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After three daily reports, it’s hardly surprising that the fourth report of this kind awaits you here. It is, how could it be otherwise, about Rockharz Saturday, which disappointed me a little this year. As always, you’ll find the reasons below, but as a little prelude I’ve dropped a few more critical notes. Even though it wasn’t a bad festival day by any means, it’s part of honesty to talk about things you didn’t like. There were also one or two bands that touched me deeply. Find out which bands I mean, what I would like to see in the next few years and why dancing men on stage is somehow also fun!
Huge thanks to lightinmirror.de for the awesome photos!
What I have to say!
I thought long and hard about whether and to what extent I should really repeat what I have to say about this year’s Rockharz here. Especially in view of the fact that I have already explained something similar in my preliminary report. But it was too important to me not to mention it again!
I’ve been attending Rockharz since 2014 and have only missed 2015 and 2019 so far. We’re not just attending the festival with this blog because it’s a big and important festival, but because it’s simply part of our home and it’s inextricably linked to our personal history with Metal music. Without Rockharz, this website wouldn’t exist and that’s something that will always bring us back to Ballenstedt.
However, this year, as in no other year before, I particularly noticed that the line-up simply lacked the wow factor in some places. I’m well aware that you can’t like all the bands on a line-up and I don’t have that claim. What bothers me more is that bands are repeatedly booked that seem to have been bobbing around in metal for eons and have simply lost their appeal over time. It lacks the courage in booking bands that the masses don’t have on their radar. You should also keep an eye on which bands are currently dominating the metal scene. I would have loved to see GOJIRA, LANDMVRKS, MOTIONLESS IN WHITE or HARAKIRI FOR THE SKY or MANNTRA (again) at the airfield in Ballenstedt. Instead, they book a cover YouTube project with FROG LEAP, for example, or give DIE KASSIERER such a good spot and then put GLORYHAMMER and CRADLE OF FILTH on the running order one after the other. I just don’t understand that! The already announced band confirmations also show that: No hate for MOTORJESUS or GOTHMINISTER, but it’s just nothing that’s exciting. I would tend to extend this statement to HELLOWEEN, but there are still more than enough people who want to see this band live.
For the coming years, I would therefore like to see a long-term consolidation of the visitor base. An audience that enjoyed bands like CLAWFINGER 20 or 30 years ago (and probably did again this year) will simply no longer be there in 20 or 30 years‘ time. It’s the booking team’s job to keep this in mind and to book a few bands that appeal to a younger audience. It’s really not an easy task to make a good booking that does justice to all interests, but I’m sure that Rockharz has a few capable people who can do it!
Despite all the criticism, I must emphasize that we had a really wonderful festival that left us very inspired. We don’t just come for the music, we also come for the community that welcomed us with such open arms. It is therefore very important to me that there will also be a Rockharz in the coming years, which will be worth a visit above all because of the line-up!
But that’s enough of a preface! After all, this is a music blog!
Covers, identity crises and the big question of “why?”
The fourth Rockharz day started for me around 12:30 p.m. I was looking forward to the performance of ROBSE with great interest. Unfortunately, the debut album of the self-titled band of the singer, who became famous through EQUILIBRIUM, didn’t convince me, even though it was well produced. I had more hope for the live performance. Robse has definitely managed to recruit some really talented musicians for his band, who really carried the show for me. I have to pay tribute to them here, because you could tell how much they enjoyed this performance. ROBSE was definitely a highlight for the fans in front of the stage. The only thing that bothered me enormously was that the songs sounded like something I’ve heard hundreds of times before and thus unfortunately couldn’t convince me. On the other hand, an inherent problem with Robse and his band has revealed itself to me: In trying to both emancipate himself musically from his time with EQUILIBRIUM by means of his own band and yet still feed off the fame of those (now bygone days), it becomes clear that Robse was not the creative force behind the EQUILIBRIUM songs we all love so much. It’s still unclear to me who ROBSE actually are artistically. Especially when ROBSE played the EQUILIBRIUM songs Karawane and Met, I noticed that. The contrast to their own songs is so immense and at the same time I also had the impression that Robse couldn’t really keep up the tempo of the EQUILIBRIUM songs from the set. Maybe you should just be honest with yourself at this point, let go of the past completely and sharpen your own artist profile so that it goes beyond “I am Robse from EQUILIBRIUM”. In my opinion, the first step would be to remove the EQUILIBRIUM songs from the set.
On the fourth day of Rockharz there was generally very little music for me to listen to, so I spent most of the time watching the bands from the VIP stand. I then returned to the “real” Infield during VISIONS OF ATLANTIS. I love Clementine Delauney’s voice and with a touch of piracy, it’s great fun! Actually, we don’t want to do so much Power Metal anymore, but hearing songs like Melancholy Angel and Armada live made me wonder if it wouldn’t make sense to see them on tour with WARKINGS next year… But well, we’ll see what happens by then!
But my undisputed highlight of the day was AVATARIUM. The Swedes around singer Jennie-Ann Smith were unable to perform last year because the festival was evacuated due to the weather, so I was particularly looking forward to seeing them. And guys, what a brilliant, emotional and musically perfect set it was???? I just love the detailed guitar solos, the bluesy sound of Jennie’s voice and the unconventional songwriting! With songs like Rubicon, Moonhorse and Long Black Waves they have only played their way further into my heart. Rarely have I experienced such a genuine, vulnerable and yet powerful performance at Rockharz! There’s something intimate and spiritual about the way the band comes together to play their music, which really moved me to tears at times because I was so happy to finally be able to see them live. This was definitely not the last time you’ll read about them here!
After more than an hour in the sun, I had to have a drink and find some shade. In the meantime, COMBICHRIST took over the Rock Stage. Normally that’s not my kind of music, but I was more into it than I thought! But that’s also the nice thing about working on this blog: You always rediscover things that you had actually ruled out for yourself! In this respect, the perfect music for my break!
The program continued with FROG LEAP. Honestly? I have no idea what else to say… As you may have noticed, I have a bit of a problem with resting on the work of others. In this respect, FROG LEAP had a difficult start. FROG LEAP is a YouTube project that specializes in Metal covers of well-known songs from pop culture and it’s really successful. I, for one, absolutely cannot understand this hype. It’s a cover band… Why give them a 45min slot at prime time at a big festival? I think the approach of booking projects that celebrate great success online is, at its core, right and important, but then you should also book bands that have original material to show, and I’m well aware that FROG LEAP also perform at other big festivals. It’s just as incomprehensible to me. If you book a “band” like that, then you might as well give them an opening slot or an earlier slot in general. In my opinion, the musical performance wasn’t that great either, it was all somehow inconsistent… In this respect, FROG LEAP unfortunately failed for me.
There was more party to be had with the set of MR. HURLEY UND DIE PULVERAFFEN! Admittedly, I wouldn’t call myself a fan of them, but it is always a lot of fun to listen to them. You could feel their emotions considering that their crowd grows immensely each time they perform at Rockharz. It was entertaining, fun and their music has this distinct „Leave your sorrows at home“-factor, that I found quite fitting at this point in the festival. I was especially sold on their Mega Medley!
The Fun-o-meter remained set to „Party“, because DRAGONFORCE took to the stage next. Just by seeing the oversized arcade machines and the huge dragon figure, the spectators were able to ascertain that something was about to decent on them! DRAGONFORCE once again demonstrated why they have the legendary standing they have by playing songs like Power of the Triforce, A Draco Tale, Cry Thunder and, of course, Through the Fire and Flames! The only point of criticism I have is for one person (or multiple people) in the audience: During Power of the Triforce, the band threw a stuffed chicken toy into the crowd with the expressed stipulation that it was to come back to the band after the song was concluded. That didn’t happen und someone kidnapped the chicken… I hope this person steps barefoot into legos! You simply don’t do shit like that!
Since the Rockharz team seems to enjoy contrasts a lot, it was time for ABBATH to conquer the stage after DRAGONFORCE. He and his IMMORTAL-Shows songs are absolutely legendary and I’m going to be honest here: That was more worth watching than all the remaining bands that day! It just got to me that I had the opportunity to listen to songs like Sons of Northern Darkness, One by One, Blashyrkh (Mighty Ravendark) and Withstand the Fall of Time live! ABBATH truly covered the festival in his extravagant Black Metal decadence and I enjoyed every single second of it! Admittedly, this is not something for everyone, but to me personally, ABBATH and IMMORTAL belong to the basic knowledge about Metal and I’m happy that this was recognized on the last day of this festival.
I’m evidently not a fan of Dark Rock which is why I wasn’t moved to delve further into the ASP set. I used the time to eat something again watched it from afar. You have to give it to the band that their songwriting is harmonic, but it’s just to soft at times for my liking. In combination with the headliner of that day, IN EXTREMO, it was quite fitting, which is why I don’t really have anything negative so say to this. The set was however immensely eclipsed by the public proposal our festival mother Dani got from organizer Buddy shortly after the set.
If you made it this far, congratulations! As you may have noticed, the fourth Rockharz day really wasn’t my cup of tea and the headline set of IN EXTREMO further cemented that impression. Even though the music of IN EXTREMO is far from being bad, they are just not relevant enough anymore for me to warrant that headline position. That is the same problem I had with SAXON on Wednesday and what is tied to my critics and wishes towards and for Rockharz, as outlined above. IN EXTREMO are among those bands for me that have passed their zenith and who simply cannot be given that kind of slot at such a huge festival anymore. After the third or fourth song, I feel like I already know the set by heart, there is hardly anything new or exciting and it doesn’t have this „Wow! Incredible to see this band here!“-factor… I sincerely hope that the booking team will dare to be a bit more adventurous next yer!
Speaking of „adventurous“: The last band of the day and of the festival were TRAGEDY. If any band that day divided the masses, then it had to have been TRAGEDY! For some it was unbearable, dissonant slapstick and for others (and I count myself among them) it was just completely stupid entertainment, that was fun simply because it was stupid and not serious at all. I was disappointed by the day anyway and suddenly, there was a band that had that random dancer and that was a welcome distraction. As far as I noticed, the only played cover songs and not even in a good way at times, but for a last band it was totally fine! And honestly, a cover of ABBA’s Lay Your Love On Me at 1am is just a vibe!
And with that we have reached the end of the fourth and last festival report! That went by just as fast as the festival itself! If you’re asking yourself if there was a way to satisfy your need for more content on the best festival in Germany, then don’t fret: We still have one more interview! You can look forward to a talk with a wonderful musician who really impressed me! Besides, we’ll see (or read) each other at concerts in the Leipzig area and, of course, at next year’s Rockharz, true to the Motto: „Made from Metal, Beer and Best Friends!“
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