I forgot to do that thing I did last year and put the scores in at the index post, even though (or perhaps because) I was smarter and put the index at the start. So, here they are:
Wacken
--
bands seen, day 1: 3
average day 1: 4.67/7
total day 1: 14
bands seen, day 2: 10
average day 2: 5.5/7
total day 2: 55
bands seen, day 3: 8
average day 3: 5.38/7
total day 3: 43
average, full festival: 5.33/7
total, full festival: 112
total bands: 21
Party.San
--
bands seen, day 1: 5
average day 1: 6.3/7
total day 1: 31.5
bands seen, day 2: 7
average day 2: 6/7
total day 2: 42
bands seen, day 3: 9
average day 3: 5.72/7
total day 3: 51.5
average, full festival: 5.95/7
total, full festival: 125
total bands: 21
The thing that sticks out here is that this is a wicked low number of rated bands. In 2005, I saw enough of 30 bands to get some kind of impression of them at Wacken, and the festival has done nothing but shove more bands in more places since. Chalk that up to more time spent hanging out; this is probably also why Party.San sees the same five-band drop from last year.
The other thing to note is that Thursday night at Party.San was really fucking good this year. I knew, of course, that Devourment and Watain had fucking killed it, but I didn't know that this was the best single festival day I had on record since Atheist broke the scoring system in 2006, which came out to exactly the same average. What's more, this year's day 1 was a lot more consistent; it's harder to make up 'dropped' points in a sample of five bands rather than 8, especially when there isn't a historically great set in the mix generating a "free" point.
Last but not least, trends. There was a lot of ceaseless moaning about the lack of quality on this year's Wacken, but overall, average score dropped by 0.04 points. So even according to this dumb and arbitrary measure, not significant. Party.San, though, saw a significant increase in quality on stage as well as fun "off the park"....and I'm pretty sure that had I seen enough of, say, Ofermod, Diabolical or The Crown to write some more arbitrary numbers down for Friday, this wouldn't've cratered the average. If you're losing patience with great culture and merely "pretty good" music up in S-H, the great culture and great music in Thüringen are worth checking out. Hinterlands guide for non-German-speakers is that way.
Showing posts with label wacken2010. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wacken2010. Show all posts
Thursday, September 09, 2010
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
Euro Tour 2010 part 8: The Silence Is Deafening
8/8
[Wacken]
355. Gray skies fallen, but not much rain. The tent was more or less dry as I packed up, but I'm hanging it up in Berlin, if I can, all the same.
356. The metal Rapture: coffee in cups and tea cartons on the tables, but the people are just....gone. Well, until next year.
[Hamburg]
On the train to Berlin now; partying and crashing last night created a backlog in the notes, which I straightened out over this train leg; the notes in question are now transcribed above and in the prior post, with pictures in the right places.
It's not just that I happened to get 'adopted' by a bunch of Spaniards for three days; the untold story of this year's festival is going to be the emergence of the Spanish-speaking population, likely mostly at the expense of English. Wherever I went, there seemed to be Spanish spoken in numbers, and to such a degree that I had to start checking to be sure it wasn't just the same people all the time. In contrast, most of the English I heard was in an Irish accent, with American and Australian about tied for a very distant second. Time will tell if this is an aberration, but while English is still the official second language of the festival, those who already have some English and German nay want to pick up Spanish for utility purposes. I know I will -- should I come back, which is more likely now than it was a week ago.
With big bands (well, big new bands, what with Maiden, Slayer, Fear Factory, Immortal, Cannibal Corpse, and UDO all having played here before) and big anniversaries off the table, what remained was a normal Wacken. Normalcy, for someone like me who cut their teeth on the go-go ascendancy of the past few years, feels like a letdown, but if you look at the billing, as it is, for what it is, you've got to respect the bands, and the setup that brought them in, for laying out what has to be acknowledged as a musically excellent festival. If this feels average, it's just an indication of how high that average is in absolute terms. Wacken is more commercial than it was, but still allows and even creates space for DIY bands, Wacken has a lot of shit mainstream bands, but gave Voivod and Kampfar good long sets on a big stage to be mega true. Seriously, all things considered, this festival is fucking awesome, and anyone who tells you differently is probably trying to offload their timeshare for the first weekend in August. It's just the Stammgäste that occasionally get old and jaded.
I plan not to be back unless I get at least two from the set (Hypocrisy, Tankard, [Sodom, Kreator], some band with dudes I know personally), but I also reserve the right to change that plan at any time. If you haven't been yet, though, you still need to go.
Next up: Berlin; shower; shave; hang tent/bag; maybe laundry, deffo dinner. After that, I can figure out what tourism points remain for Monday and Tuesday.
[Berlin]
357. Tower at Ostkreutz. The real is everywhere here in the old east sector.
358. Penthouse yo.
359. And a view into the distance.
360. Same shot, wider to show the altitude a little better.
Despite the views and being large enough to set up a tent in (more on that in a sec), I'm not sure that I'd recommend the Grand City on the Landsbergallee to other travelers. All the main lights were out of commission, the battery in the TV remote was dead, no soap or shampoo in the dispenser, and the AC was minimally on the fritz if not completely unavailable. However, even with this, the room was so cheap (about $108 for 3 nights) that I personally would do it again. After all, this was only a matter of finding a Spätverkauf or a gas station -- and I had to get something to eat anyway. Back on the road!
361. Old out-of-use building by the hotel.
362. Olympic training center at the Berlin Sportforum.
363. Jewish cemetery by the road.
364. Graffiti on the Kindl brewery.
365. Brewery front entrance.
366. A look into the cemetery coming back; history everywhere.
367. Kleingartenanlage front wall, Eastberlin style.
368. Dinner with improvised utensils. Normal people go to the hotel restaurant. I buy a brick of pea soup while getting batteries and eat it with a bottle opener because I forgot I didn't bring any utensils.
369. Tent up to air out.
370. Yes, in the hotel. Couple days like this, and it'll be field-ready again.
[Wacken]
355. Gray skies fallen, but not much rain. The tent was more or less dry as I packed up, but I'm hanging it up in Berlin, if I can, all the same.
356. The metal Rapture: coffee in cups and tea cartons on the tables, but the people are just....gone. Well, until next year.
[Hamburg]
On the train to Berlin now; partying and crashing last night created a backlog in the notes, which I straightened out over this train leg; the notes in question are now transcribed above and in the prior post, with pictures in the right places.
It's not just that I happened to get 'adopted' by a bunch of Spaniards for three days; the untold story of this year's festival is going to be the emergence of the Spanish-speaking population, likely mostly at the expense of English. Wherever I went, there seemed to be Spanish spoken in numbers, and to such a degree that I had to start checking to be sure it wasn't just the same people all the time. In contrast, most of the English I heard was in an Irish accent, with American and Australian about tied for a very distant second. Time will tell if this is an aberration, but while English is still the official second language of the festival, those who already have some English and German nay want to pick up Spanish for utility purposes. I know I will -- should I come back, which is more likely now than it was a week ago.
With big bands (well, big new bands, what with Maiden, Slayer, Fear Factory, Immortal, Cannibal Corpse, and UDO all having played here before) and big anniversaries off the table, what remained was a normal Wacken. Normalcy, for someone like me who cut their teeth on the go-go ascendancy of the past few years, feels like a letdown, but if you look at the billing, as it is, for what it is, you've got to respect the bands, and the setup that brought them in, for laying out what has to be acknowledged as a musically excellent festival. If this feels average, it's just an indication of how high that average is in absolute terms. Wacken is more commercial than it was, but still allows and even creates space for DIY bands, Wacken has a lot of shit mainstream bands, but gave Voivod and Kampfar good long sets on a big stage to be mega true. Seriously, all things considered, this festival is fucking awesome, and anyone who tells you differently is probably trying to offload their timeshare for the first weekend in August. It's just the Stammgäste that occasionally get old and jaded.
I plan not to be back unless I get at least two from the set (Hypocrisy, Tankard, [Sodom, Kreator], some band with dudes I know personally), but I also reserve the right to change that plan at any time. If you haven't been yet, though, you still need to go.
Next up: Berlin; shower; shave; hang tent/bag; maybe laundry, deffo dinner. After that, I can figure out what tourism points remain for Monday and Tuesday.
[Berlin]
357. Tower at Ostkreutz. The real is everywhere here in the old east sector.
358. Penthouse yo.
359. And a view into the distance.
360. Same shot, wider to show the altitude a little better.
Despite the views and being large enough to set up a tent in (more on that in a sec), I'm not sure that I'd recommend the Grand City on the Landsbergallee to other travelers. All the main lights were out of commission, the battery in the TV remote was dead, no soap or shampoo in the dispenser, and the AC was minimally on the fritz if not completely unavailable. However, even with this, the room was so cheap (about $108 for 3 nights) that I personally would do it again. After all, this was only a matter of finding a Spätverkauf or a gas station -- and I had to get something to eat anyway. Back on the road!
361. Old out-of-use building by the hotel.
362. Olympic training center at the Berlin Sportforum.
363. Jewish cemetery by the road.
364. Graffiti on the Kindl brewery.
365. Brewery front entrance.
366. A look into the cemetery coming back; history everywhere.
367. Kleingartenanlage front wall, Eastberlin style.
368. Dinner with improvised utensils. Normal people go to the hotel restaurant. I buy a brick of pea soup while getting batteries and eat it with a bottle opener because I forgot I didn't bring any utensils.
369. Tent up to air out.
370. Yes, in the hotel. Couple days like this, and it'll be field-ready again.
Euro Tour 2010 part 7: Buried By Time And Dust
8/7
[Wacken]
Last day. Time to do some merch, pass out the contents of my coat, and see the most concentrated stretch of "front" of the festival. From the start of Kampfar at 2:30 until Immortal wraps at 11, I probably don't sit down. Way it should be, but that's seriously 9 hours. How did I rate this fest as uninspiring again?
292. I have a serious problem. Bootleg patch addiction ruins lives and empties wallets. On the plus side, though, I get to fill in any and all empty spaces in both of my live jackets.
------
Special: A Word About Kuttes
This article was in the festival news this morning; in that context and with the "problem" alluded to above, it seems like this year's special is on the use and construction of patchjackets.
It's up for debate whether the kutte as we know it was invented by German bikers or by English tailors' apprentices in the NWOBHM era, but it inherits from both, and both only reinforce the DIY ethic. German bikers swap local club patches at meetups, leading to the vest covered in many small patches. The big backpatch, though, is probably a descendant of fan DIY embroidery, which was itself probably inspired by the meaning-laden backpatch configurations of outlaw biker clubs. And now dudes can make Hammerfall jackets, but what the hell.
More important is the idea of 'souvenir'. Your kutte is self-expression, and also a self-authenticating record, a tattoo that you can take off and use as a pillow if your pack gets lost. Every jacket will have a story to tell -- and if the construction is true, it'll be authentic and worth hearing.
The kutte is also the ultimate paradox: on the one hand, it is an old, dirty, sweated-through pile of fraying fabric with rusting metal bits jammed into it that by definition never gets washed, no matter how much mud, blood, sweat, and beer it soaks up, but on the other hand, as personal history and from sunk value (cost of patches and time spent sewing) it is literally beyond price. With flights and festival tickets figured in, the time is coming soon when my jacket will be worth more than my still relatively-new car. Fucked up.
What this all comes around to, in the end, is that people are apparently eBaying kuttes out there, and some people are apparently buying them. I almost can't process that. DIYing a jacket together to field readiness takes a shitload of time; when I first got my original to a good state, I figured about $300 in parts and labor. No way you can make money like that.
And that's just build to sell -- I can't even imagine selling your own "used". It'd be like selling one of your legs; something so inseparable from yourself and seriously, you might need that sometime. Better just to stow it.
Everything, though, is down to DIY in the end. As long as it's necessary to build your jacket yourself, the only people who build them out worth a damn will be the ones who similarly will never want to get shot of them.
And on that front, it's not necessary to go to Germany or silkscreen your own kvlt logos to get started building. All you need is something that covers your torso, needle and thread, and a plan. You can build a true jacket out of shit off the racks at Newbury Comics if you do all your own work, by your own rules, not anything inherited from '80s liner sleeve collages, and the kvltest of pieces will not save you if you take shortcuts or, god forbid, buy stuff preaffixed.
Needle, thread, jacket, parts. Beer cap thimble and some kind of football on the TV. Only this is true, and fortunately, like metal itself, it's available to everyone who's willing to take the leap and do the work.
------
293. The firefighters' band warming up the morning crowd.
Ektomorf [4/7]
Stasis by definition, basically unchanged in the last four years. Then again, theirs was a mature style on Instinct; Soulfly put a lot of time and effort into developing it.
I could be seeing Nightmare, but that nine-hour stand looms; easier to sit around and take what comes for now.
294. Not just the scourge of anime conventions any more. However, in an interesting move for the patheticness implications, hugs are not free, even on the sign.
295. DIY sofa. 2x bench + 1x table, + 1x inspired idea = 3-seater bench with back support.
This was later upgraded with another bench to include a footstool.
Caliban [4/7]
Mittelmässig komplett. Metalcore is ossifying, and this is what flesh that is turning into living stone sounds like. I'm about to go to sleep here -- if it has to be this genre, give us something from the NBL.
Kampfar [6.5/7]
Worth every bit of the year wait, and more besides. This would have been better at night, but "Hymne" and "Ravenheart" will bring even the sunniest, dustiest day back to the fogged and gloomy fells of Nordaland.
296. Kampfar setting up.
297. Checking guitars.
298. A dust cloud rises from the main infield.
299. Kampfar take the stage.
300. Drums and banner.
301. The drone yields to roar.
302. Auftritt!
303. Not a Bergtatt fog, but a Bergtatt feel.
304. Thomas lays it down.
305. Band jamming.
306. In with a fuckin BANG!
307. Dolk thrashing.
308. Full band.
309. En hymne til Wacken.
310. Evoking the white waterfalls.
311. In the grip of the music.
312. Choir for the intro to "Hymne".
313. Roaring up the crowd; a thanks for waiting.
314. Ripping some old shit.
315. 'Forgotten' drumkit.
316. Between the flames.
317. Feuer frei!
318. More fireblasts.
319. Jon heroshot.
320. The Ravenheart banner goes up.
321. Full normal banner as the crew tears down.
322. The firefighters spray down the stagefront to cut down on the dust.
323. The ground just devours the water.
324. What front and center looks like.
Overkill [6/7]
Not as good as inside, but a crapload better than the last time I saw them here, even if they didn't break out "Old School". However, they of course don't care what I say, and told me to fuck off a couple dozen times surrounding a cover of their namesake Motorhead tune. ;)
325. Wacken to the core.
326. We are the Wacken Crew.
327. D.D. kicking ass. (Sorry, ran out of song title puns.)
328. Bobby screaming at the crowd.
329. We don't care what you say!
Lock Up [6/7]
A good, finely tuned return performance for these grindmasters, paying tribute to Jesse (R.I.P.) while showing themselves as a band, now with Anton from Pentagram (the Chilean one) stepping in on guitar, capable of moving forward. Nothing new here just yet, though, but those two records are so good that the large, fired-up audience was just glad to hear them again, crunched out in a worthy fashion. "What do you reckon, Mr. Barker? Another fast one?" Of course it's going to be another fast one, the great virtue of this band is that fast, brutal songs is all they have.
330. Barker on the throne.
331. Anton gets tuned up and settled in.
332. "What do you reckon, Mr. Barker? Ready to go?"
333. Shane and Tom pounding it out.
334. Lock Up, locked in.
335. Full band in action.
336. Tom belting it out.
W.A.S.P. [5/7]
The band's still got chops, and Blackie still has the pipes, even if he looks completely past it. But the music....yowza. Completely useless L.A. pop metal, almost throughout, and that, time does not heal.
337. W.A.S.P., far enough away that Blackie's jowls and poodlemullet are not immediately apparent.
W.A.S.P. were kinda boring, aso Dennis (who was also doing an Overkill-through-Cannibal-Corpse rail powerstand) and I played spot-the-CC-member as they set up.
338. Pat tuning up.
339. Paul bringing his drums in.
340. Detail shot of the cowhead sculpture, since I was literally right under it.
341. Rob getting warmed up.
Cannibal Corpse [6.5/7]
Maybe I was a little close for maximum effect, but this was a crushing set of premium death metal by any measure. The pit was immense, but injuries minimal, and the crush up front not bad at all. Dust got to the point where you'd think that someone'd thrown a smoke bomb, but what really filled the air, even more so, was all-crushing death metal.
342. The band hit the stage.
343. CC unleash devastation.
344. Corpsegrinder growling doom.
345. Full band, full bang.
346. George and Pat wrecking necks.
347. FOR TEH HORD LOLZ. There were "Explode me" signs out in the crowd, obviously unclear on the difference between grinding and explosion.....and that Fisher's been down since beta yo, so his main is probably not a fucking skillknight.
347a. Detail, but still not sharp enough.
Corpsegrinder's WoW fandom, of course, is no secret. However, not many uberfans have managed to get themselves put into the game. If you a) play this game and b) did not get the death metal sweatpants from this guy's quest and then keep them forever, you fail. (sure, a lot of people would just stop at a) on that assessment, but these people are on George's list of people to punch in the face, and that's not a good place to be.
348. Curto always looks on the bright side of life.
Rather than stay in the crush for Edguy and Immortal, I pulled and went to get a drink with Dennis' crew. On the way, I got grabbed by Mária, and then we all hung out together for a while before the Germans went back to their camp. I barely saw/heard Edguy, but found out I'd been hanging out with Sobo from Jack Slater for the past three days. WTF?! Small damn world, great fuckin fest.
349. Edguy atmosphere.
350. That's no moon....it's a lightglobe.
After Edguy, we tried unsuccessfully to get into the circus show, hung out in the beergarden for a bit, got dinner, got Sobo and Paula found again, then got in to see Fear Factory from the side. This is how it goes when you're in a group; a lot of waiting, meeting up, doing in many ways everything but seeing bands. It's only insaniacs like me, alone and self-sufficient, whose only choice is rail, bar, tent.
Fear Factory [5/7]
If I'd heard in advance that Dino was back in, I'd've been more interested earlier. Still, though, Fear Factory is Fear Factory: decent, solid, with an unquestionable appeal, but not really interesting to me.
351. Fear Factory, super wide.
While we were sitting here taking in the schedule, Curto noticed that Gene was playing all to the outside, rather than crossing over like other drummers. So I dusted off Aaron's old fat drummer theory, and now that has crossed over, across continents and languages.
352. Stage lit in Demanufactured Blue. (See if Lowe's has a chip for that!)
353. Pyro on the spotlight towers = awesome.
354. Big board already in operation. In a first, they moved one of the video walls over to the bus gate to track coming departures. Technology, for good? Who knew? Disruptive, yes, but useful.
[Wacken]
Last day. Time to do some merch, pass out the contents of my coat, and see the most concentrated stretch of "front" of the festival. From the start of Kampfar at 2:30 until Immortal wraps at 11, I probably don't sit down. Way it should be, but that's seriously 9 hours. How did I rate this fest as uninspiring again?
292. I have a serious problem. Bootleg patch addiction ruins lives and empties wallets. On the plus side, though, I get to fill in any and all empty spaces in both of my live jackets.
------
Special: A Word About Kuttes
This article was in the festival news this morning; in that context and with the "problem" alluded to above, it seems like this year's special is on the use and construction of patchjackets.
It's up for debate whether the kutte as we know it was invented by German bikers or by English tailors' apprentices in the NWOBHM era, but it inherits from both, and both only reinforce the DIY ethic. German bikers swap local club patches at meetups, leading to the vest covered in many small patches. The big backpatch, though, is probably a descendant of fan DIY embroidery, which was itself probably inspired by the meaning-laden backpatch configurations of outlaw biker clubs. And now dudes can make Hammerfall jackets, but what the hell.
More important is the idea of 'souvenir'. Your kutte is self-expression, and also a self-authenticating record, a tattoo that you can take off and use as a pillow if your pack gets lost. Every jacket will have a story to tell -- and if the construction is true, it'll be authentic and worth hearing.
The kutte is also the ultimate paradox: on the one hand, it is an old, dirty, sweated-through pile of fraying fabric with rusting metal bits jammed into it that by definition never gets washed, no matter how much mud, blood, sweat, and beer it soaks up, but on the other hand, as personal history and from sunk value (cost of patches and time spent sewing) it is literally beyond price. With flights and festival tickets figured in, the time is coming soon when my jacket will be worth more than my still relatively-new car. Fucked up.
What this all comes around to, in the end, is that people are apparently eBaying kuttes out there, and some people are apparently buying them. I almost can't process that. DIYing a jacket together to field readiness takes a shitload of time; when I first got my original to a good state, I figured about $300 in parts and labor. No way you can make money like that.
And that's just build to sell -- I can't even imagine selling your own "used". It'd be like selling one of your legs; something so inseparable from yourself and seriously, you might need that sometime. Better just to stow it.
Everything, though, is down to DIY in the end. As long as it's necessary to build your jacket yourself, the only people who build them out worth a damn will be the ones who similarly will never want to get shot of them.
And on that front, it's not necessary to go to Germany or silkscreen your own kvlt logos to get started building. All you need is something that covers your torso, needle and thread, and a plan. You can build a true jacket out of shit off the racks at Newbury Comics if you do all your own work, by your own rules, not anything inherited from '80s liner sleeve collages, and the kvltest of pieces will not save you if you take shortcuts or, god forbid, buy stuff preaffixed.
Needle, thread, jacket, parts. Beer cap thimble and some kind of football on the TV. Only this is true, and fortunately, like metal itself, it's available to everyone who's willing to take the leap and do the work.
------
293. The firefighters' band warming up the morning crowd.
Ektomorf [4/7]
Stasis by definition, basically unchanged in the last four years. Then again, theirs was a mature style on Instinct; Soulfly put a lot of time and effort into developing it.
I could be seeing Nightmare, but that nine-hour stand looms; easier to sit around and take what comes for now.
294. Not just the scourge of anime conventions any more. However, in an interesting move for the patheticness implications, hugs are not free, even on the sign.
295. DIY sofa. 2x bench + 1x table, + 1x inspired idea = 3-seater bench with back support.
This was later upgraded with another bench to include a footstool.
Caliban [4/7]
Mittelmässig komplett. Metalcore is ossifying, and this is what flesh that is turning into living stone sounds like. I'm about to go to sleep here -- if it has to be this genre, give us something from the NBL.
Kampfar [6.5/7]
Worth every bit of the year wait, and more besides. This would have been better at night, but "Hymne" and "Ravenheart" will bring even the sunniest, dustiest day back to the fogged and gloomy fells of Nordaland.
296. Kampfar setting up.
297. Checking guitars.
298. A dust cloud rises from the main infield.
299. Kampfar take the stage.
300. Drums and banner.
301. The drone yields to roar.
302. Auftritt!
303. Not a Bergtatt fog, but a Bergtatt feel.
304. Thomas lays it down.
305. Band jamming.
306. In with a fuckin BANG!
307. Dolk thrashing.
308. Full band.
309. En hymne til Wacken.
310. Evoking the white waterfalls.
311. In the grip of the music.
312. Choir for the intro to "Hymne".
313. Roaring up the crowd; a thanks for waiting.
314. Ripping some old shit.
315. 'Forgotten' drumkit.
316. Between the flames.
317. Feuer frei!
318. More fireblasts.
319. Jon heroshot.
320. The Ravenheart banner goes up.
321. Full normal banner as the crew tears down.
322. The firefighters spray down the stagefront to cut down on the dust.
323. The ground just devours the water.
324. What front and center looks like.
Overkill [6/7]
Not as good as inside, but a crapload better than the last time I saw them here, even if they didn't break out "Old School". However, they of course don't care what I say, and told me to fuck off a couple dozen times surrounding a cover of their namesake Motorhead tune. ;)
325. Wacken to the core.
326. We are the Wacken Crew.
327. D.D. kicking ass. (Sorry, ran out of song title puns.)
328. Bobby screaming at the crowd.
329. We don't care what you say!
Lock Up [6/7]
A good, finely tuned return performance for these grindmasters, paying tribute to Jesse (R.I.P.) while showing themselves as a band, now with Anton from Pentagram (the Chilean one) stepping in on guitar, capable of moving forward. Nothing new here just yet, though, but those two records are so good that the large, fired-up audience was just glad to hear them again, crunched out in a worthy fashion. "What do you reckon, Mr. Barker? Another fast one?" Of course it's going to be another fast one, the great virtue of this band is that fast, brutal songs is all they have.
330. Barker on the throne.
331. Anton gets tuned up and settled in.
332. "What do you reckon, Mr. Barker? Ready to go?"
333. Shane and Tom pounding it out.
334. Lock Up, locked in.
335. Full band in action.
336. Tom belting it out.
W.A.S.P. [5/7]
The band's still got chops, and Blackie still has the pipes, even if he looks completely past it. But the music....yowza. Completely useless L.A. pop metal, almost throughout, and that, time does not heal.
337. W.A.S.P., far enough away that Blackie's jowls and poodlemullet are not immediately apparent.
W.A.S.P. were kinda boring, aso Dennis (who was also doing an Overkill-through-Cannibal-Corpse rail powerstand) and I played spot-the-CC-member as they set up.
338. Pat tuning up.
339. Paul bringing his drums in.
340. Detail shot of the cowhead sculpture, since I was literally right under it.
341. Rob getting warmed up.
Cannibal Corpse [6.5/7]
Maybe I was a little close for maximum effect, but this was a crushing set of premium death metal by any measure. The pit was immense, but injuries minimal, and the crush up front not bad at all. Dust got to the point where you'd think that someone'd thrown a smoke bomb, but what really filled the air, even more so, was all-crushing death metal.
342. The band hit the stage.
343. CC unleash devastation.
344. Corpsegrinder growling doom.
345. Full band, full bang.
346. George and Pat wrecking necks.
347. FOR TEH HORD LOLZ. There were "Explode me" signs out in the crowd, obviously unclear on the difference between grinding and explosion.....and that Fisher's been down since beta yo, so his main is probably not a fucking skillknight.
347a. Detail, but still not sharp enough.
Corpsegrinder's WoW fandom, of course, is no secret. However, not many uberfans have managed to get themselves put into the game. If you a) play this game and b) did not get the death metal sweatpants from this guy's quest and then keep them forever, you fail. (sure, a lot of people would just stop at a) on that assessment, but these people are on George's list of people to punch in the face, and that's not a good place to be.
348. Curto always looks on the bright side of life.
Rather than stay in the crush for Edguy and Immortal, I pulled and went to get a drink with Dennis' crew. On the way, I got grabbed by Mária, and then we all hung out together for a while before the Germans went back to their camp. I barely saw/heard Edguy, but found out I'd been hanging out with Sobo from Jack Slater for the past three days. WTF?! Small damn world, great fuckin fest.
349. Edguy atmosphere.
350. That's no moon....it's a lightglobe.
After Edguy, we tried unsuccessfully to get into the circus show, hung out in the beergarden for a bit, got dinner, got Sobo and Paula found again, then got in to see Fear Factory from the side. This is how it goes when you're in a group; a lot of waiting, meeting up, doing in many ways everything but seeing bands. It's only insaniacs like me, alone and self-sufficient, whose only choice is rail, bar, tent.
Fear Factory [5/7]
If I'd heard in advance that Dino was back in, I'd've been more interested earlier. Still, though, Fear Factory is Fear Factory: decent, solid, with an unquestionable appeal, but not really interesting to me.
351. Fear Factory, super wide.
While we were sitting here taking in the schedule, Curto noticed that Gene was playing all to the outside, rather than crossing over like other drummers. So I dusted off Aaron's old fat drummer theory, and now that has crossed over, across continents and languages.
352. Stage lit in Demanufactured Blue. (See if Lowe's has a chip for that!)
353. Pyro on the spotlight towers = awesome.
354. Big board already in operation. In a first, they moved one of the video walls over to the bus gate to track coming departures. Technology, for good? Who knew? Disruptive, yes, but useful.
Euro Tour 2010 part 6: The Sun Was In My Eyes
8/6
[Wacken]
This morning I learned an important lesson. When you ask overworked breakfast shop guys for "whatever", they give you the fucking dregs, in the form of two rolls with raw Hackfleisch and onions. Pig sushi for breakfast, awesome. Next time, ask for specifics.
Today is decent for bands, not great, but there's going to be a lot more time by the stage than in the beergarden. I also want to see if I can hunt up a torc, but the vikingism of the stalls I've seen so far leans heavily against it.
243. Danish promo. I've seen Obliteration, of course, and (at this point I still thought) I'm seeing Nominon next week, but I don't know many of the rest. All the more reason to go -- if, of course, I was still going to be in Europe in a month's time. If you can get to KBH, go support!
For more information, go to killtowndeathfest.dk.
244. The Luftwaffe get to get in without a ticket.
245. Dew-Scented setting up and checking.
Dew-Scented [6/7]
Just as expected; raw, powerful, trad-driven but never hidebound thrash fucking meta, perfect for getting geared up properly with. They squeezed every last drop out of their allotted set time (by the usual thrash trick of playing wicked fast), and kept a small but lively pit boiling in the center almost throughout. Hammer.
246. Looking back over the ground.
247. Dew-Scented doing an extended soundcheck that essentially added another song to their set.
248. More "checking" -- but nobody's complaining about three full minutes of full-band thrash blasting.
249. Security playing with a toy cow that "Harry Metal" didn't throw far enough off the stage to hit the crowd.
250. Jetzt gehts richtig ab.
251. Dew-Scented pounding the crowd to dust.
252. Arise from the fuckin grave!
Amorphis [5/7]
Decent, but I don't feel I missed a whole lot by sticking Black Stage-side to wait for Orphaned Land's return. The sound was doubled over to the other stage, and this was a set tilted towards their later stuff (exactly as expected), and thus of relatively less interest.
253. Orphaned Land set up, unfazed by the Finns blasting next door.
254. Yossi tunes up.
In between bands, there's music videos on the big screens at the sides of the mainstages. Iced Earth's video for "Ten Thousand Strong" is playing right now, and the point of this note is that Jon Schaffer apparently doesn't do irony at all. Seriously, go watch it again, thinking about his politics and current events in the real world.
Orphaned Land [6/7]
It wasn't as magic as last time, maybe due to the larger setting or the prominence of the playback elements, but the band got steadily better through the set and got the crowd (none of whom did anything politically controversial) pumping. Good stuff, and they managed to run out a bunch of extras thanks to the larger platform to the approval, at least, of this old kuttenträger.
255. The drummer pumps up the hype.
256. Full band.
257. Smashing start -- "The Three Sons of Seven".
258. Yossi -- hero shot.
259. Kobi in unearthly light.
260. Mostly-traditional, not-unusually-provocative belly dance to music based on traditional melodies? No Fun Brigade approved, and not hard on the eye either.
261. Ahriman and Ormuzd. The black-clad dude is Izzy from Bartholomeus Night, in to do guest vocals on "Halo Dies".
262. The crowd bounces for "Norra el Norra", kicking up a duststorm.
This pic also includes the super-hawt South Asian (? -- I wasn't anywhere near close enough, and while I think I saw her again in Berlin, I wasn't going to fucking go up to her on the S3 platform and ask "hey, did you spend Orphaned Land's set on someone's shoulders with your shirt off, and by the way, what's your ethnic background?") woman who will likely be the "face" of this set in the commercial media, but she's kind of behind some people's arms and a shitload of dust.
263. There's something seriously wrong with this picture. Near field: waiting for Voivod. Far field: watching Ill Niño. They've got good instrumentalists, most of whose tracks on Roadrunner United I enjoyed, but collectively the band is shit.
The Party Stage, fortunately, is still in a sonic shadow, and the PA here isn't doubling the mainstage, so I don't have to hear them on the wait.
Voivod [7/7]
Even from the soundcheck, this was going to be amazing. The band delivered, as they seem to be in the habit of doing, but with a little extra boost that can only come from the stage. Ensiferum in '05, Atheist in '06, Enslaved in '07, Cynic and Primordial in '08, even Borknagar last year, and now Voivod -- just something about the place, wherever it happens to be placed. Full out amazing set, top marks from the first note to the last.
264. Voivod checking.
265. Blackie gets dialed in, wearing an Acrassicauda shirt.
266. Another full-featured soundcheck.
267. Snake and Chewie fucking around on mic check.
268. Repeaters and antennae top the Raiffeisen tower now.
269. The crowd starts to fill in some more.
270. Voivod doing their secret warmup dance.
271. The Bloc has made it overseas for their heroes.
272. The band take the stage.
273. Thrashing around like a SoCal hardcore band half their age.
274. "Voivod" -- four mostly graying Canadians possessed.
275. Snake, Blackie, Away; only one original member not pictured, but of course wherever Voivod go as a band, Piggy is always there with them.
276. The one and only M. Belanger.
277. Chewie, like he's been here forever.
278. Blackie Theriault, a true original.
279. Snake setting up one of the weirder ones.
280. Full band, full zoom.
The Bosshoss [4/7]
Half-listened to, but while it wasn't bad, it wasn't terribly inspiring either. Besides that, why? Why here? Like Volbeat, but without, um, the metal parts.
Schlemish [5/7]
Decent overall, but they did a fair bit of genericized Celtic stuff, and I'm always wary of that -- that music comes from somewhere, and the issues that go into the originals are, unfortunately, still alive and relevant in Celtic Britan. Those who concern themselves with being authentic revivalists ought to pay more attention to stuff like that. Also, they didn't do "Rabenballade", which was a shame.
281. Schlemish in action.
282. A better view of the band.
283. Atmosphere; the stage this year is larger and on the other side of the Medieval Markt.
After this set, I went over and bought into the new model for live recordings. Thirty euro is a little steep, but Voivod today was worth it, and the code may be good for more than one set; who knows.
Not-hearig Kamelot right now; the schedule got fucked and Grave Digger, who I want to see, are playing against Equilibrium, who I HAVE to see.
284. It's a balloon WHY IS IT A BALLOON. With the only supermarket in walking distance of the festival grounds, Edeka doesn't exactly need to advertise.
Among other biergarten amusements in this dead space: dudes in bikinis, Bayer, and some guy in the fuckin Bumbles!
285. Shaking it to FantaK.
Fantasia Kalashnikov [5/7]
A jazz band covers metal standards. Exactly as clumsy and as cool as you'd expect, but my Latin as well as Celtic heritage has been awakened, and I enjoyed the fuck out of it.
286. FantaK and firedancer out front.
287. Fantasia Kalashnikov wraps it up.
Equilibrium [6/7]
Amazing, as expected, but this was the last stage that they should have been booked on. This is what happens when people don't buy records -- the organizers can't say, shit, 2500 people are going to show up in an area with no crowd control, we better move this band. Oh well; gave up three songs in to try and catch Slayer, but that was even worse packed....until Pitu took control, that is.
288. The bigger-than-expected audience, and the stage in the distance.
289. Epic viking entrance, 100% -- but it would've been better on the Black, nu?
I went back to the beergarden to see a bit of Slayer, and ran into Curto et al again. He and Mária were turning in, but Pitu and Paula were headed down front.
Slayer [6/7]
This was a good set back even in the beergarden, but it went great as we surged our way up. Pitu punched through holes that didn't even exist, and we got "South of Heaven" and "Angel of Death" from less than 50 yards back with almost no effort. Skill; and Slayer were as crushing as expected. Just, though; it's not a Slayer set if Tom doesn't forget some lyrics somewhere -- and as noted, a real Slayer set doesn't fit into an hour timelimit.
And now to the right; even if it's Anvil, if you can get close to a band you haven't seen before, why go back?
Seriously, Pitu is the man. If you're drinking with this dude at some fest and he suggests "vamonos a escena", FUCKING DO IT. No matter how packed it looks, there is always a way through.
290. Fuckin Slayer!
Anvil [5/7]
They may have finally made it after their movie, but Anvil is still Anvil, the music is still the music, and they had problems getting traction for 30 years for a reason. Decent thrashy '80s metal, but not really worth staying up for, and we pulled after a couple songs.
291. Anvil in nearly enough light.
Despite the undercurrent of "meh" in the air, this was quite a good day of music and metal culture. Wacken, it seems, is still Wacken after all.
[Wacken]
This morning I learned an important lesson. When you ask overworked breakfast shop guys for "whatever", they give you the fucking dregs, in the form of two rolls with raw Hackfleisch and onions. Pig sushi for breakfast, awesome. Next time, ask for specifics.
Today is decent for bands, not great, but there's going to be a lot more time by the stage than in the beergarden. I also want to see if I can hunt up a torc, but the vikingism of the stalls I've seen so far leans heavily against it.
243. Danish promo. I've seen Obliteration, of course, and (at this point I still thought) I'm seeing Nominon next week, but I don't know many of the rest. All the more reason to go -- if, of course, I was still going to be in Europe in a month's time. If you can get to KBH, go support!
For more information, go to killtowndeathfest.dk.
244. The Luftwaffe get to get in without a ticket.
245. Dew-Scented setting up and checking.
Dew-Scented [6/7]
Just as expected; raw, powerful, trad-driven but never hidebound thrash fucking meta, perfect for getting geared up properly with. They squeezed every last drop out of their allotted set time (by the usual thrash trick of playing wicked fast), and kept a small but lively pit boiling in the center almost throughout. Hammer.
246. Looking back over the ground.
247. Dew-Scented doing an extended soundcheck that essentially added another song to their set.
248. More "checking" -- but nobody's complaining about three full minutes of full-band thrash blasting.
249. Security playing with a toy cow that "Harry Metal" didn't throw far enough off the stage to hit the crowd.
250. Jetzt gehts richtig ab.
251. Dew-Scented pounding the crowd to dust.
252. Arise from the fuckin grave!
Amorphis [5/7]
Decent, but I don't feel I missed a whole lot by sticking Black Stage-side to wait for Orphaned Land's return. The sound was doubled over to the other stage, and this was a set tilted towards their later stuff (exactly as expected), and thus of relatively less interest.
253. Orphaned Land set up, unfazed by the Finns blasting next door.
254. Yossi tunes up.
In between bands, there's music videos on the big screens at the sides of the mainstages. Iced Earth's video for "Ten Thousand Strong" is playing right now, and the point of this note is that Jon Schaffer apparently doesn't do irony at all. Seriously, go watch it again, thinking about his politics and current events in the real world.
Orphaned Land [6/7]
It wasn't as magic as last time, maybe due to the larger setting or the prominence of the playback elements, but the band got steadily better through the set and got the crowd (none of whom did anything politically controversial) pumping. Good stuff, and they managed to run out a bunch of extras thanks to the larger platform to the approval, at least, of this old kuttenträger.
255. The drummer pumps up the hype.
256. Full band.
257. Smashing start -- "The Three Sons of Seven".
258. Yossi -- hero shot.
259. Kobi in unearthly light.
260. Mostly-traditional, not-unusually-provocative belly dance to music based on traditional melodies? No Fun Brigade approved, and not hard on the eye either.
261. Ahriman and Ormuzd. The black-clad dude is Izzy from Bartholomeus Night, in to do guest vocals on "Halo Dies".
262. The crowd bounces for "Norra el Norra", kicking up a duststorm.
This pic also includes the super-hawt South Asian (? -- I wasn't anywhere near close enough, and while I think I saw her again in Berlin, I wasn't going to fucking go up to her on the S3 platform and ask "hey, did you spend Orphaned Land's set on someone's shoulders with your shirt off, and by the way, what's your ethnic background?") woman who will likely be the "face" of this set in the commercial media, but she's kind of behind some people's arms and a shitload of dust.
263. There's something seriously wrong with this picture. Near field: waiting for Voivod. Far field: watching Ill Niño. They've got good instrumentalists, most of whose tracks on Roadrunner United I enjoyed, but collectively the band is shit.
The Party Stage, fortunately, is still in a sonic shadow, and the PA here isn't doubling the mainstage, so I don't have to hear them on the wait.
Voivod [7/7]
Even from the soundcheck, this was going to be amazing. The band delivered, as they seem to be in the habit of doing, but with a little extra boost that can only come from the stage. Ensiferum in '05, Atheist in '06, Enslaved in '07, Cynic and Primordial in '08, even Borknagar last year, and now Voivod -- just something about the place, wherever it happens to be placed. Full out amazing set, top marks from the first note to the last.
264. Voivod checking.
265. Blackie gets dialed in, wearing an Acrassicauda shirt.
266. Another full-featured soundcheck.
267. Snake and Chewie fucking around on mic check.
268. Repeaters and antennae top the Raiffeisen tower now.
269. The crowd starts to fill in some more.
270. Voivod doing their secret warmup dance.
271. The Bloc has made it overseas for their heroes.
272. The band take the stage.
273. Thrashing around like a SoCal hardcore band half their age.
274. "Voivod" -- four mostly graying Canadians possessed.
275. Snake, Blackie, Away; only one original member not pictured, but of course wherever Voivod go as a band, Piggy is always there with them.
276. The one and only M. Belanger.
277. Chewie, like he's been here forever.
278. Blackie Theriault, a true original.
279. Snake setting up one of the weirder ones.
280. Full band, full zoom.
The Bosshoss [4/7]
Half-listened to, but while it wasn't bad, it wasn't terribly inspiring either. Besides that, why? Why here? Like Volbeat, but without, um, the metal parts.
Schlemish [5/7]
Decent overall, but they did a fair bit of genericized Celtic stuff, and I'm always wary of that -- that music comes from somewhere, and the issues that go into the originals are, unfortunately, still alive and relevant in Celtic Britan. Those who concern themselves with being authentic revivalists ought to pay more attention to stuff like that. Also, they didn't do "Rabenballade", which was a shame.
281. Schlemish in action.
282. A better view of the band.
283. Atmosphere; the stage this year is larger and on the other side of the Medieval Markt.
After this set, I went over and bought into the new model for live recordings. Thirty euro is a little steep, but Voivod today was worth it, and the code may be good for more than one set; who knows.
Not-hearig Kamelot right now; the schedule got fucked and Grave Digger, who I want to see, are playing against Equilibrium, who I HAVE to see.
284. It's a balloon WHY IS IT A BALLOON. With the only supermarket in walking distance of the festival grounds, Edeka doesn't exactly need to advertise.
Among other biergarten amusements in this dead space: dudes in bikinis, Bayer, and some guy in the fuckin Bumbles!
285. Shaking it to FantaK.
Fantasia Kalashnikov [5/7]
A jazz band covers metal standards. Exactly as clumsy and as cool as you'd expect, but my Latin as well as Celtic heritage has been awakened, and I enjoyed the fuck out of it.
286. FantaK and firedancer out front.
287. Fantasia Kalashnikov wraps it up.
Equilibrium [6/7]
Amazing, as expected, but this was the last stage that they should have been booked on. This is what happens when people don't buy records -- the organizers can't say, shit, 2500 people are going to show up in an area with no crowd control, we better move this band. Oh well; gave up three songs in to try and catch Slayer, but that was even worse packed....until Pitu took control, that is.
288. The bigger-than-expected audience, and the stage in the distance.
289. Epic viking entrance, 100% -- but it would've been better on the Black, nu?
I went back to the beergarden to see a bit of Slayer, and ran into Curto et al again. He and Mária were turning in, but Pitu and Paula were headed down front.
Slayer [6/7]
This was a good set back even in the beergarden, but it went great as we surged our way up. Pitu punched through holes that didn't even exist, and we got "South of Heaven" and "Angel of Death" from less than 50 yards back with almost no effort. Skill; and Slayer were as crushing as expected. Just, though; it's not a Slayer set if Tom doesn't forget some lyrics somewhere -- and as noted, a real Slayer set doesn't fit into an hour timelimit.
And now to the right; even if it's Anvil, if you can get close to a band you haven't seen before, why go back?
Seriously, Pitu is the man. If you're drinking with this dude at some fest and he suggests "vamonos a escena", FUCKING DO IT. No matter how packed it looks, there is always a way through.
290. Fuckin Slayer!
Anvil [5/7]
They may have finally made it after their movie, but Anvil is still Anvil, the music is still the music, and they had problems getting traction for 30 years for a reason. Decent thrashy '80s metal, but not really worth staying up for, and we pulled after a couple songs.
291. Anvil in nearly enough light.
Despite the undercurrent of "meh" in the air, this was quite a good day of music and metal culture. Wacken, it seems, is still Wacken after all.
Euro Tour 2010 part 5: These Three Things
8/5
[Wacken]
The sky looks like crap, and I need to make a run into town to get batts and check the Celtic score. Also, for some reason I only traveled with three pairs of mountain socks, one of which is kind of beaten to crap from Norway. Who the fuck thought that was a smart idea?
Batts are in, and I think I've shaken off msot of the effect of the homebrew "Wodkaschnapps" I got off the Dutch dude from last night at our re-encounter this morning. So ist, sozusagen, Wacken. Some sprinkles, no rain. Five hours to gates. Hope it stays dry.
227. Biergarten aktuell.
Also, when I was in town, I saw an ad for something called Red Korea. Red wine and cola. This shoudl be enough to indicate the dumbness of the idea. It's a shit combination, so shit that associating it with the world's last Stalinist dictatorship is a positive. JUSTICE FOR AIJALON.
228. MTV newscrew, shooting a spot in a forcegiven kutte. This may be a Profifest, but the audience is still kvlt -- these guys were treated to a few rounds of "Kein Amnesty für MTV" from the German contingent and "You're shit/and you know you are" from the English-speakers, but they stuck through the kutte-draping, the mobbing, and the plastic forks broken into devilhorns being marched across the front of the camera, and got a good view of the true Wacken in.
229. ((not germane))
So there's this pink shirt you see at festivals with "schwarz war leider ausverkauft" (black was sold out) on the front. And now there's a complementary black shirt out with "fuck pink! schwarz ist wieder verfugbar" (they got black again) on it. Shirt meme is a shirt meme.
230. Table graffiti. "Mambo Kurt Huffs Glue!"....and some personal observations about Alexi Laiho and the Finnish dental system.
Random flyers/stickers ate on their expected hit rate, about, but it's always good to see them get vultured. The only problem is that in Germany, I probably have to put the Humanity Falls promo cards out face down....people are still kind of sensitive about images of KzLs.
So these Aussies sit down, ask where I'm from as normal, and the first question after that is do I know Sexcrement. Ho-ly fuckin shit. Half an hour later, we've traded a small book's worth of DIY tales (one of them being Mark Palfreyman from Alarum), including a concrete explanation of why Necrophagist was so late to Metalfest in 2006, and I'm damn near out of CDs. Small world, hellacious festival.
Prayers of Sanity [4/7]
Decent, but our thrash revivalists would wipe the floor with them. Maybe Portugal can do better as well, but with the format of this contest (these guys were national Metal Battle winners, the contest being sponsored by Metal Hammer), it's difficult to tell.
231. PA tower. We're in.
232. People getting an early front slot for Alice Cooper.
233. Party-mädels. Confetti and silly string to the unsuspecting is the price of glam.
234. Viking dude naked. Wacken, man.
Skyline [4/7]
Cool, but unlike last year an all-covers set. This is about their level, and the help, as shown, that they get by being the organizers' band definitely helps.
235. Skyline pumping up the crowd.
236. Doro fronting the orgaband.
237. Udo comes out to do "Balls To The Wall".
238. Official bodypaint girl, for some reason.
Now sitting through the Metal Hammer awards again; Steel Panther won best debut. This is why I put so much effort into DIY. DIY can occasionally be crap if dudes don't put effort into it, but the alternative is much, much worse.
239. Daaa~s iss de letzte. Seriously. Seriously. Maybe this is what Motley Crue does to a fest. TROTZDEM.
(I met some bikers the next day who had found an actual use for this stunt, but 10 euros to prank your buddy, as will be explained, is still a little steep.)
240. Curto getting a boost up from at least Paula and Maria, probably some others too.
241. "In the night/The fires are burning bright" -- Bruce and the cowskull.
242. Maiden crowd and the dying sun.
Iron Maiden [6/7]
It was a festival set (Curto (mentioned above, more later) was disappointed at the lack of MOAR, and more disappointed at the lack of "Run To The Hills"), but it was also a good Iron Maiden festival set, drawing mostly from the last three records. They didn't do anything off the new one, though, so I won't hear that till I get home.
On Curto. And Héctor, y Mária, y Carmen, y Pitu, y Paula y Sobo. Around the start of Alice Cooper, a Spanish guy sat down -- helped down -- by me with a wrecked knee. Despite the language barrier, we compared injuries, then hung out (translation assistance from several others of his friends, mentioned above), and I ended up seeing Iron Maiden con mis amigos nuevos, then hanging out at their camp. It was a grand old time of the sort you get only here, the ability to meet random people from random countries, connected only by metal, and stumble by accident into good times.
I'm hoping to see these guys again before the end of the fest, for various reasons, but not least among them (ok, not most either) that I want to hear the end of that shaggy-dog story of why Carlos Santana didn't want to play with Jaco Pastorius. Maybe I need to learn Spanish for that -- good enough reason to learn.
[Wacken]
The sky looks like crap, and I need to make a run into town to get batts and check the Celtic score. Also, for some reason I only traveled with three pairs of mountain socks, one of which is kind of beaten to crap from Norway. Who the fuck thought that was a smart idea?
Batts are in, and I think I've shaken off msot of the effect of the homebrew "Wodkaschnapps" I got off the Dutch dude from last night at our re-encounter this morning. So ist, sozusagen, Wacken. Some sprinkles, no rain. Five hours to gates. Hope it stays dry.
227. Biergarten aktuell.
Also, when I was in town, I saw an ad for something called Red Korea. Red wine and cola. This shoudl be enough to indicate the dumbness of the idea. It's a shit combination, so shit that associating it with the world's last Stalinist dictatorship is a positive. JUSTICE FOR AIJALON.
228. MTV newscrew, shooting a spot in a forcegiven kutte. This may be a Profifest, but the audience is still kvlt -- these guys were treated to a few rounds of "Kein Amnesty für MTV" from the German contingent and "You're shit/and you know you are" from the English-speakers, but they stuck through the kutte-draping, the mobbing, and the plastic forks broken into devilhorns being marched across the front of the camera, and got a good view of the true Wacken in.
229. ((not germane))
So there's this pink shirt you see at festivals with "schwarz war leider ausverkauft" (black was sold out) on the front. And now there's a complementary black shirt out with "fuck pink! schwarz ist wieder verfugbar" (they got black again) on it. Shirt meme is a shirt meme.
230. Table graffiti. "Mambo Kurt Huffs Glue!"....and some personal observations about Alexi Laiho and the Finnish dental system.
Random flyers/stickers ate on their expected hit rate, about, but it's always good to see them get vultured. The only problem is that in Germany, I probably have to put the Humanity Falls promo cards out face down....people are still kind of sensitive about images of KzLs.
So these Aussies sit down, ask where I'm from as normal, and the first question after that is do I know Sexcrement. Ho-ly fuckin shit. Half an hour later, we've traded a small book's worth of DIY tales (one of them being Mark Palfreyman from Alarum), including a concrete explanation of why Necrophagist was so late to Metalfest in 2006, and I'm damn near out of CDs. Small world, hellacious festival.
Prayers of Sanity [4/7]
Decent, but our thrash revivalists would wipe the floor with them. Maybe Portugal can do better as well, but with the format of this contest (these guys were national Metal Battle winners, the contest being sponsored by Metal Hammer), it's difficult to tell.
231. PA tower. We're in.
232. People getting an early front slot for Alice Cooper.
233. Party-mädels. Confetti and silly string to the unsuspecting is the price of glam.
234. Viking dude naked. Wacken, man.
Skyline [4/7]
Cool, but unlike last year an all-covers set. This is about their level, and the help, as shown, that they get by being the organizers' band definitely helps.
235. Skyline pumping up the crowd.
236. Doro fronting the orgaband.
237. Udo comes out to do "Balls To The Wall".
238. Official bodypaint girl, for some reason.
Now sitting through the Metal Hammer awards again; Steel Panther won best debut. This is why I put so much effort into DIY. DIY can occasionally be crap if dudes don't put effort into it, but the alternative is much, much worse.
239. Daaa~s iss de letzte. Seriously. Seriously. Maybe this is what Motley Crue does to a fest. TROTZDEM.
(I met some bikers the next day who had found an actual use for this stunt, but 10 euros to prank your buddy, as will be explained, is still a little steep.)
240. Curto getting a boost up from at least Paula and Maria, probably some others too.
241. "In the night/The fires are burning bright" -- Bruce and the cowskull.
242. Maiden crowd and the dying sun.
Iron Maiden [6/7]
It was a festival set (Curto (mentioned above, more later) was disappointed at the lack of MOAR, and more disappointed at the lack of "Run To The Hills"), but it was also a good Iron Maiden festival set, drawing mostly from the last three records. They didn't do anything off the new one, though, so I won't hear that till I get home.
On Curto. And Héctor, y Mária, y Carmen, y Pitu, y Paula y Sobo. Around the start of Alice Cooper, a Spanish guy sat down -- helped down -- by me with a wrecked knee. Despite the language barrier, we compared injuries, then hung out (translation assistance from several others of his friends, mentioned above), and I ended up seeing Iron Maiden con mis amigos nuevos, then hanging out at their camp. It was a grand old time of the sort you get only here, the ability to meet random people from random countries, connected only by metal, and stumble by accident into good times.
I'm hoping to see these guys again before the end of the fest, for various reasons, but not least among them (ok, not most either) that I want to hear the end of that shaggy-dog story of why Carlos Santana didn't want to play with Jaco Pastorius. Maybe I need to learn Spanish for that -- good enough reason to learn.
Euro Tour 2010 part 4: Wohin Soll Denn Die Reise Geh'n?
8/4
[Øresund]
183. Sjelland over breakfast. The Danish coast is in sight after passing through the open ocean -- across the eastern end of the Skagerrak and down the narrows and reefs of the Kattegatt -- overnight.
184. Sjelland through breakfast. Purely facetious.
185. Buoy in the channel, which has gotten narrow. Suspiciously narrow...
186. Ok, that's why. Always good to get back on familiar ground.
187. Kronborg from the sea.
188. Directly opposite the fortress.
Literally seconds after the above was taken, the power washer came past and in the process of cleaning the window made it useless for photography. The lesson: live in the moment and take your shots while you can, because they are there and gone between blinks.
189. Ferry, sailboat, and water distortion.
Coffee finished, I went up on deck to take more pictures and be more frustrated by bad batteries.
190. Ferries crossing off Helsingør.
191. There was apparently some weather overnight; things you miss when belowdecks with no windows.
Other than this, the weather has been pitch-perfect, which was a godsend given the extended periods of planned homelessness. Of course, this means it will rain throughout Wacken, and Party.San as well, but you take what you can get.
192. Helsingborg shoreline. This makes it pictures of four countries on this trip, despite never actually being in Sweden.
193. North to the narrows of the Sound.
194. Helsingborg industrial shoreline.
195. Postcard seascape. I can live inland just fine, but for most of my life it's been a fairly short hike to salt water and an open horizon, and it kind of shows.
196. Island in passing.
197. ...and the Swedish coast beyond.
I dunno...it's like these batteries are easily tired out or something. Need to upgrade to wicked-badass ones, and lots of them, to do the festivals.
198. Fishing boat going the other way.
199. Windmills on the shore behind.
200. And on the Danish side.
201. The trawler heads up towards Sweden.
202. Low-hulled build, probably an unloaded containership, coming in.
203. The power-launch lifeboats look like minisubs.
204. When the spray dries in the sun, it leaves a crust on any exposed surfaces.
205. Broadside view of the previous ship.
It's getting towards nine AM; I'm all packed, but it's still time to hit the exchange desk and make a final check. Just have to make sure I don't miss going under the Øresundbronn or anything.
206. Target: bridge. There's NFW we're making that, not in just another half hour, and it's out of the track besides.
207. Superstructure, flags flying.
208. Over into København.
209. Windfarm at sea to the south.
210. Into the harbor again.
211. Liferafts, not depthcharges. Each of these contains a Zodiac boat, but fortunately, they didn't have to deploy on this trip.
[København]
Even while pigpiling off the boat, I was missing the 9:50 train. Good thing there were also realistic options after getting down from Nordhavn.
212. ((not germane))
213. UNICEF/RCRC aid depot in Nordhavn.
214. Navigation aid; ok, this is where we are, let's go south.
215. Cool old car on a sidestreet, Nordhavn.
216. Out into the harbor from the S-tog platform.
217. Posthorn weathervane on top of the post office.
Everything is relative; under normal conditions, I'd be fuming about 53 DKK for a sandwich and some water...but I've just come from Norway, where the same meal would cost more, and the sub would be half the size.
I couldn't get a reserved seat on the ICE, so like last year it will be a mad scramble for an unbooked seat -- but at least on this go I've got the ticket in my pocket.
218. Tivoli orb over the train. On, afterwards, and in a free seat with a minimum of aggro.
Now resting at Rødby -- the ferry's late, but at least we didn't miss it like last year.
219. Back at sea; Denmark recedes behind the ferry.
220. Gulls flying alongside the ship.
221. Offshore windfarm.
222. Some kind of platform, for salvage? It's not really big enough to be a drilling rig.
223. The German side draws closer.
[Elmshorn]
It's like something out of Tales of the Black Freighter -- logical decisions, by random chance, lead to the worst of outcomes. I ended up alone on the train to Elmshorn, and am alone here on the platform, likely for another half hour. At least I'll get in and in all probability set up before dark, and it's a long festival yet and another one after to get stuff passed out.
224. View from the tent. Same place as ever.
[Wacken]
This tent's on its last legs. Thinking about tossing it after Party.San, especially if I have to put it away wet. I'll survive.
225. Making up a selection of merch items for today and tomorrow.
226. Herrlicher Himmel.
Shortly after this, I helped a crazy druggie Dutch dude kill down a bottle of Scotch, met his crew, got into an incoherent political argument, helped a Swedish teenager fix her bag, and passed out about half my CD allotment (from above) for the current two days. Looking good, but not as good is the report from Solvi that she'd gotten her wallet jacked from her tent. I aint got shit valuable that isn't strapped to my carcass at all times (well, except a computer that hates working and an out-of-region cellphone, both buried under laundry), but it's still a concern, even just as a marker of Wacken's metamorphosis into just another megafestival.
I also, and probably more importantly, have a belt buckle for the first time in four days. Fucking Hammer.
After the abovenoted, I got some dinner and a beer, and to talking with der Mattse (ok, Matt Wilkes, but German fluency gets you named whatever the locals want to do with your handle), a bunch of the DORF contingent, and some occasional passing Irish; good times, all around.
[Øresund]
183. Sjelland over breakfast. The Danish coast is in sight after passing through the open ocean -- across the eastern end of the Skagerrak and down the narrows and reefs of the Kattegatt -- overnight.
184. Sjelland through breakfast. Purely facetious.
185. Buoy in the channel, which has gotten narrow. Suspiciously narrow...
186. Ok, that's why. Always good to get back on familiar ground.
187. Kronborg from the sea.
188. Directly opposite the fortress.
Literally seconds after the above was taken, the power washer came past and in the process of cleaning the window made it useless for photography. The lesson: live in the moment and take your shots while you can, because they are there and gone between blinks.
189. Ferry, sailboat, and water distortion.
Coffee finished, I went up on deck to take more pictures and be more frustrated by bad batteries.
190. Ferries crossing off Helsingør.
191. There was apparently some weather overnight; things you miss when belowdecks with no windows.
Other than this, the weather has been pitch-perfect, which was a godsend given the extended periods of planned homelessness. Of course, this means it will rain throughout Wacken, and Party.San as well, but you take what you can get.
192. Helsingborg shoreline. This makes it pictures of four countries on this trip, despite never actually being in Sweden.
193. North to the narrows of the Sound.
194. Helsingborg industrial shoreline.
195. Postcard seascape. I can live inland just fine, but for most of my life it's been a fairly short hike to salt water and an open horizon, and it kind of shows.
196. Island in passing.
197. ...and the Swedish coast beyond.
I dunno...it's like these batteries are easily tired out or something. Need to upgrade to wicked-badass ones, and lots of them, to do the festivals.
198. Fishing boat going the other way.
199. Windmills on the shore behind.
200. And on the Danish side.
201. The trawler heads up towards Sweden.
202. Low-hulled build, probably an unloaded containership, coming in.
203. The power-launch lifeboats look like minisubs.
204. When the spray dries in the sun, it leaves a crust on any exposed surfaces.
205. Broadside view of the previous ship.
It's getting towards nine AM; I'm all packed, but it's still time to hit the exchange desk and make a final check. Just have to make sure I don't miss going under the Øresundbronn or anything.
206. Target: bridge. There's NFW we're making that, not in just another half hour, and it's out of the track besides.
207. Superstructure, flags flying.
208. Over into København.
209. Windfarm at sea to the south.
210. Into the harbor again.
211. Liferafts, not depthcharges. Each of these contains a Zodiac boat, but fortunately, they didn't have to deploy on this trip.
[København]
Even while pigpiling off the boat, I was missing the 9:50 train. Good thing there were also realistic options after getting down from Nordhavn.
212. ((not germane))
213. UNICEF/RCRC aid depot in Nordhavn.
214. Navigation aid; ok, this is where we are, let's go south.
215. Cool old car on a sidestreet, Nordhavn.
216. Out into the harbor from the S-tog platform.
217. Posthorn weathervane on top of the post office.
Everything is relative; under normal conditions, I'd be fuming about 53 DKK for a sandwich and some water...but I've just come from Norway, where the same meal would cost more, and the sub would be half the size.
I couldn't get a reserved seat on the ICE, so like last year it will be a mad scramble for an unbooked seat -- but at least on this go I've got the ticket in my pocket.
218. Tivoli orb over the train. On, afterwards, and in a free seat with a minimum of aggro.
Now resting at Rødby -- the ferry's late, but at least we didn't miss it like last year.
219. Back at sea; Denmark recedes behind the ferry.
220. Gulls flying alongside the ship.
221. Offshore windfarm.
222. Some kind of platform, for salvage? It's not really big enough to be a drilling rig.
223. The German side draws closer.
[Elmshorn]
It's like something out of Tales of the Black Freighter -- logical decisions, by random chance, lead to the worst of outcomes. I ended up alone on the train to Elmshorn, and am alone here on the platform, likely for another half hour. At least I'll get in and in all probability set up before dark, and it's a long festival yet and another one after to get stuff passed out.
224. View from the tent. Same place as ever.
[Wacken]
This tent's on its last legs. Thinking about tossing it after Party.San, especially if I have to put it away wet. I'll survive.
225. Making up a selection of merch items for today and tomorrow.
226. Herrlicher Himmel.
Shortly after this, I helped a crazy druggie Dutch dude kill down a bottle of Scotch, met his crew, got into an incoherent political argument, helped a Swedish teenager fix her bag, and passed out about half my CD allotment (from above) for the current two days. Looking good, but not as good is the report from Solvi that she'd gotten her wallet jacked from her tent. I aint got shit valuable that isn't strapped to my carcass at all times (well, except a computer that hates working and an out-of-region cellphone, both buried under laundry), but it's still a concern, even just as a marker of Wacken's metamorphosis into just another megafestival.
I also, and probably more importantly, have a belt buckle for the first time in four days. Fucking Hammer.
After the abovenoted, I got some dinner and a beer, and to talking with der Mattse (ok, Matt Wilkes, but German fluency gets you named whatever the locals want to do with your handle), a bunch of the DORF contingent, and some occasional passing Irish; good times, all around.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Euro tour absolviert
I'm back, and slowly getting everything to the point where tour reports will go up. I suspect they'll show I didn't see as many bands as in previous years, but I still had a hell of a time, passed out every single thing I took over (buttons excepted, but I cleared a bunch of those as well), and hung out with a lot of cool people in the process.
Thanks are due to, in no particular order, Dutch druggies, Greek DIY hosters, Solvi, Mattse and the DORF bunch, the entire island of Ireland, Culto, Maria, Sobo, Paula, Hector, Carmen, and any of the rest of the Salamanca crew that I forgot, German bikers, Dennis and crew, Jesse, Donnie, Max/Mopsi and crew, Oscar and crew (sorry I didn't get your bandname), Susi and Julia, DER KAI!!!, Daniel Mordfest, Nick, Chris and the other Aussies, Paulo, Sara and Michael from Terrorblade, Austrian speedfreaks, Sven from Obscure Mortuary (and Phillip, when he was awake), Katrin and Corinne, the extremely helpful staff at the Hertha fanshop, and of course the bands whose merch I took over and passed out to all these people. If I forgot or misspelled anyone, I apologize; there was a LOT of beer involved, and unlike the reports (hopefully to follow in the next couple days), I wasn't compiling this thankslist live.
Thanks are due to, in no particular order, Dutch druggies, Greek DIY hosters, Solvi, Mattse and the DORF bunch, the entire island of Ireland, Culto, Maria, Sobo, Paula, Hector, Carmen, and any of the rest of the Salamanca crew that I forgot, German bikers, Dennis and crew, Jesse, Donnie, Max/Mopsi and crew, Oscar and crew (sorry I didn't get your bandname), Susi and Julia, DER KAI!!!, Daniel Mordfest, Nick, Chris and the other Aussies, Paulo, Sara and Michael from Terrorblade, Austrian speedfreaks, Sven from Obscure Mortuary (and Phillip, when he was awake), Katrin and Corinne, the extremely helpful staff at the Hertha fanshop, and of course the bands whose merch I took over and passed out to all these people. If I forgot or misspelled anyone, I apologize; there was a LOT of beer involved, and unlike the reports (hopefully to follow in the next couple days), I wasn't compiling this thankslist live.
Thursday, July 08, 2010
In Which I Attempt To Guess The Party.San Running Order, And Moan About Wacken Again
It's a little more than three weeks before I fly out, but the festival lineups are set, and importantly, Party.San hasn't done out their full running order, so I can indulge this pointless exercise in Paul the Octopus biting.
This is a potential running order for Party.San 2010, based on already-published information; feel free to laugh at it when the real one is published and I get most bands wrong:
DONNERSTAG
--
DEMONICAL
KETZER
THE DEVILS BLOOD
MERRIMACK
MONSTROSITY
WATAIN
actual Thursday:
--
KETZER
MERRIMACK
DEVOURMENT
MONSTROSITY
THE DEVILS BLOOD
WATAIN
I got none of these right (well, besides Watain, but that doesn't count). I didn't anticipate The Devil's Blood playing so late or Devourment switching in, albeit to about where I'd've had them.
FREITAG
--
SUICIDAL ANGELS
MILKING THE GOATMACHINE
ONHEIL
ORIGIN
OFERMOD
DEVOURMENT
LIVIDITY
SARKE
DYING FETUS
THE CROWN
ASPHYX
AUTOPSY
actual Friday:
--
ONHEIL
MILKING THE GOATMACHINE
LIVIDITY
SUICIDAL ANGELS
ORIGIN
OFERMOD
DEMONICAL
THE CROWN
ASPHYX
DYING FETUS
SARKE
AUTOPSY
I got Milking The Goatmachine right, and the Origin-Ofermod-D-band-that-switched-days sequence in the right order, but Sarke going so late fucked things up again. I should have learned from Eluveitie last year.
SAMSTAG
--
TRIBULATION
UNDER THAT SPELL
VARG
DESASTER
GHOST BRIGADE
LOCK UP
AURA NOIR
NECROPHAGIST
MANEGARM
NAPALM DEATH
SUFFOCATION
CANNIBAL CORPSE
actual Saturday:
--
UNDER THAT SPELL
TRIBULATION
GHOST BRIGADE
DESASTER
VARG
MANEGARM
NECROPHAGIST
AURA NOIR
NAPALM DEATH
SUFFOCATION
LOCK UP
CANNIBAL CORPSE
I got Desaster right, and correctly called Suffocation playing after Napalm Death. Additionally, I had Under That Spell and Tribulation, as a pairing, in the right two slots on the bill, but the wrong slots individually; same goes for Aura Noir and Necrophagist. The wrench in these works was Manegarm playing so early after when Moonsorrow went on last year, and Lock Up somehow going on after Napalm Death. All in all, about 8 of 27 correct (under a charitable interpretation). Picking at random would probably get about one band right per day (equal chance of any band for any slot, add up the percentages and hey ho, (1/n)*n = 1), so I did better, but not actually well.
The headliners (last in the list for each day) are announced, and all bands are assigned to the days noted above; it's only the exact order that's not yet determined. If I get more than 50% bands correctly slotted, I get to be unnecessarily annoying and self-congratulatory about it in a later post.
Meanwhile, the running order for Wacken is now out in full, and due to a lack of especially interesting bands, there are very few conflicts. However, they all seem to be really, really, stupid ones:
Grave Digger against Equilibrium on Friday
Slayer against 1349, also Friday
Atrocity against Cantus Buranus (Corvus Corax) on Friday -- even though I don't give a shit and will be seeing Raven in that slot, this is egregiously stupid
Immortal against Rotting Christ on Saturday
As a result, my schedule is going to look something like this:
WED
--
Wikinger-stage (medieval markt?)
18:00 - 19:00 LORD OF THE LOST
20:00 - 21:00 FIDDLERS GREEN
moviefield:
22:30 - 00:00 MOVIENIGHT "UNTIL THE LIGHT TAKES US"
THURS
--
16:00 - 16:45 BLACK SKYLINE (+ SPECIAL GUESTs DORO, U.D.O. and more)
17:30 - 19:00 TRUE ALICE COOPER
20:00 - 21:15 BLACK MÖTLEY CRÜE
21:30 - 23:30 TRUE IRON MAIDEN
(if shit is ridiculous)
Wikinger:
17:00 - 18:00 SVARTSOT
19:00 - 20:00 TORFROCK
21:00 - 22:00 HANGGAI
tent:
23:00 - 23:45 GOJIRA
FRI
--
11:00 - 11:40 BLACK DEW-SCENTED
11:45 - 12:45 TRUE AMORPHIS
13:00 - 14:00 BLACK ORPHANED LAND
14:15 - 15:15 TRUE ILL NINO (???)
15:30 - 16:30 PARTY VOIVOD
16:45 - 17:45 TRUE THE BOSS HOSS (???)
18:00 - 19:00 WIKING SCHELMISH
19:15 - 20:15 TRUE KAMELOT (???)
20:00 - 21:00 WIKING LETZTE INSTANZ (???)
XOR
20:30 - 21:30 BLACK ARCH ENEMY (???)
22:00 - 23:00 WIKING EQUILIBRIUM
23:15 - 00:30 BLACK SLAYER
00:45 - 01:45 TRUE ANVIL
02:10 - 02:55 TENT RAVEN
SAT
--
12:00 - 12:30 TENT NIGHTMARE
12:55 - 13:25 TENT THE NEW BLACK (???)
13:50 - 14:20 TENT DEGRADEAD (???)
14:30 - 15:30 BLACK UNLEASHED
XOR
14:30 - 15:30 PARTY KAMPFAR
15:45 - 16:45 TRUE OVERKILL
17:00 - 18:00 BLACK LOCK UP
18:15 - 19:15 TRUE W.A.S.P.
19:30 - 20:30 BLACK CANNIBAL CORPSE
20:45 - 21:45 TRUE EDGUY
22:00 - 23:00 BLACK IMMORTAL
?AND?
22:45 - 23:15 TENT ROTTING CHRIST
BREAK (no Soulfly, no Despised Icon)
00:30 - 01:30 PARTY TIAMAT
XOR
00:45 - 01:30 TENT KILLING MACHINE
01:35 - 02:50 TRUE U.D.O.
02:54 - 03:00 TRUE SUBWAY TO SALLY COVER "IT'S AFTER DARK" (DAD)
Despite the downtime built in avoiding Caliban and the 23:15 - 00:15 Saturday slot, and the real sag in quality early Friday evening, there are still a lot of decent bands on that schedule. It's just that there are also a lot of bands on that schedule that I don't have an especially strong interest in, many more, proportionally as well as absolutely, than at Party.San, and it's not like every single slot where I do have must-see bands has another must-see band booked onto a different stage behind it. The orgas may say "the festival is the headliner", but in reality there are a lot of other options for people who mainly want to live in a tent by their car, drinking beer and blasting metal for a weekend. Without good bands, no festival will hold up, and the thing about a 50,000+-class festival is that virtually no one who is going to be attending is going to be able to draw up a schedule much different than the one above, full of downtime and bands they don't care about. The trick is, obviously, to cover all the bases in getting enough bands that every segment of the audience has someone they have to go see, but managing that without getting repetitive is the tough part. Apo have played a minimum of three times in the last five years ('06, '07, and '10), and I really need to go back and check to make sure, as I thought they were in last year as well. Mambo Kurt and the Firefighters back every year is festival culture; main-stage stalwarts back every year is ossification. We'll see how things are for real this time next month.
update:
godfuckingdamnit, no sooner do I go and post this up than the organizers swap Devourment to Thursday and move Demonical to Friday. The complete list of slots I got wrong will be unveiled as soon as the real running order goes up on the 26th.
This is a potential running order for Party.San 2010, based on already-published information; feel free to laugh at it when the real one is published and I get most bands wrong:
DONNERSTAG
--
DEMONICAL
KETZER
THE DEVILS BLOOD
MERRIMACK
MONSTROSITY
WATAIN
actual Thursday:
--
KETZER
MERRIMACK
DEVOURMENT
MONSTROSITY
THE DEVILS BLOOD
WATAIN
I got none of these right (well, besides Watain, but that doesn't count). I didn't anticipate The Devil's Blood playing so late or Devourment switching in, albeit to about where I'd've had them.
FREITAG
--
SUICIDAL ANGELS
MILKING THE GOATMACHINE
ONHEIL
ORIGIN
OFERMOD
DEVOURMENT
LIVIDITY
SARKE
DYING FETUS
THE CROWN
ASPHYX
AUTOPSY
actual Friday:
--
ONHEIL
MILKING THE GOATMACHINE
LIVIDITY
SUICIDAL ANGELS
ORIGIN
OFERMOD
DEMONICAL
THE CROWN
ASPHYX
DYING FETUS
SARKE
AUTOPSY
I got Milking The Goatmachine right, and the Origin-Ofermod-D-band-that-switched-days sequence in the right order, but Sarke going so late fucked things up again. I should have learned from Eluveitie last year.
SAMSTAG
--
TRIBULATION
UNDER THAT SPELL
VARG
DESASTER
GHOST BRIGADE
LOCK UP
AURA NOIR
NECROPHAGIST
MANEGARM
NAPALM DEATH
SUFFOCATION
CANNIBAL CORPSE
actual Saturday:
--
UNDER THAT SPELL
TRIBULATION
GHOST BRIGADE
DESASTER
VARG
MANEGARM
NECROPHAGIST
AURA NOIR
NAPALM DEATH
SUFFOCATION
LOCK UP
CANNIBAL CORPSE
I got Desaster right, and correctly called Suffocation playing after Napalm Death. Additionally, I had Under That Spell and Tribulation, as a pairing, in the right two slots on the bill, but the wrong slots individually; same goes for Aura Noir and Necrophagist. The wrench in these works was Manegarm playing so early after when Moonsorrow went on last year, and Lock Up somehow going on after Napalm Death. All in all, about 8 of 27 correct (under a charitable interpretation). Picking at random would probably get about one band right per day (equal chance of any band for any slot, add up the percentages and hey ho, (1/n)*n = 1), so I did better, but not actually well.
The headliners (last in the list for each day) are announced, and all bands are assigned to the days noted above; it's only the exact order that's not yet determined. If I get more than 50% bands correctly slotted, I get to be unnecessarily annoying and self-congratulatory about it in a later post.
Meanwhile, the running order for Wacken is now out in full, and due to a lack of especially interesting bands, there are very few conflicts. However, they all seem to be really, really, stupid ones:
Grave Digger against Equilibrium on Friday
Slayer against 1349, also Friday
Atrocity against Cantus Buranus (Corvus Corax) on Friday -- even though I don't give a shit and will be seeing Raven in that slot, this is egregiously stupid
Immortal against Rotting Christ on Saturday
As a result, my schedule is going to look something like this:
WED
--
Wikinger-stage (medieval markt?)
18:00 - 19:00 LORD OF THE LOST
20:00 - 21:00 FIDDLERS GREEN
moviefield:
22:30 - 00:00 MOVIENIGHT "UNTIL THE LIGHT TAKES US"
THURS
--
16:00 - 16:45 BLACK SKYLINE (+ SPECIAL GUESTs DORO, U.D.O. and more)
17:30 - 19:00 TRUE ALICE COOPER
20:00 - 21:15 BLACK MÖTLEY CRÜE
21:30 - 23:30 TRUE IRON MAIDEN
(if shit is ridiculous)
Wikinger:
17:00 - 18:00 SVARTSOT
19:00 - 20:00 TORFROCK
21:00 - 22:00 HANGGAI
tent:
23:00 - 23:45 GOJIRA
FRI
--
11:00 - 11:40 BLACK DEW-SCENTED
11:45 - 12:45 TRUE AMORPHIS
13:00 - 14:00 BLACK ORPHANED LAND
14:15 - 15:15 TRUE ILL NINO (???)
15:30 - 16:30 PARTY VOIVOD
16:45 - 17:45 TRUE THE BOSS HOSS (???)
18:00 - 19:00 WIKING SCHELMISH
19:15 - 20:15 TRUE KAMELOT (???)
20:00 - 21:00 WIKING LETZTE INSTANZ (???)
XOR
20:30 - 21:30 BLACK ARCH ENEMY (???)
22:00 - 23:00 WIKING EQUILIBRIUM
23:15 - 00:30 BLACK SLAYER
00:45 - 01:45 TRUE ANVIL
02:10 - 02:55 TENT RAVEN
SAT
--
12:00 - 12:30 TENT NIGHTMARE
12:55 - 13:25 TENT THE NEW BLACK (???)
13:50 - 14:20 TENT DEGRADEAD (???)
14:30 - 15:30 BLACK UNLEASHED
XOR
14:30 - 15:30 PARTY KAMPFAR
15:45 - 16:45 TRUE OVERKILL
17:00 - 18:00 BLACK LOCK UP
18:15 - 19:15 TRUE W.A.S.P.
19:30 - 20:30 BLACK CANNIBAL CORPSE
20:45 - 21:45 TRUE EDGUY
22:00 - 23:00 BLACK IMMORTAL
?AND?
22:45 - 23:15 TENT ROTTING CHRIST
BREAK (no Soulfly, no Despised Icon)
00:30 - 01:30 PARTY TIAMAT
XOR
00:45 - 01:30 TENT KILLING MACHINE
01:35 - 02:50 TRUE U.D.O.
02:54 - 03:00 TRUE SUBWAY TO SALLY COVER "IT'S AFTER DARK" (DAD)
Despite the downtime built in avoiding Caliban and the 23:15 - 00:15 Saturday slot, and the real sag in quality early Friday evening, there are still a lot of decent bands on that schedule. It's just that there are also a lot of bands on that schedule that I don't have an especially strong interest in, many more, proportionally as well as absolutely, than at Party.San, and it's not like every single slot where I do have must-see bands has another must-see band booked onto a different stage behind it. The orgas may say "the festival is the headliner", but in reality there are a lot of other options for people who mainly want to live in a tent by their car, drinking beer and blasting metal for a weekend. Without good bands, no festival will hold up, and the thing about a 50,000+-class festival is that virtually no one who is going to be attending is going to be able to draw up a schedule much different than the one above, full of downtime and bands they don't care about. The trick is, obviously, to cover all the bases in getting enough bands that every segment of the audience has someone they have to go see, but managing that without getting repetitive is the tough part. Apo have played a minimum of three times in the last five years ('06, '07, and '10), and I really need to go back and check to make sure, as I thought they were in last year as well. Mambo Kurt and the Firefighters back every year is festival culture; main-stage stalwarts back every year is ossification. We'll see how things are for real this time next month.
update:
godfuckingdamnit, no sooner do I go and post this up than the organizers swap Devourment to Thursday and move Demonical to Friday. The complete list of slots I got wrong will be unveiled as soon as the real running order goes up on the 26th.
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