Picture Gallery+vidéo From Wacken Open Air 2008

KAMELOT - Picture Gallery From Wacken Open Air Performance Available



Pictures from KAMELOT's August 1st appearance at the Wacken Open Air, taking place in Wacken, Germany this weekend, are now available on the band's official MySpace page. Check them out here.

NIGHTWISH - Pro-Shot Footage From Wacken Open Air 2008 Available

Pro-shot footage of NIGHTWISH performing at this year's installment of the Wacken Open Air, which took place in Wacken, Germany this past weekend, can be viewed below:

'Bye Bye Beautiful'



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ole-Q_HG8_8&eurl=http://www.bravewords.com/news/94344

'Amaranth'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjpxBp1rOV4&eurl=http://www.bravewords.com/news/94344


'Everdream'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRaGayn7IDo&eurl=http://www.bravewords.com/news/94344

'Wish I Had An Angel'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxpWx5saluE&eurl=http://www.bravewords.com/news/94344

Wacken Open Air 2008; Video Report, Photo Gallery Available


The following report is courtesy of Spiegel.de:

Last week, over 75,000 people from all over the world convened in the small German town of Wacken for an annual ritual held in celebration of all things heavy metal.

The festival - known as Wacken Open Air - is now in its 19th year, after having been started in 1990 as a small gathering of local heavy metal bands. This year's event drew dozens of bands to the gathering's four stages. For three nights starting Thursday, participants enjoyed over 80 hours of music from all the sub-genres of heavy metal, including death metal, power metal, thrash metal and folk metal.

This year's Battle Of The Bands winner was the Israeli band THE FADING.

In between events, concert-goers drank, played in the copious mud and socialized with the town's 1,800 year-round residents, who have generally come to enjoy the festival's annual arrival.

Festival founder Thomas Jensen has announced that next year's festival will be held in San Paolo, Brazil, and will be called Wacken Rocks Brazil.

Check out more photos here.

A video report in German can be viewed below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESuuR6iauY4&eurl=http://www.bravewords.com/news/94389

Wacken Open Air 2008; BW&BK Photo Gallery Available

Posted on Monday, August 04, 2008 at 21:20:08 EST

Special report by Mark Gromen:

The annual Wacken festival, estimated at 75,000 fans, was dotted with numerous special guest appearances, all too many of which occurred AFTER the photographers had to clear the pit. Simone Simons (EPICA) and Alex Krull (ATROCITY/LEAVES EYES) both helped out KAMELOT, Udo Dirkschneider (U.D.O./ACCEPT) came onstage after 2AM with LORDI, while Jorn Lande (ex-ARK/MASTERPLAN), Andre Matos (ex-ANGRA), Uli Jon Roth (ex-SCORPIONS)and Bob Catley (MAGNUM) were part of the AVANTASIA cavalcade. Here are some sights and more recognizable faces, including CARCASS, HEADHUNTER, AT THE GATES, NIGHTWISH, KREATOR DESTRUCTOR and GORGOROTH.

Watch for a full report online at BraveWords soon.

A BW&BK Photo Gallery can be found here.

Wacken Open Air 2008 Day 2 – Hair Of The Dog


Special report by Mark Gromen

Like the proverbial tonic to cure a hangover, what better for pounding eardrums than another helping of the same? Only the second real day of the festival, yet the stench of stale piss is ripe in the warm summer air. Unlike years past, several security guards admonished drunks from peeing indiscriminately, although the run-off from the portable toilets still created a mud puddle that provided entertainment for those relishing a spa treatment, undeterred by the threat of hepatitis. Actually, the grounds being open since Wed. for an impromptu gathering and soccer match, afforded those who camp out for the better part of the week the opportunity to visit the merchandise stalls early and grab the best t-shirts, a small concession (pun intended) for some who have to walk a half hour, each way, to their tent. Hard to imagine EXODUS playing at noon. Gary Holt and Co. probably just stayed up from the night before. Rob Dukes is a nice enough guy, but the prospect of a re-recorded Bonded By Blood is incredulous. Imagine Di Vinci returning and saying the Mona Lisa was only a rough sketch, to be updated. No thanks!

Perennial BW&BK favourites MERCENARY were up next, sampling from the excellent Architect Of Lies, as well as the back catalog. Damn shame Century Media in North America has opted to NOT release the disc domestically, even removing the band from their website! Regardless, the Danish outfit put on another excellent show. Same can be said for BEFORE THE DAWN, relegated to the tent stage. Starting a little heavier than normal, in part to placate doubts about the twin-vocal Finns’ catchy melodies, once it came around to ‘Darkness’ and Deadlight material like ‘Faithless’ and ‘Deadsong’, the strength of Tuomas Saukkonen’s infectious rhythms and bassist Lars Eikind’s clean vocals demonstrated why people love this band. A new album is scheduled for release on October 29th, again through Stay Heavy Records, watch for it.

Something else to keep your eyes peeled for are CARCASS club dates. While it was nice to see three-quarters of the band (non-performing guest appearance by Ken Owen aside) onstage again, the enormity of the Wacken stage is not where Carcass are supposed to live. As much a tongue-in-cheek as their early lyrics, Jeff Walker’s crew deserve to be seen in a dimly lit room. The band apparently are used to it, given the virtual statuary, particularly bassist Walker, his foot seemingly tethered to the monitor. ‘No Love Lost’, which was dedicated to “Jonas and the guys in AT THE GATES,” ‘Keep On Rotting In The Free World’ and a galloping ‘This Mortal Coil’ from the later incarnation of the band were aired, as well as ‘Rot N Roll’. After Angela Gossow joined the band onstage for one tune, Walker quipped, “I still hate Arch Enemy,” his guitarist Michael Amott’s mainstay since Carcass folded.

Speaking of At The Gates, the Swedes were up soon after, featuring Tomas Lindberg, the prototype of today’s emo-core frontman, short hair, military cap, well tattooed. Damn shame the kids decided on form over substance, Slaughter Of The Soul being an album that launched a thousand imitators. From said platter we were treated to blistering renditions of ‘Need’ and ‘Under A Serpent Sun’.

Before I knew it, it was time for NIGHTWISH, complete with fireworks and pyro that, despite accompanying the Finns on numerous dates throughout North America, have been unable to witness live. Opening with ‘Bye, Bye, Beautiful’, the vitriolic ode to their former singer, most of the 75,000 pressed forward for a look. New lady in their lives, Anette Olzon, hair dyed a dark chestnut (of wonder), wore white, with a black, waist-length corset and purple leggings. The sound was a little too low for a festival, as they ran through ‘Dark Chest Of Wonder’, ‘However Brings The Night’ and ‘The Siren’. As plumes of fire burned up their performance fee, the band continued undaunted, founder/keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen stripped to a red wife-beater t-shirt following Amaranth. Bassist Marco Hietala (also fronts TAROT) is the wild card, never sure what he’ll do/say. “It’s time for Mr. Holopainen to have a song about his life, the doom of it. He’s killing himself behind my back right now, but he’ll come from the dead to play this song” was the intro for ‘Poet & The Pendulum’. ‘Sahara’ and ‘Nemo’ brought the proper set to a close, before a one-song encore of ‘Wish I Had An Angel’ with plenty the massive crowd singing along to the chorus, as a shower of sparklers fell from the lighting truss.

Mille Petrozza and KREATOR spent the day before playing in Poland, to nearly 200,000 people as part of the Woodstock Peace & Love festival. Yes, Kreator and the hippies! Picture that. Anyway, at Wacken they were afforded the closing slot (well, actually LORDI went on last 2-3am, but many called it quits after the German thrashers). The omnipresent video screens were employed throughout, showing mini-movies/content that enhanced many of the songs. Nice touch, especially from a band that’s not known for its onstage visual component. Killer versions of ‘Violent Revolution’, stage bathed in red, ‘Pleasure To Kill’, ‘Enemy Of God’…the songs machine-gunned, one after the other. ‘People Of The Lie’, an anti-racist rant, specifically geared toward keeping it out of the metal world, preceded ‘Europe After The Rain’, ‘Living Sacrifice’ and ‘Extreme Aggression’ were all included in a set that invoked a Pavlovian response in those of us awaiting the new album. Hurry up Mille!

Wacken 2009 will be the 20th Anniversary, sure to bring back some favourite faces (possibly even foregoing the “no return” in successive years edict). Make plans to attend now!

Check out Mark Gromen's BW&BK Photo Galleries here:
Part 1
Part 2

Wacken Open Air 2008 Day 1


Metal Moshing Mud

Special Report by Mark Gromen

There’s multi-tasking, then there’s the sensory juggling act that is Wacken Open Air: shooting photos, reviewing, drinking, listening sessions (CYNIC and HOLY MOSES), grabbing a quick bite to eat before returning to the massive infield housing four stages, to imbibe in the aforementioned in a vicious, repetitive cycle for 2 days. That’s if everything goes according to plan. This year’s rendition welcomed 75,000 customers (although apparently a ticket to Thursday evening’s IRON MAIDEN headlining show didn’t guarantee admittance, as a few thousand late-comers were denied access to the overcrowded grounds). The set was identical to the North American dates, down to the introductory WW II era cartoon depiction of Germany swallowing Europe, odder given our surroundings. Bruce Dickinson berated an operator of the crane-mounted camera, “You fat fuck, I’m serious, I don’t want to see that crane again!” Don’t expect any Maiden video on next year’s retrospective DVD.

Wanted to see ALESTORM, but their Wet stage appearance spilled out of the tent and was drowned out by AVENGED SEVENFOLD. The size of the gathering they pulled virtually guarantees the Pirate metallers will be back and granted a stage upgrade. Other North American favourites like AS I LAY DYING, UNEARTH, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE were on the bill, each playing one of the massive main stages, to modest degrees of success, trying to inspire people to mosh. Bad idea with 30,000+ drunks at a time, not to mention the unsure, if not quagmire footing! This latest Wacken “trend” is a recipe for disaster.

The resurrected HEADHUNTER, fronted by DESTRUCTION bassist Schmier, were splendid in matching glowing green skull t-shirts. In the remnants of a downpour, the trio concentrated on the early trio of releases, foregoing the title track to Parasite Of Society (destined to make quite a few year-end Best Of lists) adding ‘Doomsday For The Prayer’, ‘Read My Lips’, the video/single ‘Silverskull’ and the next-to-last performed ‘Payback Time’ between old faves like ‘Parody Of Live’ and the set closing ‘Signs Of Insanity’. Meanwhile, on the main stage ENSIFERUM were entertaining tens of thousands with their brand of pagan/Viking-inspired polka, reprising the Finnish flag kilts witnessed at Bang Your Head a month earlier.

After twisting my mind around more than half the forthcoming Cynic disc, powered by a few free cans of Wacken beer (yes, the festival puts their name on just about EVERYTHING. You can even “rent” a private portable toilet for your stay!) courtesy of Season Of Mist, it was off to see KAMELOT. Surely the largest crowd I’ve seen the Floridians amass. If they’ve played to more, I haven’t heard about it. Definitely more than the combined attendance of the entire North American tour! Founder/guitarist Thom Youngblood surveyed the situation like a proud papa. Khan (what’s with all the one name Norwegian singers: Khan, Jorn, Shagrath, etc.?) took the occasion to heart, kneeling and bending backwards to lie on the stage during ‘Karma’, his face more forceful, looking pissed-off (although not). Backed throughout by a leggy female vocalist, who altered between wearing a mask and banging a snare for the fiery ‘March Of Mephisto’, there were also guest appearance by EPICA chanteuse Simone Simons (‘The Haunting’) and ATROCITY/frequent Kamelot touring partners LEAVES EYES’ Alex Krull, who reprised Shagrath’s part off The Black Halo. Icing on a deliciously afternoon treat.

In the humidity of the tented stage, Cleveland’s own DESTRUCTOR offered up some old school thrash, opening with a one-two combo of ‘Pounding Evil’ and ‘Tear Down The Heavens’ from their latest Auburn recording. On the main stage, SOILWORK were running through the likes of ‘One With The Flies’, ‘Rejection Role’, even an oldie like ‘Bastard Chain’. SONATA ARCTICA announced, “We heard it was hotter than Hell yesterday. When we show up, it’s probably going to snow!” No such luck, although the on-and-off rain cooled things off nicely. Tony Kakko hasn’t forgotten the early days, at least not in Europe, with renditions of ‘Kingdom For A Heart’ and ‘Replica’, both off the Finns ’99 debut. The later saw the singer begin the song seated on the monitor, his black flare jeans emblazoned with Unia on the cuffs. Also aired ‘Black & White’ and ‘Don’t Say A Word’, amongst the hour set.

In a MORBID ANGEL t-shirt, Mikael Akerfeldt and OPETH took the stage as the heavens opened. No, not divine inspiration, just more rain. With keyboards “hidden” behind the amplifier backline (visible only from behind-the-band video shown on the jumbo-tron), the sudden media darlings kicked things off with ‘Demon Of The Fall’, then added the likes of ‘The Drapery Falls’ and ‘Master’s Apprentice’. The stoic Swede even managed a few genuine, good-natured smiles. 90 minutes for CHILDREN OF BODOM, just as long as the headlining AVANTASIA. Much as their previous WOA appearance, and recreated on the Chaos Ridden Years DVD, oil drums, plenty of pyro the Marshall cabs stacked 3x4 and an old Dodge littering the stage. Alexi Laiho sat cross-legged, stood and played guitar atop the hood of the oversized prop. Janne Warman had a pair of extra keyboards mounted to the railing of a walkway that let him traverse the stage, side-to-side. Following ‘Mask Of Sanity’ Warman jogged Laiho’s childhood memories by playing a snippet of the Knight Rider theme, which brought a smile to the tattooed one’s face. Later, it was ‘Umbrella’ from Rhianna!?! Returning to more usual fare, there was ‘Banned From Heaven’, the Hitchcockian notes presaged ‘Hate Me’, while ‘Angels Don’t Kill’, ‘Six Pounder’, ‘Living Dead Beat’ and ‘Needled 24/7’ all took their respective turns in the set between newbies ‘Hellhounds On My Trail’ and ‘Blooddrunk’.

What followed was hard to explain. Decidedly German, CORVUS COVEX had a mini-symphony, operatic diva (in full ornate headdress), a choir of white robed/hooded monks and the band with their oddly punk hair styles and medieval era instrumentation. Similar to IN EXTREMO, who more North Americans are familiar with, it was a crowded spectacle onstage. Interesting to see/hear in small doses. Not quite as visually stunning, Tobias Sammet took the stage looking like a cyber cowboy. Bedecked in ten-gallon hat (OK, maybe only 10 liters, in his case) and floor length duster, the red lights reflecting in his black sunglasses created a mix of the Terminator and John Voight’s character in Midnight Cowboy (Joe Buck). The Avantasia band included guitarist turned producer, returning to live action Sascha Paeth and Oliver Hartmann. They were introduced individually by the comedic Sammet, poking fun at the miniscule size of their genitalia. Following ‘Twisted Mind’, Jorn Lande came out to sing a duet for ‘Scarecrow’ and ‘Another Angel Down’ but it was just a tease, as his mic didn’t work! Sort of embarrassing really, especially on the second track, after they tried to speak to him between tune. Up close, stage volume could be heard, but Jorn wasn’t present in the mix pumped out of the sound system. Other guest, Andre Matos (ex-ANGRA, ‘Sign Of The Cross’), MAGNUM’s Bob Catley (‘The Story Ain’t Over’) and guitarist ULI JON ROTH didn’t suffered no such fate.

Originally hadn’t planned on photographing GORGOROTH, but I’m glad circumstances differed. It certainly wasn’t a PETA approved set-up, with nearly 50 freshly slaughtered heads and entrails wrapped in barbed wire littering the stage. Behind the band were four crucifixes, adorned with human meat. Fully nude, heads covered in a black bag, two women and as many men were banished a cross for the entire set. Sonically, it was standing behind a jet engine, the blast rendering all but ‘Possessed (By Satan)’ indistinguishable, Gaahl (with more nails than a hardware store) and bassist King Ov Hell out to prove they’re the one true (or is that trve?) Gorgoroth.

Check out Mark Gromen's BW&BK Photo Galleries here:
Part 1
Part 2