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The Wâldrock festival in Burgum.

Saturday, July 1st, 2006 ~ Stream of Passion.

Today, even though it was extremely hot, I went to Burgum. Burgum is a small village in the province Friesland where the 'Wâldrock' festival takes place every year. Normally I would have passed even though Stream of Passion way playing here, but since Johan van Stratum offered me a free place on the guestlist, I decided that it was worth the trip. I was curious to see a summer festival like this one. Because there was no way for me to travel by night, I had to leave early, but I was still able to see the shows of Stream of Passion (15:20 - 16:00), Kamelot (16:40 - 17:20) and After Forever (18:15 - 19:00).
I left Rijssen at around 10 o'clock, and after switching trains in Zwolle I arrived in Leeuwarden at half past 12. From here I took the bus to Burgum. Most of the passengers (all festival folks) got off the bus at a temporary busstop especially created for this yearly event. After a short walk I arrived at the place where the press, photographers and other guests could get their free wrist straps. After getting myself a strap, I went inside and walked around the field a bit. Soon afterwards I met René, who had come to the festival by car. Because it was extremely hot, we first got some drinks and then sat on the grass, relaxing in the warm sun until three o'clock or so.
Then it was time to get a nice spot in order to see Stream of Passion's performance. René entered the photo pit, while I found a nice spot in the first row, close to Arjen. The show was enthusiastic as always and with songs like 'Spellbound' and 'Passion' they rocked the roof off the tent. Despite the short setlist (they had only 40 minutes, where a normal show takes about 1.5 hours) and the distance between the fans and the stage, it was a really cool show! And because photographing with a flash was no problem here, I succeeded to get a bunch of good photos. In the Photo album you can find again a selection of the 50 best photos of Stream of Passion's show.

Saturday, July 1st, 2006 ~ Festival area.

When Stream of Passion's show was over, I left the tent and went to look for René. I found him quickly and we bought ourselves some more drinks and we sat on the grass of the festival area. Then René decided to go home, as the heat had become too intense for him. He also had plenty of other things to do at home and he had already done what he had come to do: which was to take photos of Stream of Passion's show. I decided to stay as I had no problems with the heat and I wanted to see Kamelot and After Forever. It's kinda silly not going there when you can easily make it. In the Photo album you can see a couple of photos of the festival area.

Saturday, July 1st, 2006 ~ Kamelot.

I had to wait quite some time before the start of Kamelot's show, but because I was now allowed to take photos while standing in the photo pit, I decided to look for a place early. However, after Kamelot played three songs, all the photographers had to leave the photo pit. Because I didn't want to join the jumping crowd inside the tent, I decided to sit down just outside the tent and enjoy the warm sunshine. The show of Kamelot was really good for as far as I could see and hear. It was nice to see them play live. When the concert was nearly over, I saw Davy standing in the crowd. Later we met each other and had a nice talk. A little later I also met Arjen, Marcela, Alejandro and Johan. We all walked together to the main stage but Arjen and I lost the others in the crowd. We searched for them for a while, but in the end we both watching Alice in Chains on the main stage. After about 10 to 15 minutes Arjen decided to go looking for the others in the backstage. I walked around some more and enjoyed another glass of fresh cola as I still had to wait some time for After Forever to start. In this Photo album you can see the photos I took of Kamelot's performance.

Saturday, July 1st, 2006 ~ After Forever.

The shows had been delayed so there was not much time left, but I still decided to stay and watch After Forever. A couple of their songs from their most recent album were already well-known, but they also played a bunch of songs from their back catalogue. These songs were heavier than I was used to, so I didn't really enjoy them. I was also allowed to take photos during the first three tracks of the show. Most of these photos are really cool, I'd say. I really couldn't have gotten any closer to the stage. This was also the first time that I saw most of the band members of After Forever. I had only met Joost once before, at the night he had his graduation show for the study he did at the conservatory in Enschede. In the Photo album you can see another selection of nice photos, this time of After Forever's show.
After the show I went outside to see if I could spot some more Soppies. It didn't take long before I found Marcela, Alejandro, Davy, Johan and Arjen. No one knew were Diana and Lori where hanging out, so unfortunately I wasn't able to speak to them. At around 19:00 I left the festival and headed homewards. It took another 4 hours to get back home. First it was a challange to find the right bus stop, as the first one had disappeared for unknown reasons (it was really temporary!). After a short ride on the bus I arrived in Leeuwarden from where I took the train to Zwolle. Luckily the train was ready to departs when I arrived, so I didn't have to wait any longer there. In Zwolle I had to switch trains once again, but this also didn't take long. On my way back home I visited my uncle and aunt in Nijverdal. My mother and sister had a nice barbeque with them. I left at 22:00 and not long after, I got home and went to bed for some well deserved sleep.