Thursday Ramon
and me have meanwhile been in Wacken for so many times that I can hardly
remember a situation like this. There had always been days when it had been
raining, but I think it never had been that close to being cancelled a minute
before starting. When we arrived in Wacken, the situation was still uncertain.
But unlike earlier years when there had been problems as soon as water came
down, the organizers this year acted very professionally, trying to get things
dry with a helicopter. Unfortunately though for some visitors this meant that
people couldn’t camp next to their cars – which of course is very difficult
since you pack your car according to the circumstances you expect. However I do
believe that it wasn’t possible elsewise this year. The festival ground itself
was already mulched when the festival finally started, so there was no Friday As
good as it had been that straw had been laid out the day before, it had dried
overnight, and some very clever person set it on fire so that AMORPHIS
and NAPALM
DEATH had to switch
positions and stages.(nh) Already with POSSESSED, however, the organisers were in time again and I was definitely
eager to see the band since I never had been able to catch them when they were
around in the 1980s. There had been debates if this reunion really would be
worthy since too many reunions had failed in the past Saturday Earlier
than the day before, I had to get in front of the stage, since I had heard that MOONSPELL
had become a better live band than back in the days. And the rumours were true.
Far from being perfect I must admit that this was probably their best festival
performance I attended. “Memorial” as an album is not that bad and perhaps
their label change has really gotten them back on track after an odyssey through
albums and styles no one knew they actually existed. The only problem was that
the sun still was shining, I am pretty sure under different circumstances that
might still have worked better. With songs like ‘Vampyria’ and ‘Alma
Mater’ in your back you can’t do much wrong though. (nh) SECRETS
OF THE MOON were
the first and only band I managed to watch in the tent. They only had 30 minutes
and the sun was still shining, nevertheless the quartet made the best out of it.
Performing four songs (only ‘Miasma’ was not of their latest effort
“Antithesis”), the evolution of the band is tangible, their concerts more
and more turn out to be rituals in one way or another. This became most obvious
when they finally played ‘Lucifer Speaks’, and despite performing in the
daylight, there definitely is only darkness at the end of the tunnel. I have
seen them probably 10-15 times during the last eleven years, but I will
certainly see them again and again and again in the next eleven years to come.
(nh) I had witnessed too many TYPE
O NEGATIVE-shows in the
past 10 years to mourn about something like Peter Steele coming on stage with a
bottle of Jägermeister or similar crap. Of course he is no longer the
Playgirl-model he was fifteen years ago, still this band creates an aura on
stage many bands can only dream of. Starting with ‘We Hate Everyone’, they
played a splendid set of new and old songs including ‘Anesthesia’,
‘Christian Woman’ or ‘Xero Tolerance’; this was as entertaining and
cynic as they have always been. And yes this is not the Gothic romance-candle
light dinner-band many people expected who most likely got laid for the first
time listening to ‘Love You To Death’ (which they obviously performed
nevertheless). And what can I say? Luckily so. Every concert of TYPE O I have
seen so far one of the members was drunk, on drugs or anything, yet they still
manage to convince as a band and I hope it does not frustrate them too much that
many people still don’t get them. Because I want to see them in this shape
again. Because this is the way I like my TYPE O NEGATIVE!!! (nh) Festival
report: Ramon Claassen (rc) / Nhashi (nh) |
danger
here. And finally I do understand why Ramon always brings his rubber boots ;)
(nh) To really witness how the situation on the festival ground was, I already
managed to get myself watching BLITZKRIEG
who opened this year’s W:O:A. The band around Brian Ross was definitely
enthusiastic about the gig, and though I am not too familiar with them, this was
a worthwhile 45 minutes as a starter. (nh) Personally however, I was far more
interested in SODOM’s
special show that was promoted with including all former SODOM-members
which – of course – didn’t take place. Chris Witchhunter didn’t manage
to appear although he had been recording the new (ridiculous) version of “In
The Sign Of Evil” with them. However, the show was really like travelling back
into times when SODOM still had something to say and I have as an example never
witnessed them performing ‘Christ Passion’ which was my personal highlight
of the show. This was performed with one certain Frank Blackfire on guitar,
however the most convinving guest was Andy Brings. Comparing his statement on
the DVD “Lords Of Depravity” with his performance, he definitely did enjoy
performing with his former band members with whom he did not part amicably. One
point was however to be realised at this point already: The Black Stage was that
crowded when SODOM performed that this would turn out as Wacken’s best visited
edition. (nh) Strangely, I somehow wasn’t really in the mood for SAXON
that day although they never play weak gigs. So I made my first voyage to the
Party Stage where OVERKILL
were thrashing the masses. Blitz is still one of the coolest frontmen in the biz
but as I didn’t buy their last few albums I didn’t recognise too many songs
(and didn’t like those more recent ones very much, either). Yet, watching
OVERKILL is always worth the while. Blitz dedicated ‘Wrecking Crew’ to a fan
from South Africa he had met in Hamburg earlier on (only one of many examples
that people are coming to WOA from all over the world). For the last song (guess
which classic they – always – perform at the end of the show), OVERKILL kept
on playing over the stage monitors without the regular PA: obviously their time
was up and the sound guy simply cut the power. Neither the band nor the fans
cared too much. Apart from that, the sound at the Party Stage this year was a
lot better than previous times because the stage was facing in the same
direction. (rc)
years
(and there would be reunions on this festival that were going to fail!) and
since only Jeff Becerra was left of the original line-up who is sitting in a
wheelchair additionally made this an uncertain event. Doubts were blown away
with the intro already, and POSSESSED definitely were one of the best bands of
the festival. Playing classics like ‘The Exorcist’, ‘The Heretic’,
‘Beyond The Gates’ etc. they could do nothing wrong. And if your original
members are ashamed of their past what better thing could you do than include
members from a legendary Death Metal-band who turn out to be huge POSSESSED-fans
(and have been good friends with Jeff for years, as I recall - rc)? The
SADISTIC INTENT-guys definitely were the perfect backing band for Jeff Becerra
who managed to keep the ‘Freakshow’-attribute away from the gig from the
very beginning, what a killer performance, what a simpatico frontman! (nh) I had
missed SABBAT
at the Keep It True festival, so I was quite happy to see Martin Walkyier and
Andy Sneap joining forces in Wacken again. It was a bit odd to see Martin being
‘evil’ in front of the audience, as he had always been quite the nice guy on
stage with SKYCLAD. The tent was packed and there were crowdsurfers flying all
around for songs like ‘Hosanna in Excelsis’ or ‘Behind the Crooked
Cross’. Intense! (rc) I am not the biggest fan of “Ruun”, the latest ENSLAVED-output,
and thought ENSLAVED concentrated very much on the material of their two latest
albums, their songs still work differently however in a live situation. The band
has definitely changed over the years, neither worse nor better, but they are a
different outfit compared to when I first saw them in 1996. They nevertheless
did not make the mistake to rely on their latest material alone. ‘As Fire
Swept Clean The Earth’, a song from “Frost” and the inevitable 'Slaget I
Skogen Bortenfor' which still gives me the creeps, ensured a memorable
performance. (nh) It’s always quite nice to watch BLIND
GUARDIAN perform with a
big backing choir. In this c
got
louder and louder with each and every song. One of many highlights was ‘The
Bard’s Song’, for which the fans didn’t need much of the band’s help.
It’s a good thing the Hansi and Co. need so much time for new albums because
this way there are always many old songs in their set, especially at festivals.
I don’t listen to their new albums anymore and I don’t attend their regular
shows but a situation like this always brings back memories. (rc) DIMMU
BORGIR’s keyboards and
bass turned out much too loud and their posing didn’t appeal to me, either. On
the other hand, this is what people at a big event like Wacken seem to like and
somehow it’s Rock’n’Roll. Very calculated, but nevertheless. Then again,
those “make some noise” parts with silly keyboard ringtones didn’t sound
like Black Metal even to my ears. When neither ‘A Succubus In Rapture’ nor
the Stormblast classic ‘
From
highlight to rock bottom in fifteen minutes, this is possible in Wacken. I
didn’t have high expectations on IMMORTAL
anyway. I had seen them become weaker and weaker over the years before they
finally split so that I had my doubts when their reunion was announced. Abbath
has become so ridiculous that even Cronos looks as grim as Fenriz on “Under A
Funeral Moon”. And raping classic Norwegian Black Metal-institutions like ‘A
Sign For The Norse Hordes To Ride’, ‘Battles In The North’, ‘Unholy
Forces Of Evil’ or ‘Blashyrkh’ should become a First-Degree-Crime punished
by confiscating instruments and life-long ban to play ever again. No timing,
silly stage acting and a drummer that still cannot play. EMPEROR as well as
NOCTURNO CULTO have proven that reunions can
work, but by any means this was so weak, embarrassing and poor that I didn’t
know how to react. All I could do was to leave before they finished, and I was
thankful that they didn’t perform ‘Mountains Of Might’ as well. May they
rape their Mark II-songs, but this is not to be justified under any
circumstance. What a shame! (nh) I had hoped that 1349 despite not being my
favourite band would be able to leave a better impression before I went to
sleep. So with this nightmarish impression of a once good band my Wacken ended.
(nh) Although I’m a lot more open-minded when it comes to IMMORTAL and their
later releases or performances (in my opinion they’re rather a Rock band than
Black Metal nowadays), I wasn’t too impressed by their set, either. Maybe
Nhashi’s nagging in advance and during the set was one reason but even in
terms of Metal or Rock there were much better bands in Wacken 2007. Even IN
FLAMES. You don’t
believe me because you only liked the first handful of IF albums? Well, same
here. But as I was dragged right into the impressive, even frightening mass of
fans, I was able to feel some of the enthusiasm as well. Only when Anders Fridén
congratulated Nuclear Blast for their anniversary saying something like NB
believed in them when they were bad and now IF are the best I really had
to get out of the crowd for some hysteric laughing and sobbing. (rc) Then,
finally, there was a band that never changed too much over the years but kept
writing good songs instead. Those more recent songs weren’t in focus that
night, though, as the German ban on CANNIBAL
CORPSE’
first album had finally expired. Therefore, they performed tracks like
‘Covered With Sores’ for the first time in years on German ground. Good time
oldschool Death Metal the way it should be, showing you what Wacken is all
about: Party and a great time. (rc) See you next year, rain or shine!