Summer Breeze 2004 Review

Summer Breeze 2004
The Summer Breeze had developped to the conclusion of every year’s Open Air-procedure. Usually the festival has stood for its name which didn’t leave any whishes in regard to the weather open. This year it rained a lot while these three days. Nevertheless we enjoyed another nice stay in Abtsgmünd entertained by a well-balanced different billing and by cool people just joining the last summer metal party of the year. At the Summer Breeze 2004 played 50 bands on two stages which rotated with each other for about 11000 visitors.

Thursday
Main Stage
Sonata Arctica The little, but not worse, brothers of Stratovarius started with “Victoria’s Secret” and “8th Commandment into their set containing excellent Melodic Metal. The show became its real effect when the miserable sound had got improved. By their hits “Kingdom For A Heart” and “My Land”, by the Scorpions-cover “Still Lovin’ You” or the new single “Don’t Say A Word” from their forthcoming album “Reckoning Night” Suomi’s finest earned the first encore-shouts from the fans.
Crematory The official reunion show of the German Gothic Metal-band around fronter Felix was supposed to be held in Abtsgmünd. A home match for the fivepiece coming from the southwestern region of Germany. And the big crowd proofed of their position they still have in today’s Metal-scene. Introducing some new stuff like “Open Your Eyes” and the current single “Greed” from the new release “Revolution” was important to show the band is still creative. Nevertheless they earned the most spectators’ reactions by their classics like “Eyes Of Suffering”, “Shadows Of Mine”, “Tears Of Time” and the in my opinion unnecessary Sisters Of Mercy-cover “Temple Of Love”.
Hypocrisy Under a sky which had turned to red the Swedish Death Metal-institution opened their set with “Adjusting The Sun” and “Slaves To The Parasites” under best conditions. Surprises like the ten-year-old song “Inferior Devoties” or the debut-track “God Is A Lie” alternated with live-classics like “Fire In The Sky”, “Final Chapter”, “Death Row (No Regrets)”. The quartet blasted Abtsgmünd for their second time with a strong set which they closed with the encores “Fractured Millenium” and the eternal band-hymn “Roswell 47″ which Peter announced as “Summer Breeze 47″. The crowd enjoyed this showcase a lot like I did.
Sentenced And the fans should be even more curious while the next Main Stage-appearance. For my first time I watched Sentenced in a festival-headliner position. And the five Finnish didn’t leave any doubt they’re worth that position. Starting with “The Suicider” and “Excuse Me While I Kill Myself” they convinced the audience from the first tone on. Lead by its sympathic fronter/entertainer Ville Laihiala the Gothic Metal-institution didn’t leave any other option than to celebrate their numerous (festival) hits like “Sun Won’t Shine”, the two “Amok”-classics “Nepenthe” and “New Age Messiah”, “Bleed”, “Brief Is The Light” or “Cross My Heart And Want To Die” before returning on stage with the two encores “Noose” and the Iron Maiden-cover “The Trooper”. Besides this jubilated well-known songs they offered an outlook on their forthcoming album by “Everfrost” and “May Today Become The Day.” A phenomenal performance!

Pain Stage
Lake Of Tears Like on this year’s With Full Force fronter Daniel Brennare who wore again his fly agaric-cap and his bandmates started with the “A Crimson Cosmos”-songs “Boogie Bubble” and “Cosmic Weed” which guaranteed a good atmosphere. Besides the tracks from their last three releases like “Pagan Wish”, “The Shadowshires” or “Crazyman” it were the two “Ravenland”-classics “Ravenland” and the final “Headstones” which earned the most spectator’s reactions. Thursday’s best performance besides the mighty Sentenced!

Friday
Main Stage
Evergrey The Swedish Proggies always belong to the highlights of any festival they play. First they considered two songs of the 2003-release “Recreation Day” (“Blinded”, the title track) before presenting with “More Than Ever” and the current single “A Touch Of Blessing” material from the new album “The Inner Circle”. During this hammer appearance performed by brilliant musicians I was already becoming hypnotized. Because of their limited 35 minutes the fivepiece around Tom S. Englund were just able to play five songs, so the “In Search Of Truth”-classic “The Masterplan” was supposed to be the last show’s title. I hope next time this companion earns a later position in the billing. They deserve it anyway!
Xandria My first and only performance failure on this year’s Summer Breeze happened to me while I was waiting in a very long row in front of the men’s restroom container. And there should be no escape! The new Gothic Metal-hopefuls around yodeling Barbara Schöneberger-with red hair-lookalike Lisa (She Will Tease Ya!) Schaphaus who astonished by her innovative stage comments (An example: “Oh, it’s so hot on here, I shouldn’t have worn a leather skirt.” Questions?). Interesting to watch many fans celebrating a horrible gig consisting of material from their two outputs “Kill The Sun” and “Ravenheart” like their single and title track “Ravenheart” or “Back To The River”, while my pants demanded: “For this exception you can shit in me. Just let’s get out of here!” But then one cabin became free and it was on me to fill it (and actually I did!). But: Even there I was forced to hear the group from Bielefeld.
Sodom Mainman Tom Angelripper, Bobby and Bernemann kicked ass! They couldn’t have begun better like they did with “The Saw Is The Law”, “Outbreak Of Evil” and “Blasphemer”. After the new track “Nothing To Regret” the trio returned to their numerous hits like “Remember The Fallen”, the german songs “Wachturm”, “Die Stumme Ursel” assisted again by a roadie playing Tom’s bass and a sex article doll named Ursel playing with Tom and the Udo Jürgens-cover “Aber Bitte Mit Sahne” and the final classics “Stalinorgel” and “Bombenhagel”. A top Sodom-show for which Gelsenkirchen’s finest earned much fan support.
Die Happy After the two German Thrash Metal-icons Sodom and Tankard on the Pain Stage it seemed to be impossible for a popular Rock-act known from TV to perform on a Metal-festival. But to my own surprise the act from the near town Ulm came, rocked and convinced on their second appearance at the Summer Breeze after 2001. My ears noticed that fact and so I did a fast walk back to the stage. Lead by frontwoman Marta and her strong, charismatic voice the fourpiece inspired the not too small audience to singalong to hits like the opener “Leaving You”, “Big Boy” or the last song and title track of their output “Supersonic Speed”. Well done!
Six Feet Under The first time I watched the Florida Deathers as a day headliner of an Open Air Festival should become an overwhelming one. The band around front animal Chris Barnes deserved to play for the biggest audience on the weekend and killed it by smashers like “Victim Of The Paranoid”, “Feasting On The Blood Of The Insane”, “Revenge Of The Zombies”, “War Is Coming”, the debut-hit “The Enemy Inside” and the AC/DC-cover “TNT”. Besides those another reason for this show was the more stageacting the Americans showed in comparison to their gigs before. No doubt: The band played one of their best shows or even better and reached the biggest support – including a whole ocean of crowdsurfers – of the whole festival. And statements like “You’re in the mud. You can be proud of yourselves!”, with which Chris Barnes reacted to it, spoke for themselves. They rocked!

Pain Stage
Vintersorg After the cancelation of their appearance on last year’s Summer Breeze the innovative Melodic Black/Death Metal-band from Sweden finally arrived in Abtsgmünd this year. First mainman Vintersorg shocked his fancrowd with his cut hair for a few seconds before celebrating with them material from their brandnew masterpiece “A Focusing Blur” (“The Essence”, “Curtains”) as well-known songs like “A Star-Guarded Coronation” (from the “Visions From The Spiral Generator”-album) or their hymn “A Dialogue With The Stars” (from the “Cosmic Genesis”-album). But of course they earned the most support for their band hymns and the title tracks of their first two longplayers “Ödemarkens Son” and “Till Fjälls”. Cool!
Tankard After Sodom on the Mainstage it was to the Thrash Metal-institution from Hessen (in the middle of Germany) to continue the party, and they did. Whether with newer material like “Slipping From Reality” and the hammer track “Rectifier” or classics like “Space Beer” and “The Morning After”: Tankard spread fun over the whole festivalsite sharing a Thrash party with the community. Compliment to the band and especially front-tank Gerre who showed again his huge entertainment qualities and of course his as huge body/belly. They concluded the show with the inofficial beerdrinker’s anthem “Freibier Für Alle” before the title melody of the famous German criminal series “Derrick” followed as the outro (Cult!!!). Cheers!
Sirenia I had discovered this band, founded by ex-vocalist/songwriter of Tristania Morten Veland, on their tour with Trail Of Tears in Essen where they had surprised me totally, so I had concluded: A definite band for the Summer Breeze! And 15 months later they played on stage in an ideal billing position! And the Norwegians took their chance! Their set was well-balanced between their current album “An Elixir For Ecistence” (the opener “Lithium And A Lover”, “Voices Within”, “Euphoria” and “Star-Crossed”) and the debut “At Sixes And Sevens” (“Sister Nightfall”, the title track and the final “Meridian”). A powerful Gothic Metal-gig realized by the band musically as by Morten and female singer Henriette Bordvik who didn’t neglect the show factor.
Katatonia It had taken a very long time to watch one of my faves on a festival, but after they had canceled their appearance on the Summer Breeze last year the time had come for them as for their many fans who had assembled in front of the stage a few minutes past midnight. The Swedish began with two compositions from their current “Viva Emptiness”-album (“Ghost Of The Sun”, “Criminals”) before playing the hits from “Last Fair Deal Gone Down” (“Teargas”) and “Discouraged Ones” (“Cold Ways”). By “Evidence” and “Tonight’s Music” band as fans let the magic atmosphere grow which found its climax with the “Tonight’s Decision”-hit “For My Demons” which got celebrated from its first riff. Finally Jonas Renkse who had evolved from a shy singer to a real frontman and his comrades dismissed the euphoric crowd happily with the “Brave Murder Day”-classic “Murder”. Great! Great! And for another time: Great!

Saturday
Main Stage
Dead Soul Tribe No question: Dead Soul Tribe did a good job and played a great gig! But they just had 30 minutes and during those it rained a lot. Nevertheless the fourpiece around mainman Devon Graves / Buddy Lackey gave their best and compositions like “Some Things You Can’t Return” and “Angels In Vertigo” found their applause by mostly wet spectators. In the end the singer gave the audience the choice to vote for one of two songs from their forthcoming album “The January Tree” and they elected “Spiders And Flies” for the last song.
An ideal concert besides the weather and the fact there was no time for a Psychotic Waltz-song!
Mnemic The Danish Industrial Metal-shooting stars had to fight with similar problems. The rain had stopped, but many fans were still away, and so the crowd was growing slowly during their show. Although they had just one album (“Mechanical Spin Phenomena”) released the fivepiece had enough hits like “Liquid”, “Blood Stained” or “Ghost” to bind the crowd. Frontman Michael and his comrades were very ambitious to offer a good show and presented with “Deathbox” a track from their forthcoming longplayer “The Audio Injected Soul”. After their appearances at With Full Force, Earthshaker and Wacken this year they also succeeded at the Summer Breeze!
Schandmaul After surprising me in Wacken two weeks ago the Bavarian Folk Rock-sixpiece had a home match musically on the Summer Breeze. With many different medieval instruments besides the usual electric department the band convinced again by tracks like “Walpurgisnacht”, “Teufelsweib” and “Herren Der Winde” and their sympathic appearance. The right gig to forget about the weather conditions. Hopefully we’ll see them soon on some festivals!
Brainstorm What shall I say! I have never seen a Brainstorm-gig that wasn’t fantastic! A fact that shouldn’t change in Abtsgmünd! After the intro the regional heroes started with “Shiva’s Tears” into a furious set. The day before very sympathic singer Andy B. Franck had lost a wager why he announced the next song “Blind Suffering” with the statement (that was originally held in German): “My name is Barbara Eligmann (a german boulevard wannabe-journalist) – and these are the topics.” Now everybody got inspired by “Crush Depth”, “Doorway To Survive”, “Hollow Hideaway” and “Highs Without Lows” performed by top musicians and a fronter who needn’t fear any comparison with the best metal vocalists of the world (No, I don’t exaggerate!). A great gig found its end by the Tony Christie-cover “Amarillo” as the encore.
U.D.O. The most celebrated gig on this year’s Summer Breeze didn’t become an act from the dark or hard side. No, it was to everyone’s surprise a traditional one. What didn’t surprise was the live power Metal-icon Udo Dirkschneider and his band once again created. They opened with the title track from their new release “Thunderball” to let follow a 65 minutes lasting best of-program which shouldn’t leave any wishes open. Supported by a bombastic sound U.D.O.-hits like “In The Darkness” and the title song from the “Animal House”-debut, “Independence Day” and “Man And Machine” became celebrated a lot. But of course they earned the most support by the Accept-classics “Metal Heart”, “Restless Wild”, “Son Of A Bitch” and the last song of the regular set “Balls To The Wall” before they returned with the encores “Princess Of The Dawn”, “I’m A Rebel” and “Fast As A Shark”. Not to forget about some familiar guys (We don’t want to mention their names!) who started a circle-pit and a wall of death while the gig which wasn’t the pleasure of all the neighbouring spectators. Anyway: Another great gig by U.D.O. and I want to be adopted by Uncle Udo!
Danzig First of all Glenn Danzig had decided to close the photo pit short time before the show began. Nice idea! The first part of the set went into a desaster: The new songs like the opener “Skin Carver” and new album’s title song “Circle Of Snakes” bored totally, many sound problems and an arrogant Glenn who didn’t take the sound difficulties like a professional. No, he just left the stage and his musicians like Prong’s Tommy Victor on bass alone. His comment: “You know this is the only Danzig show in Germany this year? You Don’t!?…*Grummel Grummel*.” After long boring 40 minutes the quality of the show was raised a lot by the first classic “How The Gods Kill” which opened the exciting second part which was closed by “Twist Of Cain” and the Danzig-hymn “Mother” before they returned with the encores “Am I Demon” and “Dirty Black Summer”. I know somehow the discribed asshole-actions belong to Mr. Danzig, but because of the second part of the gig I need to mention: Without those actions this appearance could have been a really great one. But this way Danzig lost many spectators leaving the festivalsite disappointed while the first 30 minutes. Anyway: Finally I was entertained!

Pain Stage
Hatesphere The Danish Dynamite-act nowadays counts to the best what the Thrash Metal scene can offer, especially live! They opened with the “Something…”-smasher “Release The Pain”, my personal band’s favourite “Bloodsoil” from their self-titled debut album and “Vermin” (like the also played “Only The Strongest” from their brandnew release “Ballet Of The Brute”). By older hammers from the fabulous “Bloodred Hatered”-masterpiece (“Insanity Arise”, “Disbeliever”) as by songs from the new output (“Downward To Nothing” and the final “Deathtrip”) animated the crowd to partyand a few freaks to a moshpit in the moist mud. The band showed their live experience and appeared as a strong unity. The musicians didn’t let miss any stageacting and fronter Jacob Bredahl must be well-known in every photo pit of Europe always searching contact to the fans. A very strong gig with any energy you can just imagine!
Cataract The rain had just stopped and after the appearance of Heaven Shall Burn on the Summer Breeze 2003, the time had come for this year’s shooting stars of the Metalcore genre Cataract. Different people gave me the hint to watch them and they were totally right! After the intro the Swiss started with “Killing Tool” which is also the opener of their new album “With Triumph Comes Loss”. The set mainly consisted of tracks from the new smasher except for “Forsaken Cries” and “Devon” from the 2003-release “Great Days Of Vengeance”. The band teared the crowd along with their first class metalcore material (“As We Speak”, “Skies Grow Black”, “Reborn From Black”) and convinced with their stageacting. They finished a cool gig with their hit “Nothing’s Left”.
Ensiferum The Finnish Folk/Viking Metal-formation around frontman Petri Lindroos (also known from Norther) was awaited by many fans. They weren’t innovative or original at all, but a not to small fan crowd loved it (whyever). And so they partied together to the songs from the self-titled debut (“Token Of Time”, “Battle Song”) as to tracks from the new output “Iron” (“Slayer Of Light”, “Tale Of Revenge”) which found its climax while the also new “Lai Lai Hei”. Nice entertainment, but like I mentioned not really original.
Psychopunch At 8:00 p.m. Swedish Rock ‘n’ Roll-attitude was supposed to reign over Abtsgmünd. The Silverdust-band brought a lot of motivation on stage and transported it into the first rows of the spectatorside. But like other bands before they had to play against the rain which had just begun again. The fans didn’t care and partied to tracks from the new release “Smashed On Arrival” like “All Over Now” or “Hard To Belong”. But disadvantaged by those exterior influences they probably didn’t find that many new supporters.
Primordial Another band that had canceled last year, but returned on the billing to perform at the same place this year. And it still rained, but little psycho Alan A. Nemtheanga (now without any hair at all) & Co didn’t mind. After some sound problems the Irish inspired their fans by “The Soul Must Sleep” and “Gods To The Godless” from the 2000-“Spirit The Earth Aflame”-output, as “Sons Of The Morrigan” and “The Heretics Age” from the current “Storm Before Calm”-release. Alan dedicated “Journey’s End” to Quorthon and the damn old classic “To Enter Pagan” from the 1993-“Dark Romanticism”-Demo as the encore didn’t leave any wishes open.

Conclusion:
Normally the Summer Breeze is the festival with the highest “no rain”-guarantee. This year somehow this definition was washed away (in the deepest sense of these words). So we had just the opportunities: To worry about it the whole three days or just to even party more and to enjoy the great billing the organizers were able to offer and this special atmosphere the Summer Breeze always has! Of course we decided for the second alternative and so the Summer Breeze was a great pleasure to us for another time with many nice people again! So don’t worry, come back and enjoy! We’ll do for sure (then on my personal fifth Summer Breeze in a row)!

A special thanks to Georg Weihrauch and the Summer Breeze-team!!!!!
At the Summer Breeze 2004 rocked, drank and partied Tobi Wan Kenobi, Melli and Dumbo!!!!!