1985 - 1995

Occasionally, a band tried to stir up things unnecessarily. In 1980, The Specials tried to whip up the crowd against the security people. The audience did not react. In 1990, Iggy Pop asked the crowd to throw plastic bottles, with unexpected consequences. Later on that evening, Sting was doing his set. As soon as he broke into ‘Message In A Bottle’, things got really busy in the air. Many plastic bottles had not been emptied though, so First Aid had to work overtime. The Red Hot Chili Peppers will definitely think twice before asking anything from the crowd. “If you love us, throw more mud”, yelled singer Anthony Kiedis in 1992. Unfortunately, it was a rainy year. And suddenly, it seemed like a vacuum cleaner had been set up behind the stage. Definitely a muddy picture.

In 1985, some people on the festival ground were not exactly happy with the fact that Depeche Mode had been added to the T/W line-up, so they became the first heavily disputed band. Some people tried to boo the British synthesizer band off stage. Depeche Mode are coming back to headline the 2006 edition, though... It is difficult to find similar minor earthquakes. In 1990, De La Soul set a lot of tongues wagging, since they were the first hip-hop act at T/W ever. In 1991, many people wondered what the hell the light-headed Deee-Lite were doing in the Low Countries. The American party machine hardly managed to get the crowd dancing. T/W was not ready for dance yet. This changed radically in 1996, so new worries arose. Now did Moby lip-sync in 2000 or not?

Metallica are no doubt responsible for the biggest schism. Their coming in 1993 became a byword for many things. For quite some fuss, since the public at large had heard plenty of gore details about metal crowds. For slight disbelief on all press benches. Metal? In Torhout and Werchter? And mainly: for the festival’s revitalization and resurgence. As from 1989, things had become a bit unsteady. T/W did no longer sell out and the organisers did not know whom they were supposed to go for: to keep on serving the audience that had helped make the festival big? Or to radically go for the youth? Or to try and find a compromise? And how do you work this? In short: to start all over again. The current rock climate did not exactly offer the necessary answers. The launch of MTV in 1987 made it more difficult to come up with a decent line-up. The popular clip channel made and broke bands faster than ever before. Whatever was new and hot in January, could be way to big or totally outdated by July. In 1990, Schueremans chose for innovation and went for La Mano Negra, De La Soul and Sinéad O’Connor. In 1991, many people stayed home because the festival was co-headlined by old stagers Sting and Paul Simon. High time for a change of generations.

In 1993 the festival was back on track. Torhout and Werchter experienced a roaring thunder. Two times 60,000 spectators gaped in admiration at Sugar, The Tragically Hip, Sonic Youth, Neil Young, Kravitz and Metallica. It was 100 percent rock, but rock in all its squalor. One major detail: as said before, The Scabs brought back the Belgian flag. 1994 was a minor setback due to the lack of a real headliner, but it has been all uphill from then. It seemed like the festival had given itself the task of coming up with a major innovation every year. In 1994, it was the Camp-site Festival. On the eve of the Big Day, a stage was set up in both festival villages near the entrance, on which both dEUS and Tool did a set. As a consequence, the town centres were less inconvenienced and the people got in the mood. One year later, festival-goers did not know what had hit them: a side stage, alternating with the main stage! The first artist to perform on the second stage that morning is now a legend. So of course many people – way more than there actually were that morning – claim to have witnessed the late Jeff Buckley convincing the crowd that he would be back soon as a headliner. The Mississippi river decided otherwise...