Having just (well, two hours ago) returned home, I thought I'd might give you a small review of my experiences during the world's biggest heavy metal festival. Although I will talk about other bands too, I thought I'd put this in Maiden chat nevertheless, since Maiden also played.
I arrived at Wacken with my mate on Wednesday afternoon. After we were assigned a campground at the outermost area, we fetched a beer and took a tour of the festival grounds. The distance between our site and the stage proved to be too long for one beer, so we were nearly dried out when we arrived at the stages to get our wristbands and "full metal bag" (which included, among other things, a card game, a pen, a rubber, a sticker, a patch and a flag). When we returned to our site, it was already surrounded by other cars and tents, and we found it hard to build up both our tents on the small piece of grass left, but we still managed to.
We later went to another area, where we met some friends of ours and had a very fun (and drunken) evening in the pavilion of some random people we met there. Forostar and Marta popped up later, after what seemed like an eternal odyssey of phone calls and text messaged. Cellphone communication was a really hard thing anyway, because the network was overloaded, and my battery is in the process of dying of old age.
On Thursday, I explored the "metal market" with a friend of mine, and I had the first of what would become a disastrously long series of meads.
I then took a hike across the campgrounds to pick up National Acrobat, led him to our tent and then back to the pavilion where we spent some time until we decided to get to the stage to see Alestorm at the WET Stage. Needless to say, they were the exact opposite of Avenged Sevenfold, who were playing on the Black Stage at the same time. It was a brilliant and fun gig, the crowd was completely insane, and it was a miracle Nush and I even got in the tent at all. We screamed our lungs out to "classics" such as Wenches And Mead, Nancy The Tavern Wench and Captain Morgan's Revenge. What a band! If you ever get the chance, go see them!
When Alestorm were done, we got over to the True Stage, where Iron Maiden were scheduled to play about half an hour later. We did the right thing and not try to get up front right away, but have a drink first. We witnessed the beginning from the back. During
, a huge mass of people got out, and it was safer to get up front. I later learned that there was so much pushing at the beginning that several people passed out. Fortunately, nothing worse happened. The general atmosphere during the gig was brilliant. Maiden were incredible and in a really good mood. Again, the highlight was
. A funny thing happened when, during
, a kid was going to the back, but when I shouted the lyrics in his face, he was so impressed that he stayed. Bruce's rants were the same as ever, about how this is the biggest Maiden gig and tour ever, next year they're coming back with a new album and so on. Early on in the gig, he gave the guy working the camera crane a bollocking because the crane was blocking his view on the fans. I'm guessing that the better part of the 65-70,000 people at Wacken were there to see Maiden, at least I only talked to one person on the festival who didn't see them.
I'm going to spare you the details of what happened on the rest of the evening, because it's really not that interesting anyway.
On Friday, we got up early to see Primordial on the Party Stage at 11. They did a really good show, and also did a great job working that tiny audience. To be quite honest, my memory is very hazy of what happened afterwards, but I think Nush and I went to look at some of the record stalls, and then we just did something until we saw Ensiferum (Black Stage), who are a fucking brilliant band. And the reason why my memory is so hazy is because Ensiferum are one of those bands that just make you keep running for the mead stalls to celebrate them. We met Forostar and Marta again later on, and we watched Soilwork (Black Stage) and Sonata Arctica (True Stage), two bands that didn't really get anything going for any of us. Sonata Arctica had some good guitar solos every once in a while, but we all agreed on the fact that the singer sounds like a mix of Matt Barlow and Michael Jackson. When they were done, we realized we spent the entire gig in the back just talking. So here's a band that's just not anything special.
Foro and Marta left afterwards, and Nush and I went back to the Black Stage. We were already quite drunk and didn't really know much about what we were doing, and we lost each other when I went to the toilet while Opeth were playing. I don't have a problem with Opeth, but the fact is, I didn't even know it was them playing, and I didn't realize until they were almost finished. I then went to see Children Of Bodom on the True Stage. Children Of Bodom are a really great band, and they pulled off a really great show, but to tell the truth, I can't remember very much anymore because I was drunk. It was also raining very hard at that point.
I then wanted to see Avantasia and went to the first stage where I saw something happening. It was the Black Stage. I knew Avantasia only from one track I heard a long time ago, so apart from the fact that I remembered guitars and a singer, I didn't really remember very much of the band. I just stood there and waited for the gig to start. After ten minutes of dramatic orchestral intro, I asked the bloke next to me if this is going to stay that way, and he said yes. As I learned only after the gig, I wasn't watching Avantasia but Corvus Corax. The show was really impressive, mindblowing, dramatic and I suppose everything it was supposed to be, but I had a bit of a problem with it, because I kept asking myself: "what's their point?" (they had choirs and opera singers singing in Latin) and "what does this have to do with heavy metal?". Oh well. I then heard some of Avantasia from the campgrounds while I saw the fire somebody set to a toilet. As I later learned, this was an extremely dangerous idea, because there was a huge gas tank next to it. Fortunately, nothing worse happened.
On Saturday, we got up fairly early again because we wanted to catch Machine Men on the Black Stage, a band that started out as an Iron Maiden cover band and are now doing Bruce Dickinson solo-inspired heavy metal. Good band, I do recommend them to anyone. We then went over to the True Stage to see Exodus, only to learn that they weren't playing yet. Instead, we got to see Sweet Savage. None of us knew them, and we started talking until we all noticed that the band is fucking amazing. Really impressive heavy metal that just gets you going like mad. Exodus were on afterwards, and they were great too, but not as good as Sweet Savage in my opinion. Still, I got to understand why they are such a legendary thrash band. I'm really struggling to get my memory together now (and it's not just because I was drunk but also because a lot happened on those days), but I think we went to the True Stage to meet Foro and Marta again. We watched Carcass, who were good but nothing special in my opinion. About halfway through, Nush and I went to the WET Stage again to see Powerwolf. I knew them already and had listened to both their albums twice, but I really didn't expect them to do such an amazing show. They got the whole tent going although there were far less people to see them than when Alestorm played. They do really dramatic and heavy stuff, and for a band that is so tiny, they're really putting on a terrific live show. When they were done, we went back to the Black Stage and saw Killswitch Engage. I swear to God, I usually never show my finger to a band, but it really hurt me when they raped Holy Diver, so I couldn't help it.
At The Gates were on afterwards. I do understand why they are such a legendary death metal band, and they were really good, but it's kind of hard headbanging to their stuff if you don't know it, because they don't keep a rhythm for more than ten seconds at times. I do remember saying that to Nush and Foro, and we noticed that while I was saying that, they had changed their rhythm three times. Still a good band.
We went to the True Stage then to catch Nightwish. I really loved them, because I prefer Anette Olzon to Tarja Turunen. Please don't repeat that mantra of "Tarja is a professional opera singer the songs were written for her and blablablablabla", I can't hear it anymore. Just accept my opinion. My highlight undoubtedly was Wishmaster, because that was the only song I could actually sing along to- even though it was only the spoof lyrics. Afterwards Foro and Marta left and Nush and I were so fucking drunk from all that mead that I don't really remember if we even got to see Kreator anymore.
All in all, despite some EXTREMELY chaotic circumstances, the festival was a blast. It was a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed hanging out with everybody I mentioned, and seeing all those great bands. Of course, Maiden were my favourite moment, but other than that, Alestorm, Powerwolf, Sweet Savage, Nightwish, Ensiferum and Children Of Bodom were real highlights too.
I arrived at Wacken with my mate on Wednesday afternoon. After we were assigned a campground at the outermost area, we fetched a beer and took a tour of the festival grounds. The distance between our site and the stage proved to be too long for one beer, so we were nearly dried out when we arrived at the stages to get our wristbands and "full metal bag" (which included, among other things, a card game, a pen, a rubber, a sticker, a patch and a flag). When we returned to our site, it was already surrounded by other cars and tents, and we found it hard to build up both our tents on the small piece of grass left, but we still managed to.
We later went to another area, where we met some friends of ours and had a very fun (and drunken) evening in the pavilion of some random people we met there. Forostar and Marta popped up later, after what seemed like an eternal odyssey of phone calls and text messaged. Cellphone communication was a really hard thing anyway, because the network was overloaded, and my battery is in the process of dying of old age.
On Thursday, I explored the "metal market" with a friend of mine, and I had the first of what would become a disastrously long series of meads.
I then took a hike across the campgrounds to pick up National Acrobat, led him to our tent and then back to the pavilion where we spent some time until we decided to get to the stage to see Alestorm at the WET Stage. Needless to say, they were the exact opposite of Avenged Sevenfold, who were playing on the Black Stage at the same time. It was a brilliant and fun gig, the crowd was completely insane, and it was a miracle Nush and I even got in the tent at all. We screamed our lungs out to "classics" such as Wenches And Mead, Nancy The Tavern Wench and Captain Morgan's Revenge. What a band! If you ever get the chance, go see them!When Alestorm were done, we got over to the True Stage, where Iron Maiden were scheduled to play about half an hour later. We did the right thing and not try to get up front right away, but have a drink first. We witnessed the beginning from the back. During
Revelations
Rime Of The Ancient Mariner, and when the fireworks went off to Adrian's solo, I really couldn't think of anything else than to thank God that he let me be at that spot at that time
Can I Play With Madness
I'm going to spare you the details of what happened on the rest of the evening, because it's really not that interesting anyway.
On Friday, we got up early to see Primordial on the Party Stage at 11. They did a really good show, and also did a great job working that tiny audience. To be quite honest, my memory is very hazy of what happened afterwards, but I think Nush and I went to look at some of the record stalls, and then we just did something until we saw Ensiferum (Black Stage), who are a fucking brilliant band. And the reason why my memory is so hazy is because Ensiferum are one of those bands that just make you keep running for the mead stalls to celebrate them. We met Forostar and Marta again later on, and we watched Soilwork (Black Stage) and Sonata Arctica (True Stage), two bands that didn't really get anything going for any of us. Sonata Arctica had some good guitar solos every once in a while, but we all agreed on the fact that the singer sounds like a mix of Matt Barlow and Michael Jackson. When they were done, we realized we spent the entire gig in the back just talking. So here's a band that's just not anything special.
Foro and Marta left afterwards, and Nush and I went back to the Black Stage. We were already quite drunk and didn't really know much about what we were doing, and we lost each other when I went to the toilet while Opeth were playing. I don't have a problem with Opeth, but the fact is, I didn't even know it was them playing, and I didn't realize until they were almost finished. I then went to see Children Of Bodom on the True Stage. Children Of Bodom are a really great band, and they pulled off a really great show, but to tell the truth, I can't remember very much anymore because I was drunk. It was also raining very hard at that point.
I then wanted to see Avantasia and went to the first stage where I saw something happening. It was the Black Stage. I knew Avantasia only from one track I heard a long time ago, so apart from the fact that I remembered guitars and a singer, I didn't really remember very much of the band. I just stood there and waited for the gig to start. After ten minutes of dramatic orchestral intro, I asked the bloke next to me if this is going to stay that way, and he said yes. As I learned only after the gig, I wasn't watching Avantasia but Corvus Corax. The show was really impressive, mindblowing, dramatic and I suppose everything it was supposed to be, but I had a bit of a problem with it, because I kept asking myself: "what's their point?" (they had choirs and opera singers singing in Latin) and "what does this have to do with heavy metal?". Oh well. I then heard some of Avantasia from the campgrounds while I saw the fire somebody set to a toilet. As I later learned, this was an extremely dangerous idea, because there was a huge gas tank next to it. Fortunately, nothing worse happened.
On Saturday, we got up fairly early again because we wanted to catch Machine Men on the Black Stage, a band that started out as an Iron Maiden cover band and are now doing Bruce Dickinson solo-inspired heavy metal. Good band, I do recommend them to anyone. We then went over to the True Stage to see Exodus, only to learn that they weren't playing yet. Instead, we got to see Sweet Savage. None of us knew them, and we started talking until we all noticed that the band is fucking amazing. Really impressive heavy metal that just gets you going like mad. Exodus were on afterwards, and they were great too, but not as good as Sweet Savage in my opinion. Still, I got to understand why they are such a legendary thrash band. I'm really struggling to get my memory together now (and it's not just because I was drunk but also because a lot happened on those days), but I think we went to the True Stage to meet Foro and Marta again. We watched Carcass, who were good but nothing special in my opinion. About halfway through, Nush and I went to the WET Stage again to see Powerwolf. I knew them already and had listened to both their albums twice, but I really didn't expect them to do such an amazing show. They got the whole tent going although there were far less people to see them than when Alestorm played. They do really dramatic and heavy stuff, and for a band that is so tiny, they're really putting on a terrific live show. When they were done, we went back to the Black Stage and saw Killswitch Engage. I swear to God, I usually never show my finger to a band, but it really hurt me when they raped Holy Diver, so I couldn't help it.
At The Gates were on afterwards. I do understand why they are such a legendary death metal band, and they were really good, but it's kind of hard headbanging to their stuff if you don't know it, because they don't keep a rhythm for more than ten seconds at times. I do remember saying that to Nush and Foro, and we noticed that while I was saying that, they had changed their rhythm three times. Still a good band.
We went to the True Stage then to catch Nightwish. I really loved them, because I prefer Anette Olzon to Tarja Turunen. Please don't repeat that mantra of "Tarja is a professional opera singer the songs were written for her and blablablablabla", I can't hear it anymore. Just accept my opinion. My highlight undoubtedly was Wishmaster, because that was the only song I could actually sing along to- even though it was only the spoof lyrics. Afterwards Foro and Marta left and Nush and I were so fucking drunk from all that mead that I don't really remember if we even got to see Kreator anymore.
All in all, despite some EXTREMELY chaotic circumstances, the festival was a blast. It was a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed hanging out with everybody I mentioned, and seeing all those great bands. Of course, Maiden were my favourite moment, but other than that, Alestorm, Powerwolf, Sweet Savage, Nightwish, Ensiferum and Children Of Bodom were real highlights too.
A special band in the metal genre and sad to know that they're not planning another studio album.
