After a brilliant first day, the second day was a more relaxed one, since there wasn't anyone we were interested in until around 7 o'clock. So we wandered around on the street leading to the festival ground, shopping for buttons, shirts, earrings and anything else we wanted. After a while we got hungry and headed to the food area of the site and then relaxed on the grass (Friday was a very beautiful day, with lots of sunshine), watching Slayer from afar. They're good for their genre, but I'm not a metal fan so the comfort of the grass & sun was perfect for me. The next artists were supposed to be Babyshambles, but of course Pete Doherty had to be his mug-self and not come, so Air Traffic played again. Having missed them on the previous day, I was glad I had another chance. They were good but I wasn't really in the crowd to gauge the gig temperature so I won't judge it. Next up was Jay-Z, who really isn't my cup of tea. What's so fascinating to hear Rihanna or Beyonce from the CD and this guy just saying "Yeah! Yeah! Uh! Come on! Hands in the air! Yeah!" is beyond my comprehension.
1. The Verve
I never thought I'd actually see The Verve. If you told me, an avid Verve and Richard Ashcroft fan about 3-4 years ago, that I were to be front row and sing along to "Bittersweet Symphony" with 70,000 other people, I'd call you daft. So when the organizers announced that they were booked to play Werchter, my heart skipped a beat. For old times sake, I'm pleased that I saw them and heard their hits live, but the overall show was worthy of just 4 stars mostly because they played some new songs and some songs from their first albums, which are not as known as the great "Urban Hymns" . Richie was cool, like he always is, but lacked something...I think after such a long break, the guys don't really click together anymore.
Stand-out songs: Lucky Man, The Drugs Don't Work, obviously Bittersweet Symphony (in the vid)
Rating: 4/5
Inbetween the two gigs, the cameraman decided to have some fun with the crowd and filmed various people so they could see each other on the big screen. Needless to say, that made way for tens of gestures, a lot of them rather exhibitionist, and it gave us all a good laugh. Best part: he missed Neil Young's entrance on the stage because he was too caught in filming the crowd =))! Priceless!
2. Neil Young
I'd heard his songs before but I can't say I knew too much of his music before. However, his legend status made me prefer him over the very addictive band Hot Chip so there I was, front row for this living hero of rock. He was great! Dressed in a paint-stained suit, he rocked Werchter with his powerful setlist, proving that he's still able to play like when he was much younger. I loved how his hair was bouncing =))) too funny. And I don't regret missing Hot Chip, cos they're still young, Neil's old and who knows when (or if) I'll have the chance to see him again.
Stand-out songs: All Along The Watchtower (Bob Dylan cover; in the video), Heart of Gold, Hey Hey My My
Rating: 5/5 *show of the day*
3. Moby
My legs were not listening to me anymore: they wanted back to the tent and in an horizontal position. The exhaustion and the big crowd at the Marquee made us sit down for a while and watch Digitalism from outside and then went over for Moby. I was, again, expecting him to play a lot from the new album, but he played a lot of old songs. "Lift Me Up", "Porcelain", "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?", "We Are All Made of Stars" sounded great, Moby is a much better live act than I expected. But again, we left early, in order to avoid the mass of people going back to the campings.
Rating: 4/5
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