We are halfway through August, which means for 60.000 music fanatics that it is time for Lowlands again! The Dutch festival, held on 16, 17 and 18 august in Biddinghuizen has been a massive force to be reckoned with for many, many years now and if you have ever been, you’ll understand why. Besides the incredible music that Lowlands hosts, the vibe surrounding the festival are impeccable, the foods and drinks modern and trendy and the organisation spot on. We feel very fortunate to have been present this weekend and here is what we have learned and experienced – one day at a time! If you are missing out on the festival this year or would like to tag along for the ride, please make sure you follow us on Instagram and Twitter, as we will be reporting the activities throughout the weekend.
On the second day of Lowlands, unfortunately, we weren’t so lucky. As great as the weather was the day before, it took a turn for the worst on Saturday. Most of the evening, the 60.000 festival-goers were greeted with pouring rain and cold wind. Regardless of the weather, the line-up was great, with Billie Eilish, I Don’t Know How But They Found Me and Twenty One Pilots took the stage.
Our day kicked off with Dallon Weekes’ and Ryan Seaman’s new project I Don’t Know How But They Found Me, which we have seen on two occasions already this summer. As the duo is on the road playing shows, both headliner and festival appearances to introduce themselves and their music to the public, they played the ‘India’ stage just before 15:00. A great number of people greeted the band, but unfortunately, a whole bunch of them left halfway through their set to see Billie Eilish play the mainstage at 15:30. IDKHOW played their entire discography, supplemented with some songs from The Brobecks, a musical project both musicians were a part of way back when. With only their debut EP and debut single ‘Modern Day Cain’, IDKHOW were successful in winning over some souls, hopefully making them into IDKHOW fans. The band performed greatly, theatrically and unique, which is just one of the many things we all enjoy about I Don’t Know How But They Found Me. We took some photos of the duo performing and if you wish, you can see those in the gallery right below.
IDKHOW:
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One of the headliners for the entire festival and for us just the same was Billie Eilish’s extraordinary performance. Even though her popularity, she played in the middle of the day where she was luckily bumped up to the main stage months before the festival took place. An absolutely insane number of people already made their way to the main stage an hour before Billie Eilish would even take the stage and when we finally got to the main stage tent, the entire tent was already packed beyond capacity. Kicking off her set with the #1 hit ‘Bad Guy’, Billie Eilish made the grandest entrance she could have made. Throughout the set, you’ll start to understand why Billie Eilish grew the way that she did in the last year or so. With showmanship of the highest shelf, an incredible voice and her talented brother Finneas (who’s also involved in the writing and recording of all the music) playing the music in the background a breakthrough was not a question of "will it happen?" as much as "when will it happen?".
With songs from the debut album such as ‘Bury A Friend’, ‘All The Good Girls Go To Hell’ and the popular ‘When The Party’s Over’, but also some older songs from the EP ‘Don’t smile at me’ such as ‘Ocean Eyes’ and ‘Idontwannabeyouanymore’ were greeted with loud singing by the fans in the front row. Billie Eilish’ incredible performance is definitely amongst the highlights of the weekend for a lot of Lowlands attendees and let’s hope she comes back as a headliner somewhere in the next couple of years.
Billie Eilish:
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In the afternoon, Lowlands turned into a mud pool, with rain pouring from the sky for the better part of the entire afternoon. Luckily, the raining stopped around 6, which was right in time for Idles to take the ‘India’ stage. Our photographer Eva van Kuik checked out their eccentric performance and shot some photos. Check them out right below.
Idles:
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Last, but absolutely and definitely not least: Twenty One Pilots, the duo who played the festival before ‘Blurryface’ was released as one of the ‘newcomers’ and upcoming talent returned this year as the freaking headliner for the festival’s main stage: ‘Alpha’.
With the releases of ‘Blurryface’ and most recently ‘Trench’, the duo has worked their way up to one of the world’s biggest artists and if you have ever seen Twenty One Pilots live, it will make sense why that is. The band are currently touring the globe as part of their ‘Bandito’ tour, which they will continue this Fall in the United States of America. The show they played at Lowlands, however, was slightly different from the headliner shows the band are playing in arenas all over the globe. The bridge and the B-stage, unfortunately, did not make their way to Europe this time around. Nonetheless, the setlist was filled with fan favourites, but also the more approachable and popular songs that have made their way to the mainstream radio stations throughout the years. Songs that are more for a Twenty One Pilots-only audience such as ‘Pet Cheetah’, ‘Bandito’ and ‘Levitate’ were not played during the show, but that didn’t much matter. Twenty One Pilots have so many incredible songs, and more importantly: incredible tracks that translate very well in a live capacity. The B-stage and bridge might not have made it to Europe, but the iconic performance of ‘Trees’ and standing on the crowd sure did. Both Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun took to the hands of the crowd on separate occasions, and during ‘Trees’ they both did. Twenty One Pilots are headliner material, we are just glad the world has realised that now. To see the band perform in front of literal tens of thousands of people warms our heart. We saw the band perform in front of 1500 people ‘just’ four years ago. Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun have come a long way.
Check out the photos of the performance below and keep an eye out on our socials, as we will be sharing a lot more of the photos and videos we took during their show.
Twenty One Pilots:
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