Taken from www.metal-is.com
Its been a busy week, and something of a strange one. While everyone is gearing up for this so-called summer of rock (for most of us, every summer rocks!), the advent of foot and mouth disease is starting to bite at least metaphorically. The Dynamo Festival looks like it will hit the dust, with the powers-that-be at Lichtenvoorde, where the shebang was due to be held, deciding that the real danger of the disease spreading was too great. So, for the second successive year, the Dynamo traditionally such a highlight for bands and fans alike will be unable to mount its usual activities (last year was reduced to one, rain-drenched day, from the usual three in the sunshine). And, as we in Britain know only too well from our experiences with Donington, once a festival falters for a couple of years, it may find it almost impossible to come back.
Talking of Donington, thats where the Stereophonics are to hold one of their two outdoor shows in the UK. All credit to them for using this legendary site, even though one cannot envisage this Welsh lot following in the venerated footsteps of Rainbow, AC/DC, Whitesnake, ZZ Top, Ozzy Osbourne, Bon Jovi, Iron Maiden and Metallica. Now that is a role of honour!
It has been suggested that Donington and the Monsters Of Rock should become a senior citizens festival, and that those involved should forget about trying to update their sound, style and approach. A reunion of the first Donington line-up Rainbow, Judas Priest, Scorpions, Saxon, April Wine, Riot and Touch would be interesting, right? Well, perhaps not, but theres enough quality out there to make Donington Gold a happening event. And if one could put together a bill shaped around Guns N Roses, Def Leppard, Cheap Trick well, I believe it would sell, sell, sell!
Right now, we are in the middle of a halcyon period for rock and metal, with umpteen bands keen to show off their wares in the UK, and the quality is surprisingly high. But it cannot last, and by the end of the year a number of bands will face crunch time, as they try to come to terms with the reality of forging a career against the prevailing winds. Some will capitulate, others will compromise, but only the truly talented and focused can hope to press on pursuing their dreams and musical hopes unfettered. Its at this time that we see bands for who, and what, they are. You feel sorry for the casualties, but ultimately they are not strong enough to survive and prosper in a world where sentimentality is scorned.
Its then that these bands, and the media currently fawning over them while dismissing the Eighties as a wasted decade, will come to realise that sooner or later the hunter becomes the prey. Give it five years, and maybe people will be as harsh about the first couple of years of the new millennium that for Warrant, Trixter and Pretty Boy Floyd you could read nah, make your own choices.
Malolm Dome
