Rockharz Turns 30 And Thousands Celebrate!

Zur deutschen Version geht es hier!

Every year again… it’s Rockharz Wednesday! Like last year, you can expect my daily reports in the coming days, followed by the interviews. So you have a lot to look forward to and those who follow me on Instagram might have already seen which talented people I had the pleasure to meet this year as well.

But first things first: Thank you so much lightinmirror.de for the wonderful pictures! I am so happy that we can walk this path together!

And the metal convoy is rolling… or is it?

Murphy’s Law states that everything that can go wrong indeed goes wrong. The dear universe has probably chosen me in advance as the ultimate example to illustrate this. 

My Rockharz preparation usually starts as early as May, when the accreditation is confirmed and I contact the artists, labels and managers regarding interviews. This year I already had a lot of confirmations from one label source, which I was very happy about. Unfortunately, they had to cancel a total of six of the actually planned nine interviews again. And that on the Monday before the Rockharz! So I stood there and was forced to switch into crisis mode. But I allowed myself a short break down with a crying break, you gotta have your priorities straight after all! 

But in cooperation with other wonderful label representatives it was possible to make up for everything and get other interesting interviews. At this point, a huge thank you to all those who helped me at such short notice!

But let’s fast-forward to the actual first day of the festival and the problem I’m sure all participants faced: the arrival traffic jam. As a local, this was never something I really had to deal with because everything was always taken care of by the time I arrived. This year was different! I wanted to be there right at the start, but there was pure traffic jam shortly after Ballenstedt as well as in the village of Badeborn. Well, there’s nothing you can do about it… So I stood in Badeborn for quite a while until I could halfway see the route and drive past the queue to the daily parking lot. The additional visitors compared to last year were definitely noticeable here! Another camping area near the day-use parking lot is also new. 

So my conclusion for my next visit is that I will definitely have to plan more time on Wednesday!

Happy Birthday Rockharz!

Those who had taken a look at the program in advance could read „Worthy prelude“ as the first item. As it turned out, it was ERIC FISH AND FRIENDS who did the honors here. Apart from a small guest performance by Hansi Kürsch, however, I didn’t find it particularly spectacular. Maybe there were people who liked the music, I for one was not one of them.

My time came after EXHORDER with the middle-age rockers from TANZWUT. There I had real party feelings for the first time! The Berlin rockers truly got the crowd dancing with their diverse instrumentation and catchy songs. True to the title of their album „Die Tanzwut kehrt zurück„, hardly anyone stood still here.

Another highlight of the day for me were also the Finns from BATTLE BEAST led by frontwoman Noora Louhimo. With songs like Circus of Doom, No More Hollywood Endings and Where Angels Fear to Fly, BATTLE BEAST once again impressively showed why they are one of the best power metal bands currently. The sheer power of their melodies combined with Louhimo’s voice is simply incomparable! You can just tell that all band members are fully behind the messages and have fun to inspire the crowd.

Things went a bit badly for AS I LAY DYING that day. The Americans around Tim Lambesis not only had a significant flight delay, but the airline also lost all their equipment. These cases seem to accumulate enormously this year, AMARANTHE recently had the same problem, but it is even more annoying that it hit Rockharz of all places. So there was nothing left to do but borrow instruments from other artists present and play an enormously shortened set of 20 minutes. Too bad! But singer Lambesis announced  time a new album with corresponding tour at the same. 

Maybe at this point a few words about Tim Lambesis himself and the fact that the booking of AS I LAY DYING was criticized in the corresponding groups and comment sections: It is true that what Tim Lambesis did (or tried to do) was absolutely wrong and he has been legally convicted accordingly. The basis of any democratic civil society is that a punishment always includes a resocialization aspect. I can see no reason why an offender, who has served his prison sentence, should not be allowed to re-enter society. It is an expression of a tolerant society that we acknowledge repentance and practice forgiveness. Anyone who follows Lambesis‚ resocialization a bit will also recognize that he is working very hard on himself, at least that is my impression. I already mentioned it last year on the subject of STEEL PANTHER: It may not be everyone’s taste and opinions will certainly differ, but you have to acknowledge when other people hold different opinions. For this reason, my opinion on this is certainly not conclusive or absolute, but I feel it is important to point out that a crime does not automatically mean the final exclusion from life.

From such hard topics but now on with music. MONO INC. were very soulful, but due to the fact that BLIND GUARDIAN followed them, this unfortunately went under a bit for me.

BLIND GUARDIAN have their place in the metal scene for a reason and not by chance, which they impressively proved again. Everyone who has ever seen them live will surely agree with me that their music is just so incredibly intoxicating. Every good set of theirs naturally includes The Bard’s Song, Valhalla and Mirror, Mirror. It was like that at Rockharz and it was just phenomenal and  also very emotional for me. There is nothing else to say about it!

In the run-up, wild guesses had also been made as to who the „surprise act“ would be. By the time a striking keyboard was built up, it was clear: it was Germany’s most band in the world, KNORKATOR. One is used to a lot from this group, which plays very catchy dance music with Metal character, but what was offered was pure fun. From a short badminton interlude between Stumpen and Alf to the singing of the KNORKATOR offspring and Stumpen’s excursion into the trench, the atmosphere was definitely not lacking. Whoever was able to stand still here, doesn’t have any sense of humor or fun

At the end of this article I would like to use a small KNORKATOR quote: Brush your teeth, pee and go to bed!