Going to music gigs with friends is one of life’s great joys. There can be a palpable sense of excitement beforehand and a shared joy by being surrounded by people all gathered in one place to experience the music artistry being dispensed from the stage. This happy place can unfortunately turn darker when females receive unwanted attention from blokes being horrible. Tonight’s gig has a running theme of not standing for any of that crap. Opening band Petrol Girls even finish their set with a song about this very thing, it’s called ‘touch me again and I’ll fucking kill you’ and yes, it really is as angry as it sounds, but then again, that kind of thing would make you very angry indeed. Musically they sound great and have boundless punky energy. Tonight has started very well indeed.

Next band to take to the stage is Milk Teeth who, like the previous band, I've never heard before, although I’m reliably informed by my friend that they have played the main stage at Reading Festival. It shows too as they confidently take to the stage and belt out grunge tinged pop punk songs of the highest order. The drummer has also taken it upon himself to beat the shit out of his drums and attacks them with gusto, we liked them a lot!

The crowd visibly swells for tonight’s head-liners La Dispute. Not many bands keep going as long as they have, even less bands still produce songs of such quality as the Michigan natives. Their newest album is a highly polished slab of post-hardcore resonating in emotional catharsis and has gained the band lots of new fans, as well as a slew of superb reviews. 

The band kick things off with the one two combination of Fulton Street 1 and 2 from new album Panorama and they both sound much better live than on record, which is saying something as they sound bloody great on record! Between songs, lead singer Jordan Drayer is a softly spoken, almost apologetic presence but when the music starts, a switch is flicked, and he transforms into a howling banshee filled with energy which looks like it must be released otherwise it will consume him. Indeed, he makes reference to this during one of his softly spoken almost inaudible soliloquies between songs. During another one, he makes an impassioned plea regarding female assault, it’s quite moving and gets a loud cheer. 

The tour was billed as a Panorama tour but the set is a continuous, powerful procession of captivating songs from the bands entire career and indeed the majority of songs played are from their back catalogue, much to the delight of the crowd. Mayor in Splitsville and I see everything towards the end sound majestic and are particularly triumphant. They also eschew the tradition of encores which I applaud as I’ve always seen them as superfluous and a bit unnecessary. The gig was a fantastic testament to the appeal of this band who looked like they were enjoying themselves just as much as we were. Still, no King Park though.
 

Simon

"It's over." He said it with a deep sigh in his voice and a sad grin on his face. I shrugged. He was right, the festival was over, even though the crowd yelled "bis". Some people were crying, others lovingly embraced each other. Those on the floor awoke from their state of trance and stumbled to the camping grounds. I looked at their faces. They look tired yet gratified, unwilling to return to the harshness of the real world. Slowly the large tent emptied. We followed the crowd for one last gaze over the magical festival ground before we dragged our tired bodies to the car.

We left shortly after the final notes of Alcest, took an unplanned detour through the village of Velzeke and headed towards Antwerp, with its noise, its polluted air and my comfortable warm bed. A thought appeared in my head about comparisons with ancient ritual festivals, where people would celebrate unity and strengthen their sense of community. My mind wandered off to hundreds of years in the future. Archaeologists had found remnants of an ancient festival in the Flemish Ardennes. Drinking vessels, cloths and foundations of a building. They described it as a ritual gathering. Come to think of it, that's pretty much what Dunk! festival has become over the past few years. 

From the moment we stepped on the festival terrain we realized how meticulously this event is organised. The area looked like tiny villages surrounding the big tent. Camping grounds, camper cars, festi-tents and festi-huts were set up near the forest. The local Spar-supermarket doubled its annual revenue and people enjoyed the scenic walking route to the festival. The weather-gods were kind. Everything was set to make this a fantastic edition of Dunk!, again.
​

After the usual formalities, we headed towards the main stage where Sistemas Inestables was about to kick of this festive edition of Dunk! They did that with complex instrumental post-everything, so it seemed. Electronics, potent percussion and lingering guitars delivered something that reminded me of some jazz concerts I have seen in the past. Neat opener, and one that already managed to fill up the massive tent quite nicely. Dunk! is one of those festivals where the opener gets plenty of attention. I saw a lot of Sistemas Inestables t-shirts afterwards so they must have made a decent impact.

Another traditional aspect of Dunk! festival: highlights come early. Third band on the line-up was Osorezan and they completely destroyed the main stage. Their sound was so intense, so full of life. The audience loved every single second of it and so did I. I was mostly charmed by the dreamy violin sounds but still, this gig had everything to become a classic Dunk! gig. For many audience members, this felt like a headliner and I can't really disagree with that.

Unfortunately, that wonderful concert also exposed the one handicap at Dunk! The overal quality of the gigs is so good that often the listener needs a little rest. The bellowing sludge-doom of Welcome To Holyland was bit too much for me after the massive impact of Osorezan. Nonetheless, I saw a satisfied audience, adoring all these muddy riffs and pounding drums. No doubt this was a grinding gig but for me, it was time for a beer and a few jokes with my festival buddies.

Am Fost La Munte și Mi-a Plăcut transformed the forest stage into post-rock galore, which was quite welcome after the destruction by the previous bands. Their blend of soothing soundscapes and heavy riffs felt like one of those old school Dunk! gigs. Coincidentally, I can say something similar about Labirinto. I did not spend a lot of time at these gigs, not because I didn't like them but because I had other formalities to attend to. With a line-up like this, it's hard to find a moment to eat, poop and have a humorous conversation about bass players.

And that most certainly includes Celestial Wolves who put down their most convincing live set ever. Yes, they played a home game and yes, the forest is one of the most impressive stages in the world, but still, Celestial Wolves made it their own. In fact, the atmosphere and intensity of their set reminded me a lot of Telepathy's passage a year earlier and that means something. These guys won the forest stage on Thursday, that's for sure, even though the sound engineer became somewhat too experimental with the snare drum.
​Now let's see if they can repeat that at Rock Herk in July.

Shortly after noon, the alarm clock went off in the form of a manic Mantis. These locals threw their hard hitting rock music over a willing audience. I didn't see the entire performance but I heard the music and the audience reactions, which tell me this was an exquisite wake-up call. 

I don't think that there is much else to be said about this concert. Once more, this was one of those typical Dunk! gigs, fantastic and immersive as hell. With a splendorous light show and spot-on sound quality, which make this event so spectacular. So yeah, amazing.

I don't know what the audience was expecting went they strolled to the forest stage. Most of them sat down on the soft soil and I grinned. If there was one concert where sitting down was undesirable, it certainly was this one. The guitar player said "Stand up if you feel like dancing" and they started playing. Within seconds people got on their feet and started shaking their behinds to Go March's blend of kraut rock, dance music and... oh forget it. This simply was a smashing gig. In no time everyone was dancing, quite often ecstatically. This trio turned the forest into a discotheque. Another highlight? Most definitely so, sir.

At that time, somewhere during the excellent set of Pillars, I decided it was time for a little break. Several of my intestines wanted attention and the pressure on my wallet started increasing. So we took a little stroll around the non-musical parts of Dunk! festival. As always, the food was delicious. I think this is the perfect time to offer my sincere compliments to the staff of volunteers for that. This is a hard working crew, which has earned a lot of respect over the years. So, thank you for stuffing us with all these amazing flavors. You can actually taste the love in there...

After this soul-demolishing performance, we dragged our bodies to the main stage to witness the second ever concert by A Swarm Of The Sun. I expected a lot from this one since I am a huge fan of their emotionally loaded post-rock. This Swedish act delivered hugely. The vocalist was obviously nervous, but his unstable voice added tonnes of emotion to the overall atmosphere. They catapulted me to some of the most intense doom metal gigs I had witnessed in the past, including bands like Anathema and My Dying Bride. I think I have been crying during this performance. I met the artists afterwards and I was completely star-struck, can you imagine? Thank you, A Swarm Of The Sun, for this life-changing moment.

After the blissfully sorrowful performance by A Swarm Of The Sun, it was time to sit down in the forest and travel back into time. Jozef Van Wissem delivered the most minimal performance on this edition. Armed only with his trusted lute, Van Wissem enchanted the tired audience members. Perhaps some of them fell asleep but I can imagine them having beautiful dreams, inspired by this ancient instrument. This was a highly welcome moment of serenity.


What Kokomo did was both typical and untypical for Dunk! festival. The typical part was: this was sheer fun, a post rock party with an amazing set of songs and an overjoyed audience. The untypical part? Balloons and brutal vocals by an unexpected guest. Tom from Her Name Is Calla turned a brilliant show into a legendary one. I don't think he should do that again, but hey, it was fucking funny. 

With the addition of Efrim Manuel Menuck to the line-up, Dunk! festival seemed to continue their headliner experiments like they had done with Swans and Earth. I know, and many other attendees as well, that Efrim is the guy from... and thus worthy of a headliner spot. Buuuut, gig-wise this was definitely not a highlight. Not for me. I saw almost a thousand people watching a drone/noise/ambient gig which compared to many concerts I've seen in tiny venues and living rooms. Sure, it was decent, but, for example, I was way more impressed by the performance of Kuro in Ashtoreth's living room a few years ago. Also because Kuro did not sing. So perhaps for many this was a great concert, but I think this would have been better on the forest stage and completely instrumental.

But hey, what a fantastic day this had been!!! We closed it by drinking some hard liquor and eating spicy barbecue balls. We talked and laughed and had a hell of a time. This, too, is Dunk! festival. Mates, buddies, dirty jokes. The hard liquor proved its worth too. I slept like a baby: three hours at best and having to pee four times in between. Hurray!!!

What Wanheda was to me a few months ago, Summit was now: a young post rock act, a bit nervous to climb on the stage and showcase their music. Still, they did rather well and, inspired by the respectful audience, the band slowly grew into the performance. This seems like another one of those gems slowly germinating through the Belgian soil. Let's see where that leads to in the future.

Dunk! doesn't only experiment with its headliners, they can also throw some in some odd acts during the rest of the day. Jean DL & Karen Willems put a blend of noise and musical insanity into the mix. While Jean DL was definitely the most introvert of the duo, Karen yelled and drummed. Well, drummed. That woman does a lot more with her instrument that most drummers can possibly imagine. I heard a Dutch woman say "Dat mens is krankzinnig." Perhaps, but she's also one heck of a musician. Together, they delivered a strange but interesting performance, which probably is all that counts.

I do remember the entire Silent Whale Becomes A Dream concert and there is an excellent reason for that. This was breathtaking, enchanting and immersive. Possibly my personal favorite on this last day of Dunk! festival. Those soundscapes were so solid you could swim in them and the heavy elements completely drenched my soul. Perhaps "catharsis" is a decent word to describe this massively emotional music. For me, it was another trip towards the merchandise stand and again I was not the only one.

What to say about the special reunion of Gifts From Enola? I know the crowd was ecstatic and I know the whole gig roared like crazy. So, naturally, this must have been a smasher for most people. I'm just not a huge fan of their post hardcore inspired sound, so for this review I will have to focus on the audience reaction. They most definitely were fans of that sound, and they were bloody loud. Conclusion: awesome gig, just not for me.

For the final typical or better, traditional, post rock performances we had to drag ourselves to the main stage where Tangled Thoughts Of Leaving gave the best of themselves. Much like their colleagues of Kokomo, this band has steadily been climbing the Dunk! ladder over the years and thus they performed their sound to perfection. They presented their new album, 'No Tether' and afterwards copies of that album changed hands rather quickly. Fantastic performance.
​
For many people in attendance, the final performance of Her Name Was Calla was something extremely emotional. I cannot say that as I have never been a fan of their work but out of respect for their influence on the post rock scene, I refuse to speak badly about them. Ain't I the nicest fucking bloke around, right? So, judging by the reaction of the crowd, this must have been a grand highlight for many people here at Dunk! and that I can only applaud.

Everything on this gig perfectly fell into place. The best elements from post rock, black metal and doom created a haunting atmosphere that was so enjoyable to bask in. In no time, they moved into my highlight list and now I want to see them again. I still can't say which tracks they played but I'm damn sure I will dig into their oeuvre pretty damn soon. Alcest is a giant in this scene and rightfully so. Perhaps this was one of the greatest closing headliners on Dunk. Or in other words: "wow".

In the months before this edition of the mighty Dunk! festival, there were doubts about the overall quality. It's not easy to find suitable headliners for something like this. There simply is not a big pool to dig from, merely because of the costs. Yet, like every year, this Zottegem family made pure magic possible. Here and there I heard and read the words "best edition ever" and I think I have to agree with them. There is nothing to criticize. Perhaps details, like toning down on the stroboscopic light effects, or have at least one silent camping but nothing else. No, fuck that, this was as perfect as a festival can possibly get.

So, I say thank you for the music, the food and laughter. Thanks for all the post rock splendor. I can't live without it, so I will see you next year. We will be here. For more delight, a laugh and a tear, so I say thank you for the music, for being Dunk festival...


​Serge

Deze review is ook beschikbaar in het Nederlands op Musiczine

For this edition of his Photo blog, Wim went to Sint Niklaas where doomed out riffs and sorrowful vocals delivered a pitch black evening of doom metal. Check out his pictures and follow Wim on Flickr.