Area 4 Festival
Premiere for the Area4 festival – this new festival should be the successor of the famous Bizarre festival. The Area4 was held in Oberhausen and was a one day festival (next year they plan to extend it on 2 or 3 days). So here´s the review of the bands:
Tent stage:
Aerogramme Never heard about this band before they entered the tent stage of the Area4 festival. So I was really surprised about their performance and their great songs… I think i will listen to their CDs very soon …
Alter Bridge The ultimate highlight of the festival!!! Perfect performance, a great sound, a fantastic singer – I have to say that this gig was the perfect rock gig! The debut CD of the former Creed musicians(on guitar: Mark Tremonti) and their new singer Myles Kennedy is a complete highlight – and it was a pleasure to hear the songs live. “Burn it down”, “Broken wings” and a fantastic cover of Deep purple´s “Highway star” were my personal highlights of the concert. Great band – and i think it was the last chance to see them on such a small stage. And I´ve seen it!!! 🙂
Main stage:
Helmet Helmet is a great band with lots of great songs. Like the Rock am Ring performance in june they played again a great gig. New songs like “Smart”, “Crashing Foreign Cars” and “See You Dead” rock as well as highlights like “Unsung” or “Just another victim”. Thumbs up for Helmet!!!
Motörhead What can you say about Lemmy and his band? They´re always a great live band and 100% pure rock´n´roll!!! They have lots of great songs in their repertoire and so a good show is guaranteed. They´re rock´n´roll history!!!
Beatsteaks I really don´t know why this band is so popular. The band is average – the singer is also average – but the audience loves them…. Still a secret for me … 😉
Nine inch nails It was a long time ago since Nin played on a german stage – so I was really curious about their performance. Trent Reznor and his sidekicks Aaron North (The Icarus Line) and Jeordie ‘Twiggy Ramirez’ White (Marilyn Manson, A Perfect Circle) really rocked the stage. Their old songs like “Closer” or “March Of The Pigs” and their new songs like “The Hand That Feeds” or “The Line Begins To Blur”are really highlights of electronic-rock/metal music.
System of a down They´re fantastic – They´re great – I love their songs – but what about soad live? I heard many people say that they´re definitively not a good live band. And I have to say: You´re wrong!!! Fantastic gig and the perfect closure of the premiere of the Area4 festival. Highlights from their new CD like “BYOB” and classics like “Aerials” – great gig – great sound. Can´t wait to see the band again !
Setlist:
soldier side
B.Y.O.B.
Revenga
kill rock’n’roll
science
suggestions
psycho
chop suey!
cigaro
mr jack
needless
deer dance
aerials
bounce
ATWA
forest
lost in hollywood
Question
war?
prison song
toxicity
suite-pee
sugar
Conclusion:
Nice lineup – great performances – but I didn´t like the festival area. But no problem – the festival will move to a new location next year. Overall a good festival debut. Hope to see you there next year.
Thanks to FKP Scorpio!!!