The time of summer festivals was here again. With Flevo festival and all its descendants gone this year it was empty in the Dutch ‘Christian’ summer festival season. Luckily we can depend on yet another year of Freakstock in Germany not far over the border. For us the fifth time we attend. Yet again this year brings a great line-up with music, art, seminars and more. Freakstock always feels like coming home.
It has been a little over two months since Borknagar toured Europe together with four other bands, including In Vain. They did not have a concert in the Netherlands unfortunately. They did however perform just across the border in Oberhausen, Germany. When I arrived, it took me a while to get used to club Helvete. It looks like a large English pub that is transformed into a metal café rather than the typical music venues one sees in the Netherlands. The stage is rather small, but that comes with the advantage that you can get so close to the band members that you can almost touch them.
My phone display shows it’s 20 minutes to nine, perfectly acceptable given that I had to have a 2-hour ride (I don’t live that close to the border). Unfortunately though, Shade Empire, the first act of the evening, starts playing their last song just when I enter the venue. Since one song is obviously way too little for me to make a valuable comment about them, I won’t. way too little for me to make a valuable comment about them, I won’t. It’s about 8 o’ clock when Ereb Altor starts playing. You can’t help but notice that this Swedish band brought their face paint, which makes their appearance somewhat similar to the Dutch band Slechtvalk. Continue reading »
After years without receiving concerts with large scale bands of the underground level, the city of Campos dos Goytacazes/Rio de Janeiro receive’s on a rainy Saturday 3 of the most popular Christian Brazilian.
Since the beginning of the day, it is raining over our heads, and because this a delay happen, but nothing exaggerated, nearly 35 minutes.
The first band to play are a native band, called Metal Alpha, that plays a mix of the modern genres of Metal and put the crowd to jump with their songs especially with their best song called “Revolução”.
The next band to play are Saint Spirit, that unfortunately are impaired with the rain and technical problems which resulted in cutting some songs from their set list (including a new track called “Nameless”). But even with these mishaps the band make a good and energic concert with a lot of stage divings and mosh pits. Courtesy from the fanatic crowd present. Highlights were “Prostitute”, “Release The Kraken”, “Territory (Sepultura Cover)” and “The Unknow God”. Continue reading »
31 July 2013 and it was time again for this year’s edition of Freakstock a festival organized by the German JesusFreaks and held in Borgentreich Germany. Freakstock started in 1995 and was held in Wiesbaden but since 2009 in some old barracks in Borgentreich. The festival presents many varieties of music, workshops and seminars. But the festival has more activities to offer including a soccer competition, tattoo artist, different shops, art exhibition and more. When we arrived I saw a sign with the text ‘Welcome Home’ and I have to agree Freakstock always feels like home.
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After the recording of their new album 8:18 (to be released 9-17-2013) TDWP did a tour amongst the European Summer Festivals. In between the festivals there were some headline shows from them. This show on a Tuesday evening was one of them. Continue reading »