Magic Circle Festival: Bad Arolsen, Germany
Just got back from an amazing trip with Ravage to the Manowar fest in Germany. I will try to recap as much as I can remember :P
After landing in Cologne, and after going the wrong way and getting lost...we finally end up in Bad Arolsen. We get there and park with the other fans. We walk to the backstage area to find out whats going on with the Battle of the Bands stuff. We needed to call a man named Roland, who would set us up. Roland gave us all our BotB passes, complete with a neon pink wristband which read "Titty Twister Tent" haha. We also were assigned a room in a complex which was gated off from everything else, and had security. Kinda felt pretty cool :P We didnt know we'd be getting a room..so what we did was we just locked all of our belongings up in it and camped outside on the grass.
The first day was a little too fun for me...I ended up drinking way too much, buying a drinking horn and leather pants. The horn could hold two beers, so of course I had to buy them two at a time so I could fill my horn. What a mess. I think this was the night of no bands playing...just the mainstage soundcheck and the first round of battle of the bands for the video submission contestants, of which Ravage was not a part of. I dont remember much of this night....apparently I left the battle of the bands near its commencement and went back to the tent, and passed out half in and half out of the tent. Nick and Amber came and found me like that...and I guess I had really needed to go to the bathroom...so I just stood up and then Amber goes "Nick, Nick....Erik is going to pee....get him out of here." Nick picked me up by my waist and put me outside. They were real troopers that night. Amber cleaned up any stray urine that was in the tent...haha. I thank you both and apologize profusely. :P
I woke up the next morning at like 5am and threw up in the bushes near the tent. I went back to bed and woke up hours later, threw up again outside the tent. No good. Felt very icky. We then went into the nearby town of Mereninghousen(sp?) to look for food. Amber and I were feeling disgusting, so were complaining the entire time about walking around and stuff. As luck would have it, everything was closed from like 12-2 for lunch breaks. We ended up going into a restaurant and were placed at a table. Someone comes over and asks what we would like. George immediately goes "Well for starters, we'll take some menus." George provided nearly all of the comedy for the trip. I seriously have never laughed so hard for so many straight days. It was awesome. The waiter said he could make us anything. He began to list what they had, and I think Nick just ordered the first thing he said for all of us, which was pork with garlic herb butter and fries...which they call pommes...just like in French, but the Germans pronounce the es at the end to make it sound like pomm-ess.
This was the first day of bands playing. The battle of the bands semi-finals were also after Alice Cooper. The crowd was really into Ravage, and for that they advanced on to the finals. Kadavrik, a band I liked, did not advance to the finals. Those guys were really nice. They are a german band. They introduced themselves to us immediately upon entering the backstage area, and no other band did that.
The next day we wandered into the town of Bad Arolsen and got some food at what we dubbed "Cafe Manowar" since they had a manowar flag hanging outside. The place was run by a couple of middle aged ladies who were very kind. They sat us at a big dining room table in a room just for us and fed us until we burst. It was great. We went to the castle in town, which was pretty neat. It was a baroque era castle...so it wasnt very old compared to other European castles. Still cool, though. Back at the fest, W.A.S.P and Doro played and then Manowar. Unfortunately we had to hang back and not drink because the battle of the bands finals were after Manowar. During Bridge of Death we all retreated to the events hall to prepare for the show. They then began to play Warriors of the World...and I had to excuse myself and go rock out to it outside...and then I came back in.
The Finals had a bad vibe going from the beginning. As soon as fans started pouring in they immediately started chanting for Sex Gepard, which was a local band who in my opinion, and many other people's...were awful. They were a very gimmicky crappy sounding group with two half naked girls dancing on stage during the set..pouring alcohol on each other and handing out inflatable boobs. There was supposed to be no props and no stage show during the BotB....but they somehow ignored that...and Udo (Mr. Metal) who was the emcee..let it slide too. Whatever. Even while Ravage was playing, the fans were cheering for Sex Gepard. One fan also called Ravage rednecks because we are from the USA. Ignorant :P Amber got really pissed off...and I did too...but there is nothing you can do about that shit. I filmed both performances, so maybe when they surface...you'll get to see and hear some of that.
The voting part of that night eliminated Ravage, and Snake Eyes, who were a pretty good band from England. It was down to Sex Gepard and Cassock, a Norwegian ac/dc style rock band with a female singer. After numerous voting redos, Cassock won and got to play the mainstage at noon the next morning.
I forgot to mention...the night before Roland came on to the mainstage and told the fans that Def Leppard and Whitesnake dropped off the fest the day before they were supposed to go on. Whatever...I didnt really care. I only cared that the only thing they did to make up for it was start the last day of the fest at noon rather than 10:15....kinda felt ripped off.
Anyway, Manowar was amazing both nights..although I dont know much from the first three albums so I couldnt really get into the first night. The second night was better for me.
I left out a lot of things that happened...but I'll let the pictures and the videos tell the rest.
After landing in Cologne, and after going the wrong way and getting lost...we finally end up in Bad Arolsen. We get there and park with the other fans. We walk to the backstage area to find out whats going on with the Battle of the Bands stuff. We needed to call a man named Roland, who would set us up. Roland gave us all our BotB passes, complete with a neon pink wristband which read "Titty Twister Tent" haha. We also were assigned a room in a complex which was gated off from everything else, and had security. Kinda felt pretty cool :P We didnt know we'd be getting a room..so what we did was we just locked all of our belongings up in it and camped outside on the grass.
The first day was a little too fun for me...I ended up drinking way too much, buying a drinking horn and leather pants. The horn could hold two beers, so of course I had to buy them two at a time so I could fill my horn. What a mess. I think this was the night of no bands playing...just the mainstage soundcheck and the first round of battle of the bands for the video submission contestants, of which Ravage was not a part of. I dont remember much of this night....apparently I left the battle of the bands near its commencement and went back to the tent, and passed out half in and half out of the tent. Nick and Amber came and found me like that...and I guess I had really needed to go to the bathroom...so I just stood up and then Amber goes "Nick, Nick....Erik is going to pee....get him out of here." Nick picked me up by my waist and put me outside. They were real troopers that night. Amber cleaned up any stray urine that was in the tent...haha. I thank you both and apologize profusely. :P
I woke up the next morning at like 5am and threw up in the bushes near the tent. I went back to bed and woke up hours later, threw up again outside the tent. No good. Felt very icky. We then went into the nearby town of Mereninghousen(sp?) to look for food. Amber and I were feeling disgusting, so were complaining the entire time about walking around and stuff. As luck would have it, everything was closed from like 12-2 for lunch breaks. We ended up going into a restaurant and were placed at a table. Someone comes over and asks what we would like. George immediately goes "Well for starters, we'll take some menus." George provided nearly all of the comedy for the trip. I seriously have never laughed so hard for so many straight days. It was awesome. The waiter said he could make us anything. He began to list what they had, and I think Nick just ordered the first thing he said for all of us, which was pork with garlic herb butter and fries...which they call pommes...just like in French, but the Germans pronounce the es at the end to make it sound like pomm-ess.
This was the first day of bands playing. The battle of the bands semi-finals were also after Alice Cooper. The crowd was really into Ravage, and for that they advanced on to the finals. Kadavrik, a band I liked, did not advance to the finals. Those guys were really nice. They are a german band. They introduced themselves to us immediately upon entering the backstage area, and no other band did that.
The next day we wandered into the town of Bad Arolsen and got some food at what we dubbed "Cafe Manowar" since they had a manowar flag hanging outside. The place was run by a couple of middle aged ladies who were very kind. They sat us at a big dining room table in a room just for us and fed us until we burst. It was great. We went to the castle in town, which was pretty neat. It was a baroque era castle...so it wasnt very old compared to other European castles. Still cool, though. Back at the fest, W.A.S.P and Doro played and then Manowar. Unfortunately we had to hang back and not drink because the battle of the bands finals were after Manowar. During Bridge of Death we all retreated to the events hall to prepare for the show. They then began to play Warriors of the World...and I had to excuse myself and go rock out to it outside...and then I came back in.
The Finals had a bad vibe going from the beginning. As soon as fans started pouring in they immediately started chanting for Sex Gepard, which was a local band who in my opinion, and many other people's...were awful. They were a very gimmicky crappy sounding group with two half naked girls dancing on stage during the set..pouring alcohol on each other and handing out inflatable boobs. There was supposed to be no props and no stage show during the BotB....but they somehow ignored that...and Udo (Mr. Metal) who was the emcee..let it slide too. Whatever. Even while Ravage was playing, the fans were cheering for Sex Gepard. One fan also called Ravage rednecks because we are from the USA. Ignorant :P Amber got really pissed off...and I did too...but there is nothing you can do about that shit. I filmed both performances, so maybe when they surface...you'll get to see and hear some of that.
The voting part of that night eliminated Ravage, and Snake Eyes, who were a pretty good band from England. It was down to Sex Gepard and Cassock, a Norwegian ac/dc style rock band with a female singer. After numerous voting redos, Cassock won and got to play the mainstage at noon the next morning.
I forgot to mention...the night before Roland came on to the mainstage and told the fans that Def Leppard and Whitesnake dropped off the fest the day before they were supposed to go on. Whatever...I didnt really care. I only cared that the only thing they did to make up for it was start the last day of the fest at noon rather than 10:15....kinda felt ripped off.
Anyway, Manowar was amazing both nights..although I dont know much from the first three albums so I couldnt really get into the first night. The second night was better for me.
I left out a lot of things that happened...but I'll let the pictures and the videos tell the rest.