Rock Werchter 2006, day 4

The day the Shadows became heroes.

(I hear you thinking: ‘Oh dear’)

Anyway! Sunday, the 4th and the last chapter of Rock Werchter. It was a nice day, people were having a siesta under the trees and the brave ones getting some red skin while headbanging. The sunset made it a beautiful summer evening and all were happy (I hope) enjoying the fireworks around midnight.

Pictures of Day 4 of Rocker Werchter 2006

It was a hard morning: getting up at 09:00 with only 5 hours sleep and a previous days still lurking in my feet. I actually managed to shave and wash my hair, but only around the time when we had to hit the road already. To make things worse, the traffic jam we had yesterday around Brussels, was there again. So I decided to take a shortcut through Brussels. To make things even more worse: 2 major markets on Sunday which I totally forgot about. To make things dramatic: I went right where I should have gone left in a tunnel.

But no worries! We came in time to hear Eels start and see them from a distance in the sun. I shaved, but they didn’t! All had long beards and funky heads/glasses. Also, there was a sideshow jumping around, lifting weights and shaking hands with the crowd. He took one time a guitar too but only distortion came out of it, I think. Belgium loves Eels. They can’t do wrong I think. Was good to see them (again, I think saw them before).

Like most people, we sheltered from the sun and had some drinks now and then. Water because it’s good to drink water. Cola because sugar is also good if you don’t eat to much. This way we ended up listening in the far distance to Starsailor. I pretended I knew a few songs but my sister knew the lyrics. Oh yeah, we felt so part of it! They didn’t move me to much, as I was sitting down falling asleep under a tree.

After consuming some vegetarian food prepared in a wok, which wasn’t really that good, we moved to the Marquee. We sat there resting and passively waiting for Laurant Garnier. He’s a big name in the Techno scene, both as DJ and musician. I like his music more than the other techo-stuff because it has more Jazz in it. Alas, the moment was not right and I really was falling asleep after 3 songs. So we moved on.

We had a walk again over the field. People were spreading out and you then really see how much people there were. Of course, you don’t have to stay in side, so we went to the entry again. There they distributed drinkable water from a tap for free. They did it inside as well, but far less people here of course. That saved us a few EUR!

Back inside Ben Harper with his band was rocking the burning crowd. I was surprised of the music and I liked it actually. It was an introduction for me as I didn’t recognize any song. I actually went to get a beer, the only one I had on the whole festival!

After the rock, it was time for more electronic music. Hooverphonic is a Belgian band which started out named ‘Hoover’ (I saw them back then, when Soulwax was also debuting). Take Vaya Con Dios (Belgian), Porthishead, and a bit of everything else and you get great music! I was left hungry though, and the set felt short. The mini cover in their song ‘2 Wicky’ of Porthishead’s ‘Glory box’ was funky though.

The band most people bought the day ticket for was of course Depeche Mode. It’s one of those bands everyone should see, because anyone will know at least one song of them. The audience was patiently waiting the whole day in the heat, but great artist always come 5 minutes late.. It was worth it. It was not a full concert but they just hit the spot! They went mostly for their older work I think, and that was good. I loved it! A funny thing I noticed and was confirmed by somebody calling the radio station later: there was a tape rolling along which had the voice of Dave. Now, it was not playback, but at that point I thought: there is something fishy here.

Rock Werchter 2006 is over. Only 3 days we did as we missed the main bands on the first day. But, the other days were like a great enough! Though not as good as last year in regards to bands, it was of course again worth it’s money, trouble and sweat.

Kudos to the Rock Werchter organization. It was just great, again! See you next year!