I've been to the Gods Of Metal Festival 7 out of the 10 editions,they usually have phenomenal cards and great shows are always guaranteed,here we go with the + and -
+ the cards and the shows,the passion of the fans,lots of girls,the good things about Italy,the fact sometimes there are surprises to give something unique to the fans(mainly in the shows of the big bands) see these examples from the past editions:
*King Diamond without the make-up!!! and Hank Shermann from the Mercyful Fate hit the stage during a Metallica show to sing and play the 12 minutes long Fate Medley(1st and only performance ever with King,Hank and Tallica)
*James Hetfield stayed one more day after his show with the Metallica just to sing Overkill with Lemmy and co. during their show
*this year Phil Anselmo sang with Cronos on a Venom song(I didn't go this year btw)
*in a couple of occasions Manowar performed a special version of Nessun Dorma.... stuff like that is always a cool bonus
- Tickets are too expensive but I guess you can afford them if you're used to the british prices(some humour here..),some of the rules the promoters apply are absolutely insane(see ya can't bring in plastic bottles with the cap for security reasons BUT ya can BUY them inside courtesy of the holy Euro that is all they care about..),some fans are a bit too reckless and stupid for my taste,see enjoying moshpit during slow songs(ok,happened just few times in many years of GOM.. but boy,was I impressed by such stupidity).
I particularly hate when there are guys (don't worry there aren't many)that have no respect for the others(especially cause there are many girls in the crowd),all of this little rant cause it happened in the past GOM(several years ago) with about 4-5 bands in different editions(one of 'em was the crappy Tommy Lee-Methods of Mayhem something.. project) that some idiots decided to show their frustration for the fact they can't have sex(not even paying,and they still don't know the remedy that saved the life of Therapy?)starting to throw stuff at the bands not metal enough for their ab-normal brains(gotta watch Frankenstein Jr. again,it's been a loong time),that disgusted me as a fan cause no matter how bad or badly picked for a festival named Gods of Metal a band is you can't just playing Jack Bauer vs the terrorists with them..,italian promoters,the bad things about italy,a very few security-medical assistance guys I met in past editions..,there was that damn wrist band to catch in the early morning to get the best places in the pit this year.
End of the mini rant,all in all the Gods of Metal is a great festival,I've never been disappointed by the event musically and quite frankly even the vast majority of the fans has always made it special and very emotional,singing along so many songs,there's just a cool atmosphere you don't wanna miss and don't worry about the age,I'm 33 years(ok I've been particularly graced by God)but I don't see any problem,there are lots of oldies and young fans,lots of bald heads and long haired crusaders(here I am)...
Last sunday I've been to another festival called Evolution Fest, as to the intimacy,atmosphere,sound,bands,staff,promoters,ecc.. it's been even better than the most of the GOM editions,great fans,in a really nice place near the lake of Garda,lots of girls,a very "holiday like" atmosphere,the bill was:
Saxon headliners with Death Angel,Moonspell,Amon Amarth,Atheist,Armored Saint,The Gathering and more.. (and that was just Sunday).
Cheers,
Max
