On the first day of Pinkpop, the weather remains unmentioned for almost no artist. As the opener of the main stage, singer Natasha Beddingfield initially speaks cheerfully of “the sunniest day ever”, but the band The Beaches later reduces it to the essence: “It’s fucking hot.”
The oldest and best-known pop festival in the Netherlands has had to deal with tropical temperatures more often in recent years, but the fifty-fifth edition seems to surpass everything. On Friday afternoon the thermometer in Landgraaf in South Limburg rose to 36 degrees, it was the warmest June 19 ever.
In the afternoon, every centimeter of shade on the site is occupied, even the least comfortable corners. The extra shade areas that the organization had created still prove to be insufficient at the hottest times. The Pinkpop site remains a gigantic field with a race track around it. At drinking water points, visitors stand in long lines burning away in the sun to fill their bottles and special Pinkpop water bags.
The heat will be partly responsible for the subdued attitude of the public in the first hours. Natasha Beddingfieldwho scored her biggest hits in 2004, gives a sympathetic but not very urgent performance. Also indie rockers The Vaccines lean on old work, in this case their fifteen-year-old debut album. There was once Arctic Monkeys-like excitement surrounding this band, now they are a solid sub-topper.
Pinkpop has taken measures against the heat, and some visitors luckily too.
Photos ANP
Hit singer Roxy Dekker drags Pinkpop into today’s pop culture and lets the field sing along with ‘Satisfyer‘ and ‘Sugar daddy‘. She brings confetti and dancers and also does choreography herself. Dekker’s light-hearted pop contains enough humor so that it does not become too smooth. Musically it sounds a bit thin, also because there is no full-fledged band playing along. That doesn’t seem to matter to the largely young audience. “I know you’re overheated, but do you want to jump?” she asks. An earthquake like in 1994 with Rage Against The Machine does not follow, but many fans happily grant the request.
Pure pop fun
A predicted downpour does not reach the site in the early evening, although raindrops do provide cooling. In the full tent The Beaches it is still hot and sweaty at that time. The Canadian band strings together their power pop songs about relationship struggles with bouncy energy.
The most summery show comes from the Swedish singer Zara Larsson. For a long time it seemed like a big breakthrough was not going to happen, but thanks to TikTok and a guest role on a remix of a PinkPantheress song, it did happen. She has used her new status to go all out: the North Stage has been converted into one glitzy version of the Garden of Eden where Larsson and her band and dancers give a show full of bright clothes, tight poses and semi-daring dances (there is a lot of butt shaking).
At one point Larsson gets into a Barbie pink car with license plate ‘Puss Puss 97‘. Pure funalthough the message comes at the end of ‘Hot & Sexy‘ also inside. The text refers to violence by men against women and is displayed on screens: “I’m done feeling like a prey.” Raise your boys, she says here.
Twenty One Pilotsfans had been waiting at the main stage all day. Singer Tyler Josh made a lot of contact with them by coming off stage during the concert and walking between the barriers.
Photos Andreas TErlaak
A regular occurrence at Larsson performances is the fan who is picked from the audience to do the viral dance to mega hit ‘Lush Life‘. That fan nearly bursts with excitement as she asks friends in the audience if they can call her mother. She then performs the choreography with confidence. Larsson gives the kind of pop show that would have been looked down upon in the past, when Pinkpop was much more of a guitar festival. Now there is not a word of disapproval.
Larsson has just finished when the closing matches of the day start on the other side of the field. The American duo Twenty One Pilots has been here twice before, this time as a headliner. Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun mix rock, pop, emo and rap into an accessible whole, although they are not an act that can bring all generations together with an ultimate sing-along song. The two have fanatical fans who have been at the front all day and they get the show they hoped for. The band’s latest albums have coherent storylines full of metaphors about the battle against your mental demons, a battle between good and evil. Some visitors will miss that aspect, as they mainly see a sophisticated performance full of fire and spectacle. It gets a bit exciting when drummer Dun climbs a meter high scaffolding to sing the song ‘Drum Show‘ to play.
At the end it becomes even more exciting when a gigantic shower reaches Landgraaf. That is over quickly, after which Pinkpop has cooled down completely.