Rock Werchter blasts off

The giant rock music festival, Rock Werchter, opened its doors to festival-goers at 8.00 on Thursday, 3 July, in Werchter, near Leuven.

On Wednesday afternoon, the festival also opened The Hive, Rock Werchter’s main campsite, to festival-goers with an XL camping ticket. The Hive can accommodate 30,000 people.

This year 79 groups will be playing. Chief headliners on Thursday are Metallica, Placebo, Robert Plant and Damon Albarn. On Friday, it will be the turn of the Arctic Monkeys, Paolo Nutini, Ellie Goulding and Major Lazer; on Saturday, Pearl Jam, The Black Keys, Pixies and Agnes Obel and on Sunday, Kings of Leon, Franz Ferdinand and Bastille. Stromae will round off events on Sunday on the main podium.

Compared to last year, the festival has increased by 2.5 hectares in size, after Rock Werchter’s organisers were allowed to cut down a nearby forest. As a result of the site’s expansion, the festival can now let in 88,000 festival-goers this year compared to 85,000 last year.