Rock Werchter is a Belgian annual music festival held in the village of Werchter, near Brussels, since 1974. It is one of the four biggest annual rock music festivals in Europe (the other three being the Sziget Festival, the Glastonbury Festival and Roskilde Festival). The 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2007 festivals received the Arthur award for best festival in the world at International Live Music Conference (ILMC). It can host 80.000 guests, of which 69.000 combine all four days, to add up to a total of 113.000 different attendees. The festival started in 1974 as a one-day event with performances from Banzai and Kandahar, but over the years it has evolved to become Belgium's largest music festival. Originally it was a double-festival, called "Torhout-Werchter", with two festival areas at different sites in Belgium: one in Werchter and one in Torhout. In 1999, the festival dropped the Torhout site and since then has taken place only in Werchter. Since 2003 Werchter has been a 4-day festival, as it was sold by owner Herman Schueremans to American organizers Live Nation. Schueremans however remains the main organiser of the event. In recent years, there has been controversy about rising ticket prices. Because of this, Schueremans was heckled during an appearance on HUMO's Pop Poll, a Belgian alternative award show. At 169€ for four days (17€ extra to include camping) in 2008 it is considered a relatively inexpensive music festival. [1] The camping sites officially open at 8am on the first day of the festival, but because of guests arriving early and camping on the street, the organizers have traditionally been forced to open the camping sites early - sometimes more than 24 hours. The campings are located along the three main entrance road in Werchter (from Haacht, Aarschot and Leuven), most of them within 1 kilometer of the festival site but some located as far as 3 kilometers away. right Until the 1990s the festival attracted mostly Flemish and few Dutch people, but in recent years it has become more and more international (with an especially large influx of Dutch people, Walloons and British). A Belgian alternative remains in the Pukkelpop festival.

ROCK WERCHTER TICKETS BTS Tickets Rush Tickets Journey Tickets Shakira Tickets Bryson Tiller Tickets Earth, Wind and Fire Tickets

History

The festival started off as a one-day event, became a two-day festival in 1996, a 3-day festival in 2000, and has been a 4-day festival since 2003.

Before 1995, when the festival was still a double-festival, it had one stage with 8 or 9 bands performing twice, once in Torhout and once in Werchter. Since 1995 the Main stage was accompanied by a second stage. This stage was an open air stage until 1999 when it was made a tent named 'Pyramid Marquee', with a capacity of 6,000 people. The performers in Pyramid Marquee are usually lesser-known or aimed at a specific audience. Sometimes groups that do well in Pyramid Marquee are expected to have a hard time taking the step to the Main stage, especially when they are seen as an act needing intimate, smaller venues. Sigur Rós is the most famous example of this, when they were programmed on Main Stage in 2008 after their 2006 performance in Pyramid Marquee, but they managed the transition and were hailed as one the best performances of the festival.

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The bands presented at Rock Werchter are traditionally a balanced mix of large well known artists, popular crowd-pleasing acts and local Belgian coming acts. Belgian band dEUS in 2008 was the first local band to close the Main Stage on the last day since several years. The days usually start around noon, expect for the first day, which starts around 4pm. Most performances last from 30 minutes to an hour and a half. The days end around 1am, but when the last act is a dance act they sometimes last until 3am or later. At the end of the last day there is a big fireworks show.

Satellite festivals

TW Classic

Since 2002, the organizers created TW Classic as a tribute to the early days of Rock Werchter. TW Classic ('TW' as in Torhout-Werchter, is the traditional abbreviation of the festival) is a one day/one stage festival held one week before the main event. It usually programs veteran acts like Phil Collins, The Police or Simple Minds, supplemented with younger mainstream Belgian acts.

Werchter Boutique

This new festival was created in 2008 and organised one week after the main festival. It mainly aims at complete families with acts for children, teenagers as well as adults. The main acts in 2008 were Tokio Hotel, Santana and Doe Maar. In 2009 it will be centered around a concert of Madonna during her Sticky & Sweet Tour. 68,000 tickets were sold for the concert, making it an incredible one-day sell-out event.

Main Square Festival

Since 2008, the organisers created a small version of Rock Werchter on the central square of Arras, in northern France. It is held on the same dates as Rock Werchter, with a similar line-up - which is an advantage for organisers as they can offer artists two shows instead of one. Arras was chosen as a location because of it's large historic central square and because of the lack of big rock festivals in France.

Festival by year

Year	Dates	Guests per day (avg)	Main artists	Notes
1977		5,000	Philip Catherine, Jan Akkerman, Kayak & Dr. Feelgood
1978		6,000	Talking Heads, Dr. Feelgood, Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds & Rockpile
1979		12,000	Raymond van het Groenewoud, Talking Heads, Dire Straits & Rory Gallagher
1980		18,000	Kevin Ayers, Fischer-Z, The Specials & The Kinks
1981		23,500	Elvis Costello and the Attractions, The Cure, Robert Palmer & Dire Straits
1982		37,500	U2, Steve Miller Band, Talking Heads & Jackson Browne
1983		36,000	Eurythmics, Simple Minds, U2, Peter Gabriel & Van Morrison
1984		55,000	Chris Rea, John Hiatt, Joe Jackson, Simple Minds & Lou Reed
1985		57,500	Ramones, R.E.M., Depeche Mode, U2 & Joe Cocker
1986		60,000	Simply Red, Talk Talk, UB40, Elvis Costello & the Attractions & Simple Minds
1987		60,000	Iggy Pop, Echo & the Bunnymen, The Pretenders, Eurythmics & Peter Gabriel
1988		60,000	Ziggy Marley & the Melody Makers, Los Lobos, John Hiatt, INXS, Bryan Adams & Sting
1989		50,000	Texas, Pixies, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Elvis Costello, R.E.M. & Lou Reed
1990		60,000	Lenny Kravitz, Ry Cooder/David Lindley, Sinéad O'Connor, Midnight Oil, Bob Dylan & The Cure
1991		50,500	Happy Mondays, Bonnie Riatt, Pixies, Iggy Pop, Paul Simon & Sting
1992		60,000	The Smashing Pumpkins, Crowded House, Lou Reed, Red Hot Chili Peppers & Bryan Adams
1993		60,000	Sonic Youth, Faith No More, Neil Young with Booker T & the MG’s, Lenny Kravitz & Metallica
1994		50,500	Tool, Therapy?, Sepultura, Rage Against the Machine, Peter Gabriel, Pink Floyd & Aerosmith
1995		65,000	Jeff Buckley, PJ Harvey, The Offspring, The Cure, The Cranberries & R.E.M.	Second stage added
1996		50,000	David Bowie, Chemical Brothers, Afghan Wigs, Rage Against the Machine, Radiohead, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Björk & Neil Young & Crazy Horse	First time as a two-day festival
1997		50,000	David Bowie, Daft Punk, Supergrass, Live, Radiohead, Jamiroquai, The Smashing Pumpkins, Beck & dEUS
1998		20,000	Sonic Youth, Eagle Eye Cherry, Garbage, Therapy?, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Beastie Boys & Björk
1999	3 – 4 July	51,500	Pavement, Blur, Marilyn Manson, Placebo, Robbie Williams, Faithless, Lenny Kravitz & R.E.M.	First time in Werchter only
2000	30 June – 2 July	55,000	Nine Inch Nails, Oasis, Bush, A Perfect Circle, Counting Crows, The Cure & Eels	First time as a three-day festival
2001	29 June – 1 July	60,000	Fun Lovin’ Criminals, Sting, Beck, PJ Harvey, Muse, Sigur Rós, Grandaddy, Faithless, Coldplay, Incubus
2002	28 – 30 June	63,000	Sonic Youth, The White Stripes, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rammstein, Queens of the Stone Age, Faithless & Coldplay
2003	26 – 29 June	70,000	Radiohead, Björk, Massive Attack, Moby, Metallica, Queens of the Stone Age, R.E.M. & Coldplay	First time as a four-day-festival Arthur award for Best festival in the world
2004	1 – 4 July	70,000	The Cure, Metallica, Ko?n, Lenny Kravitz, Pixies, Muse, 2 Many DJ's, Placebo & Moloko
2005	30 June – 3 July	80,000	The Chemical Brothers, Green Day, Kraftwerk, Queens of the Stone Age, Snoop Dogg, Faithless, Rammstein, Foo Fighters & R.E.M.	Arthur award for Best festival in the world
2006	29 June – 2 July	80,000	Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Black Eyed Peas, The Who, Muse, Franz Ferdinand, Placebo, dEUS & Depeche Mode	Arthur award for Best festival in the world
2007	28 June – 1 July	80,000	Muse, Kaiser Chiefs, Bloc Party, Arctic Monkeys, Pearl Jam, The Chemical Brothers, Metallica, Queens of the Stone Age & Faithless	Arthur award for Best festival in the world
2008	3 – 6 July	80,000	The Chemical Brothers, R.E.M., Moby, Neil Young, Radiohead, Sigur Rós, dEUS, Beck & Kaiser Chiefs	The ILMC (who gives the Arthur Awards) changed her restrictions, a festival which has won 2 years in a row can't enter the next year. This change has been done in favour of the other festivals.
2009	2 – 5 July	80,000	Coldplay, The Killers, Placebo, Metallica, Kings of Leon, Oasis, Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand & Nine Inch Nails

Recent Years

2003

Day 1: Underworld, Radiohead, Björk
Day 2: Massive Attack, Moby, Ozark Henry, The Roots, Feeder, Morgan Heritage, The Polyphonic Spree
Day 3: Metallica, Arno, Queens of the Stone Age, Anouk, Xzibit, Millionaire, Stone Sour, 't Hof van Commerce, Krezip
Day 4: R.E.M., Coldplay, Counting Crows, Cypress Hill, The Cardigans, Supergrass, Stereophonics, De la Soul, Das Pop

2004

300px The festival shared bands with Roskilde Festival in Denmark which was held at the same time.
Day 1: Basement Jaxx, The Cure, Pink, Sean Paul, Michael Franti & Spearhead
Day 2: Metallica, Ko?n, The Darkness, Dropkick Murphys, Monster Magnet, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Lostprophets
Day 3: Lenny Kravitz, Muse, Moloko, Wu-Tang Clan, Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals, The Black Eyed Peas, Within Temptation, Heideroosjes, The Rasmus
Day 4: 2 Many DJ's, Placebo, Pixies, PJ Harvey, Lamb, Starsailor, Zornik, Danko Jones
David Bowie was meant to headline the festival but had to cancel.

2005

Day 1: The Chemical Brothers, Kraftwerk, Snoop Dogg, Ozark Henry, New Order, The Bravery
Day 2: Faithless, Green Day, Velvet Revolver, Garbage, Within Temptation, Jimmy Eat World, K.T. Tunstall, Simple Plan
Day 3: Rammstein, Nine Inch Nails, Audioslave, The Game, 't Hof van Commerce, Daan, Pennywise, Therapy?
Day 4: R.E.M., Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age, Soulwax, Keane, Feeder, Kane, Flogging Molly

2006

300px Day 1: Matisyahu, Deftones, Manu Chao Radio Bemba Sound System, Kaizers Orchestra, Death Cab for Cutie, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Black Eyed Peas, Tool, Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley, The Streets, Roger Sanchez
Day 2: The Who, Muse, Skin, Kanye West, Editors, Live, Anouk. The Kooks, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Elbow, Mogwai, Radio Soulwax presents: Vitalic, Soulwax Nite Versions, Tiga, 2 Many DJ's
Day 3: Wolfmother, Arsenal, Kelis, Kaiser Chiefs, Franz Ferdinand, Placebo, dEUS, Donavon Frankenreiter, Arctic Monkeys, Goldfrapp, Sigur Rós
Day 4: Absynthe Minded, Eels, Starsailor, Robert Plant & The Strange Sensation, Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals, Hooverphonic, Depeche Mode, Collective Soul, Bettye LaVette, An Pierlé & White Velvet, Laurent Garnier & Bugge Wesseltoft featuring Philippe Nadaud, Super Discount, Hard-Fi

2007

Day 1:
Main Stage: Billy Talent, Zornik, My Chemical Romance, Marilyn Manson, Björk, Muse
Pyramid Marquee: Milow, Air Traffic, Air, Rufus Wainwright, Beastie Boys, Dr. Lektroluv

Day 2:
Main Stage: The Van Jets, Enter Shikari, Kings of Leon, Kaiser Chiefs, Bloc Party, Queens of the Stone Age, Arctic Monkeys, Pearl Jam
Pyramid Marquee: Jason Mraz, Oi Va Voi, Joan As Policewoman, Sioen, Lily Allen, Admiral Freebee, Satellite Party, Gabriel Rios 300px's performance Day 3:
Main Stage: Heideroosjes, Razorlight, Amy Winehouse, Snow Patrol, The Killers, Peter Gabriel, Keane, The Chemical Brothers
Pyramid Marquee: The Bravery, The Hold Steady, Blonde Redhead, Klaxons, Goose, Arno, The Good, the Bad and the Queen, LCD Soundsystem

Day 4:
Main Stage: |!, Mastodon, The Kooks, Interpol, Incubus, Metallica, Faithless
Pyramid Marquee: Stijn, Cold War Kids, Maxïmo Park, John Legend, Frank Black, Damien Rice, The Australian Pink Floyd Show, Tori Amos

2008

Day 1:
Main Stage: The Chemical Brothers, R.E.M., Lenny Kravitz, Mika, Counting Crows, Air Traffic
Pyramid Marquee: 2manydjs, Soulwax, Shameboy, The National, Vampire Weekend, Modern Skirts

Day 2:
Main Stage: Moby, Neil Young, The Verve, Jay-Z, Babyshambles, Slayer, Monza, The Black Box Revelation
Pyramid Marquee: Digitalism, Hot Chip, Zita Swoon, Duffy, My Morning Jacket, Ben Folds, Patrick Watson, The Cool Kids

Babyshambles canceled and were replaced by Air Traffic.

Day 3:
Main Stage: Radiohead, Sigur Rós, Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals, Kings of Leon, Editors, The Hives, Gossip, The Whigs
Pyramid Marquee: Róisín Murphy, Gnarls Barkley, MGMT, Kate Nash, KT Tunstall, Galactic, Band of Horses, Donavon Frankenreiter

Day 4:
Main Stage: dEUS, The Black Box Revelation, Anouk, Beck, Kaiser Chiefs, The Raconteurs, The Kooks, Panic at the Disco, The John Butler Trio
Pyramid Marquee: Nightwish, Underworld, Justice, Grinderman, Mark Ronson, Hercules and Love Affair, Tim Vanhamel, DeVotchKa

2009

The most recent schedule looks like this:
Day 1:
Main Stage: The Prodigy, Oasis, Placebo, Dave Matthews, Lily Allen, Eagles Of Death Metal
Pyramid Marquee: Tiga, Pendulum, Laurent Garnier, Fleet Foxes, Emiliana Torrini, Expatriate

Day 2:
Main Stage: Coldplay, The Killers, Bloc Party, Elbow, Amy Macdonald, White Lies, Just Jack
Pyramid Marquee: Lady Gaga, Arsenal, Jason Mraz, The Streets, M.Ward, Priscilla Ahn, Henry Rollins - Spoken Word

Day 3:
Main Stage: 2ManyDjs, Kings of Leon, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Franz Ferdinand, Limp Bizkit, Rodrigo Y Gabriela, Social Distortion, Triggerfinger
Pyramid Marquee: Boys Noize, Grace Jones, Katy Perry, Mogwai, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Regina Spektor, Jasper Erkens

Day 4:
Main Stage: Metallica, Nine Inch Nails, Kaiser Chiefs, Black Eyed Peas, The Mars Volta, Seasick Steve, Mastodon, Metro Station
Pyramid Marquee: Milk Inc, Röyksopp, Ghinzu, The Script, Lady Linn & Her Magnificent Seven, De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig, The Hickey Underworld