Arsenal

This is Arsenal’s self-portrait after – the first – 25 years: “Arsenal began in Brussels as a studio project by Hendrik Willemyns and John Roan and has grown into an exciting band that offers a weird combination of blazing hard energy and gentle melancholy, combined with music, dance, poetry and film.” This recipe has produced a series of dance classics - ‘Longee’, Saudade’, ‘Estupendo’, Lotuk’, ‘Melvin’. And exceptional hybrid events such as film concerts – see their recent ‘Jungle Hotel’ - and musical documentaries. They are marking their first quarter-century with a new album ‘Okan okunkun’ (2025) and five festive nights at De Roma (Antwerp) in the week before Werchter. In other words, Arsenal will be fully warmed-up for what promises to be another historic appearance. Their eighth time, in fact. No other Belgian band has topped that.