Where the hell did the last few days go? I am now sitting in London with blistered feet and a throat that is a dry as the Sahara desert!
Slayer just stole the show. I looked around and was terrified to see 35,000 standing in anticipation. The rows of people went from the stage area all the way back to the entrance, just a phenomenal moment in my life to see. The crowd went mad, with bodies being pushed above our heads. It looked like cockroaches on their backs being washed away.
At one stage, I was squashed and was thinking was I gonna be one of those unlucky sods. There was no retreat, no where to turn. It was chaos, but it ruled. They did all their classics including my fav - Dead Skin Mask and South of Heaven.
Other great bands were Testament and Twisted Sister (the Crowd gave them a huge ovation).
Thyrfing were chucking cows blood at the crowd during their set-list. I'm sure if I received any, I would have been chucking my guts up...which is what happend to the lead singer of Carpathian Forrest. At the end of the track he was just chucking his guts up. The amusing visual was on the huge LCD screens which showed a close-up of the lead singer puking pure liquid, it almost looked like projectile vomit. Now, clear vomit is an indication of exceesive whisky - the same has happened to myself and a bottle of Johnny Walker. After a 5 minute break, one of the members over the PA stated 'We are still waiting for the homosexual member of our group to appear' - very amusing.
The biggest disappointment was Gamma Ray. Their set list was awful, for some reason they did not play their classic stuff, just stuff that you would expect on the B sides of a single. This was their chance to get the audience to go nuts, but instead the audience were stupified zombies...
...which brings me onto our car journey. After the shows, we would jump into our car and drive from the VIP car park down the dirt track onto another track which seperates the main arena from the camping grounds. It's the middle of the night and we have to use our beam lights to ensure we don't knock any one down. As soon as our beam lights hit the backs of staggering people, they suddenly turn and wobble, looking at us. It was like watching a scene from a classic George A Romero movie like Day of the Dead. Some people actually decided to walk towards the light of the car - that was a scarry thing to see.
The scorching heat on Friday was just unbearable. The temperature was 29 - 32 Celsius, and with no shade, some people were dropping like flies under the Suns gaze. Those that were drinking from 11am, were soon sleeping by 2pm - and getting a rather nasty lobster tan.
The Saturday night after-party held in the VIP section was a merry drunken state. The Royal Carnage and Metal Rules team (special hello to Ice Maiden) occupied a table in which the Vodka and beer were running well into 5am. So many pictiures were taken, that legal action may be taken if any are publicised
! I shall leave this bit for Markgugs.
Of course, so much happened at Wacken that to write everything would take eternity, so consider this as the ball-rolling exercise for everyone who was there to fill in.
Chief B
That is the funniest thing I have read in days. Oh man, cannot wait to catch up with everyone.
