Best Kept Secret 2024

[clasher]

4 hours ago, Marty76 said:

On the festival: nice atmosphere (the weather helped, a bit cold but at least no rain), great tasty and fresh food and decent drinks (quite expensive though, a 0.4 liter beer is € 7,25 and a burger around € 12), audience a bit older than most festivals, but since I'm in my late forties, that's perfectly fine for me. Just a great place to be, but do bring some money as days get expensive when thirsty. 

 

Jesus, it was 4,40€ in 2017. Burgers were 10€+ already tho iirc.

[Rico_Pliskin]

4 hours ago, Marty76 said:

Had a great weekend! Still tired from Primavera and my feet are officially dead now, but really enjoyed myself.

We were sleeping at the safari resort, which was awesome. Giraffes, zebra's, ostriches and even a rhino were really close while we were having our breakfast. Hope we can get the same accommodation again next year.

 

On the music: day one was a bit dull as expected with only St Vincent being great. Didn't wanna go to Disclosure and based on the reviews that was a good call, as they just did a (poor) dj set. Day two was already much better with some Irish fun (the Mary Wallopers), the best Dutch band at the moment (Tramhaus!!) and a wonderful Slowdive set in the tentstage. Paolo Nutini wasn't for me, great voice but hardly any great tracks except for Iron Skies and a few others. Yesterday was simply awesome, ten out of ten. PJ Harvey probably gave the best BKS show ever (I've been to all editions so far), Justice was massive and really got the crowd going, Jockstrap was my biggest surprise as I only knew the few "ballads" and didn't expect to end up dancing, brilliant show. Also, Warhaus, Amyl and the Sniffers and Gurriers delivered.

 

On the festival: nice atmosphere (the weather helped, a bit cold but at least no rain), great tasty and fresh food and decent drinks (quite expensive though, a 0.4 liter beer is € 7,25 and a burger around € 12), audience a bit older than most festivals, but since I'm in my late forties, that's perfectly fine for me. Just a great place to be, but do bring some money as days get expensive when thirsty. 

 

 

 

Was is hard to get that accommodation. You had to pay upfront straight away.

 

Really considering this next year. Reckon King Gizz and Nick Cave will be there.

[Trufflehound]

Another great weekend of music. Highlights for me, Friday:

English Teacher

St Paul and the Broken Bones (Alan Carr in a silver lamé wizard's cloak)

La Femme (an unexpected treat, kind of Gallic B-52's surf rock meets Plastic Bertrand, and the most '"fun" band of the weekend)

Viagra Boys (I was concerned they wouldn't work on the Main Stage, but I was wrong)

Baxter Dury (boy does that guy have issues, mostly stemming from his "unusual" traumatic childhood, but he pours it all out in his music...)

St Vincent was OK, but I felt she was just going through the motions with her well-choreographed 'set by numbers'

 

Saturday's highlights:

The day's big find was Grace Cummings. Wow, can she sing. A bit like The War on Drugs with Janis Joplin on vocals

Etran de L'Aïr also exceeded my expectations.

Tramhaus - third time I've seen them and they are improving each time

YHWH Nailgun (this year's "WTF was that" moment (c.f. Bumble B Boy last year) - like someone took a tape of black midi, chopped it into pieces, then randomly spliced them back together. The singer made dolphin noises between songs and seemed genuinely surprised and impressed that so many people actually stayed to the end...).

The Mary Wallopers were good Oirish fun

Slowdive were imperious as ever (but I guess you have to like Slowdive, they were playing to their crowd (me), and not trying to make new converts)

Likewise, Osees rocked the joint and were brilliant, but were exactly the same as they always are - I think the singer/guitarist has worn the same vest and shorts every time I've seen them...

 

Sunday:

Ada Oda and Water from Your Eyes were both pretty good

We had a horrific 3-way clash mid-afternoon with Warhaus/The Mysterines/Hiqpy. In the end we opted for Warhaus as they fitted the lazy laid-back sunny afternoon vibe in the sunshine. Only trouble is, as anyone who knows Warhaus will know, that 'la-lala' refrain at the end of Open Window is such a catchy earworm that once it gets inside your head you can never remove it, ever...

Amyl & the Sniffers - riotous fun as always

PJ Harvey - highlight of the festival (but then I could have predicted that before the weekend started), the show was a lot more personal and introspective than the also brilliant Hope Six... tour in 2017, and possibly even better for it.

We caught a bit of Justice, but it was a comedown after Polly Jean. Yes, a good dance vibe, but they just came across as Chemical Brothers without any good tunes. We gave up on them and went to catch the tail end of Sprints instead, which was much livelier and more fun

 

Only downside was how cold it was at night. We were in a pre-pitched 'FestiTent', and I ended up having to wear all my clothes as my sleeping bag wasn't up to the task of keeping me warm. The rain on yesterday's cycle home was a bit of downer too, but not as bad as the forecast predicted, and at least we had the wind in our backs heading towards Eindhoven...

 

And yes, as others have mentioned, it is getting very expensive to eat and drink there...

Edited June 11 by Trufflehound

[Marty76]

19 hours ago, Rico_Pliskin said:

Was is hard to get that accommodation. You had to pay upfront straight away.

 

Really considering this next year. Reckon King Gizz and Nick Cave will be there.

 

Normally it is for the safari ones (8p), but as early booker I received a presale link last year. The regular ones (4-6p) should be ok if you make the effort to book early. Only missed accommodation once, when radiohead were playing and everything sold out at once. Paying upfront is standard, yes.

 

Not sure Nick will be there as all Dutch festivals will want him on their stage, festival director mentioned that they really want Fontaines D.C. as a "new" headliner and not spending their entire budget on a few big names. For what it's worth...

 

[Marty76]

4 hours ago, Trufflehound said:

Another great weekend of music. Highlights for me, Friday:

English Teacher

St Paul and the Broken Bones (Alan Carr in a silver lamé wizard's cloak)

La Femme (an unexpected treat, kind of Gallic B-52's surf rock meets Plastic Bertrand, and the most '"fun" band of the weekend)

Viagra Boys (I was concerned they wouldn't work on the Main Stage, but I was wrong)

Baxter Dury (boy does that guy have issues, mostly stemming from his "unusual" traumatic childhood, but he pours it all out in his music...)

St Vincent was OK, but I felt she was just going through the motions with her well-choreographed 'set by numbers'

 

Saturday's highlights:

The day's big find was Grace Cummings. Wow, can she sing. A bit like The War on Drugs with Janis Joplin on vocals

Etran de L'Aïr also exceeded my expectations.

Tramhaus - third time I've seen them and they are improving each time

YHWH Nailgun (this year's "WTF was that" moment (c.f. Bumble B Boy last year) - like someone took a tape of black midi, chopped it into pieces, then randomly spliced them back together. The singer made dolphin noises between songs and seemed genuinely surprised and impressed that so many people actually stayed to the end...).

The Mary Wallopers were good Oirish fun

Slowdive were imperious as ever (but I guess you have to like Slowdive, they were playing to their crowd (me), and not trying to make new converts)

Likewise, Osees rocked the joint and were brilliant, but were exactly the same as they always are - I think the singer/guitarist has worn the same vest and shorts every time I've seen them...

 

Sunday:

Ada Oda and Water from Your Eyes were both pretty good

We had a horrific 3-way clash mid-afternoon with Warhaus/The Mysterines/Hiqpy. In the end we opted for Warhaus as they fitted the lazy laid-back sunny afternoon vibe in the sunshine. Only trouble is, as anyone who knows Warhaus will know, that 'la-lala' refrain at the end of Open Window is such a catchy earworm that once it gets inside your head you can never remove it, ever...

Amyl & the Sniffers - riotous fun as always

PJ Harvey - highlight of the festival (but then I could have predicted that before the weekend started), the show was a lot more personal and introspective than the also brilliant Hope Six... tour in 2017, and possibly even better for it.

We caught a bit of Justice, but it was a comedown after Polly Jean. Yes, a good dance vibe, but they just came across as Chemical Brothers without any good tunes. We gave up on them and went to catch the tail end of Sprints instead, which was much livelier and more fun

 

Only downside was how cold it was at night. We were in a pre-pitched 'FestiTent', and I ended up having to wear all my clothes as my sleeping bag wasn't up to the task of keeping me warm. The rain on yesterday's cycle home was a bit of downer too, but not as bad as the forecast predicted, and at least we had the wind in our backs heading towards Eindhoven...

 

And yes, as others have mentioned, it is getting very expensive to eat and drink there...

 

Yes, agree on the temperature. Comfortable till eight - nine, but the evenings and nights were really chilly outside the festival tents. Our safari lodge was warm and cosy (even had a sauna), but I can imagine the FestiTents being a serious issue. Global warming skipped Netherlands last weeks apparently...

 

Thanks for bringing Warhaus back in my ears, I almost forgot about it 😉

 

[Giovanni]

On 6/10/2024 at 8:54 PM, Rico_Pliskin said:

Was is hard to get that accommodation. You had to pay upfront straight away.

 

 

 

We stayed in Tilburg, it was expensive (my gf booked it, so I don't remember exact numbers), but doable. We were lucky to get it that late anyway, from what I'm seeing now, most places in Tilburg are already booked for the next year dates.

 

The overall vibe is rather relaxed, we liked it a lot. The festival itself is easy to navigate, people are friendly and the weather was really nice. Indeed quite chilly at night at times, BUT we got soaked at Primavera Porto quite a few times before, so it was a nice change not to get wet 😉

 

The acts we've enjoyed the most: La Femme, St. Vincent, CMAT, Fatoumata Diawara, Parcels, Warhaus and PJ Harvey (<3).

 

It was a very good start of the festival summer 🙂We might come back, if the line-up's good and if we can secure accommodation for a reasonable price. 

[Rico_Pliskin]

5 minutes ago, Giovanni said:

 

We stayed in Tilburg, it was expensive (my gf booked it, so I don't remember exact numbers), but doable. We were lucky to get it that late anyway, from what I'm seeing now, most places in Tilburg are already booked for the next year dates.

 

The overall vibe is rather relaxed, we liked it a lot. The festival itself is easy to navigate, people are friendly and the weather was really nice. Indeed quite chilly at night at times, BUT we got soaked at Primavera Porto quite a few times before, so it was a nice change not to get wet 😉

 

The acts we've enjoyed the most: La Femme, St. Vincent, CMAT, Fatoumata Diawara, Parcels, Warhaus and PJ Harvey (<3).

 

It was a very good start of the festival summer 🙂We might come back, if the line-up's good and if we can secure accommodation for a reasonable price. 

Good review, thanks

[Dr Baker]

This was my 3rd consecutive year at BKS and even if it wasn't the best, there was much to enjoy.  Friday was my favourite day thanks to fine sets from St Vincent, Baxter Dury, Sofia Kourtesis, La Femme and an unexpectedly terrific one from Badbadnotgood.

Saturday had fewer top moments but I did enjoy Fatoumata Diawara and The Mary Wallopers whilst Slowdive, Infinity Song, the Lambrini Girls and Etran DeLair had their moments. As did the bands I saw on the Sunday - Paris Paloma, The Mysterines, Sprints, Slow Pulp and Jockstrap. Highlight of the day (and the weekend) was that stunning set by PJ Harvey - a wonderful selection of new and old songs, brilliantly performed and with a perfect sound mix.

 

Luckily we had dry and mostly sunny weather all weekend and even if it was a bit chilly at times, it was more tolerable than the blazing hot temperatures of the past 2 years. I like the shuttle service from Tilburg where I was staying. Lucky to get a hotel room as these are rather lacking in the city.

 

There has been improvements to the Casbah stage and it was easier to see bands on stage. I'm still puzzled by the fact that there's 75 minutes between each act on that stage whereas it's 1 hour on stages One and Two and only 45 minutes on The Secret stage. There would be scope for a couple of more acts on the Casbah stage if there was a quicker turnover.

 

I see that the dates for next year are a week later than usual. Presumably because Primavera Sound is scheduled for the first weekend in June.

Edited June 15 by Dr Baker