This is not the official web site of the Arrow Rock Festival. If you were looking for the official site then please click here. None of the pictures on this page or on any gallery page linked to by this page may be used in any form. The originals can not be made available other than to the artists and their official fan club unless with the written consent of the artist.

The Arrow Rock Festival is held anually near the Dutch town of Lichtenvorde which is very close to the German border. This time (June 2006) it's three days of music with such acts as Roger Waters, Status Quo, Whitesnake, Def Leppard and many more.

Having been asked to photograph what for me is one of the more impressive acts (Porcupine Tree) I turned up with as much camera equipment as I could carry. I hope I've done the guys justice.

One thing I have taken away with me is a deep respect for those guys (and some gals) that make a living out of photography. Despite massively warm conditions they would trudge out to get the shots they need and work to process the results on their laptops so that they are in time to get out there for the next act. I even spoke to one guy who had a two hour drive home, when he got there it was not time for bed but rather time to prepare the shots, upload them and then to bed only to drive back and do it all again the next day.

Thursday Evening, Warm up pre party.

Well after more than three hours struggling with the traffic on the A12 I arrived a little too late to catch the first act. I bumped into another photographer that I'd previously seen at the last Porcupine Tree show in Tilburg.

I then managed to find where to get my pass and get into place to catch Clearwater

. They are a cover band for Credence Clearwater Revival and they do a pretty good job of it too.

For the band this is something they do when they are not at their day jobs and yet getting the crowd singing along and clearly enjoying themselves seemed to come naturally.

The festival site is comprised of an outdoor main stage and a slightly smaller indoor stage. The main stage was still under construction at this point so all the action took place on the indoor stage. Because only one stage was in use there was a long pause while a frenzy of action took place to remove one acts equipment and replace it with the next. The pre party is intended for those that are camping in the dedicated camp site that springs up along side the festival site.

Next up were Wishbone Ash

. They are another one of those bands that I've heard of but somehow never heard. Again the crowd were really into them in a big way.

Finally the 'local' band came on. The Bintangs

are from Beverwijk (well they were originally I was told but now they live all over the place). I was granted permission by their manager to photograph from backstage and told by someone close to the band to look out for the moment when the drummer pours water over the drum skins. Well I managed to get the shot you see here but I'm told it was not up to it's usual standards that evening. I think the locals who had turned out in force to see these guys had been saving their voices for them.

I noticed that the main stage was still under construction as I was leaving so presumably they will be working right through the night to get it ready for the public. Anyway I headed off and managed to get to the hotel. Despite promissing myself I'd take care of the pictures immediately I just went out like a

light and it's now the

next day and I am preparing these few shots before I rush off to get to Friday's acts. Luckily the hotel has wireless internet so I am able to upload the results immediately.

Friday

If I'm being honest this day did not start well. I managed to get to the site really early and having nothing better to do I went to the press area. There I was told that the pass I'd been given was the wrong one and that I was only meant to be photographing Porcupine Tree from the frontstage area.

Naturally this was a set back but they did explain that I was entitled to take as many pictures as I liked from anywhere else other than the frontstage so that left me with the option of stage side as long as I could get the bands permission and from the crowd otherwise.

I was all set to photograph Blackfoot from the stage but the stage manager was having none of it which is understandable really. So this now left me with only one option and that was to try and quickly get a few shots of each act before rushing off to the other stage to try to get a good position for the next act before the crowd at that event grew too big.

The result is that all the shots have been taken from the crowd, in some cases this helps because you get a slightly better viewpoint than from the pit but does result in some rather samey shots where I've only been able to shoot from one view point.


Blackfoot (Rock Garden)


John Waite (Rock Palace)


Ted Nugent (Rock Garden)

Can't say I'm a fan good ole gun toting Ted. Every other word would need to be censored so after quickly getting a few pictures I went back to the car to drop some of my stuff off. Still with such a massively loud PA system the sound of their track "Cluster F*** Me" was clearly audible even in the car park. Good luck with the career in politics Ted.


Uriah Heep (Rock Palace)

These guys are great. Regulars here will know that I've photographed them a couple of times previously and it is always a good show. It was Mick's Birthday too. It's a great shame that I had to rush off to get into position to photograph Whitesnake who were up next.


Whitesnake (Rock Garden)


George Thorogood and the Destroyers (Rock Palace)


Status Quo (Rock Garden)

Well that was a lot of fun. I really do want to see them again and I've just found out that they are playing in Amsterdam soon so I'll be off to find tickets.


Journey (Rock Palace)


Deep Purple (Rock Garden)

OK So I'm still learning. The Deep Purple set was great but I kind of messed up the pictures by selecting the wrong colour balance setting. I hope to be able to recover some pictures.

Saturday

Another scorching hot day and with the prospect of standing in that from around 14:00 until sundown I figured I'd hose myself down in sunblock. The organisers recognised the problem too with regular announcements of free water on tap (admittedly from the toilet block) and buckets of water arranged behind the barriers in front of the stage with sponges.


Riverside (Rock Palace)

Yeah, I quite enjoyed these guys and it was a shame to have to move off before the end to get ready for PT. They had done the same trick as Mark Kelly from Marillion and rubbed out part of the R in Roland on their keyboard to say Poland. As they are from Poland it perhaps makes a bit more sense for them to do it.


Porcupine Tree (Rock Garden)

For the upcoming Roger Waters show they had arranged a whole load of firework devices along the stange front that were to detract from all the photographs of the day as getting a position where at least one device was not in the way was difficult. I also didn't find that the direct sunlight during the Porcupine Tree set really did much for the pictures either. Still it was great to see the guys in action and I'm definately off to see them when they come to Amsterdam in September.

While in the crowd I got speaking to a couple that were speaking French. They said they had come to see Porcupine Tree and Roger Waters and when I said it was very loyal to have come all the way from France they explained they were Canadians. I think it was worth the trip as they managed to get the Drum Sticks.


Pavlov's Dog (Rock Palace)


Ray Davies(Rock Garden)

You know! The Kinks, Lola. And yes he did play Lola and yes we loved it.


Def Leppard (Rock Garden)


Roger Waters (Rock Garden)

I think almost everyone that turned up was waiting for this. The set was divided into two halves and the second half was The Dark Side of the Moon. They had set up surround sound speakers (two extra on each side that I could see) which meant the beginning of Money litterally surrounded us. The show lasted the better part of three hours and finished with something a bit special that I won't spoil for anyone who is yet to go. But if you are a Pink Floyd fan you should do everything you can to get to see this.

So now it's all over and I have to select the pictures that I think are worth showing. The event was really something special and aside from the mix up over my pass I thought it went really well. I hope they manage to top the line up next year but I can't quite see how they will. They certainly won't be able to improve on the weather.