With extreme giddy anticipation I’ve been looking forward to the 2024 edition of Brakrock on August 2nd and 3rd. Perfect time to look back on the previous year and get you guys equally excited with my tribute to the best festival in the world. The best bands, most idyllic location and greatest organisation made for two days that won’t easily be forgotten!
Ready for episode one of part five in my love song to the Brakrock festival? Read all about day one of securing a prime vantage point for one (of two, there’s a pattern here!) of my all time favourites, and having HEAPS of fun in the process. Not to mention being being yelled off stage by a vigilant roadie.
I cannot begin to tell you how much I love Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. Well ok, that might be a lie because I’ve already touched on them a few times on this blog, in anticipation to the 2023 edition of Brakrock and the recap of Punk in Drublic by the same wonderful organisers. I make a point of trying to catch them whenever they tour Europe. Alas, this year I missed their passage through Belgium, because I was already too busy with my recent tour-along series. No worries though, as I can revel in the amazing memories from their set on the River Stage at Brakrock in 2023. Here goes!
OFF TO A GOOD START WITH GOOD RIDDANCE
To make sure I can get as close to the stage as possible, I decide to get there good and early, long before Good Riddance is set to play. In the process I nixed poor old Joe McMahon, who’d play an intimate set at the Belgian Beer Bar, and the last notes of the Satanic Surfers from my carefully curated planning. I’d love to say I am sorry for that, but I cannot in good conscience, as the rest of the night was just too damn fun.
Good Riddance launches into their set with an energetic vengeance I am sure is felt many miles away. I start off centre stage on the second row, but the crowd weaves and waves so much, keeping my position is nigh impossible. Writing down notes is a bit problematic in that press as well, but who cares when you’re having this much fun. The audience is getting more excited by the minute and the atmosphere is beyond phenomenal. The security folks seem a bit taken aback by the absolute chaos at first, but start visibly enjoying themselves thanks to the love from the people radiating in the direction of the stage.
In the press of the dancing masses I hear Good Riddance go through all their classics, a slew of new material and the crowd, so obviously full of fans, is eating it up! At this point my bruises have bruises, but I can’t emphasise how much I don’t care and how great it feels to be a part of this party. The crowdsurfers are relentlessly careening over the audience, young and old alike.
A word of gratitude for the way the security team anticipates picking up the crowdsurfers and making sure they get down safely. (As evidenced below by the post Me First and the Gimme Gimmes later shared on Instagram.) It also helps me be more aware of the incoming flailing limbs which makes it that much easier to enjoy the show.
Right near the end of the set I get pushed to the front row by accident, but do I mind? FUCKING NOOOO! (Though my battered knees kinda do at some point, but again, WHO CARES, bruises heal and memories are forever.)
I am elated and exhausted and am now even more eagerly awaiting my highlight of day one! Before that though the lovely security guy (Again, can’t stress enough how much I admire the organisation and the people behind it!) secures my infamous rainbow pillow so it doesn’t get smashed to bits in the pit and then manages to get it signed by the band. Hoorah! 💜💜💜
ON TO THE MAGIC OF THE GIMMES
See this ridiculously broad smile? Yeah, I was WAAAY beyond thrilled for Me First and the Gimme Gimmes to take the stage. In reviewing my little booklet of notes, I see that I only managed to write down after the fact that I didn’t write anything down. Nice. I was just too damn busy singing, dancing and trying to survive the pandemonium of an exceedingly excited crowd. I also have ZERO pictures or videos, so I scoured YouTube and found this glorious 15 minute clip! Thank you to my friend I haven’t met yet, Silvère Vasselin, for capturing this.
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes is a class act and you just KNOW you will get a fantastic performance out of them everytime, the entire time. Their up-tempo covers of all sorts of classic songs that are seared into the collective memory of generations, never fail to put a smile on my face. I always have to make sure to not have any important vocalising to do the day after their performance, because I can guarantee my voice will be useless.
The River stage area is packed front to back and from all sides. The crowd is equally as ecstatically yelling and bouncing along as I am! Well worth all the bumps and bruises I obtain and which I honestly don’t even really register through the adrenaline rush that is a Gimmes show. They cycle through some amazing tunes when just before the encore Spike belts out ‘Straight up now tell me, do you really wanna love me forever…Or are you just having fun?’ Well, why can’t it be both? Definitely both!
The Me First mayhem was so gratifying, it’s stashed safely into my core memories. Much like the aftermath which is most definitely something I will not forget. I aim my best puppy dog eyes at the security for the umpteenth time, and ask to guide my rainbow pillow toward the man who sparked the idea for having it signed by ALL THE PEOPLE at Brakrock in the first place.
Sadly the band had already rushed off stage, but not to worry because I get hoisted over the barricades and lifted up on stage by my now favourite Brakrock surveillance people, allowing me to try and scurry off backstage. Unfortunately my uncoordinated self can’t find the entrance quickly enough, when the Gimmes’ roadie spots me maniacally looking for it and rushes toward me menacingly. He furiously roars at me to ‘GET OFF THE FUCKING STAGE’. I’m caught like a deer in headlights and fully freeze up so he bellows at me again.
My brain shifts from freeze to flight mode in an instant, and I jump off to safety. Being the Clumsy Crane I am, I am very surprised I did not get hurt on the way up or down that podium which had to be at least two metres high. I dispiritedly run away from the stage and hide in the bushes beside it. I burst into tears from the juxtaposition between the glowing ecstasy induced by the show and almost getting backstage, to being ferociously yelled at.
Joost, who I’d met minutes before Me First’s set, followed me there and consoled the blubbering mess I turned into. In the emotionally flexible state I was, I swiftly burst out laughing at myself and the absurdity of my tears. I was also genuinely moved by a near stranger checking up on me after seeing the display unfold. Such are the ways of the fantastic Brakrock people. Admittedly I had no business stumbling around the stage and the roadie was understandably protective of the band’s gear, so I quickly got over my disappointment at the situation. Sorry for being a perceived nuisance dear vigilant roadie, I promise to be good from now on.
Be sure to check out Me First and the Gimme Gimmes’ 2024 live album where they ¡Blow it…at Madison’s Quinceañera! following a tradition they started by Ruin(ing) Jonny’s Bar Mitzvah in 2004.
Curtain call on Day 1 of the Front stage Madness. Next up: DAY TWO!
Brakrock – Kasteel ter Elst – Duffel – August 4th & 5th 2023
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