The second day it was very foggy, and you
could'nt even see 5 feet in front of you.
Here it's beginning to clear up.Eurorock Festival 2000 in Neerpelt
(Pictures are at the bottom of this page)
This time around i was the only representative
for Club Metropolis, but we were to join
up with 2 friends, and take their luggage
with us. So me and my girlfriend took the
car to Neerpelt in Belgium wednesday morning.
This is a 10 hour drive for us, and the camping
area did'nt open until 12 o'clock on thursday.
Now this is not very clever when the first
band goes on at 16.00. So we had to spend
the night at a hostel in Valkenswaard, Holland.
But i can really recommend this hostel to
people next year. It was clean and had a
good atmosphere.
Valkenswaard Hostel
Past Heerkensdreef 20
Valkenswaard 5552 BG
Tel: +31 (0)40 2015334
Fax: +31 (0)40 2047932
The line up this year was perfect for us.
Me beeing industrial, with a taste for noise,
and my girlfriend Gothic, with a taste for
guitars. So there was plenty to choose from
for both of us. Allthough the noise bit was
a almost completely left out, the closest
thing was Suicide Commando and Dive. But
i could allways sprint down to the car for
a fix of Converter if it got too much...
hehe...
So Gothie and me spend the wednesday in Valkenswaard,
wich by the way is a very neat town, with
only 6 kilometers to the Belgian border,
and only 10 kilometers to Neerpelt. Apart
from the slightly annoying part of having
to change into 3 different currencies, the
prices in Holland are quite cheap. But the
town of Vaklenswaard is a bit boring - to
say the least. A lot of perfect 2 story buildings
that looked like it was taken out of a fairy
tale. All smiling, brightly colored people
who looked like they did'nt have a care in
the world. It was allmost too perfect. I
longed to see a guy in combat boots or just
someone that was a bit out of the ordinary.
But this was NOT the town...
So the next day we left and headed off for
Neerpelt. Maybe i did'nt see the sign for
the festival, but we ended up on the town
square. And it took me nearly an hour before
we saw the first sign for Eurorock. And even
if you did try to follow thes signs, there
was no way you would ever get to the festival.
But we spotted a big car with a :Wumpscut:
sticker, and followed him to the festival
area.
I did'nt see anything at the homepage about
paying for car parking, but luckily my girlfriend
had Belgian cash, so we managed to get in.
The camping site was just next to the carpark
with an iron fence between so i parked in
front of it. Wich later turned out to be
a really great idea.
The weather was fine until we had to stand
in line for the tickets, then it rained torrential
rain... On top of that the ticket booths
opened an hour late, and the tickets became
a nightmare. I was standing in line for ˝
an hour, and when i finally got there, they
did'nt have a clue what to do with my reservation.
I booked the tickets on the internet site,
and stated that i wanted to pay with Visa.
But a week later there was not even a confirmation
by e-mail. Then i called the ticket office,
they said the reservation number was in the
mail, and i would recieve it by snail mail.
I got my reservation number the day before
i left...
But after 2 hours they still did'nt know
what to do, and i was begging the guy at
the ticket office just to sell me the damned
tickets. Because there was plenty of tickets
left.
I later found out that they ran out of tickets,
and had to order extras... Did anyone say
Leipzig? :-)
Then i practically had to threaten the ticket
guy to give me the tickets. Apparently the
rule is, that you can't buy tickets if you
have a reservation. Well... that just defies
logic...
I was not the only one, an english guy had
not recieved the reservation number, and
there was no place he could pay with Visa.
He could'nt even withdraw cash, as it said
on the Eurorock flyer. I never seen anyone
so pissed...
10-15 guys had similar problems, and i saw
at least 8 different booking and reservation
notes. So next year i won't reserve ANY tickets,
that's just too risky.
If they had given me the tickets from the
start, we would have got in right away. But
after 2 hours there was a BIG queue at the
camping entrance, so we waited for nearly
1˝ hours to get in. But at that time Angels
and Agony was allready playing, and i did'nt
have a chance to see them... bummer.
Then there was another strange thing - you
were not allowed to bring any tin cans or
glas. But after 2 hours they cancelled the
rule with the tin cans. One of my friends
had a jar of peanut butter confiscated. But
you could bring camping gas, tables, gas
lights and everything else.
The result of that, was that everyone went
to the fence and just threw their stuff over.
This is where the car parking payed off...
hehe... I don't think anyone complied to
that stupid rule.
The camping area was spacious and clean.
There was no guards, but thats usally not
a problem with industrial/gothic festivals.
There was no cameras allowed on the concert
area, and you were not allowed to bring cans.
But that was OK.
You had to buy food and drink tickets, but
one beer was 50 Belgian Francs (1,2$). So
that was a fair price in my book.
The food stamps was 20 Belgian Francs, but
the price for a meal ranged from 2 to 8 food
stamps. So a decent pasta dish was about
120 BF (3$). They served the usual fries,
pizza and pasta... but they also served a
stick of fried meatballs (!) and a strange
hotdog like thing, a bread with a sausage
in it, and cabbage on top. Well, that must
be a Belgian thing, but it seemed to me that
it probably would gnaw it's way out of my
stomach if i tried to eat it...
The showers was fairly OK. But i had to wait
for 2 hours the first day before the hot
water returned. I was just starting to brush
my teeth when it stopped. And Gothie had
just started wash her hair (there's lots
of it :).
Apart from that, there was only 8 showers.
Last year there was 30. So we had to get
up before 9 if we was to cut the giant shower
line short. But that just left that much
more time for drinking... hehe...
But 8 showers for 8000 people is just not
enough, especially with half of the audience
beeing gothics... :-)
The weather was great all 4 days. It rained
a little but not much. The temperature ranged
from 10 (50F) to 25 (77F) degrees. So if
you had a lousy sleeping bag, it was pretty
cold at night.
There was 4 stages. The first one was the
Transit Stage, this one was free, and you
did'nt have to buy a ticket. But this was
where all the unknown bands played. Then
there was two stages in the same tent, Marquee
A and B. Good stages with great lighting
and good sound.
The last stage was a big open air stage just
next to Marquee A and B. The sound was very
loud, but well defined and allways without
any problems.
The festival people was much more divided
than at Leipzig. In Leipzig there was many
more gothics than industrials, but in Neerpelt
it was nearly 50/50. I was suprised to see
that there was many industrial girls. Thats
usually not the case. I even saw a couple
of industrial girls in Noisex t-shirts. One
of my friends even spotted a lesbian couple
in Frontline Assembly t-shirts. And i saw
a gay couple in black metal t-shirts. All
in all a more diverse crowd than Leipzig.
At one concert i saw a guy in a REC.MUSIC.INDUSTRIAL
t-shirt, the one with "You have taken
the candy, now get in the god damn car..."
He was from California and knew me from the
internet. He even knew our club in Copenhagen.
Cool...
The concerts was arranged so that when they
played on one stage, they set the gear up
on another. That was pretty cool, because
you saw a bunch of bands you would'nt normally
see. I saw 33 bands on the festival, that's
gotta be a personal record for me.
There was just a couple of mishaps - at one
time they did soundcheck at Marquee B when
a Cold Meat band played at Marquee A. But
that only happened the one time.
When we went to Neerpelt to get some cash
(the ATM machine was never set up) we were
handed two festival CD's. I don't know why
you had to be in a car to get them, but they
were quite good. One CD was a no good metal
collection from SPV (Motörhead... you know
the rest...) and the other was a decent EBM/Industrial
collection with some of the bands from Eurorock.
Our ghettoblaster did a horrible dying sound,
and was never heard from again. So at one
point we moved the party to the fence and
i jumped over and started the car CD player.
Then we continued the party with some of
camping guest jumping around with us.
All in all a great festival. It's hard to
compare with Leipzig, as it is not as big.
But after 4 days of great music and great
booze. We went home with meories of a fantstic
festival. See you down there next year!
THURSDAY: (only the transit satge was open this day)
Angels & Agony
I heard A&A down a the camping area while
putting up my tent. There was lot's og guitars,
but i can't really say anything about the
concert from that distance. But i guess it
was all the same, they sounded a bit boring.
And i saw them when they played at our club
with Image Transmission.
Malochia
Malochia was a bit of a let down. The sound
was not really that good, and the female
singer normally has a great voice, but something
in the setup must have killed it. Really
a shame.
I have seen them one time before were they
did a great show. But this time it was a
bit uninterresting.
FRIDAY:
Monaco-X
Everyone said that this band was great at
Leipzig last year, but too many beers blanked
my memory, so i missed them :-)
Sephiroth
This concert was a great surprise. There
was one guy on stage with a keybord and some
effect boxes. It is a Cold Meat act, so i
did'nt really knew what to expect - the record
is really great, with lots of atmospheric
soundscapes.
The concert was almost better than the record.
Lot's of slow beautiful noises that was increasing
in tempo to almost danceable beats. Something
for everyone. Even Gothie thought it was
a great concert.
He reached everyone in the audience. And
was loudly applauded, even though the concert
only lasted half an hour.
Deutsch Nepal
This time we saw a thin, sober and controlled
Lina. He had a guy with him to help him with
the effects, and he really had things under
control. I nearly could'nt recognise him
from the gig at Leipzig.
Great concert as usual.
Sanctum
This is not a band i have in my record collection.
But maybe i should re-evaluate, because they
did an interresting gig.
They are 3 people on stage, one of them a
female lead singer with a great voice. The
2 other guys was on effect boxes and keyborads.
Were one of them also did vocals.
The combination of good music and the mix
between the pure innocent female voice and
the hard dirty male vocal worked excellent.
The first half of the show was perfect, but
then it became a little slow in the end.
I need to check out their records.
The Protagonist
These guys allways do a good concert - they
have a big cello on the stage and 2 guys
on drums on each side. They was showing "The
Seventh Seal" by Ingemar Bergman in
background as usual.
Once again a really great concert from The
Protagonist. Even Gothie was once again surprised.
Raison d'ętre
He showed a film of big naked women under
water taken from a Stockholm festival a few
years ago, and a lot of swedish 50's 8mm
film. The concert consisted of one long song
with roughly the same beat through the whole
thing. At the end he had a small metal plate
with and chain on it and a mike. That was
pretty cool and gave a frightening sound.
But the concert as a whole was not overly
great. I missed some diversity.
Ordo Equilibrio
Two guys on stage, one with a small drumset,
and another with just one drum. But all the
songs sounded the same to me. On top of that,
they sounded like Death in June. Now i don't
want to go into an argument over DIY, but
lyrics like "War - natures way of give
and take -War..." is just for someone
else.
The Sins of thy Beloved
Now, SOTB is not something i normally would
buy a ticket for, but the great thing about
Euorock, is that you don't have to choose
between the bands, and you are free to hear
something new. In this case i was VERY suprised.
They had a great violinplayer on stage, he
was really good and played some of the songs
like you would play a guitar. They were 7
people on stage, 2 girls on keyboard, 1 bass,
1 guitar and a female vocal. The guitar player
also did little growling on most of the songs,
but that was nothing too annoying. The female
vocals was clean and crisp, she had a lovely
voice.
All in all, the whole thing just worked for
them, and the skinny black clothed violinist
added the extra ingredient, that made this
concert one of the best at Eurorock.
Tiamat
This was too metal for me. But Gothie really
likes them, she said it was a really good
concert.
They played a lot of numbers from one of
their best albums "Wildhoney".
Unfortunately they also played a cover of
"Pretty Vacant" by Sex Pistols,
but that did'nt spoil the overall impression
of the concert for Gothie.
SATURDAY:
Bellator
I never actually saw this band, but from
the camping area i could hear them do a version
of Depeche Mode's "Enjoy the silence".
Now Bellator is NOT and EBM act.. They are
a growling metal band. So try to imagine
"Enjoy the Silence" with heavy
guitars, growling, double bass drum and a
lead guitar. Scary... really scary...
Aggressiva 69
This was a strange act. I just glanced at
them when i was passing by. They played some
uninterresting EBM stuff. But they tried
to do DM's "Personal Jesus" - 2
times...
First he did'nt remember the lyrics, and
the second time the DAT gave up. So he moved
on to another number... hilarious.
Terminal Choice
TC played a little harder than usual. The
drum pads was replaced by a guitar and the
stageshow they presented the last time i
saw them was taken out. I think it was the
original guy on vocal. But i'm not really
that fond of TC, so we went for some beers
instead.
Theatre of Tragedy
Another of Gothies bands, they played a lot
of new songs. But there was too much keyboards
on the new stuff. So for a true ToT fan,
this was a bit f a let down. The female vocal
was really good, but the mix of old and new
songs sounded a bit strange. All in all,
a fair concert - in Gothies oppinion.
V-Lenz
I was passing by when they set up. So i decided
to check them out. It was pretty early so
there was 50-60 people in the tent. I was
down in front with the usual industrial crowd,
when the singer said "This is going
to be something completely different".
And man, was he right. They played hip-hop/scratch
shit!!
Try to imagine an old Benny Hill show, where
the bad guy enters the saloon, and people
just disapears from one frame to the other.
Thats pretty much what happened to the audience
when they started. I certainly ran for dear
life. Later i saw there was only 10-20 people
left - probably the ones with the hearing
disorders....
L`Ame Immortelle
They was'nt all that good. They need to get
rid af that female singer. The keyboard player
also did vocals on the songs, and he was
pretty good. The music was fairly hard industrial,
and the whole show would have been really
great, if it was'nt for the female vocals.
Quite a shame actually...
So we went for some beers instead.
Diary of Dreams
DoD played most of their hit songs, one after
the other. But the stage show was pretty
good. Two guys in black clothes was singing,
one guy played guitar and a DAT did the rest.
But those guys really had a great voice,
they sang perfectly together with low undistorted
vocals - on top of really great electronic
music.
That concert was also one that stood out
from the rest on Eurorock.
Goethes Erben
I saw GE at Columbia Halle in Berlin last
year. Too german for me. So i skipped this
one.
Zeromancer
The old band Seigmen from Norway has reformed
under a new name - Zeromancer. But the Cyberpunk
look and the guitars did'nt do anything for
me. Gothie informed me that people who knew
the old stuff did'nt like them that much
either.
I think the Cyberpunk look, and the agressive
guitars is beginnig to be a thing of the
past... hopefully :)
Suicide Commando
Johan allways knows how to do a great gig.
He jumped around, throwing his microphone
stand left and right. He did all the good
old songs, and when we just could'nt take
the heat, the great music, and the dehydration.
He did "See You In Hell" as an
extra number. The whole festival sang along
on this one. GREAT show!!
Faith and the Muse
William Faith was touring the festval site
quite often. I saw him several times. The
show was OK, allthough it's a bit too gothic
for me. But again it was one of those bands,
that for some reason just works better on
a small stage. This time it was more guitars
and less drums.
Moonspell
I have seen Moonspell before, but they have
way too many guitars for me. The lead singer
did a great show, but music just is'nt me.
Allthough Gothie did'nt agree, she loved
it. :)
The Mission
I thnk the early records are quite good,
but they mostly played the new stuff. They
did 2 or 3 songs from the (not so) old stuff.
Not a good gig. I think they loved that big
stage a bit too much.
SUNDAY:
Eisheilig
Booring german metal. They sounded just like
everything else, but without any personality.
German vocals just don't make a good band.
Velvet Acid Christ
Brian Erickson was probably on some kind
of substance. Because he looked like shit
compared to the Leipzig gig. His spiky hair
hang down his face and he constantly fell
down on the stage behind the monitors. The
samples on "Fun With Drugs" was
too faint. But people jumped around and enjoyed
the concert. At one point he took a lighter
and burned himself on the arm.
Strange guy this Brian. When the last song
was announced he had to stop, because he
ran out of time. Chaotic but funny... but
the music from VAC is allways great.
Dive
Dirk Ivens knows how to do a good gig. I
was in one of the best pogo's ever, with
2 germans, 2 french guys and 2 belgians.
When the concert was finished i was drenched
with sweat and beer, and had bruises all
over. Fucking great!
He did True Lies and other great songs. I
was hoping for Machine Gun Baby, but he left
that one out.
The audience loved him, and it was one of
the best gig's at the festival.
Massiv in Mensch
They did a boring EBM act without anything
special about them. I left after 2 songs.
Marc Almond
It was strange seeing Marc Almond again after
so many years. Not that i've seen him live,
but he did play lots of new songs. I did'nt
knew the many them, but when he played "Say
hello, wave goodbye" as the last song,
the audience was just all misty eyes...
Oomph!
Apart from the funny clothing, Oomph! did
a really great gig. The lead singer was i
a white full-body suit, and the rest was
in some strange plastic clothes. But even
people that was'nt into guitars jumped along
to the music. They did'nt play "Feiert
Das Kreuz" but the concert was great.
The lead singer was very energetic and the
guitars worked very well without beeing too
agressive or too metal.
Even our new born industrial (and techno)
guy loved the show.
The Neon Judgement
The old band Neon Judgement gave the first
concert in many years. But as Sique Sique
Sputnink in Leipzig, they probably should'nt
have played. I did'nt do anything for me.
The Fields Of The Nephilim
Fields is Gothie's favorite band, so i tagged
along to check them out. I have'nt heard
them in a long time - it's allright, but
not something i would buy.
But the concert was surprisingly good. McCoy
had an aura around him that matched the music
perfectly. And his special voice was more
than perfect on the main stage. They did
a Nefilim number at one point, but they did'nt
do "Last Exit for the Lost" - which
is one of my favorites.
I've seen a live video at one point, and
that was'nt very interresting. They hardly
moved at all on stage. But in Neerpelt they
did a superb show. I really look forward
to the new album in October.
After the show i had to get Gothie out of
her trance... But a cold beer did the trick
:)
Front 242
I was warned about Front 242 from last year.
Some of my friends saw them, but left in
anger.
I, of course, love Front from the old days,
and had to give them a chance. But they sounded
like Re:Boot on every song.
They even fucked up "Welcome to Paradise"
and "Headhunter" so it sounded
like a damn techno act.
I promise - this is the last time that i
will EVER listen to anything from this band!!
Well... the lighting was good... <shrug>.
Apoptygma Berzerk
They closed the Festival with a hell of a
gig. Jean Luc was singing as a surprise on
"Mourn" that was remixed especially
for this gig. Damn great version. "Love
Never Dies" totally kicked ass with
the Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana"
sample. They announced 3 or 4 times that
this was to be the last song, but still played
extra numbers. One of the best concerts on
the Festival.
Cancellations:
London After Midnight
PICTURES
Click on them to enlarge. Use your browsers
back arrow to get... well... back. (yeah,
i'm lazy - i know :)
The second day it was very foggy, and you
could'nt even see 5 feet in front of you.
Here it's beginning to clear up.
Well if you get hungry enough you'll eat
anything - from anything. This was also the
case at our comping site :-)
There was quite a lot of bugs at the camping
site. Here's a guy that decided it was easier
just to shake the spiders out of his tent...
This was the ticket queue when the queue
was tolerable. It was'nt on saturday... :-)
This was the free Transit Stage, were all
the unknown bands played. Well not all unknown,
but at least uninteresting for me....
Extra was once agian down there to sell
clothes. Gothie was, of course, in there.
But it was hotter than hell in that tent.
There was not as many merchandising stand
as in Leipzig, but the metal wristbands salesmen
was well represented :-)
This stand sold metal t-shirts... Where's
the industrial shirts?? Well.. nowhere unfortunately.
A picture of the merchandising stands.
This was the main entrance to the concert
area, but no cameras allowed, sadly...
This was the entrance to the camping area.
Notice the sign with "Please open free
your baggage for control". And they
did... tents, bags and sleeping bags was
spread out and examinated.
This guy decided to make it back on bicycle.
Pretty cool, concidering were he was on the
Belgian map...