{"id":503,"date":"2011-03-09T20:31:14","date_gmt":"2011-03-09T19:31:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.metal-festivals.com\/?page_id=503"},"modified":"2011-03-09T20:31:14","modified_gmt":"2011-03-09T19:31:14","slug":"wacken-2003-review","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/new.metal-festivals.com\/?page_id=503","title":{"rendered":"Wacken 2003 Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wacken 2003<\/strong>
\nOur seventh attendance on the 14th Wacken festival was supposed to turn out to a hole party weekend with many interesting bands. The same procedure as every year? Nearly! After much criticism from other zines, the organizers improved a few aspects which were able to improve: They installed a video screen between the two big stages (True Metal Stage\/ Black Metal Stage), improved the toilet situation and took care of winning more area by replacing the food-, non-food and merchandise-stands from the middle to the edges of the festival ground. This year in Wacken played 62 bands on four stages in three days for about 40000 visitors.<\/p>\n

Thursday<\/strong>
\nTrue Stage: A Night To Remember<\/em>
\nCircle II Circle<\/strong> The Wacken Open Air 2003 began with a new group of some well-known person. We talk about Zak Stevens, formerly known as ex-singer from Savatage, whose band opened the party with \u201eOut Of Reach\u201c and \u201eThe Circle\u201c from the Circle II Circle-debut. Astonishing was the big number of fans (while the first band!) celebrating the new hymns (\u201eWatching In Silence\u201c) as the old ones from the Savatage-era (\u201eTaunting Cobras\u201c, \u201eEdge Of Thorns\u201c). A highlight was the closing Metallica-cover \u201eWelcome Home (Sanitarium)\u201c. Great!<\/p>\n

Annihilator<\/strong> The canadiens introduced their new singer Dave Padden. After some sound difficulties – especially the voice was too low – it was obvious mainman Jeff Waters got a goods fronter. Best conditions for a greatest hits-set (\u201eUltra-Motion\u201c, \u201eKing Of The Kill\u201c, \u201eRefresh The Demon\u201c, \u201eSet The World On Fire\u201c, \u201eNever Neverland\u201c, \u201eAllison Hell\u201c, \u201eShallow Grave\u201c). Nothing more to say!<\/p>\n

Victory<\/strong> Long enough I had to wait for a Victory-gig! And long enough I will have to wait for a reunion with my favorite Victory-singer Fernando Garcia! But nevertheless Charlie Huhn did a good job behind the micro (exception: his outfit rememberring me to the german entertainer J\u00fcrgen von der Lippe). The hardrockers from Hannover mainly concentrated on material from the first three albums (\u201eChicks On Display\u201c, \u201eAre You Ready\u201c, \u201eArsonist Of The Heart\u201c, \u201eChecks In The Mail\u201c) and added two songs from the Garcia-phase (\u201eTemples Of Gold\u201c, \u201eDon\u2019t Tell No Lies\u201c). Still unnecessary while festival gigs are solos like the one of dummer Fritz Randow.<\/p>\n

Saxon<\/strong> The mentioned artist had a second unexpected appearance right after Victory with the surprise guest Saxon who came to advertise for their new DVD \u201eThe Saxon Chronicals\u201c and played three celebrated songs (\u201eMotorcycle Man\u201c, \u201eDenim And Leather\u201c, \u201ePrincess Of The Night\u201c). We\u2019ll meet them next year at the same place with a headliner show!<\/p>\n

Running Wild<\/strong> The german piracy-legend on an open air-festival is after 20 years of existance still unique. They presented classics (\u201eLittle Big Horn\u201c, \u201eConquistadores\u201c, \u201ePrisoner Of Our Time\u201c \u201eBranded And Exiled\u201c, \u201eRiding The Storm\u201c) in combination with old unreleased demo tracks (\u201eApocalyptic Horsemen\u201c, \u201eProwling Werewolf\u201c). Bandleader Rock \u2018n\u2019 Rolf dedicated \u201eBad To The Bone\u201c to far right extremists which found much applause. The pirates finished a good, but not fantastic show with the encores \u201eUnder Jolly Roger\u201c and \u201eChains And Leather\u201c.<\/p>\n

Friday<\/strong>
\nTrue Metal Stage<\/em>
\nPrimal Fear<\/strong> To the Power Metal-fivepiece around Mat Sinner and fronter Ralf Scheepers it felt easy to earn support of the fans by tracks like \u201eChainbreaker\u201c, \u201eNuclear Fire\u201c, the Judas Priest-cover \u201eMetal Gods\u201c, the new unreleased song \u201eSea Of Flames\u201c and the final \u201eSilver And Gold\u201c. Whatever: They stuck on my nerves for another time!<\/p>\n

Gamma Ray<\/strong> So did another big group coming from the same country as genre. Kai Hansen and his comrades decided to play the \u201eSkeletons In The Closet\u201c-program consisting of older tracks which hadn\u2019t been played often. I enjoyed \u201eOne With The World\u201c, \u201eThe Silence\u201c (with a guest appearance of ex-singer Ralf Scheepers) and the Helloween-cover \u201eVictim Of Fate\u201c, but the rest didn\u2019t convince me.<\/p>\n

Twisted Sister<\/strong> Three years after Dee Snider\u2019s solo appearance now it was time for the big Twisted Sister-reunion in original outfit: So they didn\u2019t leave any doubts while the show from the usual opener \u201eWhat You Don\u2019t Know (Sure Can Hurt You)\u201c over the hits (\u201eYou Can\u2019t Stop Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll\u201c, \u201eStay Hungry\u201c, \u201eI Wanna Rock\u201c, \u201eWe\u2019re Not Gonna Take It\u201c) who rocked the place. Cool entertaining show, but the solo show 2000 was even a little bit cooler!<\/p>\n

Black Metal Stage
\n<\/em>Dew-Scented<\/strong> The new german hope for the Death \/ Thrash-genre had to play while very hot conditions and nearly killed the sun with their power. The band, supported by Obscenity-bassist Alex, brought known hammers (\u201eInwards\u201c, \u201eLife Ending Path\u201c, \u201eUnconditional\u201c, \u201eBitter Conflict\u201c) as new stuff from their forthcoming album \u201eImpact\u201c (\u201eSoul Poison\u201c, \u201eActs Of Rage\u201c, \u201eCities Of The Dead\u201c) to the crowd.<\/p>\n

The Crown<\/strong> The Swedes acted with the new old fronter Johan Lindstrand who replaced meanwhile-vocalist Tompa. I carried high expectations to them because of their phenomenal gig at last year\u2019s Party San, but this time they weren\u2019t able to fullfill them. Nevertheless: Good band!<\/p>\n

Sentenced<\/strong> This was pure party. Fronter Ville Laihiala and his guys from the land of the thousand seas seemed like they had just waited to play this gig. With \u201eBroken\u201c, \u201eThe Suicider\u201c, \u201eBrief Is The Light\u201c and \u201eThe Luxury Of A Grave\u201c their success was guaranteed. Before the \u201eAmok\u201c-classic \u201eNepenthe\u201c Ville won the fans by declaring he drinks to forget. The fivepiece finished a fantastic gig with the encore \u201eThe Trooper\u201c from Iron Maiden.<\/p>\n

Testament<\/strong> Long expected finally the time had come for the great return of the Bay Area Thrash Metal-legend whose front-icon Chuck Billy had survived cancer. They confirmed the good impression from the No Mercy Festival-tour: They are back in their best condition! It was easy to make out how happy Chuck, Eric Peterson and co felt about that fact. Playing the classics (\u201cAlone In The Dark”, \u201cElectric Crown”, \u201cLow”, \u201cTrue Believer”) it was no problem to motivate the fans to ecstatic reactions. With \u201cOver The Wall” and \u201cDisciples Of The Watch” the fivepiece finished a first class gig.<\/p>\n

In Flames<\/strong> A first class gig with five stars was graduated by In Flames. After many months of touring the Gothenburg Melodic Deathers seemed to be unbeatable. Starting with \u201cCloud Connected” (from the current album \u201cReroute To Remain”), \u201cClayman” and \u201cEpisode 666″ to a clear sound the co-headliner left no doubt about it as with the new single \u201cTrigger”, the classic \u201cBehind Space” or the fans\u2019 all-time-fave \u201cOnly For The Weak”. With a cool entertainer like Anders Frid\u00e9n and with lots of pyro and light elements this gig became a fantastic show which got finished by \u201cPinball Map” and \u201cColony”.<\/p>\n

Subway To Sally<\/strong> Like their appearance on the With Full Force the Folk Rockers played another show with too much routine and too less songs from the older albums like (\u201cHenkersbraut”). They concentrated on tracks from the latest two outputs (\u201cFalscher Heiland”) and tried to interpret their songs as hard as possible. But that didn\u2019t impress me too much.<\/p>\n

Party Stage<\/em>
\nLordi<\/strong> The finnish answer to Alice Copper (musically) and GWAR (show entertainment) and shooting stars of the latest few months impressed with their costumes and many nice show effects. In comparison to their Nightwish last year support tour they had lots of new ideas for this show. But they were also able to rock the crowd with own compositions from their one and only album \u201cGet Heavy” (\u201cWould You Love A Monsterman?”, \u201cDevil Is A Loser”) as with cover songs (Accept\u2019s \u201cMidnight Mover” and Alice Cooper\u2019s \u201cMan Behind The Mask”).<\/p>\n

W.E.T. Stage
\n<\/em>Rotting Christ<\/strong> The greek Black\/Death Metal-foundation played a cool tent-headliner-set and invited to great party in the full tent. In contrast to their latest output they rocked after a long time of live abstinence. Well done!<\/p>\n

Saturday<\/strong>
\nTrue Metal Stage
\n<\/em>Rage<\/strong> \u2018Peavy\u2019 Wagner, Victor Smolski and Mike Terrana played a good set for another time and it seemed to be \u2018Peavy\u2019 found his \u2018Dream Team\u2019 in this threepiece. Celebrated by the fans they performed one hit after another one like \u201cSent By the Devil” or the set closing \u201cHigher Than The Sky”. Chapeu!<\/p>\n

Stratovarius<\/strong> Another band with instrumental geniuses appearing in Wacken is the fivepiece from Suomi. In spite of the accident which happened to singer Timo Kotipelto (His hand got burned in a pyro effect!) on their latest Wacken concert two years ago they brought much more pyro and boom effects on stage this year. This time nobody got injured, so Timo Tolkki and co were able to rock by new songs (\u201cSoul Of A Vagabond” from \u201cElements Pt.”) as with their classics (\u201cHunting High And Low”, \u201cKiss Of Judas”, \u201cForever Free”).<\/p>\n

Slayer<\/strong> The long awaited headliner disappointed totally! The too silent sound wasn\u2019t their fault, but it was obvious how bored and disinterested the front musicians were. They knew they would have success without doing too much, and corresponding to that fact they acted like. The fourpiece played new \u201cGod Hates Us All” material and classics like \u201cDead Skin Mask”, \u201cAngel Of Death”, \u201cSouth Of Heaven” and \u201cSeasons In The Abyss” as listless as possible, didn\u2019t seem to care about the aspect of having contact to their fans on the very crowded festivalsite and left the stage after \u201cRaining Blood” without any encore. Good night!<\/p>\n

Onkel Tom Angelripper<\/strong> Good night? Not at all! As the same procedure as every year the Wacken party got finished by party god Onkel Tom Angelripper. He celebrated with his three comrades and hundreds of fans to old german drinking songs (\u201cSchnaps, Das War Sein Letztes Wort”, \u201cDie Musi Hat Durst”, \u201cMedley”) and own alcohol tracks (\u201cDelirium”). For another time it was also on me to enter the stage to party with the combo and a few other fans on it, as you can see at the stage-pic of Tom, like every year. Like every year? No, there was a video screen next to the stage showing the action of stage. Uhhh\u2026!<\/p>\n

Black Metal Stage
\n<\/em>Soilwork<\/strong> The Melodic Death-shooting stars concentrated on their latest two albums \u201cNatural Born Chaos” (\u201cFollow The Hollow”, \u201cAs We Speak”) and the new \u201cFigure Number Five” (\u201cRecection Role”, \u201cDistortion Sleep”, the title track) combined with classics from their former outputs (\u201cNeedlefeest”). The new drummer Richard Evensand fit to his new bandmates. But the main actor besides singer Bj\u00f6rn \u201cSpeed” Strid was bassist who dranl a little bit too much: Each time it seemed like he was falling on his face he saved himself by a big step forward holding the balance just as much as it was necessary. Besides that entertainment Soilwork showed a fantastic appearance!<\/p>\n

Nile<\/strong> Fast, brutal, complicated: These are the main characteristics of the four American Deathers! Usually something for me, but to me according to the sound somehow their gig became monotonous. Celebrated by their and a lot of Slayer fans waiting for the headliner the band convinced most of the crowd anyway by \u201cStones Of Sorrow” and \u201cBlack Seeds Of Vengeance”.<\/p>\n

Party Stage
\n<\/em>Graveworm<\/strong> The Italian Blackies weren\u2019t able to hold the standards they had set on their outputs as on their newest release \u201cThe Scourge Of Malice”. The show included nothing special to mention.<\/p>\n

Sinner<\/strong> While Nile Mat Sinner and his fivepiece acted on the smallest Open Air stage. They could have started a cool late night party, but somehow it didn\u2019t work. They motivated the spectators for singalongs to \u201cJudgement Day” and the Billy Idol-cover \u201cRebel Yell”, but this were the only good moments in a mainly boring show. Another boring element: Drummer Fritz Randow played a long drum solo like he had done while the Victory-gig on Thursday. Unnecessary!<\/p>\n

Sonata Arctica<\/strong> Despite the great show at the same place (means: on the same stage) two years ago somehow I didn\u2019t expect that much. But the finish Melodic Metal-band around their very sympathic singer Tony Kakko taught me not to underestimate the fivepiece again. With \u201cBroken”, \u201cReplica”, \u201cFullmoon”, \u201cThe Cage” and \u201cVictoria\u2019s Secret” they fascinated me and many other lunatics in the middle of the night.Besides that it was very pleasant to watch a Melodic Metal-band without any clich\u00e9. Sonata Arctica didn\u2019t seem to need it.<\/p>\n

W.E.T. Stage<\/em>
\nCallenish Circle<\/strong> The big surprise from last year\u2019s Party San Open Air ruled the tent stage! The Melodic Death Metal-fivepiece from the Netherlands realised a fantastic gig and convinced my colleges which I had lead to this show. With smashers like \u201cForsaken” or \u201cthe last title \u201cObey Me” (\u201c\u2026Two, Three, Go\u2026”) this was no matter for them. In my eyes the winner of this year\u2019s Wacken!<\/p>\n

Heaven Shall Burn<\/strong> Metalcore from Eastern Germany in Wacken, does this work? Oh yes, for sure it does! Their set mainly consisted of their second release \u201cWhatever It May Take” as of a few songs from their debut album \u201cIn Battle” which is dominated by the Death Metal-style of their early days. Fronter Marcus and his comrades also presented some new material and were able to organize Hardcore-rituals like circle-pits and the wall of death on the Heavy Metal-festival. This experiment worked even better than just well!<\/p>\n

Darkane<\/strong> The Death-Thrashers from Helsingborg had to play against Stratovarius who acted on the big stage. But nevertheless the tent was full which shows the state the fivepiece reached with their albums \u201cRusted Angel”, \u201cInsanity” and the new \u201cExpanding Senses”. The Swedes were very active and conquered the tent which they left after \u201cConvicted”.<\/p>\n

Conclusion:<\/strong>
\nWe\u2019ve never worried too much about the latest Wackens, but this year a few things felt much more relaxed than those things had done the two years before. The reasons for this fact are easy two find in the changes and the improvements the organizers obtained which we also mentioned on the top of this article. The billing was great and we had fun in Wacken for now the seventh time! So let\u2019s rock on the 15th WACKEN OPEN AIR anniversary for our 8th time!<\/p>\n

At the Wacken Open Air rocked, drank and partied Tobi Wan Kenobi and Melli!!!!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wacken 2003 Our seventh attendance on the 14th Wacken festival was supposed to turn out to a hole party weekend with many interesting bands. The same procedure as every year? Nearly! After much criticism from other zines, the organizers improved a few aspects which were able to improve: They installed a video screen between the … <\/p>\n

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