Roadburn 2022

Recently I had the opportunity to head off to Europe to attend a couple of music festivals. In between, I had some dates to kill with random concerts here and there and had everything mapped out for a fun but aggressive travel plan taking me to England, Belgium, The Netherlands, and Germany. As the date of departure crept up bands canceled and I added Roadburn to the middle of my journey at the last minute when more tickets went on sale. I was a bit nervous about attending as I would be solo and it’s a much bigger get-together than most of the psych-related festivals I attend. I’m not really into the dark metal and heaviness that is Roadburn but I felt there was enough there for me to experience some great music at a pace that would work for me and maybe I would discover something new.

London

The journey started out easy enough. I left Minneapolis and landed in London the next morning. That evening I attended Kanaan and Narcosatanicos at the 229 Club and the next evening went just up the road to see Codex Serafini and Electric Moon. All four bands put on excellent shows and I was really excited to finally see Electric Moon at the Lexington and had a great time meeting a few fellow Psych Lovers (facebook group) in attendance. The next morning I traveled from London via tightly packed sardine cans on Easter weekend to Liverpool for a two-day HRH psych fest featuring Electric Moon, Helicon, Vert:X, Hey Colossus, Madmess, and a handful of other excellent psych bands. HRH had become a shell of what it was supposed to be due to cancelations but it was great to get out to a festival to see some bands I love and more importantly to meet up with a large contingent of fellow Psych Lovers, many of whom I had met almost three years earlier in Eindhoven for Fuzz Club. From HRH I would train to Manchester and fly to Brussels for a fun evening in a fine hotel and a trip down memory lane with The Sisters Of Mercy gig at the massive Ancienne Belgique club. The Sisters definitely are not what they used to be but the classic tunes and the amped-up crowd made for a great evening. The next day was a bit of a rest day as I spent it drinking top-quality Lambic at the famous Cantillon brewery before training up to Amsterdam to rest and stock up at a “coffee shop” for Roadburn.

Roadburn Day 1

As I said earlier, Roadburn wasn’t really in my plans. Once Kungens Män canceled their gigs beforehand it was my only chance to see them and the thought of squeaking in some Slift shows was appealing. The trade-off was I had to give up seeing Grandaddy and God is an Astronaut elsewhere. I also knew I had to miss the last day of Roadburn because I really wanted to hit Mythic Sunship in Germany. So I went through Spotify listening to all the bands so I could see what else was there and also discovered some bands I like in the fine print and decided to give it a go. Booking late made things tough accommodation-wise (seriously what kind of town like Tilburg has no hotels.) but some things opened up with cancelations and I had Wednesday in Tilburg, then a night in my favorite Airbnb place in Eindhoven, and finally two at a nicer hotel in Eindhoven but that all made for a lot of running around.

Wednesday I arrived in Tilburg, an odd little town seemingly made up of nothing but cafes, I had to kill some time before checking in so I grabbed lunch in the center of town, took out the maps, and started plotting and learning how I was going to do this. For some reason, I thought the meet and greet was Wednesday but it wasn’t, so after walking around and finding all the venues I picked up my bracelet, grabbed some provisions from a grocery store, and went to check in and rest up for the free Wednesday evening bands. By this time on my journey, I was beaten to hell from all the walking by day and standing at shows by night. Eventually, I made my way through Weirdo Canyon and into the Next Stage to see Radar Men From The Moon. I had seen them before in Eindhoven and have a strange relationship with them because I love the music but hate the screaming vocals. Different singer, I think, from 3 years ago but the same effect. But they are always fun to watch. Stayed for a bit of Maggot Heart (correction) but ventured out to explore the nightlife before heading back in to see what Temple Fang was all about. If I wasn’t so exhausted I might have enjoyed that more but they were pretty good.

Roadburn Day 2

Slept as late as possible then took the train to Eindhoven to check in to my favorite inexpensive BnB (Inkijkmuseum) and reminisce about my 2019 stay in Eindhoven at some of my favorite cafes before heading back up to Tilburg to start a light day 2. Bruit ≤ kicked things off in the Engine Room with a fantastic post-rock set including a full horn section. I was vaguely familiar with some of their work and they were much better than I anticipated. That room at that time of day with the large windows lit up nicely. I must have gone into some kind of time warp for the next two hours because I have no idea what I did next. I may have seen a bit of Year Of No Light and Cloud Rat but I have no photos or memories to back that up. I know I was checking out the mega merch stand (missed out on any of the cool shirts) and I probably did what I do best when bored which is sit at a cafe and drink and eat. Eventually, I broke out my “coffee shop” purchases to get ready for a show I was very hyped for. Slift went well above and beyond expectation with their truncated UMMON set. There was so much energy from the crowd, killer sound and the light show and graphics were top notch. They absolutely tore it up with a huge mosh pit. I must have been grinning a mile wide. It’s one of the best sets I’ve seen in years. Went up to the Next Stage to catch a glimpse of Trialogos but remembered that if I wanted to eat, the cafes shut down food really early so I prepped myself for another show I really wanted to see which was Smote. I really like the album Drommon so seeing it live was a real treat and they were definitely creating a great vibe. That pretty much wrapped up a light day for me. Had I been less tired I may have risked not getting back to Eindhoven to see Russian Circles but the bus tickets were sold out and I was really exhausted. Looking back I should have stayed for that.

Roadburn Day 3

Day 3, Friday. Woke up in Eindhoven finally feeling a bit refreshed and with a bit more energy. grabbed a nice breakfast and was able to check in early to my next hotel where I got a late great bargain on the Agoda travel site (Hotel The Match). It was nice staying in the same place for two days. rested for a bit before heading back up to Tilburg to catch Slift for a second set in The Terminal. This set was a bunch of unplayed material that didn’t quite have the same punch as the day before. A bit less energy from both the band and the crowd but very good nonetheless. From there I headed up to the Next Stage to catch Blak Saagan. Not a band I was very familiar with but was digging the motorik beats and electronica so that was a good catch. Wandered next door to finally check out the Main Stage for GGGOLDDD. Not an artist or style I would generally listen to but wow what a set that was. So emotional and tense. I was glad I got to witness that. Checked in for some more electronica with Alice Hubble which was also enjoyable and new for me. Went out for dinner in the Canyon and met some cool dudes over dinner which was fun to finally actually talk to someone before catching a quick look at Amnesia Scanner before heading back into the Next Stage for a great set by Motor!k. I can’t believe I have none of their vinyl but I finally solved that issue after returning. Great set of classic motorik rhythms with a nice travel background and light show. A definite highlight for me. Like the night before I wanted to see TAU but had to run like hell to catch the last train back to Eindhoven.

Roadburn Day 4

Day 4, Saturday. A nice sleep in my comfortable hotel and a leisurely start to the day. I had learned the night before that the question mark for the Next Stage would be GNOD. Oh man was I psyched. I knew I would see them later at Astral Fest but I also knew that that was the last band that I wanted to see at Astral that I hadn’t already seen and was already thinking I would blow off Astral and leave early for home. I was starting to get paranoid about Covid and not passing the required negative test and getting stranded an extra 2 weeks.GNOD playing, unfortunately, had me missing John Ghost because of the clash but that’s the way of things.

I don’t listen to GNOD much and mostly know them from some excellent collaboration records. but I had heard a lot about their shows. As my fellow Psych Lovers like to say, you just don’t see and hear GNOD you feel them. What a show that was. I was really surprised by how much they reminded me of some of the early California punk sounds of bands like Sick Pleasure and Code of Honor. So intense. Tried to get into the Hall Of Fame to see Kanaan but the line was so long I knew even if I got in it would be at the end and jammed in the back so I listened from outside the tent and got to say hi to the Kungens Man boys as they recognized my Psych Lovers shirt. Checked out the electronic set of RMFTM which was interesting. I’m not sure the electronics added all that much but the drummers were busy stealing the show anyway. Made my way up to the Next Stage to catch Five The Hierophant after catching a quick bite. Wasn’t really sure what to make of that and wasn’t really feeling the vibe there. Up next was my third set of Slift in the massive main room. This time they were performing a joint set with Etienne Jaumet, renowned saxophonist and electronic musician with his modular synth set up in the back. Not the same intensity as a regular Slift set but I was really digging the Kosmiche vibes and as I have said several times, this is going to make a great Live at Roadburn record if they ever decide to do one.

Next up I was really excited to see The Holy Family but I really wasn’t ready for the vocals to sound so… demonic. They actually cleared out the room pretty well. I was up in the full balcony when they started and it was empty halfway through. I’m not sure if the room emptying was more of a case of everyone leaving for another room though there weren’t many clashes going on there. I enjoyed it, it just wasn’t what I expected. Caught the beginning of Ulver but I was way in the back as I wanted to make sure I could keep checking that the Next Stage wasn’t filling up for Kungens Man as that was the whole reason I was here in the first place. Ulver’s setup with the screen in front was pretty cool in that it created a 3D-like hologram effect. I wished they would have gotten to the point a bit quicker though as the intro seemed to take forever so eventually I grabbed my spot for Kungens Män. Kungens was great. Loads of energy and free-form improv. They have been one of my fav bands for the last couple of years and they didn’t disappoint and had the crowd dancing.

Roadburn Conclusions

Overall I had a really good time at Roadburn. What a wonderful job they do putting on that festival. It really seemed to go off without a hitch. They did a great job filling in for the cancelations (i was really bummed about Lustmord) and the surprise gigs although for the most part, the surprises were not for me, everyone did seem really jazzed about them. As a first-timer and a solo traveler, I found everything extremely easy to navigate. The lack of hotels in Tilburg is a strange problem for a place that size but getting back and forth to Eindhoven, although a bit of a burden was easy. The cafes were a ton of fun and a great source of food, beverage, and clean restrooms. For a shy person, I found making conversation tougher than at other festivals in that I’m not a metal or doom guy and everyone is in groups so that can be tough to work your way in for conversation. I was hoping to run into some Psych Lovers but never saw any I recognized. Roadburn in a group of four or more would clearly be ideal to either camp or get reasonably priced accommodations and for killing time.

Would I go back? probably not. It would take a larger volume of experimental music and psych-related music for me to book again but that’s not really the point of the festival and I get that. But there was barely enough to make it worth my while so it did work out in the end. I was really struggling with travel fatigue (I’m 56 with really bad knees) so my willingness to venture to some of the other stages or start earlier to catch some of the bands was severely diminished. So if I were to book again I would do 4 nights same place, pre-exercise, wear better shoes and make a better effort to see who else was going from my circle. and more importantly, just do a 5 day weekend of it. I might even grab early tickets and then wait to see if it was going to be worth my while as it approached in case there were changes that would affect my decision. it seemed really easy to get rid of or get tickets but that may be more Covid-related. Any way you look at it it was a great experience. But you never know. If a band I like is curating it or featured it could be worth a trip.

Mythic Sunship – End of Journey

I blew off the last day of Roadburn as there was almost nothing that interested me other than maybe the last set by RMFTM. Instead, I went to Kassel Germany to see Mythic Sunship at a small smokey club. The long train ride there was a nightmare of problems but I eventually got there, had the fine German dinner that I really wanted, and made my way to the show. They were excellent. really tore it up with their newer harder material. Made for a great last show of my journey. After another debacle-filled train ride back to Brussels and barely making my flight back to Manchester, I was done. Called the airline and booked the flight home a week early. Skipped Black Doldrums, Ist Ist, Grandaddy, stopped trying to get a ticket for Friday at DesertFest, and blew off Astral festival. Just could not do any more train rides and hotels. But it was a hell of a journey after more than two years of no travel. I’ll be back whenever Fuzz Club puts on their next festival.