Pukkelpop 2009

This week's end culminated with a hot-frosty blur in a small town in Belgium. We arrived in Kiewit Thursday evening with intentions to see The Deftones play. Neither of us was disappointed by missing the band we knew from our teenage years. Instead, we were delighted with the invitation of colorful flowing flags, flashing lights, and enthusiastic motion from a strange crowd dancing to an electronic band.

Pukkelpop 2009 wasn't Bonnaroo due to the lack of constant disorienting heat and three less square miles of campground, but it certainly was a comparable mix of sound and sight. The people were an enigma to us. Thousands of others were speaking in unfamiliar accents. Some languages we heard were English, French, German, Dutch, and its offshoot of Flemmish. The accents of English came from Australians and English music fanatics. We met no other Americans.

We spent nights, during which we could see our warm breaths mixing with cold air, curled up in the back of a small rented sedan making heat. We were grateful we hadn't chosen to pitch a literal tent amongst a mass of people with temporary dwellings who all seemed much younger than us. Any sort of clean oasis was hard to come by among the trash piles created between tents. The scene reminded me of slums from a third world country where allies of domed tents were insulated with emptied plastic containers, beer cans, and half eaten food.

This crowd of people moved from their sleeping spots each evening to witness the rest of the mass drawn by music. We opinionated the worst of the talent line-up to be a German band that touted four performers in front of laptops.

"It's Kraftewerk," said Sam, our Australian friend.

Simplistic redundant beats played while others stood in awe. The lyrics were simple repetitions of multiword phrases-- "MAN, MACHINE, MAN, MACHINE." The most inspiring bit came when a voice said "TOUR DE FRANCE" dozens of times while images of bicyclers from fifty years ago flashed on large screens.

Justin introduced me to Tortoise, an ensemble with many classifications. Immediately, jazzy electricity comes to mind in my attempts to describe what filled my head. Behind them, windmills spun.

"This is what I listen to when I program," Justin said. I immediately understood why.