Wortegem-Petegem, East-Flanders, Belgium23rd August 2016
W-Festival with Alphaville, Peter Hook & the Light, Marc Almond, Sian Evans (Kosheen), Scritti Politti, Heaven 17, De Brassers, Whispering Sons, Portrait B, The Serious Five
It was new! It was hot in the best sense of word! It was 80ties! It was new wave! This new Festival in Belgium offered some great 80s bands you rarely see live on the same stage. The festival area was very nice. Promoters just used the ground of an automotive exhibition taking place the days before. Even though it was open air, the ground was solid wood. Several tents were built up, you could sit down in the shadows. Beverages were sold for decent prices, only the food was in my opinion far too expensive and not really suitable for vegetarians. But all in all, I really recommend this festival.
THE SERIOUS FIVE were opening the day, often described as the Belgian FAD GADGET. The group was discovered during the “Gentse feesten” early 90ties and experienced a successful period of many years. PORTRAIT B were next. It’s Belgian, its unique, its new, its supervised by no other than Luc Van Acker, its modern new wave à la Belge and the band was bringing their newest EP - and much more. Next one in the line-up was WHISPERING SONS, a new Belgian band lead by a woman who calls itself the new generation punk/ cold wave. Last one of the Belgium bands in the line-up was DE BRASSERS. If you look for the roots of Belgian Punk you will automatically see DE BRASSERS as the very first name on the list! They have a strong live-reputation and bring a set you are not likely to forget very soon...
Following the Belgium bands were great names you all know. First of them was HEAVEN 17, born out of THE HUMAN LEAGUE and marking the 80ties and the world as a superb synth pop band. Next band on the schedule was SCRITTI POLITTI, bringing us a 60 minutes set of synth pop taking us down memory lane! Sian Evans, front lady and the “face” of KOSHEEN, produces superb electronic pop songs since the 80ties. Her voice and impressive use of various instruments are the basis of an unique sound like no other within the scene and her show was fantastic! MARC ALMOND joined the line-up of the W-Festival too. He scored numerous world-hit records (‘Tainted Love’ to name but one) and started in 1984 a successful solo career. And now he joined the stage bringing an unique performance, in sound & vision! PETER HOOK & THE LIGHT do not need an introduction. As proud member of former JOY DIVISION and NEW ORDER, now performing with his own band, Peter’s set was bringing back the sound of the mysterious 80ties for sure! Since they had troubles on the airport, their drummer was missing and so, they mostly played NEW ORDER songs. ALPHAVLLE from my home town Münster were W-Festival’s headliner. The band scored big in the 80ties! With synth pop classics such as ‘Sounds like a Melody’, ‘Big in Japan’, ‘Forever young’, ‘Summer in Berlin’ etc... Great end of the day for me. I was too tired to stay for the surprise act.
All pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com / http://www.facebook.com/blackcatnet)
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