All grown up: Pukkelpop celebrates 30th birthday
The anniversary edition of Pukkelpop offers an extra opening night, including a Radio Soulwax party, and the tried-and-trusted mix of bands, styles and genres
A bird’s-eye view
At first everyone made fun of the name, but Pukkelpop would become a household name long before it reached its own adolescence. Now that even its 20s are over, the organisers have invited acclaimed Ghent DJ duo Stephen and David Dewaele for a special Radio Soulwax opening party, an ideal start to highlight the festival’s eclectic, mash-up character.
“Back in 1985, Pukkelpop really wanted to offer an alternative to the mainstream music that was dominating the charts,” organiser Chokri Mahassine says about these early days. As a result, it attracted a niche rock audience.
Now it displays a much broader palette, from the dangerous electronic noise of Hudson Mohawke to the festive electro-reggae party of Major Lazer; from the confessional post-metal of Amenra to the sing-along nu-metal rap-rock of Linkin Park, mirroring the wide spectrum of contemporary youth culture while reaching more visitors than ever.
According to Mahassine, this strange mix of bands has been there right from the start. “In 1985, Ostrogoth, a hard rock band, was opening and we had industrial sounds from Front 242, while English new wave icon Anne Clark was headlining. We wanted to programme all these styles right away.” Call it the bird’s-eye perspective of Pukkelpop over the music scene.
Adventurous activities
Initiated by Leopoldsburg’s Humanistische Jongeren (Humanistic Youth), the first edition took place at Excelsior Heppen football club, 20km north of the current location in the village of Kiewit, near Hasselt. Only seven bands played, on one stage, for 3,000 visitors. Mahassine recalls it was all very ideological.
“We weren’t Chiro [a popular Flemish Christian youth movement] or boy scouts, we didn’t march behind a flag. We organised adventurous activities, such as a bike trip in the south of France, and also concerts. At a certain point we were organising so many gigs that we started to think about a festival. Festivalcatraz in the nearby village of Zonhoven had given us an example, but there was also Breekend in Bree, and Seaside.”
Soon Pukkelpop would overrule them all. “By combining a lot of small bands, all capable of attracting a small audience, we created a bigger audience, from all over the country,” he explains. “The breakthrough came in the early 1990s, when grunge launched alternative music from a marginalised position into the mainstream. In 1991 we had Nirvana performing before they released their ground-breaking album Nevermind.”
Pukkelpop wanted to offer an alternative to the mainstream music dominating the charts
As a result, the size of the festival increased drastically, from one stage, nine bands and 30,000 visitors (in 1992) to three stages, 33 bands and 47,000 visitors (in 1994). To celebrate its 10th anniversary in 1995, the festival became a two-day event and reached a peak in visitor numbers at 60,000.
The number of stages kept increasing to cope with the curiosity of its audience and the divergence between styles and genres, something that was typical of the 1990s. Pukkelpop gave birth to a Boiler Room for DJs and while the biggest names were still lined up on the Main Stage, other stages were created for lesser-known and more experimental acts, such as the Club and the Chateau (later Castellum).
In 2001, the festival became a three-day event, reaching an attendance peak of 115,000. In 2005, Pukkelpop celebrated its 20th birthday with 137,000 people. The 25th anniversary in 2010 was the first edition to sell out.
Then, a year later, in the evening of 18 August, 2011 a devastating storm hit the festival site. Severe winds knocked down massive tents and other structures, killing five people and wounding many others. The festival was cancelled before it had even really begun, and organisers went into survival mode, deciding to reimburse visitors by giving food and drink vouchers over the next three years.
There was criticism, but even more support, leading to an extremely successful 2012 edition: More than 200 bands, among them Foo Fighters, the band that should have headlined the year before, played for 189,000 visitors over three days.
In 2013 and 2014 the festival sold out again, reaching its maximum of 66,000 visitors every day. This anniversary edition, for which only a few day and weekend tickets are still on sale, includes past favourites, such as Underworld, The Offspring, Limp Bizkit and the – for the occasion – reunited Evil Superstars. Check out Shamir, Strand of Oaks, Curtis Harding and Kate Tempest if you want to discover new talent.
Pukkelpop, 19-22 August, Kiewit
Photos © Jokko
Summer music festivals
summer festivals in Flanders
square kilometres of total festival area
million ticket buyers
- isit Flanders
- Federatie van Muziekfestivals in Vlaanderen
- European Festivals Association
