© CPU – Ine Van Baelen
Village Festival Rock Allmen lined up a lot of beautiful things. Both from our own Kempen origins and from other areas. The first of the two days started pleasantly, but by evening it turned into a very pleasant place to spend a Friday evening. It is no coincidence that both Kempen and Dharam start with the letter ‘K’. The ‘t’ in Kempen is ‘technique’, as there was unfortunately something to criticize about the arrangements of the instruments during the performances.
Cloudy-o @ primary position
© CPU – Ine Van Baelen
Credit goes to Cloudy-Oh for launching this version of Rock Ollman. The band members describe their music as ‘escapist space pop’. Unfortunately, escapist space pop fans only found their way to Olmen’s Lawn in limited numbers at the start of the festival and the set – with plenty of dance potential – didn’t quite come into its own. The Cloudy-O sounded playful, very attractive, with a good angle, but now fits better on a small stage or a packed hall than on a big stage in the open air. It became clear that the audience was only waking up at a very slow pace when the frontman dedicated a song to a woman who had a relationship with the band. Despite some bold figures, the somewhat forced singing moment at the end (the bassist held up a sign with the lyrics) fell overboard, not entirely unexpected.
Jimmy Diamond @ Main Stage
© Ine Van Balen
Rock ol’ men programmers don’t like Strand or Oaks. Then the band supporting frontman Tim Showalter during his European tour: Jimmy Diamond. The audience immediately noticed that the Dutch band felt very international both visually and aurally, as the curious progressed little by little from the first song. When frontman Jimmy sat down and played the rather catchy ‘Pedal Steel Guitar’ like nothing, heads were first seen going up and down. With slower songs in the middle of the set, the Olmen crowd lost much interest. All in all a great performance from a band we will no doubt be hearing again.
Moments @ Stud Level
© CPU – Ine Van Baelen
Then it’s time for the hard work. On the stud platform, tough push and pull work is catered for. The men of the moment were given the honor of opening this arena. The Kempen band could count on a lot of sympathy from fellow Kempenians in the audience and initially attracted many enthusiasts, although most stayed to watch the show from afar. Musically, the concert flirted a little with the average, but that’s because the guitars, singer Gert-Jan Vandervoort’s vocals and drums didn’t quite match up. It sags a bit especially the quieter parts of the songs, which is a shame because you can hear it has a lot of potential. Nevertheless, the band continued to give their best and after some frantic efforts, the men more or less succeeded in lighting a fire among the audience.
Kids with Buns @ Main Stage
© CPU – Ine Van Baelen
From the moment the Kids With Buns singer first chimed in, you noticed that even the audience who didn’t know the band at the beginning realized that something beautiful was about to happen here. Mary’s warm and sweet voice is one of the band’s strengths. For months now, the women have not been on stage with the duo, but are assisted by two experienced men who take care of the drums, keys and bass guitar. It was especially able to attract the attention of the percussion instrument and it turned out to be an enormous added value. The fun in playing was palpable and the prize for best face pulling of the day undoubtedly went to guitarist Amber. Incidentally, she lost her temper for a moment when she pointed out her biggest fan (or toughest man on the lawn) as she screamed her way through the songs. The set was a good debut for many, especially “Bad Grades” and the cover “Hurts” from The Slow Show, which received praise.
Lounge Society @ Stude Stage
© CPU – Ine Van Baelen
The only band who couldn’t communicate in Dutch with the audience yesterday, flew in (or traveled, or whatever) from England. Guys, because they haven’t experienced many springs yet, bring a kind of post-punk music reminiscent of the IDLES’ KEYS TALKING HEADS. The weather didn’t cooperate, the skies slowly opened up and the few people who pulled the band moved to the tent around the corner. A few diehards stood their ground and were right, because apart from an ugly dress and retro sunglasses, The Lounge Society had a very good set to deliver energetic songs and amazing guitar playing.
The Sour Losers @ Main Stage
© CPU – Ine Van Baelen
The sky cleared and the sun decided to light up the other side of the earth again. The Sour Losers were the perfect setting to kick off their set. The main stage was packed, prompting John Statemans and his mates to play a very tight set. Ollman didn’t get much of a breather, as one song flowed effortlessly into another. The audience loved the fifth show at the Bad Losers Festival (according to guitarist Cedric Mays). “Don’t Know Nothing” provided the first real song of the festival and by The Sour Losers column, the audience was fully warmed up and ready for the last two acts of the evening. Better late than never.
Equal Idiots @Stoot Stage
© CPU – Ine Van Baelen
If Worst National could play in favor of Jack White, Kempen, Peter and Thibault of Equal Idiots should have thought before stepping onto the stud stage. Ever the sympathizer, if not for the music, the whole festival descended to see the band. When Thibault asked who was proud that he was from Kempen, the audience was already very excited. Simple communication, but effective. Equal Idiots moved Olmens Zoo a few kilometers further into the center for a while, because what is it? There was a lot of moshing and no stagers were at the concert. All this under the watchful, approving and encouraging eye of the leader. Many an olmenor will wake up with a whip and a wound or seven, and she’ll be a sausage. Equal Idiots turned rock ol’ men into punk ol’ men, something went wrong here and there, and that’s rock ‘n’ roll. The band closed furiously with “Ça plane pour moi” and “Put My Head In The Ground”.
Intergalactic Lovers @ Main Stage
© CPU – Ine Van Baelen
After the passage of Equal Idiots, it seemed for a while that all the energy had been drained from the audience and the performance of the intergalactic lovers would turn out to be a boon. That was counted without front woman Lara Chedraoui. She won everyone over and won’t say the band took a two-week hiatus for this. The hits were warmly received, especially “Delay” which was enthusiastically sung. Songs from the most recent album Liquid love Kempen was still a bit new to people, and some decided to talk about the latest gossip again rather than enjoy the beauty of the main stage. “North Road” after bag number. Olmen can crawl under the rug with a good feeling and get ready for day two.
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