Wacken Open Air 2008 - Leeds Rocksoc



		Home » Forums » Reviews » Gig Reviews » Wacken Open Air 2008 Login or register to post comments 5 replies [Last post] Tue, 12/08/2008 - 22:00 darkish_angel87 Offline Joined: 17/10/2005 Okay, it's been over a week, so I think it's time for a review. Following on from a theme in a couple of other threads, it is blatantly clear to me now that festivals like Wacken pwn the shit out of everything that the UK has to offer, for a number of reasons: - 1) EVERYTHING is cheaper. 2) Arena is laid out in a way that you don't have to walk miles between everything. 3) Rotating policy involving 2 main stages means longer set times for more bands with less time waiting between sets. 4) Nicer and more varied food. 5) Free goodie bag including card game, pen, condom and water-proof poncho (THAT came in handy!) 6) Mud is covered over with wood chippings to stop the whole place turning into a swamp after rain (take note, Glastonbury!) 7) Given the more specialist nature of the festival, there is a much more united, welcoming atmosphere, decreasing the risk of fights and riots. NO bands are bottled; relatively unpopular bands (like As I Lay Dying) are just seen as an excuse to head to the beer garden. 9) The aforementioned beer garden. 10) The Metal Market, where you can buy damn near everything at bargain basement prices. I'm sure there are more reasons, but I think I've made my point Anyway, the music. I can't be arsed to comment on every band that I saw, so here's my top 10: - 1) Carcass 2) Avantasia 3) Iron Maiden 4) At the Gates 5) Opeth 6) Kreator 7) Children of Bodom Airbourne 9) Mortal Sin (Great discovery!) 10) Nightwish Cynic, Ensiferum, 3 Inches of Blood and Killswitch Engage are also worth a mention. Kamelot and Sonata Arctica were okay but kinda seemed like they were just going through the motions. And the least said about Lauren Harris and Exodus (God, their frontman's an arrogant prick!) the better! __________________ "This racist lady won't let us play catch!" Top Login or register to post comments Wed, 13/08/2008 - 12:44 #1 TheeUmbrellaBoy Offline Joined: 10/10/2005 Sounds like you had lots of fun ^^ There was a guy at M'era Luna who had come straight across from Wacken who tried to convince me and Jim it was the best festival on the world and we had to go next year. Fighting a losing battle there Glad you had a good time though __________________ "If by noise you mean uncomfortable sound, then pop music is noise to me." - Merzbow Top Login or register to post comments Wed, 13/08/2008 - 12:49 #2 Steve Offline Joined: 23/09/2005 Copied and pasted from my Last.fm journal, don't know how to get rid of the links Mustasche - Caught a bit of these guys, good ol' fashioned hard-rock Lauren Harris - Can't say much about her, wasn't very impressed Airbourne- Great fun band Alestorm- You'd think that after the chaos of Tyr and Turisas last year the organisers would have learned that folk metal has really taken off. Would have done better on the Party Stage. Good band live though Iron Maiden - They're the greatest metal band for a reason! Spectacular performance, evne though I couldn't see much. Great setlist as well, and the atmosphere was brill! Fear of the Dark and Hallowed Be Thy Name ftw! Primordial- Pretty good, dragged on a bit Headhunter- Schmier is a fuckinglegend! Kamelot- Awesome set, although a bit disappointed by Forever Sabaton- Not bad, the crowd certainly enjoyed them Sonata Arctica - I was expecting some different songs, very disappointing Avantasia- Absolutely brill, though I was gutted when Jorn Lande's microphone was off for the entirety of The Scarecrow Machine Men - Very fun band, the singer was great Obituary- fucking heavy! Carcass- Very impressive, though having Angela Gossow was completly unnecessary Warbringer- Brill, though not as brill as the London gig though Torture Squad - Not very familiar with their material, but they were absolutely crushing Overall great festival, apart from the weather. Highlights: Maiden, Headhunter, Kamelot and Avantasia Also caught bits of the following: Cynic - Left after two songs, got bored At the Gates - Didn't sound very impressive, so I didn't bother, Torture Squad were far better Ensiferum - Caught the last bit of Iron, didn't sound very good, glad I saw Headhunter instead Corvus Corvax - Caught a bit of them before Avantasia, very unusual choice for a metal festival, but very impressive nonetheless, one to check out! Nightwish - Watched them up until The Poet and the Pendulum before deciding to call it a year, my feet were absolutely killing me! Photos here: Part 1: http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=34592&l=01f8a&id=508598582 Part 2: http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=34602&l=4231a&id=508598582 __________________ RockSoc Head-Power Metaller 2008 Top Login or register to post comments Wed, 13/08/2008 - 15:32 #3 Twistedgenius Offline Joined: 27/09/2006 Steve wrote: Lauren Harris - Can't say much about her, wasn't very impressed Airbourne- Great fun band Iron Maiden - They're the greatest metal band for a reason! Spectacular performance, evne though I couldn't see much. Great setlist as well, and the atmosphere was brill! Fear of the Dark and Hallowed Be Thy Name ftw! Primordial- Pretty good, dragged on a bit Headhunter- Schmier is a fuckinglegend! Kamelot- Awesome set, although a bit disappointed by Forever Sabaton- Not bad, the crowd certainly enjoyed them Sonata Arctica - I was expecting some different songs, very disappointing Avantasia- Absolutely brill, though I was gutted when Jorn Lande's microphone was off for the entirety of The Scarecrow Machine Men - Very fun band, the singer was great Carcass- Very impressive, though having Angela Gossow was completly unnecessary Warbringer- Brill, though not as brill as the London gig though Torture Squad - Not very familiar with their material, but they were absolutely crushing Overall great festival, apart from the weather. Highlights: Maiden, Headhunter, Kamelot and Avantasia Also caught bits of the following: Cynic - Left after two songs, got bored Ensiferum - Caught the last bit of Iron, didn't sound very good, glad I saw Headhunter instead Corvus Corvax - Caught a bit of them before Avantasia, very unusual choice for a metal festival, but very impressive nonetheless, one to check out! Nightwish - Watched them up until The Poet and the Pendulum before deciding to call it a year, my feet were absolutely killing me! Photos here: Part 1: http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=34592&l=01f8a&id=508598582 Part 2: http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=34602&l=4231a&id=508598582 ok.... yep lauren harris = teh suck airbourne... that was one guitar solo that just made the festival, never going to forget THAT moment one of the best stage shows iron maiden - -> i agree I also agree with what you said about primordial... Headhunter - - - > completely disagree... I thought it was all the same... which makes things dull. Kamelot, despite being the band I went to see... were disappointing imo >_> Sabaton - - - > BEST. Hush adam. Seriously, the crowd went absolutely wild, can been seen from the footage of wacken Sonata Arctica - -> Like their other shows, so nothing special Avantasia >_< I missed. BAH!! But from my tent they sounded good xD Machine Men - -> Singer was Bruce Dickinson Clone XD Carcass - -> One of the highlights, even though I knew one song, just proves how great they were Opeth - Technically good, but not great wacken performers.... Highlights - Cynic, Carcass, Sabaton, Airbourne. I completely disagree with your opinion of cynic steve, I was blown away by them :P Nightwish were ok... though I actually stayed for the duration... The crowd was lame, you shouldn't pit to nightwish ~.~ Ensiferum ---> After leaving headhunter, pretty disappointed I missed most of their set, as they were really going for it :P __________________ no i am not a wizard Top Login or register to post comments Sat, 30/08/2008 - 17:39 #4 grandparrot Offline Joined: 29/09/2005 I had a good time too, and plan to go next year. Bands I saw: Metakilla, Airbourne, Iron Maiden, Primordial, Headhunter (from the barrier!), The Rotted, Destructor, Opeth, Children of Bodom, Corvus Corax, Avantasia, 3 Inches of Blood, Sweet Savage, Carcass, Warbringer, Nightwish and Kreator. Not bad, methinks. The best bits were: Children of Bodom taking the piss and jamming The Umbrella Song Angela Gossow singing Incarnate Solvent Abuse with Carcass Uli Jon Roth soloing away with Avantasia Meeting everyone I know who was there, with only one exception, often by chance I would like to add that the prices have gone up quite a bit since 2006, and with the poor exchange rate with the euro, the beer cost about the same as it would at Download. HOWEVER the people in the village sell food and beer cheaper, and there's a little local supermarket that doesn't sell out of essentials (I don't know how). Another plus is there are nice clean proper toilets with running water for hand washing available for 50cents a go. __________________ Top Login or register to post comments Sun, 31/08/2008 - 20:04 #5 Steve Offline Joined: 23/09/2005 Regarding the supermarkets never running out of stock, I guess they prepare very well in time for Wacken __________________ RockSoc Head-Power Metaller 2008 Top Login or register to post comments Login or register to post comments

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