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2009-07-11
NL – Nijmegen - Park Brakkenstein |
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| The Devils Blood - Moonspell - Meshuggah - Satyricon - Death Angel - Candlemass - Kataklysm - Keep Of Kalessin - The Dillinger Escape Plan - Delain - All Shall Perish - Heidevolk - Warbringer :: pics :: FORTA ROCK got opened by Californian thrashers :: WARBRINGER :: that played t5hree days ago in my hometown. The tent is still quite empty. Fans are just flocking to the festival ground, getting their beer first. I and Wiebke also need some time till we find a slit in the tent to enter from the backside and get access to the photopit. Big eyes when we see the stage and the pit ;) Never mind! We are the first and only ones in the pit, while John Kevill is going wild 2 meters above us. Seems like this guy has a lot of fun on stage, screaming the hell out of his lungs and pulling funny faces ;) Thrash Metal as its best. Old school of course. The Bay Area style, yeah! Unbelievably aggressive and energizing. Just great. The guys have just their sophomore out, entitled Waking Into Nightmares, from which they played most of their songs! Perfect beginning for a festival ;)
In best festival mood we now drink our first beer… *brrr* no, doesn’t taste. And stroll over to the main stage where some Vikings build up their equipment. Afterwards Jeroen Phaff storms the stage to introduce the next band. This guy is leading through the entire festival and is utmost funny and likewise personable. In real life Jeroen is a musical star, very known in Holland and playing almost in big musicals. But he is also a huge metal fan and knows how to entertain the FORTA ROCK peeps. We don’t understand that much but scored by making everybody laugh ;)
The Ground is filling up and :: HEIDEVOLK :: start to hammer the swords on their shields. Although living nearby this time HEIDEVOLK don’t have their Viking horde with them. Too bad. On the other hand, all original members are able to play this show ;) Fists get raised towards the sky and the first beer cups were flying. The Dutch Viking soul goes wild… ;)
And we go on with :: ALL SHALL PERISH :: I just saw two weekends ago at Devilside Festival. Today the guys look much more motivated, in better mood and even singer Hernan Hermida didn’t nag and behave like a chav. Musically? Breakdowns till you drop, asskicking grooves, neckbreaking riffing and some fretboard acrobatics = American Deathcore ;)
::
DELAIN
:: had probably to fulfill the Gothic’s quota.
There was no need for; I get 100 bands in mind who could have
better placed in this billing. On the other hand, DELAIN
is somewhat like Within Temptations little sister and so is somewhat
like the second address in Holland when it comes to female fronted
Gothic Metal. I don’t like this kind of female singing,
but the guys and Charlotte Wessels are cute ones, really likeable
and great to take photos of ;) And the music is nice too.
Much better of course :: THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN :: fit in. Saw the crazy heads too, last weekend at Vainstream Rock Fest and so I knew what to expect. And I warned Wiebke ;) They played the tent and there was nothing Greg could climb on. Instead he was freaking out on stage, his mates too. And again… I got blown by the music, or left with the mouth open. Mind-blowing! Just too exhausting after a while, especially, since the “quiet” moments on CD are missed out here.
Now it’s time to get my first JDCoke backstage. I was told that I only have to pay one Munten for that. WTF? True! ;) Guess what! *laughs* Meanwhile the tour trek of Death Angel - Kataklysm - Keep Of Kalessin has arrived, I say hello to the boss of Turock and The Very End singer Bjoern Goosses, while Ed Warby (Hail Of Bullets) gets buried under a bunch of… um… girls, getting mugged ;)
:: KEEP OF KALLESSIN :: get their stuff on stage and start their set. The backdrop is awesome. They didn’t have that in Essen, did they? Sun wasn’t gracious and obviously wanted to thwart the show of the Norwegian Black metallers while shining as bright as possible ;) Didn’t do any harm, except for the band’s make-up maybe ;) Cool show, indeed!
While strolling to the big top, Death Angel’s new drummer Will Carrol passes us always again with his sticks and drumming on everything that halfway looked like a resonating-body ;) In the tent :: KATAKLYSM :: welcome us again with brutal groove and a fucking tight show. Light isn’t that great this time, but no one cares. Everybody is moshing like if there is no tomorrow. Maurizio doesn’t hide behind his mane, his face is visible. Whoops. Dutch crowd is enthused but not that going wild as the German crowd experienced last week in Essen, turning this club into a hot and humid hell. Great show!
But the best
has still to come. Outside again the sun is still shining and
though it’s getting dark. Very dark. With twisted eyes and
crossed arms showing the horns Mr. Rob Lowe gets ready to praise
the world’s downfall. With a smirking face. Generally speaking
:: CANDLEMASS
:: are in best mood, having a lot of fun, joking around
on stage, while playing their asses off. Sound isn’t that
great, pretty dull and quiet. Um… yes… the 98dB rule…
But I also missed some power within the band. CANDLEMASS
is surely a band better placed in a dark and smaller indoor location.
Wasn’t the best show of the Swedes. People had obviously
the same feeling. When CANDLEMASS left the stage –
of course to come back for an encore – fans were already
off, to the tent to see Death Angel ;)
And yes, inside the tent everything was perfect. Good sound and :: DEATH ANGEL :: were celebrating a hell of a live party. Damn… I love these guys!!! Dutch people too. Seems like there is a special connection to them and a huge fan-base. What more to say? DEATH ANGEL is one of the best live bands ever! Fantastic show! Fantastic party! Both new members – Sammy & Will – were quickly accepted by the fans and did a brilliant job. AMAZING!
Outside night
closes in bathing everything in cozy twilight. ::
SATYRICON
:: enter the stage opening the gates to hell. Sound
is still unbalanced but finally a bit louder. Norwegian Death’n’Roller
kick off with the opening track of their current record The
Age Of Nero and then play songs alternately from the last
3 records, plus two classics, this time Forhekset and the
inevitable Mother North. Atmosphere causes gooseflesh and
the lightshow perfectly plays with the twilight. Woaaaah…
amazing! The audience stays more or less reserved. Only Now,
Diabolical makes them singing along. I have to confess, Satyr
is as cool and charismatic as fuck! ;) We leave the pit for the
higher stage (for wheelchairs), try it with the long shot and
band our heads off ;) See ya at Party.San! Cheers!
Finally! Man, it took a long time till I get my heroes of :: MESHUGGAH :: to see live on stage. It never turned out in the past. And now, with their current effort obZen I was even more eager to see them. Obzen downright blew me and was album of the month on NH. And - comparing MESHUGGAH with Dillinger Escape Plan for example - here no one plays a “normal” instrument. Six string guitars? No way! Six strings minimum for the bass, yes ;) 7 or 8 strings for the guitars. And that Tomas Haake drums beyond everything is no secret either. Also front giant Jens Kidman is much impressive and charismatic. Sound is almost brilliant, especially in the posterior part of the tent. Breathtaking show! Really. Wanna see them again. Soon! Of course new songs were played as Bleed and Pravus, but also classics as Future Breed Machine. Great!
The first
FORTA ROCK Open Air Festival draws to a close and clears
the stage for the headliner. And :: MOONSPELL
:: are more than worth to play this slot. They in fact
deliver an awesome headliner show. The Portuguese gents begin
with At Tragic Heights and make my gooseflesh running au
and down the back. They go on with Night Eternal
and then step by step back through the band’s history delivering
the first highlight with Opium. And forward again to the
newest record, seeing Anneke van Giersbergen sharing the stage
in duet with Fernando at Scorpion Flower. Marvelous! And
she stays and lends her voice to Luna too, a song about
a little girl. Hauntingly beautiful. Afterwards they only play
classics, including the encore. What a show! Nothing left to be
desired. Ok, they could have started again from the beginning
;) And light was perfectly balanced with the songs but a hell
to take photos. Hm. Never mind! Forgiven at such show.
Now it’s time for the special guest of the festival :: THE DEVILS BLOOD :: I just knew the name but never have heard anything of the band. A mistake. Then their blend of psychedelic Stoner Rock tunes and occult Vampire metal immediately made me crazy about them. All over doused with blood guys and woman entered the stage. A new Lilith arrived. She stood like nailed behind her micro but grand. Absolutely liked their style. Tent was sparely filled now, most of the fans already left for their trip back home. Another band I would like to see live soon again ;) And so the FORTA ROCK finds its official end. An all around well-done festival. Afterwards we found some time to talk to Freek, one of the organizers. He seemed to be satisfied too, although there was some trouble due to the loudness. If there will be a FORTA ROCK 2010 nobody knows. We hope and wish and already gave off our wish list for the next year’s billing ;) The park is beautiful but I guess the councilors won’t allow the use for the second edition. Cams packed
in – time to party *laughs* We exchanged all our Munten
into JDCoke cans. A couple of them we gave away and shared, the
other ones we drunk *coughs* Anyway, I and Wiebke were quickly
beyond of good and evil and had a blast watching what happened
around us ;) 3am we finally left but got magically attracted by
the purple illuminated trees and ended up in a spontaneous photo
session. Wiebke didn’t want to pose all alone and got herself
a Norwegian counterpart to get mugged too. I tell ya… *lol*
However, hope to see ya next year at FORTA ROCK 2010! |
| story & pics © Dajana |
