Last week we spent our weekend at Vestrock in Hulst, a beautiful little town in the south of the Netherlands. Vestrock is a three day festival for music lovers of indie pop, rock, rap, hip hop, shoegaze and everything in-between. Aside from the festival’s main stage, it features several smaller stages, tents, a wooden chapel, and a very nice food area! We enjoyed music from Captain, Paceshifters, The Wombats and Chloe Slater to name a few.
We arrived early in the afternoon on Friday when it was sunny and the temperature was already over thirty degrees. The first stage we encountered when entering the festival site was inside a small wooden chapel, this was where we were treated to a very nice and relaxed show from alternative rockers Captain. The band released their debut ‘This Is Hazelville’ twenty years ago and are about to release their new album ‘The Blue Rose’; reason enough for a return to the Netherlands. Still early in the afternoon with fast rising outdoor temperatures it was quite quiet in the chapel, nevertheless Captain played a blinder of a set combining the classics with a bunch of new songs we loved listening to live!
We studied the timetable to make sure we wouldn’t miss anything yet still have time to eat from the great selection of food trucks. It was during one of the sparse moments when we thought we didn’t need to be in front of a stage that we wandered through the festival field and got caught by some great tunes coming from one of the tents. We entered the Nexus tent to find Master Peace playing an energetic set of post punk, hip hop and indie perfectly blending together. Also playing the same stage that day were Dutch indie rockers Paceshifters. The tent was packed with fans who were all treated with a very tight set of rock songs and fuzzy guitar riffs.
Basht. was also on our list to check out, despite not being that much of a well-known name in the Netherlands just yet, the chapel was getting very crowded. Despite the heat everyone was eager to find out more about the Dublin-based band who brought an indie slash alternative rock sound to the festival line-up, combined with bits of grunge. Basht. is one of those new emerging bands from Ireland we needed to see and we were pleased to be the ones to witness them first at Vestrock.
Meanwhile in the Novus tent two DJ’s were filling silent disco headsets with their sounds, in The Sphere audience members got those same headsets to enjoy a series of seminars and talks ranging all sorts of subjects from trees to sexuality. Aside from talks, the wonderful duo behind beeryoga brought a new concept to the festival; barletles, translating as; ballet class, at a bar. After these alcoholic work outs we headed to the mainstage for The Wombats. If you ask us, there’s no better way to end the day than with an energetic set of indie pop and some classic singalongs. Although they started with ‘Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want To Come’, we don’t think they meant it. They definitely enjoyed their set, as did we as we all sung along to the classics including ‘Moving To New York’, ‘Kill The Director’, ‘Tokyo (Vampires And Wolves)’, and ended dancing along to Joy Division.
We were about to head back to the hotel but not before we checked out Brògeal. We wondered why they were programmed at the small chapel at midnight as they would have easily been able to fill the space in front of the mainstage. The chapel was filled to the brim as Brògeal entered the stage, traditional Scottish tunes blended perfectly with more folky influences taken from The Pogues, The Levellers, and Frank Turner. Brògeal knows how to throw a party, and actually, they did suit the chapel quite well!
Another sunny start of the day for Vestrock, with, once again, too many names on the timetable for us all able to see, we started with Bleech 9:3. They’ve been regulars on the Dutch airwaves which is probably part of the reason why the tent was packed as their audience enjoyed plenty of fuzzy guitars and feedback. Favourites ‘Jacky’, ‘Tourniquet’, and ‘Ceiling’ were all well received, and we could’ve easily listened to them some longer! Swim School was next on our personal line-up, a band we’ve been wanting to see again after their support with Suede earlier this year. Although they put on a great show, we expected a bit more after our first introduction to the band. The sun was shining heavily over the field when The Slow Readers Club from Manchester entered the main stage. Their mix of indie pop and rock songs worked perfectly on a sunny afternoon. Their breakthrough album ‘Cavalcade’ turned ten and those songs still stands the test of time.
Between all the indie pop and fuzzy guitar acts a strange thing happened in front of the main stage. Almost the entire crowd at Vestrock gathered in front of the stage awaiting for Orgel Joke (‘Organ Joke’) to enter. Orgel Joke is almost eighty and played, as the name already suggests, an organ. Which started out as a YouTube hype, has turned into a festival hit, Orgel Joke played some popular tunes on the organ and the entire crowd sang back the lyrics like their life depended on it, aside from ‘Wonderwall’, her set also featured some happy hardcore as well as Dutch classics.
We headed back to the Nexus tent for some serious grunge. Paceshifters returned to the stage for a set of Nirvana songs, Paceshifters Plays Nirvana has proven to be a very popular concept, and for a good reason. Tributing a band like Nirvana has been done many times before and can therefore be a tricky thing to do… However, Paceshifters don’t play about; no gimmicks, no lookalikes, just paying tribute to some of our favourite tracks, the band made a wise decision to keep these classics separated from their own songs and a wise decision from the programmers at Vestrock to give them two slots at the festival. Next up was a perfect set of post punk tracks by Stone and an energetic, as always, loud set by Shame!
Saturday’s headline was dEUS from Belgium, they returned to the stage after years of absence and performed the songs from their classic albums ‘Worst Case Scenario’ and ‘In A Bar, Under The Sea’. Everyone was looking forward to see them and they delivered big time. They were intense, loud and expressive but also quiet and fragile at the same time.
Sunday was Vestrock’s Gen-Z day and although we no longer fit that category we decided to return anyway cause there were still some acts we wanted to see. Sunday is also the day that the entire population of Hulst is coming to visit. With plenty of youngsters and their parents, the Novus tent was constantly filled to the brim. The happy singalong silent disco sets were most popular today, however we were there to see Wodan Boys. These Dutch rockers have a long history in lots of other bands and combined they know how to rock at their best. They played the main stage and were there to please the indie rock fans but also the dads who came along with the kids. The Wodan Boys even managed to get the crowd to perform a Wall of Death twice in one song.
While some others were dancing with headphones on, we were enjoying the brilliantly catchy songs of Chloe Slater, who put on a great show a la Wet Leg and Arctic Monkeys. Her solid fanbase stood front frow showing the others how to sing along to songs such as ’24 Hours’ and ‘Death Trap’, a big miss for those that skipped her set! After Paceshifters’ tribute to Nirvana there was another tribute act planned next, in the chapel the Dutch punk rockers in Call It Off played a show full of Taylor Swift covers. They packed the stage out, as it was filled with fans of either Call It Off or Taylor Swift, it was hard to say which of the two! The show rocked, the atmosphere was great and we didn’t recognise any track, but that’s because we’re clearly no Swifties… After three days of sun and great music it was time to head home again. Thank you Vestrock, it was another year for the books and we already can’t wait for your next edition!
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