Festival Review Geuzenpop – 5/6 august 2011
Beggars, Beer and music!
“Some complain we stole this song from Lady Gaga, but we never steel from ugly woman”
Het Geuzenpopfestival, or The Beggars festival, as it would’ve been called in English, is a festival in Enschede that was held for the 7th time this year. The festival has three stages on the Friday and four on the Saturday of the festival. The stages are not really dedicated to one particular music style, which allows the visitors to spread over the area. The great thing about the festival is that basically everyone can find enjoyable bands. The area is decorated with all sorts of signs and art. All over the festival area chairs made out of pallets were set up, a great place to relax.
As we arrived at the festival, the weather was great. The festival camping was completely sold out. Our first impression was that the festival should have been called Little Beggars festival as most of the people we saw at the campsite were quite young. The atmosphere was great. People were playing with soccer balls and Frisbees and it showed that a majority of the people on the campsite had been enjoying the lake just a 5 minute walk away from the festival area.
While we sat up the tent, The Grolschbusters and The Medics were already rocking and partying the stages. Great music to start of a festival. During our dinner Diablo blvd was playing. Diablo blvd reminds me of Volbeat with a bit more hardcore influences. Halfway the show the Belgium band dares to initiate a wall of death. The small crowd started the wall of death and then wholeheartedly changed the moshpit into a wrestle pit. The singer of the band keeps joking about the differences between Vlaanderen and the Netherlands. The band doesn’t really appeal to me, but the singer really had it going when a security guy pointed out that the mosh pit was going a bit too rough: “In this moshpit there will be civilized pogoing.”
After we enjoyed the first tunes of this night, we decided to check out some of the other stages. We walked into the theatre tent to see Tommy Ebben and the Smalltown Villains. The walking bass and the hyperactive music welcomes us friendly. In the middle of a pool of beer (or water), sits the Keyboard player barefooted, playing energetically while some power supply is sitting there in the same pool with him, a pile of thrash completes the image. A rock ‘n roll band is playing here.
In the talent stage we enjoy the tunes of the hip rock band Freaky Age. Their music is firing up the crowd. Peple are dancing to the happy tunes and the sunny vocals. The band uses influence of all different styles, like punk and Britpop. They remember me of The Undertones, an old commercial punkrock band which is known for their song “Here comes the summer”. Back to the theater stage to get some sound bites from Jaimi Faulkner. Were it not for the furniture in the tent, I would have believed we walked right into a scene of the movie “into the wild”. The intimate ambiance goes well with the bluesy Melancholic songs of the single man standing on the stage with his guitar and harmonica. Time to wait for De Heideroosjes.
While we wait, we decide to take a quick toilet break. We payed 2 euro’s for a clean toilet during the time of the festivals and we sure are planning on using the toilets for the full worth of that 2 Euros. I must say, the toilets were always clean, and there was always toilet paper during the entire festival. Right next to the toilets was something going on. Jesus’ Miracle. The place where you could get reborn for just 1 Euro. Arjen Geritsen, the man behind nieuwlef.nl, welcomes the visitors of the miracle lab with a greeting and a hug, dressed as Jesus. The visitors all come out smiling and.. yes, they actually do look reborn.
Time for De Heideroosjes! What else can I say then that this band still rocks. Even when they are, as the bass player states it, are “A Hundrud-and-eighty-and-two”. The entire gig the audience is rocking and jumping and partying and laughing. The bass player might as well aim for a career as stand up comedian. Really, a lot of bands could learn from this great performance and this great excuse to actually talk in between songs without just pronouncing the next song. Okay, that’s exactly what he did once, but hey, it’s Fred Houben: “Okay, that’s it, and now we will play another song”, “If you think, what a shitty talk, we will just talk a bit more, because the drumsolo of the drummer is always so boring”, “Some complain we stole this song from Lady Gaga, but we never steel from ugly woman”, and so on and so on… And you know what? There was going on a lot of civilized pogoing.
At the talent stage The Hot Stewards are still partying on and we know that Crime and Punishment will be going on even longer. Why not just stay a little longer and keep that big smile we got thanks to De Heideroosjes on our face. With signs that say “Dance”, house beats, balloons and Rage Against The Machine Riffs we end the night together with the visitors, feeling like we are at a huge festival, while the crowd actually is not that big anymore. The Hot Stewards know the meaning of an alternative party band for everyone! Awesome!
Time for bed. Time for a little “trying to sleep through the partying noisy crowd”. And then, all of the sudden, it was morning… Early in the morning. The bands were not playing yet and we were not awake yet, so we decided to go to the lake and relax. Nice!
And then, yes, at 12 o’clock in the – what still feels as – morning, the tunes of Klavan Gladje start bursting out of the speakers at the festival. This type of Balkanny, happy music might be able to give energy and joy at other moments on the day, but too much of it with a serious hangover might just be enough to increase your case of the Mondays. Ah well.. Just after the joy and happiness My Propane takes over and this band from Enschede is the perfect easy going start that I like. A grooving Italian singer and Funky riffs. Too bad there isn’t much of a crowd yet.
We start band hopping after the easy going metal of My Propane. Heist doesn’t really catches our attention, so we walk on to Are You A Lion who play a surf punk rock type of summer songs. Then we walk on to Wallace Vanborne, Arctic Monkeys type of Rock, with a good Jack Black impression on drums. The festival seems to slow down. Some visitors enjoy themselves with acrobatic stunts, while others start dancing their Vertical Epileptic Seizure. Most of the visitors are just hanging around and spreading over the area that by this time, with the extra stage, is a bit too big for the number of people there.
Meal time at the lake! There are some barbeque spots near the lake and as we brought some cans and a heater, we had a perfect spot to have a hot meal other then the fries and burgers that were served at the festival. Win! And back in time to see Krach. Krach is one of those bands that, whether you like them or not, you must try to see at least once in your life. These people are artists, true musicians. Their Electro rock is inventive and creative. Halfway their gig the rain tries to scare away the crowd, but the crowd is determined to watch the band and the rain ends within a few minutes after it started. Defeated.
The Hillbilly Hellcats sound as you would expect them too, but then with the lack of interest and energy. Too bad that at the Theater tent the band Yeah Baby does understand how to fire up rock ‘n roll. There is even old school Boogie Woogie dancing going on.
At the talent stage Grown Cold is playing their angry-men-core. They are a talented bunch of angry men, but their songs are just a bit boring after hearing about 15 minutes of their set. Chiraw is following up with some more, a bit different, angry-men-core. They have a bit more scream followed by clean parts in their vocals. The band plays tight and the balance between the instruments in the songs is good, but just like Grown Cold they do not manage to entertain me for more then 15 minutes.
In between Grown Cold and Chiraw there is plenty of time to see some Dutch pride, The Gathering. Though The Gathering is typically a band that I am not really fond of, the new singer Silje Wergeland from Norway does a real great job in replacing Anneke van Giersbergen. Her voice is absolutely beautiful. I understand why some say they liked Anneke better, as Silje has just a bit less timbre in her voice, but I personally prefer Siljes’ voice just a bit more. Watching The Gathering play, I allow my mind to wonder of to a Devin Townsend show last year with Anneke van Giersbergen as gueast musician at De Boerderij in Zoetermeer…
The evening is slowly stepping forward, being interluded by The Mahones. Everybody who is into Dropkick Murphys or Floggin Molly will appreciate this band and probably already know it. The Mahones are less lucky then Krach. The rain isn’t fooled as easy as it was before, but eventually it stops again, before Deadbeat is hitting the Talentstage. We met the guys earlier that day at the campsite and they earned the right to play at the talent stage with every single note! The quality of the bands at the talent stage is really promising and with Deadbeat it is party time all over again. Girls getting crazy and acting like decent groupies would, a drummer with no pants on, a wall of death with the guitar players right in the middle of it: Great music. Great show. Great band. PartyCore.
And then, for something completely different and a bit outdated for that matter, Guild of Stags. This bands is not only covering Steppenwolf’s Born To Be Wild, these guys rock like they were Born To Be Wild. Where did they hide the time machine? While earlier today we saw Jack Black on stage with Wallace Vanborn, it looks as Dave Grohl has joined us now. The wooden stags with their red-LED-eyes complete the picture.
Guild of Stags is followed by The Black Box Revelation. Inspiring and creative Rock music brought to us by two Belgian musicians. My first impression is that they might have listend a bit too much to the White Stripes, but as the show progresses, so does the music. The guitar player brings a full wall of sound with several tiny amplifiers and speakers. At some points the vocals are a bit too nasal, but all together this is a pumping and floating and grooving and rocking duo.
At the Theater stage John C Frasier’ s intimate and fragile show is followed by The Epstein’s Folk / Country music with a keyboardist that can hardly be distinguished from the lead guitarist’s sound. Then there is Striking Justice at the Talent Stage. Old School Hardcore performed well. At the back of the tent some young girls were heavily involved in head banging on the music, but as the mosh started, they had a surprised and protective reaction. After they were sure they were safe again, they regained their guts and toughness and continued to bang their heads while Striking Justice set in their last song, accompanied by the singer of Grown Cold. Double the power of vocals and still keeping the old school.
A band that a lot of youngsters at the festival were waiting for, and having said that, not only the youngsters: Destine. When you are used to the radio versions and the slick productions that you can hear basically every day when you turn on the radio in the Netherlands, listening to them at Geuzenpop might sound a bit disappointing. They did a nice show, with a nice stage act and a good response of the crowd, but all together, they did not deliver a good sound that evening and I must say, the sound on every stage during the entire festival has been really, really well. Yay for the sound engineers!
After Destine’s okay gig, it was time for 10cc Mick Wilson in the Theatre tent, playing his own songs and of course some covers like Dreadlock Holiday, and, on the main stage, it was time for the Norwegian Leaves Eyes, who Stratovana actually did an interview with recently. It felt like the audience was a bit relieved to hear some proper sounds coming out of the speakers again. Alexander Krull didn’t start out that well this gig, but as songs passed he warmed up and ended up singing great during the second half of the set. Liv Kristine’s voice is truly angelic as she speaks and even more so when she sings, but then added with the right amount of power. Leaves Eyes played a great show and the lights and lasers completed the image fully. A worthy headliner.
During their set, Leaves Eyes took the time to reflect on the drama that happened in Norway on the 22nd of July this year by playing a traditional Norwegian song. And as much as a festival is to enjoy and have fun, during such a performance, it is hard not to think of the horror that one man can bring to a nation, to this world.
The rain no longer was fooled and started without stopping anymore. After the last tunes some went to Crime and Punishment. Some went to the campsite. Most went home. Satisfied by the great variation of bands and two nights with great headliners.
Review: Ruth Vennekens (www.cassetteculture.com)
Photos: Richard Baas (soon online!)