This is not in the main part of part 6 of this series because it's too fucking long to spend on one band in the middle of a general review post.
Swashbuckle [7/7]
There's always a few sets that define a festival every year. This, coupled with Running Wild's farewell outing last night, was one of them. And this isn't just an old fan glorying by extension in his pals' pals' success; in my five years here I have never seen a non-headliner have the staff have to fucking play their fans out with the PA to get the stage clear. It was a hellacious set with an equally hellacious response that gets its own photo essay.
Because there wasn't going to be any other fucking photog shooting this band (actually, a few did show up after a while), I did my best Aaron impression...while standing in one place and trying not to block anyone's first exposure to the band, and kind of went hog wild on pics. Follows:
324. All these people...
325. Showed up to see this band...
326. But the inflataship died. ;_;
327. Lame excuses were vended and not accepted....
328. ...but doods were still fucking pumped.
329. Wait, they have WHO on wench duty? That's Sabina Classen motherfuckers!
330. Hooks up!
331. The Jersey Devilfish hit the stage!
332. Nobeard fixing his amp.
333. Tuning up.
334. "Yarr, ye scurvy dogs!"
335. Coming out swinging.
336. Full blast pirate thrash.
337. Line of battle formed.
338. Wacken is wicked pumped.
339. Waist-deep in cannon smoke.
340. Laying out the riffs.
341. Some dude puts his hook in the frame.
342. Thrash speed beats shutter speed.
343. Fucking roaring; back to the noose!
344. Dug in, thrashing out.
345. The crowd is going more nuts than Alestorm last year and with fewer lame plastic toys.
346. Ripping into "Walk The Plank".
347. Bellowing for a circle pit.
348. Hooks and horns to the sky.
349. Through the haze.
350. Dudes still going nuts.
351. And this is on the puny Medieval Stage?
352. Prospective crew hail the captain.
353. A forest of arms.
354. The bodies go flying.
355. Admiral Nobeard parts the seas for the Wave of Death.
356. ....And the seas opened....
357. Breakers crashing with ultimate violence.
358. Dudes still flipping out.
359. Sack'n'pillage melee!
360. "Splash'n'Thrash" is a huge success.
361. ...and now there's THIS many, all going nuts.
362. Gimmick peeps come out in costume for "Party Boat".
363. The security finally shows up, eight or ten songs in, and immediately calls for backup.
364. Nobeard jamming the fuck out.
365. Washing in with the tide.
366. WHIRLPIT!!
367. Leo's younger brother dives into the waves.
368. Driving the storm.
369. Deserved appreesh.
370. IT CAME FROM THE DEEP!
371. Mutual hails go out.
372. Commodore Redrum sprays the first row with beer.
373. Locked in.
374. A new age of piracy dawning...
375. Hey, there's some fuckin epic parts too.
376. Almost backstage...
377. Crewed By The Damned!
378. Banging to the finale.
379. In the smoke - "X Marks The Spot"!
380. High kicks and absent picks.
381. The Admiral goes down with the "Battleship".
382. Hundreds scream for a further encore...
383. ....and get a drumkit teardown. They played every goddamned real song they've recorded! They're all fucking out!
384. Nobeard hails the crowd again.
385. ....and gives me the finger for not shutting up about they boyz.
386. And with no more music, the crowd dances on regardless, until the festival staff blast Schläger music over the PA to get them to go away.
Let's reiterate: 500 to 1000 people showed up to this stage, some not knowing what to expect and some singing Alestorm tunes. This band played aggressive moshing thrash metal owing heavily to Exodus, and by the end, after raucous encore demand that resulted in the band playing every original song they are even capable of playing live, the 1500 remaining were not worn out from an hour of vicious moshing and thrashing, and continued singing pirate songs and doing dances in the hope that the band would come out again, and eventually had to be shooed away. I'm not going to award the title on this basis, but Alestorm, a challenger has fucking appeared. (They always do.) Who will become the Pirate King?
It's ok to go back to part 6 now, you didn't miss anything.
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