Bospop had a few tough years with last minute cancellations of headliners, a completely lost day due to code red, and this year too the festival was spared nothing, the heavy rainfall during most of Friday had turned the terrain and parking lots into a mud pool.
But the Bospop organization immediately switched gears, alternative parking lots and shuttle buses were found, 22 local farmers made their tractors available to tow all visitors away on Friday, and dozens of cubic meters of wood chips had made the terrain largely walkable again for Saturday and Sunday. A real tribute to the organization that can be so helpful to the music fans.
That audience could enjoy many bands with a long past but that are all still relevant, Toto, The Waterboys, John Fogerty, Alice Cooper Zucchero, they showed that the stars of that time can still shine. That does not take away that Bospop has much more to offer, Dutch top acts, surprises from abroad, for every music lover there was something to their liking.
Robert Jon and The Wreck: After finding a parking space and finding our way to the tent through the muddy entrance, we found ourselves in the middle of the performance of Robert Jon and the Wreck, with a new album just released, it was a pleasant renewed acquaintance with this southern rock group from California.
They toured Europe frequently and it earned them a large fan base. Numerous songs from the new album were played, such as Stone cold killer, dragging me down and the new instant classic Ballad of a broken hearted man, which can easily compete live with Cold night, of which we were again presented with a magnificent performance and in which Heny Henry James Schneekluth amazed us again with his guitar skills.
Alice Cooper: 76 years old but still no trace of old age, just like time seems to have no effect on Mick Jagger, Alice Cooper remains the old rocker.
With an exquisite visual spectacle including decapitation, mega Frankenstein, his snakes, he presented the audience with a slick rock show. Supported by three guitarists, Nita Strauss, Ryan Roxie and Tommy Henriksen, who continuously changed places and threw one solo after another into the audience, it remained fascinating to see how everything fell into place. The Alice Cooper hits, No More Mr.
Nice Guy, Billion Dollar Babies, Feed My Frankenstein, Only Woman Bleed, I’m Eighteen and School’s Out in which a surprising piece of Pink Floyd’s Another Brick in the Wall was incorporated, everything was played.
Helmut Lotti goes metal: After a failed performance at Vandaag inside, where Helmut’s vocals didn’t come across well, I was very curious to see how he would do at Bospop.
It was a feast of recognition, especially for a metalhead like I used to be. Helmut and his band brought a sparkling show with classics from Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, AC/DC, Motorhead, and a beautiful performance of Still loving you by The Scorpions.
Helmut is a gifted singer with his background as an opera singer. Another good thing is that he gives it his own twist and doesn’t try to imitate greats like Bruce Dickinson, Ronnie James Dio, Ozzy Osbourne or David Coverdale.
John Fogerty: The John Fogerty Show started with a video interview in which he was happy that the rights of the Creedence Clearwater Revival, CCR, are back in his possession and that he had his favorite guitar, which he had once given away, back.
All this was the preparation for The Celibration tour with his two sons on guitar in his backing band, John himself played as if reborn, there is still no wear on his voice and guitar playing. A range of CCR hits were played, although I have to say that my favorite Suzy Q was not played.
He even drew from an even more distant past when CCR was not yet called CCR but The Golliwogs with the song Fight Fire. In a show where every song was provided with spectacular visuals it was a big sing-along party, that made you forget the mud and the rain, Who stopped the rain could not have been more appropriate than this evening.
Besides John Fogerty being the big man of course, I would like to highlight saxophonist Rob Stone, his contribution to the performance was unparalleled, I have rarely seen someone like him tear his saxophone apart.
The Damn Truth: The Damn truth was already in the taxi van that would take them from the hotel to the festival last year when they heard that the festival had been cancelled on Sunday.
They felt it was a shame that they had to postpone their performance at Bospop for a year, and it was therefore good that a large group of fans had gathered in front of the tent stage so early. To the sounds of Jefferson Airplane, the quartet entered the stage and in their flower power clothing they brought a modern version of what Woodstock once was.
Singer Lee-la Baum (vocals/guitar), Tom Shemer guitar, PY Letellier bass and drummer Dave Traina gave an energetic show that earned them many fans. After the performance I spoke to many visitors who had enjoyed it. Singer Lee-la Baum has a lot to offer, from glowing power to subdued ballads, she had her voice under control in everything.
At the same time, she is also the front woman who whipped up the audience to sing along enthusiastically to the song Lonely. That succeeded, which caused even more enthusiasm at The Damn truth. No better band to open a festival with.
Leif de Leeuw band: The transition from the rock of The Damn Truth to Leif de Leeuw was big and it took a while before his southern rock was well received. For the occasion his band was supplemented with an extra keyboard player, in a set that opened with Rosalie, a safe choice, it is also one of the best songs of his new album of which many songs were played.
The instrumental Gumbo man is a song with a nice groove, only such a bass solo is needed now, fortunately it was short and the song went on into Were I am Heading, with a monstrous solo by Leif and that guitar work can’t last long enough for me.
With special guest Berget Lewis, the fans know that Old man by Neil Young is used, it propelled the performance to great heights, and yet the feeling remained that the Leif de Leeuw band comes out better in a pop venue than on such a main stage.
The Scratch: The Scratch seemed like an unknown band to me and looking around the tent from the back I got the feeling that I had already witnessed the intensity with which this company works.
Digging into my memory, the bus station in Ballyshannon at the Rory Gallagher tribute festival came to mind. This acoustic whirlwind from Ireland also played there as if the devil was hot on their heels. At Bospop the acoustic material had been electrically amplified with a double beatbox, and with an element glued to the guitar The Scratch rolled over the audience.
They crushed everyone with their souped-up Irish Folk metal. What a devilish performance that I will remember for a long time.
Southside Johnny and the Ashbury Dukes: Presented as the precursor to Bruce Springsteen’s E-street band, I was waiting for some work from Springsteen but that was not what it was.
It was a performance that did not stick, overwhelmed by The Scratch, the tempo was too slow and John Lyon did not have his best day, his singing was out of tune at times, but that did not bother the fans, they enthusiastically joined in. I left it for what it was and went to the tent early for the performance of King King.
King King: King King, the Scottish blues band of the Nimmo brothers, had just flown in from Ohio USA, where they were on their first USA tour. With the jetlag still in their legs, they opened with Dance together, which was already sung along to loudly.
The popularity of the band in the Netherlands is immense. Following the set with hits like Rushhour, Heed the warning, Waking up and the song dedicated to Matt Long ‘Whatever it takes to survive’, it became a big party. So much so that, completely against tradition, King King was allowed an encore.
The craftsmanship of the Nimmo brothers has also found its way into the USA, let’s hope that they do not forget our country and come back every year.
The Cinelli brothers: There were quite a few moments of choice in the program, for example, I had to choose between Julian Sas and Robert Jon and the Wreck on Friday and The Cinelli Brothers and the Rival sons on Sunday.
After listening to three songs by The Rival sons, the hyper vocals of Jay Buchanan could not captivate me, too intense, too busy, luckily there were the Cinelli brothers to choose from. The brothers have completed an extensive tour through the Netherlands where they did not skip a spot.
Their mix of soul blues gospel, the polyphonic vocals, and with bassist/guitarist Stephen Giri in top form was enjoyable. You can’t see the Cinelli Brothers often enough, it was my fourth time this year but every performance is different, it characterizes this top band.
The Waterboys: I actually only know one song from The Waterboys, The Whole of the moon, and as it turned out, a girl called johnny also rang a bell.
It was also surprising that these old rockers presented a nice mix of rock with blues influences. Original Waterboy Mike Scott, and Hammond keyboardist Brother Paul Brown, with his flowing blond hair entertained the audience excellently.
DeWolff: In between all the foreign music violence we almost forget that music is also made in the Netherlands at a high level. DeWolff and later also Direct are two bands of international allure.
DeWolff for this performance expanded with a bassist and two background singers start their show with the Nighttrain, and that song is so full of drive power, the ideal show opener to get the audience involved.
The way in which they shape their show with spectacular guitar work by showman par excellence Pablo van de Poel and his also singing brother Luka on drums and with Hammond beast Robin Piso in songs like Hard kind of stopping show, tired of loving you is of international level.
All that comes together in the highlight of almost every DeWolff show, Rosita. How they manage to captivate the audience in the 20 minutes that the performance at Bospop lasted remains miraculous and is increasingly picked up internationally. It was enjoyable.
Enjoying the sounds of Toto’s hits, we made our way home with the conclusion: Bospop 2024 was a very nice edition musically, with top acts that offered something for everyone, the inconveniences caused by the weather were therefore taken for granted.
