Down the Rabbit Hole 2022 – Full Review.

Jeroen De Wolf July 11, 2022 633 13 5

Sometimes this means that you end up in unreal chaos and this is what happened on Thursday evening.

The road to…

On the train to Wijchen I, along with more and more connecting heavily packed travelers, watched the changeable downpours that raged across the country. “Surely it will blow over in Beuningen?” Vain hope…

My best buddy was waiting for me at the station and had already eaten. With a stop at ‘The Golden Arches’ for me, where I ordered something, including a Veggie Chicken (ordering chicken at a fast food joint like this is something you just shouldn’t do…), we drove on to the festival grounds in his car, while most of the train passengers took the shuttle buses.

Finally arrived at Down The Rabbit Hole.

Heavily loaded, but with a handy unfolding cart, we walked through the mud and pouring rain looking for a spot.

At the edge of the terrain, after a short discussion with a couple of ladies who were trying to claim the piece of land for their friends who would come the next day and during which we calmly explained that it doesn’t work like that and that there was quite some space left, we put up our beautiful tent. A wet evening and night, but fortunately we still had some wine and snacks. A nice experience to say the least!

The next morning the sun was out again and it was made clear to us that the free view from our folding chairs could be obstructed and this actually happened because five lovely ladies (age late 20s, early 30s. Just a bit too young, but not necessarily) set up two tents for us.

That’s all very well but what about the atmosphere and music?

From the beginning to the end, all the artists, as well as the spectators, seemed to be incredibly into it.

The nice thing about a festival is that you can reserve a place at the front an hour before a performance starts by standing or sitting down.

With a total of 45,000 people walking around, it is busy but still manageable.

It seemed that the prevailing inflation was well abused by the various eateries and that was indeed the case, however, elsewhere it would not have been different …

The music, acts and performances.

And then the music! Because that’s literally what’s it all about , isn’t it?

Occasionally standing in front of a performance makes for a very intense experience.

Anyway, below is a brief summary with score/rating. Of course, tastes may differ and it is impossible to cover all the acts.

This is therefore a summary with scores from our own point of view.

Friday:

Jungle by Night: the first band on the main stage. Partially watched from a far distance. Sounded great and tight right away with a lot of musicians who were very well attuned to one and another . Immediately a party on the main stage!

Rating: 8

★★★★★★★★

L’imperatrice: French disco and electro band on the 2nd stage: Teddy Widder. Been following them a bit myself for about a year and a half. Also very funky with a small singer who moves wonderfully and also keeps on singing just as funky and whips up the audience. Very cool band.

Grade: 8

★★★★★★★★

HAIM: Entertaining from beginning to end. The three sisters play really well and so do the musicians around them. Insane and partly corny performance, without it affecting the music. Very cool to see them up close. I have always been a fan and now even more so.

Grading: 9

★★★★★★★★★

Wilco: In Teddy Widder. Very nice that this band is programmed at this festival. And they played so well! Jeff Tweedy in tune and the band really went for it. Music from their new album as well as older work. Young and old audience in harmony. Great for this Friday night.

Grade: 8

★★★★★★★★

Disclosure: DJ set listened to in the distance. Sounded good, but you already know everything. Very nice light show with drones in the air as a finale. Was also very loud!

Grade: 7

★★★★★★★

Saturday:

Spinvis: also always good and tight. However, we got a bit bored. Maybe also because the best Dutch artist, as far as we are concerned, was going to perform as a replacement for Kae Tempest (corona) at half past four that afternoon…

Grade: 7

★★★★★★★

Eefje de Visser: we had seen her perform in The Hague a week and a half ago, but we just couldn’t get enough of her and her band. The charisma, the music with the lyrics in one. Miraculous. Fantastic! Addictive.

Grade: 9

★★★★★★★★★

We had to recover from this… So back to the tent. A bite to eat too.

The Smile: A new band from the frontman and guitarist of Radiohead: Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood. Together with jazz drummer: Tom Skinner. They only have one album out and alternate instruments (except for the drummer, who does also occasionally produce some effects via a synth or “Moog-like” device). Once again, we were well in front. As a big Radiohead fan this was of course great. But also because it’s just incredibly good music that this three-man formation knows how to produce.

Everything was there . Thom danced a bit and sang superbly. Can’t wait to see this again!

Grade: 9

★★★★★★★★★

In between we caught a little bit of the performance by Little Simz. Sounded good, but too short to judge.

Moderat: Another part of the performance after The Smile. Also a bit in the same spirit , but is mainly electronic with techno and electro elements.

Grade: 7

★★★★★★★

The main act was next:

Gorillaz: viewed from afar. Not a direct fan of this band myself. However, benefit of the doubt. Eventually it was a bit of a disappointment …

Grade: 6

★★★★★★

So we walked on to also listen to some:

DJs who were doing their best. Not bad , but I think I’ve heard some better sets in the past. This was a bit disappointing overall, but we didn’t catch the later dj sets of e.g. Tom Trago and Sandrien either, so perhaps a somewhat unfounded judgment here.

Grade: 7

★★★★★★★

Sunday:

We called it “hipster square”, where people were hula hooping wearing raised white socks and ridiculous shirts, among other things. I had done my best on Saturday by pulling up my David Bowie “Starman socks” together wearing my Hawaii shirt. The next day someone appeared to be wearing exactly the same socks. Well done!

Wodan Boys: Nice that this punk band from The Hague played a very tight but hard show in a trailer during lunch time.

Grade: 8

★★★★★★★★

St. Vincent: on stage 2 Teddy Widder. And we were at the front again. Well worth the effort!What a cool and crazy lady she is and what a tight band with backing singers she has!. Funky and weird. Delicious and so good!

Rating: 9

★★★★★★★★★

Erykah Badu: on the main stage. Queen of soul and r&b at the moment, right? What a lady and what a band! Standing still is not an option. Seen from the side and special that the P.A. just pulls the plug after an hour, because on to the next band! It’s funny to see that the band just keeps on playing over the monitors and finally turns off.

Grade: 8

★★★★★★★★

The War on Drugs: so nice to be here at the front. Adam Granduciel, the singer, was already there with a camera backstage shooting some snapshots of the audience and he seemed to be in the mood . During some songs it was difficult not to shed a tear. Music is clearly an emotion here too. I don’t wanna wait’ did it for me. Also ‘Under the Pressure’ with that release in the middle and of course the beautiful hit: ‘I don’t live here anymore,’ where the backing vocals of Lucius, which you normally hear on the record, were replaced by excellent vocals of the only lady behind the keys. What a band and what a closing track!

Score: 10

★★★★★★★★★★

Another beer and then off to the tent. We will stay until Monday morning. The ladies in front of us have also gone home. Oh wait , there’s one more who is coming to get a bag she had put in our cart. She lives nearby, so she cycles home safely. See you next year, question-or-exclamation mark.

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Jeroen De Wolf

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