Belgium, Mons - PPM Fest 2013

I need to be there. Dream line up...

Behemoth... at first I thought someone was trolling, but then I checked the official website and it was true...

I still think someone is trolling.

I was there and I can say that this year again it was a very good fest. I had a great pleasure to watch some of the bands I almost had an overdose of a few years ago (Stratovarius, Gamma Ray) and was hardly disappointed by the others (Tank being my biggest letdown: I didn't know them and was expecting something heavier/louder given the name; Helloween doing a short and déjà vu show; too many Italian bands with no real "touch" - all side projects of the DGM guys). Yet I won't say any of the performances I saw was a total blast that I will remember forever.

Compared to the last edition it has to be noted that there were only 2 food stands (hopefully there's a mall nearby) and that - as pointed out by Turisas - the beer is not what you'd expect for a Belgian beer, just regular festival beer you see. Also, despite the addition of a camping site, it seems to me that the crowd was slightly smaller but this would have to be checked.
Sound wise it was good, only Manticora was "bad" but as much as I love the band I must say they are the ones to blame for the sound as it's been the same every time I saw them live.

All in all a really nice festival for power / prog lovers (Behemoth was ok but I hope the organizers keep the fest 80% power prog) and there's a good chance I attend it again next year.

Best performance for me: Max Pie (top notch perf, a lot better than in 2011), Queensrÿche (the new singer is great), Avantasia (Tobias being a lot less annoying than he is with Edguy^^)