Heavy Metal Festival Reviews.

by **sideways** » Wed Mar 03, 2010 2:13 pm

What Festivals have you been too and what did you think?

by **sideways** » Wed Mar 03, 2010 2:14 pm

Metalwrath: "It's not worth it anymore.The emo's and posers have taken over that festival and Wacken will stick it's name on any item to make money.Wacken toaster,Wacken vibrator,Wacken the movie etc.The list goes on.
There's much better festivals out there these days.
The lineup on this boat is already probably better than the full lineup at Wacken this year"

What festivals would you suggest in europe?

Metalwrath · by **Metalwrath** » Wed Mar 03, 2010 2:28 pm

Hard to say really.The good festivals usually don't last for financial reasons .
In terms of organisation and band selection i think that Earthshaker Festival was the best.
Was in Germany.
Was there in 05 and 06 but it's been gone now for the last few years due to their budget being smaller than most festivals and thus not being able to compete.
Seen a shit loads of grat bands there including Manowar,Rhapsody Hammerfall,Grave Digger ,Saxon,Testament Dimmu Boirgir etc.
Cost of the tickets wasn't so bad either.

I've been to Wacken in 04,06 and 07 and watched the quality of bands decline favouring more commercial bands.Prices being hiked up with tickets and other things.Toilet facilities getting worse.Overcrowding of the festival area and the camping area.
Someone was crushed to Death at Iron Maiden there in 08 as far as i know.Violence and theft has also risen due to the kind of people starting to attend there.

Probably the worst festival in terms of organisation still has to be Magic Cirlce festival.It's usually held in Germany but will be in Slovenia this year.
Bad negotations with bands and severe communication issues with the contracters they pay to run things there every time.
Repetitve band booking.
Not many bands play at this festival but the people there are usually really nice and Manowar always play special shows at it.

I was at Metalway festival in Spain last year.That had a supreme lineup.The problem for a lot of people though is that it's held over 2 weekends so you end up with 5 days of no bands which sucks if you are camping.
I'm not sure if this will be held again because of the small turnout and the amount of money being spent on the lineup.
Also for someone not speaking Spanish it's very difficult to manage due to the lack of English speaking people who work there.
Still a great festival though.

went to Sweden rock in 06.That was pretty fucking awesome.They have 4 stages.Kinda similar to Wcken except the band times don't clash as much.
Tickets are very expensive though and the lineup is more heavy rock than metal orientated.Great atmosphere with the people there though.

by **Schluckspecht666** » Wed Mar 03, 2010 4:00 pm

Wacken fucking rules!

Sure it's big and commercialized, it is however still the Mekka for many Heavy Metal fans around the world. IMHO

by **treedroppings** » Wed Mar 03, 2010 4:01 pm

TidalWave 11
http://www.thetidalwave.org/images/tw2.jpg
2008

Many Metal Bands Exodus and AttitudeAdjustment ruled the stage.

by **TOM CRUISE** » Wed Mar 03, 2010 7:28 pm

Europe-

Dynamo Open Air (Holland)- 1997, 1998, 1999 (was great but it got worse during the time I was going and the fest sort of "fizzled out")
No Mercy's Festival- 013- Tilburg Holland 2002 (one day fest with Vader, Immortal, Destroyer 666, etc)
Wacken Open Air (Germany)- 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007 (got worse as the years went on and more commercial)
Party San Open Air (Germany)- 2003, 2004
Inferno Metal Festival- Oslo, Norway- 2002, 2004
Hole in the Sky Festival- Bergen, Norway- 2009 (probably my favorite euro fest EVER, so much, I am going back again this year!)

USA-

Milwaukee Metalfest (Wisconsin)- 1997 + 2000 (used to be cool and then really got bad, in 97 Sodom, Venom and Hypocrisy played)
March Metal Meltdown- 2000 (New Jersey) (Was a poorly ran festival but Whiplash, Virgin Steel, Sentenced, Immortal all played)
November to Dismember- 2000- (California) (Venom canceled, Testament, Dark Funeral, In the Woods and Tristania played)
Maryland Deathfest- 2009 (Hands down the BEST festival stateside. Bolt Thrower, Asphyx, Sigh, Napalm Death, Immolation, Aura Noir, Destroyer 666, Absu, etc....was so much fun that we are going back again in May of this year)

Not all of my reviews are posted at my site but some of them can be found there under reviews-

http://www.blizzardbeast.com

Metalwrath · by **Metalwrath** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 5:29 am

Schluckspecht666 wrote:Wacken fucking rules!

Sure it's big and commercialized, it is however still the Mekka for many Heavy Metal fans around the world. IMHO

Actually it's more like the disneyland of metal.
There are so many better metal festivals out there.Just most people don't know about them.
But lets just say this.I stopped going there and funnily enough the majority of people i meet at metal festivals are people who used to go to Wacken.
Even in Ireland most of the metalheads choose Hellfest over Wacken.

Metalwrath · by **Metalwrath** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 5:42 am

Will be able to tell you about more festivals after July.
in July i'm heading to Metalcamp and MCF in Slovenia,Masters of Rock in Czech republic and Headbangers open air in Germany.
I may go to Dong Air too.

by **Zeh** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 8:27 am

At least for Brazil, it's creaper to go to Wacken as there is an tour agency who gather better prices.

But I thought Wacken was the best (not only bands, but organization, camp, place, etc etc) than the others.

Metalwrath · by **Metalwrath** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 8:44 am

Nope because security sucks and there is always a lot more people at Wacken than have tickets.
Their current ticket limitaion they say is 70,000 people.
Though there have been reports that in the last few years there have been like 100,000 people due to security breaching and fake tickets.
Merchandise stalls are quite expensive.Bolt Thrower were supposed to play a few years ago but pulled out due to the merchandise negotiations due to the fact they refuse to sell their tshirts for over 10 euro or something like that.
They have some good toilet facilities that you pay 50 c to use and are regularly used but as for the normal ones you don't pay for their are few of them and they aren't cleaned enough.
When i left Wacken in 07 the whole festival smelt so bad of piss it was unbelievable.
Also the festival area where the bands play is not big enough to cater for the amount of people there and if a big band is playing you can hardly move inside the area.
As for food stalls and beer there is not enough service of this to cater for the crowds so most times you will be there for fucking ages.
They need to make the whole siter bigger but have made no effort to do so.
It's great festival for some people and lot of people really enjoy it but my personal belief is that festival should cater to max of maybe 40,000 people.
Once it gets higher than that you can't control it or organise it properly.
Also for people trying to get the Wacken shutle busses there is a fucking nightmare.
We wanted to arrive there 1 day before the festival started the last time and we had to wait maybe 6 -7 hours to get on one of the busses from the train station.

If you go there by taxi it's not so bad and can get there easy but taxi drivers always try rip you off at Wacken time cause they know they can.
And yes there are many services run from other countries to there so that is handy.
Also they own Metalix.The worlds biggest onlide concert ticket supplier.If you get a concert ticket for any gig off them you will see the Wacken logo embedded in the ticket too.
I don't recomend it but each to his their own i guess.

by **TOM CRUISE** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 11:31 am

I was going to go to metalcamp this year but decided on the cruise and Hole in the Sky instead....

I am not rich yet. lol

Metalwrath · by **Metalwrath** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 11:46 am

Me either haha.
Fuck i'm not even sure how i'm managing all this shit.I was in Switzerland in November,Germany in December,Germany in January and Sweden in February.
And believe me my job does not pay well.

by **Captain Metal** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 6:08 pm

I have yet to hit any of the fests in Europe ($$$$$), but I do plan to do so one of these days, So that just leaves these:

Milwaukee Metalfest 1999-2003 - As was said, this was kick ass in it's time, but really turned to shit towards the end. But when it was good, I definitely had some memorable times.With so many bands to see and so much partying to do, how could it not be?

Sun and Steel Festival 2004 - The same people behind Milwaukee organized a fest in Central Florida, which had a pretty damn good lineup, but wasn't executed very well. All my friends and I had a great time, but I'll be damned if attendance ever passed the 1000 mark at any given time. I promoted the shit out of it on the radio show I did at the time, but it seemed like that was the extent of it. This is where Obituary had their reunion show that got them back into the game.

Progpower XIII - The only one I've attended thus far, but I have to say it was a good time and very well run and organized. The finale of the whole thing was pretty cool, with all the various members of each band coming and jamming with each other on various cover songs for 2 1/2 hours. And let me tell ya, that guy from Pagan's Mind easily nailed the King Diamond song he did (Welcome Home). Depending on the lineup and my funds, I will definitely attend this fest again.

by **Schluckspecht666** » Sun Mar 07, 2010 6:46 pm

I miss the good old Dynamo Open Air in Eindhoven, Netherlands.

Wacken is just around the corner for me, which is kind of cool and Wacken now has taken the place the Dynamo used to have before it's downfall.

For me however the Dynamo is or was the best. When you get older you may idealize shit that happened when you were "young and beautiful", but it had a unique atmosphere. And the Dutch are more liberal about certain things too...

by **Psycho** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 3:33 am

Metalwrath wrote:Will be able to tell you about more festivals after July.
in July i'm heading to Metalcamp and MCF in Slovenia,Masters of Rock in Czech republic and Headbangers open air in Germany.
I may go to Dong Air too.

Hihih See you in MetalCamp

How r u getting there? Flying straight to Slovenia?

Brazilian Live n'Louder Was pretty cool on... Well, I don't remember the year, but it was quite much fun. Kinda messy, but that's how Brasil works

In Finland the metal festivals are pretty good! Tuska always has an AMAZING lineup, Provinssirock is such a classic and Sauna Open Air usually guarantees quite much fun.
My city has the amazing Karkkila BeachParty - you can imagine how it goes by the name... Such lame bands you need to get wasted asap = everyone roling on sand, drunk as fuck

by **Schluckspecht666** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 5:05 am

Psycho wrote:everyone roling on sand, drunk as fuck

Sounds like fun!

Metalwrath · by **Metalwrath** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 5:21 am

Psycho wrote:
Metalwrath wrote:Will be able to tell you about more festivals after July.
in July i'm heading to Metalcamp and MCF in Slovenia,Masters of Rock in Czech republic and Headbangers open air in Germany.
I may go to Dong Air too.

Hihih See you in MetalCamp How r u getting there? Flying straight to Slovenia?

Brazilian Live n'Louder Was pretty cool on... Well, I don't remember the year, but it was quite much fun. Kinda messy, but that's how Brasil works

In Finland the metal festivals are pretty good! Tuska always has an AMAZING lineup, Provinssirock is such a classic and Sauna Open Air usually guarantees quite much fun.
My city has the amazing Karkkila BeachParty - you can imagine how it goes by the name... Such lame bands you need to get wasted asap = everyone roling on sand, drunk as fuck

Yeah i'm flying to Slovenia.I'm RunningWild on the metalcamp forums

by **SonataFanGirl** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 8:30 am

I've only ever been to the Bloodstock festival here in the UK, I like to think of it as a small scale Wacken

However this year I will also be going to Sonisphere UK,.

by **GhostMemory** » Thu Mar 11, 2010 11:17 am

I was disappointed when ProgPower UK was canned, that was pretty good.

Metalwrath · by **Metalwrath** » Fri Mar 19, 2010 7:35 am

By the way for any of those who are thinking of going to Grasspop

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLWDHyejWjU
And thats only the queue to get the coupons to queue up again to purchase a beer

by **jassiak** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 2:03 pm

Metalwrath wrote:Will be able to tell you about more festivals after July.
in July i'm heading to Metalcamp and MCF in Slovenia,Masters of Rock in Czech republic and Headbangers open air in Germany.
I may go to Dong Air too.

Just booked my tickets here

... and noticed your plans to check masters in Czech. I will be there as well...4th time this year... we shall meet and plan for the cruise

Metalwrath · by **Metalwrath** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 2:05 pm

Sounds like a good idea.
I've been trying to drag a friend of mine from Slovakia to Masters of rock coincedently.
Dunno if you know him.
He's the current drummer in Galadriel

by **jassiak** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 12:36 am

Nope dont know the guy, but doesn't mean that i will not know him after Masters

Drop me a line jassiak@gmail.com and we can hook up later on

Metalwrath · by **Metalwrath** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 5:39 am

Will do.

by **TOM CRUISE** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 6:34 pm

Metalwrath- you should go to Hole in the Sky!!!!!! Tom G Warrior's new band are playing! I will be there. Still waiting to hear back from my secret hotel! :) Good price and small and in the heart of Bergen. And walking distance to the venues! Really looking forward to the UK bands this year so far! Venom, Cathedral and Angel Witch!

VENOM (UK)
CATHEDRAL (UK)
OBITUARY (US)
THE DEVIL’S BLOOD (NL)
ANGEL WITCH (UK)
SECRETS OF THE MOON (D)
DEAD CONGREGATION (GR)
OBLITERATION (N)
REPUGNANT (S)
TRYPTYKON (SZ)

Hole in the Sky will take place the 25th – 28th of August 2010.
Tickets on sale via www.ticketmaster.no Phone: +47 815 33 133

Metalwrath · by **Metalwrath** » Wed Mar 24, 2010 4:53 am

Yeah well i'm taking a months holidays in July so that'd be kinda pushing it and i have one or 2 other planned trips before January if my work allows it.
I need to find some job with the same pay but more holiday hours

by **viathyn** » Fri Apr 09, 2010 5:30 pm

Tuska 08 was a ton of fun for me. Easy enough to move around (plenty of space, 11,000 people, 2 tent stages one outdoor main stage, decent food, relatively affordable merch, decent bathroom facilities) The beer there was shit, I guess that's why eveyone just brought their own 'moonshine' mixtures (outside alcohol was allowed as long as it's a reasonable amount.. I guess 4L per person is the reasonable limit

)
The afterparties at the clubs such as tavastia are a really fun experience. I met a ton of the bands and saw norther in a very intimate (And penultimate show with Petri on vocals) performance.

Other than that, there was a wicked lineup (featuring Tyr, Kiuas, Kalmah, Dream Evil, Korpiklaani, Dimmu, Amorphis etc etc.), and it was rather affordable. (Though, getting to Finland from Canada is not cheap..)

by **Evil Fairy** » Mon Apr 12, 2010 3:20 am

Well for me the Graspop Festival is on the list again !! Visited it for 4 years in a row. Nice line-up this year again, except for the mainacts... the suck to be honest...

But first going to see Neurotic Deathfest at the end of this month in my hometown Tilburg - 013

For the Graspop event: The queue showed on the youtube video is shot at the start of the festival... So everyone needs tokens. If you walk a bit further on the field you had your tokens in about 10 minutes :)
Also the providing of drinks and food is good !!

by **Maddy77** » Mon Apr 12, 2010 3:31 am

Psycho wrote:
Metalwrath wrote:Will be able to tell you about more festivals after July.
in July i'm heading to Metalcamp and MCF in Slovenia,Masters of Rock in Czech republic and Headbangers open air in Germany.
I may go to Dong Air too.

In Finland the metal festivals are pretty good! Tuska always has an AMAZING lineup, Provinssirock is such a classic and Sauna Open Air usually guarantees quite much fun.
My city has the amazing Karkkila BeachParty - you can imagine how it goes by the name... Such lame bands you need to get wasted asap = everyone roling on sand, drunk as fuck :)[/color]

I'd have loved to go to some festivals in Finland this year. Unfortunately I don't have enough vacation days left. So it's just Metalfest Hungary and Metalcamp.

Metalwrath · by **Metalwrath** » Mon Apr 12, 2010 4:34 am

Metalfest lineup looks cool alright.
Perhaps i'll bump into you at Metalcamp.

by **TOM CRUISE** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 5:34 pm

I am making plans for this festival right now. Might drive up to Vancouver and then drive to Calgary with my Canadian friends

http://www.noctisvalkyries.com/

NOCTIS VALKYRIES IV METAL FEST: THRONES OF WAR
Headlining this year's festival are German Thrash Gods: SODOM

Bands are still rolling in, but check out the rest of the line-up so far.
Featuring: (in alphabetical order)

EX DEO (http://www.myspace.com/exdeo)
INCANTATION (http://www.myspace.com/incantation)
MANEGARM (http://www.myspace.com/manegarm)
MARTIAL BARRAGE (http://www.martialbarrage.cjb.net)
METSATOLL (http://www.myspace.com/metsatoll)
MIDNIGHT (http://www.myspace.com/athenarsmidnight)
ROOT (http://www.myspace.com/rootcze)
THE DEVIL'S BLOOD (http://www.myspace.com/thedevilsblood)
___________________________________________________________

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 24th, 2010
(ALL AGES)
Location: MacEwan Hall (Upstairs)
Time: 6:00pm - 12:00am
Details & Band line-up: TBA

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25th, 2010
(ALL AGES)
Location: MacEwan Hall (Upstairs)
Time: 6:00pm - 12:00am
Details & Band line-up: TBA
___________________________________________________________

Tickets are not yet available for this event.
___________________________________________________________

Also on Friday, September 24th...

METAL MUSIC CONFERENCE
Time: TBA
Details: TBA
___________________________________________________________

BTW THERE WILL BE A BEER HALL AND DRINKING AGE IN ALBERTA IS 18 :)

Room rate (corporate rate that will be negotiated by Scarab Prod. closer to the date) at the Ramada is about $99/night for 2 beds. This is the hotel where the bands are being put up so it'll be party time all night.

_________________

by **TOM CRUISE** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 5:35 pm

SODOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tickets for Noctis go on sale June 01st. :)

So now I am going to

Maryland Deathfest
Hole in the Sky
Noctis Valkries
70000 Tons of Metal Cruise.

by **TOM CRUISE** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 11:12 am

I just applied for press accreditations for Noctis. So now am waiting to hear back from them as well as the Hole in the Sky peeps.

Hole in the Sky costs 330 US dollars for the 5 days of the festival. $1,940 Norwegian Kroner! I have never spent that much for a festival. Well until the cruise that its

by **viathyn** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 11:17 am

I posted a thread about Noctis a while back, It's shaping up to be pretty cool this year.
I guess I'll see you there!

by **prof. wedgie** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 11:24 am

heading off to bloodstock this year, great lineup, but last year on the morning of the second day we went off to do a beer run and when we got back we were told they weren't allowing anyone to bring alcohol in, ended up just throwing it over the fence, they better not be trying that again this year

Metalwrath · by **Metalwrath** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 11:27 am

prof. wedgie wrote:heading off to bloodstock this year, great lineup, but last year on the morning of the second day we went off to do a beer run and when we got back we were told they weren't allowing anyone to bring alcohol in, ended up just throwing it over the fence, they better not be trying that again this year

By the way did you head with Emile and co to Bloodstock?

by **prof. wedgie** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 11:35 am

can't say i know them

by **TOM CRUISE** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 12:18 pm

viathyn wrote:I posted a thread about Noctis a while back, It's shaping up to be pretty cool this year.
I guess I'll see you there!

Yep! Will see sodom three times in 9 months. Maryland, Calgary and the Cruise.

Still trying to work out the details of how to get to Calgary. Airfare from Seattle is 440.00 and from Vancouver 410.00.

I have some toonie and loonie and a 5 bill left from my last trip to Vancouver. Is CDN good all over Canada??

I have not been to Calgary in 25 years

by **viathyn** » Sat Apr 24, 2010 11:44 am

I've done the Seattle/Calgary drive before.. but that's something like 15 hours..

Your old canuck money should work just fine. Though, with the dollar the way it is (about on par with american) everything is a little expensive here.

Especially stuff like booze and tobacco

by **TOM CRUISE** » Sat Apr 24, 2010 3:15 pm

It's not so bad at the Duty Free..........

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