The yearly hardcore festival (around half of August) organised by the Vort’n Vis, is nowadays usually referred to as Ieperfest. Since the scope of this website is the concerts related to the Vort’n Vis until leaving the premises at Kiekenmarkt 7 (May 2001), only the fests until 2001 will be listed…
Brob
Besides the names Hardcore Vistival and the nickname Ieperfest the several editions of this festival in the 90s were called differently…
(1992) Hardcore 1992
In 1993 there was no fest…
(1994) Hardcore Festival ’94; (1995) Hardcore Festival ’95]
(1996) Hardcore, The Next Generation
(1997) Hardcore – The Next Generation
(1998) Hardcore: The Next Generation
(1999) Ieper Hardcore festival
(2000) Hardcore: The Next Generation ???
(2001) 2001: A Hardcore Odyssey [flyer: Vort’n Vis HC Fest]
As far as I can remember the organisers were: Edward Verhaeghe (1992) [with the help of the V.V. ‘shitworkers’], Hans Verbeke [and friends] (1994-1995), vzw [not-for-profit assiocoation] ART [Autonoom Regionaal Trefcentrum (Autonomous Regional meeting-space)] Vort’n Vis & Genet recs [Bruno Vandevyvere’s record-label] (1996 -2004)…
From 2005 to early 2015 there was the “factual association” IeperFest/YperVist (consisting of 2 “members”: vzw ART Vort’n Vis & vzw Genet). The summer-edition of 2015 was still prepared by the “factual association” but vzw Ieperfest (that started halfway 2015) effectuated it. The reason why people decided to switch to vzw Ieperfest was because the risks surrounding the organisation of the festival were increasing (the heavy weather and the disaster it caused at Pukkelpop in 2011 – where a few Ieperfest-collaborators were present); and to preclude the personal liability of individual IeperFest-collaborators.
Between 1992 & ’98 the fests took place at the Vort’n Vis pub (and/or barn), located at Kiekenmarkt 7, Ieper/Ypres. In 1999 & 2000 at the Stedelijke Academie voor Muziek en Woord [Municipal Acadamy for Music and Drama], d’Hondstraat 59, Ieper/Ypres. And in 2001 things were happening at the Jeugdstadion [Youth Stadium] Ieper, Leopold III laan 16, Ieper/Ypres. (There were also some WinterFest editions – at Zaal Fenix, Leopold III laan 16 and at the JOC Ieper, Fochlaan 2.)
Jan Claus
We’ld like to encourage the ‘old’ and the ‘next’ generation to keep contributing their recollections/impressions/stories about all of this…!
Vort'n Vis in the 90s 
Both the Vort’n Vis and the H8000 scene originated from the West-Flemish punk/hardcore scene of the 1980s in the most western province of Belgium. They each originated around the same time (late 1980s / early 1990s) and were different in certain aspects, but in the 1990s they often worked together and gave each other a strong push.
Ieperfest, among other things, arose from that collaboration. It started in 1992 as a hardcore festival of the H8000 scene in the Vort’n Vis. In 1996 the Vort’n Vis took things over. Between 1996 and 1999, the Vort’n Vis organised 2 consecutive festivals each year in the summer: Hardcore Festival and Leed Vistival. This became too much for the volunteers and because Leed Vistival was already past glory by then, it was eventually decided to continue with Hardcore festival (the current Ieperfest).
In practice, however, Hardcore Festival and Leed Vistival merged after 1999 to form the current IeperFest, because bands that previously performed at Leed Vistival now also performed at Ieperfest. The straight-edge aspect became less important, although Ieperfest is consistently 100% vegan in its food-offer to this day.
Both audiences grew older, began to see similarities rather than differences, and began to show more respect for each other. The excesses of both original festivals have disappeared.
Where the name Ieperfest came from has disappeared into the mists of time. I seem to remember that in the late 1990s the name came from the visitors themselves who wrote about it in their local fanzines. In the late 1990s, it was common for hardcore festivals to be named after the place where they took place.