NETSKY

Meeting of the Lokeren Festivities Committee, sometime in mid-March 2026.  “So what’s the plan for that last Sunday?  Are we going to end on a high note, or are we going to end with a Big BANG?”.  “Why should we choose,” someone suggests, “we can combine beauty and bang, can’t we? Nobody’s afraid of a bit of beauty, and every firework in the world tells us there’s nothing more beautiful than a loud BANG!”, he replies proudly. After a vote on potential closing acts, the result feels strikingly North Korean: we’ll call NETSKY and no one else but NETSKY, and if he says he’s not available, we’ll call NETSKY again, and if necessary, we’ll call NETSKY five times. It’ll be NETSKY! After two phone calls and a FaceTime so the whole committee could wave, the deal was done: Netsky will be our closing act on Sunday 9 August. Assuming you’ve been lost in the ISS for the past fifteen years and have therefore been deprived of all possible earthly delights, let’s briefly recap. Briefly, mind you: the man (the brilliant Boris Daenen) has been racking up music awards since 2010 or thereabouts. It was around that time that he began releasing tracks such as ‘Moving with you’ (2010) and ‘Love has gone’ (2012). Musical celebrations to which you react with wild abandon time and time again, until the ravaged dance floor begs for a short smoke break. Since then, as you know, Netsky has never been on hold.  What followed was an endless string of singles, a couple of albums and a very impressive list of remixes (Dua Lipa, Swedish House Mafia, Leftfield, Ed Sheeran, …).  As for the latter, it’s somewhat different and more impressive than the last time we got stuck into mixing, in a kitchen trying to get the blueberry smoothie for the Lokerse Feesten Christmas party just right. Back to Netsky: has it really been since 2013 that we saw him here? We remember that concert as if it were yesterday or some other recent date. You really should have seen him in action; it was as if he were blowing gigantic amounts of sunshine over the Grote Kaai with an oversized bubble blower. We’re still living off that sense of togetherness and the urge to dance from back then. Blood pressure too low? Just close your eyes for a moment and think of Netsky ’13.  Blood pressure too high? Yep, Netsky ’13. So we and our blood pressure  are rather chuffed to announce the big comeback. We’re going to leave the Lokerse Feesten, 2026 edition, behind us with a BIG BANG, with beauty and a good hour of drum ’n’ bass that’ll make the car park shake.