thinking about it I have to say it's a bit strange and maybe even embarassing, but let's see how it turns out in the end when we see all the names:)

[rummy]

2 hours ago, MrTobs said:

I never said anything about 50% tho, or that it should always be the goal for Werchter to book 50% female acts. That's quite unrealistic. Actually I'm not a fan of looking at percentages at all (so maybe I shouldn't have written about them). And normaly I neither notice nor care too much if there are 50, 40 or 25 percent female acts, as long as it feels somehow natural I guess. But yeah, it seems that when there is barely any female act, especially in the top lines I start to notice it^^, and thinking about it I have to say it's a bit strange and maybe even embarassing, but let's see how it turns out in the end when we see all the names:)

Rock Werchter has been going a bit middle aged man for a while now. Their choice to go for that demographic whilst other festivals have diversified musically and otherwise I suppose.

Probably a chance that there will be a female headliner, second liner etc. but I agree it is noticeable that other recent festivals have had acts like Cardi B, Dua Lipa, Billie Eilish, Adele, Megan Thee Stallion etc. Whilst Werchter bring out Pearl Jam, Editors, Kings of Leon, RHCP for the 10th time, some of whom peaked in popularity over 30 years ago now, but will be defended on here as the biggest bands.

[mikebat]

Quick question, Will RHCP headline the friday ?
Or the missing name is bigger ?
I was thinking about McCartney, impossible ??

[Nicklord]

This year only Metallica had a lot of middle aged people in the crowd and they got made fun of by pretty much every band on main stage that day. RHCP or Pearl Jam are still the first rock bands kids get into when they start listening to "heavier" music. I'm pretty sure 2022 was the youngest crowd on average I saw there and I'm going for several years already 

 

[49Lawson]

1 hour ago, rummy said:

Rock Werchter has been going a bit middle aged man for a while now. Their choice to go for that demographic whilst other festivals have diversified musically and otherwise I suppose.

Probably a chance that there will be a female headliner, second liner etc. but I agree it is noticeable that other recent festivals have had acts like Cardi B, Dua Lipa, Billie Eilish, Adele, Megan Thee Stallion etc. Whilst Werchter bring out Pearl Jam, Editors, Kings of Leon, RHCP for the 10th time, some of whom peaked in popularity over 30 years ago now, but will be defended on here as the biggest bands.

But there should still be a festival for the “middle aged man” demographic on this scale. I’m only 28, but grew up too late to do these sorts of festivals when they were the “norm” if you like, so it’s good that there’s somewhere like Werchter that can still put on these line ups for people like me who like this sort of music. Aware it’s all sometimes a bit middle of the road, and the repeat bookings can be vexing (hence why they majority of us keep asking for the “special” names in these genres to appear this year like Blur) 

They shouldn’t be booking acts like the ones you’ve mentioned just to tick boxes, despite the fact they are very relevant artists. Gender diversity is fantastic and should be implemented for line ups if a festival can pull it off; but I don’t think musical diversity is important at all really. I know I made a point on here before about how we don’t really hang around Wireless, Tomorrowland forums etc screaming for Metallica etc to be booked; and nor should we. These festivals cater to a specific crowd and the people that go there want to hear that, and that’s amazing for them. But I can only speak for myself and my group’s experience of festivals like this, and I know that they would be far more likely to buy a ticket for a festival that has say (for eg) Arctics, RHCP and Muse then a festival with Arctics, Lizzo and Robbie Williams just because a festival wants to try and cater for every type of audience. Imho, I think trying to over diversify your target audience can actually have a detrimental effect on ticket sales. 

It is unfortunate that the bigger bands that can sell festivals like Werchter at the minute happen to be mostly male; but they can only book whoever is on tour in any given year, and if that’s bands like RHCP and Arctics etc as opposed to Florence and the Machine, Paramore, Evanescence etc then it is unfortunate but not really the festival’s fault

[neacaisa]

Kendrick to opener, he's pretty much ruled out now?

[BenG92]

4 hours ago, MrTobs said:

I never said anything about 50% tho, or that it should always be the goal for Werchter to book 50% female acts. That's quite unrealistic. Actually I'm not a fan of looking at percentages at all (so maybe I shouldn't have written about them). And normaly I neither notice nor care too much if there are 50, 40 or 25 percent female acts, as long as it feels somehow natural I guess. But yeah, it seems that when there is barely any female act, especially in the top lines I start to notice it^^, and thinking about it I have to say it's a bit strange and maybe even embarassing, but let's see how it turns out in the end when we see all the names:)

Down to the "Rock" in "Rock Werchter". There just isn't enough "rocky" female acts to cover that sort of spread and while RW is definitely branching out a little, they're still a festival with two feet planted firmly in their roots. Nothing wrong with that, there should be that option.

It was 50/50 at Primavera this year because Primavera covers literally everything from acoustic to death metal to dance to experimental, so it's way easier to find a diverse range of artists. Download Festival here has the same issue, it's better in 2023 than ever before but still pretty dire because there just isn't much female representation in rock/metal without booking the same handful of bands annually. 

[mikebat]

Kendrick Lamar at Loola Paris.... Out for Werchter ?

[VolkIreland]

21 minutes ago, Nicklord said:

This year only Metallica had a lot of middle aged people in the crowd and they got made fun of by pretty much every band on main stage that day. RHCP or Pearl Jam are still the first rock bands kids get into when they start listening to "heavier" music. I'm pretty sure 2022 was the youngest crowd on average I saw there and I'm going for several years already 

 

Lewis Capaldis comedy set comes to mind here 🤣

[ParanoidTourist]

17 minutes ago, 49Lawson said:

But there should still be a festival for the “middle aged man” demographic on this scale. I’m only 28, but grew up too late to do these sorts of festivals when they were the “norm” if you like, so it’s good that there’s somewhere like Werchter that can still put on these line ups for people like me who like this sort of music. Aware it’s all sometimes a bit middle of the road, and the repeat bookings can be vexing (hence why they majority of us keep asking for the “special” names in these genres to appear this year like Blur) 

They shouldn’t be booking acts like the ones you’ve mentioned just to tick boxes, despite the fact they are very relevant artists. Gender diversity is fantastic and should be implemented for line ups if a festival can pull it off; but I don’t think musical diversity is important at all really. I know I made a point on here before about how we don’t really hang around Wireless, Tomorrowland forums etc screaming for Metallica etc to be booked; and nor should we. These festivals cater to a specific crowd and the people that go there want to hear that, and that’s amazing for them. But I can only speak for myself and my group’s experience of festivals like this, and I know that they would be far more likely to buy a ticket for a festival that has say (for eg) Arctics, RHCP and Muse then a festival with Arctics, Lizzo and Robbie Williams just because a festival wants to try and cater for every type of audience. Imho, I think trying to over diversify your target audience can actually have a detrimental effect on ticket sales. 

It is unfortunate that the bigger bands that can sell festivals like Werchter at the minute happen to be mostly male; but they can only book whoever is on tour in any given year, and if that’s bands like RHCP and Arctics etc as opposed to Florence and the Machine, Paramore, Evanescence etc then it is unfortunate but not really the festival’s fault

I totally agree! The reason why I loved Werchter so much over the years is that the festival fit people of all ages. I am 43 myself so I am happy there is a festival for the middle aged man with great headliners from the past;) 

[BenG92]

19 minutes ago, neacaisa said:

Kendrick to opener, he's pretty much ruled out now?

16 minutes ago, mikebat said:

Kendrick Lamar at Loola Paris.... Out for Werchter ?

Playing Open'er on the Saturday where he wouldn't fit anyway and Lolla Paris is weeks out, why we ruling him out? 

[lighthouse]

1 hour ago, neacaisa said:

Kendrick to opener, he's pretty much ruled out now?

😥

[AAlex]

Muse tweeted this, this Morning. QOTSA and OATW added to the top line of their days, which hopefully confirms what's been suggested, that there's another headliner to come for Thursday and Friday.

[Nicklord]

I think I saw somewhere a poster with Wet Leg on thursday next to The 1975

[polnico]

8 minutes ago, Nicklord said:

I think I saw somewhere a poster with Wet Leg on thursday next to The 1975

 

Yeah that was  O&TW who posted this, deleted it aterwards, they should play on Sunday if I recall the poster.

Edited December 8, 2022 by polnico

[49Lawson]

8 minutes ago, polnico said:

 

Yeah that was  O&TW who posted this, deleted it aterwards, they should play on Sunday if I recall the poster.

Managed to screen shot it last night; had them on the Thursday.

was also on my way to post the Muse poster and say it pretty much confirms two big names still to come. I am not fluent in Dutch by any stretch; but I think on Festileaks the reliable leaker has alluded to Kendrick being at Les Ardentes. So, if we are to assume that’s him ruled out, it sounds like someone with an unannounced tour for the Friday that hasn’t played before (RATM? AC/DC? Billie Eilish? The Strokes?) (they all might have, I’ve done little research) and it’s probably a straight shoot out between Blur and Robbie Williams for the Thursday now looking at who is around. Please do the right thing, Werchter…

[Ohad]

Based on the poster, do we assume that the black keys aren't headlining?