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Events and Reports - Rockmachina Festival - Festival report, Friday 26 and Saturday 27 of July 2002
We arrived at the camping site, which unfortunately is situated some kilometers from the concert area, thursday evening, put up our tents and were ready to hear some good metal. Did we get that? Well, read the next few lines and make your own judgement...
The bar was a good place to start. They both had nice things to drink and nice music to listen to; a combination that isn't always easy to find. Both the beer and the calimoxo (the Spanish speciality with half red wine and half coca-cola) was surprisingly cheap, nice surprise there. A nice first evening but lets fast forward to the next day when the fun really started!
When we arrived to the concert area, we could hear Falconer playing. I'm not a big fan but I must admit that the guy has an interresting voice. The next band was called Nörthwind. Have never heard of them before and that's probably a good thing. Heavy Rhapsody influence but without the musicianship and songwriting capability. Crappy sound too. Bad. Don't buy.
Anyways, after this not too impressive start on the festival, next band was "Lost in Tears" from Finland. Don't know what this genre is called, but it wasn't bad at all. The singer had a very interresting voice, very deep and full of emotions. But damn, the band was frying up there on the black stage. Must have been around 40 degrees Celcius. I was afraid he was going to faint up there but somehow he made it through the set.
Next up was the Spanish band Dark Moor since Sinergy cancelled. YESS!!!!! I am a pretty new fan of this band, Steen forced me to listen to their latest album "The Gates of Oblivion" and after that I had to aggree with him. This band is GOOOOOD! Now to the concert. I had already moved to the front and I was happy to see that a lot of other people were coming to the stage to hear this yet relatively unknown band. They started out with playing "Nevermore" and everything was perfect.
The sound was really good too. Nice, crunchy and thick as on their lastest album. And then the singer came running out. Those of you who have heard the band *may* know that the singer is female though she sounds a lot like a guy a lot of the time. And what a voice she has! Very strong and powerful. And the good news is that she sings just as good live! Just a shame that they decided to play some Queen songs in the end of the set. I mean, they did them really well, got the audience rocking with "We Will Rock You" and "The Show Must Go On" but they have songs that are strong enough to stand by themselves. Anyways, especially "The Show Must Go On" was well-played and very well-sung.Not a long of bands will or can play this song without making a fool of themselves. Dark Moor can. Great show all together. And you could clearly see how happy they were playing there. Hope they won't loose that happiness as they get more well-known. 8/10 since they should have played more of their own songs.
And then there was Loaded. Seems that this band got to play here because the guitarist Duff once played in Guns 'N Roses. Some kind of kind of rock with an attitude. Nothing to see here folks, move along...
Elegy on the other hand was impressive. Very good show! I didn't know too many of the songs. Reminder to myself: Must get more Elegy cds.
Patrick Rondat is an extremely talented guitarist. But damn frustating for the rest of us guitarists to see how this guy just stands still on the stage with his big 80s hair and trademark sunglasses and performs the craziest stunts any guitar has ever seen. Great thing that he joined Elegy. Ian Parry is sort of like Bruce Dickinson when we talk about stage presence. He is also a small guy with an insane anount of energy and a very strong voice. The sound was good and I enjoyed the songs I knew as well as those I didn't. 8/10.
The surprise of the festival was Suicidal Tendencies. I had a tape with these guys a long time ago that I really enjoyed but I'd forgotten all about them up until now. I'm not sure if you can call this band a metal band but I really don't know what else you can call them. On one hand they play a little bit like the new pussymetal bands but on the other hand they have been playing like this for about 20 years. OK, lets talk about the show. Wow, I thought Ian Parry had a lot of energy but compared to Mike Muir, he was a tired old man. This guy was running and jumping like a madman. The music was different but good. A very interesting band that sounded very different from everybody else on the festival. 7/10.
I only saw the first few songs of Savatage. For some reason I haven't been able to get into this band. But I must admit that the sound was great and that the band played very well together.
Next day, the first interresting band we saw was Annihilator. I'd only heard about this band before but it was a pleasant surprise. Some of the songs were a bit too groovy (boring) for me but especially "Alison Hell" said something to me. Need too listen to more different bands to find small gems like Annihilator. 7/10.
And then there was Angra. I'm a new fan of this Brazillian band and I will say that I like albums like "Holy Land" but for me, "Rebirth" is ways better! So I was happy that they chose to play a lot of songs from this album. Anyways, it is called "Rebirth Tour" for a reason. Fuck these guys know how to play! One of the reasons I love Angra is for the amazing solos they have. And I could see that these amazing guitarists were able to play their amazing solos right off the records. Now everything was again as it should be. They played their songs with passion and energy and made a beautiful performance. In the middle they had a part with traditional Brazillian drums and it isn't difficult to recognize some of this in their own music. 9/10.
Rage is a new band for me. I got hooked on the song "From the Cradle to the Grave" in the car on the way to the concert so this band is something I will have to listen more to. Sometimes a bit too much simple rock and roll for me and then at other times they surprise me with catchy choruses and interresting passages. Good concert. Mr. Smolski had a truly amazing guitar solo break. Wonder how many fingers this guy has. Think I have found another gem here. 8/10.
I left after Bruce Dickinson had played a few songs since I was tired and since I'm not a big fan of his solo work. So for me it was a great thing that he chose to play "Revelations". But at this time I was extremely tired and just wanted to get home to sleep.
All together a great festival. A beautiful experience. We had the beach very close, the good Spanish food to eat and nice cold beer. Oh yeah, and METAL!
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Dark Moor
Angra
 | Written by Tajs
Sunday, September 29, 2002 |
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