{"id":1952,"date":"2015-08-13T11:40:40","date_gmt":"2015-08-13T10:40:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.metal-festivals.com\/?page_id=1952"},"modified":"2016-06-13T11:46:28","modified_gmt":"2016-06-13T10:46:28","slug":"dong-2015-review","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/new.metal-festivals.com\/?page_id=1952","title":{"rendered":"Dong 2015 Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dong Open Air<\/strong><\/p>\n

This year the writer of these lines completed his personal dozen of Dong-participations.
\nEach summer this unique Open Air on the tophill including awesome perspectives on the landscape all around this small as fine event takes place between the huge festivals without having less meaning. It rather sets a wonderful contrast to those ones by its incomparable location, the familiar atmosphere and the right mixture between popular (co-) headliners as mostly very promising underground acts.
\nSo the 15th Dong Open Air which got set under this year’s slogan \u201eParty All Night Dong\u201c presented by Carcass, Gamma Ray, Eluveitie, Die Apokalyptischen Reiter, The Black Dahlia Murder and Kissin’ Dynamite, etc. an attractive billing. The festival area got upvalued by a bigger tent similar to a big top offering much more space and including all the merchandise. Besides that the sound got improved as well. On the camping area the organizers were able to offer a shower camp for the first time after solving the logistic difficulties to realize this on the hill. We took this chance every morning. So during this pretty hot weekend our smell got limited per day! \ud83d\ude42 The organisation ran well, the relaxed atmosphere was guaranteed as usual and the prices were fair as they had been all the years before. On the Dong hill 28 bands appeared in three days for about 2000 visitors.<\/p>\n

Thursday<\/strong>
\nRed’s Cool<\/strong> For the very first time the Dong Open Air got opened by a non-german band which emphasized its raised status on the international level as well. The fivepiece from St. Petersburg set the first interested spectators in the right mood by their Hard Rock, switching between their debut \u201eBad Story\u201c (\u201eBite\u201c) and their forthcoming release \u201ePress Hard\u201c (\u201eBrand New Start\u201c).
\nBut We Try It<\/strong> This Deathcore quintet from Wuppertal raised the heaviness factor enormously. In front of about 300 motivated fans they concentrated besides the debut track \u201eRemember Me\u201c on material from their younger album \u201eA Twisted Sanctuary\u201c. The most jubilation the band earned by the Sepultura cover \u201eTerritory\u201c.
\nSunchair <\/strong>The local heroes from the neighbored city of Krefeld were supposed to have a home game, but somehow didn’t convince the crowd from the start, but that changed after a while. Over \u201eWar\u201c, \u201eI Am The Sheppard\u201c or \u201ePile Of Shards\u201c the support increased and ended in a circle-pit.
\nCrossplane <\/strong>The formation from Essen were able to consider themselves a few steps further. They took care about a pretty packed tent. The fans from the Ruhr region knew what they got. Heavy Rock ‘n’ Roll a bit comparable to Mot\u00f6rhead. To me their sound was much too monotonous, but the fans celebrated \u201eBrave New World\u201c, \u201eTake It Or Leave It\u201c and \u201eRollin’\u201c.
\nWords Of Farewell<\/strong> As their predecessors the quintet returned after they had played on the Dong hill two years ago. And they filled the tent as well, even reaching more support for their Melodic Death Metal. Besides the debut songs \u201eEver After\u201c and \u201eSorae\u201c they concentrated on their current album \u201eThe Black Wild Yonder\u201c by \u201eContinuum Shift\u201c, \u201eBeauty In Passing\u201c, \u201eThe Great Escape\u201c, \u201eTelltale Nation\u201c, etc. which all took care about motion in the first rows.
\nDebauchery <\/strong>Five years after their first Dong-appearance the german answer to Six Feet Under returned, this time without natural bloodbabes. So band as fans could concentrate on the music. Fronter Thomas declared this gig to a release show of the just released \u201eFuck Humanity\u201c of which the fourpiece performed several tracks. But of course the best supported track became their hit \u201eBlood For The Blood God\u201c for another time.
\nThe Black Dahlia Murder<\/strong> The following show was supposed to become one of the definite highlights. From the opener \u201eIn Hell Is Where She Waits For Me\u201c the Detroit Deathsters left no option for the packed tent than to move. Lead by the agile as sympathic fronter Trevor Strnad the fivepiece rocked by a best of set containing \u201eStatutory Ape\u201c, \u201eEverything Went Black\u201c, \u201eWhat A Horrible Night To Have A Curse\u201c, \u201eMiasma\u201c as also considering by \u201eVlad, Son Of The Dragon\u201c a song from the forthcoming album. \u201eFuneral Thirst\u201c set the final accent after an awesome live experience.
\nGamma Ray<\/strong> The German Melodic Metal institution of course mainly attracts other Metal fans than the much harder predeccors do. But the most spectators stayed in the tent. This changed after a few tracks when Kai Hansen & Co enlarged the Helloween classic \u201eI Want Out\u201c unnecessarily including a superflous Reggae part while more and more metalheads left the tent. Well-deserved! Those ones who had waited were able to watch much better interpretations of Gamma Ray classics like \u201eHeaven Can Wait\u201c, \u201eDream Healer\u201c, \u201eRebellion In Dreamland\u201c and \u201eMan On A Mission\u201c as the encores \u201eSomewhere Out In Space\u201c and \u201eSend Me A Sign\u201c.<\/p>\n

Friday<\/strong>
\nSapiency <\/strong>Lead by two vocalists the Melodic Metal sixpiece from Frankfurt enthused from the beginning in the early noon. One microphone got used by interim fronter Phil who fulfilled the main performance job on stage while the other one, Lars, seemed a bit too shy. The band played a well-balanced set between their two albums \u201eFate’s End\u201c and \u201eTomorrow\u201c. Cool music, great atmosphere and the place behind the second microphone should be safe after this show.
\nGilgamesh <\/strong>In contrast to the band before the fourpiece from Munich just attracted their supporters in front of the stage, the neutral community left the tent. Anyway, the fans celebrated the live transfer of their output \u201eThe Awakening\u201c in its track order minus \u201eEvocating Enill\u201c and \u201eTo The Temple Of Nippur\u201c.
\nInsanity <\/strong>The big live surprise of the weekend became the following fivepiece from Switzerland. With their leads they sounded different to all those other Hardcore bands. From the opener \u201eMy Life My Rules\u201c on the crowd raised. The stageaction of the quintet took over in front of the stage, so the debut album’s title track \u201eNo Limit\u201c, \u201eTime For Change\u201c, \u201eReady To Row\u201c and \u201eNever Gonna Quit\u201c caused more and more celebration leading into moshpits in which finally the very agile shouter Tobias took part in to \u201ePart Of Us\u201c.
\nMiseo <\/strong>Solid old school Death Metal got presented by a band which got formed by members of the well-known Lay Down Rotten, Milking The Goatmachine and others. Thjs kind of music worked as it always does, and so many heads got circling to the set dominating longplayer debut by \u201eSkin Dress\u201c, \u201eDaddy’s Girl\u201c as its title track \u201eLunatic Confessions\u201c as to the older EP track \u201eI Hate Humans\u201c and two newer songs.
\nWar Kabinett<\/strong> The following act wasn’t just exotic because of coming from Mexico. Their style described as Symphonic Metal combined extreme heaviness as melodies. So did the voice of Dante Diaz shouting as singing Black and Power Metal vocals. The crowd applauded as headbanged to \u201eHeroes Of War\u201c or the final \u201eThe Great Deceiver\u201c which lead into a succesful European live debut.
\nVogelfrey <\/strong>The following Folk Metal formation performed that kind of music I definitely don’t prefer. Anyway, between all those harder appearances this kind of party music worked well. So the sixpack returned to the Dong Hill after 2011 to get celebrated for \u201eSturmgesang\u201c, \u201eNur Der Met Ist Schuld\u201c and \u201eHeldentod\u201c including a medley considering several Rock as Pop classics before returning with the encore \u201eDer Tusch!\u201c.
\nBeyond The Black<\/strong> The shooting stars from North Germany got much support from the beginning. The female fronted Melodic Metal convinced by their set consisting of material from their debut \u201eSongs Of Love And Death\u201c and the Mot\u00f6rhead cover \u201eLove Me Forever\u201c. Of course several male metalheads also just got convinced by singer Jennifer herself after numerous beers over the whole day. Anyway, this appearance convinced.
\nExcrementory Grindfuckers<\/strong> The Comedy Grindcore ensemble participated for the third or fourth time at Dong Open Air. And as always the tent became packed independent to its size. Especially the cover interpretations \u201eLooking For Grindcore\u201c (David Hasselhoff), \u201eVater Morgana\u201c (Erste Allgemeine Verunsicherung) and the finisher \u201eFinal Grinddown\u201c (Europe) guaranteed party atmophere.
\nKissin’ Dynamite<\/strong> The quintet from Southwest Germany is the bigger act for sure, but on the top of the Dong hill it’s always hard to appear after the Excrementory Grindfuckers. Of course the Melodic Metal formation attracted their fans celebrating from the beginning marked by \u201eDNA\u201c and \u201eRunning Free\u201c over \u201eMoney, Sex & Power\u201c as \u201eSix Feet Under\u201c up to \u201eI Will Be King\u201c and \u201eOperation Supernova\u201c.
\nEluveitie<\/strong> The Folk Metal eightpiece from Switzerland populated the tent again. Their style combining several Folk elements including exotic instruments with heaviness resulted in the optimal Dong sound for this night. Lead by fronter Chrigel the group caused a few circle-pits, many crowdsurfers during the whole gig as much applause. And that found its jubilated end by the encores \u201eHelvetios\u201c and \u201eInis Mona\u201c.<\/p>\n

Saturday<\/strong>
\nTorturized <\/strong>After two days of Dong party Death Metal probably was the right way to wake up the visitors as fast as possible. So smashers like \u201eCoagulated Red\u201c found its first support in the pretty emtpy tent.
\nCrosshead The same scenery happened while the following Thrash Metal band. The local heroes from the close Krefeld played for their second time at Dong Open Air. Cool riffing as stage action, but due to the hot noon as the party nights before they could have deserved more support in front of the stage.
\nThe Prosecution<\/strong> Who had thought Eluveitie would have been the only band with the most musicians at DOA 2015 should realize the Bavarian eightpiece had even as many. By their mixture between Punk Rock and Ska they took care about bringing the party factor back to the stage on that saturday. \u201eThe Last Shot\u201c as \u201eAt The Edge Of The End\u201c showed the typical rock instrumentation works with the more extraordinary saxophone and trombone.
\nWulfpack <\/strong>The following fourpiece came from Bavaria as well, but played ordinary Thrash Metal. Entering the stage too late it became clear after \u201ePork\u201c and \u201eW.A.O.!\u201c their sound was a bit too ordinary. So after the Pantera cover \u201eDomination\u201c just a couple of Thrashers turned into a moshpit while \u201eLonesome Beerwalker\u201c.
\nAcyl <\/strong>After their very successfull Dong performance two years ago the quintet returned from Paris to present their Metal \/ World Music monster. The tent was pretty much filled before they started with their EP classic \u201eObduracy\u201c. The main accent was set on the \u201eAlgebra\u201c album, but by \u201eGibraltar\u201c and \u201eMercurial\u201c two new compositions from the forthcoming masterpiece found their way into the set which earned by far the biggest support on saturday so far.
\nWizard <\/strong>Much less people seemed to be interested in the True Metal of the fivepiece from the close town of Bocholt. Their traditional True Metal reached a very limited number of metalheads as it generally does, so in comparison to the band before just a couple of fans celebrated their best of program of meanwhile ten outputs while the rest was standing in the back or outside. After \u201eDefenders Of Metal\u201c the spuke was over.
\nMantar <\/strong>Completely different sound as concept, same problem! The multiple praised duo from Bremen didn’t hold the expectations. Their Sludge Doom of course produced by the reduction on one guitar, drums and shouts some kind of intensity, but from the opener \u201eThe Berzerker’s Path\u201c to the final \u201eWhite Nights\u201c it created more and more boredom, and the introverted live performance didn’t work against that.
\nFiddler’s Green<\/strong> The Folk Rock sixpack usually works on every metal festival, and so it does on the Dong tophill. They could choose between material of their dozen releases, and didn’t seem to had been taken the wrong choice. The motivated crowd sang and danced to \u201eWall Of Folk\u201c, \u201eRocky Road To Dublin\u201c, \u201eFolk’s Not Dead\u201c, \u201eBugger Off\u201c and the Bon Jovi cover \u201eLivin’ On A Prayer\u201c as the encore.
\nDie Apokalyptischen Reiter<\/strong> For the now third time the Metal commando from East Germany came up to the Dong hill. That they could count on a big fan community was easy to realize. Whatever fronter Fuchs animated to, the crowd followed applauding, jumping, etc.. The filled tent celebrated \u201eRevolution\u201c, \u201eEs Wird Schlimmer\u201c and \u201eDer Seemann (including the well-known rubber boat) as the encores \u201eSmell Of Death\u201c, \u201eReitermania\u201c and \u201eDer Rausch\u201c.
\nCarcass <\/strong>One band was left, but the best was still supposed to come! After interpreting six songs from the new album \u201eSurgical Steel\u201c the Death Grind icon from Liverpool presented classics from all other masterpieces. \u201eExhume To Consume\u201c, \u201eReek Of Putrefaction\u201c, \u201eBlack Star\u201c, \u201eKeep On Rotting In A Free World\u201c, \u201eCorporal Jigsore Quandary\u201c and \u201eHeartwork\u201c generated loss of headbanging action. Jeff Walker who did a few very cool comments between the songs, Bill Steer & Co played tight and the sound was clear as powerful. Great conditions to let this year’s Dong Open Air end with a real highlight which got finished by Carneous Cacoffiny. Amazing!<\/p>\n

Conclusion:<\/strong>
\nDong Open Air 2015 marked the 15th anniversary of this cult event which is incomparable to any other festival due to the location as the familiar atmosphere. The mentioned innovations all worked well as the whole organization did. The very fair prices for drinks and food are still remarkable. The weather was pretty hot, but okay. No cancelation happened, all announced bands played.
\nThanks go out to Benjamin \u201eColamann\u201c Munsch and the DOA-team!!!!! At the Dong Open Air drank, rocked and partied Tobi Wan Kenobi, Dumbo & Sharon!!!!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dong Open Air This year the writer of these lines completed his personal dozen of Dong-participations. Each summer this unique Open Air on the tophill including awesome perspectives on the landscape all around this small as fine event takes place between the huge festivals without having less meaning. It rather sets a wonderful contrast to … <\/p>\n

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