Bang-Your-Head Festival 2007
June, Balingen (Germany)
In the past years European metal festivals found a formula to bring together all metal fans, so the billings manage to include all different kinds of genres.
This years Bang-Your-Head Festival also follow that tradition:
Wether is Heavy Metal (Heaven & Hell, Wolf, Hammerfall, Edguy), Power Metal (Vicious Rumors, Evergrey, Lethal, Powermad, Mystic Prophecy, Brainstorm), Hardrock (WASP, Girlschool, Praying Mantis, Thunder, Nazareth), Melodic Death Metal (Dark Tranquillity, Amon Amarth, Finntroll, Amorphis, Mercenary) or Progressive Metal (Archer), most likely there are several acts you find worth checking out. Also it is a great place to check out new talent. Where better to judge a new metal band than on stage?
Balingen gives you 22 bands in two days. If that sounds like a piece of cake compared to other, much bigger festivals in Europe, this is why I prefer Bang-Your-Head in Balingen to Wacken or the Sweden Rock Festival. Bang-Your-Head is simply not too big, yet very successful. Organization, Security, Catering – I don't think you can organize a festival in a better way. Also prices for beer & pizza are moderate.
As you've seen in the bands displayed above melodic rock fans this time did not have so much to look forward to. This is due to another festival (Rock-Of-Ages) which is also organized by the crew of the independent “Heavy” magazine. Secondly STEELHEART had to cancel their appearance, which was one of the most anticipated concerts this summer.
Friday
Arriving at 10:40 a.m. my worst fears seemed to have become reality. Heavy rain instead of heavy metal! All over Germany thunderstorms went down and I was wondering if the festival could be held.
GIRLSCHOOL was the first band on stage to witness and what a sight that was. In a way they didn't seemed to have gotten any older (or wiser). Good humored, in great playing mood, the girls delivered their classic tunes in a pro way that showed their stage routine. In a way they were exactly like I remembered them from back in 1984, when I last saw them live (!). Being one of the most successful female heavy metal bands what else did you expect? I mean they were among the first bands to join the NWOBHM and they are still around... Original member Kim McAullife (guitar / vocals) still leads the band, sharing lead vocal duties with Enid Williams (bass, who joined GIRLSCHOOL for the Screaming Blue Murder record and rejoined after a short break). New lead guitar player is Jackie Chambers and finally on drums another original member, Denise Dufort.
The set list was the expected best of including C'mon Let's Go, Not For Sale, Hit And Run, Screaming Blue Murder, a long version of Out To Get You, Yeah Right, Race With The Devil, Demolition Boys, Emergency.
GIRLSCHOOL delivered best NWOBHM stuff (they did play 4 songs from their debut record Demolition from 1980) and were pure fun to watch.
PRAYING MANTIS simply continued the classic sound from the early eighties, of course with an emphasis on more melodic songs. Trademark double guitar licks, very nice background vocals (no samples folks!) were kind of old fashioned, but that's what PRAYING MANTIS is all about. If you don't like it, listen to something else! Children Of The Earth, Lettin' Go were my favorite tracks. Always a pleasure to watch Chris and Tino Troy, who were joined by Andy Burgess (guitar), Mike Freeland (vocals), Benji Reid (drums).
LETHAL did deliver an expected dose of progressive power metal and won the audience over easily. Until the final Killing Machine LETHAL played a nice mixture of their albums. I knew all the songs, but fail now to remember the tracks. The stage acting was pretty fierce and dynamic, simply lead singer Tom Mallicoat seemed a bit misplaced with his cowboy hat. Most importantly the band rocked, with a very energetic show by the guitar player and bass player. Of course Tom sounded nearly like the studio versions, which was quite impressive to witness.
Good band, good gig.
VICIOUS RUMORS ruled. Coming home to Bang-Your-Head always led into another success story for the troubled band. If you replace one legend (Carl Albert) with another legend (James Rivera of Helstar and Seven Witches fame), what can possibly happen? And James sounded very close to Carl Albert. Even Soldiers Of The Night (from the debut, 1986) sounded familiar, although original vocalist Gary St.Pierre has a different voice. To me, James Rivera is a perfect fit for the renewed Vicious Rumors line up. Let's hope this is more constant. The signs are good because main man Geoff Thorpe and James Rivera are true heavy metal survivors.
The set list was just great: Digital Dictator, Soldiers Of The Night, Don't Wait For Me, On The Edge (superb high screams by James). From the excellent new album Warball they played Sonic Rebellion and Mr. Miracle (which ended the show), two songs that did blend into the high class tracks from the VICIOUS RUMORS back catalog. Abandonded just killed, March Or Die was a blast and Hellraiser had a nice dramatic ending.
Geoff Thorpe once again oimproved his guitar playing taking over more and more of the shredding solos. His new partner on lead guitar was Thaen Rasmussen, who did not shine like his predecessors but was a good fit for Geoff. The rhythms are provided by Larry Howe (drums) the only original member and new kid Stephen Goodwin (bass).
James Rivera announced that in September Europe will get the chance to see VICIOUS RUMORS together with AGENT STEEL on a club tour. So whoever is a VICIOUS RUMORS fan I encourage to join the tour and give the boys a chance to prove themselves. These guys live metal ...
THUNDER
Displaying their sense of humor THUNDER's intro was AC/DC's Thunderstruck which led directly into Loser (Shooting At The Sun, 2003). Danny Bowes was in an exceptional good mood and enjoyed singing very much. This means some songs were longer than expected, with him adding add libs and toying with the audience. The whole performance benefited from his powerful yet soulful vocals.
Back Street Symphony (Backstreet Symphony, 1990), the beautiful crowd pleaser Low Life In High Places (Laughing On Judgement Day, 1992), Robert Johnson's Tombstone (Robert Johnson's Tombstone , 2006), You Can't Keep A Good Man Down (The Magnificent Seven, 2005), The Devil Made Me Do It (2006, latest single). Another classic track that became an emotional highlight was Love Walked In (Backstreet Symphony, 1990). Like NAZARETH on Saturday, the ballads were welcomed and sung along. A great song remains a great song. Back to newer tracks THUNDER played the AC/DC soundalike I Love You More Than Rock'n'Roll (The Magnificent Seven, 2005). The set closed with Dirty Love another track from the debut (Backstreet Symphony, 1990).
Surprisingly the songs were mostly from the last 3 records, and had a certain kind of AC/DC flavor to it. Still, the whole set was welcomed and enjoyed by the fans, and THUNDER had another successful festival performance after playing on the Sweden Rock Festival 2007.
If ever someone wants to know about a great rock'n'roll show, a concert of THUNDER is were you should take him.
HEAVEN & HELL
Just go see them. The guys won't get younger. And you might never find the chance to witness the Dio fronted version of Black Sabbath. They are, of course, brilliant. Stellar songs, superb performance, tight playing and one of the best heavy metal voices ever – just go see them.
E5150/The Mob Rules, Children of the Sea kicked of a show and I had goose bumps all over.
Slightly updated versions of The Sign Of The Southern Cross, Voodoo followed. Even the drum solo of Vinny Appice was nice to listen to (although it started to rain again). Computer God, Falling Off The Edge Of The World (very cool), Shadow Of The Wind (new song), and Die Young were next.
Because of the slightly shorter time to play (curfew is 11:00 p.m. Sharp) the other 2 new songs as well as After All (The Dead) did not make it into the set list. The song Heaven And Hell marked the absolute highlight of the concert, and it was evident the guys tried to vary their long version with new and different parts to keep it fresh. The crowd was chanting happily along with Ronnie (“Sing me a song, you're a singer”) and it was goose bumps time again.
The encore Neon Knights nailed a perfect concert.
Magic.
Saturday
BRAINSTORM are always welcomed guests to Balingen as they are part of the scene in south Germany. They play what I like to call the working man's power metal. The show was centered around their latest release Liquid Monster, with a most impressive Inside The Monster as one of the highlights from the album. They close the show with their most melodic hymn (which I can't remember while writing this) – the crowd sing along even after the gig, so BRAINSTORM won them over. This might indicate the only problem the band has – their songs are not quite as catchy as they could be and this is not due to singer Andy B. Franck's abilities. Pure power and instrumental ability doesn't impress in the long run. One has to admit also that BRAINSTORM developed from local heros to a well-known band in Europe.
NAZARETH
You could consider NAZARETH one of the most brutal bands on the billing. Take the classic rock background of the band that is being around nearly 40 years, with several hit singles that became all time classics, and then add the brutal yet cool voice of singer Dan McCafferty. What a contrast and what a fun to watch them. Beside Dan and original bass player Pete Agnew the band consisted of Lee Agnew (drums) and guitar slinger Jimmy Murrison. Nice to see Mr. Murrison wearing a Slayer-T-Shirt. Ha!
So if you expected to see old men play their 70's legacy you were disappointed. Rock music doesn't get old. NAZARETH proved this to be true. Starting with a drum rhythm they kicked off their show with Night Woman (Razamanaz, 1973), a spledid rocker after which Dan McCafferty greeted the crowd in German “Guten Abend Balingen, meine Deutsch is' scheiss” (Good Evening Balingen, my German is fucked up). That's how you win an audience!
Razamanaz (1973), This Flight Tonight (Loud N' Proud, 1974) – NAZARETH know how to rock. In between a heavy blues (I Want To Do Everything For You) then back to the great Razamanaz record with the slow rocker Alcatraz. Even Dream On did get a super feedback with NAZARETH managing to make it sound like a rock ballad, not a pop song. Holiday (Malice In Wonderland, 1980) and the superb medley of Telegram and So You Wanna Be A Rock'n'Roll Star (Close Enough To Rock'nRoll, 1976) were next. The super cool Hair of The Dog (1975) included a short bag pipe solo from Dan McCafferty.
And yes, even Love Hurts was welcomed and kept everyone in a good mood. Which is exactly what you can say of the stage acting of Dan and Pete, who made fun of each other and had a blast playing for a metal audience. The last song was also the oldest, dating back to the debut of Nazareth from 1971 - Morning Dew.
Whatever you think of NAZARETH, this was just great.
WASP
Nearly 15 minutes late and it was said that Blackie Lawless was in a bad mood. Seems like a good starting point for a heavy metal concert, doesn't it? The concert followed the expectations – Blackie didn't address the crowd very much but seemed to use the gig to get rid of his bad energy. “Hey Deutschland are you ready to kick some ass?” Which led to a pretty good concert.
A lot of action on the stage from Doug Blair (lead guitar) and long time bass player Mike Duda. No theatrics but a down to earth metal show. Mike Dupke (drums) provided a powerful backing while Blackie was more or less tied to the microphone and his guitar. I found it strange that the background vocals sung by Blair and Duda resembled Blackies voice very much, but maybe that's just me. Blackies lead vocals came through rough and ready. He led WASP through a set of highlights with 2 tracks from the (phenomenal) Dominator record (Take Me Up and Burn?). On Your Knees, Inside The Electric Circus, Love Machine, Wild Child started off the show, The Idol, I Wonna Be Somebody, Blind In Texas marked a successful closing.
The show very enjoyable and could – and should – have been longer.
HAMMERFALL
After a short intro Threshold started with some pyros, quickly followed by Templars Of Steel and Riders Of The Storm.
Renegade, Blood Bound (pyros again), Reign Of The Hammer, Glory To The Brave, The Fire Burns Forever, Let The Hammer Fall, Crimson Thunder, Hammerfall displayed a set with an nearly equal focus on all the released records. Of course the latest release (Threshold, 2006) was featured with the most tracks, all in all 4 songs.
The encores comprised of Natural High and Hearts On Fire and judging by the fans reaction they were fully satisfied. Truly this was a very good show, with HAMMERFALL proving to be a worthy special guest on the festival. The addition of new bass player Fredrik Larsson did not have any impact on the show (ok, the sometimes overdone stage acting of Magnus Rosen was not missed), simply because he integrated well into the band. Oscar Dronjak and Stefan Elmgren rocked with great fun, Anders Johannson was a great pace maker and as always the singing of Joacim Cans was superb.
One of the highlights today.
EDGUY
Saturdays headliners were EDGUY, a German melodic power metal outfit that released 9 records to date (if I am not mistaken). After superstar bands like THE SCORPIONS, JUDAS PRIEST, DIO, TWISTED SISTER, SLAYER (among others) it came as a surprise to see EDGUY getting the headlining spot. Some were skeptical, and yes, this included me. On the other hand EDGUY are very much present in the German charts with their releases and the songs were getting better with each record. As you might expect, their latest album ROCKET RIDE is my favorite. I have to admit I didn't even planned to stay until the end. But I did.
Simply, because EDGUY were a worthy headliner. First of all the crowd stayed until the last song, secondly sound and show was excellent, third the songs were very good and known by most.
Lead singer Toby Sammet is our answer to late David Lee Roth with lots of positive attitude, energy, running around and singing his lines nearly perfect (I mean he was really running around on the festival stage, which is pretty long).
The band enjoys making fun of themselves, heavy metal as a genre and the clichés that come with it. Toby tends to be talkative (love it or hate it) and of course couldn't resist in commenting the latest soccer results.
The set list included Lavatory Love Machine (Hellfire Club, 2004), Superheroes (my favorite, Rocket Ride 2006), Save Me (good ballad, Rocket Ride 2006), Sacrifice (Rocket Ride 2006), Wake Up The King (Theater Of Salvation, 1999), Out Of Control (Vain Glory Opera, 1998) and finally King Of Fools (Hellfire Club, 2004).
Interestingly enough EDGUY even played the song Avantasia from the metal opera project of the same name from Toby Sammet. What else? The drum solo from Felix Bohnke wasn't too long, so it fitted good into the flow of the concert. The rest of the show was pure entertainment.
Watch out for this band, there is a huge potential awaiting to be released.
Thanks to the “Heavy”-magazine for another great metal event, especially Thomas Michel for press handling. Thanks for letting us participate.
CU next year.
Sven Horlemann for www.melodicrock.com
