What’s up happy campers!

August is here, and it is fucking boiling. In fact as I write this, it technically the hottest day of the year for us in the UK (well the South-East definitely), so the only recipe on this most stupidly of hot days has been the beach, some cold beverages of alcoholic and non-alcoholic choices, good people, and a decent load of good music on the vinyl player at home (support vinyl sales, fuck your digital downloads)!

Anyway… as I also write this, I have been having trouble with my fucking laptop, as the battery went kaput on me. Technology, the bitch.

Anyway, I have been thinking about this column topic for a few months now, and to be quite frank I am still buzzing from the first time I experienced Groezrock Festival in the beautiful rural town of Meerhout, Belgium.

But, before I go on to the point of how this wonderful festival changed my outlook on festivals altogether, what the UK could learn from European festivals, and everything in between, let me tell you a bit about how my trip about Groezrock came to be…

It all started 3 weeks before it actually started. You know the story, financial difficulties, personal shit going on, and just general every day silly bollocks that drags the monotony out to a ridiculous apex of no return.

Henceforth, whilst I am racking my senses out at the dayjob in retail, I get a phone call from my mate Mikee.

Mikee – “Alright mate, you fancy going to Belgium?”

Me – “Aye?! When we talking here mate?”

Mikee – ” Three weeks time. Fancy going to Groezrock? The line up looks fucking sick, and I know you could do with a break! And I know I could do with it as well!”

Me – “Arrgh.. umm, I do not know if I will have the money! Let me get back to you later…”

*10 minutes later*

Me – “Mate, fuck it. I am in with bells on! I get paid a little more than I thought this month!”

And so the deal was done, and three weeks later we were off. It was additionally helped by my best friend Ajay coming along for the ride, who successfully managed to drive from Dunkirk to Meerhout in 2 hours, keeping in mind that he has never driven in Europe before. Although he did manage to take a wrong turning, and we ended up in a sinister looking McDonalds somewhere near(ish) Bruges.

Anyway, so it was a totally last minute decision. Additionally, anyone with a sense of adventure knows that the best things are usually spontaneous and on the spot decisions to do something a bit more extravagant, no matter what the circumstances. So going to Belgium (which would be my first time in Europe as well), and heading to a festival with my closest friends, it was bound to be a good time. But holy shit… nothing prepared me for what I personally experienced that weekend, for it would change my outlook on festivals forever.

Also bare in mind that I have been going to festivals in the UK for 11 years now every year, so it is safe to say that I am a festival veteran and can now happily survive 4/5 days in the music wilderness with some bananas, a pot of Pringles, and vitamin tablets for food, a small bag with some clothes in (and use that as a pillow), and of course… clean wipes. When you get more festival experience, you learn to travel light as you cannot be fucked to carry so much shit with you. Hell, you are not moving house after all!

So… since 2002, I have been going to festivals all over the country. Reading Festival, Download, Sonisphere, Creamfields, Rebellion, and so many, many more of many different genres and cultures.

Some more major, some more grass roots and independent. But all have been great experiences, apart from Reading in 2004 where I ate a dodgy yorkshire pudding and gravy and got the worst stomach cramps in the world in the pissing rain. Inevitably I had to curl in pain on the floor and miss Alexisonfire at the Lock Up Stage, whilst being audibly force fed Morrissey crooning his ass on stage (note: I do like The Smiths though). If that was not a kick in the teeth enough, some stupid couple were in front of me puking up over each other because they took too much of whatever they were tripping on.

In these 11 years, I have spent more money than I care to imagine on the ridiculous costs of going to these events, spent many hazy nights meeting up with people who I do not even know, but more importantly… had some of the greatest memories of my life meeting a lot of like minded people. Hey, I even met the chief of Hit The Floor in 2003 during a mass pillow fight on Reaper Bridge at Green Camp at Reading Festival, and we bonded over our love for decent music and Hulk Hogan. Everything happens for a reason!

So what exactly set apart Groezrock Festival from the rest of these? Well let me tell you…

1. AMAZING VALUE FOR MONEY!

I cannot stress this enough… when Mikee told me about how much it would cost from Margate…

Ã¢â€š¬130 for weekend ticket and camping, £20 for petrol each, £20 for ferry each, and spending money on top (to which I chanced it with Ã¢â€š¬40, and came back with Ã¢â€š¬5 change?!).

You do all that math in your mind… including spending money, it does not even exceed how much you pay for the face value of a festival ticket over here alone! This was the first thing that struck me, as I am ALWAYS worrying about financial situations. But this was just a steal. This opportunity had to be seized.

One thing I have always begrudged with major UK festivals is the absolutely overpriced ticket sales, and with all these poor bastards who try to get a last minute ticket at the doors, and end up paying for a weekend ticket usually double or triple the norm.

Belgium 1 – UK 0

2. AMAZING FOOD AND DRINK!

Oh yes! The worst thing I dread about ANY outdoor UK festival is the food. You know it is going to be stupidly priced between £7-10 easily for a plate of slop, and has as much visual appeal than a cyst on Jim Bowen’s nose. But if it is one thing the Europeans do right better than anyone else in the UK, it is their wonderful hospitality on how to look after and cater for their guests. The food out there even looks appetising, but more importantly.. it is affordable! Anywhere between Ã¢â€š¬2-4 for a very well prepared bit of food that tastes fucking gorgeous! I know a few French mates who were there this year were complaining about the food as it was not up to their standards, but we laughed and mocked them for their snobbery. As they have not had UK festival food… I put it to them like this…

“If you want good food, you are eating it. Come to the UK and pay £8 for a plate of the shits, then tell me that this fine Belgian cuisine is awful.”.

A shocked silence then followed for a few moments from my Parisian buddies. My point was that the food they cook over there was absolutely sublime.

Even the drinks prices were unbelievable! Whilst we in the UK paying anywhere between £2-6 for a alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverage, at Groezrock… Ã¢â€š¬2 for a pint, spirits + mixer, Jagerbombs, pint of energy drink, or massive bottles of water. Oh, and Ã¢â€š¬4 for some wine or Cava.

By this point when I found out the prices… I soon realised that I could well have change from this weekend trip, to which I firmly rejoiced at the thought.

Belgium 2 – UK 0

3. TRUE SENSE OF COMMUNITY, NO MATTER WHAT COUNTRY YOU ARE FROM!

This for me is a really important one. It is standard in the UK at a festival to help each other out, although every now and again to a minimal degree there is often a bit of stereotypical, even racial or cultural prejudice. In other words… it only takes a bad apple to ruin someone’s experience. And being the country most notorious for its booze culture, and almost yob-like attitudes when we get a little fired up on alcohol and drugs, we tend to tarnish the British reputation with some of our boisterousness. No matter what kind of festival it is, there is ALWAYS a bit of trouble.

But for some reason whilst I was at Groezrock…. 99.9% of the time, I detected no trouble at all. The odd 00.01% was on the early hours of Monday morning, where a pissed up lad from Germany was being a silly bollocks trying to destroy a gazebo in his altered state. But come on… that is child’s play compared to over here in the UK. Can I point out the riots of Reading 2009 anyone? That shit was crazy… some of the most insane stuff I have ever seen. Arson, looting, explosions, ‘The Angry Mob’, and Reading Metropolitan police on horseback?! It really did happen, and to many it was also a frightening experience.

But life at Groezrock, it is all peaceful. The most wonderful thing I experienced whilst there was also a small life changing experience for me on the Sunday evening. I caught up with my friends who were camped slightly up the pathway from us, and so we decided to have a gathering outside their tent (Even though I confess I did invite a fair few people to come down and pretty much form a communal spot). Brought all our drinks down and stored them in their tent to use as a ‘cooler’ or fridge.

Two hours went by and we saw other people we had all met during the shows over the weekend. Even if it was just a brief glimpse, we all recognised each other. By a certain time, we had people from all over the world come and chill out at our communal spot. People from UK, Holland, Germany, France, Russia, Korea, Romania, Sweden, and one lad even flew all the way from VENEZUELA by himself to the festival! Now if you ask me, that is the kind of passion that you can kind of garner about this sense of community.

So further on in the night… I realised as I was looking all around, everyone put their drinks in the tent. We basically shared everything for those few hours. A worldwide gathering of like minds and positive vibes. We did not even need drugs or alcohol, we all had one thing in common. We were there to escape and to meet new people, and just enjoy ourselves for the short time we had there.

But the most loveliest thing of all (which I did feel bad about to a degree), everyone from different countries were more than happy to speak, or attempt to speak in the English language. Now I know that it is the most universally used language of all… but damn, it was flattering. These wonderful people taking the time to talk to me in my native language? I felt truly honoured. So much so that I wanted to at least repay the favour to a degree and try to speak in their native language for complimentary reasons at least!

For those few hours, we drank. We talked about life, each other, and more importantly… we connected beyond the music. No matter what background we come from, that was a truly special moment. Even when we were all in the pits and the crowds, we did not even have to understand each other verbally. Eye contact, body language, and the show of passion and respect for each other speaks volumes when you are at a live show.

Now I know that festivals are all share and share alike, but this was different. It was a worldwide communal of (which peaked at) just around 130 odd people around one spot, meeting and talking to each other regardless if they knew them or not. As far as I am concerned, that was a very eye opening moment for me as I learnt that the only true universal language that everyone understand is music. The language barrier to which I thought was going to be a problem was merely but not a worry at all. The eye opener was that we were all here, and it meant more to us than anything in the world.

Score : Belgium 4 – UK 0 (2 goals for community and language barriers!)

4. A STAGE WITHOUT BARRIERS & COURTEOUS SECURITY?!

When I entered the arena (which luckily was round the corner from the campsite by 5 minutes, not like 45 minutes and 3 piss breaks away), there were 4 evident stages. But there was one stage that caught my eye more than most… the glorious Etnies Stage. Please bare in mind that Groezrock is an alternative music festival, so essentially the crowd is more understanding and appreciative of how different crowds work with different bands. Everyone is looking after each other and a greater respect is prevalent. Which is also shown in the security presence… as this stage has no barriers. NO FUCKING BARRIERS!

On this particular stage was a lot more hardcore, punk, pop-punk, and alternative rock of the livelier kind. The kind of shit that makes you want to get wild and jump off of stuff, run across the stage, dive off, and do all sorts of crazy shit without getting judged or hit in the face for ‘being a selfish prick’.

Let’s face it, there is hardly any, if none, major or independent festivals in the UK that provide a stage with no barriers. This is all due down to that fun-killer that we call ‘health and safety’. In Europe it seems that they are a lot more relaxed about that kind of thing, because they UNDERSTAND the implications of what kind of music it is, and what kind of crowd they are dealing with. So when I saw this stage for the first time…. it was like some kind of holy light shined on that no barrier stage with an angelic choir in my mind just chanted like I found the holy grail.

So when on that stage I got to get my beatdown on, stagedive, and go batshit mental to bands like Trapped Under Ice, FLAG, Comeback Kid, Backtrack, Polar Bear Club, AC4, The Story So Far, and Pure Love…. well, judging by the videos surfacing everywhere on Youtube, I think it is safe to say that I had an amazing time. I mean fucking hell, when I lost my wooly hat during AC4, I even had Dennis Lyxzen come and give it to me whilst also sitting at the front of stage with me and having a casual chat whilst the next band were setting up! This was a surreal moment for me, as he is hardcore punk royalty. But it also served as a stark reminder that this was a very special sort of place to be.

Now all this is all well and good. But, also bear in mind that there are security by the sides of the stage watching over for pit patrol, and making sure everyone does not crush the equipment or get hurt. But more importantly.. they understand what their crowds are all about. Knowledge is power.

Recently in the UK, there was a lot of controversy surrounding some of the security at Ghostfest in Leeds with apparently Nazi-like security during Terror’s set. But by the sounds of it, some of them had no idea whatsoever what was going to happen. Reports of physical abuse and manhandling were prevalent, but just goes to show that you should understand your product before handling it. Be respectful.

Score : Belgium 5 – UK 0

In fact… there is absolutely SO much more to this festival than these points. But more importantly, it was a festival to which knew no boundaries. It was a bilingual community of like minded people who were respectful of each other and everyone’s surroundings. A festival to which even though an alternative festival, it represented and supported for everyone’s culture and background, no matter whether you were a rocker or a raver. There was something for everyone.

It just absolutely blew my mind that this festival also highly championed independent businesses like clothing labels, etc, by setting up a wonderful indoor village area for everyone to do a bit of shopping at. It was fucking great! But more importantly, it felt like a festival that was run by the people, for the people. Affordable, universally communicational, and extremely unifying on personal and business levels.

So what could the UK learn from European festivals like Groezrock Festival?

1. STOP MAKING EVERYTHING SO DAMN EXPENSIVE.

I know that different countries have differing economical states, but we in the UK are having just as hard time of living than everyone else. But putting up extortionate ticket prices, as well as the cost of living at the festival sites is proving more and more difficult in recent years. So much so that there has been a decline in ticket sales and general interest.

Just look at the amount of cancellations of major and independent festivals in the UK this year like Hop Farm Festival, Isle Of Man Festival, Burn Out Festival, among many, many others. It is predominantly the alternative music independent festivals that have been suffering.

But that is not due to just economy. It is due to over-saturation of the SAME fucking bands playing the same fucking bills but in different cities and towns in the UK. So much to the point you can pretty much predict who is going to play what stages on all these festivals. Where is the excitement in that? People strive for something different, they are tired of the same fucking bands playing another festival, but paying expensive prices for it all.

Not that I am knocking the promoters or bands of course, it is hard work after all. But you know… at least come up with a line up that is damn exciting, and stop relying on the flavour of the month / year who are playing everywhere else. What the fuck happened to variety?! (I shall touch upon this subject more on another blog at another time….)

But anyway… back to the point. Financially speaking…we are already paying far too much, so stop taking advantage of our wealth that we do not really have!

2. LIGHTEN UP ON THE HEALTH AND SAFETY.

For me, health and safety restrictions over here now are so strict that it has taken an element of fun out of festival going. Whilst in Groezrock, it was more relaxed but everything was still in check. But for the love of God, in the UK right now… it is just ridiculous. Cannot even have a mosh in some places without fear of blood being spilt. This is the kind of bullshit that is ruining the UK festival scene, and gigs in general. All this ‘no moshing’ bullshit, and just the crowd being too far away from the fucking stage. Of course barriers are there for a reason, but do not disillusion the band from the crowd. Crowd participation is absolutely vital!

3. TAKE MORE CARE IN YOUR FOOD AND DRINK PREPARATION.

Seriously… no one needs to pay £8 in having a really bad toilet experience. Take a leap out of the European book… look after your punters, and take pride in offering them a healthy portion of food and drinks at a reasonable rate. Yes we are at a festival, but we are not fucking rich the best part of us. So festival organisers of the UK… stop taking advantage of us with this shit food and drink, and make it healthier and more affordable!

On that note… I will wrap this up by saying that Groezrock Festival in Meerhout, Belgium changed my outlook on festivals altogether. If someone asked me whether I would choose to go to Download, Reading, or any other major festival? I would say Groezrock.

Affordable, well run, great value for money and health, great people and vibes, and more importantly… it is more of a positive adventure to head out in to the wilderness of what you are not usually used to.

To the organisers at Groezrock Festival, here is a final note from me in your native tongue (or in Dutch as that is the predominant language there)….

Bedankt voor alles dit jaar, het was een van de beste festival ervaringen van mijn leven. Houd omhoog het grote werk, en ik kijk uit naar jullie allemaal volgend jaar!