"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.
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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.
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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

It's Sunday, early in the afternoon. It is raining, the air feels rather cold and my neighbours are once again drilling holes in the wall. I counter their noise with my newly purchased copy of Monophona's latest album. There is a time schedule in front of me and my computer is copying pictures from the last three days to my hard disc. Still tired, I'm stuck in a confusing mixture of emotions. I'm sad because it's over but I'm so extremely glad that I was one of the chosen few who had the chance to visit heaven.

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If heaven is indeed a paradise filled with all the things we love, for me the afterlife would be an eternal edition of Dunk! festival. In that aspect, hell would probably be sitting through an infernal shlager festival, which brings me right to the Fries Guys DJ's. I warned you guys about the 'Macarena'. You shouldn't have seen that as a challenge. My god, where did you find all that stuff? There's a shitload of awesome CD's in the tent in front of you and you play 'In Mijn Caravan'? You rascals. If I do not hear one Eddy Wally song next year, I'll be very disappointed.

So, to fall with the door in the house (*), the new forest stage is one of the best things that happened in Belgium ever. I mean, look at it. It's as if the forest stage from 2017 took heaps of steroids to become an auditorium. It actually says a lot about the people behind Dunk! festival. They listen to their audience. They to their very best to improve the festival experience, year after year. It's no surprise that I heard both bands and audience members quite often utter the words "best", "fucking", "festival" and "ever".

For us, the festival started when we met Roger The Festivalman on the train in Brussels. We saw plenty of people embarking the train, carrying all kinds of camping gear and all kinds of beverages. We looked at each other and we knew. We didn't say a word but we all knew why everyone was getting on that train. There were long-time Dunk fans, like Roger, and there were first-timers, like that young couple a few seats behind ours. They seemed nice but apparently also a bit nervous, possibly because they overheard Roger talking about his previous and many festival adventures. The poor teenagers were probably expecting the worst.

As soon as the train arrived, a line of walkers appeared. While some people preferred to wait for a shuttle bus, several others trusted their legs and feet to get them to the camping ground. We walked among them and passed them by, mostly because we were carrying only one backpack. Our gear was already on its way, thanks to Juul who had picked it up a day earlier. That really made the trip more comfortable for us. We appreciate it. After arriving, we picked up the key to our festi-hut, delivered a box of books to the merchandise stand and got our first Dunk! festival beer before we headed to the forest stage.

We missed the first two bands on the mainstage, although while unpacking we heard Tortuganonima very well. It's probably an unfortunate task to open a festival like this on a Thursday afternoon while everybody is setting up their tents, buying food or strolling around in the merchandise area. For us, I Am Wolves was the opener. Their hard hitting post rock pierced the forest stage a first time, kicking off something that would prove to become pure magic. I'll say it now, the forest stage was the best stage on this edition. You'll notice that in my gig-ranking soon enough.

The first real blast came from Belgian noisemakers Hemelbestormer. Their latest album 'A Ring Of Blue Light' is an impressive piece of post-whatever and on stage their music truly came to life. You could already feel the energy pumping out of the massive speakers. Of course, as per tradition, the stage performance was enhanced with an almost epileptic light show.

Back in the forest stage Astodan played a more that decent set of exhilarating post rock. This was one of those nice and immersive performances that make Dunk! festival such a nice place to enjoy and discover new music. Astodan did a great job, in my opinion a better one than Cloakroom in the main tent.

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That being said, for some reason I wasn't too fond of most of the bands with vocals on this edition of Dunk! festival. Vocals can add something to music if performed perfectly and that wasn't always the case on this edition. No big deal however, I don't think many people share that opinion with me as the big tent was getting more and more packed, especially with Ef. I didn't see their full show so I can't really review that one. 

In my nostradamic preview (read), I mentioned that (B O L T) was going to be awesome and the enthralled audience reaction right after their gig confirmed my theory. This was thé highlight of the first day. Although, I know that many people will disagree because of Caspian, but musical taste is musical taste so (B O L T) won. In fact, they were so good that I have a bit of a blackout. I don't remember seeing or hearing Nonsun and I know that I liked Ranges but don't ask me how their performance was. I just don't remember. I do remember Thot and I do remember the wild audience reaction to this band from Brussels. I also remember the wordplays made by Dutch speaking people, like "Het zit me Thot hier". So I guess they did a fantastic set, one which many people enjoyed. It was just not my thing. 

Caspian closed the first day and they did it like Caspian does everything: perfect. I admit that I'm not the biggest Caspian fan. Don't ask me why. But I know why they are as big as they are and why the audience loved every single second of it. With sheer professionalism, these Americans blasted everything to pieces and the packed tent ate it all. So good job, now for a good night of sleep before I can say something very similar about The Ocean...

"Sleep", what a strange word to use in a review for something like Dunk! Festival. The only way you're going to have one consecutive hour of sleep on Dunk! is when they actually book the band Sleep as headliner. The first night was cold. I saw several people going to either the showers or the toilets, wrapped in a sleeping bag, shivering and rubbing their hands together. So, next year, bring a second sleeping bag and some warm clothes.

​Right, I have a few lines to fill before I go to the next day, otherwise this space next to the picture will look rather awkward. So to the people who brought Cara Pils to the forest stage and let their empty cans loose in the forest: fuck you and fuck your testicles. Even closed Cara Pils belongs in a garbage bin so throw it in there you lazy, unrespectful, marginal cunts.

​Right, back to happiness...

After a short night, my phone woke me up. It was our good friend Wouter who called to wish my wife a happy birthday. It would become one of the best birthdays ever. In the eat and merch area we hung around with David and Spiri and Joris, reminiscing about the fun we had the day before and looking forward to all the great bands. The weather was getting better. By now the festival was basking in sunlight and the predicted rain never came. You could also see that in the clothes people wore. Jani would have had a heart attack seeing all those fashion atrocities (**).

This was an award winning day, beginning with Polish band Besides who won the award for best opener. I don't think I have ever seen so many people in the big tent for an opening act. With good reason too. Besides were fantastic. Their proto-post rock came at a very high level and the audience loved every second of it. Judging from the rush to the merchandise stand, so did Ohgod, which once again just wasn't my thing. Yet, in the next days I saw a lot of Ohgod shirts, which proves their impact on the Dunk audience.

Then the forest stage was about to be smashed to pieces by Belgian sludge metal combo Lethvm. Again there was a massive amount of people present to witness the punishment and again I was impressed by the sheer power of that new stage. The rest of the audience banged their heads to the grinding sound of the youngsters on stage but the best was yet to come. In fact, from now on this stage was about to embark on almost supernatural adventures. It was all so impressive that I actually completely ignored the main stage, at least the visual aspect. I heard Soup while having a chillout in front of our festi-hut and I like what I heard. They pleasantly surprised me with some welcome relaxing music.

In the big tent, Grails seemed to agree with the jam session idea. These Americans delivered their progressive and playful music with great flair and the audience once again ate it up. I didn't see the whole show because it was time to prepare for one of the best birthday presents ever: front row seats for a rare Radare concert.

The first time I saw Radare was at Incubate three years ago. Back then, they impressed me so much that I kept on pushing them as one of the best dark jazz acts on the face of this planet. My ego tells me that that pushing eventually got them on this forest stage. They were nervous, especially the bassist/sax-player who performed live with Radare for the first time. For him, this must have been the ultimate challenge: performing or the first time, on a festival that is highly acclaimed for its quality standards, with a band that doesn't sound like any other band on the bill. I would have pooped my pants multiple times. Besides, Radare has the stage performance of a concrete brick. There is no show, no image, no jumping around, no weird stage dresses, nothing. There is only four guys playing their introvert and cinematic music. That music and that music only got them the first (and only) standing ovation on this festival. This was pure magic.

As I mentioned earlier, I ignored the last two acts on the main stage. Obviously, I heard what they did and I heard the outrageous audience reactions so you can rest assure that those have been awesome performances for Rosetta and The Ocean fans but for me the absolute highlight on this day was the volcanic eruption that Telepathy delivered. What I had predicted in my preview immediately came through when these blokes blasted their instrumental sludge metal through the woods. Aided by breathtaking light effects, this gig grabbed everybody by the throat and pummeled the huge audience into a pulp. 

Then it was sleeping time again but by now you know how sleeping goes on Dunk! festival. 

Nonetheless, everything and everyone present was going to be awake soon, their slumber brutally interrupted by Belgian stoner thrashers Huracán. These guys seemed to take off where Telepathy and The Ocean had left us, with a face melting array of riffs and drums. This was a morning coffee in the form of a massive kick in the nuts. I don't know if many people were ready for this level of energy so early in the afternoon but it definitely kicked ass. So did Cranial, only slower. Both bands stood for a rude awakening, one that was once again followed by a rush to the merchandise stands.

With acts like Appalaches, Zhaoze and Tides Of Man in the big tent, there was this vintage Dunk! atmosphere. Sweet music to enjoy however you like. Headbanging, sitting down or doing some often hilarious form of interpretive dancing, all was fine and all was good. Of these three, I like Tides Of Man the most. Some people were highly impressed by Zhaoze while others found them a bit chaotic. I liked everything I heard.

In the forest stage there was something similar going on. Jeffk, The Ills and Aswekeepsearching delivered some neat and enjoyable post rock. For old school Dunkers this was a fantastic walk in the park kind of thing. High quality performances, nice weather, delicious food coming at you in a wide variety. Everything was just so nice. The first real different thing came from Les Discrets who delivered a brilliant set of melodic doom metal. Heads were banged, hips were shaked and faces were melted, either by the sheer power of music or by the sun.

That rather typical post rock day eventually lead to two absolute highlights. I haven't really written about fatigue yet but you can probably imagine that we were pretty tired by now. Yet, like many, we were dancing to Worriedaboutsatan in the forest. What a fantastic act this has become. When I first saw them, they were interesting but not that impressive, now it was one of the most hypnotic and trance inducing experiences on this festival, which obviously means a lot, considering the amount of mind altering concerts we had already witnessed. I quickly had to buy their merch, including an XXL shirt that's too big but I'll grow into that.

Eventually Russian Circles would attempt to top every act on the line-up and they effortlessly became victorious. The big tent was packed to capacity, people were screaming their lungs out. Russian Circles were loud, flirting with the prefix "too", but they easily kept their grasp on an ecstatic audience. Of course this was a victory lap, of course this was mind boggling, of course this was the absolute headliner. These guys have been doing this for years and they managed to perfect their trade to extremely high levels.

And then we were standing there as the silence slowly returned to Zottegem. Dunk! festival was over. It is now a thing of the past. Frankly, we all knew that this moment was coming, the real world started calling again. That asshole always fucks things up.

Yet, somehow I wasn't feeling sad. I was glad, and I still am, that I experienced this festival once again. I wasn't even sad that I didn't sell many copies of my book, 'Cecilia's World' at the merch stand. I have been looking forward to this festival so much that I completely forgot to prepare a proper presentation for the book. I even forgot to change the price of the ebook to the one advertised. So for a limited time, 'Cecilia's World' is only $0.99 on Smashwords (click here).

I guess we can all agree on one thing: Dunk! festival is as close as any of us sinners will get to heaven. This is what happens when the right elements meet at the right time in the right place. The audience was fantastic, the bands were amazing, the organisation was flawless, the food was yummy, the weather was great, the atmosphere was chill. In the old age we would have praised our many gods for an experience like this. Today I'd like to thank each and every one who was in one way or another present at this megalith of an event. I'm just disappointed that nobody dared to propose to his girlfriend on the main stage. 


​Serge

I had a strange dream last night. I was an old man, sitting on a bench in front of a retirement home. There were others too, musicians, writers, music lovers. The nurses wore band shirts and there was a rock band playing somewhere. We ate pizza and drank beer. We were in our seventies and eighties. Some of our limbs and intestines had been replaced with 3D-printed ones and nanobots kept the blood flowing in our veins. Obviously, it was a not a normal retirement home. It was one for elderly people who became literally sick when they had to listen to 'The Macarena', 'Gangnam Style' or whatever other old people's homes called "musical entertainment". It was a home for those gentle misfits who had spent their lives looking for alternatives. We laughed our old asses off with jokes from the good old days. We remembered the gigs, the festivals, each others company. We remembered the others too, the ones with enormous tattoos, the one who became friends with a root block named Sam, the one who looked like a younger Weird Al Yankovic. We wondered what had happened to them, where their lives had lead to. 

"So, did anyone figure out the meaning of life yet?"
"Of course. That's easy."
"Yeah? So what is it?"
"Live it."

They were silent for a few minutes. They had lived it. They had enjoyed it and they were still doing so. Here on that terrace in front of the retirement home, we were all being thankful for the memories.

"Do you remember Dunk 2017?"

Of course I remembered it. I remembered every edition of Dunk festival. It had always been more than just another rock festival. It was a happening, three days in a place that came closer to magic than the mega festival Tomorrowland could ever have. At least for us, lovers of atmospheric music, nothing came close to the small but legendary gathering in the Flemish Ardennes. For three days, the forest of Zottegem was occupied by fans of post rock and related styles.

I left Antwerp at eleven. Juul gave me a ride, something I sincerely appreciated. I was packed for two since my wife was unable to make it the first two days. Two beds, two mattresses, a big tent and a heap of Sultana cookies, I was happy to put all of that in the back of the car instead of having to drag it to the nearest train station. We arrived around noon and assembled our tents at Australian temperatures. I was sunburned before I saw the first band, and bitten by some annoying little insect. My sweat poured like a Kärcher and guess what, I forgot my soap.

La Ciencia Simple came all the way from Chile to open the festival. I felt sorry for them. I was not the only one who was already sweat soaked from building up the tent. Most of us were just thirsty or getting acquainted with the different set up of the festival area. For the Chileans, this was not an easy task, especially not since the main tent was already a sauna. Still, the Dunk audience welcomed their warm and gentle post rock with open arms. I was having my doubts about the main stage. The tent also contained the merchandise and the whole thing looked cropped and packed almost continuously. But, like everybody, I got used to it and decided to enjoy the last few songs of the concert.

The Stargazer area was also different. I loved it and many shared that idea. From all over the food court, you could watch the concerts, like the one by Mexicans Run Golden Boys. Their gig was enjoyable, perhaps somewhat generic at times but hey, that's post rock, one of the few genres where the generic variants are nice to listen to as well. 

Back in the big sauna, Lost In Kiev were a surprisingly early highlight. From the moment they stepped on stage, the we-are-at-Dunk feeling appeared. I had not expected that. I loved their music but in this heat sitting in the forest was a very appealing alternative for watching gigs. But, there was Lost In Kiev, a band that did an amazing job and really kicked off the whole thing. Their gig would eventually turn out to be one of my favorites.

Flash The Readies and Mutiny On The Bounty also did a convincing job, just like Terraformer and Spurv. I spent my time between watching a few songs and cooling down in the forest, where you could still hear the music clearly. Some sort of vacation had begun and I was in the best holiday place imaginable, Dunk!.

But their passage on Dunk! festival was close to perfect. It was dark, sombre, introvert and explosive, proving that this band is yet another example of the sheer quality of Belgian alternative music. For a gig of this magnitude it was still too early, or in other words, it's time for The Black Heart Rebellion to headline festivals like this one. In fact, I liked this concert way more than I liked Swans or Earth.

In the forest, Ashtoreth had one of his most frustrating sets ever. His concert was visited by Roger De Festivalman, a legend, loved by many, annoying to some. Furthermore, a burnt cable caused the music to disappear. Finally, the sound check from the big tent was audible to everyone who attended the intimate concert, including Ashtoreth himself. Somehow, however, Ashtoreth managed to grab and maintain the attention of the audience and to me personally, this was certainly a top five of the day thing. Other reviewers used the concert to enjoy a sandwich, I used it as inspiration for a book. Around that time, I had seen Ashtoreth more often than I had seen my mother-in-law, and every concert had been different. From soothing ambient tunes over shamanic ritualism to intense noise, he can do it all and he did it, regardless of the occurring issues. But at the end of the concert, he suddenly reminded me of his brother in arms, Stratosphere, or at least his music did. Somehow, both projects had been inspiring each other, which I thought was a great evolution. On a lighter note, I enjoyed the impromptu interplay between Ashtoreth and a nearby singing blackbird.

For me, the final of plenty of highlights on that first day, was PG.Lost who delivered a smashing set of post rock sounds. You'd think that by now I was getting tired of post rock but nothing seemed less true. Just like on their latest album, these Swedes blasted off with heaps of energy and easily grabbed the audience's attention. The decibel meter claimed they were playing at around 104, and for me, that was good enough.

The forest stage was the place to be when you wanted a little bit of variation and that is exactly what Worriedaboutsatan brought. With their techno driven sound, they had some people dancing. For a few moments, even I engaged in a few careful dance moves but halfway through the set I decided to see how good Steak Number Eight was in replacing Emma Ruth Rundle. Steak Number Eight  was probably a worthy headliner, judging from the big amount of people who showed up. But there seemed to be something wrong with the sound. Nonetheless, this was an explosive finisher, loved by many.

My day ended there. When Swans kicked off their set, I walked to my tent and started writing down some ideas for the review. I knew a lot of people will disagree with me but I found the whole Swans set unnecessary, ridiculous and stale. I could hear it clearly from my tent, even with earplugs. The only thing I could think was "Why? Why 115db? What are they compensating for?" It reminded me of Manowar, another band that musically just isn't that great so they blast it out of the speakers with a massive amount of volume. The next days, I compared their extremely loud trunk of drones and shamanistic vocals with the musical ingenuity of bands like Meniscus or Mooncake. I quickly realized that being legendary is not the same as being any good. The best thing about the Swans concert, was the reaction of the other people on the camping. Whenever Michael Gira started uttering his chants, the entire camping followed. At some points, there was a strange, occult atmosphere, as if the haunted spirits of the Zottegem forest had been awakened. 

I was up early the next morning, even before the free coffee was ready. I decided to take a walk in the beautiful surroundings. I was already sunburned so I strolled around in the shadows of the forest, enjoying the bird sounds. That beautiful forest sure was an extra plus for this already fantastic festival. I met a girl on a horse and her father on a bike. They were nice, friendly. I probably looked like crap after merely two or three hours of sleep.

Soon after my walk, I met up with Juul and David, my two main festival companions. We talked about the day before. I noticed that I was not the only one who hadn't been extremely fond of the Swans concert. Furthermore, there were some severe doubts about the quality of the next headliner, Earth. For now however, it was time to drag our tired bodies to the main tent to check out what All We Expected were up to.

Apparently, these youngsters were not willing to be just an opening band. They turned that ungrateful task in the earliest Dunk! highlight ever. Ok, it was post rock/metal but they blasted with so much energy that the entire festival was awake. This was a brilliant set, certainly one that proved that All We Expected are on their way up. Immediately after their gig, I imagined them being back the following year, only higher on the bill. After them, Time To Burn pretty much destroyed the tent with a blasting concert, which I mostly heard from inside the forest.

In the Stargazer, Belgian space rock trio Kozmotron took a small part of the audience on a journey throughout the universe. They could count on a number of loyal followers and the part that I had heard was pretty interesting. However, for me it was time to meet up with the people from Meniscus, a band that I have been promoting heavily in my preview for this festival.

In the big tent, Dumbsaint was doing something interesting with post rock and cinema. Used to these temperatures, these Australians brought a convincing set but in a way, the movie distracted me from the music. So after a while, I left the tent to enjoy the music on its own, which worked pretty well. 

By now, the festival area was already incredibly hot, which made me seek refuge in the forest. There, I heard Aidan Baker and Karen Willems do something interesting with drones and drums. Their cooperative release 'Nonland' had been a refreshing album and in a way, this concert too was a nice thing to listen to, even from a distance.

Meniscus was everything I had predicted. They started out somewhat nervous but in no time, the big tent was packed with enthusiastic people. Just like Spoiwo the year before, Meniscus easily catapulted themselves into Dunk-superstardom, aided by a perfect sound and a flashing light show. I enjoyed every single second of this gig and I was far from the only one. David was next to me, equally mesmerized by the sheer perfection that floated through the big blue tent. We were all sweat soaked, and somewhat smelling, but it was damn well worth it. Meniscus had won Dunk, exactly like I had foreseen.

Of course, such brilliance comes with a cost. In the next few hours, I was in Meniscus heaven. In the shelter of the forest, plenty of audience members tried to hide from the crushing heat, including me. By now, fatigue and heat caused me to listen to most of the bands from between the trees. We Lost The Sea seemed to follow Meniscus' example and blasted some brilliant atmospheric post rock through the speakers. Ilydaen did something earth shattering with noise rock, math core and whatnot, apparently much to the delight of the audience who had filled up the area in front of the forest stage. 

And so I listened to And So I Watch You From Afar from afar. I was tired and not feeling too well so it was time for a little laydown. After all, I have seen this band a few times in the past. What I heard was good, and I think the audience in the tent loved the concert, but halfway through, I dozed off and disappeared into dreamland for half an hour.

After I woke up, I grabbed the Dunk! booklet and read about Malämmar, a Spanish three piece doom mongrel. They were about to rip the forest stage to shreds with their harsh, abrasive and insane performance. Fucking shitwaffle, they were good. This was the exact amount of energy I needed to get me through the rest of the day. I had to by a t-shirt.

And then it was time for Earth, another legendary band. The tent was not packed and in a way that was no surprise. With their slow and lingering doom metal, Earth played a decent set, pretty much the same one as I had seen at Desertfest earlier. It wasn't bad, on the very contrary, but the Dunk audience seemed either too tired, too hot or too used to post rock to fully enjoy the concert. Halfway through the gig, I walked towards the Stargazer area where the legendary Dunk! fries guys had started a party. I met up with David again. We talked and laughed with stories about the polonaise, Manowar, post rock and my upcoming book. The dj's played 'Too Many Puppies', 'Master Of Puppets' and 'The Number Of The Best' but when they skipped to 'The Macarena', we left.

We left to for a good night sleep but that proved to be a huge fail. On the camping, people had started partying themselves, singing along with songs by System Of A Down and others. It sounded horrible, none of them could sing and none of them could talk about anything interesting. They were drunk, annoying and loud, so loud I wished for Swans to return. I wished for a silent camping, one where radios and noise weren't allowed, one where the people who wanted to sleep, could fucking sleep.

There was another highly frustrating aspect to the audience. As I woke up early again the next morning, I noticed how the forest had been transformed into a rubbish dump. Cans, bottles and coffee cups were everywhere, along with empty bags of chips, tobacco and cookies. During my short walk, I collected the porcelain coffee cups and brought them back to the catering area. I advised one of the crew members to equip the forest with garbage bags. On the other hand, if this and the camping noise would be the biggest points of frustration, this was a bloody good festival.

We sat down in the Stargazer area for a while and watched one of the fries guys kickstart a barbeque with a lot of noise and a lot of drama. It sounded as if a plane was about to lift up. The audience treated him to a loud applause, as if it were an impromptu noise act that had been booked as a surprise. 

During the first three bands, it was time to pick up my wife from the station and guide her around the area. We returned when Halma was almost finishing their set and quickly rushed to see what this Briqueville was all about. Some say Briqueville is a gimmick band. They arrive with their robes and masks on and they leave with their robes and masks on. Very few people really seem to know who these guys are. Nonetheless, this was an amazing concert, gimmick or not. Everything fitted extremely well together, shattering my doubts about this mysterious band.

But then, suddenly, it seemed over. The lack of sleep and the worrying pain on the left side of my neck made me think about leaving the festival sooner than planned. For a few hours, I longed for my own bed and perhaps a doctor. It was the hottest of the three days, way too hot to take a nap in my tent so we seeked shelter in the shadows of the forest once again. There we stayed for a while, enjoying Xenon Field and Set And Setting from a distance and making arrangements to leave the festival later that day.

The next concert I did see, was The Void Of Expansion, a drone/free-jazz vehicle by Dirk Serries and Thomas Järmyr.  Not many audience members saw that gig, since most of them seemed to prefer the somewhat more accessible music of Barst, who was playing at the same time in the forest. For me personally, Dirk and Thomas really saved the day. The energy coming from the drums was infectious and Dirk's drones truly lifted my spirits. This was a majestic performance, certainly a top-5 one.  Soon after this concert, I decided to buy everything Dirk had to offer. Money well spent!

In the forest, Syndrome played a rather unconvincing set but that was not his fault. I can't say that it was Stearica's fault either, but their heavy tunes leaked through the silent and modest performance of Syndrome. My wish for a bit more variation on Dunk festival had now turned against me, or so it seemed. Perhaps the setup of the forest stage was not as perfect as it could have been, but it was still a very nice addition to this festival.  Little later, CHVE would eventually solve that problem by overpowering the incoming sounds. A lot of people came to see his magical concert and with good reason too. CHVE had asked for this concert himself and in the darkness of the forest, we all went on an incredible journey.

The energy just kept flowing, obviously aided by the absolute headliner of the festival, the majestic God Is An Astronaut. For them, it must have been a normal gig. Headlining festivals is not new to these Irish blokes. But what they did was fantastic and set the big blue tent ablaze one final time. I knew them. I had heard them before, at Incubate for example, but I didn't expect this concert to be this overwhelming. This was the worthy headliner Dunk festival needed. 

In my dream, we talked about the festival, about the massive ups and the minor downs. We were still sitting on the terrace of the retirement home, sipping from healthy fruit juice mix, called 'Forever Young'. It were memories like these that we lived for. The music, the environment, the people, for us, that was the meaning of life. We had lived it and in our mind, the many brilliant concerts still resonated, along with the nice conversations and the hilarious moments.

"I still wished I had more sleep."
​"I think we all did."

Note: If I may end with some blatant self promotion, I'd like to mention that Dunk! festival has become the main source of inspiration for a festival in a book that is currently in the works. The book, titled 'Cecilia's World', is a novel about alternative music, about a sixteen year old girl who discovers the musical wonders of the underground while also coping with turbulent times in her new city. 'Cecilia's World' will be released somewhere in the next few months. Alongside Dunk, my work for this website has also been a huge influence. So if you like my Dunk! review, you might want to keep an eye on Merchants Of Air. More details will be announced when they become available...

I like to thank the good people at Dunk! Festival for another amazing weekend, possibly one of the best festivals I have ever been to. It's events like this one that keep me going, maintain my interest in the impressively varied world of music. There will always be minor issues, but in all Dunk! is an example of how to set up a fantastic experience for a lot of people, even in difficult times. This edition was great, well varied and full of pleasant surprises. I will see you next year, or at least hear you...


Serge

* Words by David (Wayward Bound)