The Land Of Love festival, edition 2018, a report.
The 2nd edition of the Festival, Land of Love, on the terrain of Torhout-Werchter in Torhout, was a great success. A festival with a lot of potential welcomed 6.000 visitors and was sold out. You were able to enjoy techno, retro, EDM, rock and hardcore music on 5 stages. Our attention was concentrated towards the techno stage, retro stage and the mainstage. That Mainstage was incredible. This was an iron-strong production for just the 2 nd edition, to place such a large stage. A beautiful castle where Dennis Cartier welcomed the early visitors with mainly mash ups. But as we already mentioned, our attention was especially concentrated towards 2 other stages. At the techno stage, Cyrix chose for a DJ set of techno classics, inviting everyone with the words My House Is Your House.
A first visit to the retro stage gave us Phil Watts playing the classic Amphetamine of Drax LTD II. The Acid Phase of Emmanuel Top track was also popular as this one featured the sets of Phil Watts, Phi Phi and Bolle.
Back to the techno stage for living Decadance legend, Seba Lecompte, who provided a dark but heavy techno which immediately resulted in a packed tent. Seba made also some room for bleeps and minimalist tracks but what mainly stayed until the end due to his excellent technique and DJ skills of the Ghent based DJ and producer. The tempo went a bit slower afterwards with Stanny Franssen, who chose for a bit funkier music which ideal to guarantee the packed tent and even get more people towards the techno stage.
The popularity of Lagoa residents Bolle and DJ HS had no boundaries on the retro stage. Both DJs provided a crowded tent and wonderful interaction with the audience. Apparently, retro music is hugely popular in West Flanders.
We can conclude that Land Of Love has a lot of growth potential, the rock tent wasn’t really successful and hopefully a house music stage will be added to the festival soon. The chill out zone is a fantastic element on the festival, but it would be wonderful to have relaxing music programmed there such as Guido van der Meulen instead of rock music. But we do have to state that this was a good and experienced organization concluding, well done Land Of Love festival. (JL)