Belgium’s largest music festival takes place in July every year. Thousands of people of all ages enjoy four full days of unique experiences, and we at Pon Energy Rental have ensured a good indoor climate for participants, staff and artists for several years.
Rock Werchter has been a fixture in the calendars of music lovers around the world for many years. The festival is held on a massive festival site and has four large stages in the area. For several years, Pon Energy Rental has supplied ventilation systems for the indoor arena, ensuring that everyone staying indoors has a fantastic experience.
In 2024, it was decided that part of the festival would take place in an indoor arena. A temporary structure was set up around one of the existing stages, and we at Pon Energy Rental became a natural partner to continue the good indoor climate from the original stage.
We’ve had a chat with Joris Vanherck, Sales Engineer on the project, and he can tell us about an exciting process and a fantastic show.
An impression of Rock Werchter
For those of you who have never attended the massive festival in Belgium, we’ll try to paint you a picture of the event itself.
Belgium’s biggest music festival is held every year in the Festival Park in Werchter, in early July. Every year, the festival puts together the best and most exciting line-up of new and traditional artists. When the festival started in 1975, the main focus was on rock and blues. Next year (2025) will mark 50 years of a fantastic festival that – barring the pandemic years – has been a fixture in thousands of calendars every year.
Rock Werchter takes a lot of pride in putting together a line-up that includes all genres, making this festival a truly unique experience for attendees. The artists performing are always world-class and the surroundings are exceptional. The unique festival feeling permeates every part of the Rock Werchter experience, making the site itself feel vibrant and exciting.
Rock Werchter has won many awards, and over the years has become an international hit and firm tradition for thousands of music lovers. Every year they have over 150,000 attendees, and guest over 100 artists spread over 4 stages, for 4 days.
A long-term and reliable partnership with Pon Energy Rental
Rock Werchter has four large stages: “Main Stage”, “The Barn”, “KluB C” and “The Slope”. Until this year, there has only been an indoor stage, and we at Pon Energy Rental, as a regular supplier, has controlled the temperature here for many years already.
After last year’s festival, however, we received a special request from our customer Live Motion. Joris Vanherck works as a Sales Engineer and has been the man on the inside throughout the festival. Together with his team, he has ensured that all the equipment supplied by Pon Energy Rental has worked properly. He says that the request was an exciting challenge for us at Pon Energy Rental.
– This year they wanted an additional indoor arena. The original is a massive building that is 100 meters long and 78 meters wide. The ceiling height is a full 21 meters, and here they have room for 25,000 people. This year, the KluB C stage will also be a temporary indoor arena measuring 50 meters by 90 meters, with a ceiling height of 15 meters, which is massive enough in itself, says Joris.
“These two buildings are owned by The Veldeman Group, in partnership with our customer Live Nation.
Massive delivery of top quality equipment
As Joris points out, this has been a long and successful partnership over many years. With the added challenge of an extra indoor arena, this year has seen an even larger and more comprehensive delivery from us than before.
– This year, as in previous years, we have delivered a complete cooling system for the entire festival area. This includes, among other equipment, 50kW air-to-air heat pumps for areas where the staff and artists are staying. In addition, we have supplied 800 kW chillers with efficient air handling units for “The Barn” stage, and 800 kW fans that can handle as much as 36,000 cubic meters per hour,” Joris explains.
“There’s no doubt that it’s demanding to manage air quality and temperature control in such large venues, with so many people. However, this is nothing unfamiliar or problematic for us at Pon Energy Rental. We know exactly what is required in terms of equipment and performance, and have been planning this delivery for many months.
In addition to the original, massive area “The Barn”, custom equipment was also supplied for the “KluB C” stage this year.
– For KluB C, 500 kW chillers were supplied, so somewhat less power in the main building, but the same powerful fan that creates a good circulation of air inside the building. In addition, we supplied everything required to run all this equipment at maximum capacity for four days straight,” Joris concludes.
Through their long experience and all the knowledge the team has accumulated over many years in the industry and with similar events, we have been able to advise and support our customer in choosing the right equipment. The job of ensuring cooling and ventilation in all indoor venues is a responsibility we at Pon Energy Rental take with pride for many years to come.
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