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Pukkelpop Festival
   It's only misery. It's only ankle deep. That line from Hutterite Mile didn't refer to the Pukkelpop mud, because that was definitely deeper. Torrential overnight rains had almost done to the festival's camping-site what the river Vitava had recently done to Prague. Flood it. And the green, green grass of the home, well the festival site, now was a dark-brown quagmire. Instead of slithering our way through town, as David Eugene Edwards sang in Sac Of Religion, one of the "oldies" 16 Horsepower played today, we had to slither, slip, slide and squish through this gigantic almost impassable mud-bath. Where are my wellingtons? The safest place from disappearing into the vast puddle of mud was right in front of the main stage (because the mosh-pit was metalled) or in one of the tents, but they were more overcrowded than an Indian train. Plus 16hp wouldn't play there, so we opted for the main stage. And were amazed by the number of bandana wearing Guns N' Roses fans covered in Axl Rose flags, patiently waiting for their heroes, who would play that stage some six hours later. It's comforting to know that there are people who are dafter than you :-) Besides G N' R, Suede and the Stereo MC's (a rather poor bill) were to play after 16 Horsepower. Three bands that are on the opposite side of the extrovert-introvert scale compared to 16hp. Especially the modest Folklore material doesn't really come across well in broad daylight. Especially if you have to bridge a gap of several meters between the stage and the first row. If you look down from the stage into that antitank ditch you only see photographers, cameramen, people pushing equipment cases and bored security-men that have so little to do that at one point they even asked the crowd when would they finally faint. Judging from their conversations or 1.000-yard stares they weren't particularly impressed by 16hp's performance behind their backs. The band had wisely decided to go with a lot of familiar "festival-friendly" material, like Black Bush, Brimstone Rock, Clogger, For Heaven's Sake, Poor Mouth and Splinters. Festival surroundings like these are not the best place to unveil new material that is better suited for intimate dark venues. They did play Outlaw Song. The line he was grey as the sky above seemed appropriate. And the outgoing Single Girl. She went down well with most the crowd. It was amusing to see that Daniel McMahon, known from Woven Hand, quickly swallowed his backing vocals and looked surprised towards David Eugene Edwards when the latter decided to slightly alter the lyrics. For McMahon and for John Rumley it was their European 16hp live debut. For the most part it was a rather indifferent affair. The start of the show was plagued by technical difficulties and the sound was not balanced. Moreover the band seemed jetlagged. That's what you get from signing for Jetset-records :-) But halfway through the short set, the technical difficulties had been overcome or they didn't matter anymore, and Edwards had started to feel like it. Then the 16 Horsepower machine finally got going and gathered way. And they demonstrated that they can still deliver the goods. This show certainly wasn't great from beginning to end. But the second part of the show bodes well. So here's mud in your eye! Cheers, to a good tour. By TYFC
16 Horsepower didn't deliver the goods. It drizzled during the entire show and that was metaphorical for the performance of the band. They were wavering between okay and crap. Those who saw 16HP doing well before can only be disappointed.
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