Me, my brother and his friend Anthony. We took the bus to the station, Lore was waiting for us there. Then we took the train to Kiewit. We listened to music on the way and played Uno. It took two and a half hours, and then we were finally there! We walked from the station to Pukkelpop, where my friends Paulien and Maarten were waiting for us. They gave Lore her ticket to get in (because they bought it for her on Friday since they weren't being sold in stores anymore, and she wanted to be sure they weren't sold out when she wanted to get one from the register at Pukkelpop) and they stayed with our baggage while we all went to get our bracelets. Then we went to the camping site and to their tents. It was nice seeing everyone again, and by everyone I mean Eva, Paulien, Sander and Ruben. Maarten went off to see some band like instantly. We put our bags in the tent and as soon as everyone was ready, we went back to the festival area.
We got lunch at Panos. I ordered the same thing I always do when I go there, normally it's a roll with ham, cheese, lettuce, tomato, eggs, cucumber, carrots, and maybe more, I don't really know. But this time it only had cheese and butter. It was ridiculous. But whatever. Then we sort of just walked around a bit, seeing a few bands here and there, looked at the tshirts, chilled and drew on each other for a while xD There wasn't anything any of us really wanted to see until Plain White T's, so we killed time for a while. They played on the main stage at 4:30, so I suggested we go see the band that played before them, and then go get good spots up front so that we'd have a good view for PWT's. The band that played was the Wombats, I'd listened to them on youtube before and thought they were alright, so we didn't mind going to see them. They were pretty good, the drummer was funny.
When they finished we went up front and got spots right at the barricade! I was excited about that. There's always an hour between sets on the main stage, so we just sat there the whole time. It was hot hot hot! But totally worth it. Some girl next to me was also a big music lover, and she was obviously a PWT's fan too. She'd gone to see them in the AB in February, like me. We talked for a while, she was nice.
And then when it was time for PWT's everyone stood up, and that's when I realized how crowded it had gotten during the past hour. Lots of people wanted to see them xp
They opened with "Our Time Now" and everyone sang along. Then Tom talked for a bit, saying hello and all. They played "Revenge" next. I'm not sure of the exact setlist, but I know they played "Figure It Out", "So Damn Clever", "Friends Don't Let Friends Dial Drunk", "Big Bad World", "Hate (I Really Don't Like You)", "Natural Disaster", ... They ended with "Hey There Delilah", which everyone sang along with. I wasn't paying attention the screens, but my friends told me I was on them two or three times, so I guess I'll be on TV sometime in the next few days xD Probably because I sang along and jumped around to every song, even the new ones. I swear I was the only one singing along to "Natural Disaster". I guess not everyone else is friends with them on myspace or watches "Meet Me In California" xp
After Plain White T's, we were hot and tired. We sat somewhere for a while, and then went to the Marquee. Then we met up with my brother and his friend, which was kind of annoying 'cause his friend got lost and we had to find him.. but then we all went to Less Than Jake. They were good, and funny. During one of their songs, "History Of A Boring Town", they had two volunteers wear masks and wrestle on stage xD And they also made the entire crowd do the wave. It was a lot of fun.
Then we went to see The Dresden Dolls, we stayed for a song and a half... but no one was really into it and Bloc Party was gonna start on the main stage soon, so we left.
When we got to the main stage, it was packed. Bloc Party definitely drew in the biggest crowd that day. They opened with "Hunting For Witches" which is one of my favorite songs by them. I recorded it, but don't feel like uploading it xp
After a few songs we left the mob and went to the big field across from the main stage field, where we got drinks and sat down. It was packed there too (that's how many people wanted to see Bloc Party) but we managed to find a spot. My friends and I made a video just talking and having fun, with the music from the main stage clear in the background xD And then we went to the Boiler Room for 2manyDJs, we danced for a while and enjoyed the light show outside the tent and then, when they finished, talked to one of the camera men. Lore knows him and wanted to say hi, and that was when he had a break. I wanted to go see We Are Scientists, so we had to leave after like ten minutes though. They played in The Club, which is one of the tents, and it was completely full. We stood right outside, but all we could see were the lights from the stage. I was a little disappointed, but oh well. We stood around and acted like crazy people the whole time xD Doing lame dances, playing stupid games. Good times. Then I wanted to take a picture, but I couldn't get my flash to work. I tried like a hundred times, and then some lady was like "do you need help? Want me to take it so you can be in it too?" so I said sure and joined everyone, and the flash worked xD Haha. Aren't we all looking pretty? xp
Soulwax started right after We Are Scientists ended, that was the headlining act for the night, so we went to that. It was like techno-y type music and I'd never heard of them before. No one really liked it that much except Maarten, so we all went to the bathroom and then got food. After Soulwax ended, there were fireworks and there was an acrobat dangling from the stage or a tree or I have no idea, it was hard to tell! Haha. That was pretty cool. And then we went back to the Boiler Room, because after 1:30 on the last night that's the only thing still open. There's a big party there, it lasts until about 5am xp We didn't stay that long though, we went back to our tents and had our own party. We played "I've never...", you know, the game where someone says they've never done something and anyone who has takes a drink. My brother and his friend are underage, so I made sure they were drinking coke xp After two hours or so, the only drinks we had left was a bottle of rum. Which was absolutely disgusting, I understand why people don't ever drink that stuff straight up. It's terrible and doesn't deserve to exist except in pina coladas or other mixed drinks. We decided to go to bed then, but all of a sudden this big crowd of drunk guys was near our tent and they were like falling all over the place and it was kinda scary. One of them stepped on the tent my friend was sleeping in and landed on her arm, so she had to go to the first aid place because she thought it might be fractured. It was crazy- nothing like that has ever happened to us before. Last year I was there for five days and not once did I worry about safety at the campsite at all. It was always calm enough to sleep no problem. But this time it was just crazy. At one point it settled down a bit, and we got like an hour of sleep, and then had to get up because we wanted to take the train at 9am. So we got dressed and went to brush our teeth and all that, packed our stuff, took down all four tents, and left. Farewell Pukkelpop, hello long train ride. It wasn't too bad though. We got lucky and the train stopped with doors right in front of us, so we got on first and were able to get seats. A lot of people slept, I didn't though.
It was good to come home and shower and sleep xp It definitely was fun, and I'm so glad I went... but both previous years were better. Maybe it was because of the lineup or maybe the atmosphere.. this year it just seemed incredibly crowded and PWT's were the only band that I really really wanted to see. Unlike last year where there were a bunch of my favorite bands. And according to the website, 50000 people went to Pukkelpop on Saturday and 45000 of them spent the night. The day before there were 57000 people, which is the record! surprised So I guess it was more crowded than other years... But all in all it was a good time heart
Here are some random pictures of the crazy s**t you see at Pukkelpop xd I didn't take these, but they were taken on the same day that I was there, and I saw it all 3nodding xp
