Almost every year, the free festival Appelpop closes off the festival season in the Netherlands. Because of the many sponsors and volunteers, the terrain in Tiel can open its doors to thousands of visitors every single year without having to charge them a single cent. On Friday, the 12th of September, the 32nd edition of the festival took place.
Doors to the festival opened at 17:00 today, with the first act starting only an hour later. As Appelpop is a free, Dutch festival, almost all of the acts performing at the festival were Dutch as well, including openers of the three biggest stages, LUNA, Zoë Livay, and MEAU. An all-female line-up that already gained quite some onlookers at the start of the evening. While Zoë Livay opened the Go-Tan Stage at 18:00, LUNA (stage name of Luna van Kampen) began her set at the Railtechniek van Herwijnen Stage 20 minutes later. The 22-year-old singer-songwriter went viral with a Dutch version of Billie Eilish’s ‘Birds of a Feather’, titled ‘Dat is het leven’ (transl.: that’s life), which she had obviously added to tonight’s setlist. Other songs played included a cover of Racoon’s ‘Oceaan’ and her most recent hit ‘Voorbestemd’, which went #1 immediately when it came out. Van Kampen, who was born in Culemborg, grew up coming to Appelpop every year and found it to be amazing to now be able to play there herself. While opportunities such as this one have been “really cool”, Van Kampen also stated how over the past few years, she’s felt like she’s never been able to take a breather. She wrote her recently finished song ‘Pauze’ (transl: break) about this feeling. Van Kampen had some technical issues throughout her set, and on top of that, it started raining as well, but this did not stop her from delivering a vocally perfect performance for the entire half hour she was on stage.
As soon as LUNA’s set came to an end, MEAU (stage name of Meau Hewitt) opened the main stage with her song ‘22’. Like LUNA, Hewitt also writes exclusively in Dutch. The singer-songwriter has been a familiar name in the Dutch music industry ever since she released ‘Dat heb jij gedaan’, a song she wrote about a toxic relationship. Lots of fans, especially young girls, made their way over to see Hewitt perform right as LUNA’s final notes sounded, and the main stage’s tent filled up steadily. After ‘22’, Hewitt played her newest single ‘Nog Even Blijven’. Originally a collaboration with Douwe Bob, today her pianist sang his parts as the singer was unfortunately not present. Hewitt played a mixture of her sadder songs, including ‘Stukje van mij’, as well as more upbeat ones that had both her and her band as well as the crowd dancing and clapping along. Some extra celebration was encouraged near the end of the set, as today was the birthday of Hewitt’s drummer, Stef Weijs. Immediately afterwards, however, Hewitt also made space for a more serious moment, stating how there are a lot of awful things going on in the world right now, before playing ‘Als jij maar bij me bent’. This song was written about how, as long as one is together with their loved one(s), even the hardest situations can be persevered through.
Right after MEAU, it was time to head back to the Railtechniek van Herwijnen Stage to see the one international act of the day. Croatian singer-songwriter Marko Purišić, known under his stage name Baby Lasagna, got up at three in the morning today to be able to perform at Appelpop. This was widely appreciated, as the field in front of the relatively small stage was absolutely packed. The set started approximately ten minutes later than planned due to technical issues, but fortunately, this led to only one song being scrapped from the setlist. Purišić opened with ‘Hypocritical’, followed by ‘IG BOY’, which he dedicated to all the influencers; he did the same for ‘Don’t hate yourself, but don’t love yourself’ later on. While almost all of the songs Purišić writes go really hard live, he did tone it down a notch with ‘and I’, as Purišić is “30 years old and out of shape”, according to his own words. On stage with Purišić were his younger brother Martin on the guitar and percussion, keyboardist and bassist Mihael Žipovski, and drummer Matija Klaj. The four of them turned the 50-minute set into an amazing party, dancing, jumping, and overall hyping the crowd up to go harder and harder. Of course, Purišić ended the set with his Eurovision hit ‘Rim Tim Tagi Dim’, which he played not just once but twice.
As Baby Lasagna’s set had run a little late, everybody who also wanted to see Dutch singer Davina Michelle (stage name of Michelle Davina Hoogendoorn) had to rush to the main stage to catch the start of her performance. The running was definitely worth it, as she opened the set with one of the only Dutch songs she performs, ‘Duurt te lang’, which she recorded for the Dutch TV show ‘Beste Zangers’. Originally a song by rapper MC Fit, Hoogendoorn’s version went viral immediately and broke many records when it was released back in 2018. Just for Hoogendoorn’s hour-long performance, multiple platforms and staircases had been built up on the main stage, creating a lot of space for movement, with her four band members arranged on top of the platforms. Hoogendoorn continued her set with ‘I Don’t Need You’ and a stunning cover of Lady Gaga’s ‘Bad Romance’, before taking a moment to speak out against violence against women, which has been a major topic in the country as of late. Hoogendoorn stated that, as a woman, you should never have to fear being raped or murdered. She wrote the song ‘I SAID NO SIR’ about sexual intimidation and asked the crowd to chant this title with her. This made for a powerful moment and a strong message that hopefully was not just shouted by the women in attendance, but also heard by the men. Hoogendoorn continued her set with several more songs, including ‘I Won’t Let Go’ (dedicated to everyone in the crowd who has had their heart broken and feels like they will never be able to quite let go of the person that broke it), ‘Skyward’, and ‘Beat Me’.
For the first and only time today, a visit to the Go-Tan Stage was made to catch Prins S. en de Geit (transl: Prince S. and the Goat), a three-piece from The Hague that consists of singer Scott Beekhuizen, bassist Marne Miesen, and producer Daniel Ortgiess. Before diving into the music, Beekhuizen held a speech in Dutch that started with “Dear goats, we have all come together to disappear into the darkness,” which morphed into ‘Mijn Kerk’, a Dutch cover of Faithless’ ‘God Is a DJ’. Prins S. en De Geit are known for their surreal lyrics and amazing beat drops, and truly turned the tent into a club during their set. Songs they played included ‘Goochelaar’, during which Beekhuizen asked everyone in the audience to lift their fingers like wands into the sky and perform some magic, ‘Vlaflip’, and ‘Kinderboerderij (Keiblij)’.
Finally, the evening ended with a one-hour-long performance by Guus Meeuwis. The main stage’s tent was filled to the brim, with most of the people in attendance by now pretty drunk and looking forward to singing along to the singer’s most iconic songs. They did not have to wait long to do so, as Meeuwis opened his set with his most famous song, ‘Het is een nacht (Levensecht)’, which was released 30 years ago. He continued with a cover of André Hazes’ ‘Geef mij nu je angst’ and a cover of De Kreuners’ ‘Ik wil je’. Dutch people really love Guus Meeuwis, and it was evident from how many people were watching tonight. Meeuwis ended his set with ‘Brabant’, a song he wrote about the province he was born and raised in, and ‘‘t Dondert en ‘t bliksemt’. Fortunately, it did not actually start raining and thundering as much as expected, so everyone in attendance was able to get back home without being soaked – well, except maybe soaked in beer.
