Rock Werchter

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Rock Werchter

Location(s)	Werchter, Belgium
Years active	1975 - present
Date(s)	Late June to Early July
Genre(s)	Alternative rock, Pop

Rock Werchter is a music festival in the village of Werchter in Belgium. The editions of 2003 and 2005 gained the Arthur award for best festival in the world at ILMC. Since the 2003 edition Werchter has become a 4-day festival, as it was sold by owner Herman Schueremans to American organizers Clear Channel Entertainment which had both positive and negative effects.

[edit] History

The festival started in 1974 as a one-day festival with performances from Banzai and Kandahar. Over the years it became Belgium's largest music festival. Originally it was a double-festival, called "Rock Torhout-Werchter", with two festival areas on different places in Belgium: one in Werchter and one in Torhout. A few years ago, the festival dropped the Torhout site and since, it only takes place in Werchter.

The festival started off as a one-day event, became a two-day festival in 1996, went on to become a 3-day festival in 1999, and has been a 4-day festival since 2003.

[edit] 1977 Festival

Performers included: The Bintangs - Kaz Lux & Bien Servi - Philip Catherine - Jan Akkerman - Kayak - Dr. Feelgood

Camping Festival : Green Apple - Quick Step - Sass Jordan - Ashbury Faith - Senser - dEUS - tool - The Scene

[edit] 1995 Festival

Performers included: Channel Zero - Bodycount - Senser - dEUS - Jeff Buckley - PJ Harvey - Spearhead - The Offspring - Belly - Therapy? - Morphine - The Cure - The Cranberries - R.E.M.

Camping Festival : Ben Harper - Dave Matthews Band - Soul Coughing - Weezer - The Scene - Tricky - Orbital

[edit] 1996 Festival

Performers included: Skunk Anansie- Dog Eat Dog - Me'shell N'Degeocello- Grant Lee Buffalo- Fun Lovin Criminals- Foo Fighters- Moby- Therapy?- Underworld- David Bowie- Chemical Brothers- The Prodigy- Metal Molly- Presidents of the USA- House of Pain- Moloko- Afghan Wigs- Moondog Jr.- Alanis Morissette- Pulp- Sepultura- Massive Attack- Rage Against The Machine- Radiohead- Red Hot Chili Peppers- Björk- Neil Young & Crazy Horse

[edit] 1997 Festival

Performers included: Osdorp Posse-Silverchair-Placebo-Paul Weller-Suede-David Bowie-The Chemical Brothers-Reef-16 Horsepower-Rollins Band-Daft Punk-Channel Zero-Fun Lovin' Criminals-Supergrass-Live-Sheryl Crow-Radiohead-Jamiroquai-Smashing Pumpkins-The Prodigy-Spearhead-Zap Mama-David Byrne-Beck-dEUS

[edit] 1998 Festival

Performers included: ABN-Junkie XL-Moby-Jon Spencer Blues Explosion-Sonic Youth-Pulp-Underworld-Reprazent ft Roni Size-Eagle Eye Cherry-Ben Folds Five-Dave Matthews Band-Hooverphonic-Morcheeba-Tindersticks-Evil Superstars-Money Mark-Tori Amos-Garbage-Therapy?-Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds-Beastie Boys-Björk

[edit] 1999 Festival

Performers included: Mercury Rev-Pavement-Blur- Trish & Kash- Chemical Brothers- Praga Khan-Jan van Biesen- Fatboy Slim- Soulwax- Monster Magnet-Live-Marilyn Manson-Skunk Anansie-Texas- Bryan Adams- Metallica-Arid- Wilco-Everlast-Lamb-Suzanne Vega- Zita Swoon-Björn Again-Flying Deweale Brothers- Noordkaap- Stereophonics-Heather Nova-Placebo- Robbie Williams- Faithless-Lenny Kravitz-R.E.M.-Cree Summer- De Mens- Tin Star- The Roots- Afro Celt Sound System- Gus Gus- Green Velvet- Basement Jaxx

[edit] 2000 Festival

Performers included: Venus-Muse-Nine Inch Nails-Oasis- Praga Khan-Wheat- Flaming Lips- Death in Vegas-Jan Van Biesen- Luke Slater- Laurent Garnier- Metal Molly-HIM- Bomfunk MC's- Groove Armada- Bush- Macy Gray-Live- Moby– Texas- Gorki- Elliot Smith- Dead Man Ray- Kelis- Horace Andy- Laïs- Suzanne Vega-Arid- El Tattoo del Tigre- Krezip- Heideroosjes- Asian Dub Foundation- A Perfect Circle- Soulwax-Counting Crows-Paul Weller-The Cure- Sandy Dillon- An Pierle-Gomez-Eels-Travis-Lamb

[edit] 2001 Festival

Performers included: Queens of the Stone Age-Deftones-Tool-Fun Lovin’ Criminals-Hooverphonic-Basement Jaxx-Goldfrapp-Buscemi-Kosheen-St. Germain-Roger Sanchez-Feeder-Manu Chao-Ash-Wheatus-Talvin Singh-Stereo MCs-Das Pop-Ben Harper en The Innocent Criminals-Laïs-Sting-Beck-Suzanne Vega-David Gray-Dandy Warhols-Black Crowes-Aimee Mann-George Thorogood-Monza-Tom McRae-DAAU-Lucy Pearl-Novastar-De Mens-Stereophonics-Anouk-PJ Harvey-Placebo-Everlast-Muse-Weezer-Mauro-JJ72-Sigur Rós-Grandaddy-16 Horsepower-Zita Swoon-Afro Celt Sound System-Roxy Music-Faithless-Coldplay-Incubus

[edit] 2002 Festival

Performers included: dEUS- Chemical Brothers-Morcheeba-Arno-Dropkick Murphys-2 Many DJ's-Praga Khan-Green Velvet- Luke Slater-Sonic Youth-The White Stripes-Black Rebel Motorcycle Club-The Notwist-Red Hot Chili Peppers-Rammstein-Bush-Nelly Furtado-Queens of the Stone Age-Mercury Rev-Madrugada-Within Temptation-Hoobastank-Roger Sanchez-Air-Ozark Henry-Calexico-Röyksopp-An Pierlé-Lambchop-Ed Harcourt-.Calibre-Carl Cox-Faithless-Coldplay-Lamb-Arid-Heather Nova-Spearhead-Zornik-Kane- Yann Tiersen-Erykah Badu-Cornelius-Starsailor-Millionaire-Ozomatli

[edit] 2003 Festival

The 30th edition of the Werchter festival, in 2003, was the first time Werchter became a 4-day festival. The full lineup (in reverse order) for the main stage was:

Day 1: Underworld, Radiohead, Björk.

Day 2: Massive Attack, Moby, Ozark Henry, The Roots, Feeder, Morgan Heritage, The Polyphonic Spree.

Day 3: Metallica, Arno, Queens of the Stone Age, Anouk, Xzibit, Millionaire, Stone Sour, 't Hof van Commerce, Krezip.

Day 4: R.E.M., Coldplay, Counting Crows, Cypress Hill, The Cardigans, Supergrass, Stereophonics, De la Soul, Das Pop.

[edit] 2004 Festival

The 2004 festival took place from July 1-July 4, with a reported attendance of 280,000 people. The festival shared bands with Roskilde Festival in Denmark which was held at the same time. The Cure, Metallica, Lenny Kravitz, Pixies, Muse, Moloko (among others) were top of the bill for Werchter's 2 stages.

Muse at Werchter Festival 2004

The full lineup (in reverse order) for the main stage was:

Day 1: Basement Jaxx, The Cure, Pink, Sean Paul, Micheal Franti & The Spearheads.

Day 2: Metallica, KoЯn, The Darkness, Dropkick Murphys, Monster Magnet, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Lostprophets.

Day 3: Lenny Kravitz, Muse, Moloko, Wu-Tang Clan, Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals, The Black Eyed Peas, Within Temptation, Heideroosjes, The Rasmus.

Day 4: 2 Many DJ's, Placebo, Pixies, PJ Harvey, Lamb, Starsailor, Zornik, Danko Jones. David Bowie was meant to headline the ffestival but had to cancel.

[edit] 2005 Festival

The festival took place from June 30-July 3, with the headlining bands being The Chemical Brothers, Faithless, Rammstein, The Tears, and R.E.M.. The full lineup for the main stage (in reverse order) was:

Day 1: The Chemical Brothers, Snoop Dogg, Ozark Henry, New Order, The Bravery.

Day 2: Faithless, Green Day, Velvet Revolver, Garbage, Within Temptation, Jimmy Eat World, KT Tunstall, Simple Plan.

Day 3: Rammstein, Nine Inch Nails, Audioslave, The Game, 't Hof van Commerce, Daan, Pennywise, Therapy?.

Day 4: R.E.M., Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age, Soulwax, Keane, Feeder, Kane, Flogging Molly