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70,000 metal
fans? Check. 80
of the finest metal bands on the planet? Check.
A
seemingly endless supply of beer, passing the lips of people from all four
corners of the globe? Check.
It must
be Wacken Open Air!
For the 18th
year running, metalheads have made the long, grueling journey to the small
town of Wacken, a village with a population of around 2,000, located
around 2 hours from Hamburg in Northern Germany.
Remaining
what is essentially a non-commercial festival, the Wacken organisers have
helped the festival grow by using any profits to improve the festival the
following year, and as a result the attendees of WOA 2007 were treated to
perhaps the finest bill assembled yet.
Blind
Guardian, Iced Earth, Immortal, Lacuna Coil
...
the
list goes on, and WOA 07 had the potential to be something truly
fantastic.
Following our
arrival at the sunny and crowded campsite a day earlier, our anticipation
had hit boiling point by the time the first bands hit the stage on
Thursday, August 2nd. Due to a big delay at the entrance of the stage
area, I only caught the last few songs of Newcastle's NWOBHM veterans
Blitzkrieg. Playing
to a rather excited and large crowd, the English band put in a great set
in support of their new album "Theatre
Of
The
Damned", before closing with their title track, to the joy of the black
clad throng assembled in front of them.
While
admittedly not a fan, I decided to check out Sodom's special 25th
anniversary show on the Wacken Blackstage (Wacken has 4 stages in total,
two huge outdoor stages in the shape of the True metal stage and the Black
stage, a smaller outdoor stage named the Party Stage, and a smaller again
stage inside a tent known as the WET Stage, or the headbangers ballroom).
Blasting through a really solid set of killer thrash classics, they turned
the Wacken stage area into a war ground, which after 3 days traveling
around Germany longing for some bands, was a very welcome site for yours
truly.
I had to rush off early to catch the signing session of Blind
Guardian, which consequently caused me to miss the first half hour of
Saxon's headlining slot, which included Edguy's Tobi Sammet as a guest
vocalist on “747 (Strangers In The Night)”. Once I had managed to pull
myself away from Hansi et al, I was treated to one of the most fantastic
live performances I'll ever witness.
“Red Star Falling”, from the latest
album "The Inner Sanctum", will remain one of my greatest gig memories for
a long time to come, while the closing duo of “Wheels Of Steel” and “Strong Arm Of The Law” ended the first night of WOA 2007 on a damn high
note.
Day
two of Wacken began (for me at least) with a highly heterosexual visit to
the communal showers, which it must be said are a lifesaver in the heat of
the German sun.
After sampling some of the excellent cuisine available on
the site, I strolled into the stage area to see Napalm Death, who for some
reason were just finishing up. So, undeterred, I headed to the beer garden
to pass the time before Norway's gay metallers Turbonegro took the stage.
Turbonegro really are one of the most fun bands you will ever see
live, a full balls out rock show made up of crowd pleasing anthems,
absolutely hilarious onstage banter, and of course the various outfits
sported onstage. "All My Friends Are Dead" and "Fuck The World" went down
very well indeed.
Friday at Wacken was the most anticipated of all days
for me personally, with three of my favorite bands performing later on in
the evening. The first of these was Italy's female fronted superstars
Lacuna Coil, who’s dark and brooding anthems don't exactly belong in
the blazing sun, although this doesn’t do anything to damage the quality
of the performance. Lacuna Coil live is nothing special, they are not bad
live, but they lack anything memorable in the live setting.
Having said
that, I enjoyed their hour long set, which comprised of a few tracks from
the latest album "Karmacode", mixed with a selection of older tracks,
although criminally only one song from the fantastic "Unleashed Memories",
to the tune of "Senzafine".
Anticipation began to reach fever point as the
biggest crowd of the weekend awaited Blind Guardian's arrival
onstage. The German power metal legends had been billed as the main band
of the weekend, and for me personally they were the band I had looked
forward to seeing most.
Opening with the now classic combination of "War
Of Wrath/Into The Storm", Guardian put out an absolutely triumphant
performance on home soil, with "Valhalla", "The Bard's Song",
"Imaginations from the Other side", and to my utter ecstasy "Lord of the
Rings", all making an appearance in the set.
Closing with "Mirror Mirror",
Guardian capped off by far the most memorable performance of the weekend,
and truly justified their place on the top of the WOA '07 bill.
Unfortunately, similar words cannot be used to describe the disappointment
that followed. While Blind Guardian's confirmation back in 2006 had made
me look into booking tickets/flights, it was the announcement of Iced
Earth's return to German soil that persuaded me to click on "Buy".
As
you would expect, Iced Earth excelled musically.
However, live they were
just a disappointment.
They took the stage at around 30 minutes past
Midnight, and proceeded to rush through a rather boring and disappointing setlist, accompanied by absolutely no charisma or stage presence.
Tim
Owens is a great vocalist, there are no doubts about that, and while he
can hit the high notes live, he falls far short of acting every part the frontman while onstage.
The inclusion of new track "A Charge
To Keep" was
somewhat confusing, it was intended to be a taster of the upcoming
"Framing Armageddon" album, but in reality it is nothing more than "When
The Eagle Cries, Part 2", a fact which they attempted to cover up with the
most OTT pyro display of the weekend.
Closing with the all too predictable
"Something Wicked" trilogy followed by the bands title track, they ended
what fell short of the triumphant return which was expected. It was good
to see them live at last, but I won't be rushing out to see them live
again, nor will I be looking forward to
"Framing Armageddon" with any great
excitement.
Before heading back to the campsite for the night, I decided
to take the recommendation of a friend and check out Norwegian black metal
act Kampfar in the headbangers ballroom.
A great stage presence
along with the piercing screams of the topless vocalist (who's name
escapes me) ensured that I went back to my tent happy that night, I'll
definitely be checking out some of Kampfar's recorded efforts soon.
Stratovarius kicked off the third and final day of the festival for
me.
Things got off to a good start before the Finns had even taken the
stage, with the "Elements Part 1" backdrop being lowered behind the drum
kit, which suggested that the bands most recent album might just be
forgotten about for today. Sure enough, a varied set was delivered,
including "Hunting High And Low",
"A Million Light Years Away", new track
"Last Night On Earth", and to my shock and surprise, the full version of
"Visions"!
The aforementioned new track was refreshing to hear, a real
return to the catchy and upbeat melodies which make Stratovarius what they
are.
An ecstatic crowd reaction ensued as "Black Diamond" ended a great
show, one which saw these Finnish power metallers back where they belong.
After the short walk to the WET stage, I managed to catch the latter half
of Germany's Horror Metallers The Vision Bleak.
A dark, doomy,
atmospheric performance provided the perfect soundtrack to my Saturday
afternoon. A fantastic fusion of black metal with atmospheric synth
resulted in a killer performance, and for me one of the most memorable of
the weekend.
While in my opinion ridiculously over-rated musically, battle metallers Turisas are one hell of a live band.
I've never seen so
many fists punching the air, while thousands dance to the sounds created
by the group of fur-clad gentlemen onstage. A rather impressive wall of
death was my personal Turisas highlight, and I'd be lying to say that I
didn’t try to sing along at stages.
On CD they aren’t my thing, but my god
live they are fantastic.
Next up for me was Hamburg's power/speed metal
saviors Stormwarrior on the Party stage.
A rather small crowd was
the result of some lot called Immortal playing on the Blackstage at the
same time, but this did nothing to dishearten the truest of metallers from
congregating in denim and leather to watch 30 minutes (yes, a crime) of
top class heavy metal.
Opening with "Sign
Of
The Warlorde", Stormwarrior
took the crowd by the balls and did not let go, as they delivered flawless
renditions of the likes of "Odinn's Warriors", "Heavy Metal Fire", and the
title track of their upcoming album - "Heading Northe".
After 30 minutes
of their own material they were joined onstage by none other than Kai
Hanson, who sang songs from Helloween's "Walls of Jericho" album, along
with a triumphant version of "I
Want
Out".
Following the disastrous realisation that I had run out of beer, I visited the super market to pick
up some extra bottles, and in the process I heard In Flames
starting.
As a huge In Flames fan, I quickly ran back to my tent to
deposit my purchases and returned to the stage area to watch a decent
performance by the Gothenburg band. They were a bit looser than the last
time I saw them live a few years ago, with an exceptional amount of
between song banter about everything from Nuclear Blast's 20th anniversary
to the guy in the front row wearing a white t-shirt (what is the world
coming to?!). However, as always, the music did the talking and it had
some pretty good things to say.
“Trigger”, “The
Quiet Place” and “Colony” were all fantastic, while “Come Clarity” was
absolutely unbelievable, as was the sight of 50,000 bouncing up and down
for “Only For
The
Weak”. As
the last notes of "My Sweet Shadow" faded into the night, In Flames
departed us, but not before the classic band-with-crowd-in-background
shot.
A great performance.
Three days of great bands is only a fraction of Wacken's overall appeal.
The festival has the most amazing atmosphere you will ever come across, a
serious feeling of camaraderie on both the campsite and the overall
festival site, and really does need to be seen to be believed.
To anyone
who has yet to taste the greatest metal festival in the world, I suggest
you try it out.
* Review by Shadow Warrior.
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