Pinkpop revisited

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After last year’s rejigging of the schedule (i.e., so that the good bands were spread across the three days instead of all being on Monday, which could be an explanation for why the 3-day tickets sold out within a week), which meant that none of my colleagues could decide which day to go and in the end none of us went, I decided to pop back to Pinkpop this year. Again, there was a choice between Sunday and Monday, and I ended up choosing wrong and going for Monday. In any case, it was an excuse to get outside in the sun and listen to some music.

Apparently there were 65,000 people there on Monday this year, and the main area seemed a lot more crowded than two years ago. I don’t remember the onlookers stretching all the way to the back of the field last time. Also queuing for 20 minutes to get in and then another 20 minutes for food/drink coupons and then another 20 minutes for free water was a bit crazy.

Comparing with last time:

• I didn’t spot Giel Beelen, although I don’t recognise him with his new hairstyle anyway.
• The pizza slices are still highly recommended.
• All-weather gear is something I skipped, as I assumed it wouldn’t rain, which it did. (My colleague claimed De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig vastly improved from the rain onwards. I didn’t see much difference.) I also came home looking like a lobster.
• Didn’t see any fires or fireworks this time (maybe because I left early).
• The fashion trends this year were in order: tshirts of bands performing, no shirt or a bikini top, Pinkpop tshirts (either from 2009 or other years), tshirts of bands not performing, pink tshirts in general, black, and none of the above.

Last time the lesson learned was to avoid coaches — they leave for the festival terrain too early and they come back too late. Catching the train was much easier. The station at Heerlen was decorated with signs wishing us a good time and speakers blasting out Wir sind Helden. The lesson learned transport-wise this time was not to buy the Pinkpop train ticket which included a shuttle from Landgraaf to Megaland — it was cheaper to buy a ticket to Landgraaf and then a return shuttle ticket in the bus. On the way home the buses were few and far between, so I walked to Landgraaf instead, and ended up missing a Pinkpop pendeltrein by one minute.

I’ve never been to a festival in Australia, so I can’t compare. It is customary though for any European-based music/event fan to go to something during the summer, be it Pinkpop, Lowlands (which has been sold out for a while now), North Sea Jazz (which I’m annoyed to be missing out on), or Werchter (pretty much sold out) or Pukkelpop in Belgium, or some of the smaller, local festivals such as Best’s dance-themed Extrema Outdoor or Tilburg’s world-music-themed Festival Mundial, among others. Some are expensive, but they’re certainly value for money and if the weather is good, a nice day out. However, take a lesson from me and don’t forget sunscreen and a raincoat.

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