Written by:	RaduP
Published:	August 05, 2024
Event:	ARTmania Festival 2024 (Website)
Location:	Large Square, Sibiu , Romania
Galleries:	ARTmania Festival 2024 by RaduP (111)

ArtMania is one of the festivals that I have the most history with. It's something that all of you had to read on previous coverages and on forthcoming coverages of future editions as well, because there's only one festival that will be the one I first attended, and only one that will be the one I first got media creds for. As both of these landmarks slide further in the past, ArtMania remains a festival that has remained a stable mark in my calendar, even in the years when I thought I had to take a break from going to so many concerts, somehow I ended up attending at least one day each year. Part of it is the history I have with the festival. Part of it is how convenient it is for me to attend. Part of it was that every year there was at least one band I really had to see. At this point I might attend regardless of what's in the lineup (unless it's a huge disappointment), but thankfully it turned out there was at least one band I really had to see. Take a wild guess which.

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DAY 1: Friday, 26th of July

Last year we managed to connect our festival trip with another concert happening in Bucharest two days prior, so we had time to arrive in Sibiu early and relax. This time that wasn't the case, and we still worked the morning of Friday (very convenient to not use any vacation day for a festival), and having to arrive in time to do the check-in at the accommodation (once again really close to the festival thankfully) before 7PM when the first bands started was stressful but also worth the vacation day I saved.

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THE FLOWER KINGS

Remember what I said about the festival's identity in the teaser? Well, what started as more of a gothic/symphonic affair slowly started championing more prog, and considering that Transatlantic was part of 2022's lineup, it makes a lot of sense that Roine Stolt's other (and original) band would also eventually get its time. Though not really the only prog act on the bill, it is the most straight-forwardly prog rock on the bunch. This kind of retro-prog is something that's very hit or miss for me, and The Flower Kings were a band I never really got into. Lacking the supergroup status that Transatlantic provided that made them a headliner, The Flower Kings were just fine for what they were.

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ALPHA Q

The festival has two stages. The big stage and the smaller stage. Sometimes a pretty big act like Sirenia gets on the small stage. Sometimes it's just something that's fun enough before the next act comes on the big stage. They seemed very very enthusiastic to be there and that was pretty fun, but most memorable part of this was finally understanding the joke in the band's name (Hint: say it out loud).

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IGORRR

Monuments were poised to play in this spot but cancelled a while before the festival before being replaced by Igorrr. Having already seen both live, I knew which of the two I'd be more excited about seeing again, even if Igorrr were the ones I saw most recently. It was quite predictable that they would be the highlight of the day. Starting with and occasionally switching to moments where Igorrr would perform something akin to a DJ set alone before shifting into either more black metal or more avant-garde opera metal depending on which of the two vocalists was on stage. Sometimes both. I really couldn't find any fault in their performance but at least one friend didn't pass the vibe check.

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LAVINA

I try to write these articles as soon as possible after the concerts actually take place so that it's easier to recall what each performance was like. Well, I genuinely don't remember what Lavina were like. Mea culpa.



SATYRICON

Also makes sense that the same festival that brought Emperor over would find another classic Norwegian black metal band to bring over. Satyricon were a band I respected more than I actually got into, in a way where I was more excited about having seen Satyricon than actually seeing Satyricon. Their performance was far from a let down, the setlist choice was varied enough to span most of their catalog, I was very happy to get to hear "Mother North" live. Just not something with the "wow" factor.

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DAY 2: Saturday, 27th of July

Well, here's where things get a bit weird. See, me and a friend of mine who just started going to concerts were planning to see Korn and checking dates when they would tour around us. The Vienna date we initially eyed eventually turned out to be unfeasible for both of us, so it was quite the unexpected crossover event to see that Korn and the band they were touring with, Spiritbox, got announced for this day of ArtMania. It was not entirely unconceivable, but also something that didn't seem predictable based on the identity that I projected unto the festival. This day was the most crowded, a bunch of people I know (the aforementioned friend included) came specifically only on this day and only for Korn, day tickets for this day were significantly more expensive than the day tickets for Friday. In a way, it feels like the perception was less "this edition of ArtMania has bands, including Korn" and more "Korn play at this festival, among some other bands".

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BORKNAGAR

Alright, before we get to the big baddie of the day, there was another band billed to play on the main stage, and one I was actually excited to see, despite how weird it was that they'd play on the same stage as Korn. Having seen them almost a decade ago and having been completely wowed at Vortex's vocal performance (I also saw Arcturus around the same time), I was excited for it and hyping up the friends who hadn't heard of them. Well, things didn't turn out as expected. Even if there were some highlights, like the band doing a pretty good job instrumentally, and hearing my fav song of theirs since last seeing them, "Voices", live, their performance was plagues by a suboptimal live sound quality, and a Vortex that not only seemed to half ass his performance, showing sings of not really wanting to be there, but also at one point jokingly addressing the crowd as "gypsies", something that he issued an apology for days after the fact. Biggest disappointment of the festival.

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TAINE

With how much of the day was swallowed by the main event, it seems that there was only time for a single band to play the second stage. Taine is a band whose previous performances at ArtMania and another festival I've covered and photographed, and I don't have much to add anymore, so I'll just let Andy tell you about their latest album.

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SPIRITBOX

For the most part my initial assumptions about how much I'd enjoy each show turned out correct. Two exceptions. One negative, that I just touched on. Spiritbox was the positive one. My experience listening to Spiritbox prior has been enjoyable enough but lacking that much in terms of staying power, so I expected to just mildly enjoy their performance, but something worked really well and the energy they showcased on stage was pretty mesmerizing. Sure, a lot of it was the commanding presence of singer Courtney LaPlante, but the live sound quality worked in their favor as well.

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KORN

Even before they even set foot on stage, a lot about ArtMania seemed to revolve around Korn playing there. That's even more so the case once the performance took place, and once I've had enough time and an entire other festival to solidify this ArtMania in my memory to that same "Korn and friends" perception that I mentioned. It almost feels a bit silly bothering to write about any of the other performances. It makes sense why my mind's cache got cleared of all the forgettable acts, why even the more memorable moments from the other bands are ones I struggle to muster up interesting words for. And I'm not even that big of a Korn fan, they played plenty of songs that I didn't know by heart. And objectively Igorrr are way more interesting and skilled. Doesn't really matter. My mind is simple. I heard that bass-heavy chugging for "Falling Away From Me" and I was as giddy as can be. Did it matter that the photo pit got restricted for this one band and I had to shoot from the crowd? I mean maybe a bit yeah, but that meant I had to get as close to the stage through the massively crowded plaza, through the mosh pits, to get at a couple of decent shots (well, almost decent, sorry about that), and in the process, being right in the forefront of experiencing some of those formative teenage songs like "Coming Undone" and "Blind" suddenly meant a lot more. When the chugging hit, that very specific Korn sound, that sounded an order of magnitude heavier in that live setting, did it matter that Jonathan occasionally showed sings of struggling vocally? When the intro for "Shoots & Ladders" had Jonathan bringing the bagpipe, hearing the people in the crowd make jokes because of our word for bagpipe is... well... famous, did it matter that it was probably prerecorded? Nope, this was an experience that shook me a bit from the jaded comfort of seeing bands as things to cross off a list or to take photos of.

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DAY 3: Sunday, July 28th

You might remember from my previous two articles[/band] that ArtMania is a three day festival, but that was not always the case, as my first article on them exemplifies, and though I never got to attend any, they did occasionally host concerts in places other than the main place (which usually was the main square, as was this year). Well, this Sunday day of the festival was a mix of these two, not quite a festival day of the magnitude of the others, leaving just two main festival days (hence why there were only day tickets for those), and also returning to events taking place in a secondary place, in this case the court of the museum of history, about a two minute walk from the main square. As a result, the "hugeness" of the bands was also massively scaled down, with only bands from Romania and Moldova participating.

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DENORM

Because I had to return to Timisoara that morning, and because I wasn't overly excited about anything taking place today after the Korn epiphany I had a day prior, I forgot to check the schedule and I was certain I had already missed the first two bands, being pleasantly surprised by how well Revolter were sounding. Turns out they were actually Moldova's Denorm and I bamboozled myself. They were an electronic-tinged alt rock that was pretty pleasant.

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REVOLTER

Well, something about their name seemed very familiar, which is why the confusion I just mentioned about me thinking that the band that played before them were Revolter occurred. Because they sounded very similar to a band I covered previously, Revolver, and surely they weren't the same band because for the latter I've already made the joke that they shouldn't be confused with a billion other bands with the name "Revolter". Turns out I was mistaking them with themselves because they apparently are the same band and they recently changed their name to Revolter. Well, then that's the second secondary stage band that the festival rebooked in the last two years. Their groove thrash / metalcore sound is not something I'm into but all of them (except for the bassist who kept a straight face the entire concert) seemed enthusiastic about it.

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ALTERNOSFERA

Another rebooked band, though at least this time they weren't announced to replace another band (they and My Dying Bride are just a bit not comparable). What was pretty exciting about it though was this being announced as an unplugged performance. And while I fully expected this to be a case of band playing the hits on acoustic guitars turned out to be a more elaborate effort. Percussion and other extra instrumentation was adapted into the unplugged performance, and the songs themselves seemed to have a lot of effort put into them having new life in this form. The band also used this opportunity to play some songs they don't usually play, while also forgoing some of their go-to songs, making this a surprisingly thought out performance, and the day's clear highlight.

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CONCLUSIONS AND SUCH

At this point I'm kinda repeating myself about how convenient ArtMania is for me. Decently sized and nice looking city. Easy to find accommodation. A lot of shops and restaurants. Sadly not a lot of nightlife. But also let me remind you that I managed to work the morning in a city that's 3h by car from Sibiu and still make it to all the bands that day. Having just returned from another festival where the bands start at 2PM and end at 2AM, you really get to appreciate how chill it is having concerts just between 7PM and midnight.

I've already made the point how much the festival seemed to have all of its focus swallowed by one band, one that didn't feel like a natural choice for the festival. I don't feel like the festival sold out or compromised its identity or anything silly like that, but it also feels like this could end up being a watershed moment for ArtMania. The 2025 edition was already announced, returning to the two-day format, and I wonder how much of that decision came as a result of Korn's presence. At the moment, there's an aura of unpredictability in what the future holds for ArtMania, and thankfully not in a way that makes me doubt its existence and presence there.