Pommelien Thijs Joins Mumford & Sons On Stage at Rock Werchter
Belgian pop star Pommelien Thijs made a surprise appearance as a special guest during Mumford & Sons’ headlining set at Rock Werchter on Thursday night, performing two songs with the British folk-rock band in a moment that left the singer visibly moved. “I’m still shaking, this is really crazy,” Thijs told Studio Brussel after stepping off the Main Stage.
A Surprise Born from a New York Times Profile
The collaboration traces back to an unlikely source: a New York Times profile of Thijs published in early June. The article, titled “Pommelien Thijs, a Pop Star for Half a Country,” explored how the 25-year-old singer has achieved massive success in Flanders and the Netherlands while remaining largely unknown in French-speaking Wallonia. Mumford & Sons frontman Marcus Mumford read the piece and was intrigued.
“They told me they had listened to my album and that they really liked ‘Atlas,’” Thijs recalled. “And then they asked to play it together.” The invitation came about a week before the festival, with the band later asking if she could also perform ‘Badlands’ — a Mumford & Sons track originally featuring Gracie Abrams.
Rehearsal in a Container, Performance on the Main Stage
Despite the magnitude of the moment, preparations were remarkably low-key. Thijs rehearsed with the band just two hours before the show — in a container on the festival grounds. “We rehearsed 2 hours before the performance in a container on the festival park,” she told Studio Brussel. “But that band has been playing together for so long… they play it twice and it’s fine.”
For Thijs, who primarily sings in Dutch, performing in English was a notable shift. “I used to sing a lot in English, but it was a long time ago,” she said. “But even if it had to be in Polish… it was very nice.” The HUMO interview captured her enthusiasm: “I would have sung anything they wanted. Even in Polish if necessary.”
The setlist included ‘Badlands’ followed by ‘Atlas,’ with Mumford & Sons serving as Thijs’ backing band for her own hit. The crowd’s reaction was electric, with festivalgoers singing along to every word.
A Landmark Moment for Belgian Music
The surprise appearance has been widely celebrated in Belgian media as a moment of national pride. RTV described it as “one of the most striking moments of the festival day,” noting that the unexpected collaboration grew into a highlight of Rock Werchter’s opening day.
Thijs herself seemed to be processing the surreal nature of the event. “I think it’s just as crazy as you do,” she told HUMO. “Very nice to hear how they played ‘Atlas,’ delightful.”
The performance also underscored the power of music journalism in the streaming era. NYT journalist Alex Marshall discovered Thijs through Belgian Spotify year-end charts and used Google Translate to explore her lyrics, ultimately writing a profile that reached an international audience — including Mumford & Sons. The band, headlining Rock Werchter for the fifth time, also brought out a second special guest: Wesley Schultz of The Lumineers, who joined them to perform ‘Here.‘
What’s Next for Pommelien Thijs
The Rock Werchter appearance caps a remarkable period for Thijs, who sold out five consecutive shows at the 20,000-capacity AFAS Dome in Antwerp earlier this year — totaling 100,000 tickets — and has already sold out her November show at Amsterdam’s Ziggo Dome. She has a busy festival summer ahead, including performances at Lokerse Feesten and Dranouter.
Perhaps most significantly, Thijs is scheduled to perform at the Ronquières festival in Wallonia this August — her first gig in the French-speaking part of Belgium. The New York Times profile that sparked the Mumford & Sons collaboration highlighted this linguistic divide as a defining feature of her career. “In a time when music fans are increasingly listening to songs in languages other than their native tongues,” wrote NYT journalist Alex Marshall, “the way Thijs’s success has split the Belgian public highlights how language can still be a dividing line in pop.”
Thijs is working on her French ahead of the Wallonia show. “If I don’t accidentally insult them in French, the rest will be nice,” she joked.
The collaboration with Mumford & Sons demonstrates that talent can transcend language barriers — and that a single newspaper article can sometimes change the course of a career. For a singer who has conquered half her country, the global stage may be the next frontier.