Pukkelpop 2023

[DDave]

Florence cancels, replaced by Balthazar

https://www.facebook.com/100044309682312/posts/pfbid024N2xzGBQJXQ8qAaGYRrXok1Cengo4V3TV2MyVsCgApc7UQARMitwfBaq1o9yMVFXl/

[VCF]

Oof. Was excited to see her.

[WFD]

Florence cancels, replaced by Balthazar

[matrainertje]

Oof. Was excited to see her.

[VCF]

Two tap water spots for the whole festival site is incredibly stupid. Long queues to get water.

[VCF]

Nabihah Iqdal over Bombay Bicycle Club turned out to be a great choice!

boygenius was fantastic yesterday.

[AJJ]

51 minutes ago, VCF said:

Nabihah Iqdal over Bombay Bicycle Club turned out to be a great choice!

boygenius was fantastic yesterday.

boygenius were amazing! Really enjoyed M83 too.

Had a great time at the festival yesterday (and Thursday) but definitely too long in the tooth to camp out for the whole thing! So, my wife & I have bailed for a few quiet days in Brussels.

Thank you so much for everyone who offered up advice and tips, they were all hugely helpful! Wish we could have booked into a hotel in Hasselt.

It was a really great experience, especially seeing my goofy animations projected on those shipping containers stacked almost higher than our house!

For anyone interested, I'm the one at the top of this list (purely because it's alphabetical! -

https://www.pukkelpop.be/en/go-explore/videowall/

Hope everyone has a great time!

Edited August 19, 2023 by AJJ

[DDave]

1 hour ago, AJJ said:

boygenius were amazing! Really enjoyed M83 too.

Had a great time at the festival yesterday (and Thursday) but definitely too long in the tooth to camp out for the whole thing! So, my wife & I have bailed for a few quiet days in Brussels.

Thank you so much for everyone who offered up advice and tips, they were all hugely helpful! Wish we could have booked into a hotel in Hasselt.

It was a really great experience, especially seeing my goofy animations projected on those shipping containers stacked almost higher than our house!

For anyone interested, I'm the one at the top of this list (purely because it's alphabetical! -

https://www.pukkelpop.be/en/go-explore/videowall/

Hope everyone has a great time!

There is some fairly reasonable rooms left for the Sunday (£188-ish), rooms for tonight and tomorrow are coming up pretty dear. 

Followed you on twitter, good work!

[Kaboom Boxer]

Does anyone know of anywhere local to the festival grounds that will be showing the Women’s World Cup final?

[WFD]

9 hours ago, Kaboom Boxer said:

Does anyone know of anywhere local to the festival grounds that will be showing the Women’s World Cup final?

We had this problem, ended up watching it in a bar in the square on a phone on a VPN, even the Irish Times wasn't open til 2pm!

[gigi21]

On 8/19/2023 at 5:18 PM, AJJ said:

boygenius were amazing! Really enjoyed M83 too.

Had a great time at the festival yesterday (and Thursday) but definitely too long in the tooth to camp out for the whole thing! So, my wife & I have bailed for a few quiet days in Brussels.

Thank you so much for everyone who offered up advice and tips, they were all hugely helpful! Wish we could have booked into a hotel in Hasselt.

It was a really great experience, especially seeing my goofy animations projected on those shipping containers stacked almost higher than our house!

For anyone interested, I'm the one at the top of this list (purely because it's alphabetical! -

https://www.pukkelpop.be/en/go-explore/videowall/

Hope everyone has a great time!

cool stuff man!

[VCF]

Oof, The Killers felt so flat even at the front. 

Will give a longer report tomorrow but mixed impressions overall. This Sunday was a big deception in the end.

[VCF]

On 8/15/2023 at 11:36 AM, VCF said:

Friday

13H25 Royel Otis (Lift)
14H20 Froukje (Main)
15H25 Nessa Barrett or Hannah Grae (Marquee/Lift)
16H30 Ethel Cain (Club)
17H35 Brutus or The Aces (Marquee/Lift)
18H35 TV Girl (Club)
19H45 M83 (Marquee)
21H55 Boygenius (Marquee)
23H00 Billie Eilish (Main)
00H35 Moderat or ascendant vierge (Marquee/Lift)

Saturday

12H20 Compact Disk Dummies (Main)
14H50 Bombay Bicycle Club (Marquee)
15H40 RORI (Dance Hall)
16H35 Jessie Ware (Marquee)
17H35 Turnstile or MUNA (Main/Club)
18H35 Nothing But Thieves (Main)
19H35 Limp Bizkit (Main)
20H35 Nia Archives (Lift)
21H45 Luude (Boiler)
23H40 Angèle (Main)
00H45 2ManyDjs and/or BICEP (Marquee/Dance Hall)

Sunday

12H20 Kids with Buns (Club)
13H10 Giant Rooks (Marquee)
14H05 Zwangere Guy (Main)
15H00 Mother Mother (Marquee)
17H00 girl in red (Marquee)
18H05 Macklemore (Main)
19H10 King Gizzard or Loyle Carner (Marquee/Dance Hall)
20H15 Florence and the Machine (Main)
21H35 Foals (Marquee)
22H40 The Killers (Main)

Provisional schedule for the weekend but I’m sure it will change a lot.

Enjoy all!

Ended up with (sets I've seen entirely or almost) :

FRI - Black Leather Jacket > BLUAI > Froukje > Ethel Cain > The Aces > M83 > boygenius > Billie Eilish

boygenius was fantastic. To be honest the record still hasn't really clicked but god how well did that translate in a live setting. Lucy Dacus was the only one I had not seen before, but her singing True Blue was special! 

I was a bit further back for M83 but unfortunately it was so hot and lots of talking. Lol at all the people leaving after Midnight City! 

Gave Yungblud 5 minutes and it was enough to make me go back to  the Marquee.

Never really got into the Billie set for diverse reasons sadly but that felt like a solid show and what should have been the closing set of the festival. Crowd was strangely quiet though?

SAT - Compact Disk Dummies > julie > Nabihah Iqdal > Jessie Ware > MUNA > Limp Bizkit > Angèle > BICEP

Might have been the best day of the weekend (and I thought it was the weakest line-up wise!). Not really concerned by Clouseau but that was a nice touch. There were so many people they could have done that on the Main stage but I guess it would have not had the same magic.

Compact Disk Dummies was a perfect midday act, Nabihah Iqdal was my best decision of the weekend (she seems like a great artist and person), Jessie Ware put on a great live show, MUNA and Limp Bizkit were fun. 

Only letdown was Angèle. I'm Belgian and had never seen her so it was finally time to, but I found the first 40-45 minutes to be really boring. Was better afterwards.  

SUN - Giant Rooks > Dylan > girl in red > Macklemore > Balthazar > The Killers

The Killers... Third time seeing them and this weekend I got the confirmation that they're nothing more than a festival band for me. Bilbao BBK last year was a great experience because the crowd was unreal, so we wanted to be at the front to end the weekend on a good note. Bad decision as it meant skipping Foals and enduring a rough set and atmosphere. Not sure I'll see them again in the future.

What could have been Florence > Foals > The Killers ended up being Balthazar into The Killers and what a bummer. Scheduling wise I would have rather seen Foals replacing Florence on the Main with Balthazar closing the Marquee but anyway.

Afternoon could not save that unfortunately as fatigue and bad choices on our side played their part. Girl in Red was solid though!

Overall, given it was my first Pukkelpop (went to HEAR HEAR last year so I knew the festival site) :

- You could tell by the line-up PKP has clearly aimed at late teens / early twenties people (not that it's a bad thing!) and succesfully so as sales have never been this good, but the 27-year-old me felt old at times! You could also tell the festival had sold out as the place felt packed all weekend.

- Overall the line-up was a good one but I had to make choices. Some were fortunate, some less. The Main / Marquee rotation with 5 minutes between each did not help at all. However, I still think it was missing a few Marquee indie bands ala The National, Franz Ferdinand... We were discussing this going back to the camping but I feel like even the HEAR HEAR day did a better job last year.

- Did not like the Main. It's obviously not the main asset of the festival (same applies for Werchter) but all 3 headliners were quite disappointing and/or had a crowd not up to the task. 

- What's with all the talking?! 

- Some... interesting choices on site created long queues. The wristband picking point on Thursday night, the only two water spots on the festival site, the early closing of some food and drink tents to name a few.

- When are we doing something against outrageous prices before we turn into Coachella and the US overall? Food wood was ok quality wise but still so expensive.

 

I don't regret giving this weekend a go, but unless next year offers an incredible line-up, not sure I'll be back.

Edited August 21, 2023 by VCF

[charlierc]

18 hours ago, VCF said:

Oof, The Killers felt so flat even at the front. 

Will give a longer report tomorrow but mixed impressions overall. This Sunday was a big deception in the end.

Seemed almost like it was a bite-size set judging by the fact it was only 15 songs.

I was up for Killers-Florence-Foals when I saw it but couldn't get it arranged. Wasn't aware until this morning that Florence had pulled out, which would've been a real bummer.

[Chimme]

On 8/16/2023 at 1:06 PM, Liliam said:

I took interest in Pukkelpop too late and the only hotels close i could find were either very overpriced or without access to public transport

How did you like the festival? 

[DDave]

Electric Picnic moving to same dates as Pukkelpop next year. More competition for booking bands. 

Edited August 23, 2023 by DDave

[willsmith700]

On 11/17/2022 at 11:06 AM, johnybegood said:

The Strokes, Florence & The Machine and Arcade Fire are doing late summer festival.

I think that Florence is nailed for PKP'23 and maybe Arcade Fire or The Strokes for Hear Hear Festival.

Will be interesting to see if Arcade Fire make it back onto the bigger festivals after the controversy surrounding them in recent years? 👀

Edited August 23, 2023 by willsmith700

[willsmith700]

3 hours ago, Chimme said:

How did you like the festival? 

I'm interested also - thinking of checking it out next year.

[willsmith700]

On 8/21/2023 at 1:16 PM, VCF said:

 

Gave Yungblud 5 minutes and it was enough to make me go back to  the Marquee.

 

I've never clicked or "got" the Yungblud thing. I then watched the documentary with Louis Theroux out of curiosity and found him very phoney / forced and inauthentic. Can imagine I would have the same response ... 

[Semprini]

Been home a few days now and had chance to recover and reflect on what was another fantastic weekend. Music wise, I've had better there but in terms of the overall experience it was probably one of the best. Weather was great (possibly too hot if anything on Friday and Sunday), organisation was faultless as always and I maintained my record of never seeing any trouble or sh*tty behaviour.

We stayed in Hostel H again and it ticks all the boxes for location, comfort and cost. Festival guy was also there but he told me he had to cut all his wristbands off during Covid. Despite that, the number he's managed to accumulate since is pretty impressive anyway. As I briefly mentioned during the festival, the shuttle buses are really quick now but we opted to get the train in most days as traffic up the Kempische Steenweg can be pretty busy. Was an absolute godsend on the way home though, even if the walk to the pick up point is probably double the distance of the old stop. Went to have a look at the PKP museum in the library on Thursday afternoon and it was impressive. Quite a bit of the stuff was the same as when they held one on site in 2010 for the 25th anniversary but plenty of interesting photos and new memorabilia.

My favourite sets from the weekend were Royel Otis, Piri, M83, DJ Heartstring, Fjaark and Fatima Yamaha on Friday, Tarkastaja (Clouseau), Jessie Ware, Turnstile, Limp Bizkit, Bou, Nia Archives, Sherelle and 2manydjs on Saturday and Anz, Foals and Teki Latex on Sunday. Saw bits and pieces of quite a few other bands and DJ's over the weekend and managed to miss some that were on my list beforehand - Ben Bohmer and Sub Focus probably the biggest 'regrets' but for good reason (explanation to follow!).

Access around the site was mostly quick and easy, especially as they kept the cut through behind the Marquee to the Dance Hall. Seemed to be some really big crowds on the Main over the weekend and not just for the obvious headliners. Years and Years, Tom Odell, Macklemore (who we watched the end of from the Big Wheel), Zwangere Guy and Joost all packed it out. In contrast, DJ Fresh and Loyle Carner had relatively small crowds in the Dance Hall but on the whole most acts played to decent numbers. I couldn't get into the Club for TV Girl and was a similar story for Girl in Red on Sunday in the Marquee. Found some of the tents too hot to stay in at times anyway, and possibly for this reason the screens outside both the Marquee and Dance Hall were popular throughout the weekend.

We ate in the Foodwood most days for lunch and then bought something from one of the 'normal' stands later on. I ordered 120 tokens in advance but had to get more on Sunday evening off friends who had leftovers. Definitely felt more expensive than last year and not sure I liked them putting the equivalent cost in Euro's next to the number of tokens - I'd rather not know! Mostly drank the Witte Lambic but you had to get that from either the beer shack, special beers at the rear of main or the PKP cafe. There was nowhere I found around the DH, Boiler and Booth that sold it so that could do with addressing next year. Loved the pale ale on tap in the cafe but had to be a bit careful drinking it during the day!

Already got a room booked at the hostel for next year and unless they make an absolute mess of the line up I'll be back for #15!

Edited August 25, 2023 by Semprini

[Semprini]

Had a couple of pretty crazy experiences on Saturday that probably swayed the overall judgement I gave at the start of my previous post. Most people aren't aware but they host backstage tours for competition winners, VIPs, sponsors etc. I first did one in 2016 and have now become good friends with the person that organises them. Quite a few of the people I know and go with each year have also done one and it's great to go behind the scenes, hear loads of interesting stories and facts about the festival and visit the artist village. Long story short, there were a couple of English speakers from a company that are looking to link up with the festival that needed a tour and I ended up hosting it! I'm a bit of a PKP nerd anyway so I loved being able to talk about the festival and it's always exciting to go backstage through the dressing room area and see who's about!

That in itself was amazing but later on things went up to a completely different level of 'WTAF is going on?!?' For context, my 17 y/o son has come with me the last two years and he's a massive 2manydjs fan so they were far and away his no. 1 'must see' on the line up. We drove over to Ghent in February to attend the annual Deewee label party, which this time was held at the football stadium. Quite a few live acts and DJs from the label played and 2manydjs did two sets which was a bonus - we even managed to meet them and get a few pics!

My lad does a music production course and has started making his own tracks and edits. They're very much in the style of 2manydjs but he loves all the Ed Banger/Justice/Daft Punk/French touch stuff as well. He put a cd together with a few tracks and a short mix with the intention of getting it to the brothers but that's obviously easier said than done! I'm fortunate to be friends with a few people who work for PKP so spoke to them about feasible options and possibilities? As day turned to night though we hadn't heard from anyone so thought we were consigned to executing plan Z - throw the cd on stage at the end of their set!!

However, I had a missed call and then a message just after 11pm from one of them to say we had to get to the side of Main asap. My son was watching Steve Lacy at the time so I had to quickly locate him in the Marquee and we ran across the site as fast as our legs could carry us! My mate was waiting by the emergency exit and gave us a couple of lanyards to get past security. We headed behind the stage into the artist village and before we knew it we were standing outside the dressing room of 2manydjs!!! One of their team met us and next thing we're inside being introduced to Dave and Steph 🤯 

We spent the next hour and a half chatting to both of them and they were just the most down to earth, warm and friendly people you could hope to meet! They both remembered us from the label party and we also got to meet quite a few of their crew. When the time came for them to play, we walked through the backstage area as part of their entourage (was quite small really with mostly crew, family and a few friends - in stark contrast to Billie the night before and her 100 strong posse!). Their tour manager was an absolute legend and he arranged for us to come side of stage as we didn't have the correct wristbands. We were able to watch the entire show from the wings which was a totally surreal experience!

There were so many occasions when my son and I just looked at each other and shook our heads as we genuinely couldn't comprehend what was going on. It was just amazing and not only a highlight of this PKP, but probably the whole time I've been!

[gigi21]

On 8/25/2023 at 11:48 PM, Semprini said:

Festival guy was also there

Is that guy always wearing a vintage cycling world champion t-shirt? He's amazing!

[Chimme]

4 hours ago, gigi21 said:

Is that guy always wearing a vintage cycling world champion t-shirt? He's amazing!

There's a documentary on YouTube about him:

https://youtu.be/IZYieNVvQ4o?si=n4ef1QL8ImIpVhx-

[Death By Sexy 2.0]

5 hours ago, gigi21 said:

Is that guy always wearing a vintage cycling world champion t-shirt? He's amazing!

He now wears a pink shirt and has grown fat, I didn't recognise him lol. 

[Semprini]

8 hours ago, gigi21 said:

Is that guy always wearing a vintage cycling world champion t-shirt? He's amazing!

Yes, that's him. He was outside the hostel most mornings when we left and always made a point of saying 'hello'.