Favourite Festival Experiences

[Requiem]

I thought it would be cool to have a thread where people can post their favourite experiences of festivals large and small. 

One of my personally most enjoyable weekends was Hellfest 2008. 

Hellfest has since become a larger than life event with Guns n Roses, Limp Bizkit, Marilyn Manson, Korn and Slipknot headlining to name but too many. I'm really lucky that I got in before it went in that direction, holy hell. 

Anyway, my favourite memories about Hellfest 2008 are nearly all of it. I stayed in a hotel in Nantes so had to travel in a communal car out to Clisson each day and home again. The home again proved crazily difficult because none of us were from France and it was before the GPS days, so of course none of us could find our way through the streets of Nantes in the dark. Highlights of the festival included In Flames' fireworks show, Katatonia, Anathema, Mayhem, Watain, Shining, Apocalyptica, Satyricon, and Anaal Nathrakh. But the whole thing was great. Venom also played (not listed on the poster yet) and Carcass had just reunited I think, so that was fun too. 

 

[BlutAusNerd]

MDF 2014, no question. I shared a bunch about it on another thread here somewhere.

 

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[Requiem]

7 minutes ago, BlutAusNerd said:

MDF 2014, no question. I shared a bunch about it on another thread here somewhere.

 

 

I just googled the line-up. Looks amazing. Crazy that Ulver played - they definitely seem like the odd ones out. 

[BlutAusNerd]

7 minutes ago, BlutAusNerd said: MDF 2014, no question. I shared a bunch about it on another thread here somewhere.

 

 

I just googled the line-up. Looks amazing. Crazy that Ulver played - they definitely seem like the odd ones out. 

 

I believe that they cancelled, or at least I didn't see them there. Top 5 for me was probably Dark Angel, Bölzer, My Dying Bride, The Ruins if Beverast, and Inquisition, but the only band I saw that was less than amazing was Nocturnus. That was the fault of the sound guy butchering their mix though, it was really a shame.

 

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[Skull_Kollektor]

My favorite are these two:

Gods Of Metal 2006 (Milan, Italy): Whitesnake, Def Leppard, Motorhead, Helloween, Gamma Ray, Stratovarius, Angra, Edguy, Sonata Arctica, Crucified Barbara.

I wasn't (and still am not) too keen on most of the power metal bands, but the top three headliners in a row were a real nice treat! I was 18!

 

Frontiers Fest 2014 (Milan, Italy): Night Ranger, Winger, Danger Danger, John Waite, Jeff Scott Soto, some other AOR band whose name I do not know.

This was crazy! I drank ridiculous amounts of beer (which I barely ever do) the whole day, but managed to make it straightish through the whole set. What a night. Brad Gillis, the Night Ranger fella who played with Ozzy and is also featured on the "Stars" single by Hear n Aid, ROCKED the hell out of that theater. He and his whammy tremolo bar are a single entity.

[LaughsInHidden]

Last year at Download when I went drunk driving on the dodgems till the sun came up.

[adomanim1]

On 4/12/2017 at 2:51 AM, Requiem said:

I thought it would be cool to have a thread where people can post their favourite experiences of festivals large and small. 

One of my personally most enjoyable weekends was Hellfest 2008. 

Hellfest has since become a larger than life event with Guns n Roses, Limp Bizkit, Marilyn Manson, Korn and Slipknot headlining to name but too many. I'm really lucky that I got in before it went in that direction, holy hell. 

Anyway, my favourite memories about Hellfest 2008 are nearly all of it. I stayed in a hotel in Nantes so had to travel in a communal car out to Clisson each day and home again. The home again proved crazily difficult because none of us were from France and it was before the GPS days, so of course none of us could find our way through the streets of Nantes in the dark. Highlights of the festival included In Flames' fireworks show, Katatonia, Anathema, Mayhem, Watain,  Shining, snaptube telegram web Apocalyptica, Satyricon, and Anaal Nathrakh. But the whole thing was great. Venom also played (not listed on the poster yet) and Carcass had just reunited I think, so that was fun too. 

 

I get all the way back to my hotel room and empty the backpack I had been carrying all day and out of one of the inner pockets falls out my hackey sack I hadn't seen since 10th grade.... HOW DID HE KNOW?!?!

[CumBloodSucker]

DIdn't want to open a new thread so this fits here quite allright.

I was at a metal fest last weekend. Best performances of the weekend: 

1. Vomitory 

Tight, hard edged death metal. Great machine! 

2. Batushka 

The numinous one. Best atmosphere.

3.  I am morbid (Morbid angel) 

Always reliable legends. Sandoval and Vincent are still kicking it. 

4. Impaled nazarene 

Grinding punkish old school black/death metal. Still not slowing down. 

5. Suicide angels 

The black horse. Thrash metal from Greece. They had the inside stage and they owned it. Better show than Sodom. I don't know if I will ever listen to them on record, but great live band. 

Sodom, Dark funeral, Emperor, Watain were business as usual.  

Out of my taste but still listenable. Before the dawn, Bloodred hourglass, Leprous. 

I missed Asagraum and Chamber of Unlight, but that's okay. I see them in other bm gigs anyway.

[thrashinbiker]

One of my never-fails-to-bring-a-smile-to-my-face memories is going to see Metallica's Big Day Out in July 1999, when I was twenty-one.  It took place at the Milton Keynes Bowl, which, for those of you from outside the UK, is roughly 70 miles outside of London and some 180 miles from where I live.

It was a scorching hot day, and, if I remember, when the heat reached its zenith, the mercury was around 30 degrees Celsius.  Pretty hot for the UK back then, though we have much hotter days now (just for trivia, the UK had its first recorded temperature of 40oC last year, so things are definitely heating up).  

My brother, D, unusually for him, as we are not super close, gifted me a ticket because one of his friends had dropped out at the last minute.  He lived in London at the time, so I was being given a lift down by another friend of his, M, who was also attending.  M and I weren't friends, in the same way you don't tend to be with the friends of your older siblings, but I was just out of college and didn't have much money and a free ride there and back (I did pay something towards petrol) was too good to refuse.  

D & M weren't really metalheads, though they did like Metallica, so fair enough.  We got there around 11am and the place was already pretty crowded, though thankfully, The Bowl is huge and can more than accommodate a large crowd.  Unfortunately, there is nowhere to shelter from the sun so it was steaming already by the time the bands started up at midday.  

There were two stages set up - the main stage and the Kerrang! stage, with bands alternating between the two.  

Fortunately, though we said we would have the odd beer, the queue and the prices kept us away from alcohol and for once even I resolved to be "dry" that day as mixing alcohol, blazing sun and a day long festival would not have worked out well.  I wanted my energy for Metallica!  D & M were wearing Metallica t-shirts (I have never seen either of them wear band t-shirts before or since) and I was dressed in my usual jeans and a Puppets tee - my normal wardrobe for many years, including the present.  I also had my jacket with me but that didn't remain on for long (though it later served as a useful pillow for a light snooze and for shielding my head from the sun).  

We had also brought a cooler and packed it with ice and LOTS of bottled water.  Security were a bit funny about the cooler (they checked it for alcohol) but I explained I had a medical condition that required constant hydration (admittedly a porkie, but there we are) and I was in!  It's the first and last time I have - either successfully or not - sneaked water into a venue.

This post is already getting a bit long (perhaps I should change my username to TL;DR?) and I want to focus on Metallica but just to give you a few highlights:

Sepultura - They were fucking excellent.  M & D had never heard Sepultura before, but, to their credit, they gave it some beans and happily bounced away to the music.  The crowd went wild over Roots, Bloody Roots (Roots) and while I can't remember their whole setlist (it is getting on for a quarter of a century ago!) I remember being awed by those guys.  

It was during Sepultura's set that I encountered a young pup (no more than seventeen) who was looking a bit woozy and unsteady on his feet.  I accompanied/led him to the medics and it turns out he was just dehydrated and I saw him later on and he was fine.  

Marilyn Manson - I'm not a Manson fan (sorry if there are any Manson fans reading this), but I have to say his set was well received, that is, until someone threw a water bottle at him, which hit him on the head.  He stormed off stage, demolishing the drum kit as he did so and, despite the band hanging around looking a bit what-do-we-do-now? eventually left the stage when it was clear Manson was not to return.  

Looking back with a, well, I won't say more mature mindset, since I am still as big a fucking kid as ever, even at forty-five, shall I perhaps say the perspective of an older thrashinbiker, I feel sorry for the Manson fans - there was much disappointment with the set being cut short and judging by the crowd there was a strong contingent who had come to see their hero.  

Just before I get to the main event - the crowd were excellent.  I had numerous chats with fellow metalheads and the atmosphere was friendly with that metal camaraderie and bonhomie flowing freely.  Various people rocked out to Pitchshifter, Creed, Monster Magnet and Queens of The Stone Age, among others and while it was scorching, the presence of the sun just gave everyone that feel-good factor.  In fact, if you discount the pit, where anything goes, the only animosity I saw was a couple, (slightly older than I was at the time, I'd say mid-twenties) when I was on my way for a potty break, who were quite softly but fiercely bickering over what time they would be leaving (he wanted to stay, she clearly didn't.)

I managed a light snooze while on cooler guarding duty while M & D went off to explore.  

Metallica - Love them or loathe them (or be indifferent if you so wish), it can't be denied that the Metallica men know how to put on a show and, by 1999, they certainly had advanced their prowess and showmanship to a comfortable arena level slickness.  They emerged onstage to the expected roars of approval from the crowd.  

They opened their set with a cover of Budgies' Breadfan (featured on the B-side to Harvester of Sorrow, (1988) and also Garage Inc.(1998)), closely followed by Master of Puppets (Master of Puppets, 1986), which had me surging forward as much as I could do get down and mosh.  

I have to say, the pit was pretty tame compared to many others, though I would put this down to the heat, fatigue and, in some cases at least, alcohol consumption which had tired out a few of our metal family.  

While I decried it on another thread, the performance of Fuel (Reload, 1997) was better live than it was on the album, I rocked and yelled along to the words with everyone else.

I have to say, despite my lack of closeness to M & D, in that moment, while Metallica were onstage, the metal brought us temporarily together and any hostilities and differences were forgotten.  

As the sun went down (I remember it getting darker as the pyrotechnics kicked in) the crowd - me included - absolutely rocked along to Seek and Destroy (Kill 'Em All, 1983) and James totally tuned in with the crowd's vibe and played chorus after chorus snarling "Searching..." so the crowd could then finish off with "seek and destroy!" about 80 million times.

NOTE - It NEVER got old and the band tired of it way before we did

I was kind of gutted that they didn't play Harvester of Sorrow (one of my favourites) but Wherever I May Roam (Metallica, 1991) and Fight Fire With Fire (Ride the Lightning, 1984) were both amazing.  

All of the songs were great, in all honesty, and perhaps it is the haze of the passage of time that is responsible for my enthusiasm but I don't remember being disappointed at all in any of the performance of the Metallica men.  

Of course, Metallica love nothing more than a crowd braying for an encore, and when they had finished their main set and walked off, the crowd started up demanding for more, the sunset and subsequent drop in temperature (though it was still bloody warm!) seeming to re-energise the crowd.  

Back on they came and churned out Nothing Else Matters (well, I suppose they had to) and Sad But True (Metallica, 1991) and Creeping Death (Ride the Lightning, 1984), before buggering off yet again.  

Of course, back on they came and did an excellent rendition of The Misfits' Die, Die My Darling (released as a Misfits single in 1984, also featuring on the later reissued CD and Cassette versions of their album Earth A.D.)  Metallica also featured a cover of this song on Garage Inc., in 1998.  A real treat with James, Jason and Kirk all giving it loads on the vocals, the crowd went ape at this performance and, despite my largely limiting my experience of Metallica to their first four albums, these days, I do give this a sly listen now and then.  There are also some great live performances of it available.  I have pasted one below for you, which is also from 1999.

Finally, after another I'm-going-to-pretend-to-walk-offstage-again moment, James returned to his mic and the thrashing clan launched into Battery (Master of Puppets, 1986) and oh, what a finish.  I remember the crowd being almost silent during that melodic introduction and me excitedly whispering to M & D "It's 'Battery'!!"  Of course, they had fuck-all clue what I was talking about, but as James, Jason and Kirk launched into that scything guitar mash up, Lars flailed away behind his drum kit and was absolutely dripping with sweat, unsurprisingly.  All credit to him for still managing to brandish a drumstick as he - if not all of them - must have been soaking.  

Sadly, the dying notes signalled the end of the day and, after waiting a few minutes to make sure the band were finally done, we started making our way to the car park, ready to head to London.  There was a bit of a wait while we were able to move the car from it's spot and the three of us sat and talked about what a great day it was.  All of us were drenched (but fortunately hydrated, thanks to the water!) and we headed back to London where I would sleep on the floor of my brother's rented house for the night.  

Ears ringing, heart-pounding, I laid my head on my trusty leather jacket and settled down to sleep, massacring ten hours without waking, before the journey home the next day.  

Fond, fond memories.  And fuck, I wish I was twenty-one again.