Darrell and Penelope Pennington made good on their goal to travel the world, as detailed in the July/August 2024 issue. Since listing their home and selling most of their belongings, the couple has visited a dozen countries. In this monthly series, Penelope — who quips she’s “a broad abroad” — shares missives from the road. Read the inaugural column here.
Hello, Evansville Living readers! Thanks for joining us, and I hope that you enjoy our stories. In this column, we’re taking you on Europe’s festival circuit.
Woodstock, held in upstate New York in August 1969, is arguably the most famous multi-day music festival of all time. That said, the European Continent perfected and popularized the concept with the Glastonbury Festival (originally called the Pilton Pop, Folk and Blues Festival) in September 1970 near Somerset, England. Festivals exploded across the continent after that, becoming an annual right of passage for hard rock and heavy metal fans when Monsters of Rock debuted in 1980 at Castle Donington in Leicestershire, England.
When we made the decision to travel the world, we selected Europe as our initial destination for 13 months. Darrell immediately started researching festivals that would occur during our time there, and we ended up routing our travels around two festivals he selected for us to attend.
Darrell, being primarily a heavy music fan, focused on festivals of that genre that highlighted bands he loves and had not yet seen live. After hours of research, he decided that we should attend the Into The Grave Festival in Leeuwarden, Netherlands, and Rockstadt Extreme Fest in Brașov, Romania. While we have attended single-day music fests in America, European festivals really take it up a notch and are something to behold.
Into The Grave was held over three days in mid-June, essentially in the center of Leeuwarden, a city in the northern Netherlands dating back to the 10th century. Music fans rocked and headbanged to 26 bands set up on two stages for up to 12 hours each day. In addition to the music, food, drink, and merchandise vendors, fans enjoyed impeccable weather and hospitable festival hosts for 33 hours of flawless organization and nothing but fun and friendly interactions. We did not witness a single negative confrontation over our three days there and enjoyed fantastic music and unparalleled people watching.
Heavy metal fans, especially in Europe, are a tribe of sorts, who typically observe a dress code: lots of black concert shirts, of course, with an incredible display of “battle vests” – sleeveless jean jackets covered in rock band patches. They are unique pieces of wearable art on display, and the level of pride held by the wearers is evident. Darrell has his own. Vests were pretty unique to see at American concerts, so he has stood out there for years, but his vest was just one of thousands in Leeuwarden. The music was incredible and not as loud and overbearing as I feared it might be. Thirty-six bands over three days sounds like a lot, and this was only a precursor to our festival July 30-Aug. 3 in Romania.
Rockstadt Extreme Fest is held over five days and features music played at a centuries-old military fortress on a mountaintop near Transylvania. This year’s lineup included a salute to Black Sabbath singer Ozzy Osbourne, who died eight days before the festival. Rockstadt Extreme has a cap of 13,000 attendees, and the smell of a moldy odor, cigarettes, beer, and Romanian meats was a powerful fragrance that wafted across the outdoor festival air, which ranged in temperature from 65 to 80 degrees. Stage-side buffets offered Eastern European dishes like hummus, chickpeas in curry with rice, and shawarma. I wore my favorite concert/festival earrings, which look like I have cigarettes dangling from my ears. A woman walked up to me and, in Romanian, asked if I had a light. She had a hand-rolled cigarette in her hand and motioned the universal sign for a lighter. I understood, but said that I don’t smoke. Fashion is not always representative of lifestyle — follow us on our travels and see for yourself!
Follow the Penningtons on YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook @penelopepennington. In their fourth column, the Penningtons detail the friendly welcomes they’ve received as Americans traveling abroad.
