Roadburn 2023: A Definitive Look Back (Festival Review + Photos)
Luke Jackson | May 10, 2023 Photo Credit: eluluphoto The city of Tilburg is into Roadburn, and it’s not even trying to hide it. They’ve had a compellingly close relationship for years, but something definitely changed in the build-up to 2023’s edition of the highly respected heavy and experimental music festival, and now they’re practically inseparable.See it in the Offroad program, pulled together by the festival organizers and local businesses to offer Roadburn-approved club nights, free gigs, and ice cream flavors(!). See it in the redeveloped Koepelhal area of the city, which sprang into life in 2019 as a skate park and stage-come-building site, now teeming with redeveloped spaces alive with social activity. See it even in the local businesses who don’t receive the official festival stamp of approval, but get in on it anyway—the city center bars mystifying local teenagers with playlists of Alice Cooper songs in a sort of “Are ya winning, Son?” display of solidarity and reassuring a...