The last day of the festival arrived and although I was really tired from all the standing and head-banging, I still felt amazing that I was about to experience one more full hair metal day. The line up was once more, like a dream. More specific, the 3rd day was announced with some new and old bands from glam metal to heavy metal scene such as Hell’s addiction, Princess Pang, Diemonds, Wildside, Leatherwolf, Shark Island, Loudness, DAD, Reckless Love and for the first time together in the same stage, Sebastian Bach (Skid Row), George Lynch (Dokken,Lynch Mob) and Vinnie Appice (Black Sabbath).
This time the time schedule went as planned, with Hell’s Addiction heating up the place really fast for a great day. Wildside’s performance was cancelled early in the morning for unknown reasons that maybe had to do with band’s recklessness. So Hell’s Addiction filled the void in the time schedule. They are new and restless and they seem like they’ve been working hard this years, since they were too familiar with the big stage and the large crowd. Everyone loved them and we stayed and watch the whole setlist. Their songs and their great live performance fulfilled my expectations of a new coming band. I will definitely look for them soon.
What You Gonna Do, We Are On Fire, The Rocker, On The Road Again, Time Has Come, The Way I Feel, Holiday
The first known band of the day was Princess Pang, who performed before not that known Diemonds due to some changes from the organizers. Jeni Foster filled the stage with her presence, although she is tiny. Her voice identical to the 80s and her spunk nonnegotiable. She was running the whole time on stage and made everyone stare at her. Even though many of the bands’ song were forgotten with time, Trouble In Paradise was sang by the whole venue!
With Diemonds performance I wasn’t that excited. The female singer is still vocally in an immature level and she needs more lessons if she wants to make a difference. The mistakes in her singing were more obvious after listening a few minutes before to a singer like Jeni Foster. The rest of the band was fine but they were barren of interesting material.
The change of artistic quality became really obvious when Leatherwolf came on stage. One of the most interesting heavy metal bands of USA and definitely some musicians with high professionalism. Stage,musical and vocal performance were flawless and the sound was crystal clear. They touched perfection. Their setlist was mindblowing and I lost my voice from the first 3 songs, while Olivieri was stealing the show with his presence.
Spiter, Street Ready, Rise Or Fall, Thunder, Alone In The Night, Gypsies and Thieves, Hideaway, The Calling, Wicked Wa
The moment of Shark Island arrived and we couldn’t believe that someday we would listen to live the amazing hit of the 89’, “Paris Calling”. Richard Black was the only member of the old Shark Island and a great figure that marked us out with his unique dance moves which many claim that Axl Rose stole from him. So for me was all about him and the songs! Truth be told, the band joining him had nothing to do with Shark Island as we know it. A crazy guitar player who looked much more like a Ramones member under the influence of strong drugs, the second guitarist was mostly a music school teacher who had never been to a heavy metal concert till this day. The bass player he was more like a hipster who mostly plays for pop bands than metal. As for the drummer he was kind of lost up there. They might be all great musicians but they are really far away from the hard rock and metal attitude. Richard Black came on stage dressed like it was winter. He was wearing a long-sleeved turtleneck sweater and a beret.. A style that had us all confused. His voice though was exactly like the 80s since he didn’t overuse it all those years of absence. He wasn’t moving like Richard Black of the 80s.But maybe that was a good thing for his image, since he was nothing like that guy anymore. The songs I didn’t expect them to play live was the cover of The Chain(Fleetwood Mac) and also the soundtrack song of Point Break, My City. From our favorite album Law Of The Order we listened to Paris Calling but there were many songs missing…
Make a Move, Somebody’s Falling, Father Time, The StrangerGo West, Paris Calling, My City
After one hour of a really tiring delay, because I guess Loudness wasn’t there on time, the Japanese legends went on stage to celebrate 30 years of the release of Lightning Strikes album. Unfortunately, they didn’t have time for soundcheck, so they came on stage unprepared and their first and most famous song Crazy Nights, came out completely “sound” wrong. Of course nobody was upset since everyone was expecting them patiently through all this time. Meanwhile the sound was improved and we finally enjoyed a great show with indescribable guitar solos from the master of the kind, Akira Takasaki. Loudness are still in great shape after all these years. The return of Minorou Niihara really made a difference. That was a show that the only words to describe it are, Louder Than Hell!
Crazy Nights, Heavy Chains, Let It Go, Black Star Oblivion, The Sun Will Rise Again, In the Mirror, Crazy Doctor, S.D.I.
One of the most known bands in Denmark is D.A.D., especially the bass player Stig Pedersen is known for his really eccentric look and stage performance. He also loves to change bass guitars every 3 songs, coming each time with a custom made bass that is only made for the specific tour. In this show he was dressed as a pilot and his bass had a miniature of German WWI pilot von Rihtofen trademark red triplane Fokker Dr.1 while its body looked like an iron cross. He also took out his classic blue led-lit transparent bass guitar. Jesper Binzer was once more a great performer and one of the most easily abducted frontmen .The setlist wasn’t really my cup of tea but the show was quite interesting and very professional.
The time had come for me to go in the first row. Reckless Love was the band before the headliners and a band with a really strong fan base in United Kingdom. Their intro song was the well known “The Boys Are Back In Town” by Thin Lizzy and the setlist started with Animal Attraction. The crowd was full of women who went nuts the moment Olli Hermann stepped on stage. Reckless love is the new wave modern hard rock band that we all love to hate. Well I love them, but there are many people that hate them because of their really eccentric feminine look of the frontman. They have also many songs that could be easily radio hits and I am still wondering how is possible that they didn’t became more famous outside of the hard rock culture. Olli sings better than ever, having improved his high pitched notes. Full of energy and passion, the band delivered an unforgettable show!
Animal Attraction, So Happy I Could Die, We Are the Weekend, Monster, Beautiful Bomb, Born to Break Your Heart, On the Radio, Hot
This incredible festival couldn’t end better. Headliner was an ALL STAR BAND with Sebastian Bach, Vinny Appice and George Lynch. When I first read that those 3 stars would come together on stage I thought it was a joke. Until the came on stage I couldn’t believe it. The announcement came true the moment that Sebastian Back sang the first lyrics from the Dokken song Hunter .At last I was listening to Dokken with great vocals. Who would expect that the man who would sang Dokken better than Don Dokken would be Sebastian Bach of Skid Row. That night I’ve listened to some of my favorite songs of Skid Row, Dio and Dokken. Every single one of those songs, was performed with great respect to the original. As those 3 stars weren’t enough, Akira Takasaki also joined them on stage .They played Crazy Nights to make up for the bad sound of Loudness . Of course the highlight of this night was when Akira sang with Sebastian Bach “Highway to Hell” and the stage filled with fans who came on stage with Sebastian’s invitation.
If this isn’t a rare and collective concert then I don’t know what tops it.1000 of those fans who were there and lived an amazing and unforgettable festival will talk about it in the years to come. So guys, please. Open your mind and mostly your ears and see what’s going on around you .There are many great festivals out there if you really care to look. Thankfully there are all online so we won’t forget not even a moment. Seize the day and don’t hide behind your Facebook profile or YouTube. Music is out there. Hair Metal or Glam Metal or Sleaze or A.O.R., whatever is that you prefer, is still there and growing. The only thing that keeps it alive is your presence and support!!
Mariza “Crash”
The Hunter, Alone Again, 18 ‘n’ Life, I Remember You, Mob Rules, Stand Up ‘n’ Shout, Youth Gone Wild, Crazy Nights, Highway To Hell
