woohoo!

[Knucklehead]

I'm leaving shortly, to make my way to this.

I can't wait.

[Metalfreak]

I take that it's in Germany? ...the website's in German.

That's cool as hell...have fun!

[MS_39455]

Been meaning to ask about this. So how was Rock Hard?

[Knucklehead]

It kicked ass.

A review from another forum:

So, I'm back in the States and have finally recovered from the jetlag. I had a great time at the festival -- my only complaint is that it was so freakin' hot. I brought my leather jacket because the weather forecast was 50's and 60's, but it was more like 70's and 80's. I neverf even took it out of the tent.

First off, for my American (and Canadian!) brothers and sisters, German audiences are pretty different. Lots of denim vests with patches, lots of cammie shorts. And, my god, the Germans love their sausages. (which are pretty damn tasty, I have to admit.) The audience also was much more active than audiences I've seen in the States. Lots of synchronized hand-clapping and chants of "Hey!" at the drop of the hat. It was interesting to watch. Maybe Atlanta is too hipster, but we don't see much of that kind of stuff here anymore.

The sound was indeed good, although I had a hard time hearing the guitars and vocals.

We got in Friday morning and got our tent set up and then headed off to the amphitheater to watch the bands. The line-up is here. I don't really remember the first three bands, and we weren't much interested in Y&T. Die Apokalyptischen Reiter were ... interesting. Mostly in German, so I didn't understand much. Testament were fantastic. Sadly, Alex Skolnick wasn't with them, and I'm not sure what that was about. They played a lot of old songs and a couple of newer ones that I didn't recognize. I saw them a couple of times back in the day, but haven't listened to them in years. I have to say that I was a happy to see them, but still a little sad. Afterall, that was Celtic Frost's slot. Purely by coincidence, I was wearing the Morbid Tales shirt.

Saturday was fantastic. We missed the Sorrow, and Moonsorrow were good. They took the stage smeared in blood. The guitar player reminded me of Varg Vikernes. Enslaved were freakin fantastic. I am not that familiar with their catalog, but I will definitely be checking them out. Next came Exciter. The only original member is John Ricci. I was really stoked about seeing them and they did a good job. Of course, I would have loved to Dan Beehler playing with him, but such is life. I ended up catching one of their drumsticks -- on the head! We sat Amorphis out -- I don't recall what we did. It was really great to see Exodus. The only other time I've seen them must have been back in the '80's on the original headbanger's ball tour. Their set was a little more of what I am used to -- it was pretty confrontational. About halfway throught the set, Rob Dukes introduced the bandmembers indivindually. (Tom Hunting, by the way, is "the greatest thrash drummer in the world") He introduced himself by saying, "and my name is ... FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU!" It made me giggle. All of the chanting and hand-clapping from earlier in the day made me feel like the audience was a little mechanical and this loosened things up a little bit.

Then came Immortal. My god. They played several songs that I recognized: "One By One", "Tyrants," "Sons of Northern Darkness," "Unsilent Storms in the North Abyss" and "At the Heart of Winter." They had a huge sound, for being a three-piece. A joker had brought three stuffed panda bears into the ampitheater and was holding them up above the audience, right down front. Abbath ignored them for most of the show. But he eventually told the guy, in a black metal croak, "I like your Pandas. Are those the Pandas of Northern Darkness?" They were the only band that I saw that had pyrotechnics, strangely. It is very difficult to see them here in the States, so I was glad that I caught them at the festival.

We missed most of the third day. They only band that we really wanted to see was Napalm Death. So we hung out at the campground for quite awhile. I could hear the music in the distance and was a bit annoyed because Asphyx were on stage and they were playing some really sludgy riff that was really familiar. But I couldn't quite put my finger on it. At first, I thought it was something by the Melvins, maybe. But eventually, I realized that it was the riff during the verses of Os Abysmi vel Daath, which they played in its entirety. I wish now that I had been in the ampitheater, but that's how things go, sometimes. At least some gave a nod to see CF. Naplam Death were good as usual. They played some of their very early, 45 second-long songs, which I do not know. They will be returning to the studio soon, as they are winding up the support for their last.

After that, we finished breaking down camp and left. I had a great time in Gelsenkirchen. I wish that we had festivals on this scale here in the States. There are a number of small, regional ones, but bands like Testament or Immortal would never come close to playing them. Europe is definitely more metal-friendly than it is here. I don't see that changing any time soon.

Because my buddy speaks Dutch and a little German, which is much more than I speak, he would ask folks if they spoke Dutch when they said that they weren't comfortable speaking English. As a result, most folks assumed that we were Dutch. (You see, his wife is Dutch and he lived in Holland for 4 years.) The Germans and the Dutch are not overly fond of each other, however. I think we might have had a little more comaraderie if folks knew we were Americans.

I'm hoping to make it to Hellfest or Wacken, someday. We shall see.

[Metalfreak]

dude that's so fuckin awesome!

[Knucklehead]

It really was a good time. I'd like to do it again, someday. I don't know that I'd necessarily go back to Rock Hard -- it's sort of a middling festival, I think.

Anyway, I see that the link with the line-up didn't copy. You can find the line-up here.