"Harder, Faster, Louder!" Wacken Open Air 2011
I swear I
will visit Wacken at least one more time. Even though it is a full of mounts of
rubbish, hilarious freaks and plastic beer glasses given for a euro deposit. But
it is a really safe place for to Russian girls travelling solo - without any men. Thus
we drank free beer with our Dutch neighbours, taught them how to order beer in Russia,
adored their word “kamiloze” with which they met every one and at the same time
mocked the Swedes, and watched Airbourne performance sitting at the shoulders of
the Germans. Walking through a camping was like crossing a street full of
Korean children shouting “hi!” and so on. Metalheadz are indeed like a big amiable family!
Once again I understood that weather is a very important factor at any festival. Our German friend told us that the weather in Germany resembles the one in Scotland. I've never been to the latter but let's believe him. Despite a lack of sun during festival day we returned home tanned as we spent our holidays not at the biggest metal festival but at some resort.
Hopefully this summer we saw more bands than last year.
The very first band we saw was Helloween. They were also the first band having sound problems. The only thing I remember after their performance is vocalist's long blonde hair. Yeap, it was awesome.
After that we saw Blind Guardian for the second time this year. This guys know how to work and to captivate a non-fan of them. I was shocked when recognized some songs, although the last time I heard them was in autumn Moscow. Their set was really worthwhile!
My dearest Ozzy Osbourne. I do adore this man and his musicians. He is old, unsound... but how he works! I take my hat off to him. This time he showered front rows with lather instead of watering them with water from his bucket as he did at Moscow concert. During his set someone poured beer on my hair but once again I cheered up looking at Ozzy's funny jumping by his mic-stand. I think it is the most hilarious thing I've ever seen. And his drummer... He has two funny braids. What a heavy metal!
And the first day of our first Wacken finished with drunken Hollanders...
A new day has come and we met it listening to Van Canto. If only they didn't play these songs - "Whishmaster" and "Bard Song". As for the rest guys are far from being pompous. They performed wearing simple jeans which extremely impressed me. And I saw with my own eyes that they really do not use guitars. I had some doubts listening to their records. So it was quite a nice experience.
Rhapsody of Fire. You know there performance was rather dull. I liked them more in Moscow.
Judas Priest. Omg. This man changes his dresses more often than Tarja does. I was impressed. He was bold and all his clothes were glittering. I enjoyed the way the crowd got down the band's set. Unfortunately, we got tired of their performance after an hour and left...
Unexpectedly we saw Airbourne's set - we didn't plan it but I got cold and we got an offer to see it from the height of Germans shoulders. It was ok and the stage was seen excellent. lol
Saltatio Mortis. Their vocalist does look somewhat crazy. It is during their set that I felt a great unity of all metalheadz who were at the time at Party Stage. The vocalist told everyone to put heir hands on shoulders of their neighbors and to start jumping. It was awesome. Even though I was surrounded by big drunk guys.
And then the vocalist was crowd-surfing. I do detest such an activity but fortunately he was moving towards me not other way like people did during Avantasia set.
And then going to bed sleeping-bag at 3 a.m.
It was the third day that I had been looking forward to.
Our morning began with Visions of Atlantis. It was quite a nice start for the last day of WOA. And they indeed sounded great live.
Finally I saw them. Dir en grey. Amusingly but it was also 6th August when I saw them live for the first time and again it was not in my hometown. Have I ever mentioned that I adore their music. Their set was quite usual with a few songs from new album which leider I didn't find. But finally I heard a song I dreamt about - "Merciless Cult". Could've life been better? The only sad thing about their perfomance - Kyo left the stage without even looking at the crowd. However, later back at Moscow I found out about sound problems during their perfomance. At WOA I didn't notice it really. I did have some troubles with perceiving "Tsumi To Kisei" but it was the only annoyance as this song for sure is not made to be an opener. Guys worked hard, although the only man who seemed to enjoy the concert was Die. They managed to move the crowd, which was unfortunately small, only about to the middle of their set. I was very proud of Diru when our German friend said that he could've never imagined that such a small man could scream so much. Funny. And then we met Russian guys on our flight back to Moscow. They said that Diru was a real catch at WOA. So more fans for Japaneze Zombies. =)
Few words about meet&greet. It more resembled a game "try to find short Asian guys behind a tall barrier. But now I am deeply impressed by Kyo's porcelain face. It is haunting me.
Soon after meet&greet we saw Sepultura. What mad eyes their vocalist has. Fortunately for me they played some my favourite songs and of course "Roots Bloody Roots". People liked them whatever wars between old/new Sepultura fans.
The last gig of the festival we saw was Avantasia. It was what I call pompous, power and not mine. And fans crowd surfed a lot during their set. So now I have kind of a paranoia as one man/girl fell on me while doing this awful crowd-surfing. Damn it!
We also saw a bunch of bands performing in between those I told about - Trivium, Crashdiet, Iced Earth, Suicidal Tendencies, Kataklysm, Mayhem.
Now Wacken 2011 is indeed a history but we are part of it and it is gorgeous!!
Once again I understood that weather is a very important factor at any festival. Our German friend told us that the weather in Germany resembles the one in Scotland. I've never been to the latter but let's believe him. Despite a lack of sun during festival day we returned home tanned as we spent our holidays not at the biggest metal festival but at some resort.
Hopefully this summer we saw more bands than last year.
The very first band we saw was Helloween. They were also the first band having sound problems. The only thing I remember after their performance is vocalist's long blonde hair. Yeap, it was awesome.
After that we saw Blind Guardian for the second time this year. This guys know how to work and to captivate a non-fan of them. I was shocked when recognized some songs, although the last time I heard them was in autumn Moscow. Their set was really worthwhile!
My dearest Ozzy Osbourne. I do adore this man and his musicians. He is old, unsound... but how he works! I take my hat off to him. This time he showered front rows with lather instead of watering them with water from his bucket as he did at Moscow concert. During his set someone poured beer on my hair but once again I cheered up looking at Ozzy's funny jumping by his mic-stand. I think it is the most hilarious thing I've ever seen. And his drummer... He has two funny braids. What a heavy metal!
And the first day of our first Wacken finished with drunken Hollanders...
A new day has come and we met it listening to Van Canto. If only they didn't play these songs - "Whishmaster" and "Bard Song". As for the rest guys are far from being pompous. They performed wearing simple jeans which extremely impressed me. And I saw with my own eyes that they really do not use guitars. I had some doubts listening to their records. So it was quite a nice experience.
Rhapsody of Fire. You know there performance was rather dull. I liked them more in Moscow.
Judas Priest. Omg. This man changes his dresses more often than Tarja does. I was impressed. He was bold and all his clothes were glittering. I enjoyed the way the crowd got down the band's set. Unfortunately, we got tired of their performance after an hour and left...
Unexpectedly we saw Airbourne's set - we didn't plan it but I got cold and we got an offer to see it from the height of Germans shoulders. It was ok and the stage was seen excellent. lol
Saltatio Mortis. Their vocalist does look somewhat crazy. It is during their set that I felt a great unity of all metalheadz who were at the time at Party Stage. The vocalist told everyone to put heir hands on shoulders of their neighbors and to start jumping. It was awesome. Even though I was surrounded by big drunk guys.
And then the vocalist was crowd-surfing. I do detest such an activity but fortunately he was moving towards me not other way like people did during Avantasia set.
And then going to bed sleeping-bag at 3 a.m.
It was the third day that I had been looking forward to.
Our morning began with Visions of Atlantis. It was quite a nice start for the last day of WOA. And they indeed sounded great live.
Finally I saw them. Dir en grey. Amusingly but it was also 6th August when I saw them live for the first time and again it was not in my hometown. Have I ever mentioned that I adore their music. Their set was quite usual with a few songs from new album which leider I didn't find. But finally I heard a song I dreamt about - "Merciless Cult". Could've life been better? The only sad thing about their perfomance - Kyo left the stage without even looking at the crowd. However, later back at Moscow I found out about sound problems during their perfomance. At WOA I didn't notice it really. I did have some troubles with perceiving "Tsumi To Kisei" but it was the only annoyance as this song for sure is not made to be an opener. Guys worked hard, although the only man who seemed to enjoy the concert was Die. They managed to move the crowd, which was unfortunately small, only about to the middle of their set. I was very proud of Diru when our German friend said that he could've never imagined that such a small man could scream so much. Funny. And then we met Russian guys on our flight back to Moscow. They said that Diru was a real catch at WOA. So more fans for Japaneze Zombies. =)
Few words about meet&greet. It more resembled a game "try to find short Asian guys behind a tall barrier. But now I am deeply impressed by Kyo's porcelain face. It is haunting me.
Soon after meet&greet we saw Sepultura. What mad eyes their vocalist has. Fortunately for me they played some my favourite songs and of course "Roots Bloody Roots". People liked them whatever wars between old/new Sepultura fans.
The last gig of the festival we saw was Avantasia. It was what I call pompous, power and not mine. And fans crowd surfed a lot during their set. So now I have kind of a paranoia as one man/girl fell on me while doing this awful crowd-surfing. Damn it!
We also saw a bunch of bands performing in between those I told about - Trivium, Crashdiet, Iced Earth, Suicidal Tendencies, Kataklysm, Mayhem.
Now Wacken 2011 is indeed a history but we are part of it and it is gorgeous!!