Written by:	Medea
Published:	August 26, 2007
Event:	StufStock Festival (Website)
Location:	Beach, Vama Veche, Romania
Organizer:	StufStock
Galleries:	StufRock Festival - Vama Veche, Romania by Unknown user (38)

1969 - the Woodstock Festival crowd was celebrating peace and love through music in USA and was still fighting against the idea of war between people.

2002 - the first StufStock crowd was also celebrating through music in Romania, but was fighting against the ecological war, the war between some people and nature, the message "Make love not war" being replaced by "Save Vama Veche resort."

What is Stufstock and what's the short story of Vama Veche area?

Vama Veche is a Black Sea seaside resort, located on the southern part of Romanian seaside. It has been the place where rockers, hippies and people who wanted to have a holiday closer to the nature have come to for many years. The area has been roughly urbanized, polluted, invaded by unwanted rich citizens, the beach destroyed and the tents replaced by villas in the last 10 years. Because someone had the guts to say "No!" to this "Destroying project" the StufStock came to being. As the organizers have stated, StufStock - translated as ReedStock, a Woodstock in the shade of reeds - is a protest movement against the beach destroying and invading by unsuitable "cultural" manifestations, a festival which is promoting only Rock, Folk and Jazz bands, and not commercial music.

The 5th StufStock edition has just ended

Starting as a manifesto festival, Stufstock has become a musical one. It was free, now it costs. It was a national festival, now it's an international one. So the 5th edition came out stronger, better organized, with more bands performing - no less than 50 bands played on 2 stages during 4 nights.

The metalheads' headliner was, of course, Cradle of Filth. But due to the fact that this is not a Wacken's child and it is related not only to Metal but also to a larger group of Rock sub genres, it is adequate to have words about some other bands that played at StufStock. I would like to start with the Romanian ones, because we have some Folk Rock bands we can be proud of.



Luna Amara, translated as "Bitter Moon," was the first Romanian band to introduce the trumpet sound into an Alternative Rock style. They had a correct performance at StufStock, as they have accustomed us, and their fans welcomed them as always. They had a good sound and a typical "stage acting," the members of the band not being very energic but deeply involved in delivering their sound feeling to their crowd. The vocalist Mihnea Blindariu had a short speech about the ecological movement that should be done in Romania, saying that this should start, in his opinion, by making the Romanian Parliament a "more ecological" one...



Altar, one of the oldest Romanian Rock bands that played at StufStock, gave a very energetic and full of attitude show, as they have been doing since 1991. Again they played and sang ironically about politics and the right to be free, making the crowd sing along with them in a protesting way. A very loved band, the fans even brought a big Romanian flag with their logo.



Zdob Si Zdub are known in Europe for their perfomances at Sziget and Roskilde Festivals. This band plays a mixture of Alternative Rock, Romanian and Gipsy Folk and Hardcore. I can say that they were one of the most welcomed acts at StufStock. The vocalist did a great job, very charismatic, always jumping from the stage to one or another power amplifier and getting a very good response from the crowd. They sounded very good and they had some pretentious instruments on stage, as you can see in the photos.



Phoenix are the Romanian veteran Folk Rock (or Etno Rock, as some say) band, the one that influenced almost all the other Rock bands in Romania. It is estimated to have had a bigger crowd, about 5,000 people, than Cradle of Filth. Maybe this was true, knowing the fact that this band brings together crowds consisting of people from 10 to 60 year old ones. The band had some problems with the sound and one of the vocalists became really offended at some point, but in the end the show was a success.



Two famous bands that played at StufStock were the American The Dandy Warhols and the English Punkers Toy Dolls. The Dandy Warhols gave a nice and correct show but they didn't get the expected answer from the public. Maybe this was due to the fact that few people knew of the band and they are more famous abroad. But all in all, the only female member of the band had a short speech saying that she loved playing in Romania and especially she loved swimming naked in the sea - that made the crowd acclaim the band.



Toy Dolls were in a very, very good shape. Dressed in red shirts with leopard print ties and coloured sunglasses, the 3 punkers gave a great and funny show. The audience enjoyed their act, especially when they did an ironic striptease and when the vocalist put an Elvis mask on his face and started playing a Punk cover of "Blue Suedes Shoes." They also played with a huge bottle of champagne full of confetti and delighted the crowd.



I expected more from Klimt 1918, this Italian rock band. I don't say that because they had a very long sound check because The Dandy Warholes couldn't take their music sets off the stage quick enough and we waited long for their performance to start, but because they had no energy, no stage moves, nothing. They just played, always showing a "can't wait to finish" face - and they delivered us the same feeling. I can say it was quite boring. Too bad because they are doing a nice job in their genre.



Cradle of Filth was the long awaited band at this festival. Should I surprise you and say they sounded dreadfully well? I wish I could. But they sounded just?dreadful. I don't know who has the explanation for what is happening to this band. How did they build this image? Why do they have this tradition of a very bad sound?

Altar played before them and they sounded, let's say OK, if not very well. Then comes Cradle of Filth and there come the problems. I can't say they didn't give a good show. They did. Their manager didn't allow them to drink any alcohol during their stay. Dani was in a good shape and he wasn't involved in any new incident, constantly watering the audience instead of stage destroying. But the sound was very weak. Sarah Jezebel's voice wasn't heard at all; only some "distant whispers" could be distinguished. Guitars weren't at their best at all and even a very disturbing guitar microphone problem occurred during the solo on "Nymphetamine."

The set list kind of pleased the audience, although they played only one hour. They performed "From Cradle to Enslave," "Nymphetamine," "Tonight in Flames," "Her Ghost in the Fog," "Ebony Dressed for Sunset," "The Principle of Evil Made Flesh" and "Guilded Cunt." All in all, it was an experience to see Cradle of Filth for the first time. I didn't expect them to sound very good but I did expect them to sound OK. They have disappointed.

Another negative aspect of the Cradle show was some sort of misunderstanding between the organizers, the bodyguards and the photographers' right to take photos during their show. Most of the photographers, including me, weren't allowed to take pictures at the beginning of the show. I went into the crowd in order to try and take some shots (but I couldn't make them), to find out later that the photographers were allowed to go into the photo pit after the problem was brought to one of the main organizers. Really strange thing but what can I say... nothing has to surprise you at concerts. I have to thank mister Petru Groza (RockxPress Webzine) for Cradle of Filth photos.



StufStock ended Sunday, 19th August, with the Jazz night. I didn't attend it, but it was said it was a succes. There are good facts and bad facts about StufStock 5th edition but most of them are good. It was well organized with a budget of 400,000 Euros. There were 50 bands and almost 8,000 spectators. Inside you could find beer, fizzy drinks and traditional food. There were around 100 volunteers who cleaned the place every night after the performances and thus the festival kept its eco-promise.

No doubt it was the best edition of StufStock. This festival has evolved year by year, from its first edition in 2003 to 2007's one, and the next one will surely be even more professional. I care for this festival and I believe that the bad facts, including some sound and organizing problems, are constructive and they will be fixed in due time. One thing is for sure: the "Save Vama Veche" concept has to be kept alive and music is the only solution - so StufStock has to be kept alive.

Written and photos by Medea.
Cradle of Filth photos by Petru Groza (RockxPress Webzine).