Day 1 – Friday August 19th

As mentioned before the line up for the Lowlands festival was good this year, maybe even too good. Metalrage was packed with acts they wanted to see and this can only mean one thing, we had to split up from the beginning.

Beatsteaks – Alpha (Buzzin Hornet)
I only saw a couple of songs of the refreshing punk of the Beatsteaks. The refreshing punk wasn’t getting the Lowlands people moving; the stage was decorated in a very nice way and the band sure got some fans on the festival. After this band we had to rush towards the other side of the terrain to see Racoon perform.

The Blue Van - Charlie (Napalm Lex)
The Blue Van play a mixture of many rock n roll bands, with early seventies Rolling Stones in front of their catalogue. But a uninterested audience and a serious case of on-stage overacting made that ol' van go down and fail in disapointment. Especially the guitarist's painfully failing attempts to get the crowd moving were more adorable then spot-on. No originality, even the antique amplyfiers failed to set an atmosphere of nostalgia. Too bad.

Racoon – India (Buzzin Hornet)
The Rakes cancelled their Lowlands performance, and the organisation called Dutch pop rock formation Racoon to fill their spot. With their new album Another Day released this year and a huge hit with Love You More the tent was filled completely. The band managed to convince the entire tent to move and almost every song the audience overruled the band. It is clear the band is still popular after their hit Feel Like Flying a couple of years back, when this song is played the tent explodes; and during the brand new hit some people even have to dry their eyes. Racoon is making it in the Netherlands and they are one of the best acts I have seen on this years Lowlands.

Julliete And The Licks – India (Buzzin Hornet)
The program book tells us: Julliete Lewis is a true chick! She played one of the characters in Natural Born Killers and right now she is touring with her personal band. The music is supposed to be Rock’n’Roll but when we were looking with a big smile we noticed it was all about here sexy body, because the music is simple, easy and just crap. Sure it is funny to see and the woman leaving the tent was amusing us a lot but I think this wasn’t meant to be a music act, more of an erotic act for the men.

Kaiser Chiefs– Alpha (Napalm Lex)
Kaiser Chiefs is one of those bands that has taken their Brittish charm and used it in combination with fantastic song writing and stage spirit to storm the european mainland. A couple of months ago they were completely unknown to the masses, and now they're here to wreck the Alpha stage at the biggest festival in Holland. And so they did. The fun part about this band is that every chorus can be sung after hearing it once. All it takes is your "wooohoo" and "lalalalala" skills. Add that up with the fact that the leadsinger played the entire set on 1 foot (the other was broken), and you gotta show some sort of respect for this group, wether it's your kind of music or not. The only thing I doubt severely, is the fact that Kaiser Chiefs are here to stay. I'd say no. But it was fun while it lasted.

Franz Ferdinand– Alpha ()
Coming!

Social Distortion– Grolsch (Napalm Lex)
A remarkably low audience turnout at this gig by the legendary punkers of Social Distortion. The band that surrounds Mike Ness (literaly) made up for it by playing a setlist that entertained every single soul in this ugly ass pink tent. No worries as he plowed through greatest hits such as Mommy's Little Monster, Reach For The Sky (head nodding gallore!), Nickels And Dimes, the Johnny Cash cover Ring Of Fire (epic party!) and one of the most beautiful rock songs ever (and I mean that!) Prison Bound.
Only two bummers were the low audience turnout (fuck The Prodigy!) and the fact that there seemed to be no more room for The Creeps.
I respect Mike Ness, he's a true punker that is disgusted by modern happy-punk-nonsence with no deeper meaning. He tours like mad and has no clue wether he's in Holland or Belgium. And it doesn't matter. As long as he still means what he's singing, and as long as he never loses that 'cronic-cold' voice of him. Goosebumps.

The Prodigy – Alpha (Buzzin Hornet)
Together with Siem I watched The Prodigy. I saw them performing on the Lowlands festival in 2001 and they made a huge impression back then. And I promised myself to never see them again because they could never do the same thing to me. And the show they gave was amazing, but still Lowlands 2001 is in my mind. A lot of the huge Prodigy hits were played during their long set. “What you deserve, you get” were the words we heard and they just kept playing. The band clearly enjoyed their ability to get every single person in the tent moving and screaming. When the band left the stage at the end of their set the audience just kept singing the words and let us hope the band heard this. The good thing about The Prodigy is that they can get various groups together, metal, punkers and dance people all enjoyed the powerful show.

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