You anticipate this moment for months, I had the ticket since the day they went on sale almost three months ago and it seems so far away and then that day is finally here. Pinkpop!!! Traditionally in the weekend of Pentecost (Pinksteren in dutch – hence the name ‘pink’ pop) we have a three-day festival in the Netherlands called ‘Pinkpop’. This year was the 42nd time that the festival took place and well it was my tenth time of going. For years I had been looking forward to going to this festival, I always watched it on tv and about ten years ago the opportunity arouse for me to go with a group of my cousins and the virus has caught me, literally! Every year I am looking forward to hear the first announcements of names, the press conference and the ticket sale, followed by the anticipation of actually going and getting closer to the date and the completion of the line-up. And than the final couple of weeks begin when all the bands are known and the schedule for the performances is posted on the website. Figuring out who you can actually see and who you have to pass on, that is always the hardest part.

For me as an eclectic music lover choices always have to be made especially with the two smaller stages of the three stages at the same time. This year I was looking forward a lot of the band amongst them I wanted  to see ‘Hurts’ and ‘VersaEmerge’. But I didn’t see them… choices you know. Anyway enough about that for now. Pinkpop started at 3pm and before that we had some rain but at three the weather cleared up and the festival started.

I am not going to write a review of everything though I am posting a list of everything I saw during the weekend (this is not the whole list of artists that performed just the bands that I watched), I am only going to do a review about the bands that I have something to say about. The things I liked or disliked and who I would love to see again;

 

Saturday June 11th

De Staat

The kick off was done by a dutch band named ‘De Staat’ honestly I can’t tell you much, I really don’t know anything about them. I mean I heard their songs on the radio but I am not really familiar with them. So there is not much I can tell you really. I watched it and I liked it. It was a good and interesting performance, center stage was an interesting ‘steampunk-ish’ looking machine which made music … too bad though that they didn’t really use it all that much.

Manic Street Preachers

The ‘Manics’ have been around for quite a while so they played a lot of their old songs, like for instance ‘If you tolerate this’,  ‘Motorcycle Emptiness’ and ‘Your love alone is not enough’ which works well because everyone knows those songs. However their newer songs didn’t get a whole lot of response I guess that no one really knew those. To me it seemed really obvious which songs were from the new record and which were from the older records, the reaction from the crowd clearly showed it.

Lifehouse

Simple plan

Selah Sue

This was awesome! I loved it, I really did! Unfortunately I was stuck in the back of the tent, well actually at the entrance so I wasn’t really able to see anything but I was really impressed by what I heard. Apparently Selah Sue had to come all the way from France and they had a bus that broke down and barely made it too the festival. I was really forward to this performance and she did deliver. Too be honest the Converse stage was too small for this band they should have been at the 3FM stage, the tent was completely filled and everyone was dancing.

Coldplay

We have all heard the price Pinkpop has paid to get Coldplay to Landgraaf and I personally agree that it is a ridiculous amount of money and I really don’t know why they deserve such an amount. They where good, don’t get me wrong but their show was not that special. Their songs are good and the performance was good as well. It  is just that Chris Martin and his fellows didn’t really add something to the festival. If you can ask that absurd amount of money I expect the best of the best and it just didn’t cut it. I was looking forward to see Coldplay perform but I would never ever go and buy a ticket just to see them. I know that many people probably won’t agree with me but that is just my opinion.

Sunday June 12th

Hanson

Hanson was the band that was added last to the line-up. And a lot of laughs erupted when the news hit the radio and the web. On twitter people where even claiming that they would sell their tickets because of Hanson. I however couldn’t have been happier. I believed that I would never get a chance to see them live and I was actually in shock. I couldn’t believe it. I really thought that someone was yanking my chain. If there are close to 40 bands performing and you don’t like one of them I really can’t believe that one band could be the reason to sell your ticket. At the same time a lot of Hanson fans bought tickets because the sales of the tickets actually went up.

And while not many people know this I have been a Hanson fan for years, fifteen years actually ever since ‘MMMbop’ was released. It has been years and they have always been making music since and even though they are no longer on the radio here in the Netherlands they didn’t stop. They didn’t get a fair chance. Things changed, they are fifteen years older they are married and they have kids. Their music evolved, their songs changed but all people remember are those kids that sang ‘MMMbop’.

Their latest cd ‘Shout it out’ was released in the US a couple of months ago, I love it and I have been listening to it ever since. In fact 90% of the time Hanson is on my iPod no matter how many times I change the contents of it Hanson is usually one of the artists on it. So I was eagerly awaiting this concert and Hanson is the reason why I missed ‘Hurts‘ and ‘VersaEmerge‘. And I don’t regret it one bit. Their set was a perfect mix between old and new and given to the fact that they had just play ’5for5 London’ they could play every song they ever released on one of their five records. So early in the morning they send out a tweet asking which songs they should play and I asked them to play ‘If only’ and they did.

Ever since that first song I have been a fan and I am so glad that I finally got to see them perform live.

Tim Knol

Perfect music for an afternoon in the sun, lying on the grass enjoying the feeling of the sun on your skin. The perfect lazy afternoon. Tim Knol is talented no doubt about it and it is really good to see someone who at first sight might not necessarily have the X-factor (that we all seem to be searching for with all of those Idol-like programs) manages to stand on the big stage at Pinkpop and get the crowd going. Good for him!                

Justin Nozuka

Honestly I had never heard of this guy. No idea at all what to expect. That is however the fun part of going to a festival hearing new music and artists who you might have never heard of before and finding something that really fits. But it was fun, a young handsome looking man the kind of a laid back type, I guess I could music-wise compare it to Jason Mraz and James Morrison though in appearance he looks a lot like Joseph Gordon Levitt – at least that is what he made me think of for some reason. I am going to find his music and listen to it more often. I really liked the flow of it and the lyrics, they sounded true and honest.

Wolfmother

Last year Wolfmother was supposed to perform at Pinkpop but due to health-issues of the singer they couldn’t make it but they promised that they would come this year. Which they did I guess that a lot of people had been looking forward to  this concert for a long time. I didn’t really know Wolfmother or their music so there is not much I can say about it.

Laura Jansen

White Lies

Avenged Sevenfold

Kings of Leon

Monday June 13th

Monday, the last day of Pinkpop. The days really flew by and I saw so many great performances. But Monday is always kind of bittersweet, the best is usually saved for last and after this day you have to wait for a whole year before you can do it all again.

Scouting for Girls

A good way to start of the Pinkpop day is Scouting for Girls, there is enough going on at the stage to keep it interesting and the songs are entertaining while at the same time it is good way to start up and get into the groove of things to come.

Dazzled Kid

Dazzled Kid a side project of Voicst singer Tjeerd Bomhof was also something I was really looking forward to. He’s very talented and innovative as a musician. His choice to temporarily put his band Voicst on a hold is a daring one. One that paid off though, paid off big time. He’s back at Pinkpop on the converse stage with a full festival band. A brilliant and divers band, headed by a good singer and a great list of songs which work just as well on the cd as they do being performed live on the stage. If you have the chance to see Dazzled Kid live take that chance.         

Two Door Cinema Club

Eliza Doolittle

Eliza Doolittle has that cute song ‘Skinny Genes’ which is a great song but this performance honestly didn’t really work, at least not for me. The tent was filled but I saw a lot of people (including me) leaving before her time was even half way done. I wasn’t impressed. I saw her being compared to Caro Emerald and  I was wondering if that person ever saw Caro Emerald perform because that is quality.

Go back to the Zoo

The Gaslight Anthem

Volbeat

The Script

Kaiser Chiefs

Thirty Seconds to Mars

This was awesome! I loved it! You can say what you want but that Jared Leto knows how to get a crowd going. And damn those eyes! This was my second time seeing Thirty Seconds to Mars at Pinkpop and like the first time I liked it a lot. I love the songs and the music. I might be a huge Hanson fan but I do not get all emotional or hysterical about it, that is just not me but with a band like 30STM and a singer like Jared Leto heading it you know what you can expect girls … lots and lots of girls, screaming girls. But I guess that it works well because Jared Leto knows this too and he can make them do anything he wants them to do. So if he says come closer you step closer to him, if he asks again you obey again and if he says jump you probably ask how high. So he wanted to see a hundred people sitting on top of other peoples shoulders within ten seconds and within three a hundred people where raised above the audience. It’s crazy how that works! Imagine what happened when he asked who wanted to come on stage for the last song, you got it screaming girls crowd-surfing towards the stage to get next to him.

Foo Fighters

I had already seen the Foo Fighters once, I really loved it back than and with their new cd ‘Wasting Light’ out in the stores there was a lot of new material to listen too. And of course the good ol’ stuff as well. The Foo’s were supposed to start at nine in the evening and while it had been cloudy all day the sun had been shining too. During the day it looked like it was gonna rain a couple of times but it didn’t actually start raining till they started playing so at first everyone was getting a little annoyed getting their rain coats on. But after a couple of minutes everyone was like fuck that it’s the last performance and it’s the Foo’s. During, I believe the third song, Dave Groll stopped playing while he stared at the sky. Their was a rainbow going across the festival terrain, from where I was standing it looked as if the rainbow started behind the stage and ended on the other side of the field. It was an amazing sight.

One thing is for sure Pinkpop 2012, I will be there!