Wacken and Metal Camp – Random Thoughts and Photos

[Neon Black]

This turned out to be a great summer for me – first Metal Camp in Slovenia, then Wacken in Germany (and swimming in the Adriatic in between ). As this was my fourth visit to Wacken and second to Metal Camp, I was pleased to find out that Wacken continues to deserve the name of the best metal festivals around. I don’t know what the organization is like from the bands’ perspective, but from the other side of the stage, things continued to seem great (four stages, lots of bands, fans, good food, etc). As in the previous years, this year Wacken attracted thousands of metalheads from all over the globe, from newborns to 50 year olds… I’m not kidding about the newborns; supposedly, a woman delivered a baby at Wacken last year. (The camp organizers wrote a birthday greeting to the little one on the camp’s TV screen this year, so I guess, the family must have been around ;-)). These crazy fans are one of the reasons why the camp has been a great experience for me and why I keep going there year after year. There really isn’t another place like it. And this year it was sold out… Admittedly, the festival is expensive if you have to fly, which I normally need to do either from the US or Southeast Europe, but I tend to plan this trip throughout the year… so, if you can, start saving now. It’s definitely worth some sacrifice.

In comparison to the last year’s, this year’s Metal Camp was great as well (although I missed Tee ), but MC is a different kind of an experience than Wacken. As this festival is still very small, and really really small in comparison to Wacken, it attracts a smaller (and much younger) crowd. One big advantage of this is that you can see great bands from a personal distance. Besides Nevermore, this year I particularly enjoyed Hypocrisy, Testament, Dimmu Borgir, Gorefest, and Opeth. (Kreator had a fine performance as well, but after seeing them several times over the last few years, their set-list with the inevitable ‘it’s-time-to-raise-the-flag-of-hate’ calls is getting a bit too old for me …). A slight disadvantage of Metal Camp for me is that, at age well over 30, I feel like I’m one of the oldest people in the camp (which is another reason I had to find you, Tee .... So, naturally, I like those Wacken metalheads a lot as they come available in all shapes and sizes!

I can’t say much about the camping conditions for those who may be considering the trip next year – my hubby and I camped at Wacken in 2003 and 2004 and found the conditions fine, but since I grew old in the meantime and need my sleep really , we tend to stay in a little hotel in a town nearby. That in itself is a lot of fun as one never knows which band may be booked there and show up at breakfast. This year I made sure to offer some of my breakfast milk to the Emperor’s drummer :zombie:

A few notes about the performances at Wacken. Do I need to emphasize that Nevermore kicked ass?! The moment I heard Loomis’ great solos, I knew that I would need to stand in the Meet-and-Greet line to… well… greet everyone. So, I fought my way through the line and am now a proud owner of a special DHiaDW shirt (see the link below). While at Meet-and-Greet, I hoped to say something smart (you know how that goes hehe), but I was speechless the moment I climbed the rail. In addition, Soilwork was blasting the nearby stage, and the guard kept pulling me off the rail thinking probably that I was one of those young, screaming, and impressionable chicks :zombie: , so it was impossible to say something both meaningful and audible. Anyways, I am sure that Jeff remembers me yelling ‘I’m a Packers fan.’ Of course, that was very important for him to know and REMEMBER haha ;-) Anyways, guys, if you’re reading this, here’s a chance for me to thank everyone for yet another great performance. Unfortunately, I don’t know you as well as some of the members of this forum do; otherwise, next time I could be climbing the rail and screaming something more that those cliché greetings ... In the meantime, I’ll go with the original GO PACKERS!

The set-list, at both camps, included the following songs (the order may be somewhat disorderly... Tee, correct me if I left out something...):

Final Product
I, Voyager
The River Dragon Has Come
Narcosynthesis
Engines of Hate
Dead Heart, in a Dead World
Enemies of Reality
This Godless Endeavor
Born

As for other bands, I absolutely loved the performances of Fear Factory, Morbid Angel, and Six Feet Under at Wacken. I’ve seen a lot of shows until now, but never these three bands. Two words - absolutely amazing I was especially happy that Fear Factory played tracks from Soul… and Demanufacture.

I also looked forward to seeing Whitesnake as this was one of the bands I listened to years ago and admire them for their contributions to the whole scene, but the show turned out to be a huge disappointment. The vocals were at times truly terrible as were the guitar solos (not to mention the random double bass drum)

Arch Enemy – whom I have seen several times and really love – was another disappointment this time around. The whole concert seemed rushed and the band seemed totally disengaged from the crowd. On top of that, Angela spoke only German, making a point – if I understood her correctly – that she preferred not to speak English given that the band played at the greatest festival in Europe. Whatever… Don’t mind the fans who traveled from all over Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Americas, and who actually add to the greatness of the festival and who cannot say a word of German. Plus, last time I checked, their lyrics were in English… but what do I know…

Lastly, I was also excited to see Finntroll. Last year their performance at Wacken was one of the best and craziest I have ever seen, which is I guess the reason why they were asked to come back this year (they made a leap from performing at one of the smaller stages <Party Stage > last year to playing at a major stage this year <Black Stage>). However, this year Finntroll performed with a new singer, and it was just not the same band for me… :Smug: Perhaps I’ll get into it again with time…

Finally, some photos for you… The camera is not that great, but the photos were taken with much passion ;-) I have a lot of images, but these are my favorite... My taste could be questionable though...

Nevermore at Metal Camp

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i194/emptysphere/MetalC1.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i194/emptysphere/MetalC2.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i194/emptysphere/MetalC3.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i194/emptysphere/MetalC4.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i194/emptysphere/MetalC5.jpg


Nevermore at Wacken

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i194/emptysphere/NM1.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i194/emptysphere/NM2.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i194/emptysphere/NM3.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i194/emptysphere/NM4.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i194/emptysphere/NM5.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i194/emptysphere/NM6.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i194/emptysphere/NM7.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i194/emptysphere/NM8.jpg

Neon Black (Aida) at Meet and Greet - or the making of a vintage shirt

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i194/emptysphere/MeetGreet1.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i194/emptysphere/MeetGreet2.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i194/emptysphere/MeetGreet3.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i194/emptysphere/MeetGreet4.jpg

Aida and Co.

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i194/emptysphere/AidaVanja.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i194/emptysphere/Fans.jpg

And, I had to add this...

Vortex at Metal Camp

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i194/emptysphere/Vortex.jpg

David V at Wacken

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i194/emptysphere/DV1.jpg

 

[Ryan VH]

Final Product
I, Voyager
The River Dragon Has Come
Narcosynthesis
Engines of Hate
Dead Heart, in a Dead World
Enemies of Reality
This Godless Endeavor
Born

ha. when i saw them back in april those were the songs they played. started out with final product and then went into i voyager. in the middle of the show they then played engines of hate and then dead heart. then at teh end they finished off with born

 

[Cephalopod]

Great pictures and review!

 

[NightmareOfAllan]

Everyone was pissed about Finntroll playing on the small party stage last year which was the reason they came again this year. It was so damn crowded back then - no one knew why the organisators decided to put them on the party stage. And the sound was shitty as well... from where I stood I could only hear the bass playing. :zombie:

 

[The Old Oak]

Fucking great show from Nevermore at WOA, and on top of that getting my dead heart.... picture LP (never Played) signed was awesome.. Wacken kick ass!! Fuck We kicked ass \m/

 

[Tee]

wow... dude that's one nice review! thanks for remembering to mention me in crucial places (age and so ).
next time (OK, if I'll have money to afford staying at a hotel, otherwise don't want to go at all as the "forced in, like cattle you run" arrangment is ultimate suckage, as well as staying for one day only :s), I believe I will be the one calling you.

 

[Neon Black]

sounds great, tee ;-) did you have a chance to see my shirt? apparently, the guys can draw! ;-)

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i1...MeetGreet4.jpg

 

[Tee]

 

[Neon Black]

hm.... try the same link above... for some reason, it works fine there... if you still can't open it, i'll uploaded it as an image...

 

[Tee]

ah yes. masterpiece says it all about it's author. luvli. O_x

 

[Dead_Lioness]

GREAT pictures, I loved the meet and greet ones... the guys look so happy and content... I love that

Great review as well NeonBlack!
I saw some pictures from the metal camp from people I know, and the scenary at the camp site looked amazing... mountains covered with trees...
looked awesome.
I still think Wacken owns tho
Glad you had fun!

 

[Neon Black]

ah yes. masterpiece says it all about it's author. luvli. O_x

hehe... i'm glad it didn't turn out to be one of those 'fuck you' shirts

 

[Neon Black]

Everyone was pissed about Finntroll playing on the small party stage last year which was the reason they came again this year. It was so damn crowded back then - no one knew why the organisators decided to put them on the party stage. And the sound was shitty as well... from where I stood I could only hear the bass playing. :zombie:

yeah... i wondered about the last year's decision as well... i even complained about it in the post-camp survey! anyways, as far as i'm concerned, their last year's performance was much better than it was this time around... i also loved the sound better last year... plus, the chaos in front of the small stage was also more appealing to me

 

[Neon Black]

GREAT pictures, I loved the meet and greet ones... the guys look so happy and content... I love that

Great review as well NeonBlack!
I saw some pictures from the metal camp from people I know, and the scenary at the camp site looked amazing... mountains covered with trees...
looked awesome.
I still think Wacken owns tho
Glad you had fun!

yeah, the nature in slovenia is much more appealing than that around wacken... but wacken kicks ass as far as everything else

 

[blind_cynic]

still too many DHIADW songs for such a short setlist.

 

[Tee]

there are always too many DHIADW songs...

 

[Will Bozarth]

truth.

 

[[KOTNO]Narrot]

i dont get the DHIADW obsession either ... where is the point? TGE is a better album ... and well DNB and POE are better as well. + it is a well known fact that everybody wants to hear sea of possibilities ...

 

[robertj]

Some more pics from Wacken: http://www.metalbilder.de

 

[FretsAflame]

Is it still their highest grossing album? That would explain it.