Issue n. VIII Spring 03
i[ issue: n. VIII spring 03 - web-only extras: Eurorock Festival] -> Photo Gallery

Summer 2002 saw the 5th anniversary of the EUROROCK FESTIVAL, the largest Belgian festival that would host alternative bands of the dark, gothic and electronic variety.


Soeverein, Lommel (B) 1-4.8.02
While this year edition will take place on April 5th and 6th, rather then at the traditional beginning of August, Darklife would like to recall the nice time enjoyed at 2002 edition, hoping to convince the our readers that EUROROCK has all the numbers to for becoming a staple in their summer festival wanderings. First of all the festival organisation have the courage to avoid remaining static, by introducing new formulas and concepts every year. For the 2002 edition, the major departure from the tradition was to switch from open air to a large indoor hall, served by a nice camping area.
Swimming pool complex and such amenities. Well, the swimming pool complex was not exactly a festival facility, but was very handy to those, like our humble selves, who can't afford a shower before noon, time when the shower facilities at the camping would inconveniently shut. Open air EUROROCK had suffered through the years the rage of the nature elements, the topping incident being last year destruction of one giant tent-installation housing two stages,, merely the night before the festival would kick-off. An indoor setting allowed also the organisation to offer after-gig parties every night, one of the elements sadly missed at the previous editions. It seemed however that the festival paid its price for the innovations with a reduced attendance. Mind you, this might simply be my impression. The hall hosted two stages, side-to-side, so that concerts could happen consecutively with no overlapping nor dead time. Capacity was about 6000, but on the opening day, Friday, I had the impression that attendance was in the three-digit range. Another great and very welcomed innovation was the pre-opening party on Thursday night, great way to warm up for the following days, but equally effective in having you to miss a bunch of bands the next day. One of the traditions the festival maintained was the daily early hour chick off, Not as drastic as last year 9.30 am, but not far off, with the first band on stage on Friday at 10.20 am, SWARF. We are not into the game however until 2 pm, hot time for a tight performance by Daniel Meyers aka HAUJOBB. Sound quality is excellent, not much of a crowd yet. It will improve, but not drastically until the evening headliners CORVUS CORAX. In between we could experience the likes of GIRL UNDER GLASS on the "goth+electronic" stage, or an excellent performance by LACUNA COIL, who never fail to disappoint live, on the "harder" stage. SHEEP ON DRUGS are certainly one of the highlights of the evening, coming back on stage after a quite extended absence. A charged set showing they have maintained the shape of their heydays. In pure revival style, ULTRAVOX John Foxx and Louis Gordon were to headline one of the stages. This had unfortunately to be cancelled at the last minute and I'm still not sure whether this was a blessing or a malediction. CORVUS CORAX are last on stage, but that ain't stuff for us. Like on Friday, both Saturday and Sunday see the first band performing at 10.20 am. This sort of time schedule would certainly benefit from the use of smaller stages. Even though a sizeable crowd would gather at that time, it would still get lost in the immense 6000 capacity hall. It must be tough for a band to perform to an apparently sparse crowd. Once again we jump into the proceedings in the middle of the afternoon, when thumping and melodic RAVENOUS take the stage. Contrary to other mass performances e.g. WGT 2000, the sound at Soeverein is much clearer. Usually large indoor arenas suffer bad sound quality, specially when they are not made for concerts in the first place, but here you get the entire range of frequencies accurately reproduced no matter where you stand. A band who certainly fully benefited from this feature were IN THE NURSERY, one of the top acts that EUROROCK has hosted in this edition. Clear lights throughout the show, ITN nail down the audience already since the opening, with Dolores and Clive hitting with perfectly synchronised alternation the huge timpani's placed as backdrop for their percussion set. Powerful and suggestive at once, and with no special effects, ITN offered certainly one the most genuinely moving performance at the festival, alongside some other band we'll mention later. As the afternoon fades into the evening (and being Saturday), things start to get quite hot. Involving Mexican duo HOCICO spice up the proceedings with their renewed charged EBM, dry and pumping. Copiously sweating in his full PVC outfit, frontman Erk Aicrag screams his soul out over the geometrical electronics patterns churned out by his mate Racso Agroyam. I still find HOCICO quite repetitive after half an hour, but that's just my opinion. High were the expectations for COVENANT, return back on stage to present within their set some of their new material. As laid back as their new disc might sound, I couldn't spot a singel title lacking energy, exception made perhaps for the lame Dead Stars from their previous album. COVENANT enjoyed an enthusiastic audience and played enthusiastically, without omitting some of the songs of their back catalogue that have contributed to elevate them a few steps above many other electronic bands of their era, say, Stalker of course, or Leviathan or a tremendous raw version of Babel which quite made my day. Projections accompanied the set, while spying cameras where scrutinising the audience. You can only get better fun at a COVENANT performance in front of their home Swedish audience, and this performance at EUROROCK was the next degree of fun.

Soeverein vibrates energy, the DJs keep the crowd moving, while Sunday has begun. A special day, as it saw the return on stage of EBM godfathers FRONT 242. I guess everybody knows the story by now: Mr. MARC ALMOND (oh my gaawd…) was lined-up for headlining, but, as luck has it (don't shoot me!!), he was forced to cancel and F242 were kind enough to fill-in, effectively bringing the quality of the festival line-up many steps up. And one could feel it in the air: the festival area becomes increasingly busy as the hours go by, many people clearly made it to Lommel only on the Sunday, showing that F242 was by far the main attraction. But many other succulent ingredients were served by EUROROCK during the day, of course. Interesting outings by HYBRIDS and THIS MORN'OMINA were clearly out of reach, time-wise (11.30 til 13.15!). WHISPERS IN THE SHADOW make a nice appearance in the early afternoon. They are very active in the festival circuit, but if I'm not mistaken this is their first appearance in a large scale summer fest (not counting the WGT). Head to toe in red, Ashley Davour and his band hold the stage with great confidence, entertain with their melancholic "trippy" guitars, while the former references to THE CURE are currently barely reduced to Ashley way of moving on stage, while the music has a clear character o its own. MONOLITH is the next act. A single desk, some music boxes, and Eric Van Wonterghen extracting with no frills his usual beat-driven electro-industrial. Not much to add, every MONOLITH performance tastes the same, musically great, visually static. THE NEON JUDGEMENT bring us back to the 80's with their early-flavour EBM that has shaken many a dancefloor across Europe and beyond for many years. Belgium has invented EBM and now is kind enough to bring it back to us in its original flavour. It is still a bit too early to get into the full vibe of the expected climax, and perhaps this is where the open-air feel was mostly missed. In the arena you couldn't sit on the grass and relax while enjoying some great music from the stages. Being stuck in the hall for too many hours is an option that very few would choose, so, in one way or the other, some of the concerts were to be skipped. By the time INKUBUS SUKKUBUS take the stage the audience is substantially doubled. Candia & co. are great, playing a speeded up set of their unmistakable gothic rock, bringing a rare taste of Britishness to the festival. I think Belladonna & Aconite was played at double it's original bpm or so… What's best to rise up spirits if not a SUICIDE COMMANDO set? I've never seen a SC gig letting me down and this was no exception. NOISEX play what's announced as being their very last performance on Belgian ground, as Raoul has decided to stop live activities for the band, in order to concentrate on studio work. After the last, disappointing performance I saw in Berlin during the GroupieShock tour I had no major expectations, but NOISEX were now back to a raw and energetic performance which was the last appetiser (if one could call all these great acts simply appetisers!) before the main course. By now the arena is full, even if not to capacity. Expectations were not to be let down, F242 are in top shape with a brand new light show, awesome to say the least, and even more updated versions of all those tracks that have contributed many pages of electronic music history. The guys might be growing old, but the energy is all there with no exception. The sound quality is excellent and the audience is totally captured by the intensity of the show. Complaints? Only a minor one: a hyper-classic such as No Shuffle didn't find its way into the set as it should. This show has undoubtedly topped any other performance I've previously seen by F242. Thank you EUROROCK for bringing this living legend back to the stages!

Time for balances, in view of the upcoming 2003 edition of the festival, which will be held at the same venue. Top rank range of bands offered, as it has been customary for all the previous editions. Maybe the attendance was not up to expectations, but on the other hand, the general atmosphere was great and friendly as ever. Granted, Belgian crowds are quite laid back when it comes to hard-partying, so much that sometimes you fail to feel the festival vibe, but being open and friendly is a major quality of them. For the 2003 edition, the organisation has again some innovation to propose. The festival will have two "concept" days: the Electro festival (May 5th) and the Gold Festival (May 6th), the first being self-explanatory, and the second featuring old names of the Belgian scene. No camping facilities will be provided, but accommodation is available in the Lommel area

Gianfri

www.eurorock.be

photos Gianfri UmSK

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