*** Antwerp Fanviews Here 30/8 ***

Dzoete wrote:

G'day folks,

just a little information about the Belgian crowd here.
Belgians love festivals and gigs,we have different festivals/gigs every weekend during the summer and when we go,we make sure to drink enough beers to be in the right mood offcourse
Rock Werchter for example has been voted for "best global festival" twice in 3 years.All international artists could vote for this,one of the criteria is the crowd and it must be said we stunned many artists with our respons.
If you have been to a gig in our country you hopefully know what I'm talking about.If you haven't been here,try to come over and experience it,it's worth it,believe me.
As for PJ in A'pen:legendary concert,I expected so much from them after 15 years but they gave so much more.Respect.


Keep on rocking and cya next year in Werchter

Yesterday is history
Today a gift
Tomorrow a mystery

Hi Dzoete!

I'm from Luxembourg and I traveled a lot around europe to see some concerts as in my country not many show up! I don't wanna spoil your enthusiasm and your patriotism but I've seen many concerts in the last couple of years. Most of them were in Belgium, Germany and France. I visited Rock Werchter every time in the last eight years (Pukkelpop 3x) and I've been to festivals in Germany as well (Rock am Ring, Southside Festival). When it comes to club gigs I visited the ancienne belgique and the cirque royal on numerous occasions. As I've seen many bands perform on belgian soil as well as in other countries I've come to the conclusion that the belgian crowds are everything but not very enthusiastic! They mostly wake up when the bands perform their "greatest hits" and for the rest of the set it tends almost to sleep. When it comes to Rock Werchter this is clearly viewable as the only bands that ever "rocked" the crowd were bands like Faithless or the Chemical Brothers. Not even major headliners like Metallica, Green Day, REM get the belgian crowd moving, of course when they're playin' their biggest hit the crowd awakes but apart from the 2000 people that stand up front there is not much going on!

phatucini wrote:

Hi Dzoete!

I'm from Luxembourg and I traveled a lot around europe to see some concerts as in my country not many show up! I don't wanna spoil your enthusiasm and your patriotism but I've seen many concerts in the last couple of years. Most of them were in Belgium, Germany and France. I visited Rock Werchter every time in the last eight years (Pukkelpop 3x) and I've been to festivals in Germany as well (Rock am Ring, Southside Festival). When it comes to club gigs I visited the ancienne belgique and the cirque royal on numerous occasions. As I've seen many bands perform on belgian soil as well as in other countries I've come to the conclusion that the belgian crowds are everything but not very enthusiastic! They mostly wake up when the bands perform their "greatest hits" and for the rest of the set it tends almost to sleep. When it comes to Rock Werchter this is clearly viewable as the only bands that ever "rocked" the crowd were bands like Faithless or the Chemical Brothers. Not even major headliners like Metallica, Green Day, REM get the belgian crowd moving, of course when they're playin' their biggest hit the crowd awakes but apart from the 2000 people that stand up front there is not much going on!

I know for a fact that lots of bands (mainly playing calmer music) enjoy playing in Belgium more than anywhere else because the crowd actually listens to the music.

As for Metallica... Metallica has been closing about every tour they've done since 1993 in Belgium. They love playing here and they show it. Do you think they would keep coming here multiple times (no other huge act plays here as often as Metallica) if the crowd was absolutely not enthusiastic?

phatucini wrote:

Hi Dzoete!

I'm from Luxembourg and I traveled a lot around europe to see some concerts as in my country not many show up! I don't wanna spoil your enthusiasm and your patriotism but I've seen many concerts in the last couple of years. Most of them were in Belgium, Germany and France. I visited Rock Werchter every time in the last eight years (Pukkelpop 3x) and I've been to festivals in Germany as well (Rock am Ring, Southside Festival). When it comes to club gigs I visited the ancienne belgique and the cirque royal on numerous occasions. As I've seen many bands perform on belgian soil as well as in other countries I've come to the conclusion that the belgian crowds are everything but not very enthusiastic! They mostly wake up when the bands perform their "greatest hits" and for the rest of the set it tends almost to sleep. When it comes to Rock Werchter this is clearly viewable as the only bands that ever "rocked" the crowd were bands like Faithless or the Chemical Brothers. Not even major headliners like Metallica, Green Day, REM get the belgian crowd moving, of course when they're playin' their biggest hit the crowd awakes but apart from the 2000 people that stand up front there is not much going on!

Unfortunately, being a Belgian, a have to agree with this... I didn't attend many concerts or festivals abroad yet, but still I always have the feeling the Belgian crowd is kind of awaiting and often not very interested. I always get annoyed that so many people seem to only be at a concert to get drunk and have fun with friends.. which is alright, but eventually it's all about the music, isn't it?? In my eyes, not to many Belgians go to a show for the music itself (same with the PJ-show wednesday: so many people there who were there just to take a look...)

Sorry to disappoint you Dzoete, but fair is fair. I think there ARE better crowds and festivals in the world..
Being a belgian I was even scared that the belgian PJ-show would not turn out to be as great as everyone hoped, just because of the awaiting and "colder" nature of the Belgian audience. And frankly, I think it was mainly because of the people in the front (mostly foreign people i guess) that the show exploded after a while...

All the respect for what the audience (including myself) achieved in Antwerp. No matter how or due to who, it was f***ing amazing!!

The belgiums are more up to date music wise than France for example, and it's a french man saying so....

The festivals in Belgium are just unbelievable trust me. having said that, i have to admeit, that i was disapointed, of how the crowd behave and reacted. There were no crowd surfing for example. In reading and in Paris in 2000 and 1996,therer were loads of them, and people were non stop jumping up and down....that was not the case on Wednesday night...

Hopefully, next time, they'll play in Belgium, they 'll come closer to the french boarder, as the atmosphere seems better towards this side of Belgium, especially when you have a french accent and you don't speak dutch. From that point, the people i was close to in Antwerp, didn't entertain you

myth4343 wrote:

The belgiums are more up to date music wise than France for example, and it's a french man saying so....

The festivals in Belgium are just unbelievable trust me. having said that, i have to admeit, that i was disapointed, of how the crowd behave and reacted. There were no crowd surfing for example. In reading and in Paris in 2000 and 1996,therer were loads of them, and people were non stop jumping up and down....that was not the case on Wednesday night...

Hopefully, next time, they'll play in Belgium, they 'll come closer to the french boarder, as the atmosphere seems better towards this side of Belgium, especially when you have a french accent and you don't speak dutch. From that point, the people i was close to in Antwerp, didn't entertain you

especially if you don't speak dutch? gee man, thanks.
if the french in belgium would start learning some decent english then maybe more bands like pearl jam will come to your shithole part of the country. until then, go back worshipping johnny hallyday and whathaveyou...

as for wednesday, i think you and i were at a different concert cause i jumped off my feet pretty much all of the time, singing at the top of my voice just like everyone else around me. "the people didn't entertain you?" some nerve you got.

pearlwax wrote:

Alright!! Belgian communal issues on a PJ board... Never thought I'd see that happen. Can't we just laugh about that shit, like Ed did during the gig?

Yes, let's forget these stupid "problems" of languages in Belgium.
I am belgian and not Wallon or flemish...
Let's laugh about that...
I think the crowd's reaction was as it had to be: not too quiet, not too hard...
As a belgian, I must say that it's true we are quite calm.. but for myself I have an excuse: I have glasses (I even almost broke them on Wednesday)...

To speak some decent english, i think i can manage easily....

First of all i'm not belgium, i'm French, and i don't see why i sould be treated badly, and annoyed by some Chaps because of my language....

Didn't really like the atmosphere anyway, in england it was 10 times better, as it'll be in Paris....

A shame, to be screwed up, by weirdos.....

i went to pukkelpop this year was awesome loved the athmosphere!!!!!!!

I may have bumped on the wrong chaps that must be it, let's forget about this concersation and stick to the music!!!!!!!

I'm not saying that concerts that are being hold in France are better. I was stating the fact, that the PJ gigs in paris in 96 and 2000 and at Reading this year, were more energetic let's put it this way....

I would have liked to be in reading.. the setlists sounds great.
Hope the gig in Paris will be as good or even better than the Antwerp's one (my first one...).
See you there in 10 days !!!

Julien wrote:

I would have liked to be in reading.. the setlists sounds great.
Hope the gig in Paris will be as good or even better than the Antwerp's one (my first one...).
See you there in 10 days !!!

Antwerp had a great setlist - the encores especially were incredible.. It'll be hard to top it in Paris