Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Balingen / Messegelände / Germany
Concert date: July 16, 2016
Attendance: 12,000
Ticket price: €109.00 (three-day ticket, presale) / €135.00 (day of the festival)
The third and final day of the 21st Bang Your Head!!! festival in the German town of Balingen finally brought a completely dry, sunny day. The muggy morning heat was back, of course, but we tamed it by hiding out in the shady spots of the old town center. That’s how we caught Swedish old-school heavy metal and heavy rock revivalists Black Trip, who kicked off the last day’s program on the main stage at exactly 11:30 a.m., only in the closing minutes of their set. The band has been around since 2004 and has two albums under its belt. After a rocky start and some early years of finding their feet, they only really caught the wind in their sails in 2011, when the lineup finally settled. Though it’s a young band, its members are seasoned veterans. It’s led by guitarist (formerly bassist) Peter Stjärnvind, who once played with Entombed and Nifelheim, and the lineup is filled out by two former Enforcer members, vocalist Joseph Tholl and drummer Jonas Wikstrand, plus guitarist Johan Bergebäck and bassist Sebastian Ramstedt, who came over from Ordo Inferus. After 2013’s »Goin’ Under«, the band put out a second album last year, »Shadowline«, which was enough to put together a nice 40-minute set woven from old-school metal inspiration. In the closing minutes we caught, it wasn’t hard to pick out the influences of Thin Lizzy, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and UFO. If you’re a die-hard fan of the old school, Black Trip are well worth checking out.
The stage was then taken over by the girls. Well, let’s say ladies. Veterans of heavy metal. The all-female Girlschool. Instead of babysitting their grandkids at home, in their good sixties they’d still rather roam the stages of the world. They did their last proper tour just last fall, when, together with Saxon, they opened the evenings for the late punks of rock’n’roll, the one and only Motörhead, on that final tour promoting the album »Bad Magic«. It’s great to see them defying the years. Three of them are original members and have been inseparable since 1977: Enid Williams on bass, singer and rhythm guitarist Kim McAuliffe, and drummer Denise Duffort. Lead guitar duties passed to Jackie Chambers in 2008, after the tragic death (from spinal cancer) of original member Kelly Johnson. The quintet is still sharp as a razor. The classics from the album »Hit And Run«, six of which made the set (C’mon Let’s Go, Future Flash, the title track, The Hunter, Kick It Down, Watch Your Step), sounded phenomenal. They’re evergreen, and the band shows incredible confidence and tight-knit chemistry even at their mature age. Most of the stage was claimed by Jackie Chambers, who kept strolling from Kim to Enid and back again to the far left of the stage (her spot). Girlschool opened a set of mostly classics with a track from their debut studio album »Demolitoion«, namely Demolition Boys, and they gave that same album attention right at the end too, when the band fired off a cover of Gun’s Race With the Devil, followed by the (missing until then) and always-expected Emergency, closing the show in grand style. The set was rounded out by three newer songs: I Spy from »Legacy« (2009), and Come the Revolution and Guilt As Sin from the current studio album »Guilty As Sin« (2015).
Next up were Dutch symphonic power metallers Delain, led by the distinctive voice of charismatic singer Charlotte Wessels. Without any special effort she quickly had the crowd under her spell, with her polished stage presence and soulful, expressive vocals, which pretty much dominate the band’s musical profile. The band is waiting on the release of its new studio album »Moonbath«, due at the end of this August, and alongside Charlotte the Delain lineup includes Martijn Westerhold (keyboards, the band’s boss), Timo Somers (guitar), freshly joined rhythm guitarist Meren Bechtold and drummer Ruben Israel. The bassist was missing from the stage. Who the band’s current bassist is, only Delain know. Maybe they’re still looking for one, since the story repeated itself a good ten days later, on July 28, 2016, at their show in Tolmin (Metaldays festival). That lack of low end, or the »bass leg«, wasn’t really missed all that much, maybe also because of the seven-string guitar Merel plays on stage, which added a beefier, if not downright fatter, sound to the guitar parts. Anyway, for fifty minutes the stage belonged to Charlotte Wessels. The girl lifted the crowd in an instant with her dynamic performance and constant urging of the audience. The set list was led by songs from »We Are The Others« (Not Enough, Get the Devil Out of Me, Mother Machine, the title track), and the band opened the show with Suckerpunch, taken from the current EP »Lunar Prelude«. Midway through, Delain also decided to debut a brand-new song called The Glory And the Scum, which will find its regular place on the upcoming studio album. Yet another typical Delain composition, cut with high musical value, which goes along with the band’s pompously decorated symphonic power metal. The rest of the set was filled out with Don’t Let Go, Army of Dolls and Here Come thre Vultures from »The Human Contradiction«, and the band salted the set list with two songs from the debut studio album »Lucidity«, namely The Gathering and Sleepwalkers Dream.
The first peak of the festival’s last day was carried onto the stage by the hometown heroes Tankard. By this point they had pulled by far the biggest crowd in front of the stage. No surprise there. The band’s whole musical identity, judging by the name alone, is about mixing tough sounds with alcoholic brews. Hectoliters of the stuff get spilled, which fits the general German beer-drinking culture, along with venomous thrash metal riffing all over the place. This is a band that, in its musical expression, always lays on the prankster lucidity good and thick, and the creator of this whole theater is of course the flinty and hulking Andreas Geremia, the terror of scales the world over. The quartet is rounded out by Andreas Gutjahr (guitar), Frank Thorwarth (bass) and Olaf Zissel (drums). Though the band has 16 studio albums to its name, a bit under an hour was far too short to run through the whole discography. Whatever. That’s not even the point, since the mere presence of »Gerre« on stage is the main magnet that every eye and ear is glued to. The man kept making fun of the stage camera operators, to whom he showed his bare belly from point-blank range, and he didn’t leave the photographers out either. The third song, called Rules for Fools, was especially fun, as a »push-up« bra came flying onto the stage for »Gerri«. After a good look at it, the man, whose confidence got a nice boost from the move, of course pulled it over his head. After the end of The Morning After, which of course targets the heavy head after the previous night’s drinking storm, Horst stepped onto the stage with his crew. They were all armed with bottles of beer, and the guys brought two tables and bar stools onto the stage. The stage turned into a proper pub, where a whole gang of the festival’s organizing team, about a dozen of them, happily poured drinks for the rest of Tankard’s set. When he arrived on stage, Horst even gave Gerri an »air guitar«, which the latter didn’t mess with much. Juicy banter, self-irony and fooling around at their own expense, biting black humor about the muddled life in a brave new world; in short, you had to know a bit of German too, and the whole thing hit its mark, one you’ll hardly forget. Tankard got the crowd well oiled and creamed up. Balingen smelled of beer fumes long after the show. A good while after, when A Girl Named Cerveza (»A Girl Called Beer«) rang out near the end, followed by the band’s closing (and expected) anthem (Empty) Tankard. A crazy show! »Rest in beer, then!«
Great White, long missed in Europe, finally took pity on their fans on the old continent too. We saw Great White at Bang Your Head!!! back in 2008, when they still played with Jack Russell, so this was their second time here! The lineup has changed by one name since then, right at the vocalist position. That was unavoidable and necessary for the band to survive at all and carry on with its career. The vocal spot was taken over by the experienced former XYZ vocalist Terry Ilous. Mark Kendall is of course still the lead guitarist, keeping company on rhythm guitar with his inseparable buddy Michael Lardie (who also handles synths). Scott Snyder has been on bass since 2008, and Audie Desbrow, like Lardie, has stuck around on drums since 1985. The band delivered a fantastic show. In terms of sound, in terms of performance, in terms of energy. The crowd was waiting impatiently. Everyone gathered in the fan pit. Absolutely everyone. And believe me, there was no shortage of women in the crowd, especially slightly more mature and older ladies. The band opened its hard rock mass with the new album »Elation« and the song I’ve Got Something For You, then quickly »flipped the record« and headed toward the classics. That was announced by a lesser hit from the album »Hooked« (1991) called Desert Moon, and the crowd jumped into the air when Great White soon after hit »Once Bitten…« classic Lady Red Light. The guys went back to »Hooked« once more and shook out their version of The Angels original Can’t Shake It. Then came a jump to the album ».. Twice Shy« with the excellent House of Broken Love, followed by the »Once Bitten…« track Save Your Love. The crowd boiled over again at the feverishly awaited »…Twice Shy« classic Mista Bone, and the band surprised next with Big Goodbye from the album »Psycho City«. When Great White hit Rock Me next, it became clear we were nearing the final stretch of the set. Ilous masterfully kept the crowd with him, and the band stretched the song out for a few extra choruses in the outro, pulling a few more quanta of energy out of the audience. The catchy chorus of Rock Me once more joined the crowd into one body, and Great White finished with the missed, expected and mischievously teasing Once Bitten, Twice Shy, which all of Balingen danced to. Ilous was the first and really only question mark of the show. Outstanding vocals, outstanding frontman. Terry shone and justified filling the giant boots left behind by Jack Russell on his way out of the band. Let’s hope Great White tour Europe with a proper run of headline shows, because sporadic appearances once every (nearly) ten years are no longer justifiable.
Next came the show by legendary German heavy metallers Grave Digger from Bochum. The quintet of Chris Boltendahl (vocals), Axel Ritt (guitar), Stefan Arnold (drums), Jens Becker (bass) and newcomer Marcus Kneip (keyboards) are old friends of the Balingen stages, and last played here two years ago, as the headliner of the »warm-up« day. Well, Grave Digger delivered a pretty predictable show, made up of the band’s thoroughly worn-out classics. A sort of shortened »best of«, with as many songs as the guys could cram into the trimmed-down hour or so they had. The criticism isn’t over yet. The band dared to skip at least one song from the most acclaimed and, to this day, best album of Grave Digger’s entire career, »Knights Of The Cross« (1998). And the fact that they once again skipped the otherwise excellent classic album »Heart of Darkness« (1995) is just infuriating. From »The Reaper« (1993) we again got the oft-heard Wedding Day. The band didn’t forget to include two newer songs from the current album »Return of the Reaper«, Tattoed Rider and Season of the Witch, and also touched, completely needlessly, on the not-so-successful album »The Clans Will Rise Again« (2010) with Highland Farewell. Alongside the obligatory standards, which are Dark of the Sun (as the opener), then The Round Table, Excalibur, of course Rebellion (The Clans Are Marching) and the closing, drawn-out Heavy Metal Breakdown, the show revealed no particular flaws. Only the one we’re used to. Boltendahl’s distinctive croak just occasionally demands that some higher line »slaughter« the man. There he either adapts the vocals or comes off as theatrically funny, because he can no longer handle the high lines well with that croak. Maybe that’s exactly why Knights of the Cross dropped out of the set, a song that shouldn’t be missing from any proper Grave Digger show.
During Grave Digger’s show, the neighboring Messehalle also came to life, where German thrash metallers Warpath from Hamburg played the opening slot. The band, formed way back in 1991, was definitely worth checking out, especially given Grave Digger’s predictable show on the neighboring stage. In forty minutes the quartet played songs from their first (and only) four albums, all made back in the nineties. They delivered an excellent performance of a tight, riff-driven groove vise and dramatic atmospheric twists pushed along by a gloomy backdrop and the occult, with singer Arnie casting his demonic stare and putting a good spell on the crowd a few times. Reportedly the band is working on new material. An excellent overture to the third day’s program on the smaller stage, then. Later it even turned out that the small stage in the Messehalle was in many ways stealing the spotlight from the open-air main stage, where most of the festival crowd was of course heading.
That held true afterward too, when the great rock’n’roll gurus Uriah Heep took the main stage. They didn’t particularly impress with their presence either. On stage they played what was really a shortened version of the set from their March headline tour of Europe. They started the show with two punchy seventies classics and obligatory staples of the iron repertoire, Gypsy and Look At Yourself, and both were followed by what was really the only true bliss of the set list, a performance of one of the best, if not at least the most interesting, songs from the album »Look At Yourself«. I’m talking about the compositionally very interesting and mysterious Shadow Of A Grief, with its stretched-out progressive psychedelic instrumental section. In an hour on stage the band also shook out three new songs from the album »Outsider«, namely The Law, Can’t Take That Away and One Minute, while the rest of the set was filled by the »worn-out« Stealin’, the always mystical »Magician’s Birthday« classic Sunrise and the predictably obligatory Easy Livin’, and, as always, the big hit built on just two chords! That’s Lady in Black (again deliberately stretched out). Though Uriah Heep are incredibly experienced masters of their craft, having been on the scene for a solid 46 years, it’s interesting that their static presence on the festival’s giant stage was, to a good extent, boring. Bernie Shaw didn’t make much use of the catwalk and the available empty stage space either. The most energy through movement over the show came from the band’s new bassist Dave Rimmer and of course the ever-wild drumming gymnast Russell Gillbrook. All in all, a usually good, but routine and predictable show from the legends.
Just like during Grave Digger’s show, it was worth ducking into the Messehalle during Uriah Heep’s too. Uriah Heep’s show overlapped with the set by American melodic rock icons Tyketto. The band, which has confirmed a few concerts in Europe this fall, with dates in the northern part of Europe, decided to play, in the time available, their classic album »Don’t Come Easy« (1991) in full. But not the way we’d be used to, rather from the opposite end. Back to front. So they wisely saved their big hit Forever Young for the end of the show. And since Danny Vaughn and the crew decided to fully heat up the enviably packed hall, in the second part of the show they slipped in three consecutive songs from the album »Strenght in Numbers« (1994), namely Rescue Me, Meet Me In the Night and The Last Sunset! That was followed by the big finale with Wings and, of course, the aforementioned Forever Young, which closed the show. Danny Vaughn, who just turned 56, looks and acts like a 20-year-old. From the excellent and incredibly well-preserved voice, to his build, to his agility on stage. The man is incredible. With all the charisma and the stage presence. A generator of energy and positive vibes that filled the place throughout the show. An outstanding frontman, then. Today’s Tyketto lineup is rounded out by bassist Chris Childs (Thunder), original member Michael Clayton Arbeeny (drums), Ged Rylands (keyboards) and Chris Green (guitar). The band, which has just announced the release of a new studio album called »Reach«, coming out in Europe in mid-October this year, put on a bravura show. Perfectionism all over. Both in sound and in performance. From head to toe. After melodic rockers Dare, finally a second act of a similar genre at the festival, and one that’s seriously hard to catch on European stages! Attractive and exclusive! We can also put it this way: it’s unlikely a Slovenian concertgoer will ever get another chance to see Tyketto like the one this year’s Bang Your Head!!! offered.
In the late afternoon, Bang Your Head!!! had an interesting act waiting on the main stage! Dirkschneider, who temporarily renamed themselves from U.D.O. last year for a special occasion. Their leader is of course Udo Dirkschneider, the famous former first voice of Accept. Udo made this move to draw the crowd more strongly to himself and the name of his band. The Dirkschneider repertoire is purely Accept material written with Dirkschneider in the lineup. And since the voice still serves Uncle Dirkschneider perfectly even in his later years, which his performance in Balingen this time also unmistakably confirmed, Udo weighed his decision very well on why he doesn’t want to return to the team of today’s Accept, active again since 2009. The decision is purely commercial. He calculated that he can earn quite a bit more on his own with his band than by playing Accept classics alongside his former Accept companions Wolf Hoffmann and Peter Baltes. So, alongside Udo Dirkschneider, the quintet is made up of the eternally loyal, longtime member of the crew, bassist Fitty Weinhold, then drummer (and Udo’s son) Sven Dirkschneider and guitarists Russian Andrey Smirnov, who’s in charge of most of the solos, and Finn Kasperi Heikkinen . The venue got packed to the brim when Udo came striding grimly and coldly out of the mist onto the stage and, with his crew, hit the new Accept-style march that is Starlight with full force! Everything. All of the stage acting typical of Accept, Dirkschneider carried over to their show. As a result they used and filled the stage incredibly skillfully and optimally. Udo has outstanding charisma, so he didn’t have to strain much to get the crowd to take part wildly. His figure is simply enough to have the crowd eating out of his hand. The band also included the excellent Midnight Mover in the set, which, with the effectiveness of its catchy chorus, hooked the crowd even tighter. Then came the no less cult London Leatherboys, (very early in the set) also Princess of a Down, then Breaker, Restless And Wild, Son of A Bitch, Screaming for a Love-Bite, and in the second half the show swelled to its peak as Dirkschneider mercilessly fed the crowd, hungry for Accept music, with cult guitar lines of the noblest Teutonic metal pedigree, led by the expected Metal Heart, Fast As A Shark, Balls to the Wall, while the show was closed by Breaker, a song Accept haven’t included in their setlists on current tours for a long time. Absolute smashing from the first to the last second! Hellish atmosphere. Notorious German metal to the bone subjugated the home crowd for a good hour, rocking and pampering it in its bosom. Hypnotic. Fanatical. It’s incredible what the German crowd gives back with all its devotion to the magic of metal. Especially the home-grown kind. Dirkschneider is a must-see at shows in Germany, then. See you at the fall meeting, then.
The rest of this report will read as blasphemy to many a true defender of the German heavy metal scene. Even more: with it I may bring down the wrath of 97% of the festival’s visitors. Namely. In the neighboring Messehalle, while Dirkschneider’s show was in full swing on the main stage, cult British prog metallers Threshold were quietly and modestly soundchecking all by themselves. Yes. By their own roadies and sound techs. Although the band once played at Orto bar and in the town of Gradisca d’Isonzio in the Slovenian borderlands, shows by this band near Slovenia are truly a rarity. Since this is a quintet of absolute musical perfectionists and great masters of musical artistry, refined both compositionally and sonically, Threshold brought a real balm for those true music gourmets who look for a live performance close to perfection. And indeed. For an hour, from the first second to the last, Threshold maintained an outstanding sound. The instruments, with Wilson’s vocals in the middle (he served up another fantastic vocal performance), sat in a brilliant arrangement of the desired balance. Everything was audible. Clearly audible. The band once again impressed with incredible kinetics and stage dynamics during the performance. Both guitarists, Karl Groom and Pete Morten, kept running from left to right, facing off against each other with crossed guitars, or standing shoulder to shoulder turned toward the audience. Occasionally they were joined by bassist Steve Anderson and of course Damian Wilson, who still hasn’t trimmed his Neanderthal beard. The latter again put on a whole theater during the show, when he jumped off the stage and started walking freely among the crowd. Comments flew along the lines of: »Oh, how nice it is to stand wherever I want and sing at the same time«. When one of the monitors started buzzing suspiciously, Wilson of course thought the cause was his own PA. The flinty singer solved that mystery too, by walking from the stage to the mixing desk, where the sound tech whispered to him that it was Anderson’s speaker »crackling«. Wilson instantly declared Anderson to be »It was you Steve. You Mr. Crackler!« Out in the crowd, Wilson sang almost the entire super EP The Pilot in the Sky of Dreams, which once again was the peak of the whole Threshold show. At one point in the show, the silhouette of a rock eminence appeared on stage for a moment. Uriah Heep guitarist Mick Box, who had played on the main stage earlier, stepped onto the stage for a moment and shook hands with Wilson, and in this way, watching the show from backstage behind the monitors on the left side of the stage, showed his respect to the band. The band opened its show with Slipstream, a crushing riff from »Dead Reckoning« (2007) that acted as a catalyst, building a phenomenal atmosphere in the room with its infectious chorus melody. The moods of course came across as melancholic; British melancholy is incredible. So is the mysticism. Threshold know how to conjure up mysticism. Especially when combining their music with multi-part vocal harmonies, with Richard West, as usual and standard for a Threshold show, also using a vocoder. Goosebumps were guaranteed with that performance and perfect sound. The current studio album »For the Journey« (2014) was represented by Turn to Dust and, toward the end of the show, Watchtower on the Moon. Besides the cathartic Pilot in the Sky of Dreams, the centerpiece of the Threshold show, there were also The Art of Reason (»Subsurface«, 2004). Long Way Home (»Hypothetical«, 2001), Mission Profile (»Subsurface«, 2004) and Ashes (»March of Progress«, 2012), with which Threshold closed their outstanding set. Brilliant. No holding back. One of the strongest performances of the entire festival. The »modest« Threshold, used to the worst and used to playing even in concert »holes« if need be, blasted a crowd of about 1,500 people, who didn’t give a damn about Dirkschneider playing in the middle of the main stage, into the heavens of perfect artistic execution. Concert moments like these are the ones you wish would never end.
The main headliners of the festival’s third day, Iced Earth, jumped into the program at the last minute. Reportedly the organizer had already arranged for another act to take the headliner role, but it fell through, and at Horst and the crew’s request Iced Earth flew literally straight from the studio, where they’re recording a new album, from the U.S. to Germany and saved the festival. Horst came out on stage in person to tell the band so and warmly thanked Iced Earth. Let’s be honest, though. Unless the organizer had reached deep into their pocket and put up a very, very good fee for the band and the crew that accompanies them on shows, Iced Earth would never have flown across the Atlantic. So it all comes down to money, though for Schaffer it’s also about prestige, since up to now they had only played Bang Your Head in the middle of the program and never as headliners, as the opportunity now offered itself.
Since the band is marking the 20th anniversary of the classic album »The Dark Saga« (1996) this year, Iced Earth bent their set to that album’s songs. Given that Iced Earth played their last show at this year’s edition of the »ship« festival 70.000 Tons of Metal at the beginning of February, the band’s appearance on the Balingen stages was a definite exclusive. Right at the start the band announced that the show would be dedicated to playing material from the album »The Dark Saga«, and they kicked off the show with, what else, The Dark Saga. Iced Earth are a rather static band during shows, with the exception of the short and slight but extremely agile runner and phenomenal screamer Stu Block. In an hour and a half the band fired off 16 songs in total. Five of them came from the last two studio albums, »Plagues of Babylon« (Chthulu, the title track and Democide) and »Dystopia« (V, the title track), and the rest of the material went to the band’s classic years, that is, material recorded up to 2001. The album »Something Wicked This Way Comes« (1998) was represented by the excellent Burning Times and My Own Savior, which closed the regular part of the show, and, right at the tail end as an encore, Watching Over Me – all of Balingen sang that one along with Block. The album »The Dark Saga«, besides the opening title track, rang out with five more songs: the uncompromising Vengeance Is Mine, the quietly expected ballad I Died for You, Slave to the Dark, the surprise of the set list, which was logically followed right after by Question of Heaven, and, in the obligatory encore, the phenomenal The Hunter. From the older material the band touched only Pure Evil, with the material from the album »Burnt Offerings« being skipped entirely, but they didn’t forget Damien (»Horror Show«, 2001),
Drummer Brent Smedley has returned to the current lineup. Again, for who knows which time. He’s obviously one of the few members Schaffer fully trusts and consistently listens to. In short, no tour goes by without Schaffer changing at least one member of the band. Otherwise a brilliant performance of the material, with some added sound samples, that is, pre-recorded choirs and orchestrations, which, given the content of the songs on »The Dark Saga«, is completely logical and fitting. It was surprising to realize that, for example, Iced Earth didn’t close the show with the song Iced Earth. Either in the regular part or right at the tail end, in the obligatory encore. Otherwise there’s nothing to nitpick about what we saw and experienced. A spectacle. In terms of an excellent set list, a superb performance. Sound characteristics optimal. Stage lighting no less so. One might miss, amid all this, an older song or two, especially from the first three albums, which could have replaced one of the newer songs in the set, but otherwise, as said. No complaints.
The third festival day came to an end. Who else but our buddy Horst stepped onto the stage with his little daughter, handed out a few nice words to the crowd, which then waited for the magnificent fireworks that followed. And they did happen. Still, the festival wasn’t over yet. During Iced Earth’s entire show, those who weren’t into Iced Earth could follow the show of cult Swedish death metallers Unleashed on the Messehalle stage, who surely delivered another phenomenal concert. After the Iced Earth show there was enough time left for all the audience that still hadn’t gotten their fill of music to cram into the hall and watch German industrial metallers Crematory, whom we caught in passing and watched too, but with our batteries drained we soon left and headed for the tents, where well-deserved sleep and the next day’s return to Slovenia were waiting. Bottom line: this was the second three-day edition of the festival, the twenty-first in total. It went off superbly. No delays, and for the most part all the shows came off in full. Even the weather, despite the gloomy forecasts, held up. There was only one downpour on the first day, during the Candlemass show, and another in the early morning hours of the second festival day. So the festival grounds were mostly covered by cloud, which shielded us from losing too much water. Until next year! Bang Your Head!!!! See you again.
Photo gallery
