Here's a little impression of our weekend:
This year we left at 11pm and drove throught the night, which was a great decision. The highways were fairly quiet and we arrived in Balingen literally at the crack of dawn at 5am. The scenery is beautiful out there and it was amazing to see it wake up. Luckily we managed to get on the campsite before it officially opened, so at sunrise we put up our tent, had some breakfast and waited for our French friends to arrive a few hours later. That day we spent with our friends, had some beers (at 8am hehe), watched the campsite fill up with metalheads and some colorful vehicles, tried (and failed) to sleep in the heat, had more beers and toasted to saskmetal.com's Brent and Jenni's wedding that day, survived a short but nasty thunderstorm and went to sleep pretty early. Not too bothered by the noise on the campsite we had a good night and in the morning we were ready for the metal
DESTRUCTOR - as usual a very true metal start of the festival, incl. leather and spikes Old school US metal/thrash.
BITCH - reunion show of the US 'bondage-metal' cult band around Betsy Bitch. I was never a big fan of the music in the 80's but I was curious to see this anyway. The hot looks and attitude were still there but most of all her incredible voice!! Oh my dog, I had goosebumps the whole time. The music is a bit too rock'n'roll for me, but Betsy is among THE best femal metalsingers. In fact, I can't think of anyone better (only Leather came to mind), not counting the gruntgoddesses like Angela or clean non-metal voices.
ROB ROCK - great voice, but pretty boring to me musically.
AMON AMARTH - kick ass! I love this band although I have only one older cd. Singer Johan is sooo impressive, although not as much as on the last Wacken performance it seemed.
AXXIS - I managed to avoid that one
) A thunderstorm was coming up and we went to the tent for a break, some food and shelter.
T.N.T. - it was still raining and we decided to skip this as well. All I ever liked was that one song Seven Seas. From what we heard over at the campsite and from people who did see the show, we did not miss a thing.
ANNIHILATOR - Front row for me!!! ROOOAAAAWWWWK! Just a short set of course, so no Lunatic Asylum nor Shallow Grave for me, but with the obligatory Alison Hell, Never Neverland, King Of The Kill and some more. I so loved Joe Comeau with this band, but I have to say that the new guy, Dave, did a great job! He's young and still has to grow into the band and get more experience, but he wasn't shy, had a good attitude and great voice! A bit like Joe's I'd say. Great potential! Russ, Randy, Curran and esp. Jeff were their usual crazy selves of course
DOKKEN - probably a good gig, but for me boooooring, sorry...
SODOM = some good old school thrash.. didn't see the whole gig though
HAMMERFALL - as much as I hate Hammerfall, it was the first time I actually payed attention to their performance for a while and I didn't think it was all that bad...
DIO - the little big guy, he's a true METALGOD. Forget that other loser who claims to be one, this is the REAL deal!! I believe he's 63 and it is amazing how young and energetic he seems and how great his voice still is!! I'm not so familiar with the latest Dio stuff, but he played some oldies and of course some Rainbow and Sabbath classics (Stargazer, Man On The Silver Mountain/Love Live Rock'n'Roll; Mob Rules, Heaven And Hell)!!
HIRAX - Wow!!! Katon rules, he's as metal as you can be!! He was so energetic, running around and posing, it was incredible! \m/
ANGELWITCH - a little pale after Hirax' energy, but I was never sooo crazy about them.
MASTERPLAN - pretty good, esp. Jorn is super!!! I don't like all their songs but I love "Enlighten Me"
BRAINSTORM - my favorite show w/Twisted Sister!!!!! AWESOME!! The guys were all amazing but most of all Andy, who is running around more and more with each show!! They played Highs Without Lows, Doorway To Survive and the oriental gem Shiva's Tears from the new CD and they had three oriental dancers in colorful costumes with masks on stage for that song. Some thought it wasn't very metal, but I thought it was a nice and classy illustration of the song, no cheap erotic thing humping the band or something (or maybe that was the problem? LOL!!).
PINK CREAM 69 - I'm not into their music, but what a live band! Readman is definitely one of the best singers on the festival.
HYPOCRISY - an outsider on this bill, but they got a pretty good response anyway, killer show.
Y&T - great show of these oldies!!!! They still got it and even if it's not all my kinda music, I enjoy the classics too of course (Rescue Me, I Believe In You). During Forever Dee Snider joined the band for a minute
OVERKILL - It was special to be here for them, after the small stroke Bobby suffered a year ago one day before the festival. He said the rumors about his death were highly exaggerated hehehe. It's an always incredible live band, but today it was definitely not my setlist. Not a lot of oldies and In Union We Stand is obligatory in their set (just like Fuck You) but oh how I would have preferred Powersurge or Electro-Violence or esp. Rotten To The Core over that cheesy song. After the show Bobby took a huge dive right into the audience!!
U.D.O. - usual good show of another oldie hehe. I'm not familiar with his solo stuff, only recognized Man The Machine or something and some Accept classics (Metal Heart, Princess Of The Dawn, Balls To The Walls).
THIN LIZZY - I'm not a big fan, but it was quite special to see such a legendary band for the first time (just like Dio) and the show was (probably as usual) dedicated to the "King Of Rock'n'Roll" Phil Lynott.
TWISTED SISTER - if Dee fucking Snider enters the stage, he captures the whole festival area in his spell. It was like that when I saw him solo a few times, where he already did a lot of TS tunes. Now it was the ORIGINAL band and in full make-up and such, and it was even more impressive!!! All my aches and sore feet were gone during Under The Blade, We're Not Gonna Take It and I Wanna Rock! True headliners of this festival!!!!!!
And so ended two (or actually three) days of metal, sun, beer, water (too hot for much alcohol), sun, two short but sweet thunderstorms, sun, a tan and a bit of sunburn
On to Wacken in 5 weeks!! \m/
Full detailed review and pics online in about a week at Morrigan's Pit and Nico's PhotoPit!
This year we left at 11pm and drove throught the night, which was a great decision. The highways were fairly quiet and we arrived in Balingen literally at the crack of dawn at 5am. The scenery is beautiful out there and it was amazing to see it wake up. Luckily we managed to get on the campsite before it officially opened, so at sunrise we put up our tent, had some breakfast and waited for our French friends to arrive a few hours later. That day we spent with our friends, had some beers (at 8am hehe), watched the campsite fill up with metalheads and some colorful vehicles, tried (and failed) to sleep in the heat, had more beers and toasted to saskmetal.com's Brent and Jenni's wedding that day, survived a short but nasty thunderstorm and went to sleep pretty early. Not too bothered by the noise on the campsite we had a good night and in the morning we were ready for the metal
DESTRUCTOR - as usual a very true metal start of the festival, incl. leather and spikes
Old school US metal/thrash.BITCH - reunion show of the US 'bondage-metal' cult band around Betsy Bitch. I was never a big fan of the music in the 80's but I was curious to see this anyway. The hot looks and attitude were still there but most of all her incredible voice!! Oh my dog, I had goosebumps the whole time. The music is a bit too rock'n'roll for me, but Betsy is among THE best femal metalsingers. In fact, I can't think of anyone better (only Leather came to mind), not counting the gruntgoddesses like Angela or clean non-metal voices.
ROB ROCK - great voice, but pretty boring to me musically.
AMON AMARTH - kick ass! I love this band although I have only one older cd. Singer Johan is sooo impressive, although not as much as on the last Wacken performance it seemed.
AXXIS - I managed to avoid that one
) A thunderstorm was coming up and we went to the tent for a break, some food and shelter.T.N.T. - it was still raining and we decided to skip this as well. All I ever liked was that one song Seven Seas. From what we heard over at the campsite and from people who did see the show, we did not miss a thing.
ANNIHILATOR - Front row for me!!! ROOOAAAAWWWWK! Just a short set of course, so no Lunatic Asylum nor Shallow Grave for me, but with the obligatory Alison Hell, Never Neverland, King Of The Kill and some more. I so loved Joe Comeau with this band, but I have to say that the new guy, Dave, did a great job! He's young and still has to grow into the band and get more experience, but he wasn't shy, had a good attitude and great voice! A bit like Joe's I'd say. Great potential! Russ, Randy, Curran and esp. Jeff were their usual crazy selves of course
DOKKEN - probably a good gig, but for me boooooring, sorry...
SODOM = some good old school thrash.. didn't see the whole gig though
HAMMERFALL - as much as I hate Hammerfall, it was the first time I actually payed attention to their performance for a while and I didn't think it was all that bad...
DIO - the little big guy, he's a true METALGOD. Forget that other loser who claims to be one, this is the REAL deal!! I believe he's 63 and it is amazing how young and energetic he seems and how great his voice still is!! I'm not so familiar with the latest Dio stuff, but he played some oldies and of course some Rainbow and Sabbath classics (Stargazer, Man On The Silver Mountain/Love Live Rock'n'Roll; Mob Rules, Heaven And Hell)!!
HIRAX - Wow!!! Katon rules, he's as metal as you can be!! He was so energetic, running around and posing, it was incredible! \m/
ANGELWITCH - a little pale after Hirax' energy, but I was never sooo crazy about them.
MASTERPLAN - pretty good, esp. Jorn is super!!! I don't like all their songs but I love "Enlighten Me"
BRAINSTORM - my favorite show w/Twisted Sister!!!!! AWESOME!! The guys were all amazing but most of all Andy, who is running around more and more with each show!! They played Highs Without Lows, Doorway To Survive and the oriental gem Shiva's Tears from the new CD and they had three oriental dancers in colorful costumes with masks on stage for that song. Some thought it wasn't very metal, but I thought it was a nice and classy illustration of the song, no cheap erotic thing humping the band or something (or maybe that was the problem? LOL!!).
PINK CREAM 69 - I'm not into their music, but what a live band! Readman is definitely one of the best singers on the festival.
HYPOCRISY - an outsider on this bill, but they got a pretty good response anyway, killer show.
Y&T - great show of these oldies!!!! They still got it and even if it's not all my kinda music, I enjoy the classics too of course (Rescue Me, I Believe In You). During Forever Dee Snider joined the band for a minute
OVERKILL - It was special to be here for them, after the small stroke Bobby suffered a year ago one day before the festival. He said the rumors about his death were highly exaggerated hehehe. It's an always incredible live band, but today it was definitely not my setlist. Not a lot of oldies and In Union We Stand is obligatory in their set (just like Fuck You) but oh how I would have preferred Powersurge or Electro-Violence or esp. Rotten To The Core over that cheesy song. After the show Bobby took a huge dive right into the audience!!
U.D.O. - usual good show of another oldie hehe. I'm not familiar with his solo stuff, only recognized Man The Machine or something and some Accept classics (Metal Heart, Princess Of The Dawn, Balls To The Walls).
THIN LIZZY - I'm not a big fan, but it was quite special to see such a legendary band for the first time (just like Dio) and the show was (probably as usual) dedicated to the "King Of Rock'n'Roll" Phil Lynott.
TWISTED SISTER - if Dee fucking Snider enters the stage, he captures the whole festival area in his spell. It was like that when I saw him solo a few times, where he already did a lot of TS tunes. Now it was the ORIGINAL band and in full make-up and such, and it was even more impressive!!! All my aches and sore feet were gone during Under The Blade, We're Not Gonna Take It and I Wanna Rock! True headliners of this festival!!!!!!
And so ended two (or actually three) days of metal, sun, beer, water (too hot for much alcohol), sun, two short but sweet thunderstorms, sun, a tan and a bit of sunburn
On to Wacken in 5 weeks!! \m/
Full detailed review and pics online in about a week at Morrigan's Pit and Nico's PhotoPit!
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