You came on your own, that’s how you’ll leave, with hope in your hands and air to breathe.
Summary: A good weekend, safe travels, loads of good people and good music, 25 000 Germans all dressed up in black, and a little rain.
On Thursday afternoon and evening I was at a work do, which involved taking a coach up past Watford, driving around a field in racing buggies and then eating from a huge buffet at a very posh country golf club. All good.
Then I got back home before midnight, more-or-less ready for a 4:30 am wakeup for a 7:50 flight to Hannover. Urgh. Then trains on to Hildesheim, and local bus to Flugplatz Hildesheim-Drispenstedt for M'era Luna festival
I found the venue easily, people were filing in, and I was well ahead of the busload of people that I expected to rendezvous with. NB: If doing this again, there's no need for such an early flight.
I hang around inside, but didn't pitch my tent yet. The bus crew finally made it through the line, we found a spot that the Germans hadn't gotten to first, so I pitched tent with Clive, Borgia, Paul Sticks and about 50 other Englishers from the bus. They were highly organised, with an "event shelter" gazebo and a UK flag. I recognised a few faces from London and Whitby, but everyone from the bus was good company and I knew a lot of them a lot better by the end.
Music on Saturday night was Stolen Babies, Laibach, Nitzer Ebb, Unheilig, Sisters of Mercy.
Stolen Babies: I caught the end of this, looked interesting
Laibach got off to a slow start, and didn't really have time to get liftoff with a crowd that wanted something uptempo. They played their versions of "The star-spangled banner" and "God save the queen", but none of the ones that I really wanted to hear, e.g. "Jesus Christ Superstar", "Geburt Einer Nation", B-maschina or "Life is Life". They did end with "Tanz mit Laibach" though.
As an aside, it's possible that the reason that I am more of a fan of Laibach than most UK people is the old-school South African experience, having seen how political art under repressive, censorious regimes becomes indirect - layered behind irony and parody.
Their keyboardist was statuesque and photogenic:
Nitzer Ebb: Loud and energetic, but not that tuneful. Not quite my thing.
Unheilig: I missed them on my pre-festival listening plan because they're not on Spotify much. They seem to be very popular in Germany, and I can see why. Good musicians, with Neue Deutsche Harte loud guitars and growly voices, coupled with sappy love-song emo lyrics. At least I think so, it was all sung in German, with lighters in the air.
Sisters of Mercy: Eldritch is bald as a coot and the other two are hired guns, but the other bits of the song remain the same: Sunglasses, and a backdrop of lights shining through smoke machines running continually cranked up to 11. At its worst it was karaoke, at best it was a fun nostalgia trip. I hadn't seen SoM live before, so it was worth it for me. If you had seen them before, it may not have been worth it for you.
Then on Sunday the music that I saw was Hanzel Und Gretyl, Editors, In Extremo, Placebo. I didn't take any pictures on Sunday.
Hanzel Und Gretyl: supposedly funny (American fake-German band), but just too uber uber metal for me to stay for the whole thing.
Editors: I liked them lots, but I'm into indie rock that nods to Joy Division and has shimmering guitars. Definitely the best "upcoming" band that I saw there.
In Extremo: the whole medieval folk-metal thing was good fun, and good musically too. German bagpipes are huge.
Placebo: Good gig. A highlight of the concert. There's not much to say, they did their thing well.
And then a late night drum circle with random EBM Germans using plastic bottles, sticks, and banging on beer kegs, a shopping trolley and a big plastic garbage skip. Surreal, cyberpunk but excellent.
The festival was on the whole very German, not as international as I had expected. About 49 out of 50 people there were Germans in Germany speaking German. The UK flag actually attracted random English-speaking persons, e.g. a very laid-back Australian guy and his German wife, two Irishmen, and also a few Poles and Swedes. Some of the Germans were surprised to hear me mutter hesitantly "Angliche, keine Deutch" when spoken to. But everyone was helpful. 25 000+ people all in black is a bit of a shock to the senses though.
The festival is held on an airstrip - Flugplatz Hildesheim-Drispenstedt was originally operated by the British Army, but went civilian after the end of the cold war. It seems to still be a fully working recreational airport (not during the festival, obviously), but maybe they need a festival or two to bring on more funds.
Anyway it's flat, has lots of grassy bits with a nice wide, straight tarred road down the middle, and some hangers for indoor events at the one side.
The medieval village was pleasant surprise too. I hadn't realised that the whole Mittelalter thing was so big over there. Goths drinking mead from a horn is literally true. Also, there's a kind of cherry-flavoured mead called "Viking Blood" that's really very nice.
I somehow managed to not enter the hanger stage all evening, and thus missed the more industrial track of Dash Ich, Rottersand, Skinny Puppy and Combichrist. I was sad to miss Skinny Puppy, but had to make a sacrifice to see Editors and Placebo.
The weather was good until Sunday night.
The Monday was longer than I expected - the campsite was cleared early, in the rain, and my flight was in the evening.
So I spent some time walking around Hannover near the central station. By Monday evening I was exhausted and seriously sleep-deprived, and I even slept on the flight.
My health was better than I had worried - I had a cold earlier in the week, and despite some headaches and coughing, my cold continued to dissipate and I felt better every passing day. No doubt it would have gone faster if I hadn't been carousing, but at least I didn't relapse. Aspirin and paracetamol dealt with the headaches. My back didn't do anything nasty to me. It did feel stiff and tired after watching three bands in a row, but I was good to go again the next day.
I didn't spend all my Euros either - the only expensive thing that I bought was the souvenir t-shirt (22 Euros). I ate food from on-site, typically under 5Eu per meal, and I didn't drink loads.
Re the food: I lived off falafel wraps, crepes, Berliner doughnuts and big bready pretzels. I am glad to be back on a diet that includes fresh fruit and green vegetables.
I read two books over the weekend: The Windup Girl: good dystopian Sci-Fi, in a future (maybe a hundred years hence) involving genetic engineering run riot and a deeply cynical view of the destructive nature of human greed; and Re:Work - DHH's pithy internet business text, more insightful than it is annoying.
On the last leg of the return, the poorly named Stansted Express managed to be shabby, delayed, packed full, and it broke down halfway home. In Germany the trains not only look first-world and run on time; in Germany the trains run. By the time that I got off, a lot of the stress that a holiday had removed had returned again.
This weekend, I must dry out the tent.
Doing it again, I might take the bus - it's more social, and you can take more stuff, and try to get to more actual bands. And be in full health from the start. Or go to Ozora next time.
On Thursday afternoon and evening I was at a work do, which involved taking a coach up past Watford, driving around a field in racing buggies and then eating from a huge buffet at a very posh country golf club. All good.
Then I got back home before midnight, more-or-less ready for a 4:30 am wakeup for a 7:50 flight to Hannover. Urgh. Then trains on to Hildesheim, and local bus to Flugplatz Hildesheim-Drispenstedt for M'era Luna festival
I found the venue easily, people were filing in, and I was well ahead of the busload of people that I expected to rendezvous with. NB: If doing this again, there's no need for such an early flight.
I hang around inside, but didn't pitch my tent yet. The bus crew finally made it through the line, we found a spot that the Germans hadn't gotten to first, so I pitched tent with Clive, Borgia, Paul Sticks and about 50 other Englishers from the bus. They were highly organised, with an "event shelter" gazebo and a UK flag. I recognised a few faces from London and Whitby, but everyone from the bus was good company and I knew a lot of them a lot better by the end.
Music on Saturday night was Stolen Babies, Laibach, Nitzer Ebb, Unheilig, Sisters of Mercy.
Stolen Babies: I caught the end of this, looked interesting
Laibach got off to a slow start, and didn't really have time to get liftoff with a crowd that wanted something uptempo. They played their versions of "The star-spangled banner" and "God save the queen", but none of the ones that I really wanted to hear, e.g. "Jesus Christ Superstar", "Geburt Einer Nation", B-maschina or "Life is Life". They did end with "Tanz mit Laibach" though.
As an aside, it's possible that the reason that I am more of a fan of Laibach than most UK people is the old-school South African experience, having seen how political art under repressive, censorious regimes becomes indirect - layered behind irony and parody.
Their keyboardist was statuesque and photogenic:
Nitzer Ebb: Loud and energetic, but not that tuneful. Not quite my thing.
Unheilig: I missed them on my pre-festival listening plan because they're not on Spotify much. They seem to be very popular in Germany, and I can see why. Good musicians, with Neue Deutsche Harte loud guitars and growly voices, coupled with sappy love-song emo lyrics. At least I think so, it was all sung in German, with lighters in the air.
Sisters of Mercy: Eldritch is bald as a coot and the other two are hired guns, but the other bits of the song remain the same: Sunglasses, and a backdrop of lights shining through smoke machines running continually cranked up to 11. At its worst it was karaoke, at best it was a fun nostalgia trip. I hadn't seen SoM live before, so it was worth it for me. If you had seen them before, it may not have been worth it for you.
Then on Sunday the music that I saw was Hanzel Und Gretyl, Editors, In Extremo, Placebo. I didn't take any pictures on Sunday.
Hanzel Und Gretyl: supposedly funny (American fake-German band), but just too uber uber metal for me to stay for the whole thing.
Editors: I liked them lots, but I'm into indie rock that nods to Joy Division and has shimmering guitars. Definitely the best "upcoming" band that I saw there.
In Extremo: the whole medieval folk-metal thing was good fun, and good musically too. German bagpipes are huge.
Placebo: Good gig. A highlight of the concert. There's not much to say, they did their thing well.
And then a late night drum circle with random EBM Germans using plastic bottles, sticks, and banging on beer kegs, a shopping trolley and a big plastic garbage skip. Surreal, cyberpunk but excellent.
The festival was on the whole very German, not as international as I had expected. About 49 out of 50 people there were Germans in Germany speaking German. The UK flag actually attracted random English-speaking persons, e.g. a very laid-back Australian guy and his German wife, two Irishmen, and also a few Poles and Swedes. Some of the Germans were surprised to hear me mutter hesitantly "Angliche, keine Deutch" when spoken to. But everyone was helpful. 25 000+ people all in black is a bit of a shock to the senses though.
The festival is held on an airstrip - Flugplatz Hildesheim-Drispenstedt was originally operated by the British Army, but went civilian after the end of the cold war. It seems to still be a fully working recreational airport (not during the festival, obviously), but maybe they need a festival or two to bring on more funds.
Anyway it's flat, has lots of grassy bits with a nice wide, straight tarred road down the middle, and some hangers for indoor events at the one side.
The medieval village was pleasant surprise too. I hadn't realised that the whole Mittelalter thing was so big over there. Goths drinking mead from a horn is literally true. Also, there's a kind of cherry-flavoured mead called "Viking Blood" that's really very nice.
I somehow managed to not enter the hanger stage all evening, and thus missed the more industrial track of Dash Ich, Rottersand, Skinny Puppy and Combichrist. I was sad to miss Skinny Puppy, but had to make a sacrifice to see Editors and Placebo.
The weather was good until Sunday night.
The Monday was longer than I expected - the campsite was cleared early, in the rain, and my flight was in the evening.
So I spent some time walking around Hannover near the central station. By Monday evening I was exhausted and seriously sleep-deprived, and I even slept on the flight.
My health was better than I had worried - I had a cold earlier in the week, and despite some headaches and coughing, my cold continued to dissipate and I felt better every passing day. No doubt it would have gone faster if I hadn't been carousing, but at least I didn't relapse. Aspirin and paracetamol dealt with the headaches. My back didn't do anything nasty to me. It did feel stiff and tired after watching three bands in a row, but I was good to go again the next day.
I didn't spend all my Euros either - the only expensive thing that I bought was the souvenir t-shirt (22 Euros). I ate food from on-site, typically under 5Eu per meal, and I didn't drink loads.
Re the food: I lived off falafel wraps, crepes, Berliner doughnuts and big bready pretzels. I am glad to be back on a diet that includes fresh fruit and green vegetables.
I read two books over the weekend: The Windup Girl: good dystopian Sci-Fi, in a future (maybe a hundred years hence) involving genetic engineering run riot and a deeply cynical view of the destructive nature of human greed; and Re:Work - DHH's pithy internet business text, more insightful than it is annoying.
On the last leg of the return, the poorly named Stansted Express managed to be shabby, delayed, packed full, and it broke down halfway home. In Germany the trains not only look first-world and run on time; in Germany the trains run. By the time that I got off, a lot of the stress that a holiday had removed had returned again.
This weekend, I must dry out the tent.
Doing it again, I might take the bus - it's more social, and you can take more stuff, and try to get to more actual bands. And be in full health from the start. Or go to Ozora next time.