DONG OPEN AIR 2010
Congratulations Dong Open Air! Between all the festival giants of the Metal scene we report about it may seem strange to some of you finding a review about a much smaller open air. But this is no coincidence! The Dong Open Air stands for what Metal is about: Good music, a friendly, fan-orientated as familiar, unique atmosphere and an excellent organization.
We don’t know any Metal (Open Air) on earth which got sold out after 30 minutes like the DOA edition of 2010 did! And we don’t know any festival organization which stays that true to themselves persisting at the same area instead of moving to raise profits! By the way the prices for food and beverages are that fan-friendly constant, too (e.g. 1,50 € for a 0,5 l – bottle of beer! The DOA 2010 was its 10th edition, so the organizers decided to offer a best of billing from all the editions before. A concept which worked very well! And this year there was no cancellation and the weather was fabulous, so everything turned out to a wonderful weekend!
Friday
Folkedudl / Chainheart The first act turned out to be two in which several ex- as still active members of the Dong team played. It wasn’t my cup of tea / can of beer, but the Folk / Rock Metal seemed to be the right sound to start the party what it actually did.
Guerrilla / All We Hate So this concept continued with the second billing position. The Cologne Thrash Metal fivepiece Guerilla and its successor / side project All We Hate are still popular in the underground and entertained besides new “Kickstart Revolution” material by “Sleepwalker” as “Clemency” in which they integrated a “La Bamba” interlude.
Adorned Brood The Pagan formation from the close Rhein region were the first popular Dong headliner in 2002. After co-headlining DOA 2003 this was their third appearance on the hill. Fronter Markus Frost explained why they had such an early position: They had to play in Belgium in the evening. So the five classic Metal instrumentalists as flutist Anne paganized Dong with mainly newer songs like the current title “Noor” or their self-titled “Adorned Brood”.
Hate Factor After splitting in 2006 the underground Death Metal formation from Krefeld reunited for the DOA. But they still knew how to perform because several members still played in other bands like Grind Inc. So the fivepiece set the first brutal signal on the Dong hill.
Motorjesus The Rock ‘n’ Roll machine from Mönchengladbach turned out to be the first highlight of DOA 2010. “The Howling”, “Fist Of The Dragon”, “Distortion Sleep”, “Destroyer” as the classic “Powertool” from the days the band had been named Shitheadz. The fivepiece played a tight set, fronter Chris Birx was the biggest poser of the Dong Hill for sure and the crowd partied. What else!
Blood Red Angel The headliner of the very first headliner of the Dong Open Air 2001 returned. And it was supposed to be the last show of the Krefeld Thrash Metal institution as shouter Klaus “Mr. Crime” Spangenberg had told me before the gig. And smashers like “The Language Of Hate”, “Insanity Divine” or the title track of the current “Abyssland” still rock, but just a small crowd came into the tent to take part in.
The Excrementory Grindfuckers Five years after the chaos combo animated the whole Dong hill to a laughing fit they returned to do the same by their Grindcore interpretations of mainly cheesy originals. One of the two vocalists who looked like Jesus himself wore a leopard shirt while his sixstringer college played with a pink Hello Kitty guitar. So everyone knew not to take this band too serious. The pretty packed tent celebrated “Ein Bisschen Grind Muss Sein”, “The Final Grinddown”, “Vater Morgana” and “Staatsgrind Nr. 1”. Very entertaining!
Van Canto The a-capella-quintet added by a drummer hat raised their popularity since their latest Dong appearance three years ago. After they had switched their positions with Dark Age they started by “Lost Forever” with an own composition. But off course the majority of the audience wanted to hear the interpretation of Metal evergreens like Nightwish’s “Wishmaster”, Blind Guardian’s “The Bard’s Song – In The Forest”, Metallica’s “Master Of Puppets” and the encore of Manowar’s “Kings Of Metal”. The most metalheads enjoyed it while I got bored pretty quickly.
Dark Age The Melodic Death Metal quintet from Hamburg showed from the first tone how professional their songwriting as their live performance is. Songs like “Outside The Inside” or “Fix The Focus” are little compositions between catchy choruses and musical talent. So it didn’t take too long the band earned respectable support. And after leaving by the pretty new “Kingdom Nevercome” they were allowed to return with the encore “Suicide Crew”.
Rotting Christ The still most popular Metal export from Greece convinced the following 70 minutes. Fronter Sakis Tolis performed although he had broken his leg a few weeks ago. Cancelation hat never been an issue, so he appeared on a stool. The show was completely covered in red light which put “The Sign Of Evil Existence”, “Fire, Death And Fear” or the final “Threnody” in a suitable atmosphere. The band played tight and the filled tent celebrated the South Europeans.
Dark Tranquillity In a best of edition of the Dong Open Air there’s no way without the Melodic Death Metal institution from Gothenburg which probably was the first big confirmed act of DOA ever. And they ruled like in 2008. The enthused fans partied the packed tent to the new “We Are The Void” songs “The Fatalist”, “At The Point Of Ignition” and “The Grandest Accusation” as to the familiar classics like “The Wonders At Your Feet”, “Focus Shift” “Misery’s Crown”, “Final Resistance”, “Punish My Heaven”, “Therin” and the final “Terminus (Where Death Is Most Alive)”. Band as crowd rocked, especially vocalist Mikael Stanne showed another agile performance, so another triumphant show of the sixpiece was done. Amazing!
Saturday
Gun Barrel It seemed like there’s no better way to get waken up than by the Cologne Hardrockers. The quartet played a refreshing gig and knew how to perform their Biker Rock hymns like “Roll Of The Dice” and especially “Lonely Rider” which should become the party anthem for the rest of the festival. Nice guys as we should find out after the show till they had to leave because guitarist Rolf needed to join the 30th birthday of his daughter. Oops! 🙂
Jack Slater After these melodic tones the time had come for a brutal massacre done by the Grindcore group which showed together with the mentioned day opener which musical variety the city of Cologne offers in its Rock / Metal scene. While the show some strange costumed fan showed himself on stage which got destroyed by the Grindcore commando.
Insignium This was the first sign of the Black Metal fourpiece from Hagen. But there got no missing live experience noticed. Just the songs became more and more boring. Time for a new ouput after the last “In Die Abgründe” release from 2005, they played one new track.
Synathasia The following act didn’t excite me more. The Power Metal band from the very close city of Duisburg has different connections to the Dong Open Air and pretty many supporters went into the tent, but to me their Power Metal was much too pathetic whether they played typical material like “Fate” and the new video single “Destination Nowhere” or party stuff as “In Beer We Trust” and the Culture Beat cover “Mr Vain”. Three years ago they covered Die Kassierer, that was much more entertaining. The fans enjoyed it anyway.
Orphan Hate Just one year after they had convinced on the early position of the saturday morning opener the quartet from Berlin returned. Their Thrash Metal around female vocalist Sina animated many fans again to rock to “King’s Misery”, “Circus”, “Passion” and “Homeless”. As last year I’m pretty sure we won’t have heard about the band for the last time.
Raintime Of course Raintime got invited again. The band from Italy weren’t an audience magnet, but they presented an interesting mixture between Melodic Death, Prog and Power Metal. And they showed their new album “Psychromatic” is able to hold the level by the opener “Fire Ants”, “Nothing But A Mistake”, “Neverending Stairway” and “Beaten Roads” with its predecessor “Flies & Lies” from which they performed the title track, their former video single “Rolling Chances”, the Michael Jackson cover “Beat It” and the final “Matrioska” as the unforgetable announced “One Day” (“… Onnnnne Dayyyyyyyyyya”).
Elvenking And the program continued with another formation from Italy. Their Melodic Metal with a Folk Element produced by their violinist motivated more fans to step into the tent as their fellow countrymen had done before. Especially their most well-known video singles “The Divided Heart” and “Cabal” as the Skyclad cover “Civil War Dance” earned applauding as headbanging reactions from the crowd.
Persefone This band from the very small state of Andorra was the absolute discovery of DOA 2008 and the best one of the whole Dong history. Their very unique Progressive Death Metal excited me for another time stressed by an amazing live interpretation. Compositions like “Rage Stained Blade”, “Fall To Rise” or the silent “Purity” showed the class of the innovative band we’ll hopefully hear more from and impressed every spectator being in the tent.
Debauchery Three years ago the Death Metal machine from Stuttgart played in the sunny afternoon. Until 2010 their popularity had been raised, so they earned an evening billing position. In contrast to the band before the simple aspects of Metal ruled the tent by “Back In Blood” or “Blood For The Bloodgod” taught (sic!) by fronter Thomas. To me it just reminded me a bit too much to Six Feet Under.
Grailknights For the third time the masquerade circus of the Grailknights populated the tent by absolutely loyal fans as the stage by musicians and different actors. Those were an ork, a dragon, some Skeletor guy, the special new role of the Dong cow and of course the four Power Rangers suited musicians of the Grailknights on their search of the holy grail. The numerous fans enjoyed “Grailquest Gladiators”, “When Good Turns Evil”, etc. and especially the distinctive show.
Skyclad You can call the Irish Folk Metal institution a steady member of the Dong hill family. From my first Dong participation on the sixpiece appeared for the fifth year at the DOA 2010 edition, and it was an event for another time filling up the tent. The band celebrated with the fans the 20th anniversary of their existence by playing one song each album minimum beginning with the current “In The? All Together” (“Words Upon The Street”) album up to their “The Wayward Sons Of Mother Earth” debut release from 1991 (“The Widdershins Jig”). After this live presentation of their musical history the band returned for the encores “The Parliament Of Fools”, “Another Drinking Song” and the final “Inequality Street” during which they got co-assisted by the members of Elvenking. Fifth Dong appearance – fifth party!
Die Apokalyptischen Reiter One of the most horrible live shows I have ever seen was one of Die Apokalyptischen Reiter at Up From The Ground in 2003. And although I don’t enjoy their music at all I need to mention they played a good live gig. The tent was packed, the fans celebrated from the beginning with “Wir Sind Das Licht”, “Revolution” over “Riders Of The Storm”, “Es Wird Schlimmer”, “Adrenalin”, “Reitermania”, “We Will Never Die” until the set finishing “Metal Will Never Die” and the show had an own atmosphere by several big balloons which got pushed from the stage through the whole tent. A nice closure for another awesome Dong Open Air!
Conclusion:
So our third Dong Open Air experience participating as a reporting magazine became another great one!
The weather was fine, there was no cancellation and the organization worked very well! At the bottom of the hill the DOA organization built a new parking lot which even improved the spectators’ arrival.
We need to mention the catering as the drinks got offered in a big variety and very fair prices. So don’t bring your beer on top of the hill, support this festival and its prices! Instead of that bring warm clothes for the nights (a hint for the freeze-ladies) and don’t forget a camera: A more beautiful perspective for different shots you won’t find on any other festival. You can walk up the hill or take the shuttle service getting driving service including the transport of your luggage for 3,- €! The toilet situation stayed the same by mobile Dixi-toilets getting cleaned continuously. The security was nice and helped whenever they could as the DOA team did.
Generally we can conclude: At DOA you have the option to be one of 1.500 metalheads celebrating a great, familiar and peaceful party in a unique atmosphere! So try to be one of them next year when it’s up to celebrate Dong Open Air 2011!
Thanks go out to Benjamin “Colamann” Munsch and the DOA team!!!!!
At the Dong Open Air rocked, drank and partied Tobi Wan Kenobi and Dumbo!!!!!