This is not the official web site of the Bevrijdingspop Festival. If you were looking for the official site then please click here. None of the pictures on this page or on any gallery page linked to by this page may be used in any form. The originals can not be made available other than to the artists and their official fan club unless with the written consent of the artist.
OK I'll be really honest I set off to see the Festival because Moke were playing. Well I ended up staying past midnight and shot loads of excellent artists. A huge round of applause to the organisers and volunteers who kept everything running smoothly at an event that in terms of size rivals the biggest festivals. What's more is that this was a totally free festival so everything that you read about here was yours for the price of the transport to the venue.

You can see the full line up on the official site, I did not manage to photograph all the artists so I'm sorry if your favorite is not included. The site was spread across three stages, the main, a smaller stage, and a childrens festival. I really don't know the official figures but it has to be in the many tens if not hundreds of thousands. [OK I've been mailed by Jan to say the official figure is 130,000 people, that's a huge crowd.]

Moke

As I've said, these guys were the reason I came to festival. The guys were already on stage setting up when I managed to clear the various security procedural hurdles. As this was earlier than I'd anticipated it was something of a rush but I managed to catch the entire act.

I've seen the guys in action on a couple of occasions recently (you can see more about this here). They are appearing in Patronaat in Haarlem in a couple of weeks and I plan to go along and see them in a club environment.

Personally I'm quite taken by the style and I think the crowd were too. I have a gallery of other pictures here . Look out for that icon on this page, it leads to other galleries for each group.

X6

were 6 girls playing mostly covers but also some of their own material and a large dose of choreographed action. They announced they have a single (their own material not a cover) so there is a good chance that we should hear more of them. 

You can see their gallery from the festival here .

Boris


I won't mention names but the bass player really does look like someone I used to work with :-). Some more pictures of Boris and the rest of the band can be found here .

Cloudmachine

playing on the smaller stage. A few other pictures of them are here .

C-Mon & Kypski


Well what can I say. Crazy crazy people. Don't believe me? Take a look at their web-site, that should convince you. But for all that they really are lot of fun and an act I'd quite like to see again.

Take a look at their gallery for more pictures from the festival .

van Velzen

went down a storm with the crowd. Clearly not a guy to let his stature either be a reason for success or a reason for failure. He was evidently very talented and very comfortable entertaining the huge crowd.

Ending the set with a cover of 'One Angry Dwarf' was superb and did make me smile.

There is a gallery of photos from the show here .

The Answer

is an Irish band (well actually I'm not sure about that they say they are UK based but their site is Irish) I'm not familiar with but at first I thought they were going to be an AC/DC cover band but was quickly proved wrong. Certainly they are an established act known for supporting some big names. Their gallery is here .

Pussycat Kill Kill Kill


A bunch of guys who clearly enjoy playing. Again they are not an act that I'm particularly familiar with and the only song that I had heard of was 'Babe, I'll pull your panties down!'. Check out the other pictures I took of them here .

Seasick Steve


Steve plays the blues. Steve was not only one of the best things I saw all day he was probably the funniest. The first picture shows Steve and his equipment, that is a guitar, a microphone, and a box he stamps on for the rhythm. The second picture shows the guitar he bought from Sherman Cooper. The story of this guitar was that having been ripped off by Sherman he vowed to tour the world and tell everyone about this three string guitar. He still made the guitar make an awesome sound and the look on the faces of the guys from The Answer who had stayed at the stage side showed complete respect. Finally the last picture shows Steve throwing the guitar still falling to the ground as Steve finishes his act and simply leaves the stage. Believe me we were all in hysterics by the end. I spoke to Steve afterwards and he told me he is touring parts of Europe. If you get the chance go and he him you really won't regret it.

I know that Steve is not a fan of his own pictures but there are a few more in the gallery here including some nice shots of him 'adjusting' his guitar by hitting it on the amplifier.

Paul Carrack


Yeah you know Paul all right. Paul has toured with so many people such as Mike and the Mechanics, Nick Lowe, and Squeeze. OK OK try singing 'How long (has this been going on)?' yep that's him. Well if you want to see him again then he will be playing the Boerderij in Zoetermeer (coincidentally one of my favourite venues) in October. You can see more shots of Paul and the rest of his band here .
Gijs
This little guy was showing such curiocity in passers by that I thought I had to have a picture. I've been contacted by his owner, Cristel, and told he is called Gijs. Quite a party goer I believe.

Los Lobos


It's been a while but of course these guys were remembered by the crowd. Naturally they played La Bamba and that went down really well. I took a few more shots of them and you can see these in the gallery .


Don Diablo plus guests


Well I'll be really honest, I was all prepared to really hate this. Anyone who knows me will know I'm more of a rock fan. But then it all started and I realised that I loved it, no really it was excellent. So much energy in the music, so much energy from the crowd and, importanly for me, excellent lighting. It gave me a chance to get some quite reasonable shots and you can see these here .

Well if this is you then get in touch and we can sort something out about getting hold of a print.
The whole festival was great but for me the highlights were Moke who I'll be off to see again. C-Mon and Kypski who were barking mad but great music. Seasick Steve who made me laugh so hard it was difficult to carry on taking pictures. Paul Carrack whose music really does touch on nearly all the styles I've grown up with. Finally Don Diablo who managed to get the entire crowd into party mood if they were not already.

I'll be publishing more pictures of the various artists over the coming days so check back later.

My brother in law is a partner in a music store in Bristol called Jam Guitars. They specialise in top quality guitars and accessories so if you are in the area then check out their site. In fact, as they do mail order too, why not check out their site anyway. There are some fantastic looking guitars on the site even if you are not in the market for one. If you are looking for something really special they can arrange sessions where you can try before your buy.