The Cold Cut

Over the last few months I have been waiting anxiously for any news concerning Lowlands Music Festival, which takes place in Amsterdam during late August every year. Lowlands is a festival with a lineup not dissimilar to Reading or Leeds, but also features more variety in terms of World Music; this year C.S.S, M.I.A and Interpol to name a few bands from afar. The first names playing this year have only just been announced: go to the bottom of this post to have a look at the promo posters.I went last year with about 10 other people and I really enjoyed it... it was a great place to go for your first festival: the atmosphere is really good (Dutch people are really nice, and most speak excellent English), the lineup is amazing and the facilities are traditionally Dutch. Now when most people think of festivals they get an image in their mind of shitty food, grotty showers and a general feeling of dirtiness. The toilets and showers at Lowlands are really clean and there a lot of them, which is good... I can't help recalling stories I have heard of overflowing bogs in Reading and Glastonbury.

Another huge difference at Lowlands is the quality of the food: most people don't eat much at festivals, because its all fast food. Well, at Lowlands, things are different; I can honestly say that the food at this festival must be the best out of all the festivals in the world, even though I haven't been to any others- there is a massive selection of fresh food on offer all day long, from falafels to pancakes and pizza and pretty much anything you could ever want. Its all pretty good value, and this also applies to the alcohol; everything at Lowlands is paid for with their unique currency, unfortunately named 'munten', and generally at low cost. I came back 100 euros poorer last time, which isn't bad considering I was there for 4 days. There is a supermarket where you can buy loads of fresh food each day, and you can trade a crate of any beer for a crate of cold Heineken. Not bad, hmm?

Lowlands is a superior experience in many respects; you only have to look at the ticket prices to get things into perspective. A full ticket, allowing you to stay there from the opening of the site on the 16th to the afternoon of the 20th, will set you back 125 euros, or £80. Compare this to the costs of Reading- a one day ticket to Reading can set you back upwards of £60... you do the maths. I suppose you have to factor in the cost of the plane journey over here, but there is nothing stopping you spending 2 or 3 days in Amsterdam beforehand and making it into a holiday. Also, the size of the festival site is way more convenient; all 8 stages are within 10 minutes walk of each other, so there is much more likelihood of you seeing lots of different bands on different stages.

So, to recap, Lowlands is an extremely cheap festival with a great lineup and brilliant facilities.... what more could a budding music fan want? Is anyone reading this going to Lowlands this year? Who are you looking forward to seeing?