GRASPOP METAL MEETING 2012 – memories and reviews (Part 1)

Finally Saturday and the first day in weeks, it seems, that I’ve had a fair chance to actually get enough SLEEP. That little detail, sleep, is luxury most of the time around here…

Graspop 2012 is now over. Once again it has been a kick-ass festival, I love it! I went there as a friend of Jon Oliva’s Pain band/crew three years ago and I’ve been coming back ever since.

I love the CROWD– it’s an amazing crowd that really LIVES, eats and breathes rock’n’roll and they are giving the artists all the love and energy that is the substantial fuel needed to create a FANTASTIC show. Without that crazy, dedicated crowd, there would be no magic.

Also, I rarely have good things to say about SECURITY, but I think that Graspop’s security crew deserve two big thumbs up for their hard work and their amazing great attitude. Usually you see the gorilla-like shaved-head, gym-sort of guys with their arms crossed looking like they totally loathe heavy metal audiences.

At Graspop they are professional and efficient. They gently escort crowd-surfers and others out with a pat on their back – “take it easy, man“…. No judgement, no power-abuse. Judging from the looks of some of the security guys and girls, they seem to be metalheads themselves. :-) I wish all festival/concert security crews were like that.

CRAZY GRASPOP CROWD:

There’s just a very relaxed atmosphere in general at Graspop, you can feel the love for metal in the air everywhere you go.

I like the set-up with ONE main stage and three tents. That way you know where to go for the major acts. No digging after MAPS or need for impeccable planning to get from point A to point B. It’s all made simple.

AND – I like their pioneer spirit. Instead of the usual “cameras are not allowed“-bullshit, they have solved it the most logical way: They offer the BEST videos either through live-broadcast and/or out on YouTube. So there’s no need for bootleg-videos when the best quality footage is already out there on the official site. Regularly – not once a week or once a month. Sweden Rock festival have something similar but still not quite as extended as Graspop.

The backstage area is nice, clean, quiet and everything works. At many other festivals you are running around looking for stuff, there’s nobody to ask, no signs no nothing… At Graspop everything is clearly displayed and the backstage crew is nice and helpful.

Basically – I LOVE Graspop Metal Meeting!

Three days and lots to tell – I don’t even know where to begin. But I guess reviews are the most logical place to start. :-)

I came pretty late to the area, because I had been out for dinner with Vera and Ronald, a photographer friend of hers. So when I passed the entrance gates I saw that Swedish band SABATON were on stage. They were just wrapping up their set so I wouldn’t be able to review it properly, they sounded great from afar. :-)

Then came the part where I had to get in the front row – suffer through a band that I wouldn’t normally choose to see – in order to get a good spot for the evening’s headliner OZZY & FRIENDS.

I had to survive SLAYER first.

It’s no secret that Slayer is not my cup of tea at all. I’ve seen them a million times it seems, since the 80’s, yet their stuff never appealed to me. The coolest thing about their gig was that it was so clear that Tom Araya enjoyed every minute of his time on stage. As “dangerous” as he was trying to look, you could still see little twinkly stars in his eyes when he was looking out at the worshipping crowd. 

And there was an incredible comeradery in the audience, crowd-surfing, hi-fiving, big smiles, just a great feeling. However, it was tough down there in the crowd (my muscles were aching really bad the next day). I was saved by a guy in the front who moved to offer me room at the barricades and then kept asking me if I was okay. Things like that made all the difference when you’re trying to survive a wild crowd.

Regardless my personal taste, I’ve got to hand it to them – they know what their fans want and they are still around because they genuinely love playing. 

Managed to get ONE fairly OK video clip from Slayer’s show – with crowdsurfing fans included… When the camera dives down, it’s because I’m about to get somebody’s shoe in my head…! Enjoy:

There is also a SLAYER-photo album on my FB-page: www.facebook.com/intherearviewmirror 

I was lucky I got there during the Slayer gig, because nobody moved after that. The front row was packed and it remained that way.

When Ozzy finally hit the stage I was all smiles. I can’t help it, but that man just makes me SMILE. Every time. I don’t even care if he sounds good or bad, he always knows how to entertain people. 

I’ve read some pretty nasty comments from people about his Graspop peformance. “He sounded like shit“-kind of comments. It seems like the whiners aren’t reading the news, or else they should have been happy and grateful that Oz showed up at ALL this year.

Only two days prior to the Graspop-show, he had to cancel a show in Germany due to vocal issues. LAST year he cancelled Graspop due to laryingitis and Judas Priest had to step in as headliners and extend their show to cover up for Ozzy. He couldn’t cancel Graspop again.
So he got up on stage and gave his crowd all he had, good and bad. :)

The man is 64 years old! How great will most people sound in general at that age?! Fuck the whiners, Ozzy ROCKS. Yeah, at times he couldn’t command his voice – but the man is a trooper! He showed up and he KICKED ASS! I was there to see a good show, and I got what I came for – a great show!

There’s an amazing love and warmth in Ozzy that he projects to the crowd, he sincerely seems to enjoy what he’s doing and the smile on his face is contageous. If you could sell that smile and its effects in a bottle, I would buy it! :-)))

Personally, I prefer Ozzy with his own band. All the bling-bling with Zakk and Slash may work as a PR-sort of thing but basically I’d rather see Ozzy do his thing with his own guys – and Slash and Zakk do their own thing with their own bands. I did, however really enjoy seeing Geezer Butler on stage with Ozzy, would have wanted to see more of that. At least it made more sense than Slash.

It was fun to see the bunch on stage together as an All-Star event but if I had to choose, I would want to see Tommy, Adam, Blasko and Gus with Ozzy on stage any day. There’s a chemistry between those guys that works really well and as much as I understand why people want to see Zakk with Ozzy again, it’s a thing of the past now.

Regardless, Ozzy put up a fantastic show – even with his sore throat. I didn’t upload the whole thing on YouTube because I know how cruel people can be. Others probably did, but this time I chose not to. I made ONE video public – you can watch it below (also adding a bonus unlisted video for the readers of this blog):

WAR PIGS (unlisted video – with Geezer Butler & Slash):

 

GRASPOP DAY 2 – coming up. [Adrenaline Mob, Primal Fear, Thin Lizzy, Megadeth, Twisted Sister]

Graspop-here I come! :-)

It’s a little bit frustrating when you have so many things to tell – photos, memories, videos, all that, to share – and you just don’t have time…! :-(

It’s been work, work, work this week, you get home feeling totally beat, pass out early almost every day…
But I have everything in my head – I just need the time, peace and quiet to write it all down. Soon – when I have a whole weekend without any other obligations, there will be tons of shit on here!

Tomorrow it’s time for GRASPOP METAL MEETING in Belgium! Three days of non-stop rock, lots of great acts – and my “family” Jon Oliva’s Pain. So looking forward to all of that. Vera is joining me this time too, at least Saturday and Sunday. Then I haven’t planned anything until July when I’m off to Thessaloniki, Greece again to see Firewind. :-)

So – the Satchel-story and the day when we spent all day on somebody’s stage (Ugly Kid Joe‘s, Motorhead’s, Twisted Sister‘s….) hanging with Hell’s Angels and what not – all that will end up here eventually.

Just stick around. :-)

Belgium, here I come!

 

From one of the many Jon Oliva-shows I’ve been “paparazzi-ing” – ProgPower Atlanta, 2008 – featuring Zak Stevens (Savatage/Circle II Circle) :

Sweden Rock Festival 2012 [part 2]

Wednesday, June 6 – Swedish national day.

After only a few hours of sleep, I went straight to the train station to pick up my Russian colleague Vera (who now lives in Gothenburg) and we drove up to Sweden Rock Festival.

It was pretty early when we arrived so it didn’t take long to get our passes. Vera was going to the camping with some friends so I went to take a look around the area. It had changed a little this year – the press/VIP area had been moved and the entrances were elsewhere so I had to get reaquainted with this place that has been my second home since the 90’s. :) I can’t imagine a summer without Sweden Rock.

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See the full gallery on Posterous

I quickly found the VIP area and the press tent. The first person I saw was, like every other year, the photographer from Expressen, Rickard Nilsson – he was working in there on his Mac, very concentrated on editing a photo when I walked in. :) He later on helped me get my camera batteries and laptop charged when there were just no power outlets in the press area for instance. It’s nice to have old friends there year after year, we can help eachother out.

I spent all afternoon just checking out the area, the merch, the food, everything…. And noticed a music tent that was filled with musicians every day – amateurs and professionals. The staff in there was so nice that it ended up being sort of a little “sanctuary” during the whole festival. That’s also where they had musicians from some of the bands visiting.

The best thing was that nobody seemed to know about it…! The only info there was, was on a sign outside their tent, nowhere else, so luckily there weren’t that many people at the signings, which gave it all an intimate, cool atmosphere.

That first day I only had 2 shows that I wanted to see, both Swedish, melodic rock acts:
H.E.A.T and Dynazty (whose album is still one of my favorites this year).

H.E.A.T played in broad daylight but managed to really get the audience going. Just that one small detail that separated H.E.A.T from Dynazty for instance was that H.E.A.T’s guitarist walked out, went straight to the edge of the stage and took immediate contact with the audience – THAT’S how you create a connection between band and crowd.

Although it was a little bit too much melody for me, I still have to give them credit for handling the stage like real pros.

Went to see Dynazty later in the evening, and it got really cold by then. Met two ladies that I got to know at the Whitesnake-gigs last year. They were also die-hard fans and one of them show me a tattoo she got recently – of the WS-logo! Very cool.

Ws

Anyway, my friends Mari and Henrik showed up too and we ended up hanging at the barricades waiting for the show cause there was nothing else to do. Dynazty finally hit the stage.

Their gig was good – but not brilliant. And I was trying to pin-point exactly why. Cause the vocals were good, the playing was good and they obviously had a good time on stage… But – it still wasn’t magic, it didn’t give me the kick that separates a good gig from a great one. Then it hit me, it was pretty simple actually: They lacked the contact with the crowd that a band MUST have. If you don’t look at people and acknowledge their existence, you’re taking away the exchange of energy between crowd-band that makes a show memorable.

The very same thing used to bother me with Rob Halford when he went up on stage wearing black sunglasses, insisting on staring at his shoes. It was like…”helloooo, we’re here?!”

It was cold as fuck too, maybe that had a bit to do with it too, I don’t know. But for a first day this was perfect. I drove home to get a few hours of sleep before the next day when I was about to make a complete ass of myself in front of Steel Panther‘s Satchel, reporters and god knows what else…!

Stick around.

[to be continued..] 

Ozzy & Sweden Rock Festival [Part 1]

It’s been a busy time for me, which is why there just has been no time (or energy) to write. It’s just so typical that when you have TONS to write about, it’s also usually when you don’t have a chance to do it. :) And now… Graspop Metal Meeting in Belgium is only a few days away, so it’s really now or never. 

Let’s start with June 2nd – the day after the Ozzy-show in Malmö, Sweden…..

My friend Bianca had come to Malmö to get another chance to see Ozzy because she had such bad luck last year. We both went to Graspop, for her it was mainly about seeing Ozzy – but… he got sick that day and had to cancel. So, she went all the way to Belgium without even seeing him. This time she finally got to see him.:-) And she loved the show – who doesn’t love Oz, he’s just the most lovable man ever. :-D

[From the Malmö-show]

After freezing our asses off all day, we slept really well that night after the Ozzy-gig. Then the next day, she took the train back to Skövde, and I got on a train to Copenhagen where I was about to board a train to Dortmund, Germany – for the next Ozzy AND Steel Panther-show.

I was so excited about it, was looking forward to getting the window seat I had reserved, to look out the window and enjoy the scenery, relax, write a bit on my laptop, and then sleep – a lot. I always sleep so well on trains, so I couldn’t wait to do that. The whole time I had this idea that the train would look just like the modern trains I had been on in the UK for instance. The Virgin-train was great, power outlets, Wi-Fi, comfortable seats…. 

When the train finally rolled in at the platform, I got slightly worried… It looked like something from the seventies, old and rusty – definitely NOT the modern train I had in mind for my 12 hour journey….

The wagon I was supposed to be in – didn’t exist. I had booked a seat in a salon, not a regular compartment or sleeping compartment. But there were only sleeping compartments on that train – for 4 people or more. My god!

I asked the conductor where my seat was and he said that I could “sit here” and pointed at a seat in the compartment he had in front of him. There were 2 teenage girls and an older woman in there. Of course, I didn’t get a window-seat either. 

I took out my laptop and started looking around for the outlet. Asked the conductor where I could plug it in, and he went: “Oh… you can’t . But I can charge it for you in my office, then you can pick it up”. Are you kidding me?? What the f…….?? So, for the next 12 hours, I was supposed to run to his office and charge it every time the battery died? Then I learned that there wasn’t even any Wi-Fi on that old Eastern-Germany piece of crap train from Deutsche Bahn….

So… I hooked up my laptop through my cellphone. That would at least work as long as we were in  Denmark, but as it’s locked for roaming, it would stop working the minute we crossed the border to Germany.

There were no “seats”, only a rock hard bench which resembled what I figure they must have in prison. I was super uncomfortable and was disappointed that I didn’t even have the window seat I had wanted….

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It was the longest trip ever. It would have been fine if I had a book, a magazine, a friend or if the people in there had been nice to talk to – but the lady was a total weirdo (she must have been on parole from a mental institution or something…) and the young girls were listening to their ipods so… I was bored out of my mind after only a few hours.

At 9 PM the old lady decided she wanted to sleep, so we all had to transform the compartment into the sleep compartment that it was – and go to bed. She wanted it dark and quiet. I NEVER go to bed at 9 pm! So I was lying there staring into the dark nothingness, until I finally managed to relax enough to doze off a bit.

JUST when I had fallen asleep there was this creepy horror-movie old-lady laugh in there – really loud! It was the old lady. I thought she was either on the phone with someone or maybe she was reading something funny…. but no, she was just nuts.

Then at midnight when I was fast asleep, someone banged on the door and scared the shit out of me. It was a guy who said that the conductor  told him that bed was his. So, suddenly there was a strange man in there was well. At that point I was tired and pissed off and couldn’t relax to go back to bed, cause I was supposed to arrive in Dortmund at 4 am and I was worried I’d fall asleep and miss my destination…

I arrived in Dortmund, Germany at 4 am almost precisely. It was dark and raining and not a soul on the streets. My original plan had been to walk to the hotel. I had the map and all in my hand, but being as tired as I was, and the weather being crap, I decided to just grab a cab instead. Five minutes later I was outside my hotel.

My German friend, let’s call her Suuded, as she doesn’t want her real name online, had checked in the day before and told the people at the front desk that I would be arriving in the middle of the night. They had told her it wouldn’t be a problem, the front desk was open 24/7. But the man who opened the door for me apparently never got THAT memo…

Front door was locked so when I rang the bell this sleepy and anything but friendly man, opened the door. He looked at me with this angry face that pretty much just had “WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT AT THIS HOUR?!” written all across his forehead.

I explained that my friend was already here, I just wanted him to let me in, as there was apparently only ONE key to that room. He pretended not to understand any English. So I said the same thing, in German – or, my limited German “Meine Freundin ist hier….“…. He didn’t WANT to understand, he was still staring at me like I was sent there by Lucifer himself.

So I called Suuded, woke her up and asked her to explain to the dude in German… He FINALLY let me into the hotel. Then I couldn’t find the freaking room because the numbering system in this hotel was QUITE different from every OTHER hotel – instead of having numbers starting with 1 on the 1st floor and 2 on the second and so on, they ALL began with a “1”…… So I climbed up the stairs to the top floor and still hadn’t found the stupid room. I eventually did – after passing a crack-whore on the way who looked high as a kite.

Introduced myself briefly to my new hotel room-mate, then got about 3 hours of sleep before breakfast. I never even took off the makeup that night. I felt like Alice Cooper the next day…. I just did a touch-up and thanked god that nobody knew me there in Germany.

Suuded was super nice, an attorney with a passion for music. It’s not easy finding females who are in this for the right reasons, so it was great fun discussing music with another girl who knew exactly what she was talking about. That’s the cool thing about the internet, you start talking to someone and next thing you know, you’ve got a friend in another country that you kind of already know through e-mailing…! 

After breakfast we went to the room and got our stuff and went straight to Westfalenhalle. There were only 2 guys outside waiting, so we decided to just go and grab a bite before the show.

I ordered the fillet of pork with pepper sauce and potatoes, and it was the most amazing, heavenly fantastic dish I have ever had in my LIFE! It just melted in my mouth, wow…!

While we were enjoying our meal (and drinks!) it was pissing down outside – I mean REALLY pissing down, the sky was all black and it was like a waterfall. Glad I wasn’t out there.

After dinner we went back to stand in line, and people started coming, all lining up nicely and civilized… When suddenly this guy, whose face I won’t forget, came out, looking all important and started bossing everyone around. Apparently he was in charge of the whole line/barricade/security process and he sure as hell had his own ideas of how that was going to happen. Even the guys working for him were rolling their eyes.

He kept yelling at the fans to move the fuck out of his way, wherever we went, it was the “wrong” place to be. Basically he had ONE mission – to make sure that those horrible rockers were out in the rain where he figured they all belonged. So – eventhough there was a big roof above the entrance, where we would all easily fit in before the doors opened – he made sure that no matter WHERE we stood, if would be out in THE RAIN…

I had a rain-poncho, thank god, so Suuded and I made a “tent” out of it and managed to stay dry. But standing there for 3 hours like that was no fun… I remember a young guy who had nothing, no umbrella, nothing – after those hours he was soaked and his lips were all blue as he was shivering and shaking. Felt so bad for him, he just wanted to see Ozzy Osbourne.

When we got in, Suuded, me and another girl we met in line, got straight to the right side of the stage – the SATCHEL side. She was one of the few who knew that they were opening, there had been almost no advertising about that. “You girls are so cool, I’m so glad I met you!”, and she actually wrote me an e-mail a few days after the show. I’m yet to reply to it. :) Another example of music bringing people together from all over the planet.

The Steel Panther show was as awesome as always – us 3 girls must have been easy to spot as most of the Ozzy and BLS-fans had no idea who Steel Panther were. Suuded got 2 picks that Satchel threw out, one for herself and one for me. I got that one signed at Sweden Rock a few days later.. ;)

The Ozzy show was great. Especially after the Black Label Society gig, I was REALLY grateful to see Oz, cause I’m sorry, I can’t stand BLS, it’s pure torture, boring as fuck. :-/

Ozzy with Geezer or Blasko and Gus G on each side of the stage is what I want to see! After more than 20 Gus-shows, I’m still not bored, the guy was born to be a rock star. I’ll probably never get enough of seeing him on a stage!

[Gus “Rock Star” G!]

After the gig I felt slightly….uncomfortable. I was happy cause the gig had been great – Steel Panther and Ozzy kicked ass. But… I was soaked after the Ozzy-firehose thing and it was COLD, so I didn’t feel like going out in the rain and cold but amazingly, I didn’t even get sick after that ordeal.

It was crazy at the Westfalenhalle train station. Thousands of rockers trying to get into that ONE train, it looked worse than Tokyo! How many rockers can you fit into a train? Apparently quite a lot. :D 

Suuded asked a guy about other options and found a better solution, we were back in city center Dortmund a few minutes later. Went straight to McDonalds, hungry and thirsty.

When we got back to the hotel I was dead tired but couldn’t sleep, uploaded my Ozzy videos on YouTube…

The next morning, after showers and breakfast, we went for a short sightseeing, then to the station. I took the ICE-train to Düsseldorf airport and came home late that evening.

The next day there was very little time for anything – cause that’s when Sweden Rock Festival kicked off!

I picked up Vera, from Classic Rock Magazine Russia, who is now living in Gothenburg, Sweden, at the train station and drove up to the festival….! :)

[to be continued….]

 

Sweden Rock Festival is ON! :)

The Sweden Rock Festival madness is on! During these days, there will be very little time for anything but attending everything and trying to get some sleep. What I will try to do is upload pix as regularly as possible – so check the Facebook page for all that stuff now until Sunday! :)

 

www.facebook.com/intherearviewmirror