Rock Werchter 2024

[ParanoidTourist]

17 minutes ago, VCF said:

Havent been to Werchter since 2018. It feels… overcrowded, doesn’t it?

 

I dont remember having to wait 10-15 minutes to go from The Barn to the Main at 3 in the afternoon.

 

Yes it's very messy and lots of people around the Barn these days. Also yesterday there was an enormous 90 minute queue to the bus shuttle to Leuven which I've never experienced before.

Edited July 6 by ParanoidTourist

[Archi]

I was at RW yesterday but only watched the shows on the Main Stage. I only went near the Slope when Hot Mulligan were playing. And it didn't feel overcrowed to me... but I saw photos from people trying to get inside Barn or Klub C to see the last bands there (Deus, Snow Patrol, Tom Morello), huge crowd! I was at the first barrier during Maneskin and it felt so empty when we left and arrive in the bar/toilets area left of the Main Stage... but the line for the bus was huge indeed! One sure thing: the crowd on the Main Stage wasn't good at all. Damn. 

[Ferda]

Barn was borderline dangerous yday during Snow Patrol. A lot of people pushing while some people still sat/was on the ground. Some girls were crying...

The crowd is not great this year, pretty bad response to most artists bar few exceptions, a lot of ppl pushing their way no matter what, many drunk 😕 

On the other hand, music is excellent so far

Edited July 6 by Ferda

[Nicklord]

1 hour ago, Ferda said:

Barn was borderline dangerous yday during Snow Patrol. A lot of people pushing while some people still sat/was on the ground. Some girls were crying...

The crowd is not great this year, pretty bad response to most artists bar few exceptions, a lot of ppl pushing their way no matter what, many drunk 😕 

On the other hand, music is excellent so far

I didn't see a single drunk person so far and was just talking about that with some people how we all saw less drunks than usual lol

I guess it really depends on how many dickheads of 80k+ you encounter 

[VCF]

At least I’ve learned yesterday that Rock Werchter is just not for me anymore. What could have been a great festival day just ended being a bit of a mess — but at least I managed to get a good spot for Dua Lipa.

 

I was exhausted from an early flight and a week of gigs in the UK so my judgment might be biased, but I feel like  a lot of things have changed for the worse since the last time I went (2017/2018).

 

- Overcrowded from early on, as said above. The days when you could easily switch from one stage to another and get a good spot in a few minutes are gone. 

- Main stage access raises a few questions. The front stage is way wider than it was before, isn’t it? Saw a few red crosses during the day though the pit was not always full. 

 

- Sound quality at the Barn was not good during Janelle and got told it was not any better when TLDP was on.

 

- Food prices have always been a joke at Werchter but it’s getting absolutely ridiculous. Last week Live is Live wasn’t particularly cheap either but at least food selections were more than decent. Nowadays at Werchter you’re just paying 14€ for the most basic hamburger. When do we stop normalizing this?

 

- Dua Lipa was great as expected but did not deserve such a cold crowd.

 

Oh and who had the idea to put Khruangbin at that spot? 

Edited July 7 by VCF

[Archi]

I still don't understand how Khruangbin has been upgraded as sub for this year... it's one of the reason I didn't attend yesterday and flies to Lisbon to see Dua Lipa with a some holidays around. Anyway. About the crowd, I think they put the red crosses when the act starts so even if it's not full, you can't enter anymore when the show has started... which is stupid in my opinion. And just like you, RW is not for my anymore, it's just too big and the audience's reaction is getting worse year after year. Just sad that for some bands, this is the only way to see them in Belgium. I went in 2022-2023-2024 to cacht Metallica, Red Hot twice, Maneskin and the nice subs that day. Prices for food is damn so high too btu this increase is everywhere sadly... without the increase of quality obviously.

[polnico]

Back to Werchter after having missed last year's edition, I had less expectations than before regarding the fest, but ended up having a really good time, mainly because I stopped treating this as a "run everywhere to see everything" fest and more a nice vacation with friends and great shows. A few points:

 

1) In terms of crowd, it definitely feels like it's getting more and more crowded with each edition.

2) The Barn and Klub-C setup with an opening at the back at first frustrated me because of the light of day inside during the day meaning less atmosphere, but it really is a good solution to the problem of red crosses, and I was happy to be able to see Snow Patrol from outside with this. This also means much more people in the zone near Barn and Klub C than before, which felt a bit weird as this often was my "chill" spot.

3) The Slope's stage upgrade (I haven't been there in 2 years) has been really good, as the stage now gets very decent acts + the entire space is really fun, however I really miss the fact that we could chill and lay down on the actual slope as it was the case 2 years ago when it was not facing the stage, while it basically now is a big set of stairs where we are forced to stand during acts. 

4) Food prices indeed are ridiculous but people are still paying, so that's only gonna get worse sadly.

5) The organisation in general is still top notch, and I haven't been to a festival that matches it so far.

 

Now for a list of favorites show in random order:

Slowdive, Loyle Carner, Parcels, Idles, Benjamin Clementine, PJ Harvey, Bombay Bicycle Club, Declan McKenna, Archive, The Blaze, Marc Rebillet, Sampha, Dua Lipa (the last 30minutes I caught at least)

 

Don't know when I'll be back to Werchter., but I know i will at some pt,  so for now let's enjoy the "prediction and trying to guess the lineup" season.

 

Hope you all had a wondeful weekend.

Edited July 8 by polnico

[Otto77]

On 7/6/2024 at 6:31 PM, Ferda said:

Barn was borderline dangerous yday during Snow Patrol. A lot of people pushing while some people still sat/was on the ground. Some girls were crying...

The crowd is not great this year, pretty bad response to most artists bar few exceptions, a lot of ppl pushing their way no matter what, many drunk 😕 

On the other hand, music is excellent so far

I was on the tribune a lot in the Barn. People were pushing because of people of Werchter were 'forcing' them so more people could go in the barn. If you wanna sit on the ground, do that outside the Barn. I understand you sit on the ground waiting for the artist, bu you can't expect to stand up one minute before the show starts.

I myself didn't see a lot of people drunk during these 4 days. There are 90,000 people, ofcourse some get drunk, but not a lot.

[Nicklord]

I had a great time, headliners and main stage generally were the worst since I'm going (2017) but maybe one of the best Barn/Klub C/Slope lineups so far.

 

I found that open tents added so much, way less stress than in the last 2 years. Walked into for pretty much everything I wanted to see even in the middle of the shows. There's barely anything I can criticize from the organizational standpoint except main stage lineup and the cost of food.

 

Out of all the things I saw I'd say my top 5 highlights (in any order) is:

- Jane's Addiction - subjectively, Perry Farrell was just bad lol but they're one of my favorite bands of all time and the band was SO TIGHT I could ignore him

- Gary Clark Jr.

- Tom Morello

- Deadletter

- Sampha

[Naran Jitu]

For me:

++ The music was incredible. Sound was perfect and the artists are top notch from the main stage to the slope, you have always something worth to watch. Sampha, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, Khruangbin, Arlo, Brutus, Loyle Carner... All concerts that will live in my mind forever.

++ The festival is super well organized for its size. Admirable.

+ The site is incredible too. The Barn and Klub C look beautiful, although the main stage looks a bit cold.

- The crowd was awful. Maybe it's cause I come from a more outgoing culture but people were boring af. Even the bands didn't throw the usual bs of "you guys are the best and loudest and...". I saw Foo Fighters in almost front row like I was at home.

-- The prices are too much. The food was decent at least but 10 euros for some fries with a sauce is not acceptable. On the upside you avoid drunk people cause no one wants to go broke to get drunk.

 

It was my first time and not the last, but it's not a festival where I would come every year. But I wanna try the camping for sure so let's see!

[ParanoidTourist]

So another Werchter year has passed. It was well organised and fun as usual but the bus back to Leuven had an enormous queue in comparison to previous years. Also, it seemed overcrowded outside the Barn at all times.  However, on the plus side, I really liked that they opened up the Barn and Klub C again so that people still can watch from outside the tents. My favourite concerts this year were: 

 

1. The Last Dinner Party

2. Foo Fighters

3. Tom Odell

4. dEUS

5. Dua Lipa

 

I missed Thursday so I am pretty sure The Hives and PJ Harvey would have been great to see. 

[WFD]

We did all four days and had a great time overall, but there were issues.

 

Thursday and Friday were manageable but Saturday and Sunday were massively more crowded, even early in the afternoon.  The space outside Barn/Klub C was great in principle, for people to be able to sit and watch and listen to a string of acts without moving, but it made that area difficult to get around at times.  Coming out of The Last Dinner Party was borderline dangerous, thousands of people sitting on the lawn and then a full arena sized crowd tipping out onto them and trying to squeeze through gaps between people.

 

I tried to get onto the Barn tribune for Michael Kiwanuka on Sunday in good time before he started and it was already approaching gridlock inside, with lots of people having to sit on the steps up into the tribune until he came on and space became available, so I eventually gave up and got out and they were still showing green arrows with more people streaming in.

 

We stayed in Leuven and didn't stay to the end of any of the headliners (we felt there was more than enough value on the undercard each day, and the longest we stayed for was Dua Lipa) so we never had to wait for a bus, and same for heading up there each day, so for us at least that part was really well organised but it looks like they got overwhelmed later on both Saturday and Sunday.

 

It did feel like four stages (I know they have the towers too, but even that is smaller than say the equivalent at Pukkelpop) isn't enough for crowds of that size, particularly as the layout means there are usually only two on at any one time - but then again it seems like there are so many people who are happy to sit at the back of main stage or on the Barn/Klub space, that putting on an extra stage probably wouldn't change the crowd dynamic much.  Would have liked to have spent more time at The Slope, but firstly on the Friday we got told off for sitting down between bands, and then on Saturday and Sunday it felt like too much effort trying to get across to it.

 

Food was ridiculously expensive but we worked round it by eating in Leuven before heading up, and on three of the nights grabbing pizza slices in the square (including accidentally timing it perfectly to coincide with the end of Portugal v France on the Friday).

 

One final big plus was the phone signal, which meant we could stream parts of the England game - and during the penalties we realised the people next to us had a stream that was slightly ahead of ours so we joined their huddle for the remainder!

[gingerevans84]

Top weekend. As expected, the undercard firmly delivered. Hives, Frank Carter, Yard Act, Simple Plan, Kooks, Nothing But Thieves and Idles all superb. Saw Dua Lipa by the trees on the right of the stage and the crowd was huge all the way back, great show.

 

Foo Fighters. Easily got into the second section from the front, very good crowd everyone singing and dancing but my god Grohl goes on and how many drum solos were there?! Got boring and we left after Best Of You.

 

Thought people were borderline rude all over the site, lots of pushing past each other and most with force, not ideal while holding a jug of Jupilar.

 

Missed getting into the Barn for Snowpatrol but great atmosphere outside. The people outside is a problem all sitting down on the blankets and needs to be sorted. As do the kids sitting down in the front bit of the main stage by the barriers and not getting up, then getting the grumps and you stand next to them.

 

We camped in c3 and it was way smaller than last year, but was still loads of space. The beer tent by the entrance was great fun, toilets always clean and no queue for showers. Infact, the whole organisation of Werchter is absolutely top notch.

 

Look forward to next year.

[tmolvik]

So four days at the festivals completed with style and here are my thoughts about this years edition.

 

Positives:

• Took a while to get used to, but I liked the new open tents. Nice touch with toilets in the front and the Barn even had a bar. Less chaos compared to last year (but also less interesting bands)
• New recycle system worked much better, without having to bring 15 each time.
• Decent selection on (expensive) food

Negatives

• Except for the Thursday, the sold out days seems more and more crowded every year. RW is really squeezing the last drops out of the lemon now. Usually it has been a festival with hardly any lines, but now there were quite a few (especially toilet lines). 
• How on earth could you do a festival with no soap/anti-bac on all about a few toilet areas? That's disgusting.
• Lockers still being outside the festival area is crap
• Line-up un Sunday being the weakest in my 12 year RW career (and probably the festival overall also)
• Security extremely weak. The two last days they didn't even wanna check my backpack. The positives is naturally that lines get faster (which they need to be), but not like this.
• Khruangbin as a sub. Not taking musical quality into consideration, but as expected/feared it fell flat on it's ass, and whoever decided this should never come near festival programming again.

 

Best gigs:

 

1. Tom Morello
2. The Hives
3. Skindred
4. Bob Vylan
5. Nathaniel Rateliff (Frank Carter and Foo as honorable mentions)

 

Biggest disappointments:

1. The Streets (was he on the same planet as the rest of us?)
2. Kneecap (did not live up to the live-hype)
3. Avril Lavigne (no expectations, but c'mon. Show up mentally at least)
4. Dropkick Murphys (like their music, but this was laziness)
5. Nothing But Thieves (like their music even more, but this was also lazy, and they should be careful not turning into KOL on stage)

 

Well, under a year to the next edition now.. Let's hope for an even better one and let the line-up guessing games begin 🙂

Edited July 9 by tmolvik

[AlexRHouse]

Did anyone record the livestream for The Breeders' set?