Read day one HERE
Read day two HERE
Dour’s third day – of four, lest we forget you lily-livered three-day fest-going Brit types – oddly combines the most indulgent, classic pop with the sort of knuckle-dragging hardcore I, personally, usually avoid like the plague. Oh, and there’s some hip-hop, too. Yup, many and varied is the policy over here in Belgium.
The one-two hit of The motherfucking Death Set and Arboretum is a strange way to open the day, but it’s by these bands that these here earholes are first tickled. Well, poked raw by the former, whose bratty 8-bit punk comes on like ‘Check Your Head’-era Beasties plugging into influences born of glitch-core culture. The Thrill Jockey-signed alt-folk of Arboretum soothes the burn somewhat, but the scar remains: what a way to kick things off.
I Like Trains might be the epitome of dour to some – oh dear, my first pun of these reports – but here they fascinate with a set that affords airings of great new material as well as firm favourites from their album, ‘Elegies To Lessons Learnt’. The facts at the heart of their historical songs might get a little lost in translation, but the effect on the crowd is phenomenal nonetheless – they’re a definite highlight of Dour 2009 so far.
Less impressive is the wobbly pop of Esser, but perhaps the massive Dance Hall isn’t the best setting for him – a smaller, more intimate stage may have suited. Meanwhile, The Gaslight Anthem run through their ‘The ’59 Sound’ LP on the big, outdoor Last Arena stage – it’s all very wholesome, and very tied to its influences (that’ll be The Boss, then), but for all the band’s energy the New Jersey quartet simply don’t connect this afternoon. Can’t win ‘em all.
O’Death are surprisingly party-friendly on La Petite Maison stage, all fiddle-me-fun with dark, foreboding overtones – image them as the soundtrack to the pirate tangent of Watchmen… yup, fits perfectly. Cro-Mags are the worst kind of hardcore, real chest-thumping stupidity dressed up as social commentary. Why is it that all the bands that reckon we can change the world, one by one, and that we shouldn’t believe our (usually perfectly on the money) governments are terribly hackneyed hardcore ones? Snore.
Dour explodes into electric life with 65daysofstatic, who ram the La Petite Maison stage like no act before them – front to back, bodies writhe and jiggle to the Sheffield foursome’s cacophony of broken beats and dynamic percussion, and several drumsticks are shattered in the pursuit of ultimate BPM. What seem to be new tracks (it’s all a bit of a blur) fit seamlessly into a set that transforms ‘Radio Protector’, already a regular high, into a closing beast of truly epic proportions – the tent goes off.
Dropkick Murphys do what Dropkick Murphys have done for years, and plenty of people lap it up – judging by the amount of shamrock tees on site, they’re clearly pretty popular around these parts, but they’ve always left me rather cold. The next band up, though, throw everything at the crowd: visually astounding, and with certified classics in their catalogue, the Pet Shop Boys have me eating from their proverbial palms for a full 90 minutes. They begin with ‘Heart’, and the pace never relents – even the new, less-known songs are rapturously received. ‘West End Girls’ brings the curtain down on the Last Arena for day three – and I can’t imagine a better end to any festival’s daily bill.
Okay, I do try – EPMD follow Roots Manuva on the Clubcircuit stage, but neither really engage as was hoped. The latter fumbles his way through the obvious crowd highlight ‘Witness’, and the former – legends though they might be to many – transform their set midway into dead rapper sing-along: we’re giving it up for Biggie, but not wholly caring why. So off I slope, in search of greater thrills. A strange punk-rock (i.e. with a full band) karaoke is happening up on the hill, but one guy’s murdering of ‘Killing In The Name’ is all I need to see before it’s bed via the propulsive beats of Popof: I close my eyes with my ears still rattling.
On the musical menu today: Sleepy Sun, The Hickey Underworld, Amazing Baby, Crystal Castles, The Horrors, Rolo Tomassi, An Albatross, The Night Marchers, Venetian Snares, and then there small matter of Aphex Twin and Hecker. Shame tomorrow morning’s an early start – 7am car to Lille – or else I’d make it an all-nighter. See you on the other side…
