18 January was originally the day that I invited friends for a New Year's drink in Musicon while enjoying some German Power Metal by Mystic Prophecy and Mob Rules. With a last minute cancelation by a band due to family circumstances an alternative was needed. Now Peter was asked to introduce bands this year on stage at Sneeuwpop, so I asked him if there would be anything to my liking playing. The answer was yes, so cycling to Wateringen was the new best plan. Now Sneeuwpop is a brilliant name as it both means snowman, as well as ending on pop being Wateringen's winter edition of the long running Waterpop in the same area in the summer. Paaspop in Holland are always bragging how they open each year the outdoor festival season at Easter. In greater Wateringen (read The Hague) we all know that the real opener is mid January at Sneeuwpop already.
The festival is held at an area which during bigger Waterpop serves as backstage area. Still in the end a few hundred people at least attended. Nearby Ice Skating and snow centre de Uithof supplied a truck full of snow the day before. This is a smart move as with the scary fast global warming we now raise children who won't know snow whatsoever. While the winter is mild I still was smart enough to wear a thermoshirt as six hours standing outside even in a sunny 7 degrees gets you cold in the end. Also here precautions were made with available Snert or Broodje Bal. When during the day several friends turned up we had a succesful opener of the festival season indeed.
So what about the music? Peter advised me to be in latest 14:50 as I might like second band The Worst Example. I did as suggested and missed Square therefore. The Worst Example are from The Hague and play a kind of pop punk that reminded me of the Offspring or Greenday. I am no specialist in the genre, but they also mentioned a link to a Blink 182 song and it sounded all pretty good. Nice opener for the day to me. Actually most bands were acceptable to me, but the one that stood out were Monster Machine. This band plays hard rock and original songs. Between many covers today it was good to hear a band playing own songs being best. Good vocals and strong band. They seem to be recording a debut album, so I guess to see more of them soon. Slowly the temperatures were getting lower, outside it got darker and the three open fire pots were very welcome indeed. Hanging on till the end I had a good afternoon and Peter did a fine job announcing bands while giving us constant updates on the actual liters of snert sold so far. Cheers to Sneeuwpop and we return in 2021.
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