Pukkelpop: part 1

Last week a team of enthousiastic ulkedoofs/ulkedoofers/ulkedoven (pick one) consisting of WorthyNonsense, Ruben and myself visited the Belgian festival Pukkelpop. We wore the custom made ulkedoof t-shirts and captured that on camera, however someone (I'm not saying it was the fat English drunk next to us) captured said camera. So no shirts or spectacular photo's of shows but just plain text, I'm kidding of course (some text will be italic or even bold). I know what you're thinking "does this mean we won't get that obligatory Stars post?".
Yes, that's what it means! So go listen to the new Stars record already, it will be reviewed later (wait; it's brilliant. done.).

On to Pukkelpop! The highlights! the lowlights! the stagelights! Which were the best shows? Which shows dissappointed and which surprised? Since we are a whiny people we'll start with the dissappointments (we know you love those).

As much as I looked forward to the show and as good as they were the Arcade Fire performance was kinda ruined by the terrible sound. They could have (for instance) turned on the mic. Despite the abominable quality of the sound their brilliance shone through and was at a height with 'No Cars Go' (which might just be their best song).

Then there was Pop Levi who seemed to be born to be on stage. Imagine a whiter, rockier and slightly taller Prince and you're halfway there. The way he handled his guitar, as an extension of his body (or of one specific part at least) was great but he kept getting lost in his own solo's and the endless intro's and outro's.
The album sounds quite raw and spontaneous but live he took it too far resulting in the structural abuse of his own songs. A shame really because he can certainly entertain a crowd.

Another let-down was Lo-Fi-Funk who apparently relied solely on their youth and looks. There was no show to speak of and the songs were a mess. They were young and cute though.






The last real let-down was Justice who were billed as 'Justice (live)', well...I guess the glowing cross was live. Maybe the two silhouettes in the back of the stage boxed in by the giant towers of amplifiers were turning some buttons and flicking some switches, but we might never know for sure. The music sounded sublime though.



Arcade Fire - No Cars Go (mp3)

Pop Levi - Pick Me Up Uppercut (Myspace)

Lo-Fi-Fnk - Wake Up (video)

Justice - The Party (mp3)