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Events and Reports - Bloodstock Open Air 2009 - Day 3 - Sabaton, Anathema, Europe
Sunday 16th August
The last day of the festival started early at 11.55am with Sweden's Power Metal hero's Sabaton. The fact that the Swede's had only been given a half hour set at such an early hour was a source of much disbelief from festival attendees. I too was surprised as Sabaton have been steadily building a loyal fan base in the UK for the last couple of years.
Running onstage to announce that they had no intro tape "As the set is short enough already" the band opened with "Ghost Division". If they were pissed at only having 30 minutes they certainly didn't show it as the group wore massive smiles when they noticed the loud response from the crowd.
As I've said before on this site, it's hard to find a band who put on such a consistently fun show as Sabaton. The band's Power Metal based sound always seems to get the crowd onside from the word go, whether they have head the band before or not. Although judging by the amount of singing coming from the crowd there was a sizable amount of existing fans at the festival. The first four songs of the set were all culled from latest release The Art of War but the band knew what the crowd wanted to hear and unleashed D-Day inspired anthem Primo Victoria on them. My stomach didn't really seem to like me jumping along to the chorus after three days of solid drinking but I was dammed if I was going to let that stop me.
A rather amusing moment happened when singer Joakim Broden announced they would be coming back to the UK for a 19 date tour in November (cue ecstatic shouts from the crowd) as they were supporting Dragonforce (cue a muted response with a fair few grumbles). I think its safe to say that while Sabaton's stock level in the UK is steadily rising, many of our metal fans are getting a bit tired of Dragonforce's formulaic solo-heavy style.
Sabaton Set List:
1. Ghost Division
2. The Art Of War
3. 40:1
4. Cliffs Of Gallipoli
5. Primo Victoria
6. Metal Machine/Metal Crue
After taking some time to chill, we headed back to the arena to check out German Folk/Black Metallers Equilibrium. I must confess that I had not heard of the band before they were announced for the festival but after listening to a few songs online I had quickly decided that they were more that worth a watch.
From the moment frontman Helge Stang issued forth a mighty scream over the intro to opener "Wurzelbert" I knew I had made the right decision in coming to see them. Unlike Enslaved the day before the bands sound had me hooked and I was thoroughly impressed by their performance. I will without doubt have to track down their albums at some point in the near future.
I have seen the next band Anathema live a couple of times in the past few years and both times were in a small club in Glasgow so I was a bit worried that the bands mix of Alternative Rock/Metal wouldn't connect with such a large festival crowd. Turns out I was rather foolish to think this as they pulled a audience of several thousand who all seemed to be enjoying themselves.
I had told my mate Del that the band may be slightly too slow for his taste and he decided to head back to the tent as he wasn't feeling too great. Within a few songs I regretted this as Anathema had clearly decided to play some of their heaviest songs to really get the crowd going.
Opening with a double header from the Alternative 4 album was a great choice; "Fragile Dreams" pounding drums (provided by none other than Nick Barker of Cradle of Filth/Dimmu Borgir fame) roused anyone still suffering from a hangover into action and "Empty" got people singing along. Despite some on-stage sound problems Vincent and Danny Cavanagh were struggling to keep the smiles off their faces and were clearly enjoying being back on a big stage in Britain. In fact it's a testament to the quality of their music that the band still managed to pull such a large crowd despite having not released a studio album since 2003.
Lee Douglas joined the band on stage for a show stopping performance of the heart breaking "A Natural Disaster" which saw a sea of Metal Heads standing transfixed in a hushed silence as Lee's beautiful vocals floated around the arena. After Lee left the stage to rapturous applause the band launched into their early classic "Sleepless" which saw plenty of head banging in the audience.
Danny introduced the final song of the set by saying "We're only playing this cause we have Nick with us and there are only about 3 drummers in the country that can play this properly" then cranked out the opening riff to Iron Maiden's "Phantom of the Opera". My jaw pretty much hit the floor at this point as I watched one of my favorite bands play one of the greatest songs ever written. It was a terrific way to end the set and I can only hope that the band get their act together and get this long promised comeback album out as soon as possible
Anathema Set List:
1. Fragile Dreams
2. Empty
3. Deep
4. A Natural Disaster
5. Sleepless
6. A Dying Wish
7. Phantom Of The Opera (Iron Maiden cover)
We headed into the backstage area after this as we had found out the night before that the bar there had Guinness on tap. We were left dismayed to find out that there was no Guinness left but my sadness turned to joy when I spotted none other than Mr. Bob Catley of Magnum having a chat with some festival goers.
Nina and I headed over and had a quick chat with him about how amazing his vocals are on "The Story Aint Over" by Avantastia and also about that bands fantastic performance at the Sweden Rock Festival the year previous. After chatting for a few minutes I can safely say that Bob is indeed a top bloke who more than made up for the bar managers poor planning over the amount of Guinness needed to satisfy a metal festival crowd.
In another wild leap of styles Turisas followed Anathema on the Main Stage, they have long been a favorite band at the festival having put in a now legendary performance at the 2006 edition of the festival which really seemed to help cement the UK's love affair with all things Folk Metal.
Coming onstage in their now traditional red make up and fur loin cloths the band wasted no time in taking command of the huge audience that had turned up to see them. It was without doubt one of the best attended shows of the festival and luckily the band didn't disappoint. Opening with "To Holmgard and Beyond" the bands rapport with the crowd was obvious as the jigging and moshing started almost instantly.
"One More" was dedicated to anyone with a beer in the audience (and of course I had one) and during the intro to the Bony M cover "Rasputin" Warlord Nygård split the crowd in two for a singing contest. My side was put at a disadvantage as there was way more people on the right hand side of the audience than the left but we gave a good account of ourselves.
When crowd favorite "Battle Metal" was announced as the last song it got a fair few people (including myself) looking at their watches as the band still had around 15 minutes left. However the band did come back for a towering rendition of the epic "Miklagard Overture" complete with plenty of confetti being launched into the crowd during the final chorus.
This show was the bands last in the lengthy tour supporting The Varangian Way but they promised to come back once the new album has been recorded. And I can guarantee that when they do return, the Bloodstock crowd will be waiting with open arms.
Turisas Set List:
1. To Holmgard And Beyond
2. A Portage To The Unknown
3. One More
4. Rasputin
5. Battle Metal
6. Miklagard Overture
Craig and Del decided to stay and watch Moonspell while the rest of us gathered our strength in perpetration to watch Amon Amarth praise the old gods with the help of some Melodic Death Metal.
Amon put in a pretty good show but to be honest, while I like their albums I find their music gets rather samey in the live arena after a while. They opened with "Twilight of The Thunder God" off the new album of the same name and played an eleven song set to a crowd almost as large as the one Turisas assembled.
Highlights of the set were "Guardians of Asguard" (No L.G Petrov in sight sadly), "Pursuit of Vikings" and the set closer "Death In Fire". It was a solid if unspectacular show by a band who I believe can be capable of so much more if they dared to vary their sound a little.
Amon Amarth Set List:
1. Twilight of The Thunder God
2. Free Will Sacrifice
3. Asator
4. Varyags Of Miklagaard
5. Runes To My Memory
6. Guardians Of Asgaard
7. Live For The Kill
8. Victorious March
9. Pursuit Of Vikings
10. Cry Of The Blackbirds
11.Death In Fire
As the festival wound down and the three previous days of partying took its toll, only Nina and I had the strength to go and watch Satryicon play a unyielding set of rigid Black Metal. And even then we decided to take a seat on the hillside rather than venture forward to stand.
We missed the first couple of songs but having seen the set list, the majority of the gig was gathered from the last two albums including a stomping version of "Now, Diabolical" and the strangely melodic "Black Crow On A Tombstone".
The set was ended with the superb "Mother North" which was given the perfect platform to be performed on by the darkening but still cloudless night sky. Although this only served to highlight how much better the band older more BM material is compared to the path they follow now.
We headed towards the Backstage bar for a quick pint before Europe closed the festival. There had been uproar on the festival message board when Europe were announced. But mainly because the message board is populated by moaning buggers who couldn't name one Europe song apart from...well you know the one. Also add to the fact that they were setting ridiculous expectations by hoping for a massive name like Judas Priest or Manowar (not likely to happen given the size and spending power of the festival) then the band were always going to have a tough slog to win some new fans.
Nina, Craig and myself took position about three people from the barrier and waited for the arena to fill up. I was actually quite nervous for the band due to the shameful scenes of the previous night but luckily the set went pretty much without a hitch.
The only down points were some total arseholes (sorry for swearing folks) directly behind me who kept shouting for The Final Countdown between every song for the first half of the set. Why I didn't tell them to shut the hell up is beyond me. Also the sound down the front was far too bass heavy at the beginning of the concert which left a few of the heavier songs like "Scream of Anger" sounding like mush.
It was a strange atmosphere at the gig as beyond maybe a few hundred faithful Europe fans down the front the rest of the crowd didn't seem to aware of the bands extensive back catalogue. Despite this the crowd gave the band some massive cheers between songs and I feel that the overall reception the band received more than justified their booking.
Personal highlights for myself were "Sign of The Times" which featured a brilliant solo from John Norum, "Always The Pretenders" (a song I later found out is about 9/11) and the set turning point "Seven Doors Hotel". It was during this one that it felt like the majority of the crowd seemed to brush away their cynicism and join in with Joey Tempest on the "Whoh ohhhh" part in the chorus.
The biggest cheers of the night were reserved for "Rock The Night" and of course "The Final Countdown". When the famous keyboard part was laid down the crowd erupted and as soon as drummer Ian Haugland kicked the song in everyone went crazy. There was a slight feeling of resentment from myself as I wished the crowd had reacted like this to the entire set but then I realized I was watching "THE FINAL FUCKING COUNTDOWN" and started bouncing with everyone else. As far as I'm conserned it would be pretty much impossible to find a more fitting song to close a festival on.
Final Thoughts
Having attended every Bloodstock Open Air since 2006 I can safely say that this year's edition was the strongest and most enjoyable yet. It was great meeting up with old friends and making new ones while enjoying the excellent weather and brilliant music. Cheers to Jim, Paul, Gaz, Eric, Nina and of course my good buddies Craig and Del for making the festival so much fun.
There are a few things I would like to see improved for next year though:.
- Better parking and access to the festival- The walk from the car park to the festival site was a nightmare when laden with all our gear and the size of the queue to get in was unreal.
- An end to crazy alcohol rules- Bloodstock has this ridiculous rule that you can only take 24 cans of beer onto the campsite. It's essentially there so they can sell you beer at inflated prices once you are at the festival. It's horribly cynical and one of the only real bad points about the festival
- Better security - After what happened during Cradle this year I think this goes without saying
- Less bands = More stage time - I would love the organizers to drop the 20-30 minute timeslots in favour of a minimum 45 minute set. I can't see too may people complaining if this was introduced as it avoids situations like Sabaton this year.
But really these are small things and I believe the organizers can pat themselves on the back as they have achieved what no one else in the UK has been willing or able to do. To create a viable and popular Metal Festival with a line up of genuine Heavy Metal bands without relying on more popular, mainstream acts. Long may it continue and I'll see you in 2010.
Go to...
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
| | Written by Stuart
Sunday, September 6, 2009 |
This article has been shown 1734 times. Go to the complete list.
RevelationZ Comments
| Comment by Craig (Member) - Wednesday, November 4, 2009 | 
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Comments: 134
Ratings: 29 | | Well I can finally read this whole thing now without fear of you contaminating my report. Good work!
http://www.rockontheweb.co.uk/livearticle.php?id=68
Posted by Craig
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 |
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