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Events and Reports - Wacken Open Air 2004 - Tommy´s Wacken Report
Before you know it it's time for another Wacken festival. This year had lots of great concerts and a giant heatwave to offer. We arrived on Wednesday so there was plenty of time for drinking some beers and listening to a healthy amount of classic Metal at the camp before two days packed with concerts started.
I'll make some short descriptions of the 11 concerts I had made it my primary goal to make it through, and to the best of my abilities I have added a setlist for each gig.
Friday
Paragon
First up were the German Power Metal unit Paragon, I still hold their Law Of The Blade album as one of the best of the genre and I was pleased to hear quite many tracks from it. The high explosive Palace Of Sin was performed with a powerful vocal performance, the insanely fast Law Of The Blade had some fantastic thunderous drumming and the epic Across The Wastelands had great deep bass lines and a rich and epic atmosphere.
The material from their latest album The Legacy worked well live even though I found their earlier songs the most energetic, especially the final cut Steelbound with its massive refrain and cool guitar soloing were a highlight.
Unfortunately the sound was rather muddy but still on an acceptable level, being fairly powerful.
The band played well but they never got completely off the stage and into the crowd metaphorically speaking.
All in all a decent concert lacking that something special or really exciting moments.
Setlist
The Legacy
Palace Of Sin
Breaking Glass
Law Of The Blade
Across The Wastelands
Green Hell
Army Of The Tyrant
Thunderstorm
Steelbound
Dionysus
Dionysus's 45-minute set turned out to one of the best of the entire festival, their ultra melodic Power Metal hit you right on. They had picked a suiting setlist and with cuts like the catchy Anima Mundi and the vigorous Sign Of Truth they we well underway to success.
What made this so much more than just a solid Power Metal gig was the musical delivery, these guys were constantly on fire and played with an astonishing vividness and technicality.
Johnny Ohlin played his ass off on the guitar displaying a phenomenal solo in the brilliant Divine and lots of smart rhythm stuff in the mellow My Heart Is Crying.
Ronny Milanowicz's drumming was extremely forceful and Olaf Hayer's talent as a very melodic singer shined with full light this afternoon.
I simply love this band's mix between ultra melodic, soft elements and an aggressive and fast paced nerve, and live it just came together so well,
A fantastic concert with a great sound quality delivered by a band that really put everything into it.
Setlist
Bringer Of Salvation
Anima Mundi
Divine
Bringer Of War
Sign Of Truth
My Heart Is Crying
March For Freedom
What
Brainstorm
Brainstorm came to Wacken with a clear mission: to promote their new album Soul Temptation and I must say that the mission was accomplished in a successful manner.
The band including the energetic frontman and singer Andy B. Frank was ready to rock and Shiva's Tears hit the crowd with full force.
A clear highlight was the ultra heavy Doorway To Survive featuring some mean rhythm guitar playing and the power packed Fornever having great strong vocals and tight bass parts.
Two of the bands best songs Blind Suffering (fantastic vigorous drumming) and High Without Lows were received with delight too, Under Lights appeared a bit more static before the well-executed cover Amarillio put a smile on a lot of faces.
The sound quality was very good and worked as a massive and powerful wall that nevertheless left the bass a bit hard to pick out from the drums.
A shame they didn't bring forth some older songs, especially from their in my opinion best album Ambiguity, still a solid gig though.
Setlist
Intro
Shiva's Tears
Blind Suffering
Doorway To Survive
Hollow Hideaway
Fornever
The Leading
Highs Without Lows
Under Lights
Amarillio
Grave Digger
Grave Digger entered the stage in the afternoon where the warmth was almost unbearable, I found some shade at a nearby beer tent and from there I watched one of my favourite Power Metal bands bring forth an amazing set list with one classic after the other. I was especially pleased to hear the huge The Grave Dancer, that riff just can't get any heavier.
The band played a tight show with a cool raw sound but I must admit that it seem a bit routine-like and some more spontaneity would surely had spiced things up an inch.
The epic The Battle Of Bannockburn, Son Of Evil with its dark atmosphere and vivid guitar solo and the fast rocket Knights Of The Cross were all fantastic.
Even though I don't hold their new album among their best releases those songs did fairly well live too. Chris Boltendahl could have had a more exciting stage appearance and connection with the fans but in general this gig had lots of high quality Power Metal too offer and the mega hymn Rebellion was a sure hit.
Setlist
The Ring
Rheingold
The Grave Dancer
In The Dark Of The Sun
Excalibur
The Battle Of Bannockburn
Son Of Evil
Morgane Le Fay
Knights Of The Cross
The Round Table (Forever)
Scotland United
The Grave Digger
Rebellion
Valhalla
Heavy Metal Breakdown
The crowd at Grave Digger
Kotipelto
At the smaller Party Stage, Timo Kotipelto was given an hour of playing time that he and the talented band mostly used to promote the new album Coldness, the show nevertheless started off with two great and powerful cuts from the debut album Waiting For The Dawn.
On Evening's Fall Kotipelto saw a great opportunity to really unfold his clean and compelling voice, showing that he still is a force to be reckoned with.
A big plus for this gig was the really impressive musical performance, the key solo in Coldness Of My Mind was fantastic, the bass approach in Can You Hear The Sound massive and Seeds Of Sorrow was assigned some powerful riff action, just to take a few examples.
I really missed what for me is the best track on Coldness namely Journey Back but the Queensrÿche cover I Don't Believe In Love and the Stratovarius hit SOS brought lots of intensity to the set, the superb keyboard performance gave the show an extra level.
The sound at the Party Stage was in fact quite well adjusted and overall this was a very good and well-played gig.
Setlist
Traveling Through Time
Lord Of Eternity
Evening's Fall
Coldness Of My Mind
Seeds Of Sorrow
Waiting For The Dawn
Can You Hear The Sound
Snowbound
I Don't Believe In Love
Take Me Away
SOS
Reasons
Dio
I had never seen Dio at a festival before, but I guess you never go wrong when you are dealing with a living legend. They could have opened with a more fitting track than the quite good King Of Rock And Roll, but the huge epicenes of Sign Of The Southern Cross and the amazing Stand Up And Shout featuring a blistering guitar solo and Dio's divine and crystal clear vocals were an indication of great things to come.
Classics like Don't Talk To Strangers, Rock And Roll Children and Holy Diver were thrown off the stage with great professionalism and tons of charisma. Simon Wright's majestic drum solo coupled with symphonic orchestrations was a cool intermission passage and the new and very hard Dio track The Eyes sounded great too.
The setlist contained a fine mix of Dio, Sabbath and Rainbow, I nevertheless missed some newer Dio material but ok you can't have it all.
Rainbow In The Dark was one of the best songs on the entire festival and the ending track We Rock put the crowd into a very loud and energetic Metal ecstasy.
Dio's vocal performance was clearly the most impressive of the entire festival, a very likable person that has had a tremendous effect on the Metal scene; together with a tight band he delivered an amazing gig with a finely balanced sound.
Setlist
King Of Rock And Roll
Sign Of The Southern Cross (first part)
Stargazer
Stand Up And Shout
Drum Solo
Don't Talk To Strangers
The Eyes
Rainbow In The Dark
Man On The Silver Mountain
Guitar Solo
Long Live Rock 'n' Roll
Man On The Silver Mountain (reprise)
Rock 'n' Roll Children
The Gates Of Babylon
Holy Diver
Heaven And Hell
We Rock
Saturday
Anthrax
I was very excited about Anthrax coming to Wacken this year, I had never seen this great band before and awaited a very powerful performance. My wish was granted and that by far.
Unfortunately the band was only given an hour from the promoters but they used it quite wisely, even though two cover songs (Got The Time and Antisocial) were a bit much, but they rocked hard anyway.
From their new album We've Come For You All we got the two best cuts in the melodic Safe Home and the ultra monster heavy What Doesn't Die.
Of the classic stuff Efilnikufesin (N.F.L.) rocked really hard with Charlie Benante beating the hell out of those poor skins, the crowd pleaser Indians worked fantastic in a live scenario and Only with its massive sing a long chorus was a perfect closing tune.
John Bush really gave everything he had in him and delivered at suberb vocal performance and overall the band just had a really tight connection with the audience, they certainly gave the fans a thrilling and energetic show and were luckily treated with a very a good sound.
Setlist
Efilnikufesin (N.F.L.)
Got The Time
Caught In A Mosh
Safe Home
Antisocial
Room For One More
What Dosn't Die
Indians
Deathrider
Be All, End All
Only
Nevermore
I was rather excited to see how Nevermore would pull off their show and to hear some of the new songs from Enemies Of Reality. Unfortunately the sound, especially in the beginning, was too trebled, thin and vocally low.
Some the best tracks this afternoon were the hard driving Beyond Within with a massive technical solo spot, the sing a long anthem The Heart Collector featuring great varied vocals from Warrel and The River Dragon Has Come with its deep bass foundation.
Musically the guys where totally up to the task and hammered through a very vigorous set, I just missed a better connection to the audience, it seemed too much like another day on the job.
A more unexpected action and a more energetic performance would nevertheless had helped this being a more thrilling concert, still a quite solid and well played gig.
Setlist
The Seven Tounges Of God
The Sacrament
Enemies Of Reality
Beyond Within
The Heart Collector
Next In Line
Never Purify
The Sound Of Silence
I, Voyager
The River Dragon Has Come
Thunderstone
At the time being I'm only in possession of the second Thunderstone album called The Burning, a rather good melodic Power Metal release so I decided to go and check them out.
This young Finnish band plays a mix of Power and traditional Metal with lots of melody and symphonic elements, not all that inventive but solid music and they surely played a tight gig.
One of the biggest highlights of the show was the catchy and intense Break The Emotion featuring great heavy guitar riffing and driving key melodies. Virus from the first album also rocked hard and Forth Into The Black did very well with its high groove and fitting piano interludes.
Again a rather solid and clear sound at the small Party Stage and the band presented a good concert, nothing groundbreaking but I think they made people aware of their presence on the Metal scene, something worthy to look out for in the future.
Setlist
Until We Touch The Burning sun
Me, My Enemy
Virus
Forth Into The Black
Spire
Let The Demons Free
? "Track from their first album"
Break The Emotion
? "Track from their first album"
Helloween
About half a year ago I saw Helloween in action on their Rabbit's Don't Come Easy tour and the songs this evening were also among the ones they played that night I saw them back in December.
That didn't affect my enthusiasm that much though, great classic Metal will never go out of fashion and the band seemed in top shape.
It was Michael Weikath's birthday and I don't know if it was alcohol or a creeping midlife crisis that made him act like a maniac at times, that whiny voice was only funny the first time. Well on to the music and one of the biggest treats of the entire festival, Keeper Of The Seven Keys performed with amazing grace and insanely cool solo parts, just pure magic and the audience very understandable went completely nuts.
Other classics like Eagle Fly Free spiced with a fantastic twin guitar solo and some mean bass lines and Power that had an enormous amount of, well power, worked out really great.
Of the newer material If I Could Fly was a wise pick, Andy Deris showing his great raw and yet reassuring voice; the speedy Sun 4 The World made it through in flying colours too.
As a surprise former member Kai Hansen entered the stage to perform two old hymns and in the first one How Many Tears it was really cool to experience the three-man axe attack. You can't go wrong with a song like Future World and let me just say that people were really happy at this point of the show. The gig was fortunately given a balanced and quite powerful sound, a couple of surprises in the setlist wouldn't have hurt though
Setlist
Starlight
Keeper Of The Seven Keys
Eagle Fly Free
Hey Lord!
If I Could Fly
Power
Dr. Stein
Sun 4 The World
How Many Tears
Future World
Saxon
This must be the fifth time I was about to experience a Saxon concert, I nevertheless was very excited due to the fact that some of my best live memories comes from this band, one of the best live acts around in my book. A big part of this comes from the bands attitude, professionalism and joy of playing live, they are really having a good time and that affects the crowd.
The band opened with full force with Heavy Metal Thunder and Dogs Of War and now the course was kind of settled, there was no way back as we were treated with over 2 hours of pure Heavy Metal of the finest kind.
I have said it before and I'll keep on doing it, Biff Byford is the coolest front man I know of, his singing is of course powerful and solid but his charisma and humorous way of dealing with the audience is very unique and it gets me every time, that man is a genius on stage.
The setlist was a pretty suitable mix of old and new, fast and groovy. The Eagle Has Landed is always totally majestic, Forever Free was brought to life in a spectacular and very intense manner and the ultra melodic And The Bands Played On was a nice surprise.
The decision to end the show with Dallas 1 PM was nevertheless not a good idea; it became too monotone, especially for an ending track, a minor detail in a fantastic performance.
The show was spiced with guest appearances by Nigel Glockler, Jörg Michael and Chris Caffery among others, keeping the show very much alive and inspiring, we even got a grandiose firework display at the end. The sound was much too low in the beginning but it got better and better, ending up being very transparent.
You aren't really left any choice than to just surrender to these fantastic classic Metal hymns, delivered with an astonishing nerve. These guys are Jurassic-like old (no offence) and they rock like a group of wild teenagers on a Saturday night, truly impressive.
Setlist (not entirely chronological)
Heavy Metal Thunder
Dogs Of War
Solid Ball Of Rock
20.000 Feet
Backs To The Wall
Travellers In Time
Dragon's Lair
Drum Solo
The Eagle Has Landed
747 (Strangers In The Night)
And The Bands Played On
Motorcycle Man
Crusader
Rock Is Our life
Strong Arm Of The law
Wheels Of Steel
Princess Of The Night
Denim And Leather
Forever Free
Dallas 1 PM
So this was a yet another great festival with plenty of interesting and motivated bands, I personally would have liked it if the festival would had added just a few progressive acts, hopefully that will change for next year.
As last year the press check-in container was located in the same far out position on the edge of the town (and that means absolutely nowhere) and of course with a 2-hour queue just as last year, damn it Wacken you can do better than this.
When that said the festival must have credit for a well-organized event where the general sound quality of the gigs I attended was very high.
The enormous amount of heat was without doubt one of the reasons why this year didn't bring as many insanely funny moments as last year, most of the time it was just too warm for serious partying. When Steen fell into a nearby creek was nevertheless hilarious.
Thursdays night at the camp must also have a mention; lots of both green and blue drinks coupled with some home mixed Metal tapes marked a perfect opportunity for the camp to have nice party. The obligatory Manowar classic March For Revenge (By The Soldier Of Death) was performed with just the right amount of crazy singing (danm it you were loud Steen!) and head banging air guitar posture.
Another cool moment was when Ulrick and myself performed a twin air guitar attack in Blackend by Metallica; move aside we need more space to perform this in the right manner! beer flying all over the place of course.
You just can't go wrong with a healthy dose of classic Metal, whether it's home mixed or Wackenized.
Biggest highlights: Saxon, Anthrax, Dionysus, Dio, green drinks and Metal Breakfast.
| You can click most pictures for a bigger version
The Wolfpack - Roaming the camping grounds at night
Paragon
Grave Digger
Grave Digger
Grave Digger
Anthrax
Nevermore
Nevermore
Nevermore
Nevermore
Helloween
Helloween
Helloween
Helloween
Helloween
Helloween
All pictures taken by Steen | Written by Tommy
Tuesday, September 28, 2004 |
This article has been shown 7630 times. Go to the complete list.
RevelationZ Comments
| Comment by Mads Aanum (Anonymous) - Thursday, September 30, 2004 | hell yeah Tommy...
a nice trip to Wacken... let's go again next year...
hahaha... Så vi på vej til Wacken, Wacken... hahaha cool song hahaha...
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| Comment by Perfect Warrior (Anonymous) - Saturday, October 9, 2004 | Great article! I saw most of these bands too.
Stay heavy \m/
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