Introduction
I had never been to a rock event such as this one. Over fifteen bands from many different countries, covering all ranges of heaviness, intensity and psychedelia, playing in the same day? Definitely not your every day experience, to say the least. I couldn’t really picture what to expect.
Tilburg is a Dutch city just an hour and a half south of Amsterdam. The first thing I noticed while lugging my backpack from the train station to the venue area was the high concentration of longhairs and scruffy rocker types sitting in cafes and walking about town. Not your typical day in a 200,000+ population city in Europe, by any standards. Getting there just a few hours before Roadburn’s pre-party, the day before the festival, the atmosphere was full of laid back camaraderie and cheer; small groups of rock ’n’ roll travelers greeting each other all over the place. After meeting my travel companions (whom, incidentally, I’ve met through the SR.com site) checking in at one of the very booked hotels in town, and having the first few mandatory local beers, I headed for the place where all was going to happen.
One thing I had to say about the venue. It was BIG. And organized. The concerts were going to take place in three rooms of different sizes, with many of the bands playing simultaneously. There were several bars and hangouts both inside and out of all such rooms, and beer money came in plastic coins that you’d get from these machines in the wall, which would only become complicated upon too much indulgence over Holland’s finest. I took a quick reconnaissance tour, just to get an idea of the place and figure out a way out from one hall to the other, should I get too drunk and miss one of the bands I intended to see. As it came to happen, the first took place, but the overlapping band schedules allowed one to catch the beginning or end of most bands, should you choose to try and make the most of it and just get in into every set you possibly could. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
April 21, 2006: Roadburn Pre-Show
The pre-party was a great night. Many band members and attendees from all over the world showed up, only too happy to hang around and drink away in a cheerful meet and greet that went long into the night, to the background of some bands who played that night – notoriously, End of Level Boss, who did a heavy set that warmed up all present to what was about to come. I cannot stress enough how fucking cool it was to find out the little importance that everyone’s background and place of origin had in there, and how easy it was to feel amidst your own with people who became old friends just five minutes into a conversation. Rock ’n’ roll really is a fucking religion without boundaries or petty barriers such as language or creed. I’ve attended several rock gigs in many different countries where this hasn’t happened to the extent that I witnessed at Roadburn. I blame the bill. There were no commercial, trendy acts scheduled - just true to form, honest rock bands whose main goal and focus was their own music, and that just drew the very right crowd. Walter, the man responsible for the whole thing, was present as well, and he seemed quite comfortable in his own skin. No fights or any such unfortunate events took place that I could notice, and the night carried on smoothly ‘till the end. Kudos.
Spaceship Landing
Live from the 2006 Roadburn Pre-Show
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Toner Low
Live from the 2006 Roadburn Pre-Show
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April 22, 2006: Roadburn Festival
As hazy as Saturday morning was (well, it was for me, anyway - and by morning I don’t mean exactly that, either), the small area of the city around the venue was throbbing with anticipation. The festival began at 4 pm - with Witchcraft, no less - and small crowds filled the bars and restaurants all around. As time came to get in line and enter, I really had to make up my mind about which gigs I was going to attend and which would I miss. It was a really hard decision at some parts, but, as opposed to how it usually works in life when facing such predicaments, I knew that whichever I choose, I just WOULDN’T regret it this time. Naturally, everyone would miss several very good bands throughout the evening, but the bill was so good and so well distributed that there was something for everyone. I could notice that there were spacier, more stoner/psychedelic oriented ways of going through the schedule, and doomier, heavier routes. As my preferences went, I opted for the second.
Witchcraft had started and at first we couldn’t get in. There was enough space to comfortably get to the first few rows in the front after you got in, as it turned out, but I had to squish my way in through the bottleneck at the entrance, as people were eagerly trying to start their evening to the Swedes’ tunes. The place was pretty full. I was a bit thrown off by the band’s super-retro outfit (singer Magnus was wearing a patterned cape and a wide-brimmed hat), I wasn’t sure if it was humor or homage or both. In any case, the music was there, and it was rocking. They went through many songs from their two releases, and it was nice to find out that they achieve that “old, yet fresh” sound live as well as on record; that kind of Pentagram-related sound, where the guitar and bass are kinda clean and easily discernible, yet with a powerful, “naturally distorted” tone that just fits their tunes perfectly. They took the Green Room’s stage for nearly an hour, without disappointing in the least, and making for a really cool start for the path I’d chosen to follow through the festival.
Witchcraft
Live from the 2006 Roadburn Festival
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As much as I’d have wanted to attend Space Head or Abramis Brama, who were playing in the adjacent rooms of the venue, I chose to stick it out in the middle-sized Green Room, as Solace was playing next. Living away from each other for the most part, and having overcome several line-up difficulties within the last year, the Jersey crew were about to play their first European gig ever. And they pulled all the stops. I was expecting to really get into this show, as I was familiar with their releases and had heard much about their live performances, but this was just relentless, I was completely floored. After gracefully overcoming a blown-up bass amp situation, with a synched guitars and drums piece, Solace just cranked it up and didn’t let go, and, as rocking as I thought they would be, I frankly didn’t expect so much HEAVY to be thrown in there. Riff after riff after riff. Just one of those “this is just exactly what I wanna’ hear - throw the horns and bang your head like there’s no tomorrow” moments. Featuring their official singer, Jason, who was just belting it out, they ripped through much of their Further and 13 repertoire, also including their "Cement Stitches" song from their split with Greatdayforup, which just kicked you in the teeth. They ended up with Pentagram’s "Forever My Queen," with Orange Goblin’s Ben Ward fronting the stage. As much as I was planning to pace myself on beer consumption throughout that night, this set just got me pounding pints of the heavenly piss out of sheer joy. It just couldn’t have been much better, really.
Solace
Live from the 2006 Roadburn Festival
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Exhaustion took me to skip bands for an hour just to pace myself, as I had a straight flush coming up soon. As Solace’s set ended, Orange Sunshine and Bevis Frond were well into theirs on the other stages, both running smoothly. As much as I wanted to stay on the Green Room’s small hall and catch Leafhound, who I heard went through a great fucking set, I had to find the smaller Bat Cave, find a place up front, catch my breath, and switch rock frequencies, as The Heads were playing next in my schedule.
Orange Sunshine
Live from the 2006 Roadburn Festival
(Click photos for larger versions)
The smaller stage made way for their fierce, psychedelic, acidic rock ’n` roll. Covering many tracks from previous releases, they matched the swirling psych pattern that projected as a backdrop quite well, with their raw mix of riffs and spaced out noise that just grabbed onto the audience with punk rock intensity in a packed room that seemed to fit their high octane sound most adequately. The crowd seemed pleased and quite taken, as was I.
The Heads
Live from the 2006 Roadburn Festival
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Leaving their set I got to get a glimpse of the Ozric Tentacles’ show, who were playing the nearby main hall’s Space Rock Stage, and were executing their well-oiled craft. They perfectly created a spacey atmosphere that made for the ultimate psychedelic experience under the remarkable light show, created by the kaleidoscopic projection that covered the huge screen sitting behind that big stage in an auditorium that could host a very large sized legion of intronauts. I was bummed about not being able to mellow down and groove to the cool rhythm of Brant Bjork and the Bros, but I wouldn’t go back to the medium stage, ‘cause I had to get my ass back to the smaller Bat Cave, as one of the bands that I was most eager to see that evening was playing: Italy’s very own heavier than hell industrial doom mindfuck: Ufomammut.
The Italians’ set began being delayed by sound problems, unfortunately. Issues with monitors and gear ate up into their set as the very packed room got restless waiting for them to begin. Once they did, though, the sheer monstrous heaviness and intensity that ensued from their obscure craft made up for all the time lost. They went from what seemed like hell’s own local band, jamming to riff after riff of pure, merciless heaviness, to the moog laden, spaced out dark noise that captured you. They played some devastating tracks from Snailking, in a much rawer, faster, and more aggressive form than their recording, even if I didn’t believe that was quite possible, and also some new tracks like "Lucifer Songs," from their latest release, accompanied by their own video projections, The projections carried the Ufomammut imagery that came in their DVD, along with some other dark imagery. These guys were just brutally punishing, and their set was complete fucking rapture into a black and unholy universe. I just fucking loved this and was absolutely drained by it. But there was still some life left in me for Orange Goblin.
Ufomammut
Live from the 2006 Roadburn Festival
(Click photos for larger versions)
Back in the packed Orange Room, where I caught the first gig of the night, the crowd was raunchy and pleased and loaded, and Orange Goblin just came to be exactly the bang that they were expecting. Their louder-than-shit, super intense, heavy ass rock `n’ roll assault just took everybody by the neck and wrung it. As somebody put it on one of the boards, “Big Ben chewed up his own ribs into little pieces and vomited them onto the stage.” They were driven and relentless, and a small pit formed in the middle at times. As much as Orange Goblin has evolved into the brutal “punk meets metal” attack that it is today, they also played some songs from their first release, which was something oh so great to hear. They just ripped through a shitload of songs, only to leave you feeling numb and wanting more by the end. At this point, most attendees had had their fair share of delving into whatever it was they were delving into, and the atmosphere was one of just pure rock ’n` roll bliss. Orange Goblin thundered away into the last song of their set, and I made my way to quickly catch the remainder of the headliner set: British space rock legends Hawkwind.
Orange Goblin
Live from the 2006 Roadburn Festival
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There’s really not much to say when you attend something like a Hawkwind show, except that you know you’re experiencing a vibe that has a presence of sorts. I wasn’t expecting to see the early `70’s band that it was, back when Brock was young and had friends like Lemmy. I honestly hadn’t followed their career all the way up to modern times, only the “back when” records, so I wasn’t sure quite what to expect. Well, guess what? It was Hawkwind. Somewhere in the mellow, yet way into the trippy, it just was just fucking Hawkwind and I loved it, gone as I was, by that moment. The visuals on this one were something else, too, as they had the really big and really cool psychedelic projection in the back, all the big lights and what not, as well as their own fully-propped faeries and demons, dancing around the stage in true Hawkwind fashion. A powerful and heartwarming end to such an amazing evening.
Hawkwind
Live from the 2006 Roadburn Festival
(Click photos for larger versions)
Conclusion
End? Hell no. I got back to the part of the venue where the bar was and still heard loud music in the background, so I went in. Three-piece Gorilla was playing some sort of really amped up `70’s garage hard rock kinda thing. I didn’t know them, but I stayed ‘cause that was just plain good rocking. Cute bass player, too. It was strong and had a classic feel to it, and I dug ‘em a lot. After them I met again with most of the long lost brothers at the bar and just finished the night off as well as we could. It was one hell of a gig and one hell of a good night in every possible sense.
I’m aware many who went there had a very different experience, saw other bands, did other things, had a totally different trip. Met with a few of such people, in fact, and they seemed quite pleased. And that’s pretty much the beauty of it, isn’t it? I got to see one of the heaviest, most intense shows I’d ever seen, got loaded, and found out I already had friends I didn’t know of. It just doesn’t get much better than that, for me. Cheers, Walter! I believe everyone into this scene, if there is such a thing, should try and do this at one time or another. I know I’ll try to catch it again, eventually. Much heart went into that day.
- Marcos Pesado
