I went to the first 2 BW&BK festivals. The first one was really on a whim as a bunch of friends were going and it sounded like a fun metal vacation/road trip. Going in I knew Jag Panzer and Falconer and that was really it. I was looking forward to seeing the acoustic show where Tim "Ripper" Owens, Ben Jackson (crimson Glory) and Pete Way (UFO) were performing. Along the way as we listened to a ton of metal CDs, I became a big fan of one of the pre-party bands, Aftershok! They were the whole reason we left a day early and it was totally worth it! They're a great old school metal band. American Dog opened up the fest and I thought they were great too. If you like Jackyl then you'll love American Dog! Elegy was third and really good. They'd go over great at PPUSA! Ian Parry has a great voice and guitarist Patrick Rondat was awesome! I enjoyed Falconers performance because I really liked Kristoffer Gobel. Too bad he's not with them anymore. Nevermore headlined the first day but really didn't do much for me (sorry Zod). Maybe It's because that was my first fest and I was exausted. The next day I enjoyed watching Wolf and Evergrey although I didn't really become a big Evergrey fan until their killer performance at PPIV later that year. Jag Panzer was awesome and the headliners, Trouble and Candlemass were fun to watch. Overall I had a fun weekend, discovered some great bands and got some cool autographs.
The next year was almost tailor made for me! Primal Fear, Brainstorm, Doro, Grave Digger, Metal Church, Seven Witches, Shok Paris and Ion Vein ... Holy Shit this was a power metal fan's wet dream! On top of all that we also got to see our buddies Aftershok play the pre-party again and Ben Jackson and Midnight played a killer acoustic set of Crimson Glory material. Along with the last 3 PP's, this was one of the best weekends of my life!
Last year however, I didnt even bother to go. Unfortunately, BW&BK lost a bunch of money the first 2 years so Clear Channel stepped in, threw in some cash and booked a bunch of Death metal bands (or at least a bunch of bands with death/growl vocals) that I had no interest in at all. The only things that did interest me was Chris Caffery and Jag Panzer who I'd seen twice by then. Plus I would have loved to have seen Russell Allen's acoustic set but that wasn't enough to justify the cost of everything. Instead I went to Chicago PowerFest and had a great time seeing Tad Morose, Morgana LeFay, Ion Vein and Warmachine!
Hopefully they'll have another BW&BK fest this year. If they do, I just hope for a better/more diverse lineup than last year or I'll have to pass again.
Primordial
