Pinkpop goes fourty!

Goodbye Pinkpop 2009
Pinkpop has throughout the years featured acts ranging from Rage Against the Machine, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Joe Jackson, Pearl Jam, Beck, Metallica, Alanis Morissette, UB40, Oasis, Muse and the majority of major artists these last decades. This year, the stage was shared by, amongst others, Keane, the Kooks, Amy McDonald, Chris Cornell, Anouk, Snow Patrol and Bruce 'the Boss' Springsteen, to celibrate the festival's fourthieth birthday. I was there.



Pitching up a tent
The daze began Saturday 30th of may, 2009. I picked up my bags and left for my girlfriend. After arriving, we began rearanging our bags (we only got 2 hands and 2 shoulders each, so we have to set priorities...), do some last minute grocery shopping we're off to Landgraaf, where Pinkpop is located. We arrive at about 11.20 at Heerlen Railway Station (which is renamed Heerlen Radio Station for the event, for some reason), and then at 11.30 we exit the very, very crowded shuttle at Landgraaf Station. After some walking and searching, we finally found a place to camp: Right next to the Disco Tent. Who needs sleep anyway?

Saturday: The Killers and Chris Cornell
The saturday kicked off great immedeately. Opening act was 'De Staat', an upcoming Dutch band, also playing on Sziget this summer. I didn't really pay much attention, because there was Chris Cornell: the singer who is known for his part in both Audioslave and Soundgarden. Although my musical knowledge failed to provide this information untill my girlfriend told me so two minutes before the show, the show really Rocked. Possibly, this first performance I saw this year, was also the biggest discovery for me personally.
Chris Cornell with Soundgarden: (Btw, I just found out that the song 'Scream', which sounded totally awesome live with a hardrock band, actually really sucks on the studio version....)
Also the killers where great. To my own surprise I knew more of their songs then I thought, and they gave a good show. They played many of their great hits, but unfortunately that included the song 'Human' as well. (Just a personaly preference, I don't really like that song)


And then there's the Boss
Ever heard a 'Chuck Norris Fact'? Well let me tell you this: Bruce Springsteen doesn't know about Chuck Norris Facts: Chuck Norris merely tries to meet the standard of Bruce Springsteen.
Seriously though: every definition of awesome should be measure by the Standard of Bruce Springsteen. Although frankly, that is quite a harsh standard. If not his music, Springsteen's attitude was mind-blowing. Where usually artists of his calibre have 7m of security, he fucking walked into the crowd. He held the hand of a single girl for the duration of almost a complete song, he sang together with the cutest litle child possible, after someone 'crowdsurfed' a giant stuffed animal onto the first few rows, he collected it and gave it to a second little child, and at the end of the show he even invited a girl holding a sign reading 'Dutch Courtney Cox' to dance with him on stage. Yes, the boss rocked.

Sunday: Caffeïne and Plastic cups, the day Depeche Mode didn't came.
Yes, it's true. A musical festival like this, especially in a place like the Netherlands, is usually filled with Beer and Weed. Although Pinkpop is not by far an exception to this, a different addiction haunted my blood: Caffeine. Turns out on a hot and tiresome day, one can combine refreshment, taste and energy into one drink: Iced Cappocino. Luckily, they sold cans of the stuff on the festival ground, at a not quite modest price. However, by trading in collected untrampled plastic cups, you could earn youselve drink-coins, and honestly, when you're really pumped up on caffeine, what's more fun than hunting for cups on a field with 60.000 people (actually it was more picking up a few where you went, rather than hunting, but with that many people, you quickly gathered a fortune, and hey, I'm a student, I need the money.) Musically, the day was quite bland. Although Krezip, Placebo and Keane each gave great shows, they are just sandwiched between The Boss and the combined awesomeness of the next day. No, I stand corrected. I really want everybody to listen to this guy: Milow is a Belgian Singer/songwriter with enormous talent. He got famous with his bet to turn 'Ayo Technology' into a listenable song (which somehow, he succeded), but he has many more, really beautifull songs.

Monday: More Bands, More Coffee!
The next day was filled with great bands. Amy McDonald was absolutely fine. She had allready performed on Pinkpop last year, but had arrived on set an hour late. The lady was really sorry about that, and this year she more than made up for it. I found one technical mistake: she died her hair blond!
Other bands that day, like Billy Talent, Franz Ferdinant, Novastar and the Kooks where fun entertainement, but the real musical miracle on the mainstage was Anouk. She's quite famous in the Netherlands, but after monday's show I'm convinced she should be quite famous everywhere. Not only is she the only woman alive who can dress-up like American Trailer trash and get away with it, she and her band gave such a great show that it could have justifiably been a headline on it's own (for example, intead of Depeche Mode (A) ). Another interesting fact is that her whole band consists of painfully young musicians, who she tours with to give them a chance to start a career in music - and because they're just fucking good. (Actually footage of the actual performance!)
And then the grand finale, the last act, monday evening.... Snow Patrol! And guess who was right in front of the stage? That's correct, Comrade and his Girlfriend. At first I did not think much of the band - they were okay, but do all these girls have to put 'Crack the Shutters' on an infinite loop? But let me tell you one thing: If you are right in front of that stage, while those Glasgow guys give all they've got, while the lights and animations on the background fascinate 65.000 people, who all at once spontaniously fill in for the singer in the song 'Shut your eyes', it's simply dazzling. For me, but also for the lead singer: 65.000 people stealing his line before he could even say the chlichéd "and now you sing!" left him to stand there enjoying himself and giggling like a little girl. It was absolutely great!

Happy Birthday Pinkpop
After the last act was done, it was time for the mandatory speech by the festival organizer - Jan Smeets. But this time it was a special speech: Pinkpop had just seen it's 40th edition. The man couldn't stop thanking all the artists and volounteers, organisations and crew. He announced furthermore that the festival had sold out - again. This meant he would keep his promise of building sixteen greenhouses for poor schools in Bolivia. The various charities on the ground (most prominently Oxfam Novib and Amnesty International) had raised record amounts of signatures. And the most beautifull thing was seeing how moved the man was: he was barely able to keep down his tears in front of these sixtyfivethousand onlookers. He earned it that when he turned to go back backstage, all those people started singing:

"Jantje bedankt!" or "Thank you Jan!"

We ment it.