WACKEN OPEN AIR 2001

WACKEN OPEN AIR
Wacken, Germany
August 2-4, 2001

I still can't believe we did it. Even now as I sit at my computer back home in Moscow I still wonder whether it was really us who travelled all the way to Germany and saw the world's biggest heavy metal festival. However Rage's latest CD "Welcome To The Other Side" signed by the three band members that is currently playing at my stereo tells me that all that I'm going to write about was for real - yes, MetalKings.com is the first Russian website to get an accreditation at Wacken. Here is the story, how it was, how we remember it.

August 2

I won't tell you how we made our way to Germany - this tale is too long and will alone make the size of this review. Let's start at the moment when the MetalKings.com team (Lynx, Fireball and yours truly) got off the bus and found ourselves on the outskirts of Wacken. For those of you who still don't know, Wacken is a small town not far from the city of Hamburg in the north of Germany. Every year in early August it turns into a Mecca for the world's metalheads who come there from every place you can think of to see their favourite bands play live to a huge crowd in the open air. The festival area is located in a field right outside Wacken. It includes four stages, the meet & greet area, interview tent, dozens of retailers selling new and used CDs, merchandise, clothing, food stuffs and (of course) beer, though the latter was extremely expensive. For three days in a year there are more metalheads in and around Wacken than anywhere in the world.

Actually if you go to Wacken be prepared to be hit by surprise. The first time it happened when we were waiting in line to get our backstage passes. After a two kilometres' walk with all our baggage in our hands we were really exhausted, but somehow paid attention to a long-haired bicyclist who drove to the checkpoint and started a conversation with an apparent acquaintance of his. The bicyclist was none else than Jorg Michael, the legendary drummer that has played in Rage, Mekong Delta and Stratovarius to name only a few. The strangest thing was than nobody noticed the man as he spent some time at the checkpoint, left and then came back. Apparently the reporters were too exhausted as well or maybe nervous or shy.

However this was just the beginning. Having received our backstage passes and set up a tent we went to explore the festival and backstage areas, as we still had some time before the festival kicked off. The most interesting point in the backstage area (besides free toilets and showers, of course) was the bar where musicians and media business people were hanging round. However on the first festival day it was almost empty and we went to the festival ground to see what's going on. The inside of the festival is another long story for it got many places of interest. We mostly spent our time at CD retailers where prices were reasonably low and the choice enormous, but we still failed to check them all, because soon the festival's main stage, called Mega Stage, came to life.

-- FINNTROLL --
Actually the first band at the festival was Turkey's Knight Errant, but I somehow missed them and for me Fintroll were the openers. And what openers they were! Their mix of black metal and Finnish folk music at once set the crowd on fire and their stage energy was just electrifying. Trolls performed tunes off their both albums and it would be difficult for me to select the best song of the set for they all rocked like hell. Real trolls, I'm telling you. We especially liked the red-haired one who only appeared on a couple of songs, first playing an acoustic guitar and then a huge tambourine and singing (or rather trying to, for his voice was too low in the mix). It's a pity we never met them backstage.

The next on the bill were Crematory, but they failed to show up due to a traffic jam. Thus, an obscure band with the great name Impotent Seasnakes took the stage, but I cannot tell much about their show for I was busy digging up rarities in piles of CDs. We also stopped at the interview tent and were lucky to catch Doro Pesch and Sabina Classen (Holy Moses) giving autographs and posing for photographs with their fans. Doro was really glad when we thanked her for the great show she did in Moscow earlier this year - she was all smiles and it was clear that she enjoyed that concert a lot.

-- W.A.S.P. --
Folks, you cannot even imagine how anxious I was waiting for the day to see Blackie Lawless on stage. I've been a W.A.S.P. fan for nine years and it was my dream to attend their concert. Live tracks from the reissue of "Crimson Idol" did made me afraid that Blackie's voice would sound weak in the live environment, and the recent depature of guitarist Chris Holmes was unlikely to do any good to the band either. However the show was just brilliant. Blackie sang perfectly and the rest of the band was in their place as well. There were almost no stage theatrics, but that was not needed for the music said it all. "Wild Child", "I Wanna Be Somebody", "The Real Me", "The Idol", "Animal (Fuck Like A Beast)", all with great sound and lights - what else can a fan dream of? However the set list was the main drawback for me. W.A.S.P. have just released a new record, and a very good one, IMHO, so why only perform one song off it ("Let It Roar")? Classics are great of course, but it is too early for a band like W.A.S.P. to concentrate on the past. Solid four plus. Blackie and the boys rounded up at about midnight and it was time for us to go to sleep. However sleeping at Wacken is not for the weak at heart. The first festival was the warmest of the three, but the night was still freezing cold and it was raining till dawn to top it all off. So make sure you take a tent, some warm clothes and a sleeping bag with you if you go to Wacken or you may end up in hospital yet before the end of the show.

August 3

On the second day we woke up at 9.00, for bands were to start playing at ten. We had a long metal day ahead of us.

-- NOSTRADAMEUS --
A very good show for a coming band. Nostradameus closely follows traditions of the genre - the guitarist was dressed a la Yngwie Malmsteeen, the singer assumed heroic poses, while the guitar and keyboards were producing high-speed solos. The band was quite confident on the stage and the vocalist managed to heat up the crowd even though most of the people had just woken up and were waiting to see more renown combos. The boys did spoil one good song ("The Crown's Inn") by chaos in the solo and the stage movements, but my overall impression was very good. - Fireball NIGHTFALL. Greece's finest have not released anything new in the past two years, though they still have enough followers in Germany to create an impressive crowd. Despite early hours, their show attracted a lot of people, and it was indeed a sight to see. The performance was excellent and the set list was also great, with most songs taken from the latest albums "Diva Futura" and "Lesbian Show" and some old classics thrown in between. Nightfall have long abandoned black metal, and their current music sounds like a mix of metal and gothic rock, but for me they are even more attractive in this shape. The only drawback of the show was vocals - when the singer growled and screamed it was OK, but when he attempted clean singing, it was too low in the mix.

After that we went to the Totalrock/Bullet TV interview tent to catch Blackie Lawless and hear him talk on the band's latest news. Blackie showed up without make-up (which suits him more, I would say) and surprised me by being in a really friendly mood. He spoke in detail about the Wacken show, departure of Chris Holmes, why he disliked "Inside The Electric Circus", etc. When the audience was allowed to ask questions, I asked whether it was true that the first W.A.S.P. demo was produced by Ace Frehley. Blackie said that it was just a rumour, that he did knew Ace from his childhood days, but Ace never produced anything for W.A.S.P. According to Blackie, Ace's manager Bill Aucoin was very close to managing W.A.S.P. in 1983, but the band opted for Rod Smallwood as Aucoin was too busy with Billy Idol. The most original question of the interview was asked by a fan from Turkey who wanted to know who was Blackie's favourite porn star. To which Blackie replied, "You!"

-- LACUNA COIL --
The Italian gothic metallers put up an incredibly dynamic show that was much more interesting than their sometimes too mellow records. Cristina Scabbia and Andrea Ferro delivered a great vocal performance too, their duet was among my personal Wacken highlights. As to instrumentalists, guitars and drums were much heavier than on the record, and the result was a set of highly energetic tunes. A huge crowd that gathered to meet and greet Lacuna Coil after the concert only confirmed the show's success. My favourite tunes on the set list was "When A Dead Man Walks" and "Halflife"

-- NAPALM DEATH --
Well, it was quite funny. The great Barney Greenway turned to be a middle-aged man with thin legs dressed in shorts. His chaotic movement on the stage and nervous waves of hands made me think that it was not Barney at all but some youngster from a Moscow band that has not yet learned how to behave in front of the crowd. As a result, brutality was watered down, but the quality of the music was still high. The band's intelligent death metal intended for mature and experienced listeners was a great contrast to sheer power and aggression displayed by shaven yankees from Carnal Forge shortly before Napalm Death hit the stage. - Fireball

-- EXCITER --
I didn't saw much of this band, that's why this paragraph's going to be very short. Total speed metal, which sounds almost identical to the band's latest studio releases. Exciter's got tons of drive, power and aggression, but if you want some melodies, forget this band. "Stand Up And Shout", the first track, was the best in my opinion.

-- PAUL DI ANNO --
What a mock! Especially for fans like me who are still crazy about the first two Iron Maiden records. Paul played nothing but old material, but still it was a torture to see this man who once did so much for emergence and development of NWOBHM. Instrumentalists were doing their best to soothe the impressions, their playing was excellent and their respect to old classics obvious, but the classic himself behaved in a miserable way - he was wriggling, his face was turning red from the efforts he was making, and what's force, he was toying with vocals a la death metal (what for, Paul?). Unfortunately, he is not that young and his voice is not that good, and even on his heyday he never had the voice comparable to Bruce Dickinson. - Fireball

-- SILENT FORCE --
D.C. Cooper's new band failed to make any specific impression on me at Wacken. The problem is common, it is lack of good melodies. The band's atmospheric and not particularly heavy music somewhat reminds me of Royal Hunt, but the guys are not as inventive as Andre Andersen. Despite that, D.C. Cooper turned to be a great frontman and a solid professional. The stage was very narrow, but he behaved very self-confidently, speaking with the crowd in a friendly way and obviously enjoying the show. He introduced the only hit performed during the show, namely "River Of Pain by Royal Hunt, like this, "This is a song of a Dutch band whose name I don't remember." Frankly speaking, I prefer not to comment on it. - Fireball

-- PRIMAL FEAR --
Power metal just an inch away from perfection. An unbelievably heavy and coherent sound with the mighty vocals of Ralf Sheepers, plus a collection of fans' favourites in the set-list. The show kicked off with "Angel In Black" and the hits just kept on coming. "Silver And Gold", "Chainbreaker", "Running In The Dust", "Nuclear Fire" and the reprise of "Angel In Black" at the end - they were all there and the performance was beyond any criticism. Primal Fear rulezzz!

After the show we caught Ralf at a news conference held by Nuclear Blast Records. The event also involved Roland Grapov of Helloween, Vortex of Dimmu Borgir and Bjorn Strid from Soilwork. Unfortunately the event was not particularly interesting for most reporters wanted to know something like when Helloween or Primal Fear would play in their country or if Dimmu Borgir planned to continue experimenting in the vein of the "Puritania" track. Yours truly failed to invent something original either, so here it what I asked Roland and Ralf.

MetalKings.com: Roland, in addition to Helloween you often play with younger bands. For instance I remember you playing on the Squealer record. What qualities should a band possess to attract your attention, to make you play with them?

RG: Well, hard to say, it just needs to be good, haha. I kind of like melodic stuff… I don't know… modern stuff. Most of the time I just did it for friendship because I met these people before and they asked me, so it was more like a friendship thing because I never get money for it.

MetalKings.com: Ralf, I remember Kai Hansen saying in an interview a couple of years ago that you and him were planning to start a project together, something separate from Primal Fear and Gamma Ray, but I have never heard about it anymore. What's the situation there now?

RS: Are you sure this is coming from Kai? This is not true at all, it's a rumour.

MetalKings.com: Primal Fear have a new guitar player on the latest record. Can you tell us something about him and what's the reason behind this line-up change?

RS: The thing is that sometimes in a band not everybody is pulling on the same string. And this is what was going on in Primal Fear when we had to change the guitarist. We definitely thought of Henny (Walter) because we remember him from Thunderhead, a good heavy metal guitar, a good rock'n'roll heavy metal guitar. He played for Sinner and it was another reason to invite him to Primal Fear. Actually the reason why we split with Tom (Naumann) was, like I said before, some personal stuff going on.

MetalKings.com: Roland, is there a chance that Helloween will one day perform live songs from "Pink Bubbles Go Ape" or "Chameleon"?

RG: No, I don't think so. I mean, we always played "Chance", the only song from "Pink Bubbles…" over the last years, and "Chameleon"… we really don't like this record to play live anymore, it's too soft, too poppy, and fans don't like it that much. I know that many people like especially the "Chameleon" record, but it's a different kind of Helloween, you should enjoy it at home.

-- SONATA ARCTICA --
Probably the most enthusiastic performance of all that I saw at Wacken, but the sound... No, if I heard that in Moscow I would say that it was quite good, but Wacken just has slightly different standards. Of course, the vocals and drums were heard well enough in the mix, but guitals and keyboards were marred into one wall of sound, energetic but far from coherent. This disadvantage was compensated by the band's raw energy that made the entire audience of the really impressive size jump around and sing along. Tony Kakko and Co mostly played songs off the new album "Silence" ("Weballergy", "Black Sheep") though best songs from the first record were not forgotten either - "Blank File", "Replica" and "Full Moon" raised cheers from the crowd. By the way, we spotted Luka Turilli and Alex Staropoli of Rhapsody in the audience.

-- THERION --
I've never seen a show like this and hardly ever will. In addition to the band, the concert featured an eight-piece choir that handled most vocal parts. Therion proved once again that they are the best symphonic metal band around, for no one can mix classical music and metal better than they do and no one can integrate a choir in a heavy metal composition like they do. The unusual show was accompanied by unusual stage lights, making the concert indeed something to remember. And though orchestrated parts were sampled, it did not decrease the energy of the live performance. The choir allowed Therion to perform their most complicated songs - "Eye Of Shiva", "To Mega Therion", etc. which appeared to be the most popular among listeners. Thus, you can imagine what the crowd's response was. Having completed their symphonic set, Therion waved the choir goodbye, leaving only one male vocalist on stage, and ventured into Iron Maiden's "Revelations", a song that they never recorded in the studio. Again the performance was top-notch and the response fantastic. This show alone is worth travelling 2,000km to see.

-- HELLOWEEN --
I bet something is going wrong with Helloween. Before the show Michael Weikath was obviously upset, or rather irritated, Roland Grapow was very polite but restrained, Markus Grosskopf was simply sad, and Andi Deris could not be seen at all. And even though the sound was excellent and the crowd bigger than at any other show at Wacken this year, there was a sort of tension on the stage. Honestly, I liked better their show in Moscow in May, for despite sound problems there was so much enthusiasm from the band that the crowd could not but love it. Here something was different, and even though the gig was a huge success and I enjoyed it immensely I couldn't but feel it. And no "If I Could Fly" once again. Why? Should we wait forever to hear this song live? (When this report was already completed we learned that our concerns were true - some 20 days after Wacken Roland Grapow and Uli Kusch left Helloween - Maniac)

-- SAXON --
These English veterans played Wacken's longest show - roughly two hours. Apparently it was not meant to be this way, but the crowd demanded more and more each time the band left the stage. Saxon are still true to themselves - they continue playing NWOBHM after all these years, and succeed with it. The show was a best-of programme and the stage set featured the original "Eagle", a huge metal structure moving in the background with light bulbs all over. Fans were in delight, others just stood there and enjoyed...

-- DIMMU BORGIR --
A slight disappointment. It's just six guys playing on the stage, no theatrics, nothing more than music. And even though I love this band, it turned to be very complicated for me to wait until the end of their set. I had hoped that the guys would do something more exciting than going out and playing the songs in the same way that they are performed in the studio. A performance like this is pretty tiresome at 2.00 a.m. after the entire day of heavy metal, so I left midway through the set, thinking that I can get practically the same impressions from listening to Dimmu Borgir CDs. Black metal is fine, but we got to sleep sometimes, ok?

August 4.

The day started with a minor but very unpleasant incident. Having waken up we found out that somebody had stolen two stakes that held our tent in a steady position. Apparently the person had lost or forgotten his own stakes and went out hunting for a suitable replacement. Given that we rented the tent in Moscow we were now in for a 'nice' fine. And he/she calls himself/herself a reporter?! F**k that bastard. I'd like to warn everybody who goes to Wacken to take care of your belongings. Even if the place is generally friendly and crime-free there is always a black sheep in the family. Anyway we soon forgot about this incident for the final day of Wacken 2001 was going to be no less interesting than the two we had witnessed.

-- VINTERSORG --
It would be an exaggeration to say that I came to Wacken only to see Vintersorg, but I was really eager to see these Swedish vikings, or "explorers", that's how the main man Vintersorg and his guitarist Matthias Marklund call themselves. I expected to be blown away by the performance but what I saw by far surpassed even my wildest dreams. There were no intros, nothing special preceded the show, the band just came onstage and started playing. I realised at once that is was something special - Vintersorg and his men were not only true professionals, they were also extremely self-confident and soon gained full control of the crowd. Well, with the music like this and the performance like this you can be proud and self-confident. Vintersorg's mix of black, viking, power and heavy metal is unique by itself, and the live performance adds even more edge to it and makes it more catchy. And that voice… I don't know any other vocalist who can be compared to Vintersorg. His voice has a unique musical quality and his sudden transitions from clean vocals to blackish screams are just amazing. The sound was perfect and the set list was no less exemplary - some old stuff, a bit more new stuff, one song from the forthcoming record and a cover version, brilliant rendition of Uriah Heep's "Rainbow Demon". Besides, Vintersorg were one of the very few bands at Wacken that played longer than they were supposed to. Most other bands played even shorter sets that their timing allowed, but Vintersorg was different. Even after the stage manager showed him that it was really THE deadline he continued playing and only left the stage after finishing the final song ("Till Fjalls"), not paying attention to workers that already started bringing out equipment for the next band. One hell of a show and one of the best performances, if not the very best, of all I saw at Wacken.

-- METALIUM --
I only caught some 25 minutes of this band's set, but it was enough for the band to make a very good impression on me. Metalium's music is quite traditional, but it is up to the highest power metal standards, and, what's more important, they write really good songs ("Free Forever", for instance). The sound quality was top-notch, though you can't really surprise anybody by good sound at Wacken, and the band's professionalism was displayed at its best. The Deep Purple classic "Smoke On The Water" was probably the gig's highest point, but Metalium's own material was received no less warmly by the crowd. It was strange, however, that when the band showed up for autographs after the show very few people came to meet them.

-- SOUL DOCTOR --
Antipodes of Sonata Arctica, IMHO. If the hot Finnish guys take the crowd by storm with enthusiasm, for Soul Doctor the ace of trumps is professionalism. Well, what else can you expect from the band that features Jorg Deisinger (ex-Bonfire, Sabu) and Tommy Heart (ex-Fair Warning? They've been in the music business forever, they've been playing in bands forever, they composed a lot of songs so how can they be unprofessional? Soul Doctor's set consisted of hard rock tunes with a touch of AOR, nothing special, some would say, but the songs are really good, the sound… should I say anything here? And the performance, well you should have seen it. Now I understand the reason why Tommy Heart quit Fair Warning, the band that very seldom played live - it's because he just loves being onstage. His was the most energetic performance of the third festival day. And he's got a great voice too, good enough to perform Led Zeppelin classics "Whole Lotta Love" and "Black Dog". It's a pity not many people came to see the show, but the band's got only one album out and there's still time to change the situation.

-- CREMATORY --
Despite all problems on the way to Wacken, Crematory managed to reach their destination at last. And even though organisers had to change half of the schedule to arrange a gig for this band, nobody was upset for "the gothic metal kings" were playing their last open-air show before the break-up. Yes, the band decided to call it a day after 10 years of very successful career and Wacken was my last chance to see them live. Crematory kicked off with a tune from their debut album "Transmigration" and ended the one-hour set with "Perils Of The Wind", the last song from the last CD "Believe". In between were all the hits you can think of - "Tears Of Time", "Temple Of Love", "Fly", "The Fallen", "Endless", etc., a truly best-of programme. Needless to say, it was an awesome show, but everybody understood that the band says good-bye to the fans, and it produced a really sad feeling. Some people were crying in the audience during the set and even the sky broke down and fell into tears that fell on the earth with a short but quite strong rain. Good-bye, Crematory, we will miss you a lot!

-- RAGE --
The show that Moscow was supposed to see but never actually saw, for the band's performance in the Russian capital was so f**ked up you can't really call it a show. This time Peavy, Victor and Mike displayed all their best qualities, gathering a huge and enthusiastic crowd in front of the stage. The set list featured three songs from the latest CD "Welcome To The Other Side" ("Paint The Devil On The Wall", "The Mirror In Your Eyes", "Straight To Hell") and a plethora of classics from various periods of the band's career including my personal favourites "Sent By The Devil" and "From The Cradle To The Grave". It's a pity their show was too short, 45 minutes are obviously not enough for this band, I think they should have been among the headliners. An interesting incident occurred when Rage showed up at the Meet and Greet area. We got our CD signed by all the band members and said "thank you" to Viktor Smolski in Russian, for he happens to be of Belarussian origin. He was not surprised at all and replied "welcome" in Russian as if he confronts Russian people at each Rage show in Germany. Maybe there are already so many Russians in that country? And they all love Rage? I don't know.

-- SUBWAY TO SALLY --
Metalheads outside Germany are hardly aware of this band, though it comprises really talented musicians that devote themselves to re-arranging national folk heritage. I'm not speaking about beer drinking songs like those that can be found on Tom Angelripper CDs, but rather about medieval folk songs. The result is very unusual, but interesting. It was clear that the band was very popular in their native country as the entire crowd was singing along except foreigners like yours truly. - Fireball

-- TANKARD --
A long-time alcohol addiction makes even the most different people look the same. Despite sporting a large belly, Tankard's signer Gerre was running around the stage, banging his head and the entire body and generally embodying an opposite of what we call frontman. This kind of behavior made him look very similar to the great and terrible Ozzy Osbourne. The audience did not wait to respond, and the show featuring such hits as "The Morning After" and "Open All Night" was a blast. - Fireball

-- GRAVE DIGGER --
This combo was recording its first live album at Wacken, that's why the sound was as perfect as you can think of and the set list was a best-of collection (even "Heavy Metal Breakdown" was included). Grave Digger did not disappoint me but were not a surprise either. A solid performance, great songs some of which I have been listening to for many years, great new guitarist Manni Schmitt (ex-Rage), but still something was missing.

-- IN FLAMES --
Nuclear Blast claims at its web-site that 80 percent of the Wacken crowd came at the festival to see In Flames. It's of course quite an exaggeration, but the audience obviously loved these Swedes and their material which every reader of MetalKings.com should know and which I don't see any reason to describe here. The show lasted 60 minutes and the band mostly performed songs off their last two albums, but older tunes were also included ("Episode 666", for instance). A very energetic performance, even considering Wacken's extremely high standards, and hits were abundant in the set. Melodic Swedish death metal is not my favourite style, but I was very impressed.

-- NIGHTWISH --
When I saw Tarja shortly before the show I was quite surprised by her new look. She became much thinner and I didn't recognise her at first. Nightwish was the only band that moved in the festival area under guard, for Tarja has got a lot of crazy fans. When she appeared at the Meet & Greet table they presented her red roses and were shouting "Tarja sing for us!" and "Tarja we love you" all the time. What can I say, she does look great, but getting thinner does not always do good to opera singers. Often they just lose their voice, but luckily, Tarja was not the case. When the band hit the stage and started playing "The Kinslayer" I realised at once that her voice was as strong as it had always been. Actually, the vocals was the best moment of the show, for the overall sound left something to be desired. The problem was that the guitar and bass could not be differentiated at all only creating a background for the keyboards and singing. Again, what may be OK for Moscow does not satisfy Wacken's standards. Possibly it was not the band's fault, for Motorhead whose gig was the next on Mega Stage 2 had the same problem, maybe the equipment broke down after playing so much heavy metal. Anyway, it was up to Tarja to save the show and she did it. She is not only a great singer, she is also an excellent frontwoman for she was moving freely on the stage, waving her hands to intensify emotions that the songs conveyed and even banged her head sometimes. The set list mostly coincided with the "From Wishes To Eternity" video, but two new songs from the "Over The Hills and Far Away" maxi single were included. In addition to it, Nightwish performed "Sleeping Sun" for the first time in Germany. One regret is that they did not perform "The Carpenter" and the other is that the show was again too short - a mere 50 minutes. I want more!

-- HAMMERFALL --
My god, what a sound! Just unbelievable. Right when I thought I'd seen all Wacken highlights there came another one. I like Hammerfall records a lot, but I wasn't expecting much from their live show. Everybody knows that Hammerfall albums are not particularly heavy to say the least, so when Oscar Dronjak and the rest of the band started the first song I thought I came to a wrong place. A wall of incredibly heavy sound inferior only to Primal Fear was coming from the speakers and levelling the crowd who wasn't expecting it either. After the show I can say that the people calling Hammerfall "poser metal" should see the band live before making such statements. This kind of music can never be called poser metal. When Anders Johannson played his drum intro to "Raise The Hammer" the earth was vibrating under my feet. Such an approach to the sound made it a bit dirty but who cares when it is so intense? And I enjoyed Hammerfall hits even better this way. The show started with "Templars Of Steel" from the latest CD "Renegade" and continued with the best tracks from all Hammerfall records - "Steel Meets Steel", "At The End Of The Rainbow", "Way Of The Warrior" and "Destined For Glory", the latter performed live for the first time ever. My favourite song ("Glory To The Brave") was missing as usual, but I was not disappointed, I'm already getting used to it. A surprisingly great show.

-- MOTORHEAD --
This gig had two peculiarities. First, Motorhead played louder than any other band at Wacken this year. Second, they were the only performers to forbid photographers take pictures from the pit in front of the stage. Leaving this aside, the show did not differ much from the one that I saw in Moscow half a year ago. Even the set list was practically the same. The only thing really different was the use of the legendary "Bomber" stage set. "Bomber" came to life when the epiphonymous song was performed and continued making manoeuvres above the stage until the end of the show. On the other hand, this band does not need much variety, they know what the audience wants, are very good at it and just like what they are doing. The audience was not very active this time, probably because the people couldn't understand Lemmy's and Phil's accent. I personally failed to understand a single sentence. Nevertheless, my impression of the show was very positive.

-- SODOM --
By saying this we are in for despise of many old metalheads, but the MetalKings.com team almost ignored the show of this distinguished thrash metal band. No wonder, for it was the very last show of the festival and started after 2.00 a.m. However we still managed to evaluate the powerful sound, jump around to "Remember The Fallen" performed very early un the set, and see the last living legend of German thrash metal with our own eyes. The audience was literally on its knees after Motorhead's earth-cracking show, but Sodom managed to give the people the second wind and the crowd did not disappoint Tom. Being very tired, we dragged our feet to the tent and fell asleep to the sound of Sodom's thundering music and loud cheers from thousands of metalheads. We just wanted the night to last for the entire year so that we could wake up at the continuation of the show, a new festival of music where all kinds of people get together and pledge allegiance to metal. - Fireball

Nevertheless, it was only a dream, for we had to leave for home the next morning. I don't know about people who have the opportunity to come to Wacken every year, but for the three of us it was an invaluable experience, one hell of a time and a remembrance that we will never forget. And like Moslems believe that each of them should make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in his/her life, we believe that each fan of heavy metal should come to Wacken at least once in his/her life. You'll find here a lot of stuff you won't get anywhere else - at least there is no place in the world to see so many great bands play on one bill in only three days. And if you come here once, you'll definitely want to return. Long live Wacken!

Text: Roman The Maniac
Comments: Fireball (translated from Russian by Roman The Maniac)
Photo: Lynx & Fireball

Our thanks to everybody involved in the organisation and implementation of the festival. The Author would like to extend his personal thanks to Eske Nentwig for all the help prvided.