2023-07-03 06:26:00
The long-awaited Arctic Monkeys had not yet played the last notes of their concert this Sunday July 2 that the organizers already announced the dates of Rock Werchter 2024. The festival will take place from Thursday July 4 to Sunday July 7. In the meantime, the 2023 edition shows a more than positive balance sheet. Upstream, we mentioned price inflation, the cancellation of Stromae, traffic jams at Werchter Boutique or the Harry Styles concert… But nothing helped. The Flemish Brabant plain was full three days out of four. The event attracted 88,000 spectators per day (a cumulative total of 352,000 people) and there were no notable incidents. It’s time for our top / flop.
The Arctic Monkeys apotheosis
A great festival must have a memorable closing concert. This memorable concert, we had it with Arctic Monkeys this Sunday, July 2. Somewhere between the David Bowie of “Young Americans” and the Robert Palmer of “Looking For Clues”, Alex Turner is elegance incarnate. He was also in a very good mood. Alternating pop songs for crooners (Sculptures Of Anything Goes served as an entry) and fiery rock songs (Don’t Sit Down ‘Cause I’ve Moved You Chair which gave rise to a nice mosh pit in the first rows), the English formation has delivered a flamboyant performance. Great musicality, enormous power, communication with the public, a total party that did not forget any classic and ended with a fireworks display to light up hearts one last time before heading back home .
Iggy’s Lesson, Red Hot Form
The veterans held their rank. At 76, Iggy Pop delivered a performance of rare intensity at the festival’s curtain raiser. Disappointing in 2022, the Red Hot Chili Peppers silenced all critics. Another Rock Werchter regular, Muse was able to realize that his popularity was still intact and released the very big show. Many jaded music lovers reconciled on Saturday with Matthew Bellamy. The scabby Liam Gallagher also gave us a great time.
Anthony Kiedis, lead singer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, at Rock Werchter ©Jean-Christophe Guillaume
women in power
There was of course the Rosalia phenomenon this Sunday which caused scenes of hysteria at The Barn. But before her, the dj/producer Charlotte de Witte made a huge splash in the same room. Just like the American Gayle, Baby Queen, the angry Australians of Body Type, the Nova Twins duo composed of Amy Love and Georgia South or even Kelsy Karter & The Heroines.
Flemish pop at the top
If French-speaking pop/rock artists are shunned in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, where they bear the brunt of the urban surge, their Flemish “colleagues” working in the same musical spheres remain at the top. On Friday, Tamino and The Haunted Youth drew tens of thousands of teens and post-teens to the stages where they were performing. Completely unknown to the “franstaligen”, Froukje Veenstra, the 18-year-old singer from Rotterdam, had her hit song Groter Dan Ik taken up all over the plain. Ditto for Oscar and the Wolf, which no longer interests many people in Wallonia. For the first time on the main stage (and for his fourth stint at Rock Werchter), Max Colombie, his real name, proved that he is capable of galvanizing the crowd with his pop which is increasingly tinged with rock. It can count on a super loyal community that is always there, despite the latest releases with more mixed success.
The closed doors of The Barn
Undoubtedly the subject that all the festival-goers talked regarding this weekend. With a limited capacity, 22,000 people all the same, more than the Sportpaleis in Antwerp, the hall was full several times. This was particularly the case for Iggy Pop, Charlotte de Witte, Rosalia, the metal band Amenra or even Fred Again. The price of success, the qualitative level of the poster, the phenomenon is accentuated from year to year in Werchter. Today, you have to plan, even if it means depriving yourself of part of the poster. Damage. Under fire from critics, the organizer Herman Schuermans wants to continue to put “the biggest names” there but plans to increase the gauge to 25,000 people next year. “Our DNA is having the biggest exclusives of the summer, both on the big outdoor stage and at The Barn. We will continue. “.
Le bad mood de Machine Gun Kelly
One of the leaders of the 2000s-inspired pop-punk revival didn’t seem in too much of a mood to take the stage this Saturday. The American tried to wake up her concert by climbing along the control room or going into the audience, but nothing worked, it didn’t go through. In another genre, Squid also missed his subject on Thursday with a show that was too cerebral and The Black Keys did not deserve to play on the big stage.
The success of The Slope
On the indie side, the Viagra Boys unquestionably win the prize for the best performance of the weekend. But the outdoor stage The Slope played its role perfectly by programming artists that we are used to seeing in clubs during the season. This is where we saw in particular Nova Twins, Baby Queen, Dead Poet Society, Sons or even the restless formation of Hastings Kid Kapichi… That’s also Rock Werchter…
L’organisation 100% pro
We’ve written it, we’ll say it once more… In addition to a schedule kept to the minute, Rock Werchter is also distinguished by its impeccable organization. Ok, you have to pay 3.50 for a beer or a Coke (that’s the price of Palais 12, by the way). But here the toilets are always clean, the site is cleaned every night, drinking water is free, there are floor mats on hundreds of square meters in front of the stages, The Barn is the most beautiful room in the country (and the sound is much better), there is an army of volunteers who smile and are, for the most part, trilingual, there is never a long line in front of the stands, there are waste bins with selective sorting every 30 meters, as well only dozens of Lijn buses that don’t wait for the last concert to bring people back to the station… We’re not going to talk regarding Belgium at two speeds, but it would be interesting for many Walloon festival organizers to come for a training course. observation in Werchter to find out how we welcome a mass audience in 2023.
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