Rock-A-Field 2015 (Nothing But Thieves, Bastille, Muse)
THIS was the most important feature of the entire weekend (because, in case you have already forgotten, it was hot, or rather HOT). It just shouldn’t have been turned off that early, I would have loved to make use of it at midnight when Bastille had finished their set!
But let’s start at the beginning. The new parking for Rock-A-Field (which already was in use last year, but I didn’t go then) turned out to not only be much closer to the festival grounds, but also much closer to home – yay! Using the P&R at Hollerich had had one advantage though: it was much easier to find your car back afterwards...
 My plan for Friday was to arrive in time to watch Nothing But Thieves’ set. Fox, a band from Luxembourg, was still playing the main stage when I arrived and it was no problem at all to get a front row spot at the starting stage (the two stages are played in turns). This year, the entire space in fronnt of the B-stage war covered by a tent – which protected you from the sun but, alas, not at all from the heat.
You haven’t heard of Nothing But Thieves yet? Well, I’m sure you will (apart from now, obviously ;) ) Great indie rock songs combined with an amazing live performance:
They have a few more festival dates coming up (see here), including a support slot for Muse in Rome, and I strongly recommend to check them out if you go to any of them.
Then began the wait for Bastille (none of the bands playing till then interested me, ahem). Luckily, my friends had arrived in the meantime which made the time pass much faster.
Bastille were the headliners of the day and started their set at 22.30. I had seen them once before in the relatively small Den Atelier (see my review here) and even though I had enjoyed that gig immensly, it was even a greater pleasure seeing them play on a big stage. Their performance only confirmed what I had known before: Bastille simply are one of the best live bands ever and able to create an instant relation to the audience (Dan surprised us with his rather perfect pronounciation of the luxemburgish sentences he read from a piece of paper). They also played some new songs which got a great reaction from the crowd:
(more photos of that day here)
I skipped the Saturday completely, though I hadn’t been happy about The Tame And The Wild being moved from Friday to Saturday.
 The initial plan for Sunday had been to arrive more or less when the doors open, secure a good place for Dotan’s set at 14.30 and then somehow pass the afternoon till Muse’s set. Alas, Dotan cancelled his appearance, my friend from Holland decided not to come and I couldn’t find it in me to spend a super hot afternoon at the festival, especially with the possibility of heavy thunderstorms being announced. So I only left home at about 8pm, thinking I’d be the only one to arrive that late. Not at all! And I was even in time to get an almost-front-row-spot for Muse :O
If I tell you that this was the first time I saw them, you’ll probably agree that this is taking „late to the party“ to a whole new level... What is more, it quickly turned out that I’m completely unqualified to write a  review about this gig: after the show, I told my friend that I found it quite „bombastic“ – she looked at me as if I was slighly imbecile and told me that gig was „back to the roots“ rather. One day later, she sent me two videos which definitely proved her point *hangs head in shame*
Therefore, I guess I better shut up and just invite you to have a look at my photos and the one video I took:
Summary: I enjoyed the bands I watched, but would have been happier if there had been more to my taste. I know of course that it’s not possible to please everyone, but I’m still craving 2012 when Snow Patrol, Biffy Clyro AND Mumford and Sons played RAF... However, the festival was well organised and the staff was very friendly. Let’s wait and see what next year will bring!
