Regardless the subject, the so-called Metal Mania was actually a "Howto" guide, that will be available on PDF format soon, and whose name can perfectly be changed to something more understandable, like: "How to fuck a festival up" or "Deal with it, if you can". If you don't know what it is about, the festival was based on the next bands:
Thursday:
22.00 - 23.00 THE BON SCOTT BAND (AC/DC tribute band)
23.00 - ¿00.50? DORO
Friday:
17.00 - 17.45 REBELLION
18.15 - 19.15 OVERKILL
19.45 - 20.45 FREE HOUR BECAUSE APOCALYPTICA HAD LOGISTICAL PROBLEMS.
21.15 - 22.15 SEPULTURA
22.45 - 23.45 NIGHTWISH
00.15 - 01.30 SLAYER
02.00 - 03.30 BLIND GUARDIAN
04.00 - 05.30 APOCALYPTICA
Saturday:
16:30 - 17:30 PRIMAL FEAR
18:00 - 19 :00 HAMMERFALL
19:30 - 20:30 BARON ROJO
21:00 - 22:00 SAXON
22:30 - 00:15 IRON MAIDEN
00:45 - 01:45 DIO
02:15 - 03:00 STRAY
Sunday:
17.00 - 17.50 DARK TRANQUILLITY
18.20 - 19.10 EXODUS
19.40 - 20.30 IMMORTAL
21.00 - 22.00 KREATOR
22.30 - 23.30 MASTERPLAN
00.00 - 01.00 STRATOVARIUS
01.30 - 02.45 MOTÖRHEAD
When I arrived to the (supposed) camping that (supposedly) was going to be our "home" during four days... I was close to get back to the civilization. The heat reached 40º C and there were NO trees, NO shadows where get sheltered and protected from the almighty sun. The ground was made by a strong rock and dust, so we barely achieved to fix our camping tents to the ground. Aside from the unbearable (and take this literally) weather, the ambient was too fuckin' dry, so my cut lips were.
To conceive an idea, when the sun rises in Villarrobledo, people can't stand outside but when swimming at the local pool, and the heat makes a zombie of you. There weren't showers enough, and people had to pay 1 € to use the bunch of them that were available (see? It was a "pay-for-everything" chupi market strategy). The food and drinks were offensively expensive, the town itself lacked of bars (and the few bars... were closed most of the times!!!!!) and the words "kind service" seemed long time lost and forgotten.
I got to be honest, and say the festival itself started quite well. On thursday, and after the settling process, I got relaxed and met some good friends of mine. I didn't care about the bands themselves, and centered my attention on the social side of the festival. Yeah, it was a very good night, so my mind tought there were no reason to be aware and expecting a bad turn of the events.
Friday, the sun rised and we were once again dancing into flames. And then, the social aspect of the festival died and never was back to life again. The people I was with started doing things at their own in reduced groups, and don't caring about anything else. Luckily, I was with a very good friend of mine, and the loneliness didn't bite me hardly, but it was sad to see people saying "you're not important at all" with the silent words of indifference. Anyway, I tried to live the festival the best I can, and think I succeed on this, regardless the conditions.
Three days of shows, and I missed a lot of them, mostly because of the heat, but also because bands like Nightwish or Immortal are not my cup of tea. To cut a long story short, let me comment the important events briefly and leave the rest to your imagination.
- Slayer: This band never meant a shit in my life, but there are bands made to play live, and Slayer seems to be one of them. The agressive indiosyncrasy this band has towards the gigs is legendary, and this time Kerry King and co. took no prisoners. About an hour and a bit of killing riffs and a savage sound were the cradle of their success, no matter if you like that kind of music or not.
- Blind Guardian: Even when this band uses to play regularly in my city, I never seen them before. It was a good show with a consequent good sound, but if it had depended on me, the set list would change.
- Apocalyptica: Undoubtably the best band of the festival. They are absolutely amazing playing live, the strenght and dedication they invest on the music are the perfect mix for the classical tinge the cellos have. Specially remarkable the labour of the two new members, a new cello player who played motionless but elegantly, and the astonishing and skilled drummer.
- Sepultura: Max is not there anymore, and that's quite noticeable. In any case they try to do their best, with poor results, imo. The band sounded bad and played fast, like a punk band, and even the old stuff was a pitiful proof of decadence. There were huge Sepultura fans who said they played quite good, but I guess it's a matter of tastes.
- Hammerfall: Please, stop letting the hamster fall, and free him. Boring songs under a killing sun that made play my nerves up. Hammerfall as a side project was more oriented than these actual pretended metal warriors whose conception of song is based on reluctant repetitive chorus like the one aforementioned "let the hamster... FALL!", and I seriously think that Greenpeace should take cards on the issue.
- Iron Maiden: I'm a Maiden fan, and I was pleased by this show. Bruce Dickinson singing pretty well, the guys running all around, and a classic set list that made that show delicious. As a negative note, the great amount of people, I saw Dickinson like a tiny He-Man toy from the point I were. They missed "2 Minutes to Midnight", "Running Free" or "Aces High".
- Dio: I left the show when the band started the second cut. Dio has a good voice, but I don't like his work out of Rainbow. According with the opinions I received, the show was quite good if Ronnie James matches your tastes.
- Dark Tranquillity: They sucked big time. Er... I was talking about Barón Rojo? Ah, no, no, Dark Tranquillity, alright. Everybody here knows that Dark Tranquillity are pretty brilliant when playing live, offering a dose of strenght, quality and a good performance, generally speaking. This wasn't so different, regarding the band itself. The sound was awful at the beginning, the guitars disappeared sometimes, the keyboard was too high, and the fuckin' and breaking heat above us were hard elements to deal with. Then, the sound got (a bit) better, and the natural DT force rised up. Mikael headbaning regardless the extreme heat, with his usual charisma and charming smile, Niklas and the rest of the band following their frontman the same way. I guess they ended up suffocated, and Mikael did some growling passages in clean vocals in order to take a breath, but it was a good and... very, very, very short show, unfortunately. Anyway, I was there mainly because of Dark Tranquillity, so it was worthy enough for me.
- Masterplan: Argh!!! It was another of my preferences, because of the singer mainly. Jorn Lande and the band came up with a bunch of songs from their album debut and then... the sound disappeared. At first I didn't hear a single tone of voice, the guitar was too high, there was no keyboard and the drums were worthy of the Sex Pistols. Then, the voice appeared, but the drums and guitar covered and suffocated it. They played no more than 8 songs and said goodbye. Shortly: Jorn Lande was not there, so... nobody was there at all.
- Stratovarius: I don't like this band playing live, but I should admit that they played and sounded so good this time. The show was unexpectedly so short, and Jens Johansson broke his keyboard because it sounded bad a couple of times. Curious.
- Motorhead: Dunno, I wasn't there. Motorhead means nothing to me, so I left. I can imagine how it was, anyway: Lemmy standing steady, and the rest of the band following his attitude.
Well, this is my short-long chronicle of the festival. I'm so tired and probably I've missed things, so I will add them later. Thanks for listening.
|ngenius.
Thursday:
22.00 - 23.00 THE BON SCOTT BAND (AC/DC tribute band)
23.00 - ¿00.50? DORO
Friday:
17.00 - 17.45 REBELLION
18.15 - 19.15 OVERKILL
19.45 - 20.45 FREE HOUR BECAUSE APOCALYPTICA HAD LOGISTICAL PROBLEMS.
21.15 - 22.15 SEPULTURA
22.45 - 23.45 NIGHTWISH
00.15 - 01.30 SLAYER
02.00 - 03.30 BLIND GUARDIAN
04.00 - 05.30 APOCALYPTICA
Saturday:
16:30 - 17:30 PRIMAL FEAR
18:00 - 19 :00 HAMMERFALL
19:30 - 20:30 BARON ROJO
21:00 - 22:00 SAXON
22:30 - 00:15 IRON MAIDEN
00:45 - 01:45 DIO
02:15 - 03:00 STRAY
Sunday:
17.00 - 17.50 DARK TRANQUILLITY
18.20 - 19.10 EXODUS
19.40 - 20.30 IMMORTAL
21.00 - 22.00 KREATOR
22.30 - 23.30 MASTERPLAN
00.00 - 01.00 STRATOVARIUS
01.30 - 02.45 MOTÖRHEAD
When I arrived to the (supposed) camping that (supposedly) was going to be our "home" during four days... I was close to get back to the civilization. The heat reached 40º C and there were NO trees, NO shadows where get sheltered and protected from the almighty sun. The ground was made by a strong rock and dust, so we barely achieved to fix our camping tents to the ground. Aside from the unbearable (and take this literally) weather, the ambient was too fuckin' dry, so my cut lips were.
To conceive an idea, when the sun rises in Villarrobledo, people can't stand outside but when swimming at the local pool, and the heat makes a zombie of you. There weren't showers enough, and people had to pay 1 € to use the bunch of them that were available (see? It was a "pay-for-everything" chupi market strategy). The food and drinks were offensively expensive, the town itself lacked of bars (and the few bars... were closed most of the times!!!!!) and the words "kind service" seemed long time lost and forgotten.
I got to be honest, and say the festival itself started quite well. On thursday, and after the settling process, I got relaxed and met some good friends of mine. I didn't care about the bands themselves, and centered my attention on the social side of the festival. Yeah, it was a very good night, so my mind tought there were no reason to be aware and expecting a bad turn of the events.
Friday, the sun rised and we were once again dancing into flames. And then, the social aspect of the festival died and never was back to life again. The people I was with started doing things at their own in reduced groups, and don't caring about anything else. Luckily, I was with a very good friend of mine, and the loneliness didn't bite me hardly, but it was sad to see people saying "you're not important at all" with the silent words of indifference. Anyway, I tried to live the festival the best I can, and think I succeed on this, regardless the conditions.
Three days of shows, and I missed a lot of them, mostly because of the heat, but also because bands like Nightwish or Immortal are not my cup of tea. To cut a long story short, let me comment the important events briefly and leave the rest to your imagination.
- Slayer: This band never meant a shit in my life, but there are bands made to play live, and Slayer seems to be one of them. The agressive indiosyncrasy this band has towards the gigs is legendary, and this time Kerry King and co. took no prisoners. About an hour and a bit of killing riffs and a savage sound were the cradle of their success, no matter if you like that kind of music or not.
- Blind Guardian: Even when this band uses to play regularly in my city, I never seen them before. It was a good show with a consequent good sound, but if it had depended on me, the set list would change.
- Apocalyptica: Undoubtably the best band of the festival. They are absolutely amazing playing live, the strenght and dedication they invest on the music are the perfect mix for the classical tinge the cellos have. Specially remarkable the labour of the two new members, a new cello player who played motionless but elegantly, and the astonishing and skilled drummer.
- Sepultura: Max is not there anymore, and that's quite noticeable. In any case they try to do their best, with poor results, imo. The band sounded bad and played fast, like a punk band, and even the old stuff was a pitiful proof of decadence. There were huge Sepultura fans who said they played quite good, but I guess it's a matter of tastes.
- Hammerfall: Please, stop letting the hamster fall, and free him. Boring songs under a killing sun that made play my nerves up. Hammerfall as a side project was more oriented than these actual pretended metal warriors whose conception of song is based on reluctant repetitive chorus like the one aforementioned "let the hamster... FALL!", and I seriously think that Greenpeace should take cards on the issue.
- Iron Maiden: I'm a Maiden fan, and I was pleased by this show. Bruce Dickinson singing pretty well, the guys running all around, and a classic set list that made that show delicious. As a negative note, the great amount of people, I saw Dickinson like a tiny He-Man toy from the point I were. They missed "2 Minutes to Midnight", "Running Free" or "Aces High".
- Dio: I left the show when the band started the second cut. Dio has a good voice, but I don't like his work out of Rainbow. According with the opinions I received, the show was quite good if Ronnie James matches your tastes.
- Dark Tranquillity: They sucked big time. Er... I was talking about Barón Rojo? Ah, no, no, Dark Tranquillity, alright. Everybody here knows that Dark Tranquillity are pretty brilliant when playing live, offering a dose of strenght, quality and a good performance, generally speaking. This wasn't so different, regarding the band itself. The sound was awful at the beginning, the guitars disappeared sometimes, the keyboard was too high, and the fuckin' and breaking heat above us were hard elements to deal with. Then, the sound got (a bit) better, and the natural DT force rised up. Mikael headbaning regardless the extreme heat, with his usual charisma and charming smile, Niklas and the rest of the band following their frontman the same way. I guess they ended up suffocated, and Mikael did some growling passages in clean vocals in order to take a breath, but it was a good and... very, very, very short show, unfortunately. Anyway, I was there mainly because of Dark Tranquillity, so it was worthy enough for me.
- Masterplan: Argh!!! It was another of my preferences, because of the singer mainly. Jorn Lande and the band came up with a bunch of songs from their album debut and then... the sound disappeared. At first I didn't hear a single tone of voice, the guitar was too high, there was no keyboard and the drums were worthy of the Sex Pistols. Then, the voice appeared, but the drums and guitar covered and suffocated it. They played no more than 8 songs and said goodbye.
Shortly: Jorn Lande was not there, so... nobody was there at all.- Stratovarius: I don't like this band playing live, but I should admit that they played and sounded so good this time. The show was unexpectedly so short, and Jens Johansson broke his keyboard because it sounded bad a couple of times. Curious.
- Motorhead: Dunno, I wasn't there. Motorhead means nothing to me, so I left. I can imagine how it was, anyway: Lemmy standing steady, and the rest of the band following his attitude.
Well, this is my short-long chronicle of the festival. I'm so tired and probably I've missed things, so I will add them later. Thanks for listening.
|ngenius.
), but anyway, there will be more chances (er... you pay the beer, I'll add the words 
