I would never have thought I’d be going to a festival this summer, until last week my boyfriend surprised me with two free tickets to Pukkelpop! Pukkelpop is a Belgian music festival, which lasts 4 days and is held in Kiewit, which is not so far off from where we live. The Line-up was great, but after all, our list of must-sees was pretty quickly made. Curious about who we went to see? Keep on reading…

Thursday 18/09

• Pepe
• The UnderAchievers
• Good Charlotte
• Tom Odell
• Big Sean
• Matt Corby
• Rihanna
• Die Antwoord

Surprisingly, the best performance of the day in my opinion, was Pepe. My boyfriend is a long time fan of his music, and sent me some of his songs some time ago. I liked his work, but wasn’t truly convinced. Until this amazing performance: it just had it all: it was only 11:30 a.m., but he just gave the best of himself and got the crowd to go along. Tom Odell was another great discovery. I only knew his most famous songs like: “Another love”, but after this performance I think I’m buying his new album. What a voice! Now, you are probably all just dying to know what I thought of Rihanna, since the commentary was pretty bad. Well, Riri was… Riri. She was more than fashionably late, but gave (in my opinion) a good show. I didn’t really know what to expect, so maybe for hardcore fans it was slightly disappointing, but my expectations were definitely fulfilled. She didn’t playback, like the most reviews said, but the screens and the music just weren’t sync. To conclude the day: in terms of good shows, this day was probably the best. Almost everyone we went to see was on fire! In between shows, we also went strolling for a bit because there’s always some cool stuff to discover on the festival. This year, they build a whole Santa town, full of crazy acts which made even me (although I hate winter) long for snow, hot beverages and Santa!

Friday 19/09

• Lukas Graham
• Jess Glynne
• Craig David
• The Chemical Brothers
• Chase and Status

After a good night- oh,well, morning- of sleep, we almost went well-rested back to the festival. (If you were wondering, we didn’t stay on the camping on the festival, since it’s only 20 minutes by train from where we live.) Once back on Pukkelpop, we totally got blown away by Lukas Graham. They had their first show in Belgium and I don’t think anyone who witnessed this show, will forget it. You got dragged through a series of emotions by the lead-singer Lukas, who told you his life story and made a serious impression both by pouring his heart out to his audience and his amazing voice (which got me goosebumps so many times!). The performance of the Chemical Brothers however, could be considered as the worst hour and a half of my life- like literally, I didn’t I could hate music so much before this- but although we went through hell and back, we didn’t move from our spots, because we wanted to see Chase and Status after. Luckily, they were definitely worth the wait and made it able to forget this bad experience fully!

Saturday 20/09

• Dua Lipa
• Dotan
• Tiggs Da Author
• Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley
• Oscar & the Wolf

The last day, we were able to take it more slow and before we went to see any of the artists that are listed above, we visited another cool area on the festival site: Food wood. Running around here was like being thrown back in time: wooden tables and chairs surrounded by the cutest food trucks. To bad some of the prices were ridiculously high, or I’ve would have just tasted everything! Concerning the performances, Damian Marley was just wonderful. The energy on stage was amazing! Tiggs Da Author was a discovery, since we just walked in while he was playing, looking for a place to hide from the rain (gotta love Belgium). Definitely go check him out sometime!

Last but not least: what was I wearing? Festival fashion is a whole different style and according to me it means that the boundaries between hot and not, yay and nay are a little more bendable. Glitter, fake tattoos (yes, you finally get to use those you could find between your chips when you were little), and a whole lot more questionable fashion trends are allowed. I personally go for a little bit of a loose, boho style which is comfortable to run around in all day and most of the night. Take a look and tell me what you think about my festival outfits!

If you have any more questions, just leave them in the comment box and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Any recommendations or points of constructive critique are also always welcome!