Hasselt/PukkelPOP

PukkelPOP is a three-day music festival on the edge of Belgium near the German border. I wanted to go for all three days but going ment having to survive three days in the hot sun, sleep in a campground full of dirty, rowdy and drunk teens, eat expensive fast food. But I would get to see many great musicians. I opted to stay in Brugge, enjoy some more of the great Bauhaus Hostel food, finish my web site update and just catch the festival finale on Saturday.

A group of travelers & hostel workers (Megan and friend Mike) who all wanted to go to the festival gathered early Saturday morning. For many of us night owls it was out first view of a morning in Brugge. We hiked it across town to the train station. Most had light loads, me with full travel gear since I was heading to Berlin after the shows.

We got to the bahnhof with just enough time to buy tickets and jump onto the train. But as we all got comfortable in our seats for the two-hour ride, the conductor came by, checked our tickets and started laughing as he informed us that we were going in the opposite direction of our destination.

We eventually got to the festival, set up our tent and walked across the road to relax on the grass in front of the main stage with some beer to combat the heat.

We saw some great bands, some I never dreamed I would see:
» Spooks (2)
» The Prodigy
» Heather Nova
» Stone Temple Pilots
» Muse
» Powderfinger
» Galacticamendum
» and more...

The night finished with a huge puppet show with fireworks and flames of fire.

We rendezvoused with others who had arrived to see the full lineup. I had the unfortunate (but classically comical) responsibility of telling my friend Bart that he was going to join his brother (Bruno) up Shit Creek because their parents had decided to come home early from their summer holidays in the south of France. The look on his face was as he digested the unpleasant morsels of news was priceless as he began thinking of all the things that he had planned on cleaning up as soon as he returned from the concert.

The brothers had really enjoyed their freedom though. They were soon to be accused of: having girls over for the night, inviting strangers to stay at their house (their crazy grandma warned that American strangers were sure to steal things), being involved in gangs, smoking in the house, doing drugs, and not eating their grandma’s cooking.

I’m still waiting to hear the full outcome. I might catch up to them in Italy when their family goes on holiday.

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