Here's a video from the TV-news in 1994 about the traffic chaos problems around Eindhoven, the Netherlands caused by the hard-rock festival Dynamo Open Air that was visited by 125.000 people. Looking at the video now makes me feel ancient because I was at this festival with two good friends when I was in my puberty, and it all looks so dated looking at it now. I must say it was one of the coolest things I had ever experienced up till then. Actually… it was one of the best festivals that I ever experienced! The mud-slides played an important role in this, I guess. I left the festival wearing the exact same clothes I was wearing when we came to the festival a couple of days before. And I slept in those same clothes and didn't shower the whole weekend, and I believe I didn't use a toothbrush that weekend. You can imagine that we came home with an actual "festival scent" of sweat, mud, beer, and smoke and whatnot. Totally worth it. It was awesome. I've visited plenty of festivals after this one, and I still visit one now and again, but I came to the conclusion years ago already that I will never experience another festival that was as great, huge and awesome as this one. I also like to add that moving the yearly returning festival from Eindhoven to some other location was the worst idea ever because that all went down hill for the festival organization pretty fast. Perhaps the uprising of the House-music generation also played a part in this, since hard-rock and house music became two separate youth-cultures. Anyways.. Good memories, good times, life can be superb at times.
