Rock Werchter - Engleză

Damian Florentina-Gabriela
Rock Werchter
Rock Werchter is an annual
music festival held in the village of
Werchter, near Leuven, Belgium, since
1976 and is a large sized rock music
festival. The 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007,
2012 and 2014 festivals received the
Arthur award for best festival in the world
at the International Live Music
Conference (ILMC). It can host 88,000
guests daily, of which 67,500 combine all
four days, to add up to a total maximum of
149,500 different attendees.
The festival started in 1974 as a one-day event with performances from Banzai and
Kandahar, but over the years it has evolved to become one of Belgium's largest music
festivals. Originally it was a double-festival, called "Torhout-Werchter", with two festival
areas at different sites in Belgium: one in Werchter and one in Torhout. In 1999, the festival
dropped the Torhout site and since then has taken place only in Werchter. Since 2003
Werchter has been a 4-day festival, as it was sold by owner Herman Schueremans to
American organizers Live Nation. Schueremans however remains the main organizer of the
event. The festival is organized every first weekend of the summer vacation in Belgium (last
weekend of June or the first of July).
In recent years, there has been controversy about rising ticket prices. Because of this,
Schueremans was heckled during an appearance on HUMO's Pop Poll, a Belgian alternative
award show. At €200 for four days (€18 extra to include camping or €25 for xl-camping) in
2012, it was still considered a relatively inexpensive music
festival.
The camping sites officially open at 8am on the first day
of the festival, but because of guests arriving early and camping
on the street, the organizers have traditionally been forced to
open the camping sites early - sometimes more than 24 hours.
The campsites are located along the three main entrance roads
into Werchter (from Haacht, Aarschot and Leuven), most of them
within one kilometre of the festival site, but some located as far
as 3 kilometres away. In 2011, for the first time, XL camping
tickets are available, allowing festival goers to arrive and camp
from 4pm on the Wednesday before the festival.
Until the 1990s, the festival attracted mostly Flemish festival goers, but in recent
years it has become more and more international with an especially large influx of Dutch,
French, Walloon and British visitors, with notable Australian, South African and other
contingents. Belgians alternatively go to the Pukkelpop and Dour festivals.
All graphics of Rock Werchter, inclusive the posters, were designed by Tom
Hautekiet, who died in April 2020.
History
The festival started off as a one-day
event, then named "Torhout-Werchter" festival,
becoming a two-day festival in 1996, a 3-day
festival in 2000, and a 4-day festival named
"Rock Werchter" since 2003.
Before 1995, when the festival was still a
double-festival, it had one stage with 8 or 9
bands performing twice, once in Torhout and
once in Werchter. Since 1995 the Main stage
was accompanied by a second stage. This stage was an open-air stage until 1999 when it was
made a tent named 'Pyramid Marquee', with a capacity of 6,000 people. The performers in
Pyramid Marquee are usually lesser-known or aimed at a specific audience. Sometimes
groups that do well in Pyramid Marquee are expected to have a hard time taking the step to
the Main stage, especially when they are seen as an act needing intimate, smaller venues.
Sigur Rós is the most famous example of this, when they were programmed on Main Stage in
2008 after their 2006 performance in Pyramid Marquee, but they managed the transition and
were hailed as one of the best performances of the festival.
In 2012, a new third stage was
added, called "The Barn" which is
translated to "De Schuur" in
Dutch, a reference to the nickname
of organiser Herman
Schueremans. The new tent – with
a capacity of 10,000 – is meant for
the more intimate concerts on
Rock Werchter, like Beirut in
2012.
In 2013, Pyramid Marquee was
replaced by a new bigger tent,
named "KluB C".
The bands presented at Rock Werchter are traditionally a balanced mix of well-known
artists, popular crowd-pleasing acts and local Belgian acts. Belgian band Deus in 2008 was
the first local band to close the Main Stage on the last day for several years. The days usually
start around noon and end around 1am. At the end of the last day there is a big firework
show.

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Damian Florentina-Gabriela

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