Pukkelpop!

It has been a long while since I last blogged as I haven't been on any travels or tasted any beer worth mentioning!! But here I am reporting on Pukkelpop - a pop music festival in Belgium.

Having arrived on Wednesday evening to Amsterdam airport I was met by Anja and whisked away to the small town of Hasselt but the festival was in a village on the outskirts of Hasselt called Kievit. Getting over my jet lag in one night was a challenge but I think I did it as the festival started the next day on Thursday 14th. The weather was really nice for all three days - we were very lucky!


We saw many bands and here are the ones I think are worth mentioning:

Thursday 14th August

The Pigeon Detectives were not as good as I hoped. I didn't know many of their songs but they didn't have such a great stage presence.


One Night Only are a band I've only recently liked, they are pretty young and again they don't really have 'it' yet I think!! But they weren't bad my any means.

Next up was Ian Brown - I was really looking forward to this as I never saw the Stone Roses perform. He was really good, a bit cocky though but I guess he would be seeing how famous he is. He even sang a Stone Roses song which was unexpected!


The Editors were good - I saw them at Glastonbury last year and they didn't dissapoint me this time either. I really like their live performances.

I came across a band called Mercury Rev which sounded really good and I'd like to look into them further.

After sleeping under a tree for two hours I saw the Killers play at 12.30am - 1.30am. It was so stupid to put them at that time becuase they were one of the headlining acts and it being the first night I was half asleep!! Maybe I'm just lame but it felt really badly placed. They did a fantastic performance though as I'd never seem them before.




Friday 15th August

We went into the towon of Haseelt on this day as we needed a bit of a break from the loud noises!


But next we saw the Stereophonics. I didn't realise that they were so popular as it turned out I knew more than half their songs! I really enjoyed this one :)

I'd heard that Within Temptation were not very good live but they dress up and do a nice show. I like some of their songs and the performance was pretty good. I thought the video effects were a little wanky though!!!

The main headlining act for Pukkelpop 2008 was Metallica. They were lost on me though because the style of music was a little off centre from the rest of the bands that played Pukkelpop. Since I'm not a fan I sat back and dranks some beers in the background and listened from a distance!

I got a henna tattoo that day and there was the most adorabe kid getting in the way!!


Satruday 16th August

The Wombats were on the Main Stage which I wasn't surewas the best idea but they played the part. The Plain White T's were next and I don't know them well at all but I found them really good!

I was very impressed also by the 'Special Beer' Tent! They were selling Wiekse Witte as well as Grimbergen and other tasties that weren't Maes! And it was the same price - yay!

Lastly came the band I had waited for the entire festival - and also the last few years to see; the Manic Street Preachers. They were as good as I had hoped and I'm so glad I saw them. They played a lot of old stuff which was great and a few new songs which everyone likes as well. And I was so impressed with Nicky Wire - he looks so happy to be on stage doing what he does!





All in all Pukkelpop was a great success and I'm so glad to have gone! It was a long drive home that night as we left a little early before the festival had ended but I got to see the Manics and we'd had enough of camping by then! Very happy!!

DJ Tiësto: Elements of Life Tour in Melbourne!

Hallo allemaal! I had the pleasure of being at DJ Tiësto's gig last night; Thursday May 1. I paid a lot for the ticket and wondered what kind of night I would have there. I was very excited the whole week as he (his real name is Tijs Verwest) is my favourite DJ/trance composer. I only found out about DJ Tiësto a year ago when I was in France. I bought his Elements of Life album from FNAC in July 2007 and fell in love with all of his work. I could not make it to any of his Elements of Life Europe tour so I was very happy to see him in Melbourne.

I was pleasantly surprised and my expectations were more than exceeded. Festival Hall was not very packed as I think the Thursday was the least favourable of all his four gigs in Melbourne so there was lots of room to dance and nicely packed at the front! His set started at 8.20pm and he had no break like I thought he would! He played until after 12 and I was dancing for almost four hours!!! His music alone and DJing inspires so much energy in the crowd no matter how far away you are. It was a truly amazing experience and one I will not forget.

For all things Tiësto, go here.





PS. At the bar there were selling Coopers Lager in a can!

Biffy Clyro

It has been a long time since I last blogged, and what better way than to start than with a gig!! Last Tuesday night I went to the Hi Fi Bar and Ballroom to see the famous Scottish trio Biffy
Clyro. After discovering Biffy Clyro while I was in England with their famous song, 'Everything is a problem because everything dies', I found that I liked their latest CD; Puzzle.

However their live gig performance proved to be a little more heavy than their CD had reflected! The songs were good but they didn't really do much singing! And after starting their third song, Simon stopped playing in the middle of the song and he said that he had to fix their guitar sound!! And they all walked off!!! I was very unimpressed!! They came back and continued from where they left off and the rest of the gig was pretty good. Simon played a nice acoustic version of Machines.

Melbourne from a different angle

Hi everyone! I've been back in Melbourne for over a month now. After my trip to England I really see Melbourne in a new light so I thought I'd share some photos with you.

On Christmas Day I had a picnic in Queen Victoria Gardens and it was a really nice day.


For New Year's I went into the city and watched the fireworks. It was quite busy but not as busy as the London fireworks!


Recently I was talking to someone about some streets and how they got their names, specifically the well known Hoddle Street. A few days later when I was exploring the new extended area of the Docklands near Southern Cross station, I found a plaque commemerating Robert Hoddle; and found out that he was the surveyor in charge of the Port Phillip District in early 1837, and he chose this location as the Point of Origin for the Survey of Melbourne.


It's just a short walk from a nice lookout point of the Bolte Bridge.

In other news I completed my RSA (Responsible Serving of Alcohol) Certificate so I can legally work in a bar now, yay!

Wilkommen in Holland!

Yes, I have left it a bit late again but here are some photos of Holland... finally! Despite my broken foot I grudginly left London to face the windy late Spring of Holland, and also to practice my Dutch! Starting off in Groningen I visited my friend Anja but walking around the town proved somewhat difficult and tiring in my Air Boot... here is Groningen Rail Station.

I walked towards the town square and look what I found on the way... as you can imagine, I was extatic!! I have never seen one before :)

I met Marco two days later and we fought the peak hour traffic from Amsterdam to the eastern part of Holland where we visited a tiny little town called Pieterburen. I tried a Grunn's Goudhaantje which is a Kölsch style beer, it was one of the best beers I have ever tasted! Very fresh, not too fruity and not too bitter, I wish I could buy some outside Holland but I don't think I can!

Anyway, in Pieterburn there is quite a large Seal rehabilitation program, they call it a Zeehonden Creche! The seals were SO adorable! They take in orphans and ill seals to get them better and then they release them back into the wild. Some of them were really sick.

Then off we went over the Afsluitdijk, the big windy man-made dike over the open sea to North Holland. We went to Volendam which was a pretty little sea-side town where I drank some Wiecke Witte Dutch blonde beer, not as good as Hoegaarden but good enough!


And we had to see some windmills! One was open so I climbed up and down all the scary narrow steps! Here a picture of me - notice the boot!


On the way to Limberg we stopped in Den Haag to visit the amazing minature city of Madurodam. It is much bigger than I expected!


And then it was off to Limberg to see some friends. And also a visit to a Belgian Beer Wholesale shop... I was in heaven!! So many names I hadn't heard of and I found some Hoegaarden beers that aren't exported. And even Hoegaarden was in the cheap no print bottle here with a different label.

Then it was off to the Stad Amsterdam. We walked to the Central Square to have a look around.

And then it was off to the Leidseplein for a drink. There was a skating rink there but I couldn't skate because of my foot :(

And then it was off to the dirty red light district for a sex show before heading home the next day! It wasn't really what I expected and wasn't as good as the Crazy Horse in Paris! But it was entertaining nonetheless.

Happy Days - Ireland in 6 days

I planned to go to Ireland in the first three months of my trip but never got around to it, but I finally went last week! Starting off on Sunday afternoon by myself in Dublin, I was pleased to find this building standing prominently on the banks of the River Liffey!

I went for a walk to the Temple Bar district for some first impressions of real Irish music in a bar, then to the Viking district -

Leaving first thing Monday morning our first stop was in Drogheda to look at Oliver Plunkett's unpreserved, undecomposed head at St Peter's Church. It was quite black which I found surprising but I suppose it is 326 years old. I found this on the road... It is a Water Service Control access point. I thought it was really pretty for a boring services lid!

From there we headed for Derry (or Londonderry depending on who you talk to). That night I went to the local pub for some craic and some traditional Irish music - wonderful!

Next stop was the Giant's Causeway, a volcanically produced set of square rocks all naturally produced.

And then a short stop to the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge just down the road.


I had my first hot whiskey at lunch that day - it was really nice - hot and sugary and lemony with cloves - it really warmed me up!

We arrived in Belfast early enough to take a Taxi ride to the housing areas of Belfast so we could see the murals of the Republicans and the Loyalists alike and see the way they live. They are so vividly drawn. It was quite disturbing for the views to be so current in their way of thinking.


For the rest of the afternoon I went for a lovely walk in Belfast and found Queen's University, it is very beautiful. I also found a Starbucks near the university :P

We didn't have time or much else other than dinner and more drinking and music - yay! I even tried some Irish dancing - a very cute Irish girl tried to teach me but not very successfully!!


From Dublin it was to Galway - the University young people's town. We stopped at Sloga for lunch which was quite a big town. Each day there was not much time for doing much else so again we dined and this time after the music I went clubbing with another two girls to see what the scene was like... well everyone was extremely drunk before going in and the guys were very sleazy as they too were drunk! Ha! Oh well!

The Glencar Waterfall -

The Cliffs of Moher -

We stopped at the Stone of Fertility on the Dingle Penninsula, where most of the girls wriggled their behinds on the stone! Here is the group of girls -


We saw a lot of cemetaries with celtic crosses. The extra circle of the Celtic Cross is the symbol of eternity.



Murphy's Pub in Kerry, Cork onthe Dingle penninsula where we stopped for lunch. There is a dolphin called Fungie, living there by choice, he keeps coming back!



While in Killarney we took a horse and carriage ride to the Killarney National Park, it is really huge - 25,000 acres! And very beautiful but we only saw a little bit.


We stopped at Blarney Castle in Cork and most people kissed the Blarney stone in an attempt to achieve the gift of eloquence. I, for one, did not kiss the Blarney Stone!



A Blarney Castle doorway, my they were short back in 1446!








And lastly a short visit to the Guinness Brewery, and the best part was the free pint at the end! :)

We spent the final night in Dublin with a few people from the tour as it had officially ended. A pedestrian bridge over the River Liffey at night -