clog blog: We survived Pinkpop 2011!

We survived a 3 hour train trip to Landgraaf, a 66 000 strong crowd, 8 hours of LOUD music, interesting public toilets, another 3 hour train trip back to Rotterdam starting at 24:00 and cycling home at 3:00. But that means that we also survived Pinkpop 2011!! =)

We left Rotterdam Central station at 11:17, arrived at Landgraaf station after 14:00 and made our way to the festival area. The programme started at 15:00 with De Staat on the main stage. We orientated ourselves and looked around a bit before moving on to the 3FM stage to get a good spot for Manic Street Preachers at 16:00.

I first heard of the Manic Street Preachers in 1996 when I was in standard 7, a new teenager and suddenly into music. Their big hits at that time were ‘a design for life’, ‘if you tolerate this (then your children will be next)’, ‘Kevin Carter’ and ‘everything must go’. The band is from Wales and was formed in 1986 so they have been making music for a long time. They also played some new songs so apparently they are still making music! The band members look a lot older than I thought they were but they put on a decent show. I would say it was probably the second best of the day.

When we arrived it was pretty busy going through ticket check and security but there was still lots of space to move around the festival area. Somewhere between arriving and the end of Manic Street Preachers it was suddenly very crowded! Seriously, there were a LOT of people! But we never felt unsafe or worried about security. Everyone was easy going and although there was a lot of beer being consumed we didn’t see any violent incidents. Apparently Pinkpop has never had any incidents in all its history which is good going considering it is 42 years old already. Everyone is just there to enjoy the music.

There are two stages in the festival area at Pinkpop, a Main Stage and two other stages, the 3FM (serious radio) and Converse (the right to get loud) Stage. The first act was on at the main stage and then one on each of the other stages and then back to the main stage (at the same time). Acts are an hour long (except for the main act which was 1.5 hrs) with an hour inbetween to prep the stage for the next band. There is also space on the grass at the back of the main stage area where you can sit and chill if you need a time out. So there is some choice in what you want to see and how hectic you want to make your day but it is still a busy day.

No food and drink is allowed to be brought into the festival area but, although expensive, there was a fair choice of food and drinks available. It was also pretty well organised with lots of outlets and you generally didn’t queue very long to get served. Pinkpop also operates on a moneyless system. Vouchers are purchased at a separate kiosk and are exchanged for food and drinks at outlets. There were also t-shirts and Pinkpop souvenirs on sale (cash system).

I was quite disappointed with the public toilets at Pinkpop. Maybe I have a high expectation of portable loo’s since my Dad was in the business and only used the best ;~) These ones did not have a flush system, toilet paper or anywhere to wash your hands. Altogether too gross. And what is up with public urinals here?? A square plastic stand with four urinals around it and guys are not shy to use it. And once again nowhere to wash your hands. Honestly. Fortunately there was a ‘free’ water stand and I was able to get some water to at least rinse my hands. To-take-with items for next time definitely include a small tube of hand-wash or wet wipes at the least! We only saw one toilet area with about 20 porta-loo’s, definitely not enough for 66 000 people. I sincerely hope they serviced them before the start of each day’s performances!

We followed Manic Street Preachers with Lifehouse on the main stage, Ash at the Converse stage, Elbow at the main stage, Alter Bridge at the 3FM stage and finally Colplay on the main stage. Irish band Ash is another band I enjoyed as a teenager, but to be honest I can only remember one of their songs! lol. Which they did play =) Oh yeah! She was taking me over. Oh yeah! It was the start of the summer… They were a lot louder than I remember and we didn’t hang around for long after they had played oh yeah. We didn’t know Elbow or Alter Bridge before Saturday but were keen to check them out. Elbow is a British alternative rock band which we found to have a very mixed sound, some heavy some mellow. We did enjoy them but took the opportunity to have a bathroom break and find something to munch. Alter Bridge is an American metal band made up of former Creed and other band members. Apparently their song, ‘blackbird’, has been voted as having the best guitar solo of all time by Guitarist Magazine. You tube it and see if you agree. Although they have a good stage presence and gave a good performance, they were a little too heavy for us and we left early to get a good place for Coldplay =)

So. Coldplay. The main act of Saturday. Let’s just say that if you have tickets for any of the shows in SA, you won’t be disappointed! Coldplay have an incredible stage presence and gave a very good performance. Their act is very high energy and the good use of lighting really adds a lot to their show. They also used other props during the show. The show started and ended with fireworks, colourful confetti poured out of air vents at one point, bouncy ball-type balloons were passed into the crowd, there was interesting circular neon lights on stage and their instruments had a painted colourful graffiti look.

Coldplay played a lot of songs from their Viva la Vida album but also mixed it up with older material from previous albums. We recognised a lot of songs from the Coldplay Live 2003 DVD and it would seem as though they haven’t changed the lighting etc. for those songs since then. I guess if it works why change it? They also played 3 or 4 new songs which we will apparently love and which will do well in the charts. Coldplay are also very modest. Not. The band came across as very friendly but we did detect a hint of over confidence in their show. The show started 20 min late, I’m not sure why as they were just wearing t-shirts and jeans, but ended on time and we felt we had to feel privileged that they came back and played an extra 3 songs. Apparently the stage set up for Coldplay is the biggest and most complicated seen at Pinkpop. At least you know they don’t compromise for their shows. Chris Martin kept asking the crowd if we were ok during the show but he obviously never heard me ask for a drink as it never arrived ;~) All in all it was a good show and is totally worth seeing. You will definitely enjoy the SA shows.

By the time Coldplay had finished playing it was about 23:00 and time to head back to Rotterdam. The trains were running a bit late and there was some confusion as to the destinations of some trains, but we eventually made it back to Rotterdam Centraal at 03:00. We cycled to the station in the morning and were pleased to find our bicycles where we left them in the bicycle parking garage =) It was the first time we have ever used a bike parking garage, lol. We made it home at 03:15 and in bed by 03:30! Enough time for a few winks before time to get up for a cricket game, well, some of us ;~)

There were some interesting umpiring decisions at Justin’s cricket game on Sunday due to the fact that the batting side umpires the game. The game was much closer than the previous week but VOC still lost by 18 runs =( It was unfortunate that they lost but mistakes in the field and a slow batting pace is probably where the mistakes came in. It was a home game this week and Bron enjoyed watching some of the game. The Dutch national cricket team are playing at the VOC grounds on the 17th and 18th July and we might catch one of the games.

Today was a public holiday, tweede Pinskterdag or Pentecost. We took it easy after quite a busy weekend. It was cloudy all day and rained on and off. But we managed a cycle to the neighbouring town Schiedam and then back to Rotterdam City Centre.

We had a good weekend and enjoyed our first Pinkpop experience. There are a lot of music festivals on this summer. We are quite keen for one in Belgium called TW Classic at the Werchter Festivalpark on 9th of July. The line-up includes Bryan Adams, Texas, Simple minds and James Blunt. But looking at the train times it sounds like another long day. Maybe planning to go to another festival the day after one is not a good idea!

Below are some pics from Pinkpop. No cameras were allowed into the festival area so these are only from Justin’s camera phone. Better than nothing! Check out www.pinkpop.nl for more pics of the weekend.

Hope you are all well and had a good weekend! Enjoy a day off on Thursday!