Rock Werchter’s 2018 lineup has been revealed and it is a doozy! The four-day music festival, held between July 5 to July 8, promises to be one of the hottest tickets on the festival circuit. Headliners include Pearl Jam, Jack White, Nine Inch Nails, Arctic Monkeys, the Killers, Queens of the Stone Age, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, David Byrne, Fleet Foxes, MGMT, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, CHVRCHES, Fever Ray, Franz Ferdinand and Vince Staples.
The annual festival has been held every year since 1976 in the village of Werchter, which is near Leuven. The town of Leuven is about 25 kilometers from Brussels. The festival has won the Arthur award for best festival in the world at the International Live Music Conference on six separate occasions. The festival pulls in around 150,000 guests during the four days.
The festival began in 1974 with performances by Banzai and Kandahar and it has now grown to an enormous worldwide event. It is now owned by Live Nation, although original owner Schueremans still organizes the event. The event takes place during the first weekend of summer vacation in Belgium. It competes directly with Roskilde festival which is usually the same weekend.
At this year’s festival, the party continues with Alice in Chains, London Grammar, Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals, The Breeders, Rae Sremmurd, Eels, Kali Uchis, First Aid Kit, Stereophonics, Stone Sour, Jorja Smith, Albert Hammond, Jr., Wolf Alice, Susanne Sundfør, Snow Patrol, Jack Johnson, and PVRIS.
Tickets are now available on the festival’s website. Attendees typically choose to camp on or near the venue. There are multiple options on the festival grounds. The Hive Camping is within the festival itself, while The Hive My Space also includes a chill spot people can use for breaks from the action. The Hive Resort is upscale camping. The Hive ADL, a collaboration with Inter, accommodates people with a disability. There is also an Entertainment zone to relax during the daytime, and party at night.
It has been called “the festival for people who don’t like festivals.” The site is highly accessible to people with disabilities and families, and shuttles run to the Leuven city centre every six minutes, making it possible to get in an out without much traffic. The food is regarded as a true highlight, with everything from vegetarian noodles to Thai green curry to Vietnamese Banh Mi to pizza.
Air Traffic, The Amazons, Anne-Marie, Ben Howard, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Emma Bale, Equal Idiots, Gorillaz, George Ezra, Idles, Isaac Gracie, Little Additional appearances will be had by: Simz, Russ, Post Malone, The Script, Seven Alias, Steven Wilson, Sigrid, The Struts, Tom Walker, Tom Grennan, Triggerfinger, Walking on Cars, The Vaccines, Warbly Jets, the White Buffalo, Rone, Todiefor, Sam Fender, Rival Sons, Romeo Elvis X Le Motel, Petit Biscuit, Parov Stelar, Novastar, Pale Waves, Otzeki, Naaz, NAO, Marshmello, The Kooks, The Last Internationale, Keir, Khalid, Kaleo, JP Cooper, James Bay, Jade Bird, IAMDDB, Gang of Youths, Faces on TV, Dotan, Durand Jones and the Indications, Dermot Kennedy, Curtis Harding, TS5, Courteeners, Blakewave, at the drive-in, Arsenal, Angus & Julia Stone, Angele, and The Academic.