Bettie Serveert were listed as playing Lowlands - and not touring their new album in the uk. So I thought it'd be good to go see them at the Netherlands premier music festival, Lowlands.
I'm not really a fan of festivals - too many people, to congested - and my experiences at Reading and Glastonbury in the early 90's didn't really make me want to go again, unless I went with Farzana and her VIP pass to Reading.
But I reasoned that a Dutch festival would be well organised, relaxed and a good deal more fun that the English chip fight, beer and mud.
A quick rustle up of some mates, with Beaton in charge of travel arrangements, got us the unbelieveably cheap price of £50 return from London to any Dutch station - try doing that on normal uk rail.
Leaving London at 9am, we travelled to Harwich, crossed 225km of sea to the Hoek of Holland and trained it to Lelystad where a bus took us to the festival. The only (and I mean ONLY) bummer of the entire festival was that we had to queue 5 or 6 hours to actually get into the festival. Everybody showed on thursday night, and we sat, tired after travelling all day, in a huge field waiting for the entrance queue to go down. This was very very grim. We said that we wouldn't come again - this was too badly organised. It'd have to be a very VERY good festival to excuse this queueing - and we are all english!
After clearing security and getting our wristbands at around 3am (the security and sheer weight of people being the holding factor) we progressed into the camp ground, where we pitched in a bad place for the night, slept, and moved in the morning. If 45,000 people came to the festival (down from last years 60,000), I'd say around 90% came on the thursday night. Thats around 40,000 people going through 8 entrances. Over 40,000 security checks in 8 hours.
We got the combo ticket which let us into the neighbouring Six Flags theme park, a ten minute walk from the festival. This was fantastic. We spent our days in the park riding coasters and our nights watching bands. Believe me. It does not get much better than this. It really doesn't.
The set up at Lowlands is phenomonally good. Unlike the uk festivals, they have actually thought about how people watch bands and move around a festival. Atleast, we figure they have thought about it, but it could just be coincidence. Heres my list of why the Lowlands Festival is so good (apart from it being in the Netherlands, the tolerance of gear, and the Six Flags next door):
1 the stages are really high, so everyone can see the bands cleared - even if you're small like Fiona.
2 there is no real 'main stage' like Reading/Glastonbury. about six stages house the bands. Yes, there is the Alpha stage which is kinda the biggest, but it is not a so overt thing as a main stage at Reading. This means that people do not by default congregate to this 'main' stage, but choose from who is playing
3 all stages are in tents - there is no outdoor, exposed to the rain, stage
4 the tents all have wooden floorboarding - no mud, more comfort, you can sit down more cleanly
5 crush barriers seperate the front area of the audience from the back. It was never difficult to get to the front, and it was never crushed - you could stand with your own space, comfortably. And it you're not so keen on the band, you can watch from further back, with even more space, and a good view, as the stages are high! Security can limited access to this front space if needed, avoiding any problems with people dying from being crushed at the front of 10,000 people.
6 the six stages weren't really themed as such. Sure, Alpha stage was for the biggest acts. But then Staind played in the Dommelsch stage / tent. Grandaddy played in Golf and Bettie Serveert in India. This meant that after each act, the tents more or less completely emptied out. You could turn up for the next band, let everyone leave and walk right to the front where your favourite band would be playing in half an hour. Over that half hour the tent would fill up. At Reading, by contract, people seemed to fix themselves in the Essential tent (or whatever wanky name it has) and stay there all day - meaning that to see a band you either have to crawl and push through the crowd or stand on tip toes from the back to view the criminally low stage. This method of not themeing tents kept the crowds moving around and worked very well indeed. Even getting in to watch Beck was a piece of cake.
7 the bands started exactly on time, and played for one hour. The sound check was muted and when the band came on, they did just that. Came on and played. The sound and lighting setup was so professional, it put most London venues to shame. Vocals were crystal clear, technical problems didn't seem to exist and we didn't have to witness bands or roadies fucking around with equipment, making loads of noise, and we didn't have to wait an age and a day for the bands to come on. What a sheer pleasure that was.
8 the festival was full of Dutch people. Not that surprising, but these guys are super friendly, not a hint of aggro or agression. And they all speak perfect english.
9 there was plenty of space for everyone - in the food tents, the arenas, never a jam or crowd.
10 the general design of the festival was really nice. for example, there was a rocket ship meeting place, completed with dry ice coming out the 'engine', big hands invited you towards the Alpha tent, and moon like blimps floated above the festival, shining light down. Oh, and the budda on the lake. Real nice little touches add to the whole thing.