The Lowlands festival describes itself as a "Campingflight to Paradise" and it isn't far off. It has an impressive six stages and an amazing lineup. For three days the greatest bands in the world and thousands of their fans converge on some fields in Holland for one of Europe's largest and coolest festivals. It's a wild celebration of alternative music. This year Monsta was there to cover the action.
Cynics are probably wondering why we went all the way to Holland when there are perfectly good festivals in England. It's a long story and you wouldn't be all that interested, there's a woman involved and yeh so on, so lets pretend that's its purely because Monsta is prepared to go the extra distance to bring you the music news that other sites don't. You know that's the truth.
Your intrepid reporters for this dangerous assignment were yours truly Alan "Beanus" Green and our guest correspondent Tom Neale. We spent a couple of days in the heart of Amsterdam i.e. the red light district (I didn't choose the hotel don't look at me) wandering amongst the canals and coffee-houses of that great city. Talking of wandering, the cobblestones really kill your feet, the things we do for you. Having had a look round Holland's capital we headed out into its flat and usually quiet countryside to begin our weekend in rock n roll paradise.
The trouble with having so many stages and such a great lineup was that was that it involved making some tough decisions about who to watch but thankfully the first day was nice and easy. There was only one place to be. The Alpha Stage was hosting the Kaiser Chiefs, Franz Ferdinand and The Prodigy.
Obviously the sensible thing to do would have been to go early get a decent spot and stay there for the night but we were busy drinking weird incredibly alcoholic slush puppy style cocktails (we got through a lot of those over the weekend) so we missed our chance. Luckily a lot of people were just there for the Chiefs so once they'd finished your correspondents managed to squeeze through and secure a decent spot for Franz Ferdinand and Prodigy's sets. Having got that far we settled in for a night of music that was going to blow us away.
As I said we didn't have a very good spot for the Kaiser Chiefs but it was still a good set. They treated the crowd to most of the songs from their debut album Employment. Catchy songs like "I Predict a Riot", "Oh My God" and "Everyday I Love You Less and Less" already seem like old favorites and the audience lapped them up. One of the good things about seeing the Kaiser Chiefs live is that it is easy for everyone to sing along. The lyrics are catchy and there are lots of "lalalala" type bits. The Lowlands audience was no exception the Kaiser Chiefs soon had lots of us joining in. Judging by the size of the crowd the Chiefs are yet another British band who are taking Europe by storm.
On a side note what is going on with Ricky Wilson's leg? Last time I saw them play back in April the Kaiser Chief's lead singer was using a walking stick because he had sprained his ankle. This time he was standing on one leg because he had broken the other one. Apparently he fell over a mic stand at a festival in Portugal. Ricky you've got to be more careful.
The worlds favorite rock band named after a dead Austro-Hungarain Archduke showed Holland exactly why they are so popular back home in Blighty. The band claim that they aim to make "music that girls can dance to". Judging by the way the Lowlands crowd responded to their tunes they seem to be doing a pretty good job.
The band mixed songs from their self-titled debut album with newer material including their soon to be released single "Do you want to". A catchy little tune about blow jobs. It's tipped to be number one so we will probably all be really sick of it real soon but in a tent in a field in Holland it hit the spot as did the rest of Franz Ferdinand's set.
Setlist:
Have you ever seen The Prodigy live? Without wanting to sound over the top if you haven't you should put it on your list of things to do before you die. It's a pretty intense experience. I was looking forward to their set because I'd heard that they put on a good show but I'd completely failed to grasp what people meant when the said that.
The Prodigy's tunes have a wild energy that is like nothing else. Its powerful, chaotic music that knocks you over and then picks you up again and makes you jump around like a madman. Their performance really raised the intensity of the evening and sped up the tempo. They are master performers, they know exactly how to play the crowd. People seemed to be really enjoying the Kaiser Chiefs and Franz Ferdinand but Prodigy definitely took things up a notch. The crowd reacted to their tunes in the same way that piranhas react to blood.
Setlist:
Wake the F*ck Up or maybe not.
Having just listened to Maxim yelling at us to "Wake the F*ck Up" we decided to go back to our tent and have a quick nap. The plan was to sleep for a few hours and then go and have a bit of a boogie to Aphrodite. Once the bands had finished for the night the tents all switched over to dance music. Unsurprisingly we didn't actually wake up in time but never mind. Remember all this was only the first day of the festival there was much more to come.
The first band we saw on the second day of the festival were a bit of a nonevent. Death From Above 1979 are a duet who play heavyish rock. Since I've got back I've noticed that there seems to be a bit of a buzz around this band. Maybe I wasn't in the right frame of mind or they were having an off day or something but I don't really see why. There was nothing wrong with them as such which is a shame because this report would be more fun to write if I had at least one really lousy band to lay into its just that they didn't really stand out. They performed some not bad but not particularly memorable rock tunes. The trouble with Death from Above 1979 is that the main thing I remember about them is their impressive facial hair. The music might be a bit derivative but respect to the 'taches.
One of the great things about going to a festival is that you end up watching bands that in the normal course of life you probably wouldn't come across. Viva la fete are a perfect example. A Belgian electro pop band whose songs are all in French? Um yeah OK. If someone had described the band before we went to see them I probably would have given them a miss but it would have been my loss. Viva La Fete (long live the party, cool name incidentally) put on a great show. It helps that the lead singer Els Pynoo is very sexy. The groups songs sounded passionate but that might have just been a combination of the gorgeous singer and the fact that she was singing in French, the language of love as any third rate romantic film will teach you. To be honest she could have been singing about mortgages or the price of milk for all I know but somehow I doubt it.
One of my big regrets of the festival is that I missed a big chunk of Arcade Fire's set. The bit I did see left me in awe. Arcade Fire put on one hell of a show. It's indie rock but not as we know it. They call on almost every instrument imaginable in order to create their unique and truly beautiful sound. It would be quicker to list the instruments they didn't use rather than list all the ones they did. There are seven people in the band and lots of the band members play more than one instrument, often playing two instruments virtually simultaneously. As if he didn't have enough to do one band member climbed up to the top of the tent while playing a drum. Rock and roll showmanship, you've got to love it. I'll definitely be looking out for an Arcade Fire gig in my corner of the world.
The Pixies are legendary so I had pretty high expectations of their set. It didn't disappoint. The Pixies play with style and flair. On the other hand someone should tell them to cut down on the stage banter. Maybe its funnier if you are a militant fan but a lot of it didn't seem to be even directed at us. They just seemed to be joking around amongst themselves leaving me uncharitably thinking that they should shut up and play some songs already but once the music started flowing I quickly forgave them. They can really play! When they launched into "Where is My Mind" everyone in the tent was singing along. "Monkey Gone to Heaven" and "Debaser" also set the place on fire.
That was the last set of the evening but the night was young so we had another drink and then headed over to the silent disco to make fools of ourselves for a bit. Have you seen one? They're great, basically everyone gets a set of headphones and the DJ's set is broadcast to the headphones. I know it sounds pointless and it is but it can be really funny. Watching people dance to silence had a certain charm but when they started singing along it was hard not to crack up. Obviously you have to take your own headphones off every now and again in order to get the full effect.
Having failed to hit it off with any of the Dutch girls we were trying to dance with we decided to grab some food and wander over to the big screen to see if there was a decent film on. Preferably one that was in English. The film turned out to be the "Last Days" the biopic about the last few days of Kurt Cobain's life. Was it any good? I have no idea. The sound quality was so bad that for a good ten minutes we thought it was in Dutch. It's a music festival, surely the place is full of sound engineers? We gave up on it and went back to the tent to crash.
Our last day at the festival was mostly Rock to the core but we eased ourselves into it with something nice and mellow. Morcheeba played all of their old hits but the singer was a new face. Jody Sternberg was giving one of her first performances as the new live singer for the group. I don't know how the groups fans will feel about her but from where I was standing (right in the front for this one as it happens, not sure how we managed that) she's doing a great job. Her hippiesque style fits in well with the bands chilled out sound and she's a pretty good sax player. The sax solo was a bit out of the blue but what the hell it works. The band soon had the crowd moving. A bit of clapping along at first, then some swaying to the music but after a while you just had to dance.
The trio blasted out their pop-punk tunes. At the risk of sounding wussy I think we were standing a bit too close to the speaker for this one. My ears were ringing when we moved away from the stage and I couldn't make out a single word of the lyrics. So I'm not sure which songs they did, sorry.
I'd heard that they adopt a bit of a dead-pan approach during their live sets but I still thought they seemed a bit stiff. They should really drop their we're too cool to be here pose. At the moment they're in the weird situation of being a band who seem livelier and more enthusiastic on their albums then they do in the flesh.
Now this was more like it. This was proper Rock 'n' Roll. This is a band I've been meaning to get around to seeing live for a long time. I love Queens of the Stone Age and they played an amazing set. They gave exactly the kind of powerful performance you would expect from living rock legends.
On the down side we were in a really bad spot. Various stupidly tall people kept bopping about in front of us (its not like I'm short) grrrr. Still I can't blame Queens of the Stone Age for that.
QOTSA mostly stuck to material from their classic album "Songs for the Deaf" including "A Song for the Dead", "No One Knows" and unsurprisingly the title song. They also played some of the tunes from their older albums including "Avon", "Regular John" and "If Only" from their debut self titled work. The newer songs from their most recent album "Lullabies to Paralyze" were noticeable by their absence. It was great to hear all the old favorites but does the lack of new material mean they are running out of steam? Let's hope not and judging by the power of their performance at Lowlands and the reaction of the crowd I wouldn't worry too much.
Incubus is yet another amazing band. They play with awesome energy but they manage to give the impression that they have this great reservoir of energy that they are holding back but that they could release at any moment. Maybe I'm talking nonsense but it seemed to me that there was this air of suspense and excitement about their set as if it was all building up to something huge. Brandon Boyd just kept belting out fantastic song after fantastic song. Singing each one with energetic passion. Incubus are strangely unique. Nobody else sounds quite like them. They have a sound, a style, a vibe which is entirely theirs. Somehow their songs carry you away, take you out of yourself. Their performance sent tingles down my spine.
Setlist:
The final band of the festival, the grand finale. Who else could it possibly be? Foo Fighters are a band who surely undeniably deserve the label legendary. A label I've arguably been throwing around a bit in this report. Feel free to have a go at me in the forum, that's what it's there for.
Getting back to the Foo's set, my point is that they are one of the best rock bands around and their set at Lowlands showed everyone in the audience exactly why. They moved effortlessly from raw rock songs that got everyone in the party mood to moving ballads to anthems that had every soul in the place joining in.
The Foo Fighters' gig was like one big party. I'm going to see them again in December. I'm already counting the days.
Dave Grohl opened the set by talking about what a great bunch of bands had performed that day. He told the crowd that it was a "great day for rock music". True as far as it goes but actually it was a great weekend for rock music and the Foo Fighters set was the perfect way to round off the gigs.
Setlist:
Our last night at the Lowlands festival. Sob it all went by so fast. Still the night wasn't over yet. We grubbed some Chinese food and a beer and went over to the big screen to chill in front of Star Wars: Episode III. You really haven't seen that film properly until you've watched it with a crowd of pissed Dutch people booing and clapping at the action. Anakin's transformation into Darth Vader got a standing ovation. It really adds a whole new level to the film.
After the film there was only one thing to do. Sometimes you just have to boogie. We spent some time doing jigs and a bit of the old Cossack dancing in a side tent where the DJ was playing country records. I'm not entirely sure why. It all made sense at the time. Once we were all jigged out we grabbed another beer and then headed over to the Bravo tent to see if the surprise DJ was any good. The surprise turned out to be Miss Kitty. She wasn't bad but I don't get why they were being all mysterious about her. Probably just trying to build up some suspense for the sake of it. We strutted our funky stuff for a bit but all good things have to come to an end. The last night of the festival was soon over.
If the Lowlands Festival is a "campingflight" to paradise then Monday morning was the expulsion from Eden. The wild ride through all that is best in contemporary music came to an end. All the Lowlanders headed home, dispersing to the four corners of the world (well mostly Holland obviously). Yep the ride was over but then again there is always next year. Maybe we'll see you there.