Written by:	wrathchild, Jeff
Published:	September 04, 2006
Event:	The Metalway Festival (Website)
Location:	Campo de fútbol de Santa Lucia, Gernika, Spain
Organizer:	RockNRock
Galleries:	MetalWay Festival 2006, Sunday by Jeff (69) MetalWay Festival 2006, Sunday by wrathchild (18) MetalWay Festival 2006, Saturday by Jeff (74) MetalWay Festival 2006, Friday by Jeff (64) MetalWay Festival 2006, Friday by wrathchild (10)

MetalWay festival, Gernika, Spain, 28/29/30 July 2006


Table of Contents
Introduction
Friday 28th
Dreamaker, Benedictum, Hamlet, Finntroll, Nevermore, Brainstorm, The Gathering, Annihilator, Angeles Del Infierno, Kreator, Stratovarius
Saturday 29th
Axxis, Arch Enemy, Rage, Dark Funeral, Metal Church, My Dying Bride, Testament, Gamma Ray, Ministry, Celtic Frost
Sunday 30th
Koma, Runic, Crucified Barbara, Jon Oliva's Pain/Metal Church, Moonspell, Within Temptation, Barón Rojo, Edguy, Helloween, Megadeth, Blind Guardian, Jon Oliva's Pain
Conclusion
Acknowledgements





Introduction
Overview
The MetalWay festival is probably the biggest "metal-only" festival in Spain. The very first edition of the MetalWay festival took place last year, and many great bands were playing (and several chose to come back this year). The formula is quite simple: one big stage and several big bands.
2006 saw a great change, as the festival was carried out simultaneously in two cities: Gernika in the North and Jerez in the South.
Of course, the line-up was not stritcly identical but most of the bands played in both cities. We could only attend the show in Gernika. About Jerez, we were told that it was not as successful as in Gernika, partly because of the heat.

The festival ground was located on a football field, which I suppose is not used that often. But the cool thing is that there are some grandstands on the sides (not very large, but enough to rest and see the shows while not suffering from the sun).

Food & drinks
Food was not exceptionally good but varied enough (paella, pizzas, sandwiches, hot dogs, French fries, etc.), the kind of stuff you're expecting to eat in a festival. For the people who wanted more, that was quite easy to go to the supermarket: that's the cool thing about attending a festival in a city.
Drinks were also very varied: basically you could order whatever you wanted, provided you bought the corresponding ticket, and that's precisely what can be improved: There were too many sort of tickets. Basically, there were 4 to 5 tickets for food and the same for drinks, and I even think some of the waiters got lost.

Camping
The way to the camping area was quite distant from the festival ground, especially when, like we did, you set up your tent in the far end of the camping area. The environment was pleasant, our neighbors were friendly and no one was shouting in the middle of the night, so it was rather cool. What was not very cool were the stinky toilets... I won't go into details, but the cornfield in the back was a better place to go for that matter. There were individual and collective showers, a bar with some good music but not a lot of security stuff - emergency authorities, for example, especially on the first day. The land there is bouncy, up and downhill, so you had to take care not to bump in a hole at night. Also, it had been raining on Thursday and Friday, so the paths were muddy.

Weather
This was also true for the festival ground: on Friday, the grey sky did sent us a bit of water - nothing big hopefully - and parts of the ground were slippy. As the night was approaching, the organization put some straw on the muddiest parts: it was still slippy but no more dirty.
I guess both the mud and the straw prevented some moshing from taking place, but we seriously cannot blame anyone for that.
On the opposite, on Saturday and Sunday, water was sent by the staff, throwing small bottles (still capped) and using water-jets.







Friday 28th
The MetalWay started on a rainy day, and not everything was perfect when we discovered the site: some toilets were missing and, of course, there was mud here and there. Hopefully, the missing toilets were installed by the evening and straw was found to cover the mud.

Dreamaker
Benedictum
Hamlet
Finntroll
Nevermore
Brainstorm
The Gathering
Annihilator
Angeles Del Infierno
Kreator
Stratovarius
Friday, conclusion


Dreamaker
Jeff: Dreamaker was the first band of the festival. If their performance wasn't very long, it was really good to see that a lot of metalheads were already in front of the stage to applaud the combo from Madrid. Dreamaker gave a really strong and intense performance with, in addition of songs from their two albums, three really good covers which were System Of A Down - B.Y.O.B., Depeche Mode - Enjoy The Silence and finally the main theme of Pulp Fiction. Full of power and rhythm, this set was a perfect start for the MetalWay festival 2006.





Benedictum
wrathchild: Unknown to many, this female-fronted band from San Diego still got a fair audience. The show wasn't outstanding but pleasant. People were curious and probably attracted by the singer, Veronica Freeman, just as some of you will be after having looked at the picture from this gig! But Benedictum is more than just a sexy singer: They're a really good band, linking that good old rock'n roll feeling to actual metal. We had the chance to attend a short press conference after their show, and I asked Veronica about that "masculine" voice she has. She replied that at first, she tried to take some opera singing lessons but was told she sounded more like a "wild animal". After that, some of her friends pushed her towards metal and there she found the music that matches her voice. Try to listen to them, and you'll see by ourselves!

Jeff: Benedictum is without any doubt a nice band. Their singer Veronica is really "charismatic", the musicians are friendly and their music -a mix of heavy, hard rock and power - is not so bad! But even if the show wasn't the worst of the festival, I must confess that it was a bit boring to me at the end. The performance of the American act wasn't bad but their first album just lacks songs made for the stage. At the end, it was just a bit common?





Hamlet
wrathchild: Hamlet is a Spanish band, that now plays heavy metal with touches of nu-metal/mallcore music, that kind of stuff... Yeah, not my cup of tea but still I've got to admit they rocked, with a lively performance, and some very pleasant songs that even die-hard metalheads should have appreciated. We could easily see some Hamlet t-shirts during those 3 days; proof that the crowd enjoyed their performance.





Finntroll
wrathchild: The Finnish flag can hardly be seen, but it is sure here, in the crowd! As soon as the introduction track could be heard, the audience let the band know that they're waiting for them. The band did well, reaching their peak when performing Trollhammaren. Vreth, the new singer, proved that his vocal abilities were perfectly matching the band's music. Routa was using Pete Well's (Benedictum) Jackson guitar and the keyboard was not always audible on some parts during the first songs. Finntroll's performance was like the real start of the festival for many metalheads.

Jeff: Perkele! Haha well our guys from Finntroll weren't there for nothing! With a show full of power and rhythm, the Finnish combo proved one more time that they're a great live band. And it seemed that the audience already knew it! The set-list was composed of hits like Trollhammaren or Hemkomst and believe me, the metalheads who were in front of the stage were all dancing and jumping! It was a really pleasant performance, and I have to agree with Wrathchild, it was the real start of the festival. Note by the way that all the members of Finntroll were easily accessible, talked and had drinks with the public and journalists during two days (they even came to see us to say that they were fans and members of the Metal Storm community!!!).





Nevermore
wrathchild: Nevermore clearly stands out from the mass. Musically, that is. Therefore, part of the crowd was curious while another part was fully enjoying the show. A really good show, including Final Product, This Godless Endeavor and Born from their last album and some others from Enemies Of Reality and Dead Heart In A Dead World. Standard performance, good sound, good moment.

Jeff: I must confess that I came to MetalWay precisely to see some bands like Nevermore. But I was probably one of the few people who were able to name more than two songs written by this band. I still don't understand why today, but it seemed that Spanish people weren't really attracted by the band. Even if Warrel Dane, asked the pit several time to do a big mosh (we evidently got his famous "I want chaos!!!") we didn't have a lot of reactions. Too bad? The performance of Nevermore was really good and, of course, we got hits like Born or Narcosynthesis.





Brainstorm
wrathchild: Need some power? Some classy power metal? Then rejoice, Brainstorm is here! Andy B. Franck was in a good mood and led the show with great frontmanship, without exaggerating. The sound was good and the sky was rather clear so everyone could enjoy the show (or sit down and relax now that mud wasn't a problem). The flag they had, taken from the cover artwork of their last album "Liquid Monster", was one of the most noticeable of the festival. Maybe because it was the brightest flag of the festival.





The Gathering
wrathchild: The calm (before the storm?). The Gathering brought peace in Gernika, with their relaxed attitude and the contagious smile on Anneke's face. They played songs from many albums, slightly getting heavier throughout their set. The audience didn't really sing or shout, but was appreciative and, I guess, thankful.

Jeff: It was the first time I saw The Gathering and it was a pleasant show for me. But like with Nevermore, I cannot say that the people of Gernika were there for them? On the other hand, The Gathering is more a pop band than a metal band now, but I didn't care and enjoyed a lot the performance of the Dutch combo. Plus, Anneke was without any doubt the most charismatic female singer of the festival. Her smiles and happiness to be there were just delicious? Note that the band played new songs like In Between or Shortest Day, old classics like In Motion #1 and finally their famous Stranges Machines.





Annihilator
wrathchild: Annihilator took a break from their recording sessions to play two gigs, and two gigs only: MetalWay in Gernika and in Jerez. It's a pleasure for them to play and a pleasure for the crowd to hear some of their best songs, like The Fun Palace and Alison Hell and even a short medley of some AC/DC songs, including Hell's Bells and Jail Break... They wanted to play one more song but they ran out of time. Too bad, a lot of people were enjoying the show, despite the sound being sometimes a bit messy.

Jeff: Annihilator was without any doubt my favorite band of the day. Of course, they're not so "young" now and know how to do a big show, but well, it was a big performance and it never lacked intensity. Jeff Waters and his mates played their famous Alison Hell or Never Never Land and the show was essentially oriented toward the old albums. Just classy?





Angeles Del Infierno
wrathchild: I would have liked being Spanish to tell you about Angeles Del Infierno... Very good heavy metal band with a rock'n roll feel that doesn't sound that "old". All their songs seem to be familiar to the crowd, who suddenly grew bigger! I can still hear them singing Maldito Sea Tu Nombre! With the night beginning to fall, the light show started to get a lot more active.

Jeff: With Barón Rojo, Angeles Del Infierno are apparently the two legendary Spanish bands? Well, I've never heard anything (except the name of Barón Rojo) about them before this day. But we had the proof that Angeles Del Infierno is a legend? All the Spanish people were singing all the lyrics, it was really fantastic and even if the band was a bit classic, it was a nice concert (and we had one of the best laugh ever on the song Maldito Sea Tu Nombre! due to a little problem of translation of one of our mates).




Kreator
wrathchild: A classic show from the German thrash band Kreator, but that doesn't mean it was bad, oh no. And to our surprise, the audience was really enthusiastic during their performance, despite starting to feel tired as I did... The aggression wasn't enough to wake me up, but it's always a pleasure to kill, errr, I mean, it was a pleasant moment! In fact, the band did well, it's just that I find their songs to be a bit repetitive, therefore, a bit boring. Mr Mille didn't hold any special speech on that evening, giving music the priority.

Jeff: Kreator did one more time an excellent show. This band is perfect for festivals where they're a lot better than in little venues in my opinion. Kreator played a lot of songs from their excellent last album and it was apparently good for the numerous Spanish metalheads. Plus, this time I found that their sound was good and a lot better than the last time I had the opportunity to see them. If you didn't have the luck to see Kreator, I really hope that you'll be able to attend one of their shows one day, because in addition of super songs and great musicians, you'll also be able to see great lights? Kreator knows how to do perfect shows?





Stratovarius
wrathchild: Tired, I felt like the sound check took hours... But when Stratovarius burst on stage playing Hunting High & Low with even Tolkki going from one side of the stage to the other, I felt a lot better! And the new bassist, Lauri Porra, is not only an excellent bass player but a real showman who boosted the band's overall performance. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay till the end of their show: I was very tired (I woke up at 4am, traveled for 6 hours and their show started at 2am...) and the night was cold and foggy. But from what I've heard when leaving the concert area, the beginning of the concert was the best. Cause they played Black Diamond right after their opener and went on with The Kiss Of Judas and The Abyss Of Your Eyes. We left on A Million Light Years Away and we were told that Kotipelto wasn't as efficient after that song and the whole band didn't move a lot. From far way I could hear Speed Of Light being played but I totally missed the other songs, including the closing track, Paradise. Apparently, the band chose not to play any songs from their last album! Nevertheless, what I saw that night was clearly better than my previous experiences with Stratovarius.





Friday, conclusion
wrathchild: I'm still very disappointed for having missed Dreamaker... I had a great time watching all the other shows but none was outstanding. Angeles Del Infierno would probably have been the best show if I had known some of their songs.

Jeff: It was a good start! Too bad that the weather wasn't so good but for a first day I think that everybody will agree with me if I say that we didn't have a lot of disappointments. At the opposite, the Spanish metalheads and the organization were all really friendly? And this was just the beginning of the party!




Next:
Saturday 29th
Axxis, Arch Enemy, Rage, Dark Funeral, Metal Church, My Dying Bride, Testament, Gamma Ray, Ministry, Celtic Frost
Sunday 30th
Koma, Runic, Crucified Barbara, Jon Oliva's Pain/Metal Church, Moonspell, Within Temptation, Barón Rojo, Edguy, Helloween, Megadeth, Blind Guardian, Jon Oliva's Pain
Conclusion
Acknowledgements


Photos by Jeff, Wrathchild and Sylvain. All right reserved, do not use without permission.