Kick Artist Services

Starting as consultant at Kick

I’ve been working for Kick APS a lot since 1996, and we really share the same DNA, so it’s only logical to re-connect after all those years of touring. I’m happy to announce that from now on I’ll be working for Kick as a global consultant. It will be my task to optimise service and general operations so we can meet the artists’ backline requirements even better than before, while at the same time re-enforce and expand our position as largest backline service company in the Benelux and guide the company forward.
It feels like coming home, and I’m very excited to take on this new challenge.
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Summer of Kicks !

Working the summer season again for KICK APS - a company I've been connected with for over 20 years - working mostly as stagemanager for festivals like Gent Jazz, Summer Festival, Tomorrowland, Reggae Geel and Jazz Middelheim … and doing backline production again for the ever awesome Pukkelpop festival as well.
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Reggae Geel 2014

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This is a great Reggae festival in Belgium , one that I’ve worked for many times as a backline tech . After a few years of absence due to my busy touring agenda with Roger Hodgson , I’m now returning to Reggae Geel in the function of stage manager . JAH , Rastafari and Kingston Jamaican vibes for 2 days !!!

Dour festival 2014

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This year I’ll have time again to work for Kick (artistical and productional solutions) , Belgium’s biggest backline company and still my first love . My first big festival will be the notorious Dour festival : 4 days , 7 stages , hundreds of bands ... it’s a big challenge to provide all artists with their requested gear . I’ll be going with 3 trailers loaded with backline and a 12 man crew . It’s gonna be 4 long and heavy days , but it’ll also feel a bit like a survival weekend in the rock&roll jungle , which has a certain charm to it ... :-)

Pukkelpop , Belgium

Pukkelpop is Belgium's coolest alternative music festival , spread over 3 days and 8 stages , from Dance to Balkan , Rock and everything in between . We're here with 3 trailers of backline and 13 backline crew people . A great festival to close the summer season .

UPDATE : As you probably found out , what was supposed to be a great way to end the summer turned into a nightmare when a freakstorm hit the festival site on day one and killed 5 people , injured many more and pretty much destroyed half of the festival infrastructure . Me & my collegues are all allright , but my heart goes out to those wo were not so lucky .

Reggae Geel , Belgium


Simple & easy : 2 days of Reggae , a trailer full of drumkits with timbales , big bass amps , small guitar amps and lots of shiny keyboards on triple stands . Jaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh !!!!! ... Rastafari ........

Tomorrowland 2011 : stage manager on Mainstage



Being a stagemanager at Belgium's largest dance festival Tomorrowland can take you to strange places . This year , the mainstage is decorated in true Alice in Wonderland style . Artists such as Faithless , Tiesto , 2ManyDJ's , David Guetta , Martin Solveig , Steve Aoki , etc will perform in the middle of this fairy landscape , complete with colorful fountains , fireworks & dancing elves ..... Technically this is a no brainer job , but it's a damn challenge to keep all those mad party people off my stage ..... what can I say ? ...... life is full of surprises .... :-) ....

Kick : working the festival season

Every summer I work the festival season for Kick Artist Services , Belgium's biggest backline rental company . We provide backline for most of Belgium's excellent festivals , and my job is to coöridnate the backline deliveries on the various stages on those festivals . This year I'm doing a world music festival in the heart of Brussels : Couleur Café , then Belgium's legendary and award winning maintream rock festival : Rock Werchter , and after that I'll be stage manager and backline provider for the reknown 10 day Gent Jazz festival .
As I help a lot of international touring artist with their backline , It's a great way to stay in touch with what's happening , get to learn a few new things , and stay in touch with all my Belgian techy friends as well .

Osschotse Feesten , Aarschot (B)

Aha ... working in my own town : isn't that a luxury ? I live in a small town called Aarschot , and every year they have the "Osschotse Feesten" where I'm stagemanager . Lot's of local bands ( apart from headliner "The Sweet" ) , lot's of familiar faces , too many mojito's , and sleeping in my own bed every night .... lovely !

Pukkelpop , Belgium

Pukkelpop is one of my favourite festivals in Belgium and also the last big one to finish of this summer . It’s alternative , refreshing , and you always see a couple of cool upcoming bands . Spread around 8 stages over 3 days , we’re sure to do some serious work here with a crew of 12 backlineres and 2 full trailers of gear .... Kraftwerk - the band that turned me into a synth freak back then - is playing here as well , so I hope to get the time to see a part of their show .

Tomorrowland (Belgium)

I’m stagemaneger at the mask shaped mainstage of the fantastic Tomorrowland techno & dance festival . The DJ booth is in the mouth of the mask , and the complete structure quiet simply looks stunning with a great lightshow , fountains , fireworks and flame throwers . The festival has no less than 11 stages going in different themes , there are swimming pools , jaccuzis & even an artificial ski slope on the site . Unfortunately I didn’t have time for all those goodies as I was busy preparing my stage for artists like Dada Life , Felix da Housecat , Moby , Armand van Helden , Paul Van Dyk , and many more ...

Check out this video of Moby’s grand finale with fireworks and apocalyptic lighting

Gent Jazz Festival ( Belgium)

Here we go again : every year I take position as stagemanager for this prestigious Gent Jazz festival in the great historical location De Bijloke . 9 Days of Jazz and crossover styles . Names like George Benson , Richard Galliano , Joe Jackson , BB King , Jamie Lidell , Rodrigo & Gabriela , Marianne Faithful , Jamie Cullem , and many classic jazz trios will be playing over a period of 9 days . It’s a truly great festival , with a nice and relaxed atmosphere , and I’v never seen an act here that I didn’t like .

Rock Werchter (Belgium)

Rock Werchter is Belgium’s biggest mainstream festival . Spread over 4 days and 2 stages they’re receiving over 80.000 people a day , and the lineup containes names like The Prodigy , Coldplay , Metallica , Royskopp , The Streets , Oasis , Lady Gaga , Grace Jones , Black Eyed Peas , Lilly Allen , Bloc Party , and many many more .... As most of these productions come with a full stage set including backline , our job is mainly to provide general backup backline for any malfunctioning equipment .
We’ve stacked our trailer with a variety of the most common vintage and modern instruments , spare parts and useful bits and bops .
The weather is great , and we’re waiting for things to happen .... I love it !

Couleur Café Festival (Brussels)

Couleur Café is a worldmusic festival in the heart of Brussels . With a crew of 6 backline techs we’ll be providing backline for bands like Zap Mama , Ozomatli , Khaled , Cubanisimo, Alpha Blondy , Emir Kusturica , Cesaria Evoria , RZA , and many others .... basically half of the festival lineup that is . We’ve got a trailer and a large truck full of gear , and we’re gonna get sweaty and dirty this time I’m sure ...

Afro Latino Festival in Bree (B)

This is the first festival of this summer that I’ll be working for Kick Artist Services . This company provides rental backline for most Belgian festivals , and every year they hire me as a crewchief backline to run a few festivals . This one is 3 days of Afro Cuban & Latin music spread over 2 stages .
We’re here with 2 trucks of backline and 3 backline crew working in a very pleasant atmosphere and good conditions , allthough after 3 days full time exposure to this type of music I’m beginning to long for some good old fashioned rock&roll ... :-) ....

Pukkelpop , Belgium

Pukkelpop is the last Festival of the Belgian summer festivals . It has 8 stages and goes on for 3 days . Kick Artist Services provides the festival with backline , and that basically means : move the complete warehouse stock to the pukkelpop site . The program has a very broad style : there’s dance , DJ’s , metal , rock , world , fanfare , ... you name it and it’s there . That means the backline needs to be there too . We have a few trailers on site as stock and around 15 people as crew . The atmosphere is great , and after the last day we symbolically celebrate the end of the festival season ..... yes that means : drinking and drinking and drinking ...... Ives Mergaerts , the owner of the backline company , is so kind to extend our hotel stay for 1 more day so we don’ have to drive home . Rock on Ives !!!

Reggae Sundance , Holland

Another great job I’m doing for Kick Artist Services . I’ve been working for reggae sundance since the very first edition , and it’s really one of those festivals I wouldn’t want to miss . It’l located on a beack near a recreation pool , just across the border in Holland , where soft drugs are legal ..... you get the picture ... :-) ....
Mind you : it’s hard work ! We provide backline for every single band that plays there (Jamaican bands seem to travel without backline as a rule) . Especially the keyboard demands can be pretty extravagant , and with 10 bands a day you’re busy from the early morn until ..... JAH , RASTAFARI !!!

Gent Jazz , Belgium

I’m stagemanager and backline coördinater at this nice little jazz festival . This is really one of the most relaxed festivals I know . It’s located in the middle of a historical site in Gent and the music is all top quality jazz or crossover . 3 shows a day , 10 days in a row .... what more do you want ?

Rock Werchter , Belgium

Another Job for Kick Artist Services . The Werchter festival is Belgiums biggest mainstream festival , and for many years I’m part of the team , as crewchief backline . Lots of big names here , most of them with their own backline , so not so much to do here . A few smaller bands during the day but once the headliners start playing we’re packing up . We do have a vast collection of spares of all the major brands on site though , as well as a fine team of experienced backline techs

Graspop Metal Meeting , Belgium

For years I’m working on this festival as a crew chief for the backline rental company : Kick Artist Services . Graspop Metal Meeting is Belgium’s biggest Metal festival . On the mainstage we have all the big metal acts , like Kiss , Iron Maiden , Whitesnake , etc .... They all come with their own production , so we stay out of there . The 2 marquee’s however is where all the underground bands are playing , so for us that’s where the action is . We provide backline for most of those bands , and backline for metalbands is A LOT of backline . Practically , this means we come with 2 trailers full of backline : 7 full drumkits with double bassdrums , 6 racktoms , a few floors , a dozen cymbalstands mounted on racksystems , 8 ampeg 810 stacks , around 40 marshall cabs , a dozen mesa cabs , a few dozen amp heads , and lots of spare ..... not a single percussion item though ...

Afro Latino , Belgium

Working for Kick Artist Services , providing the Afro Latino festival with backline for the major part of the line-up , including Shaggy .
I’ll get the change to see Shaggy’s MD again , with whom I worked previously on the NOTP tour and the Natalia concerts .