ULKEDOOF: Pukkelpop: part 3

As WorthyNonse already pointed out; Patrick Wolf kinda ruled Pukkelpop. So I won't go into that again (he's still right though). But allow me to mention some of my other favorites.

First of there was Spoon. The week before I went Britt Daniel and his band had filled my internal jukebox with their new songs and they kept on playing without pause. Without. Pause. The songs from Ga ga ga ga ga (I’m still not sure if it’s a really good or a really bad album name) are such finely crafted pop songs that you start to wonder why they're not played on every radio. But then 'The ghost of you lingers' starts with it's hauntingly repetitive raw piano and screeching effects and you know. They kicked ass on PP although favorites as the forementioned song and 'Japanese cigarette case' were notably absent from the set.

Even funkier were Fujiya & Miyagi (I'll say it one more time: not Japanese, not a duo) who elevated the (to be honest, sometimes a bit boring) album tracks with more...well, swing in their live versions. However, they could’ve done something about their appearance and their show, which were like, totally absent. They looked like three business information architects (add other nonsensical business card buzzwords as you see fit) but rocked like three...uhm...well, they just rocked.

Something completely different was Low. I've seen them a while ago and was moved by their honesty and integrity. Like Fujiya & Miyagi, Mimi and Alan might not be very sexy and there were no dancers or cornea-scorching laser shows but their music was more than enough. Unearthly harmonies and the heaviest drums you've ever heard. If I had to choose the best song as played on PP I'd choose....okay, so I can't choose. It'd be a tie between Patrick Wolf's 'Accidents & Emergencies' and Low's 'Take Your Time'. I’m not afraid to say some tears were cried.

Other favorites were Architecture in Helsinki who were a lot better than the last time I saw them and ruheeeellly know how to build a party (or to overdose on caffeine).
The new version of 'Do the whirlwind' and the new ‘Do the whirlwind’ 'Heart it Races' were the highlights of the party.

Kings of Leon were the band that sounded best on the main stage. Caleb’s voice screeched with a husky passion and they showed us why their music could be called arena-rock (although that does bring up associations with bands like U2 or Coldplay, but that’s not what I mean here).