But it’s worth it: Not only does Werchter offer a glimpse of tried and true bands such as Queens of the Stone Age, Underworld, Portishead or the everenchanting PJ Harvey, it also features newcomers like James Blake, Aloe Blacc and Flanders’ own Selah Sue. And, of course, the festival cannot do without modern-day heroes Coldplay and Kings of Leon.
But there is more to it than that: Werchter has been voted “best festival” four times in five years by the International Live Music Conference of concert professionals, leaving behind the legendary festivals Roskilde, Glastonbury and Isle of Wight. The success of Werchter even prompted the organisers of the award to change the rules: now, no festival can be awarded three times in a row, just to give other festivals a chance.
Werchter also enjoys an immaculate reputation among artists: U2’s Bono, who has seen the Flemish Brabant site grow from a scout meeting to a megaevent, thinks of it as the “best festival in the world”. Radiohead waited until the 1996 edition to play “Paranoid Android”, its fabulous departure from conventional rock, in public for the first time.
But Werchter also hails a local season: it’s the festival for kids celebrating the beginning of the grote vakantie (summer holidays). It is not an uncommon sight at Flemish secondary schools to see them arriving at their last day of exams wearing their sloppy festival clothes and carrying their camping gear. How unfair to expect a good exam result, when all they want to do is get the adrenaline pumping.
Four day combi passes to Werchter are still available, as are day tickets for Sunday (The Black Eyed Peas- A-Trak, Iron Maiden, more)
Flanders Today is a 
12°C / 25°C
