Saturday, 21 st August 2004
Due
to the difficulty of having no busses going to the festival area we had to hitch
hike to the venue once more that morning. But as the inhabitants there seem to
be afraid of Metal fans, it took almost 2 hours before someone took us along. So
we arrived at the festival ground only after 1 pm. That`s why we missed the gigs
of the first 4 bands.
It´s unfortunate because after all I´ve heared about “EQUILIBRIUM”
(very good things as well as very bad critics) I would have loved to see their
performance to be able to find my own opinion.
Oh well…. but at least therefor during their signing session later the day the
band gave me their nicest smiles as a present, have a look:
The first band I saw live that day was „DEAD SOUL TRIBE“ from Austria, who did a great job with their progressive Metal. Unfortunately during their gig the weather was extremely bad (it was raining like it´s the last chance in all times for nature to let it rain), that´s why of course it was difficult for them to draw the crowd’s attention, as everyone tried to hide from the rain. Only the real die-hard fans stayed in front of the stage and those who recognized the qualities of this band’s music had a good time in front of the stage during songs like: “Spiders and flies“, „Some things you can`t return” and “Angels in vertigo”.
13.50
„Hatesphere“ (from Denmark) went berserk on the Pain Stage with some
heavy thrash.
They were followed by “Mnemic” who satisfied their fans with tracks
like „Liquid“, „Ghost“, „Deathbox“ and „Blood stained“, after
vocalist Michael had cheered to the fans with a happy „Prooooost“.
What a fun it was to see the next band at 15.05. > „HONIGDIEB“, who were different from all bands before, according to their outfit and their music. They performed some real fun-songs (you could hear German lyrics which freely translated mean something like: “Fuck yourself, madame, you´re not gonna get ME!” etc.) That´s what I call some funny enlightment! ;-) The photo tells it all:
Around
15.45 it was getting much more honest again when “DISILLUSION” played.
They had musical support from the band “Dark suns”. This meant, there
were 8 musicians altogether on the gigantic Main Stage and probably for the
first time in the history of this stage it was properly filled for its size! ;-)
I was amazed by their gig, because they played really good heartful music (not
exactly Heavy Metal… more the Gothic rock or progressive direction) with
old-school acoustic guitars etc. It sounded really magnificent and the musicians
are really talented. One song I remember well
is called “The sleep of restless hours”.
After those soft tones „CATARACT“ from Switzerland came across with some more merciless and raw Metalcore tracks such as “Killing tool“, „Nothing`s left“ and „Skies grow black“. With their expressions in their faces, their songs and their whole appearance they really made a grim impression, and the fans of the more brute fraction were satisfied once more.
„SCHANDMAUL“ from my home Bavaria entered the stage around 17.20 and spread a medieval feeling right away. In the style of German bands like “Subway to Sally” they could raise their good spirits. Even visually they created a positive effect with their nice outfits. This band contains some very great musicians who still learned how to play the fiddle from childhood on. So those medieval instruments were taking over again and the band brought joy to the folks with songs like “Das Seemannsgrab“, „Walpurgisnacht“ and „Teufelsweib“, making the crowd dance.
18.10 “ENSIFERUM” from Finland finally entered the Pain Stage to show us Germans what Folk Metal really means! Before I write down all the “battle songs” for you I rather show you the setlist (signed version directly from the band):
There
was no holding back for the crowd! They all sang along to the hymns and there
was an endless number of crowd surfers! The mood was excellent, even though it
was a Finntroll flag that this one fan in the first row was holding… hehe…
but, oh well, the bands are friends with each other, so there shouldn`t be a
problem! ;-)
But to sum it up: this gig proved that Ensiferum really are loved by the German
Metal fans!
Later on the Main Stage „BRAINSTORM“ played some solid good power metal of the finest, performing tracks like “Blind suffering“, „Shiva`s tears“ and „Hollow hideaway“. Front man Andy even jumped down from the stage and insisted on close contact with the audience, shaking hands, singing together with the crowd. The Security crew surely was shocked, but what can they do… at least here we talk about civilized Metal fans and not about puperting teenagers! ;-)
„PSYCHOPUNCH“ from Sweden had a harder job again due to heavy rain (of course) to keep up the good mood. They performed some kind of old school Rock’n’Roll and some few fans really apprechiated this, as I could guess from their enthusiastic reactions to songs like „Hard to belong“ or „All over now“.
Unfortunately I can`t report about „U.D.O.”, as I had the usual problem with the time schedule. So instead of watching U.D.O. I had a visit at PRIMORDIAL`s autograph session and here`s a little impression for you:
At
21:55 it was time for “PRIMORDIAL”’s appearance on the Pain Stage
(in pouring rain). And what can I possibly say? It was the absolute highlight of
this day at the festival. What happens when Primordial are on stage simply
defies description! I really have hardly ever seen this sort of dedication in
any other performer that the singer Alan brings to the stage. Critical messages
are screamed into the microphone and in order to get the deeper meaning across
Alan throws himself down on his knees sometimes and raises his arms high in the
air as if he wants to cry to the heavens.
These performances of Primordial are simply something that you can`t describe in
words, you really have to experience it yourself first hand to even come
anywhere near of getting an idea of what it´s like. And Alan is the only person,
who can make you believe in the emotions behind the passionate gestures… it´s
not just acting, really genuine emotions are the reason for this.
Also Alan was the only person who made any effort so shortly after Quorthon`s
death to say a few words in memory of Bathory, calling for a few moments of
reflection in the audience. For this gesture he has my heartful thanks. Because
as a great fan of Bathory
it makes me sad to see how quickly people seem to have forgotten about
him.
I´m not sure if I want to talk about „Danzig“ (who played on the Main Stage from 22:45 until 00:05). Let me tell you why > It was raining cats and dogs (it felt like having a shower, because even rain jackets couldn`t protect you anymore from THIS heavy rain), the fans tried to find plastic bags to have a protection for their heads or shoulders, as most of them were totally wet and it was really very cold meanwhile. Due to this stormy weather it was also very dark, you couldn`t see your own hand in front of your eyes, if you didn´t go directly under any stage light or whatever light available. And what is Mr. Danzig doing to make it all even worse!? He refused to give his O.K. for the photographers to be allowed making photos of his gig. (I didn`t find out, if it was for financial reasons, or just reasons of vanity.) Of course this gave all photographers a real bad feeling. So most of us then went to the press tent, having a hot coffee or anything, listening to Danzig just from far away (hearing “Mother” or “Dirty black summer”). But of course there`s always one blackleg (I´m not gonna tell names here), and so one specific man anyway secretly (hidden in the dark) took photos of Danzig and gave them to all the big German print Metal magazines later. That´s how Danzig anyway got his promotion, even though he didn`t want any!
Oh... by the way... in the backstage area a “famous” dude did frightening things (such as piercing himself… just to show he´s able to pierce his own face without feeling any pain). Look at this:
“FINNTROLL” again were the final act of the festival (seems like that`s the “job” they are used to). This is no surprise of course, because they are able to create the best mood among the crowd in no time. For one hour furiousity was unleashed on the Pain Stage during Finntroll’s gig. It´s always a miracle how the fans in the first rows are able to survive the constant moshing attacks from the people behind them. It reminds me of “war”… really! ;-) In 2003 I had been in the middle of the first row during Finntroll`s gig at Summerbreeze myself… but (learning from my mistakes) I will definitely never do that again… my spine definitely wouldn`t stand a second time. ;-)
As
a surprise „Ensiferum“ entered the stage during the gig to sing 2
songs with Finntroll. Wilska for fun said something about him knowing, that he
will probably repent that sooner or later, hehe. So they sang for instance
“Rivfader” together and it was really a great thing to have both bands on
stage together at the same time!
Unfortunately the final surprise was still to come! Exactly at 1.00 am the
microphones and amplifiers were turned off and it was silent, even though
actually the band was in the middle of one song and probably had another 1 or 2
encores in mind. (There are those contracts with the town to have the festival
ending exactly at that time… otherwise the festival organizers have to pay a
lot of charge.) And so it didn`t help anything that Wilska did swear and curse
the situation with all possible swear-words… the technics remained turned off.
And that`s how the Summerbreeze festival found its end with this situation.
But despite of all difficulties it is always fantastic to be part of this festival (especially because of the people and because of the great music of course) and all that’s now left for me to say is > Summerbreeze 2005 … I`ll be there!
