One day prior to the festival, there’s a negative weather forecast. And I accidentally have a conversation with a visitor of one or more previous Skatefest editions, and he isn’t really positive either. So, early in the afternoon, I get in my car with all but high expectations, a bag of spare clothes, and even a raincoat just in case…
Right after a couple of hundred meters of
driving through a forest, a wide open space looms, a giant concrete flat, in
the middle of a pine forest, and all of that, at the time, under a blue sky
with shattered white clouds.
And it’s only seconds later, when I spot the
actual festival-site at my left, like it’s a scene out of an old world war II
movie. About five huge hangars, of which
I can still imagine Spitfires rolling out.
In front of those hangars, an open space that’s fenced as open air
festival area, with two stages. It
immediately strikes me as an impressive sight, and there’s more : you park your
car, and twenty seconds later you’re inside!!
That’s an awesome advantage…
And sunshine with a few clouds throughout the
day, not a spot of rain. This was a
lovely summer festival to visit!
I’m gonna skip my blablablaaaah about all the bands
I saw, they were all Belgian or Dutch bands anyway, so y’all go and read the
full Dutch report I wrote for the amazing rockblog.nl !! http://www.rockblog.nl/live-recensies/24395/skatefest-olen-2013
Don’t come complaining you couldn’t find it…
Highly anticipated after the release of their
masterpiece “Home” in april, Off With Their Heads take the stage. And that truly was worth the wait, even if I
have to admit the first couple of songs sounded rubbish… There really is no other way of saying
it. Ryan Young’s voice was really off,
nothing sounded clear, we couldn’t hear the bass, nor the second guitar. And there are quite a few songs that really
can’t go without.
But!! The sound engineers succeed in
straightening everything out, and from that point onwards there’s only awesomeness
left. OWTH will end up playing for over
an hour, and with Ryan not being of the talking kind, we were treated to a lot
of songs… That also means his voice does
gets warmed up properly and he delivers a magnificent set. The audience is clearly enjoying the show, a
small but dedicated bunch of fans scream along to every word, and the
frontstage turns into a crazy, hot, punk rock party. Only four or five songs off the new album if
I’m not mistaken, where personally, I had hoped for a couple more. But that ‘shortage’ gets amply compensated by
the rest of the setlist. They do play
Janie, which is actually a really old song, and almost the entire ‘Hospitals’
EP!! Also a large selection out of the
‘In Desolation’ album, for instance, Clear The Air and Drive still resonate
through my spine… In that song, Ryan
might even provide us with the best advice we’re ever gonna get for those days
we’d rather not get out of bed…
So
I just drive
It doesn't matter where
I put my foot to the floor let the wind blow through my hair
I'll never stop
There's nothing for me out there
I'll be on the roads less traveled while it all fades in the mirror
It doesn't matter where
I put my foot to the floor let the wind blow through my hair
I'll never stop
There's nothing for me out there
I'll be on the roads less traveled while it all fades in the mirror
To sum it
all up : Skatefest’s festival site is top notch, and holds a real potential for
growth!! The combination of punkrock and
hardcore does work, and provides a decent audience showing up. The hangar with indoor skate-park is also
perfect ‘gimmick’ to make this festival stand out in the crowd. So I for one am really looking forward to
their next edition!
