Summer Breeze 2011
17.-20.8.2011 Dinkelsbühl, Germany
Every year when it´s finally time for the Summer Breeze Open Air, some Metalheads for sure pack their cars and backpack with melancholy, because, once it´s time for this festival, it also means, that the festival season is pretty much over. Apart from that, there´s for sure no reason to be sad! Summer Breeze as always celebrated one big party with a great mix of bands and even the weather gods were nice – well, apart from this really big thunderstorm on Thursday night.
Wednesday, 17.08.2011:
Since it´s somehow impossible to really avoid all traffic jams, we of course encountered one a few kilometers outside Dinkelsbühl. We really weren´t in the mood to be grilled in the sun,so we tried to find a way around, and it was pretty weird – I can tell you, at times we for sure saw more cows than people and we weren´t that sure, whether this was still the right way. Anyways, after our arrival, we started to check out the camping and festival area for alterations/improvements. It has become pretty big, that´s obvious, but the biggest improvement in the truest sense of the word could easily be spotted from afar: the new Partystage. It was easily three times as big as the tent the years before and in addition that, they had put solid wodden floor to avoid mud fights in case of heavy rains. Both thumbs up for that! This was definitely big enough to provide shelter from rain/sun for a lot of metalheads and the fear of a horibly packed small tent was gone – for now.
Due to our late arrival, we didn´t see any bands of the New Blood Award, but we can at least tell you, that Steve from England won!
(In case text illustrations and links no longer work, go to interactive Flickr gallery at the end of the text)
more photos here!
The programme began finally with a real tidbit : Melechesh, who had their highly acclaimed new album „The Epigenesis“ with them and were able to show which great compositions they had written there. The tent was really paked and fans were eaglerly waiting for them. Thus it was clear, that Ashmedi and his band had them on the toast pretty fast with killer songs like „Sacred Geometry“ and „Ghouls of Nineveh“. A bit of exotic flair as start for this year´s Summer Breeze was definitely perfect. Perfect was also the clear and powerful sound, that made the melodies come into their own. The audience thanked them with first little moshpits and crowdsurfers. For a while, the tent was not at the Summer Breeze, but somewhere in the Middle East, to bad, that this trip was over after 50 minutes, most people wouldn´t have minded to hear some more songs![Cornelia]
more photos here!
Scar Symmetrywere maybe the best band of the whole festival. They showed all Death-Metalheads that it is possible to play tight, ccomplex, groovy and heavy without abusing the songs therewith. It is impossible to describe, how smooth the guys acted, playing one killer-riff after another, getting the audience straight into the almost destructed party-tent. Don’t ask me for songs – a new one was played – but the whole set has been awesome. Hugh! [Markus Seibel]
I think this is a proof, how opinions can differ. I for my part was pretty disappointed by the Swedes, especially since I know that they can do so much better. There was no disappointmend in terms of the show as such, since that was really entertaining and everyone had a lot of fun, on and off stage. However, when it comes to the vocals, it got pretty disappointing, when it was time for older material. Maybe I´m used too much to Mr. Christian “I can sing growls and clean vocals with ease” Älvestam, their former vocalist, maybe Lars Palmqvist simply had a bad day, I don´t know. But it´s a fact, that he obviously had his problems with the high pitched parts of cult songs like “Illusionist”or “Retaliator”. He altered the higher parts of the songs to a lower tone, after he had tried to sing them higher and that was not, what fans expected with those songs. The growls however compensated for that in a way, since they were solid and fitted perfectly. All in all still a good gig that was fun, apart from the aforementioned problems.[Cornelia]
Vader turned the tent inside out after Destruction and kicked off their gig with the Imperal March Intro, in fron of a tent that was almost bursting at the seams. So it might be bigger, but not big enough for most bands playing here today. Songs like „Rise of the Undead“, „This is war“ or „Crucified Ones“ turned this packed tent into a Polish Blackened Death massacre warfield. Thumbs up!
After that, I had to declare this party to be over for me at least and for this day. Even though my head was willing to continue, my legs simply stopped worked and denied to stand here for one more minute. It´s really a shame to miss Hell and Sylosis who played after 1 and 2 o´clock, but judging from what I heard the other morning, both bands managed to convince the masses and even people, who didn´t like Sylosis so far, for example, really enjoyed their gig. Actually not that amazing, in case someone remembers their gig from two years ago. However, it is amazing to see them play that late again in the tent. Like pretty much all other bands from this day, they should´ve played one of the open air stages at a better time, really!
Thursday, 18.08.2011
Thursday started rather late at around 2pm. The sounds of the gig of The Sorrow reached us from afar and it seems as if they were doing their best, to kick the last sleepy asses with their Metalcaore. Furthermore it seems as if they were pretty successful with that, judging from the nicely sized crowd that was present already, to listen to „Elegy“ and „My Immortal Guardian“. It didn´t take long until you could spot the first Wall of Death, which was answered by the security guys with a fountain of water to cool down everyone.
more photos here!
The first band, where we were really physically present and in the photopit were the Germans from
Cripper with their female vocalist fronter Britta, who was screaming and growling in a competent way till the end. They started with „I Am The Pit“ and despite the saunalike temperatures in the tent, you could see lots of people headbanging as much as the band did on stage. 35 minutes of playing time are not much and thus you have to make sure to exhaust everyone within the shortest time possible. „Life is deadly“ and „General Routine“ among others, for sure helped with that undertaking. For the last Thrash grenade, they had a guest on stage, vocalist Lucie. Cool gig, lots of energy!
Outside it was still warm and the Hardcore gig from Death Before Dishonour did for sure not help to cool people at least a bit. Even when not really being familiar with the material, it didn´t matter at all here it seems. They knew how to captivate people and the die-hard fans in the audience seemed to know every single bit of lyrics. [Cornelia]
Always a surprise: although the hot sun melt everyone The Haunted filled the place with people. That most of the people didn’t like Peter Dolving everyone enjoyed the show. Together with the ones who really like him they made party along to the thrash-hits. At least, there was cold water shot into the audience, as well as beer right from the stage. Awesome! [Markus Seibel]
more photos here!
The well visited gig of Der Weg Einer Freiheit showed an almost overenthusiastic audience. Long before the beginning they screamed for the band. A mood which lasted until the end without being destructed by the bad view you got because of the landscape. Musically there was no highlight, but surely no one expected one…but at least it was a good performance and the audience as well as the band enjoyed it. [Markus Seibel]
more photoshere!
It was time for Kvelertak at shortly before 7pm and those guys enjoy a good reputation of delivering pretty crazy and destructive live gigs. The Norwegians celebrate a rather headstrong mix of Black Metal meets Punk meets snotty Rock´n´Roll Elements. And this mix was making an impact for sure. Their debut album was highly acclaimed and even though those guys have been playing pretty much everywhere since then, they seemed fresh and energetic as hell when kicking off with „Sjøhyenar (Havets Herrer)“. It´s worth mentioning, since it wouldn´t have been the first time to see a band, that´s used to touring heavily and then just delivering a halfhearted performance, since they´re simply tired. The tent was really packed you could tell that they were really having fun playing music together. „Fossegrim“ and „Offernat“ pushed the audience to go more crazy and the vocalist was running all over the stage from left to right and back, with visits in the photopit and at the barriers from time to time. Simply wonderful and so much fun! Make sure to catch them, when they return with their next tour!
More Nordic flair on this stage came with Kampfar, even though this was totally different music, those guys were also hailing from Norway, serving some quality Pagan Black Metal. It began with „Mare“ and fronter Dolk was really in his element, when making the audience to go off the rails, while being pretty photogenic at the same time. This worked fairly well and the Norwegians had the whole tent under their control with „Infero“, „Troll, Død Og Trolldom“ and more. Dolk showed once more, that he´s the master of posing and a great gig ended with „Ravenheart“. I´m sure there was nothing left to be desired, except for the wish, that this gig as well could´ve lasted longer.
more photoshere!
Arch Enemy entered the mainstage shortly after that, where they had already delivered a great gig three years ago. As expected, the place in front of the stage was of course totally packed and after the „Khaos Ouvertüre“, the gig started with a boom in the truest sense of the word. Like other bands this year, Arch Enemy had obviously teamed up with a pyrotechnician who was crazy about firing off not only loves to fire off tons of pillars of fire, but also a lot of thick smoke. Just in case some was feeling a bit cold, he got warmed up a lot during that gig. They continued with
„Yesterday Is Dead And Gone“ and went totally beserk at the latest when „Ravenous“ and „Dead Eyes See No Future“ were being played.
Fronter Angela Gossow didn´t really let on about her wisdom teeth operation and was giving her best. The crowd thanked the band with lots of circlepits that were rotating eagerly. With „Nemesis“ and „Fields of Desolation“ a sold gig ended and the Swedes managed to make some amends for their rather static gigs in June/July (Metalcamp) with a more lively perfomance at Summer Breeze. Most metalheads could simply move slightly to the left to the Painstage. in case they wanted to hear some more Metal made in Sweden.
more photoshere!
Sonic Syndicate however didn´t suit me down to the ground, so the tentstage seemed to be the perfect alternative, where Decapitated were already waiting to start a perfect Polish Death Metal massacre and to show everyone, how damn strong they are again, after the tragic accident some years ago. „Day 69“ opened the „battle“ and from there on everything went swimmingly. With high precision, riff after riff was fired into the audience, the drummer worked like a clockwork and it was great to see, that the fans were totally into it. „Carnival is Forever“ and „Revelation of Existence“ ended the gig in a fulminant way. One can only hope, that the guys will get a slot on the mainstage, when they return the next time! They´re big enough for that for sure!
more photos here!
After all the brutal music, it was time to please fans of calmer but no less entertaining Medieval Metal/Rock and who could´ve been more suitable to do so than In Extremo who were already waiting on the mainstage. They played a potpourri of hits, that were welcomed with open arms, such as „Sternenreisen“, „Flaschenpost“ or „Spielmannsfluch“. In addition to that, the pyrotechnicians were highly active during that band again. The audience was singing along to every song and „Omnia Sol Temperat“ ended a pretty captivating gig, with which the Germans proved their headliner qualities to the fullest. [Cornelia]
Another stylistic change happened with the next band. The sound grew darker and harder as the Swedish band Marduk played. Of cause the first Circle-Pits started. The band sould have felt envy because of the shower: they have been sweating twice. Once form the gig and once from the make-up. [Markus Seibel]
more photoshere!
The Belgian band Aborted placed at the best slot. Right in front of the stage the die-hard-fans were found getting their asses kicked by the heavy sound. Straight, ass-kicking and rough. The always diversified songs are the proof that Aborted are a really good band. [Markus Seibel]
more photos here!
Day 3:
During the night, Summer Breeze saw a thunderstorm of one´s own kind. Apart from lightning it was pouring down like crazy, for sure elephants and not cats and dogs as the idiom suggests, accompanied by heavy storm, that made you feel really, really uncomfortable in your tent, since you could only hope, that it would not collapse. Amazingly nothing bad seemed to have happened. Even though you of course saw how much had been destroyed the other day. Weirdly shaped pavillion „skeletons“, that could´ve been a part of every modern art exhibition, lots of broken tents, but luckily nothing worse. The organiser had sent out warnings during daytime, so everybody had a chance to make sure, that the tent would survive or put stuff in cars etc. Everybody, who thought, that you shouldn´t take warning that serious, saw what could happen with bad security and preparation, when the sad news of the festival in Belgium arrived, where people had even been killed during a storm, due to parts of the stages falling down.
Luckily, nothing like that happened at Breeze, the stages turned out to be really solid as well and thus the festival could continue without any delays. The only thing that might have disturbed a bit, where the mud puddles all over the area.
Trigger The Bloodshed had to start ungratefully early to warm-up the early bird for things to come on the second festival day. We were just on the way to the festivalarea, when they were already blasting their stuff into the audience. Brutal Death to get up, not bad!
more photoshere!
11:35 and it was time for another rather exotic band on this festival: Nervecell.
The guys from the United Arabic Emirates however, were not here to entertain the audience with beautiful oriental music, but with kickass Death Metal! They kicked off with „Flesh & Memories“, followed by „Vicious Circle of Bloodshed“. From straight-in-your-face stuff to more technically proggy stuff they had everything to offer and all songs were garnished by the brutal growling of fronter James. It was pretty early yes, but you could nevertheless see a nice amount of people in front of the mainstage and there were more and more headbangers joining them during their unfortunately too short set. After „Demean“ and „Demolition“, they deserved a well deserved applause for a captivating gig. Check them out if you don´t know them already!
more photoshere!
Your Demise continued with some Hardcore afterwards on the Painstage and kicked the remaining sleepy peoples´asses with „MMX“ and „Scared for life“. Judging from the huge amounts of totally crazy jumps and running, it seemed as if the guys were doing their morning sports programme right on stage. Ok, that here would´ve been extreme-sport then. Whatever happened on stage, in front of the stage, people also went crazy and started circle pits and a wall of death. „Burnt Tongues“ ended a captivating and pretty entertaining gig. How the hell are we supposed to survive this day, when the first 3 bands were already that good?!
Kalmah served a pretty different audience a bit later, but also managed to convince with their Melodeath made in Finland. After a short intro, „Hook“ spread good mood immediately. The audience was welcoming songs like „Swamphell“ and „12 Gauge“ with open arms and with that, the finns joined the bunch of „great bands“ for this years Breeze.
more photos here!
While it was time for more part with Emil Bulls on the mainstage, Rev 16:8
entered the warm tentstage to please the Black Metal fans. It was somehow weird, to see the bright sunshine outside, the heat in the tent, daytime and then Black Metal inside. However lots of people had come to the tenstage to see how this band, that´s still rather unknown would be live.
„Ashlands“ was the first song that was presented to them after a short intro and the first thing that was amazing, besides the songs, were the outfits. It was hot, damn hot and those guys were wearing long coats. I have no idea how they survived, but at least the vocalist seemed to feel warm after a while. This or that way, the Swedes managed to convince with their Black Metal and even spread some dark and slightly cold atmosphere in that warm tent.
more photos here!
Hail of Bullets were dismemer the Painstage and a bit further at the merchstands, you could see a huge crowd waiting, as if some gig would take place there soon as well. A small sign showed what was actually going on there, people were waiting for the merch sale of Bolt Thrower, that was supposed to start at 2:30pm. However, it was not until 3, that it finally started. Once they had opened, it was almost a little warfield and everyone, who came out of the „battlefield“, did so with a smile, holding the shirts like trophies. At least, during the long wait, they had the perfect Old School Death sound coming over from the Painstage with songs like „Operation Z“ and „General Winter“.
Until Enslaved we strolled around at the merch stands and got some food. However, it was soon time to return to the stages, since the Norwegians had to play rather early unfortunately.
I´m sure the material would´ve had an even better effect, if it had been a bit darker already. However, fans loved „Ethic Odini“, „Raidho“ and Co nevertheless and at some point, you for sure lost yourself totally in the music and didn´t care what time it was anymore. „Allfádr Odinn“ and „Isa“ ended this great gig, where Enslaved once again showed how great they are!
more photos here!
In terms of daytime and amount of alcohol consumed by now, the next band for sure fitted much better. I twas time for the pink invasion! Yes, PINK at a metal festival. The only band, that would dare to invade a stage completely in pink with a backdrop in that very colour, outfits and a pink audience, are JBO. Pink audience you might wonder? Yes, thanks to the release of the new records, which was released that very day, they had distributed countless little pink flag, that almost the whole crowd was waving by now. So when it comes to the amount of people waiting there, it was easily headliner amounts! They started the pink madness with „I don´t like Metal“ and „Bolle“ and the audience had fun from minute one on. This was for sure one of the craziest and weirdest gigs of the whole festival with weird guests on stage. „Ein guter Tag zum Sterben“ and „Verteidiger des wahren Blödsinn“ finished a pretty entertaining set and I think that was the only time where pink was accepted and funny during this festival! Even though I personally thought after half of the set, that it was enough
more photos here!
It continued pretty colourful, but this time it was more metal, as the Finns of Turisas were welcoming their warriors in full warpaint on the painstage. They had prepared a nice setlist consisting of „To Holmgard And Beyond“ and „One More“ for the Folk Metal fans.
Fronter Mathias Nygard did his best to get the audience going. Even though I have to say the same about Turisas, that I also said about JBO, after a while it´s simply enough. However, both bands entertained a huge crowd and everybody seemd to be pleased about the setlist.
You can like it, but don´t have to, it´s fun anyways!
more photos here!
After that it was time for something completely different. No pink, no warpaint, no fun, just brutal brutal music with the Brits Bolt Thrower. For some they were the headliner of the festival.
Tons of people were waiting in front of the mainstage to witness one of the rare festival gigs of the Death Metal commando. And thanks to crazy merch sales in the afternoon, you could see a sea of BT shirts wherever you looked. „IVth Crusade“ and „The Killchain“ were rolling over the heads of the fans, flooring everyone to the ground. It was clear, that fans had been waiting for that gig the whole time and thus went totally of the rails. BT were enjoying it to the fullest, that was quite obvious and „No Guts, No Glory“ and „When Cannons Fade“ ended a brutal, formidable gig, that
once more confirmed the status of this Death Metal institution from GB. Thumbs up! [Cornelia]
Graveyard were in the same good mood as their predecessors, but the music of course wasn’t that heavy. Nevertheless they enjoyed as well as the audience. Once across the whole “Hisingen Blues”-Album and as a result a perfect gig.[Markus Seibel]
more photos here!
After that it was time for some totally different but nevertheless captivating music from the North: Amorphis. Same picture as before, a totally packed stage area and the only thing, that was really annoying during this gig, was the incredible amount of smoke on stage, that was there during the first three songs and which didn´t totally go away after that. It was not only annoying for the photographers, but also for the fans, since you actually want to see the band. However, apart from that „My Enemy“ and „Sky Is Mine“ were nice songs to start their gig and the metalheads enjoyed every minute of it. Tomi Joutsen was in perfect mood and delivered a flawless performance. Of course the great „House Of Sleep“ was one of the highlights of the gig, since it has become to be the sing-along-song of the Fins.
Joachim Cans and his Hammerfall-fellows are the this-year headliner for the Summer Breeze. Needless to say that the place was full of people. Hammerfall should know places like this, but nevertheless they played their asses off, showing pure fun and didn’t show any routinized or lame performance, although they play since lots of years. Over 90min power and energy made Hammerfall a perfect Co-Headliner and proofed that they are still awesome. [Markus Seibel]
Kataklysm, were the next highlight when it comes to Death Metal today! Bolt Thrower are cult and Kataklysm are kickass as well and had some additional goodie for everyone today! Exactly 20 years ago, a bunch of guys had decided to form a band, Kataklysm as we know them today was born and the Canadians had decided to celebrate this with a big party and immortalize that by filming it for their upcoming DVD. I guess I don´t have to mention, that it was even more packed in front of the painstage by now. In addition to this, the band had another present for their fans, the setlist consisted of a best-of set in the truest sense of the word: At least one song from every album that they had released so far, was played. So it was a crazy ride through the discography of Kataklysm, accompanied by tons of pyros. To make sure, that the securities weren´t getting bored, fronter Maurizio announced the „security stress test“, where as many crowdsurfers as possible should surf over the heads of the audience.
After that show for sure everyone was happy, that this truely memorably gig was filmed!
more photos here!
Setlist:
Determined
Taking The World By Storm
The Awakener
To Reign Again
Manipulator Of Souls
As I Slither
At The Edge Of The World
As My World Burns
Drum Solo
Blood On The Swans
Astral Empire
Feeling The Neverworld (Chapter III, An Infinite Transmigration)
The Orb Of Uncreation
In Shadows And Dust
Crippled And Broken
Push The Venom
In front of the Party-Stage Powerwolf the mood was good. Loking at the success of their new album, this was no surprise. The band changed from a offensive melodic-act to a band in a more calm shape, which reflects in some way their development. At least with their latest record it became clear that Powerwolf became softer. This was shown at the SB-Show where everything circled around singer Attila Dorn. The audience gave only best reactions. The place burst into fire so the new attitude works. Of course not with everyone…[Markus Seibel]
more photos here!
Einherjer took the same line with less success at the beginning. But the music-style worked, maybe because of the lots of fans from neighbour countries. Einherjer made a good show but without any highlights so just the die-hard-fans saw the whole gig. [Markus Seibel]
Time is running! It was already after 1, after this damn long day, that had started at 11 with the first gigs and now the tentstage was under control of Norsemen again. What a good thing, that Einherjer had decided to reunite in 2009 after their split in 2004. Else there would hardly be any bands, that celebrate Viking Metal without warpaint, armour and other ballyhoo on stage. Of course the number of people was already decimated, due to the strenous day and because Einherjer are maybe not that popular. However, those who were there, witness another great gig with songs like „Dragons of the North“ or „Balladen om Bifrost“ (of the new album „Norrøn“). Luckily the music is really captivating, because in terms of stageacting, there wasn´t much going on. Too bad, that their gig ended after 45 minutes, like so many other gigs on the tentstage. Definitely a great way to end this day.
Day 4
During the night there were no further weather incients so that the last festival day could proceed. Once again the first band started at 11 o´clock: Motorjesus, followed by Benighted about half an hour later, who seem to have a permanent booking for this slot. When I remember right, this band from Belgium plays at this early hour for the third time. Or do they prefer it like this? Well, anyway, it seems that band and fans as well got used to it, because for this early hour quite a lot of Brutal Death fans had gathered in front of the stage already!
More photoshere!
Yet I felt more awake and ready-to-go when Gothenburg´s Engel, featuring ex-Gardenian Gitarrero Niclas Engelin, entered the stage. For some people this melodic-almost-going-Pop material was not heavy enough. Unimpressed, the Swedes had the party going with „Six Feet Deep“ and „Casket Closing“, singer Magnus was in top-form and convinced with effortless changes from clean vocals to growls and shouts. Something not that easy, as we could witness with Scar Symmetry, unfortunately. During „Sense The Fire“ and other songs eager sing-along-fans could be spotted in the audience, which means that this band is not quite unknown, and the autumn tour with Pain should add to their popularity.
More photoshere!
Deadlock had the pleasure to be put on the grill, because at this time not a single cloud could be spotted in the sky. „Bizarro World“ started the energetic gig, both singers delivered flawless vocals to „Earthlings“, the great „Code of Honor“ and the other songs, to which the audience frantically cheered, sang along or celebrated with crowd surfing. Somehow you got the impression that nobody felt the heat or the fact that it was the third or fourth festival day already.
And back to the main stage because the next Swedish band was starting, with quite different music, though. Heavy Doom lingered with Grand Magus in a merciless heat, which was pretty much ignored. „Kingslayer“ started the gig and took the fans on a doomy ride with „Hammer of the North“, „Iron Will“ etc. The Scandinavians proved once more why their records are critically acclaimed.
More photoshere!
They came, played and conquered: Demonical impressed with their technical skills, a well-attuned team and a lot of action on stage, where front man Sverker Widgren stood out with his constant cheerleading. I appreciated that those Swedes did not just focus on promoting their new album „Death Infernal“ but also included many older songs in the set. That fitted smoothly and felt like from one source, what was to expect from such professionals. Great gig. [Markus Seibel]
More photoshere!
I had seen As I Lay Dying recently at Wacken, but from far (from the air), therefore it was time to check out the live-qualities of this band once again. The area in front of the stage was pretty full and illustrated how popular those guys still are. After a short Intro they took off with a lot of energy: After „Within Destruction“ and „The Sound Of Truth“ nobody could stand still, not even for a minute. Especially front man Tim was active on his pedestal (although such a tall man can hardly be overlooked) and all over stage, so that you wondered if he is doing his daily work out here. Man-high fireblasts added to the feeling that you get boiled up by sun, flames and the music as well. Nothing to complain about with tracks like „Condemned“, „Nothing Left“ etc – except for the fact that many probably wondered why this band stopped playing 10 min early.
More photoshere!
Caliban were heavy duty this evening but still pretty active and joyful when it comes to their stage show. No way that those guys tuned it down or got soft – consequently they kicked out a tough set, which was welcomed by the festival audience and warmed it up for the following bands. [Markus Seibel]
By the way: A nice extra to the show were those massive CO2 walls, and also fire effects. During the Wall of Death a contest winner wore a helmet camera, so you could follow a Wall of Death from another perspective – at some point the camera called it quits, though, but not the contest winner.
More photoshere!
Tarja appeared after 20h when temperatures had lowered, as well as the sun, in front of a pretty big crowd on the main stage. An All-Star Band requires different stage settings so that everybody can be seen, too. Mike Terrana´s Drumkit was not in the back but on the right front of the stage, Max Lilja at the left from Tarja, in the middle the string- and keyboard section. The gig began with „Dark Star“, followed by „I Feel Immortal“. Vocally top, in good mood and this time relinquishing outfit changes after every song, the Finnish singer offered a variety of hits, and she has enough of those indeed. And fans who were waiting for Nightwish songs received the cover „Over the Hills And Far Away“ . Towards the end of the set Tarja received the Golden Record for her album „My Winter Storm“, and she seemed very touched when she thanked the fans, ending the show with „Until My Last Breath“. A great gig without those often-seen diva-like costume changes, super!
More photoshere!
Týr kicked off their melodic Viking/Folk Metal into an overcrowded tent. The band was in good mood but unfortunately they had to more than 45 min. For me they could have played much longer. Casting pearls before swine – once again a characteristic of this festival´s slot decisions. [Markus Seibel]
By the way: Fronter Heri gained some extra points speaking German, almost without accent. But that was just the icing on the cake of a great show, where the enthusiastic audience didn´t need an invitation to sing along.
More photoshere!
Hatebreed was another Hardcore band at prime time on the main stage, and WOW it was full. The Opener „Everyone Bleeds Now“ was like an invitation to go crazy, which was exactly what the crowd did from the first second. No wonder, because the band played as if there was no tomorrow. Amazing that nobody got hurt in those fire blasts, and occasionally they shot off those CO2 walls, which we had seen already at the Caliban gig.
Hatebreed´s set left nothing to wish for, because every single album was present. It was the last festival day, but the crowd did not seem like that – either because they were not tired yet, or because the band was pretty good in mobilizing the last resources. Naturally, when hearing hits like „Beholder Of Justice“ or „Doomsayer“, isn´t it? After „This Is Now“ the guys left the stage, but returned to play some more. „Destroy Everything“ was the end of the show, after which some people were definitely destroyed – but happy.
Whoever found some more strength was lucky, because the festival was not over yet. Some more highlights were offered to the audience:
Primordial for example on the Painstage, ending the festival in the main areas. . „No Grave Deep Enough“ appealed to the audience right away, although there is a rapid style change from Hatebreed to Primordial. A major factor of this appeal was once again Fronter Alan, who drew all attention with his sympathetic stage presence and bloody corpse paint. Although there was less action on stage, the music of those Irish guys demanded your strength, and such great songs as „The Coffin Ships“ and „Empire Falls“ had the fans giving it all. A great show!
More photoshere!
It was after 1 o´clock, the festival was about to end, but there were still 3 bands – who could still draw a lot of audience, under such circumstances. And also we dragged our tired bodies once again into the photo pit to document the gig of Finnish Moonsorrow .
And what to say, it was late, the fans were tired, but this hour was perfect for the sound of those guys. The setlist consisted of „Tähdetön“, „Kivenkantaja“, „Aurinko + Kuu“ and „Kulleiden Maa“ and was probably the shortest at this festival, but who knows Moonsorrow also knows the length of their epic songs. The spirits were high despite the late hour and also the atmosphere was nice. A great gig where everybody still gave their best.
More photoshere!
Rotting Christ and Burden Of Grief could no longer count on our presence, I tried but the sandman won, therefore I preferred to reach the tent as long as I was still awake. What I heard was that neither the Greek band Rotting Christ nor Burden of Grief had an empty tent to play to, therefore this festival ended with a blast
What is left to say? As usual, the line up was top and covered many tastes! The bigger Partystage was a nice and well-planned investment (in contrast to relocating the entrance to the photo pit – once around the whole audience, which means you got to put on a heavy sprint if you switch from one main stage to another). The only ones who misbehaved were the weather gods – luckily without heavy consequences – and the wasps that were really annoying this year and definitely added to the first-aid staff workload.
Text: Cornelia Wickel, Markus Seibel
photos: Cornelia Wickel
