Johan has found it out:

http://www.casablancafestival.be/html/programma/lineup.htm

Oh, it's a free festival, no tickets needed.

Nice!

And it's only 3 km from home ! I go 4 days.

Other great bands : Daan, Intergalactic Lovers, Vive La Fete, Lady Linn, Triggerfinger ... the best of the current belgian scene.

And all for free !

Johan, it's gonna be a short walk home for you.

It's too far to go on foot. Maybe I go on bike like last year, unless I have to take pics.

I guess you will be there too ?

Here is an article about this festival in Dutch. Maybe interesting for all who plan to go to this concert.

What does this "steunbandjes" mean? 8 Euros for going to the toilet?

The 'steunbandje' gives you a secure parking place for your bicycle for 4 days and you can go to the toilets as often as you want. The money raised, is used for a good cause.

Apart from Heather Nova, there will be 2 other 'big names' on the main stage on saturday. So maybe Heather is not the top of the bill ?

Apparantly, Heather doesn't play on the main stage but in the tent ! I wonder who will play on the main stage, probably a big belgian band ... I find this weird, I'd think a big international name like Heather would have been top of the bill ...

Here it is ! Well, it won't look that idyllic in august !

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I hope to own my 'new' Canon 1Ds MIII by then !!!!

'Photopass' is ok !!!

I am very excited to hear this. I live in the USA and have not had a chance to see Heather perform since 1995 (although I got to meet her after her show & got her autograph on "Oyster" which was cool).

I'll be in London from 3 Aug. to 8 Aug. for the Olympics, and now I think I can take EuroStar across to Brussels. I'm having a hard time figuring out how I would go from Brussels to Hemiskem though. Does anyone have a good link for regional train & bus schedules and tickets?

Also, it looks like she plays late at night Sat. (22:10 to 23:10?), and since I'm afraid I can't read Dutch and Google Translate somewhat mangles things, I don't know whether one can camp overnight Sat. to Sun. I would be really thrilled to get to see Heather live again, since I'll be "so close", so any advice would be fantastic & much appreciated!

Welcome Scott!

The Eurostar ends at Bruxelles-Midi (in Dutch called Brussel-Zuid). From there, you need to go to Antwerp Centraal. There are many train connections there, look at sncb.be. I think you can buy the Eurostar ticket to "any Belgian station", this would include the train to Antwerp as well (not valid on Thalys, though). Antwerp is very beautiful.

And then some bus or tram service from Antwerp to Hemiksem (in the corner).
http://www.delijn.be/images/Netplan-A ... degem-2012_tcm7-16716.pdf (PDF)

You can stay in a hotel in Antwerp, or you can do camping:
http://www.casablancafestival.be/html/festivalinfo/camping.htm

I cannot read Dutch, too. But you may ask Johan (johandeman), he lives near Antwerp, so he may translate something for you.

I'll second Bernd's description of Antwerp as very beautiful. I'm guessing you'll want to get back to London as quickly as possible, though, since you're there for the Olympics and won't be in Europe long.

Do you still need help reading the campinging page? Let us know if there's something you don't know and I'll grab one of our Dutch speakers and point them your way. In general, though, English will get you around just fine in Antwerp. I had no problems at all.

(The Dutch and Flemmish are really good at languages! Most people speak amazingly good English, especially in the cities.)

I guess it's best to take a taxi from Antwerp to Hemiksem (only 20 euro) and back.

Busses might be too hard, and there are no trains from Hemiksem to Antwerp in the weekend.

Thank you for the information, especially to Bernd for the links and Johan for the tip about a taxi, that's good to know. @Cassander, thank you too for letting me know I won't be hopelessly out of place with only English. I do speak some Russian and Spanish, but I expect those will be mostly useless to me in Belgium

Once I figure out how and when I'll get to Antwerp and Hemiksem I'll turn my attention to where to stay overnight, but I do want to get back to London fairly promptly the following day. I really wish I were able to get more time off from work to enjoy a proper trip to Belgium & Netherlands but sadly this won't be the occasion for that.

I may have more questions as my planning progresses. Until then, thanks again.

Unfortunally I can't go.
My grandma gives a party/dinner. Two days earlier is her 90th birthday! :)

They predict 18°C and a small chance of rain ...

It is still two weeks! How can they know?!

They do !

A great opportunity to test my 'new' Canon 1Ds Mark III !!!

It will be 21° and a little sunny. But Heather plays in the tent.

Here's the poster. What amazing bands !

The best of the belgian alternative music scene and a few international headliners !

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johan, if your new machine does "click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click,", then I'll kill you!