into the great wide open

{itgwo = magical, magnificent, a hidden treasure}

On an island in the northern Netherlands is a little-known festival called Into The Great Wide Open, which takes place in early September. It’s a weekend away from it all that takes you back to nature – there are no cars allowed on the island of Vlieland and everyone cycles from the campsites to the festival site, with its stages dotted around in the woods, on the beach (sometimes impromptu) and up on the hill next to the lighthouse. Many of the international acts who play this charming festival get hooked; sure, they may never have heard of it when they first got asked to play but once there, it’s not easily forgotten. Norwegian artist Erlend Øye, who headlined the opening night on a new stage at this year’s edition (the fourth), was playing for his third consecutive year and, now that it’s over, there’s another bunch of artists already wanting to head back next year.

This beautiful and magical affair is a ‘precious secret’ according to Paul Thomas Saunders, who played in a natural amphitheatre in the woods on the Sunday afternoon, the perfect setting for an acoustic gig. The sun-dappeled crowd was captivated by Saunders’ stripped-down sounds, himself a delightful surprise for many of those watching who quite possibly hadn’t heard of him before. Before his set, some people sitting amongst the pines with a lunchtime beer in hand might have been disappointed that they hadn’t got one of the pre-allocated tickets for Perfume Genius, playing in a church elsewhere on the island at the same time, only to discover this young talent from Leeds as their highlight of the whole festival.

And of highlights there were many, not all of which were musical – as this is also an event with a full arts programme incorporated. One memorable point for me was at sunset on the Saturday evening when, whilst walking across the dunes, there was a big commotion happening down on the beach, which turned out to be a welcoming party of chanting children waiting for the arrival of a dragon – that, in true Blue Peter style, they’d made earlier out of tissue paper and bits of wood – being delivered by a beach-buggy JCB, only for it to be set alight as an unexpected bonfire. 

The burning dragon on the beach

Meanwhile, alongside this on the same stretch of beach, members of the Dutch band Spinvis were lugging (with some difficulty) all their amps and instruments down to the strand for a night-time gig. This is one of the many enchanting aspects of the whole weekend, in that unexpected gigs and happenings can take place just about anywhere, at any time.

I am sure I missed out on some really random musical moments (maybe I didn’t get out into the wilds enough) but I did happen upon some delightful acts in some beautiful settings, like The Staves amongst the trees by the Armhuis and Daughter on the stage by the lighthouse – not that I actually saw Daughter, more heard their melodies drifting up the hill. It seems this was one act that was quite an attractive prospective for many of the Saturday afternoon music-seekers and the stage was over-capacity as soon as the band started to play but that didn’t stop the crowds – they just kept coming and from my vantage point by the lighthouse, they were like ants swarming over the hills.

Discovering bands on one of the smaller stages who had already played elsewhere (or were yet to play) was another highlight of this festival – it seems that maybe there is some unwritten agreement between bands and the festival organisers that says, if you get the urge to play again, just do it! So having missed all of these acts the first time round, I managed in an intimate setting to get to see: Reggie Watts and his entertaining characters from indeterminate lands, We Were Evergreen’s Franco indie pop and Holland’s very own post-punk rockers Rats on Rafts.

In the a mixing-it-up-kinda-way, Rats on Rafts were one of the bands that had a surprise guest join them on stage. Alex Kapranos from Franz Ferdinand played guitar for one song, before he headed on over to the main stage a few hours later to entertain the crowds with the rest of his band mates.

Prior to Franz’s hit-filled set on the main stage was James Vincent McMorrow. This was the first time I’d seen the Irish troubadour with a full band albeit without a drummer, who it turns out had buggered off to Barbados. McMorrow was therefore additionally carrying out drumming duties, which he was clearly nervous about, yet it added an endearing quality to the well-rounded set. Concurrently Ben Caplan was wowing the crowds in the woods and, after all the reports I heard of that gig, I’m quite sad to have missed out on it (but then again, there are numerous acts I was sorry to miss, Angel Olsen being one of them but I was seeing a dragon being set alight then, so I can’t complain!). Probably the glory time on the main stage, for me (bearing in mind I missed the Sunday eve due to an early departure for the mainland), started at teatime on Saturday in the sunshine with Alt J, followed-up by Of Monsters and Men and topped off with a bit of Woodkid – the only band I saw with visuals, and rather impressive ones at that.

My favourite stage (not that I found them all) was without doubt Naar Buiten, the amphitheatre in the woods, and my musical-related highlight was possibly when I was walking towards this stage in the dark, under a falling-star-filled Friday night sky, heading to see none other than The Deep Dark Woods, the most magnificent setting ever for some late-night Canadian Americana (if that’s an allowable phrase).

Into The Great Wide Open is a festival that is aptly named, although it could also be called ‘Head Into The Forest and Follow The Music’, which is exactly what Paul Thomas Saunders was told when he arrived on the island and was searching for the Naar Buiten stage – bizarre instructions you might think but he and his band mate did just that and managed to reach their destination. And when asked if anything else bizarre had happened or if he’d had any strange occurrences, his response made me smile, summing up this absolute treasure of a festival succinctly, ‘Waking up and finding Willis Earl Beal sleeping in the hammock next to us was a highlight for sure.’

Bye for now Vlieland, I too hope to be back next year! & thanks to everyone at team-ITGWO for making it happen. a few more shots are on flickr here.
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