The first band that day was Fiction Plane, featuring Sting’s son, quite allright, although most of the music reminded us of the Police. That’s why I also feel the day was really kicked of by the second band we saw: The Wombats; a great party alltogether, starting with a brilliant a capella about boys and girls and marciupials. Gavin DeGraw was the follow-up on the main stage, but it’s not really worth mentioning more about him… We continued to the tent where Kate Nash would start of her gig….which was quite terrible…Tally, Mark and I were already joking that she screamed louder than the Cavalera Conspiracy which was playing at the other stage. This had a lot of people immediately turning around, just terrible

Luckily, because we left early, we were able to get some good places in front of the stage for Racoon, the next band, to see what would become the best gig of the day, really good and brought with a flair of humour here and there. The Hives did the complete opposite of the Foo Fighters; talking too much and really these blokes are just the most arrogant bastards around, quite irritating Back to the tent again for Saybia, quite nice, but a lot of the same, and again the bad sound quality…Queens of the Stone Age was also ok, but it felt like one constant flow of music without any recognisable parts. One nice part of the Queens performance was that the security guards, who seemed a little bit overprotective and too active, we scolded by the lead singer common guys this is a fuckin’ Queens of the Stone age concert, we can have some fun without hurting each other! Unfortunately, the best Queens song, their only hit, came at the end of the set.

The next band was actually one of my favourites, the Counting Crows, and the more disappointing it was that also they could not really convince; we already left earlier for Roisin Murphy who was playing at the other stage. Surprisingly, her performance was quite good, I would have wanted to see a little bit more of it, but we needed to move to have a good place at the Rage Against the Machine gig which was next. The crowd just when crazy during that performance, and I think I was the only one really not appreciating it; too much anger, too many politics, and more importantly political statements I couldn’t disagree more with.

Still, Pinkpop has been an awesome experience, the wombats and racoon made up for what the other bands failed to bring. Also, I’m sure I’ll try to get tickets again next year, the atmosphere was just so amazing and friendly. More than 60000 people visiting every day and as far as I know no fights at all, just everyone enjoying the sun, the music, the food & beer, and each other’s company…you only wish that could happen more often in everyday life

Voicst, also Dutch, was playing at the GM Next stage, which is located inside a tent (previously known as the 3fm tent), and therefore the sound was just miserable…not because of the band, but mostly because of the bad acoustics of the tent…Dirk and I already soon decided it was time for an early lunch (+beer to keep up German traditions), mostly because a) it wasn’t really our music, b) you couldn’t see squat inside the tent, and c) we were hungry and thirsty According to Tally and Mark we missed one of the most interesting gigs, with really cool crowd interaction, a shame, but at least we were not hungry anymore, the others were. So again our roads parted and had Dirk and me visiting KT Tunstall and the Eagles of Death Metal, while the others were looking for a bite to eat.

KT Tunstall on the main stage was unfortunately not really convincing. The music that was played was quite good, and I really admire KT as a musician, not so much as performer though… The interaction with the crowd was minimal, and also the music is not really something that evokes a reaction of the crowd. I think the tent would be a lot better place for an artist like her. Mostly, because of the intimate atmosphere of that tent, if only the sound was better….

And damn…while we were leaving KT for the Eagles of Death Metal, the rain started pouring down…luckily most of the people were well prepared (being used to Dutch weather) and soon we found ourselves moving through a crowd of plastic makeshift rain coats, to arrive at the 3fm stage where the Eagles would play…and wow! what a performance…I think the Eagles of Death Metal (who surprisingly played rock&roll music) rocked the rain away, because half an hour after the concerted started the rain stopped. It was a party that wouldn’t end, mainly because, and I quote: people, they keep telling me this is my last song, but no fuckin’ way I’m leaving this stage without having played at least another song, can I have an Goddamn Amen to that!

After followed a series of lesser gigs, Editors mwah, Stereophonics, TOO DAMN LOUD!!, The verve, mwah…luckily intertwined with one gig that surprised me the most of the whole festival…sure we knew that metallica would rock, same holds for the foo fighters….but I did not expect the Kaiser Chiefs to be so damn good! Their live shows are so much better than any record you hear playing on the radio, the singer was jumping around the stage, in the crowd after 5 mins, turning a no-crowd-surfing-allowed sign upside down, climbing the scaffolding next to the stage, dropping his mic and running to the nearest mic to complete the lyrics just in time….amazing what a party it was, the crowd went just beserk. It was difficult to imagine how this Kaiser Chief performance could be outperformed…

But still…the Foo Fighters did…woohoo! After this gig they have added at least one fan to their fanbase, me, but I think many more….Dave Grohl kept his promise no time for talking people, we have so much to music to play and kept playing song after song…the energy was amazing, the music too…just incredible how one person can be in two such popular and ground-breaking bands at the same time! Also the drummer of the Foo Fighters was awesome, having a long drum solo at which the crowd kept on encouraging him to go on! Darkness fell, creating an even better atmosphere for a rock band like them, and before we knew the second day of PinkPop was already gone, the best day of the festival if you ask me, sending us home with smiles on our faces, that have lasted until today, just thinking of all those awesome experiences added to our memories!

After a twenty-five minute walk from my house we arrived at the terrain, in time for the first band of the day, called Sat2d, a high school punk band, which sounded a bit like a mix between krezip and blink 182, and reminded me of the good-ole days at high school, going to the surf-punk gigs of my friends. Although the band was not too bad, it wasn’t that appealing either, so we decided to head for the main stage for Flogging Molly. Flogging Molly, for those who do not know them, is best described as drunken Irish folk on steroids, that just invites to jump around and drink more beer (no Guinness around ). Although Flogging Molly was already better than the band we saw before, the music was much of the same; Tally and I were already joking that they just kept playing the same song all over, just with different lyrics. Next band was Incubus, which again was a little bit better; I did hear of them before, but I didn’t hear them before. Quite nice rock music…but to be honest, I think most of us were more eager on hearing the final gig of the evening…which was…

Metallica!!! Damn and did they rock! I was the only one that saw them before, but we all agreed that this was the best gig of the entire day, well worth their price I think (which allegedly was over 1 million euro). Of course they played a lot of their old songs, especially from the Master of Puppets and Black Albums; Enter Sandman, One, Fade to Black, Nothing else Matters, Seek and Destroy, etc., etc. They were also the only band playing for more than 2 hours, including some extra songs in the end. Metallica was also a master in getting the audience just crazy, everyone was singing with them, jumping around, and soon we found ourselves, unwillingly I must add, in the middle of a pit However, this was just a minor spot on the rest of the show, which was just amazing; apart from the real fireworks they provided, there music was also just that, leaving the audience wanting more, and raising expectations for the rest of the festival!