Yellowstock, Geel, BE


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There are many festivals naming themselves –stock, all of them trying to refer to the legendary summer festival Woodstock. Yellowstock keeps true to the vein of that legendary inspiration, with a line up filled with jazzy psych, 70s and 60s rock and trippy space projects. She is thankfully blessed with better weather than her famous inspiration though, and the sun stays on the grounds and playground of the youthcenter the fest is held at.

Crowd at Yellowstock 2015, photo by Susanne A. Maathuis

Crowd at Yellowstock 2015, photo by Susanne A. Maathuis

Yellowstock is a small-scale labor of love, and this is felt in nearly everything, the no-nonsense food trucks, the hard plastic cups that can be turned in for more drinks, and the poster beautiful art. There is however a small hitch getting in, as the first band already takes the stage it takes a surprisingly long time to scan everyone inside. It turns out people not printing their tickets but keeping them on their smartphones was the culprit, slowing the line down. This sadly meant that we missed almost the full set of Coogans Bluff, as we only heard them from the distance, and managed to catch their last two songs.

Crowd at Yellowstock 2015, photo by Joep Koks

Crowd at Yellowstock 2015, photo by Susanne A. Maathuis

 

This minor hitch isn’t too bad though. Good beer and surprisingly decent white wine flows freely, and while wasps are a real nuisance, no-one is really bothered to the point of not enjoying the day. In true spirit of the hippies this festival caters to, many people are dancing barefoot or letting out their inner child on one of the many. Especially during Black Flower, a jazzy Belgian troupe, with flute and saxophone, and a vitriolic drummer that carries much of the show, people let their minds and limbs flow free to the music. The band members themselves have shunned shoes as well, as the connection to the earth is clearly sought by this jazzy ensemble.

Black Flower, by Susanne A. Maathuis

Black Flower, by Susanne A. Maathuis

 

Because the weather is so lovely and the second stage inside rather small, we decide to take it easy and enjoy the company of some new made friends between bands on the outside stage, instead of trying to press into a small room that will undoubtedly be hot and sweaty. This meant we missed a number of interesting acts, some of which I have seen before and know give excellent live shows, including the final band on the fest, Radarmen From The Moon. Another band known for excellent live shows, are Yama, with their sludgy stoner-rock. Both I’ve seen many times before and decided to pass up for the rare enjoyment of sunshine and wine.

Terracraft, by Susanne A. Maathuis

Terra Craft, by Susanne A. Maathuis

We’re taken to even hotter climes by the most diverse band on the billing, Terra Craft, whose middle psychy music make our lovely warm summer evening seem like a blessed relief. The mirage like effects layered into their music really managed to make you drift along on a journey to far away lands with them, and together with their vocalists impressive stage garb, world music is excellently represented.

Hawkwind, Susanne A. Maathuis

Hawkwind, Susanne A. Maathuis

 

Hawkwind, by Susanne A Maathuis.

Hawkwind, by Susanne A Maathuis.

Expected and completely deserved highlight of the night for everyone present had to be Hawkwind, who played an incredibly strong set aided by visuals and lights, as the sun finally sank beneath the horizon. After this spectacular show we leave the find the buses to the campground, Radarmen From The Moon thumping hypnotically as a wine addled world flows by and the bus drives to the quiet of the campground. Quiet now, but in the deep of the night the party continues here, and many keep dancing until daybreak.

Crowd at Yellowstock, by Joep Koks

Crowd at Yellowstock, by Joep Koks

Crowd at Yellowstock, by Joep Koks

Crowd at Yellowstock, by Joep Koks

Crowd at Yellowstock, by Joep Koks

Crowd at Yellowstock, by Joep Koks

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WORDS AND PHOTOS BY SUSANNE A. MAATHUIS

ADDITIONAL PHOTOS BY JOEP KOKS


Festival Preview: Yellowstock


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Sometimes small festivals catch big fish, and Yellowstock in Geel, BE seems to have caught a very big one indeed. The summer edition of this twice a year intimate festival of everything psychadelic and 70’s this year is headlined by none other than Hawkwind. This in itself is enough reason to have a look at the cosy country of Belgium, where the fest is held, and see for ourselves.

Apart from the esteemed Hawkwind who are one of the founding groups of the psychrock scene, bands of interest at this 5th edition are the expansively instrumental My Sleeping Karma, the hypnotic three-piece Radarmen From The Moon who played the Roadburn – party last year, and the exotic Terakraft, who will bring us to the musical equivalent of the 1001 nights tales!

So for all lover of psych, space, the summer of love or some general summer mind expansion, and able to make it to Geel Belgium this Saturday, August 8th, there is 400 of 1000 tickets reserved for door sale only, and with a line-up like this they’re bound to sell fast! Maybe we will see you there, and otherwise there is always next year!

SUSANNE A. MAATHUIS


Into the Void Festival, Live at Poppodium Romein, Leeuwarden, NL


Poster

I could not think of a better way to spend my Sundays than with a concert close to home. No traffic, no getting lost trying to find the venue and no needless getting tired from traveling before you even get to the thing. But is metal a good way to spend a day best spent free of worries? It is when you visit Into the Void. Just some carefree stoner, sludge and doom where you can gently bob your head up and down to the tones of New Keepers of the Water Tower, Monomyth or Abysmal Grief, to name a few. We can already assume I was not the only one who enjoyed himself, because the date for next year has already been set. But how enjoyable was it exactly?

Supposedly the organisers of Into the Void mentioned in casual conversation with Midnight Ghost Train, while on the Roadburn Festival elsewhere in the Netherlands, that they should visit Leeuwarden some time and they would get a show to perform at. Thus the first band for the new festival, from the same people who brought us Into the Grave, was set.

A wide range of other bands were also invited of course, like Night of the Lotus Eater, 44 Venom, Yama, Cherry Choke and Toner Low. Each had their charm, but a couple clearly stood out. Monomyth for example, who cleverly hid the fact they had no intention of singing, by making the first two songs sound like an intro. At some point I started to wonder when they would start singing, when I noticed they had nothing to sing into. Not that they needed the superfluous luxury of lyrics, because their set list had been neatly designed into a build-up to an epic climax. I thought the climax could have been a bit more climactic though, because I felt the performance ended just as they were about to hit it – but maybe that is just the way they make you want to listen to more of their music. Though, the audience me they got exactly the climax they wanted, by giving an approving applause.

But if you were looking for something a little less smooth and a little more complex, you were still at the right place in the former theatre, former church. Yama, for instance, were not at all afraid to turn up the bass and the distortion, just to remind you what genre exactly you were listening too. I am not sure I would have gone with the same light plan, but it did suit the music.

I would have to say New Keepers of the Water House Towers, gave me a bit of a mix between the two: a little more rough than Monomyth, a little less lyrical than Yama. As a pleasant surprise the voices reminded me of the Queens of the Stone Age, like in QOTSA’s Songs for the Dead. As they were playing I noticed there was no gentle bobbing, but either intense focus on the faces of the audience, being swept away in the flow of the music, or firsts with horns in the air. The applause afterwards told me the audience had enjoyed the solid riffs and hypnotizing voices as much as me.

The band that stood out most to me was Abysmal Grief. They set the mood the moment they appeared on stage, bathing in red light, neatly dressed as a priest, a rabbi and a dark monk and surrounded by candles and crosses. To live up to the showmanship of the promising setting, the “rabbi” enlightened us with his dark voice and his ominous church organ, which was actually a synthesiser disguised as a lectern. It was not just the looks that drew me and the audience in though, the dark tones combined with the low, ominous singing had a way of taking you over, compelling you to stay and listen. The audience was not afraid to show it either, with rounds of applause and horned firsts in the air that seemed to plead Abysmal Grief to keep going.

In conclusion, if I decide make a habit out of metal concerts on Sundays, Into the Void definitely did the job of convincing me and would definitely be on the top of my go-to list.

 

Into the Void on Facebook

 

Laurens Ruiter