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The day came and went by so fast and the next thing we knew, my Hubs and myself were sitting in the train on our way back home after a day in Pinkpop. It was ggggreeeat!!! To be physically there, to experience the whole Pinkpop culture, to see multiple great music bands in one place was simply amaaazzing!!! 
It took us 1 hour to get to Landgraaf (all the waiting for the public transport and queuing at the entrance) and finally we were there! You can see how crowded it was just to enter the Pinkpop area...there was not much of a queue I think....oh well but we finally got in. The sign on the right said it all... "NO crowd-surfing" :) I find that quite amusing actually, not that I have seen this signage in Asian concerts though.The first impact when I walked into the open field was the loud music and thousands and thousands of people everywhere! And the first band, Milow was already playing at the main stage so we quickly joined in the crowd before exploring the other areas.
Multiple F&B stalls, souvenirs' stalls, sponsors' stalls, beers' stalls and WCs, were seen surrounding the parameter of the area, some people were in their pink Pinkpop hats and T-shirts, semi-naked guys were walking around with beers, some even wear costumes and of course the more hard-core ones were the ones at the front of all the stages.The festival was divided into 3 stages: Stage I-Main stage (which was located right in the middle of the field) and flanked by the other 2 stages; Stage II-3FM stage & Stage III-Tent stage (the smallest area of all with no big screens).Many festival goers like us were busy shuffling from one stage to another depending on which bands will be playing as these bands will be playing simultaneously in all the 3 stages. My Hubs and I managed to catch all the bands that we wanted to see :) - White Lies, Keane, Placebo.Rowwen Heze, Maria Mena, James Morrison, Milow and Madness were a bonus. For those who doesn't know Rowwen Heze (which I didn't until Pinkpop day), they are one of the biggest local band of the Limburg province singing folks, fanfare and some ballads in the Limburgse dialect. You can't imagine my surprise when the crowd went wild with them. Obviously the crowd at Pinkpop adores them. Everyone sang along and got super active when the band was playing (actually personally I think, the crowd went wild with this band rather than Milow, the band that played before them :P)
Krezip, a Dutch band from Tilburg who sang "Sweet Goodbyes" which replaced Depeche Mode. Krezip planned to disband by end of June so their last performance was at Pinkpop.Another delightful performance was by Maria Mena, the latest songstress from Norway with her hits such as "All This Time" and "Just Hold Me". She was funny and won the crowd by reaching out to her fans with her great songs. The other band, Madness from UK, with their dry sense of humour and their swingy-jazzy songs also kept the crowd going, it was simply entertaining!White Lies (another Britisth alternative-rock band) was also very good but I was disappointed that I could not see them. The band had their performance in Stage III-Tent Stage and this stage had no big screens and catching a glimpse of them playing on stage was a mission impossible when I have rows and rows of 'giants' standing in front of me. The only time I get to see them was when my Hubs carried me and that's where I saw them!! :) Nevertheless, they were great. We left 15 mins before the performance ended to catch the last bits of James Morrison :) Last but not least was Keane's performance (another British band), we went half hour earlier before the band started to play so we can 'reserve' a place nearer to the stage. Before we knew it, the crowd came and the whole area in Stage II was filled up in no time. Everyone from young to old were eagerly waiting for Keane to show up. They did and it was just sooooo great!! They sang all their best hits songs such as "Everybody's Changing", "This is the Last Time" and "Perfect Symmetry". Everybody went wild!! I did, dancing and singing along. Even my Hubs had some sort of reaction :):) normally he's pretty cool over this sort of 'things' unless it's his most favourite band playing ;) We were pretty close to the stage so when the lead singer walked to our corner, I can see him so clearly *swooned* Love them!!!Apparently one of Pinkpop culture was nobody goes home without getting wet...hmm...The crowds love to throw leftover beers or even the whole cup of beers to the crowd!! Of course, I did experience the 'beer shower' but a light one ;) When the festival ends after the last band which is Placebo (this year), bonfires were started by groups of people who stayed on to relax after the full day of partying at the festival. I must say, I do like some of Placebo's songs but on that evening, they played pretty heavy music. It was a little too heavy for me after a day at the festival. We did not finished the whole performance of Placebo and decided to head home.It was a memorable festival for me, that's for sure. Despite the tiredness of walking, jumping, dancing and occasionally singing along the whole day, it was worth it. My Hubs and I both crashed out the moment we head home Zzzzzzz....:)
Rio de Janeiro was in the house!! The Summer carnival came and went with a bang! It was a huge event in the city of Rotterdam. Participants from all over Latin-America (locals and foreigners) participated in this parade in their most beautiful, colourful costumes walking along the street of Rotterdam. On that Saturday, routes en route to the city has been closed off for this mega event. The streets were filled with spectators like me wanting to catch a glimpse of the parade. Thank our lucky stars, the weather was perfect - strong wind but sunny here and there.
I've never seen Rotterdam city so busy as last Saturday :) The locals sure love their carnivals, parties and booze ;) 
