3 Responses to “Pinkpop Reviews”

1. Simen on Jun 3rd, 2008 at 12:34 pm

   This year’s Pinkpop was just over the top!! Almost 100 000 people made a fantastic atmosphere together.

   My Pinkpop started with Eagles of Death Metal who made an awesome show. Then I went on for Justice who blew my mind away. Ended saturday with Foo Fighters, who of course delivered a good show.

   Sunday started with The Wombats, then The Hives. The rest of the day I saved my energy for Rage Against The Machine. I was among the lucky people that got to be in the very front section of the concert, and it was totally mindblowing!! When they entered the stage in Guantanamo prisoner-suits I felt the adrenaline rush like when u just enter a rollercoaster. I was thinking “What the fuck have I gotten myself into!” then they started playing and just rose the energy throughout the concert. Wish they hadn’t taken such long breaks in between the songs, but still, it was insane!

   Thanks for a great Pinkpop 2008, see you back in 2009

   Simen
   http://tees-time.blogspot.com

2. Eliot Sitton on Jun 4th, 2008 at 7:04 pm

   Pink Pop 2008 was amazing all round
   My First EU Festival and well i was in for a treat

   Friday saw Metallica Main stage and was absolutly incredible with all the songs i wanted them to play (one, enter sandman, seek and destroy and master of puppets) all being played. to boot the fireworks as well was a really good touch

   Saturday my day started by going to watch Eagles of Death Metal, who really were a band that impressed me the most at Pinkpop, considering i had not heard them before, the lead singer worked the crowd well and enjoyed being out there saying that this was the best show they had been too so far.
   After Eagles, editors took to the main stage and they really did put on a great show playing a good mix of new and older material and everyone really got into it.
   Next up was the Kaiser Chiefs who i was very much looking forward too, with everyday i love you less and less, Everything average nowadays and na na na na to start really got the crowd going. they also treated us to a new track which really sounded good, new album must be something to check out. The rest of set was quite memorable with the lead singer running into the crowd and also climbing up the set to psych the crowd up. Then Came the Foo’s who literally blew us all away with breakout and learn to fly coming quite early. also with songs such as one by one, monkey rench and there goes my hero really made the show
   the guys really ran through their tunes with also great drum solo efforts

   On Sunday the place was absolutly mobbed awaiting Rage, 94000 ppl apparantly attended this day
   But As well as Rage other bands was playing as well
   Cavalera Conspiracy took to the 2nd stage at about 2pm and they really put on a wild chaotic show, which i am sure was a good early warm up to rage. alanis morrisette on the main stage was good to see, but the crowd wasnt there to see her, so really didnt get much of a reaction. same could be said about gavin degraw and racoon
   Serj Tankian on 2nd stage really rocked the place as well with empty walls creating a good bit of activity at the front.
   Before Rage, QOTSA graced us with their presence and with sick sick sick, little sister, no one knows and many more played you can see why they always come back to Europe and are always welcome. I seen them 5 times in the UK, seeing them at Reading as well, and would go again and again.

   Then the set was stage, Rage against the Machine was next. the crowd was really hyped up and ready for this. They came on in Guantanamo bay prison outfits wearing balaclavas and stood out infront with WW2 sirens blaring out the speakers, then roadies came and armed them with their instruments and the boys played bombtrack still with balaclavas on! how zach sounded so amazing with a balaclava on was truly something.
   Long pause before they returned in normal gear to play testify
   the pit circles was bouncing the place was buzzing.
   Many more classic just kept coming
   guerilla radio, people in the sun, bullet in your head, know your enemy, wake up, the crowd was soaking it right up and was truly wonderful to see the boys back. The rubbish easyjet flight i took to get here was so worth it now seeing Rage Live.
   During Wake up Zach spoke to the crowd with one of his amazing speeches about how that european ppl stood up to the governments and didnt join bush with war on iraq and he proceeded to say how britain did, and blair has been kicked out. Spain did and their PM has been kicked out. Everyone else in europe spoke out and made the difference and he thanked us all
   After a very long pause they encore we so really wanted happend and the guys came back out and played Freedom
   After Freedom, Came Killing in the Name off, was so looking forward to this tune, but part of me knew it be their last song. But truly was a great track and 94000+ singing “fuck you i wont do what you tell me ” really is the moment that caps off this performance, festival and the whole of Pinkpop 2008
   Best festival i have ever been too and well i got to go through it all again at Reading in August Cannot Wait

3. Lisa Mc Namara on Jun 6th, 2008 at 10:05 am

   So its festival season again and this time we are off to Pinkpop in Landgraaf, Eindhoven. This blog will give you information that you will not find any where ( and believe me I have looked ). When researching this festival I found out that it was the oldest annual festival in Europe and that it was attended by 40-60 thousand people every year. This guide will give you hints and tips from first hand experience of what to expect when you go to Pinkpop.

   What I did find out was that alot of people did not like this festival because of the people and the atmosphere that these people create… I must say that this is a true statement and I will explain why further on.. But first of all I will tell you about how to get there.. The quickest way to go is by Ryanair to Eindhoven, there are lots of shops around the city so you can stock up on festival essentials such as bog roll/suncream/toiletories, dont bother buying these before you go as they are much cheaper over there. You dont have to bring drink or water with you as this is supplied rather cheaply at the festival. There are no hostels in Eindhoven so if you were to stay over night than you will have to stay in a hotel.. Some people will fly straight to Amsterdam and travel from there but theres a agreat selection of Coffee shops in Eindhoven and its pretty cheap and not as cheesy as the Dam. We found a great one when we were there called the Pink and it was really clean, great coffee and we gots lots of good grass for a very good price..
   So once your paraphanalia is sorted you can head on a train to Landgraaf, this will cost you 30euro return and it includes the buses which will bring you to the campsite and to the festival. The train takes 1hour 18minutes and its grand and easy, you just follow everyone else because tents/backpacks and beer must only mean one thing ! There are 3 campsites situated in Pinkpop. Campsite A is the closest, Campsite B is in the middle and Campsite C is the furthest away ( 45minutes – 1 hour walk ) So if you can get there early on the first day it is worth it, mind you we arrived at 3pm on the Friday and B and C were already full so we got stuck in C…So early in Dutch means 9am Friday morning…

   So you’ve got your tent up and sleeping mats rolled out and you have just cracked open your first beer and your just settling in to the swing of things when you have to Q to get your band that allows you entry to the festival, this Q will take about 30 minutes and then you have to Q for tokens this will take another 30 minutes. This is different from other festivals because you usually get this sorted on the way in but here they allow you to put your tent up first and then you have to do the Qing… The tokens are used to buy food and drink in the festival so you buy these before you go in as it is handier..Depending on how much food and drink you consume 100euro should cover it.. Beer is one token which is 2 euro. They are smaller glasses then we would get over here but their beer is stronger so it works out the same, and at least its cold…Dont buy too many tokens though because the clerk told us you used these tokens for everything in the festival but you just use them for beer and food, so if you want to buy a T-shirt then you have to use cash…
   The toilets surprisingly are pretty clean in the campsites and there are no Qs which is very odd but it all seems to work out pretty well..

   Anyway you’ve got your ticket, your wristband and your tokens and your ready to go ( and you’ve got your toilet roll, applied your suncream and got your camera ready ).. You can either walk or wait for a bus depending on which campsite you managed to set up in.. There are vendors along the roads and its all pretty exciting as you have waited for this for quite some time… Then the next Q you reach is the security, you need your ticket and your band first, then they check your bag and pat you down and this can take another half an hour…

   Then your in, finally, beer and what ever else you fancy !!! Listen I wont get into much about the music because next year it will obviously be a different line up but I will say that everyone I saw was amazing and the highlights were Bad Religion, Eagles of Death Metal, Metallica, Qotsa, FooFighters, Rage against the Machine and Justice… Heres the down side of Pinkpop – the crowd !!! Compared to other festivals in Ireland where everyone sings along with the bands and says hello to everyone else it felt like the Pinkpop crowd weren’t there to do that. They just clapped at the end of every song, didnt really sing to much, didnt interact with the bands, just kind of stood there and drank their beer and chatted to there friends…I’m not saying that they didnt enjoy themselves but it didnt feel like they were there for the music, just there for themselves and their own existance…Sorry if I’m being too harsh but we did try and say hello to loads of people but they just looked at us and there was no reaction on their faces…There just was no atmosphere at the concert, everyone was out for themselves and nobody wanted to mix with us, and nobody really moved or sang along with the bands… Of course there was the odd exception to the rule, we did meet a really nice couple Tristan and Mareeka, and a group of dudes from Landgraaf ( Hej Neils ) and a couple of lads and girls from Belgium and they agreed that the Pinkpop crowd was a very dull lot. If you ever find yourself in Ireland then your more then welcome to come and stay with us if you wish..

   So if your looking for a festival thats highly organised with good music but the atmosphere is not top class then Pinkpop is the one for you…Listen, the line up was fantastic but I wont be heading back to Mega land any time soon….And I didnt even mention the pink hats, very feckin gay !!!

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