‘LIVE REVIEWS’ Archives
The Devil’s Blood – Wacken Open Air 08/08/2010
The Devil's Blood are essentially the last band of the festival, appearing in the Wet stage at 2:00 AM. By then we are beyond exhaustion and into a semi- conscious, feverish state and the last thing I want to do is attend a gig. Fortunately for me, this may have been the best gig of the whole festival. The Devil's Blood are from Holland. [...]
Crucified Barbara – Wacken Open Air 2010
Crucified Barbara appeared at the wet stage the afternoon of the last day of the festival. They are not one of my favorite bands but I had to see them ‘cause I was left alone due to a siesta my dear friends had to attend. The stage wasn’t too crowdie and that left some gallons of oxygen for the rest of us inside the hothouse. The chicks [...]
Rotting Christ – Wacken 07/08/2010
Jesus fucking Christ, what the fuck was that? That was most people’s reaction to Rotting Christ’s appearance at the Wacken Wet Stage. Now, in case you ‘ve never heard of them, Rotting Christ are a black metal band from Greece. They ‘ve been around for almost a couple of decades now and they are extremely well- regarded in underground [...]
Candlemass Wacken Open Air 07/08/2010
Appropriately, Candlemass are on at the Party Stage at nightfall. Immortal are playing on the bigger stage at the same time and their show seems quite impressive, but I am in no mood for corpsepaint and pyro at the moment. As one would expect from one of the essential doom metal bands, Candlemass are heavy. Really, really heavy. The riffs are [...]
Edguy – Wacken Open Air 07/07/2010
Edguy’s mix of sugar- coated power metal and 80s hard rock is certainly not for everyone. They seem to be huge in their home country though, as their afternoon slot is packed with enthusiastic Germans. They deserve it though. Although the music is rather derivative, their sense of humour and boundless energy of frontman Tobias Sammet makes them [...]
Slayer – Wacken Open Air 06/08/2010
Ah, Slayer. Evil personified. Emissaries of Hell. Most extreme band in the world. Never liked them much myself. They always seemed to try a bit too hard. Everyone bitches about Metallica being sellouts, but the truth is that Slayer stopped evolving back 1990 and pretended they were too hardcore to compromise. And one look at Kerry King's [...]
Voivod Wacken Open Air 06/08/2010
With the early afternoon sun bearing down on us, we go to see Voivod. They play the Part Stage, which is the smallest of the three. Still, they gather quite a crowd and seem very happy to be here. They start with Voivod and The Unknown Knows, but the murky sound lets them down (a common problem for bands that appear on the small stage). No [...]
The Orphaned Land Wacken Open Air 06/08/2010
For some reason, the festival's biggest names all played on the first day. This is kind of convenient, because it left us free on Friday morning to roam the fields, check out the markets for T- shirts and albums (I bought some awesome Cathedral and Electric Wizard T- shirts, along with a cool Rolling Stones bootleg) and get something to eat. It [...]
Iron Maiden Wacken Open Air 05/08/2010
I am not much of a fan of Iron Maiden, but- having seen them live last year- I knew they deserved the utmost respect for their concerts. Theirs is the third major gig in one afternoon (after Alice Cooper and Motley Crue), so, by 9:00 when it's time for them to come out, I am truly exhausted. Thousands of people are tightly packed together in [...]
Motley Crue Wacken Open Air 05/08/2010
Motley Crue are expected at The Black Stage, half an hour after Alice Cooper concludes his set. The crowd is warmed- up by now and there is a lot of tension in the air. Excited girls are trying to get near the stage, dragging their boyfriends with them (they don't seem to mind). The stage background consists of sets cut out like buildings and [...]