Bevrijdingspop

At the concert in Haarlem they had quite the lineup. It started on May 4th evening with an orchestra concert after 2 minutes of silence observed at 8 pm. On May 5th, the party really started. Live bands started on 2 stages at noon and continued until midnight. Between the two stages, set up at the local park, there were tents of food, drinks, games, clubs and everything else in between. They even had a little tent playing house (techno) music. I didn’t stop there, or at any of the other tents besides the drink tent. Nobody from work prepared me that you had to buy token/tickets to get drinks and food with so as I was almost to the front of the drink line I noticed everyone had these white things in their hands so I figured I better ask. I had to leave the line and go to the change machine to get them. It was a bit odd too, because 1 ticket was 2.30 Euro. You would think they could have made it an even number but they didn’t. All of the lines were long, but at least the ticket thing was efficient and nobody had to mess with change so they went fast. You did have to pay for the bathrooms though. 50 cents a turn or 2 Euro for an “all access” pass. I sprung for the pass to avoid the hassle each time. I also made sure to go at least 4 times so I got my monies worth. They were only porta potties but they were cleaned several times which made them a lot easier to manage.

They had a great line up of bands and I drifted from stage to stage. There were several that were really good and I had a ton of fun. The upside to hanging out by yourself, you can navigate crowds very easily and squeeze into openings and work your way forward. By the time one of the biggest acts was on, Ed Kowalczyk (of Live), I was front row. I had a great time and my arms were even sore from dancing and jumping around. I left early and checked out the other stage before returning to my apartment around 11. I was still pretty wound up so I rented a movie via Itunes and watched “Men Who Stare at Goats.” Now, if its on, I guess you can watch it but I wouldn’t go out of my way for it. What I did learn though, is that part of it was filmed at NMMI. I found that pretty entertaining.

I also forgot any picture taking devices on my concert excursions, so I apologize for not being able to show you what it was like. You can check the web site out HERE though and get a sense for it. It is all in Dutch, but you get the idea.