Hellfest Summer Open Air 2010 - Part 1: Introduction
Hellfest Summer Open Air Festival, Clisson, France, 18/19/20 June 2010
Introduction
as in
'What was Hellfest 2010 like?'
"Another town another place,
I'm eating junk, feeling bad,
Another night, I'm going mad,
But I just love the life I lead,
Another beer is what I need,
Another gig my ears bleed."
I'm eating junk, feeling bad,
Another night, I'm going mad,
But I just love the life I lead,
Another beer is what I need,
Another gig my ears bleed."
Table of Contents
Introduction
We'll also explore various subjects such as the weather, the campsite, the toilets and showers, check the festival grounds, the sound, food and drinks, and have a peek on the audience.
Thursday 17th
Featuring reports about Draft and Valient Thorr
Friday 18th
The featured bands are : Gorod, 69 Chambers, Otargos, Swallow The Sun, Evile, Urgehal, Crowbar, Sigh, Mass Hysteria, Necrophagist, Negură Bunget, Finntroll, Ghost Brigade, KMFDM, Kampfar, Walls Of Jericho, Deftones, Ihsahn, Between The Buried And Me, Hypocrisy, Monkey 3, Infectious Grooves, Sick Of It All, The Young Gods, Watain, Sepultura, Godflesh, Arch Enemy, Ulver, Fear Factory, The Devil's Blood, Biohazard, Marduk.
Saturday 19th
The featured bands are : Dew-Scented, Electric Mary, Kalisia, Tamtrum, Architects, Delain, Obscura, Tankard, Y&T, Condkoi, Skarhead, Raven, Pretty Maids, Asphyx, Anvil, Airbourne, Sadist, Nevermore, Slash, Dark Funeral, Annihilator, Candlemass, Twisted Sister, Discharge, Immortal, My Dying Bride, Agnostic Front, Alice Cooper, Fields Of The Nephilim, Carcass.
Sunday 20th
The featured bands are : Blaspheme, Omega Massif, Vulcain, General Surgery, Solace, Sabaton, Freak Kitchen, Eluveitie, Saviours, Primal Fear, Black Cobra, Ensiferum, Weedeater, U.D.O., Dying Fetus, Rwake, Behemoth, Saxon, Katatonia, Devin Townsend Project, Mondo Generator, Stone Sour, Suffocation, Brant Bjork And The Bros, Exodus, Doom, Motörhead, Nile, Slayer, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Kiss, Bloodbath, Garcia Plays Kyuss.
Conclusion
Acknowledgements
Metalstorm being an official Hellfest partner, there was absolutely no way we couldn't be here.
But we didn't want to miss it anyway, with such an awesome line-up once again (it begins to be tiresome to write that each year
) - too bad for the Christian extremists who tried to shut the fest down.So yeah, the MS crew was there to enjoy another metal storm in France, and now is about time we share some of these experiences with you. But as always, you'll find that we do have conflicting opinion on some matters...
Baz Anderson: It takes something to make an Englishman visit France four years running. Every year the festival stepped up one more notch learning from its previous year triumphs and mistakes. It has been a blindingly visible tale of development and learning on behalf of the organisers as the festival grew year after year. Indeed Hellfest and its organisers have been on a great journey from the horror show of 2007 to the well oiled machine we saw this year.
As expected and desired then, this year's edition of Hellfest was the best thus far in terms of organisation and smooth running of the bands and artistically interesting festival site, perhaps the best billing of bands, and luckily the best kind of weather you could have wished for at a festival. Indeed the sun was shining on this part of France as Hell came to visit once more.
You wanted the best, and you got the best. The hottest band in the world, Kiss. How does the festival take another step up for next year's edition? The third day at Hellfest this year saw the most amount of people through the hellish gates than the festival had ever seen before. Topping this year will be no easy feat but it will certainly be interesting to watch them try.
Marcel: Expected time of arrival was set at 9 p.m. after having left Eindhoven on the Doomstar Bookings bus at 9.30 a.m. Well, let's put it this way. Time of arrival could have been achieved were it not for us taking about 3 hours to get around Paris.
Getting nearer to Clisson the harder it started to rain, making me mumble to myself that this would certainly be the last open air festival for me ever. But lo and behold the gods had other plans in store for me cause upon arrival at quarter to midnight, the rain stopped only to show itself again in very slight drizzle mode on Saturday morning and early afternoon. Rushing to get my luggage off the bus and to collect my press wristband from the VIP/press check-in, which somehow was still open although it was supposed to close at 11 pm, I made my way on to the so-called bénévoles camping. Which during the festival turned out to be an extremely wise move. Being on a camping where people stayed who worked for the festival ensured warm showers, clean toilets, and quiet nights. Albeit it also meant being woken up upon sunrise by crowing roosters, thus adding to the rural Clisson setting.
The Weather
Momo: All those who survived the horrible weather of Hellfest 2007 were a bit nervous this year. After all, most of France saw rain during this weekend, and here in Clisson the sky was clouded more often that not.
And yes, it did rain. But really nothing like the downpour we had three years ago: half an hour Thursday night (in time to force metalheads under the tent of the Metal Corner for Valient Thorr's show), and about one hour or two of little spitting on Saturday morning.
Apart from this, it was mostly sun and clouds. Not too hot, not too cold (except on Saturday night), finally a 'not-perfect-but-quite-good-anyway' festival weather.
The Campsite
Momo: Well, it was the same site as usual (except that it expanded waaaay beyond its original borders), cramped and flooded with tents of all shapes and sizes . And with the Metal Corner tent, once again (this time it even featured games in the form of Abalone and Jungle Speed).
Maybe it was a bit quieter than the previous years, but I don't think we metalheads were less drunk than before!...
Marcel: After having set up tents while sweating like a madman we set off for the Metal Corner for a much needed beer. Upon our walk there we bumped into, Metal Storm's favourite Chilean doom sons Mar De Grises' Rodrigo G, who tagged along for some late night drinking.
First noticeable thing was that the set-up of the Metal Corner was much improved in comparison to last year's. More bars, bigger, a large screen to broadcast the World Cup matches on.
After having sampled the Hellfest wine and a six pack of Hellfest beer, time to hit the tent for a long and early day awaited. Gorod would kick proceedings off for me at the early hours of 10.30 am.
Toilets And Showers
Our very own wrathchild, extreme reporter extraordinaire, has a detailed report about this difficult subject...
wrathchild: The number one problem of all festivals across the world is summed up in one single word: toilets. Sure, some would argue that "toilets are not metal" and those few guys will not be pleased to hear that Hellfest has improved again this year.
Yes, there were a few more toilets and even a decorated area with toilets dedicated to girls, but you would often see them queuing to get in. But what matters even more than the number of toilets is the frequency at which they're cleaned and it seems to me that this was definitely better. I might have been lucky throughout the festival since I saw the cleaning service do their job at least 5 times at different times, and found the wait for a free and usable toilet acceptable, whether in the festival or in the camping.
On the other hand, I'm not sure there were more showers available at the camping ground. Not that we really needed more since queues occurred only in the morning, so if the running order offers you a 30/40 minute break you could easily go back to the camping to shower. Still, I have no idea of when and how often they cleaned the shower blocks. I haven't witnessed anything really bad, only dirt, tampons, cotton swabs and stuff like that that could be removed more often. Especially when the "H2O" wristband is ?6 (of course this will also grant you access to the standard washing tent, where you can also refill your bottles with drinking water).
The Festival Grounds
Momo: Both stages under the tents (the Rock Hard Stage and the Terrorizer one, that is) were the same as the previous years. Well, nearly the same, as a few cosmetic details were added, most notably the 'arch' above the Rock Hard one, which looked cool indeed.
And as usual, the Extreme Market was the place to buy CDs, LPs, T-shirts and a lot of merch. The important fact, this year, is that this market was relocated on another spot on one end of the festival grounds, and it was more than twice the size on the previous ones! More ways to spend money? Yes indeed.
And this move gave more space to more on the fest ground proper, which was really welcome.
Marcel: The entire set-up of the festival grounds was a further improvement on last year's set-up. The extreme market now tucked away behind the Rock Hard Stage has grown in size, just like the number of people attending (more on this later) compared to last year.
The food corner was also bigger and served a whole variety of foods and fruit and fruit cocktails, and although no Senegalese this year we got Vietnamese instead. The biggest noticeable difference with last year was that the tent that hosted strippers and wrestlers last year had been removed (much to the appreciation of me - Momo: and mine, as I even forgot the existence of last year's 'attractions') ensuring more space in the food corner. Also the food corner was opened up at the end thus ensuring easy access to the Terrorizer stage.
All this might come across as if there are no points for improvement. But, there still are a couple. First of all, when will the bar personnel start to learn that when I ask for a new beer I also expect my glass to be rinsed. Rinsing of glasses is simple hygiene and very necessary when it is dusty. Another minor grip was that only one beer (albeit the big one) served normal beer and soft drinks, this one was situated opposite the mainstages thus ensuring long walks from both the Rock Hard and Terrorizer stages. So a pointer for next year: Also bars near the Rock Hard and Terrorizer stages serving normal beer and soft drinks. Plus, please please please please make sure glasses get rinsed before refilling.
wrathchild: Also, another good point was that there were more decorations by Monic La Mouche and together with the great designs of artist Mush they clearly added to the fact this Hellfest was like no other festival. It's not like we're entering a completely new world when passing through the gates of Hellfest, but it does feel different, and cool!
Note that this aspect also made me spend quite a lot of money at the official Hellfest merchandising booth!
Promonex: Oh yes indeed! Any festival can get big and interesting bands, but I've never been to a festival which had so many light installations and works of art on the festival ground and thus created an atmosphere that is truly unique. Most festivals also keep their backstage areas minimalist and purposive - once again Hellfest is different with even more works of art in the backstage area, thus proving that the organizers don't only want to impress the audience, but truly have a sense of art themselves.
wrathchild: Last thing, just to complete what Marcel said, I had my glass changed or rinsed most of the time without asking for it, but yes, not everyone behind the bars were that cautious.
The Sound
Momo: I didn't notice at first, but the sound was globally lower than the previous years, even making earplug not that mandatory.
On the whole, the quality was pretty good on the mainstages, the worst problems arising under the two tents, but thankfully they weren't that common.
Food And Drinks
Momo: On the whole it wasn't that different from last year. Varied food stalls of mostly good quality were once again present, including the now renowned tartiflette. As for drinks, it was the same as usual... With one addition: the Rusty Beer from Hell, also known as Hellfest Beer. Quite a good one really, tasty and relatively strong, and of course it went down pretty fast!
Ivor: For the second year in a row I managed to eat well... And something that is basically not only meat and bread, or a hamburger!
wrathchild: I do agree with my comrades, the food stands were just like last years, except that I suspect it was slightly more expensive this year. I'm very annoyed to have to pay like ?5 for a very basic sandwich with hardly anything in it and not so fresh bread. Still, they were a few stands worth it and it was a lot easier to find free seats at tables to eat those more complex dishes.
The drink stands (requiring the use of tokens) were also very similar to what we were you used to from the previous editions. Except now you could buy a jug of beer for the price of 6 beers, and a beer (or another drink, like Nestea, Cola and some energy drink) was ranging between 2 and 3 tokens (1 token = ?1). As for the 6.66° Hellfest beer it tasted awesome to me, although I did not find a stand in the festival ground where you could actually buy it, except in the VIP booth... And that's a shame cause there was only one bar selling something else than the standard and definitly tasteless beer. There you could find Grimbergen, Guinness, 1664, but of course it was often crowded, especially on Sunday.
Collin: Eating healthy food at a festival is a clear sign of you being a sissy (*cough*Ivor*cough*). Tartiflette, raclette sandwiches and fat is where it's at. Luckily, once again there were plenty of stands selling unhealthy food with all that artery-clogging fat, perfect to go with the flavoured water they called beer. Talking about beer (the regular type, not the special Hellfest brand which was pretty cool), I have no idea how some people were passing out due to alcohol. It's impossible to get drunk at Hellfest with the beer they sell on the site. To achieve complete drunkenness, you'd have to pull a Marcel and harass the Jack Daniels and Jägermeister hostesses all day long (although this year he behaved like a gentleman and spared us the annual Marcel In Drunkenland moment).
The Audience
Momo: What can be really wrong with a bit more than 20000 metalhead per day, really? Well, drunken behaviour, moshing and other related stuff aren't well considered in polite society, but that's part of the point of metal festivals, right?
But, let's face it, the audience was on the whole the worst I saw in any Hellfest. Well, 'least good' would be more exact. It wasn't bad in any sense, but the crowd didn't react as much as it did before; it felt kinda more, well, apathetic. For shame.
And now, before starting with the Friday report, let's have a little peek in the Metal Corner on this Thursday evening... Here started the hostilities, with some football match broadcasts, and a few bands, most importantly Valient Thorr!
Draft
Collin: This year's Hellfest started out in the worst possible way. After roaming the camping grounds for about 90 minutes in search of a suitable free spot to set up the tents, I had the distinct displeasure of watching the last five minutes of France's miserable World Cup loss against Mexico. When I tried to drown my sorrow in food, I was served a small piece of stale bread with a half-cooked, cold sausage in it, without fucking sauce but with fucking limp and half-cooked French fries, and was asked to pay 6 euros for that piece of shit. And finally, Mr Murphy decided to get all cross with us and let rain pour down on the helpless crowd for about 30 minutes, thus forcing us to retreat to the Metal Corner for warmth and dryness. And so French post-hardcore band Draft probably had their biggest audience ever. I don't really remember much from this show, except that the music was meh-ish and the crowd was cheering and generally being all happy and noisy. At some point the music had Cult Of Luna (The Beyond era) overtones but less good and much less hypnotising. Ah, well, it made for decent background music while we were absorbing indecent volumes of beer and dripping off rain.
Valient Thorr
Momo: If you haven't checked this article, you might want to do so now. Done it? Well, even if they didn't play that particular song, you clearly have a sample of what we got: ultra fun and energic heavy metal. Pure and simple. These guys gave all they had on stage, and their 40 minutes show (or so) was a non-stop party with a huge mosh pit. A great way to start this new Hellfest!
Collin: Valient Thorr made me forget all about France's pathetic performance against Mexico (no, I can't get over it, sorry - especially since I know about Anelka's "Go fuck yourself, you son of a bitch" outburst against our beloved Rainman Domenech). Valient Thorr are the musical equivalent of releasing a cocaine-fueled pedophile in a nudist kindergarten. It's loud, frenzied, mad and obnoxious, and also very entertaining to watch. Awkward comparisons aside, they certainly got the crowd going berserk with huge moshpits and general being silly moments. Their show was all about fun and energy, and although the sound was pretty bad all along, I think no one got out of the tent not pumped up nor ready to face three days of hell. Still this show raises two questions: 1/ Why didn't they have an actual slot during the festival, where they would have kicked the bowels out of a lot of bands (I'm sure there's a valid explanation but I just want to be a bitch and ask anyway); 2/ With all the energy he shows onstage, Valient Himself certainly burns a lot of calories. Then, how in Satam's name is he so fat? What do you mean, "who cares"?
Band Gallery by Darkside Momo
The reading continues, with all that happened on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
Photos by Baz Anderson, Darkside Momo, Ivor, Moocher and Promonex. All rights reserved, do not use without permission.
Comments
Comments: 20
Visited by: 157 users
| BitterCOld The Ancient One Admin Posts: 15287  |
Nice work, and Valient Thorr is a band that must be experienced live... they sound good on disk/mp3, but are an FGT to catch live. they were a party in Tucson. NEVER LET A MUTHAFUCKA DOWN!
---- get the fuck off my lawn. Beer Bug Virus Spotify Playlist crafted by Nikarg and I. Feel free to tune in and add some pertinent metal tunes!
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| Valentin B Iconoclast Posts: 10094  |
Hahah Rainman Domenech  it's nice to see a review but seriously, this report has arrived "a little" late, don't you think?
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| BitterCOld The Ancient One Admin Posts: 15287 |
Written by Valentin B on 11.07.2010 at 09:50 clearly. this three weeks after the fact is too late. all staff who attended should indeed give up the entirety of their personal and professional lives to post a report on events within 48 hours, that way folks can IMMEDIATELY read what they've already missed and cannot possibly see/attend as opposed to waiting until only 49 weeks before the next four day festival to read on what they missed. as a matter of fact, fuck the lazy bastards for not just blogging it to us live.
---- get the fuck off my lawn. Beer Bug Virus Spotify Playlist crafted by Nikarg and I. Feel free to tune in and add some pertinent metal tunes!
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| Valentin B Iconoclast Posts: 10094 |
Written by BitterCOld on 11.07.2010 at 19:02 i realize you're sarcastic, but imo a report like this shouldn't take this long. for example i was curious what happened at HF but only for 2-3 weeks after the fest, it's been 4 weeks now, i now have as much interest in this report as i have in the 2008 report or the 2009 one given that HF 2010 (seems like it) took place quite a while ago. that's not to say it wasn't/won't be a good read(like most of the other festival reviews on here), my only complaint is that it was published quite late, even taking into account we all have lives to live.
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| Bad English Tage Westerlund Posts: 62017  |
Where are pictures of showers LOL
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die"  I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071  |
Written by Valentin B on 11.07.2010 at 20:10 Last year we started publishing reports on the fest even later (same applies for the years before). So it is just all in your perception.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996 
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| BitterCOld The Ancient One Admin Posts: 15287 |
Written by Valentin B on 11.07.2010 at 20:10 if writing stuff up is so easy (let alone coordinating 6+ authors on once coherent piece), i guess we can expect more contributions from you to this site, then?
---- get the fuck off my lawn. Beer Bug Virus Spotify Playlist crafted by Nikarg and I. Feel free to tune in and add some pertinent metal tunes!
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| Doc G. Full Grown Hoser Staff Posts: 9718  |
Written by Valentin B on 11.07.2010 at 20:10 If this was a printed magazine the article wouldn't be published until the following month anyways. So the way I see it, we're right on time.
---- "I got a lot of really good ideas, problem is, most of them suck." - George Carlin
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| Ivor Staff Posts: 5492  |
Written by Valentin B on 11.07.2010 at 09:50 To go with the flow. Processing nearly 2000 photos is also a matter of a couple of hours, right? Be careful with what you say to close to 10 people covering the festival extensively in writing and in pictures. I don't mind this attitude but you're stirring up bad blood this way. Want it to change? More writing, less babbling and whining. The usual case is that even for single events we take close to two weeks to publish, with the possible exception of Barry who's supercharged most of the time. I.
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| Valentin B Iconoclast Posts: 10094 |
Written by Ivor on 14.07.2010 at 18:50 okay i wanted to leave it as it is but i see people keep jumping on me saying i don't contribute. i WROTE about last year's Wacken(before you ask, that was the first open-air festival i've ever been to, so no, before that i almost literally had no concert reviews to write about), about my impressions of most of the bands. i also included a bit on Bullet For My Valentine, a band that no-one else bothered to write about in the fest report, i sent some PM's to Barry and Promonex way before the fest review was published, but they never included my bits in the final review(and they didn't even bother to reply to my pm's). obviously i didn't go ape about it(in fact i almost forgot this even happened), but how is that for stirring up bad blood? anyway what i said in the first post here was light criticism at the very most, i even said i'm still looking forward to the reports, mission accomplished.
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| Baz Anderson Staff Posts: 13254  |
I'm sure I would have replied. If not, I apologise, it must have been a busy time.
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| Valentin B Iconoclast Posts: 10094 |
Written by Baz Anderson on 14.07.2010 at 21:31 no prob man 
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| Ivor Staff Posts: 5492 |
Written by Valentin B on 14.07.2010 at 20:42 Sorry, I couldn't reply earlier, I was on vacation. Now I'm back and had to beat the dead horse for a bit. Don't get me wrong, I'm not jumping on you or anything. As I said, I don't mind this kind of criticism, there always is somebody who's unhappy no matter what. I know I have my own criteria for what is reasonable and I stick to it. If your bits didn't get used in a review, shit happens, there (most likely) were reasons for it. Not replying is another matter but also happens in busy times. The problem in current situation is that you have absolutely no idea whatsoever how much effort is being put into this thing behind the scenes, not only writing but all that comes before that, including spending shitloads of money on traveling, some of us come from far away. But it's not only that, it's Summer, time of good weather and vacations. People here live for themselves, not for the Internet. If you can grasp that, you'll understand why it all gets published when it gets published. I was just saying that remarks like you made, may not be taken too lightly. People do really put a lot of effort into it simply because they love it. There's a saying. Those who know how to do it, do it. Those who don't, teach. (And those who don't know how to teach, teach physical education. ) There's more to that saying than you might think at first. The point is, you choose which one you want to be applied to you. Truth is, deeds speak for themselves, and it's never an easy work.I.
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| Promonex Cathemeral Elite Posts: 9720  |
Written by Valentin B on 11.07.2010 at 09:50 Actually I have nothing of value to say. I just wanted you to get panicky over seeing a notification of yet another staffer quoting you in this thread 
---- All life begins with Nu and ends with Nu... This is the truth! This is my belief! ...At least for now. - The Mystery of Life, Vol. 841 Ch. 26
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| Bas Retired Staff Elite Posts: 5591  |
Sounds pretty good A shame this years line-up wasn't to my liking, but I hope I'll be part of the party again too next year!
---- BAS - Beautifully Accented Sexiness
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071 |
Written by Bas on 15.07.2010 at 16:36 This yyear's line-up was by far the best they had up to now.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996
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| Bas Retired Staff Elite Posts: 5591 |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 15.07.2010 at 17:47 Not for me, I would've wanted to see Immortal, Decapitated and Dew-Scented, probably I would've checked if Sabaton are any better live now than they were four years ago (although I doubt it as I don't like their new albums either) but apart from those 3-4 bands there really wasn't anything that seemed remotely interesting to me.
---- BAS - Beautifully Accented Sexiness
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071 |
Written by Bas on 15.07.2010 at 17:55 In that case you have a very narrow taste in metal. And even though those were the only 4 you would truly want to see there is moe than enough you don't know that might (and most probably will) take you by surprise.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996
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| Bas Retired Staff Elite Posts: 5591 |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 15.07.2010 at 17:57 Well as you might know, I mainly listen to melodic metal (and quite a bunch of non-metal)  I'm sure a few of the bands I'd randomly listen into could take me by surprise and I'm open to that, there were a few cases like that last year too. But obviously the line-up isn't the only reason I didn't go. There's the monetary aspect, having to spend vacation days, hating to sleep in tents etc. If there were a lot of bands I wanted to see I would've braved those obstacles, but all considered I didn't think it was worth it this year.
---- BAS - Beautifully Accented Sexiness
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071 |
I know you manly listen to melodic metyal, but there wer eload sof melodic metal bands as well. For example mainstage 1 was purely melodic on day 2 & 3, mainstage 2 also had loads of melodic bands, it's just that the rock hard tent was more extreme and the terrorizer tent more underground.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996
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