Liège, Les Ardentes Festival, Belgium
July 11th 2010
John Lydon
Lu Edmonds: Guitar / Misc
Bruce Smith: Drums
Scott Firth: Bass / Keyboards
Set List:
Unknown in full
Notes:
PiL headline the main stage.
Audio bootleg recorded
Gig Review
review by Mick C, April 2010
© 2010 Fodderstompf.com / Mick C
Had to be up early for the 4 hour bus trip to Liège. Was still on a high from the great performance the night before and couldn't wait to see if tonight's gig would be just as magical.
Once arrived we dumped our bags at the hotel in the small suburb of Ans, had dinner then headed straight to the festival (as it was now already about 5pm)
The Les Ardentes crowd seemed to be a lot more varied than Zottegem. A lot of long hairs with beards wandering around for some reason as well as plenty of teenagers. Thankfully there didn't seem to be any shitey bootleg clothing being peddled here. Perhaps security was a bit tighter.
If I'm honest I didn't really like the atmosphere of the festival. Lethargy seemed to permeate the air and boredom seemed to possess the countenance of most folk. I thought things might pick up a little as the evening wore on but it just didn't happen.
PiL appeared, again roughly about 8:30pm - 9:00pm and launched into the same setlist as the night before. The band were again strong and the energy from the stacks was immense, but the crowd just seemed pretty lame. The band (all members!) tried to get people moving a bit (especially during Bags when Lydon tried to get folk to clap along!) but I think they just had a duff crowd, which is unforeseeable and unfortunate. Watching youtube footage since I think I had the right impression. It's the lack of enthusiasm from the crowd which is most noticeable, although the band do play fantastically and deliver a great set! I think PiL were actually appearing on the 4th day of the festival, so perhaps people were just shagged out.
Even my missus who is quite into PiL as well thought that Zottegem was much more enjoyable, so it wasn't just me being fussy. The band ended the set with Open Up. An amazing version, then quickly disappeared. I think it was the exact same setlist as the previous night but cannot remember exactly.
Like I said from the footage and from listening to the audio bootleg it's clear that PiL do give it their all. And they perform mightily!
After Liège I toyed with the idea of getting the train up to Amsterdam to catch PiL at the Paradiso on the 13th but regretfully I decided against it cause I was just exhausted after the two days of traveling and because the hotel I'd chosen in Ans just happened to be in the flight path for the local airport so from 5am onwards kip was impossible.
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