Bruce Springsteen @ Pinkpop

Last Monday I went to Pinkpop, which is a three day open air festival in Landgraaf, the Netherlands. Just a few kilometres from my house.

The festival attracts 65.000 spectators at its peak, and features numerous bands on three stages, like Linkin Park, the Cure, the Specials, Mumford and sons, Herbert Grönemeyer, Seasick steve, Soundgarden, James Morisson and a dozen more. And as a cherry on the cake: the final performance was a 2 1/2 hour show by “the Boss” Bruce Springsteen and his E-street band (alas, without Clarence).

We had perfect weather, even hot at times.

I made the above sketch from an elevated terrace overlooking the main stage during the performance of Mumford and sons.

The bottom one is  the performance of Serena Pryne; which I made later from memory.

I find it difficult to draw during a performance. Either you are too far away to make a decent image; and if you’re up close, there is not enough space to hold pen and paper.

And I find it very difficult to catch the dynamics of a good performance. Anybody any ideas on how to do that properly?