Location: Opatje selo / Slovenia
Concert date: September 14, 2013
Attendance: 300
Ticket price: €15.00 (one-day) / €20.00 (two-day)
Rainy, gloomy days during the week gave no hint that the sun might come out for the weekend. But how could the sky possibly cry when a metal frenzy was about to hit the Karst? The sun clearly took the invitation gladly and warmed up the already scorching atmosphere of Paranoid Mania even more.
This time our road led us to Opatje selo, a tiny village below Gorica that Paranoid Mania has put back on the events map. And fully deserved, too. The place is really lovely: lots of greenery, plenty of room for benches, tables, and food and drink stands. The grounds even offered a chance to get some exercise on the basketball court and the bocce court. The tent area was nicely tucked away in a small hollow. The stage and the crowd area were set up in a little clearing surrounded by trees on all sides. A truly gorgeous setting.
We only made it to the festival on Saturday evening, but a big chunk of the action had already gone down on Friday. The festival stage was opened at seven in the evening by the hometown guys Estwind. Next up were local black metallers Gorge of Cerberus. Shortly before nine, the Primorska crew Woli Wo took the stage. The festival continued with the fiery space unicorns, familiar faces from the Metaldays festival, Space Unicorn On Fire. Friday night was wrapped up by the face-painted Grimoir.
By the time we rolled into the idyllic little village, the sky was almost dark. Burning Noise’s instruments were echoing across the grounds, while Mephistophelian were getting ready to play backstage. The parking lot was big and roomy. A crowd of long-haired guys and girls dressed in black had taken over the surroundings. The razor-sharp guitar sounds booming from behind the little woods didn’t distract the crowd for a second, as they kept drinking and chatting on the benches, and neither did the group that kept shooting hoops. Everyone at the entrance was super friendly and helpful. For the first time at a festival, I got a sheet with the line-up printed on it, which is definitely commendable on the organizers’ part. The concert area itself was just the right size: never too packed, yet never looking empty either. Ideal.
Mephistophelian took the stage around eight in the evening, and we went off to look around the grounds. The vibe was positive everywhere, with people smiling and happy. Judging by the number of tents in the camping area, quite a few visitors spent the entire night and day right at the venue. During the day, the festival program was spiced up with sports games, while the concert part kicked off as early as five in the afternoon with a set from GMB. Before the aforementioned Burning Noise, the glam-flavored Wild Crew. played. After the Bela Krajina death metallers Mephistophelian, the stage went to Ljubljana’s Panikk, who put out their debut at the start of 2013. After their set, the members of Tomcat stepped up and, during the show, introduced their temporary new guitarist Gregor Žagar. Closing things out were the festival’s headliners, Metalsteel. The set from these seasoned veterans, who have been ruling Slovenian metal stages for more than a decade, also pulled the biggest crowd in front of the stage. And so the concert part came to an end, but the metal revelry carried on at the bar and on the benches, with loud music blasting from the speakers until two in the morning, when we slowly hit the road home. The most dedicated, of course, spent the night right at the venue again.
Even though we only saw a small slice of the action, I can say that the festival-goers felt great. Everything was taken care of, there was a varied lineup of bands so everybody could find something for themselves, a beautiful setting, and clean toilets – none of those dark, grubby plastic-fantastic porta-potties. Kudos to the organizers, who proved that unity really is strength and that you can pull off way more than just a decent festival on short notice. We’re already looking forward to Paranoid Mania 2014.
* Special thanks go to the Paranoid crew for their lion’s heart and for lending RockLine their photographer
Dominika Torkar Photography blogspot
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