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Events and Reports - Wacken Open Air 2003 - Anders´ Wacken report
As I wrote in a previous report, last year's W:O:A was my first Wacken experience. Ever since I got home from that festival I had been looking forward to W:O:A 2003. Now one year had passed - it was finally time for Wacken Open Air 2003!
This year I felt I was better geared up for the ultimate metal festival experience: backstage pass, more beer, longer hair and a very cheap tent bought in "Rema 1000" (more about that later). There was absolutely no excuse for not having a great time. We were planning to test whether the text on Steen's plastic Wacken glass "It is nice to get drunk in Wacken" was still true.
The program was a bit better than last year for my taste, and I was especially looking forward to seeing In Flames, Vader, Slayer, Nile and Malevolent Creation.
Wednesday
I met with Tommy, Steen, Tajs and some other metal heads from Aarhus, and like last year we got on a bus trip - it was arranged by Nordic Rock Booking (the guys behind Aalborg Metal Festival). The trip down there was pretty good - there was metal on the stereo all the way, and we stopped to buy cheap alcohol near the border between Denmark and Germany.
We arrived at Wacken, and after a lot of beer and luggage carrying we found a good spot near the entrance. You, dear reader, may have read the tent story in one of the other Wacken reports already, but nevertheless here it comes again. As mentioned I had bought this cheap tent in "Rema 1000", and as I was setting it up I realized something was totally wrong. The tent was not an ordinary tent, it was a "half tent" a.k.a. a wind shelter. First I was very confused then despaired, and finally when I heard Steen and Tommy laughing their guts out I realized this was actually kind of funny. Fortunately Tommy had space in his tent. The morale of this tragic yet funny story must be to never buy a tent for 69 Kr. (9.32 ?) or less. Oh well, not another word about that stupid tent.
There was no music Wednesday, so we spent the rest of day checking out the festival ground. We located the backstage area, the toilets, the "Steak im Brot"-stand and other essential areas. In the evening we went up to another Danish camp where Tajs was located - here we warmed up with a few beers to the coming days of metal.
On the way home to our own camp we stopped by the big Metal Karaoke tent. Here we heard a couple of wannabes singing timeless metal classics from Maiden, Metallica and Judas Priest.
Thursday
This day our first mission was to acquire backstage passes. As we were soon to find out this was not an easy task as one would think. The place where you should get the passes was located very far from the festival ground, so we spent a good deal of the day trying to find the place. When we got back from this the other guys: Morten, Lasse and Ulrick had arrived and were setting up their huge tent.
Later that day I went shopping, knowing that there wouldn't be much time for that the coming days. The rest of the day was pretty much spent hanging out at the camp and drinking beer. Here we listened to a ridiculously large number of Maiden songs - actually that went for all the days.
I knew there were no essential bands for me Thursday, so I missed the first band Circle to Circle. When I arrived at the scenes I saw the last part of the Annihilator show, and it was pretty good. I will definitely have to check out some more with this band.
The next one up was the (pirate) band Running Wild - I had heard one or two songs with them before, but the only thing I could really remember was the chorus "heeey hooo - JOLLY ROGER!" from the song Jolly Roger. This concert I spent talking with Nina, but I believe they put on a decent show. And to my great pleasure they played the only song I could sing along to - and so I did.
There is not much more to tell about Thursday we got back to the camp listened to some more Maiden and drank some more beer. Our camp neighbors told us that a guy had tried to break in to Tommy's tent, as he couldn't do this he tried to jump over it instead (go figure). This incident made Tommy's tent everything else than stable. Steen told the story about his meeting with that 80 year old Wacken citizen and it cracked us all up.
Friday
Friday is somewhat a blur for unknown reasons. I met with Ulla, a German girl I met at last year's Wacken, and we hung out at her camp for some time. The day passed very quickly and all of a sudden it was evening, and I realized that I hadn't heard any bands all day.
Ulla and I went to hear In Flames in the evening and also here my memory is a bit weak. They put on a great show, and played both songs from their newest album Reroute to Remain and classics from their earlier albums. Alas, I had looked forward to this concert for a long time, so it bugs me I don't remember it well. Oh well there will be an In Flames concert another time.
Saturday
This day I wanted to make up for Friday and hear a lot of music. Lasse and I went down to hear Raunchy - the only Danish band playing at this year's Wacken. Unfortunately the running order was screwed up, so we didn't get to see Raunchy. Instead we heard the German melodic black metal band Graveworm - these guys put on a really good show, and you could see were some die hard fans there supporting them. The sound had a gothic touch to it, and it was not far from bands as Dimmu Borgir and Cradle of Filth. Graveworm seemed to be a talented band that will be interesting to follow in the future.
The next band we saw was Holy Moses - they played instead of Sinister who had cancelled because their guitarist had left the band the night before (talk about bad timing). Rachel, the vocalist from Sinister was supposed to join Holy Moses' vocalist Sabina for a duet. For some reason this didn't happen. Holy Moses, however, delivered a powerful performance, and Sabina's growls were very impressive - I'm still amazed a girl can sing in this way.
Malevolent Creation did a killer show on the black stage. They delivered what they do best super fast aggressive death metal. Vocalist Kyle Symons did a very good job, and he was very energetic. The highlight of this concert was the title song from the The Will to Kill album. I would like to quote Bent (a friend from the other camp) who made a comment about this. He said something close to: "There is nothing like waking up in Wacken, getting a cup of coffee and going down to hear Malevolent Creation". I have to agree.
Lasse and I stayed and heard Carpathian Forest. The concert was decent, but nothing really special in my opinion. Maybe it was because the Malevolent Creation concert had been so cool, that this wasn't anything big. Anyway some people seemed to think this concert was amazing, but I don't know. Perhaps I have an overall bad impression of this concert because their (rather big) bass player pulled his pants down.
Hereafter we met up with Steen, Nina and Tajs and heard Masterplan. Like the last time I heard this band they were very good. It seemed a bit soft after the previous concerts I attended this day, but it was really good. After this concert I went alone to see the Soilwork concert. As far as I remember they were pretty good, but after a couple of songs I got a sudden urge for "Steak im Brot" and had to leave the concert.
I watched the Nile concert with Ulla, and it was one of the absolute highlights of Wacken 2003. Nile is a death metal band with an Egyptian theme. Their lyrics are full of mysticism and Egyptian symbolism, and their music is very atmospheric and at times very progressive. The sound was excellent, and I loved the way the music switched between really heavy and very slow parts to faster parts. The absolute highlight was when they played their killer song Black Seeds of Vengeance.
The next band was the infamous Slayer. This was the first time for me to see Slayer live, so being a big fan I was very excited about it. They played all the classics - well the most important ones anyway: Dead Skin Mask, Seasons in the Abyss and Angel of Death just to name a few. It was an excellent show, and they definitely lived up to my high expectations.
The last band I saw at Wacken was the Polish death metallers Vader - they played at the black stage, and it was another great experience. Vocalist Peter started out by saying that he knew it would be hard playing after a band as Slayer. I think, however, they did a very good job. The songs that really stood out were Wings and Cold Demons both from the Litany album. This was an excellent way to end an excellent festival.
I tried to get a hold of the Wacken plastic glass with the text "It is nice to get drunk in Wacken" - it was, however, not possible. Instead I got another glass with a text just as true. I want to end my Wacken report for 2003 with this line:
"WACKEN - If it is not in your blood you will never understand"
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I don't believe this!
Steen and Tommy mixing obscure drinks
Check out the table cloth
Another camp picture
Holy Moses
Malevolent Creation
Malevolent Creation
Carpathian Forest
Soilwork
Soilwork from a distance
Slayer
All pictures taken by Anders and a few by Steen | Written by Anders
Thursday, September 25, 2003 |
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RevelationZ Comments
| Comment by Mads (Anonymous) - Thursday, September 25, 2003 | Hmmm Anders... not the In Flames report I was hoping for... We'll have to go see them someday soon...
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| Comment by Steen (Staff) - Thursday, September 25, 2003 | 
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Comments: 518 | | Haha! Very funny report. I would have loved to hear your rendition of Under Jolly Roger... Maybe another time :)
Posted by Steen (Staff)
Thursday, September 25, 2003 |
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| Comment by Anders (Anonymous) - Thursday, September 25, 2003 | Hi Mads - yeah let's hope for a Danish concert some time soon.
Oh it is "Under Jolly Roger"? Who would have thought :)
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| Comment by Mads (Anonymous) - Thursday, September 25, 2003 | yes together with soilwork or Opeth that would simply kick ass... I hope to see those bands live someday...
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| Comment by Anders (Anonymous) - Thursday, September 25, 2003 | Hey, Opeth are playing 10/23/03 at Voxhall, Aarhus. Are you coming?
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| Comment by Mads (Anonymous) - Saturday, September 27, 2003 | I guess you mean me??? Nah due to my studies (jeg arbejder i praktik i en SFO) I don't have the time to just go and see that great band... I have bought Still Life and Damnation, and as you know I'm still not too crazy about the growls on Still Life, but the music is fucking brilliant, and I have to say that the music have caught my attention... Damnation is my fave of the two, due to the brilliant almost Kashmir like music (Hmmm two very different generas) but also the vocals are so very nice to listen to, he shold sing like that always...
hey by the way Soilwork kicks ass...
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| Comment by Matthew (Anonymous) - Thursday, July 27, 2006 | Cool guestbook, interesting information... Keep it UP
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