Saturday, September 02, 2006

Why do I get suckered into these things? Why do I end up in some godforsaken place listening to music I don't like every other year or so?
The set-up is like this: first, I forgot how bad it was last time. Second, "hey, free tickets. And you know, I really should keep up with what's happenin' more often and the line-up ain't too bad...".
But only a few minutes after arrivin' it's obvious once again: drinkin' beer in a field of mud just ain't my thing. Especially not with three stages close enough together so there's no way one can listen to just one band.
We're talkin' a local festival here with no signs of crusty and/or metal acts, nope just you're average well-meaning, late 20s/early 30s crowd, slightly arty, you know the type, nothing wrong with that. So what made grandad grumpy once again?
Well, for starters, If you didn't want to stand in line for an hour or longer, the only food option was fries 'n burgers of the worst pre-processed kind. Then, of course, there was the pretentious prog-rock, sorry, "indie" band from Belgium.
But what really did it for me was walkin' into this tent where two guys had set up their laptops on stage and switched on some generic beat, which is bad enough in itself, but when a girl jumps on stage yelling something along the line of "Hi there party people! Do you wanna dance?" I'm off... Fuck that shit! I ain't no party people! And I certainly don't wanna be addressed that way. Plus, any audience that willingly pays money to see some dork switch on his computer and does little else than stand around and look funny for over an hour, is beyond salvation. Did I mention the marketstalls with their overpriced artcraft and massage offers?
Heck, I think I need to lie down for a while before this vision of "Woodstock+Camdenmarket=the future" takes hold of my brain. Please say it ain't so...

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

'Gezellig' naar De Beschaving geweest? Moet je ook niet doen. Daar zijn wij te oud voor! Ik heb gewoon voor de buis gehangen en op BBC gekeken wat voor 'n rotzooi er op Reading speelde dit jaar. Lekker vanuit de luie stoel. Geen modder, geen hip gedoe, ijskast (bijna) binnen handbereik, dus niet in de rij voor een glaasje prik... Prima de luxe! ;-)

Fenderwoods

Anonymous said...

heer vedder,
wat uit onderstaand programma deed u in godsnaam besluiten daar naar toe te gaan? 'mtv coolpolitics' of de osdorp posse?-: volgens mij vind ik alleen viva la fete stiekem leuk!

"Programma deBeschaving

deBekroning
Pallas Athena Stage
presentatie door Eva Brouwer
The Gasoline Brothers
The Polar Exploration Ship
Kraak & Smaak (Live)
Transsylvanians (D)
Osdorp Posse|
Zita Swoon (B)
Vive la FĂȘte (B)

deBeleving
Excelsior Stage
presentatie door Richard de Groot
Do the Undo
Spinvis
GEM
Solo
Lefties Soul Connection
Johan

deBeproeving
presentatie door Frank Vrijman
Doctor, what do cowgirls dream about?
Urban Dance Force
MTV Coolpolitics
Frida, born to live
Telselldelllerium "

Lindsay Hutton said...

I have no idea what any of that is about but reading J's report makes me think that he suffered a certain degree of trauma suffering for his "art".

Jeroen Vedder said...

I think my entire stay at the festival lasted 90 minutes tops. Fenderwoods is right of course, I am way too old for this kinda lark. Sir Bink; I actually like Spinvis, Gem and Johan, but the first two had already finished by the time I arrived, and to catch the latter I would have had to extent my stay for an other two hours, which I don't think I'would have survived... A glass of wine and a good nights sleep helped somewhat in my recovery...

CARONTE said...

Festivals are for hippies. And I always say: “Kill all hippies” Or at least kick them in the balls.

Joris.