In high school you had two choices: join the Kakkers or the Alto’s. I chose the last group, especially because of the music. Puberty flooded my head with great emotions about small problems. Screaming singers offered me the words I could not find myself, angry guitars knew exactly how I felt. My Discman was my most precious possession. The copied, skipping CDs continuously played the soundtrack of my life.
Then it was time for the real thing. So my first festival: Willems wonderful pasture. A totally new world, just half an hour away. A small stage that was huge in my eyes. A band with sound problems and a guitarist that I recognized from school. Pure magic. William’s wonderful pasture has remained existed all those years since my visit, but this year’s edition will be the last one. Like more and more free festivals, they stop.
Erik Stapelbroek, the festival director, is on a meadow in Hooglanderveen. The advancing Amersfoortse Vathorst is like an inevitable tsunami in the background. The last Willems Wonderke Weiland will take place here on July 5. “It started 25 years ago with my brother’s birthday, Willem,” he says. They were in the barn of his parents and Willem, large metalfan, that he would like to be at a festival with his band. The easiest way to get that done: organize a festival yourself. The location was quickly found, that became the pasture of his parents. A large supporter served as a stage, friendly bands were allowed to perform and also the audience, about 200 people who first edition, mainly consisted of friends and villagers from Hooglanderveen. William’s wonderful pasture was born. Willem moved to Japan, but the festival continued to exist.
In the 25 years since that first edition, the festival has grown into a local concept in Amersfoort and the surrounding area. In good weather the festival can count on around 5000 visitors, everything is run by nearly 200 volunteers. What started with just a charger grew into a site with a main stage, a tent, a third stage, a silent disco, a beer garden, the tent of ‘Blinde Ed’ and – the festival grew with the family composition of the organizers – a children’s corner.
Many local, starting bands have always played. The Amersfoort rap formation DAC, where Diggy Dex and Jiggy Djé, among others, started their career, was there. Beautiful Wark played his first performance outside of Drenthe. But the festival also managed to draw foreign (metal) bands from Germany, Poland or even Japan. “We always paid everyone the same: travel costs from the border and drinks,” says Stapelbroek. “And they like to come here. The atmosphere is always good and the sound is of top quality.”
Stork
If you hear Stapelbroek talking, full of enthusiasm about the annual company, the volunteers, the music, the atmosphere, you don’t immediately understand why they are going to stop. “From the start, two things have been important: it had to be free and it had to stay nice. And that was always the case. But the fun is a bit so slowly,” says Stapelbroek. “The first thing that went sanding is the regulations. In the beginning we got our permit very easy. But every year something was added. Then we had to look for a new pasture because a stork was breeding. I understand that, but what did you think happened? We had everything built up and who flew in the pasture? Stapelbroek still has understanding for the local fauna, but the permit application now has dozens of pages. “Wind calculations for the tent, for example. But that calculation must be done by a company that designates the municipality and you pay the main prize for that. There should no longer be drunk out of glass in the beer garden, even though we have been pursuing the policy that it must be spotted in plastic for years if you leave the beer garden. In the evening we have a DJ who will be dance and must be the dance and must be the dance and must be the dance and must be dance and must be the dance and must be dance and must be the dance and must be the one -dance and must be dance. All those costs, that is no longer possible if it is not possible and we cannot ask for normal prices, then it is no longer necessary. ”
This year alone, 50 festivals have been canceled, also larger, such as dance festival Mystic Garden,, ” The Rock Circus and the biggest free festival of Europa Parkpop. The entire sector is struggling with increased prices and regulations, but especially the smaller and free festivals keep their heads above water. Stapelbroek: “Ideally, you want to build a buffer, because if it rains for a year, your free festival literally falls into the water. No audience, does not mean consumption income. No wonder that the liberation festivals ring the bell and say:” We have to get money. ”
Ideally, you want to build a buffer, because if it rains for a year, your free festival literally falls into the water. No public, does not mean consumption income.
Appelpop, the free festival that takes place in Tiel every year, is also struggling with this. On the contrary, they opt for scale, they announced that they will be bigger this year than ever. With large headliners, more performances and therefore hopefully more public and more income. Martijn van Kuilenburg, Head of Appelpop program and production: “For us this year Go Big Or Go Home. We have sponsors, but it must mainly be of the consumption sale. We receive around 120,000 visitors in two days, but on average they only spend € 8.25 per person. The doors are open, so it is free to drink something outside the site. That is why this year we will do everything we can to keep people on the site for as long as possible, so that they buy more drinks. If everyone buys one extra beer, then we are already there. But that is quite a challenge. If it doesn’t work this year, it will be very difficult next year. ”
Pain
Stapelbroek does not like that growth of Appelpop. Twenty years after my first visit it hurts a bit. After this first visit, I locked myself up and practiced endless powerchords on my unbranded electric guitar. The disappearance of small -scale festivals not only deprives the audience the chance to get acquainted with live music. Not everyone has money to pay 50 euros for a concert ticket, let alone hundreds of euros for a large festival. Bands also make flying hours less easily. On Willems wonderful pasture I saw Jiggy Djé and Diggy Dex gain experience. And Stapelbroek sees another disadvantage: “Our volunteers gain incredibly valuable experience. Whether it is the boys who help with the technology or the young graphic designer we give carte blanche to design our entire house style.”
How does he look at the future of the small festival? “I think they will disappear more and more. Things will still be organized, but then really underground. Without a single permit and nobody to keep an eye on it. Then it can really go wrong.”
But first the last edition, with a blast of a valve. Willem himself comes from Japan. And as it once started, it ends: with Willem on a stage, metal by the speakers.