Author: Rok Klemše
Concert date: 29.06.2008
Attendance: 276
Ticket price: 20.000
The summer festival season is in full swing, and one of Europe’s biggest metal/rock festivals, Gods of Metal, was once again calling us into its bosom with a truly jaw-dropping lineup. The first day of the three-day festival was ruled by none other than the immortal heavy metal giants Iron Maiden, with Kingcrow, Black Tide, Lauren Harris, Airbourne, Apocalyptica, Rose Tattoo and Avenged Sevenfold playing before them. The tireless Concert Freak once again took care of the ride to Bologna, where the festival returned after two years in Milan. The bus was nicely packed with Iron Maiden shirts and similar junk, but the atmosphere? Zero. It was almost dead silent for pretty much the whole trip to Bologna. Where are the metalheads of a few years back, the ones every bus driver and customs officer feared, but who at least knew how to conjure up the right vibe on the way to a metal gig? But that’s a side issue. Around one in the afternoon we were already standing in front of the Parco Nord arena, a huge amphitheater, with the beats of the first bands already booming out of it. You know you’re at a gig in Italy because you can’t miss the kilometers of “bootleg” shirt sellers snaking along in front of the venue. This time the “official” Gods of Metal festival shirts with our very own Metalcamp’s logo stood out in particular. You can only experience something like that with our dear western neighbors. But hey, we came to listen to music in the end, right?
Let’s just call it that, even though our eardrums were first defiled by Lauren Harris, whom daddy Harris still drags along wherever the Iron Maiden machine moves. There’s no point wasting words on a slightly trashier version of Avril Lavigne and other MTV “rock chicks”, so this is the last sentence I’ll devote to an otherwise perfectly likable, cute and energetic girl… who would never have crawled this far without her influential daddy.
Luckily, the boys from “down under” fixed our taste buds, the Australian sensation Airbourne from Melbourne. After a few years of scraping by on the continent of koalas, kangaroos and Corocodile Dundee, the band is finally getting the attention it deserves. Airbourne play real rock with balls, unlike most of the new MTV-generation “rock” bands. Not only can Aibourne boast excellent rock music that builds on the tradition of eighties glam metal and rock bands, they also have one of the most energetic frontmen you can see on stages today. Joel O’ Keefee is a proper stage beast who climbs to the top of the stage rig for fun and plays guitar up there. Airbourne are proof that classic hard rock is alive and kicking, and luckily so among young bands like this Melbourne foursome.
The next band, though, swam into completely different genre waters. The Finnish attraction Apocalyptica spent a good hour showing, with real punch, what a mix of classical music and heavy metal rhythms sounds like. With the legendary Sepultura tune Refuse/Resist, Apocalyptica opened up a proper hell down in front of the stage, driving the Italian crowd completely nuts. The same goes for the guys on stage, who don’t stay seated on their trademark stools for long, but pretty soon stand up, headbang wildly, play like serial killers on steroids, and for fun lift a cello into their lap and rip it up like a guitar. Apocalyptica are definitely interesting to see live, and the young ladies in particular feast their eyes on them, but the guys deliver an uncompromising set full of Finnish perfectionism and quality. Even though an hour of four cellos and a drum kit could easily get boring, Apocalyptica manage to keep the crowd in constant excitement bordering on delirium.
When the four cellos left the stage, their countrymen… no wait, Airbourne’s countrymen, the legendary Australian hard rock outfit Rose Tattoo, stepped up. What can Rose Tattoo offer? Nothing, really, just a set loaded with a damn lot of sex appeal, anthemic rock bangers and loads of energy. Even though the guys are already past fifty, it doesn’t show one bit. It’s as if eighteen-year-old snot-nosed kids had just walked on stage, not old-timers with decades of experience. Which, mind you, absolutely do show! Frontman Angry Anderson embodies that true eighties rock energy, and with a slightly raspy, deeper voice he sets time back exactly there, twenty years ago. For me definitely the surprise of the day, even though I don’t exactly swim in hard rock waters.
Before the mighty Iron Maiden, there was just one more band. Maiden picked the Americans Avenged Sevefold as the support act for their tour, and after the very first notes I can say it’s one of the dumbest moves the Maiden boys have allowed themselves. Avenged Sevefold are maybe an even worse support act than Murderdolls once were. Why? Add up a whiny/screeching vocalist who has too little power for good clean vocals and too few balls for a good growl, a seriously average rhythm section and lousy guitarists with unoriginal riffs and by-the-numbers solos, and you get one of the most generic “MTV metal” bands around. Honestly, every line I devote to this dreadful lot is one too many, so let the hordes of their tasteless fans lynch me. On top of everything, the guys tried to play the most wretched cover of Pantera’s classic Walk I’ve ever heard. Dime is probably still spinning in his grave… Thank God Avenged Sevenfold finally cleared off the stage, and the impatience grew by the minute….
… and Parco Nord exploded when Churchill’s piercing speech boomed out of the speakers, the one that kicks off the Maiden’s cult live album Live After Death, followed by one of the best openers heavy metal has to offer, the iconic Aces High. In the very first verses Bruce proved his voice still has the power, depth and range of the eighties, and even the high screams gave him no trouble. Yep, Brucey is still an air raid siren! One more classic, 2 Minutes to Midnight, and the jam-packed arena was on its feet. The Italians really love Iron Maiden, though they go craziest for the worn-out hits. Maiden conjured up one of the loveliest moments with Dickinson’s excellent, mystical half-ballad Revelations, only to spoil it with The Trooper, played for the umpteenth time. Where’s the tour that promised nothing but golden years with that cult run of four albums from the eighties? A real slap in the face for the band’s loyal fans, and one the band should never have allowed itself. Although the setlist was sprinkled with some real treats like a fantastically performed Wasted Years, you can’t overlook worn-out numbers like Fear of the Dark. Luckily, the band’s greatest epic, the pompous and unforgettable Rime of the Ancient Mariner, was squeezed into the setlist, and it created the best atmosphere I’ve ever experienced at a gig. When Harris stepped to the front in the calm instrumental section with his mysterious bass part, the mariner’s tragic fate practically drew itself before your eyes. Should I even mention that Dickinson shone vocally? No less so than on the other epic from the album Powerslave, the legendary title track with its sinister Egyptian flavor. After the unforgettable Heaven Can Wait came the weaker stretch again, with Run to the Hills, Fear of the Dark and Iron Maiden, but luckily the weak streak was broken by the phenomenal Moonchild and The Clairvoyant, which almost brought a tear to my eye. Then the standard but unforgettable finish with Hallowed Be Thy Name, and Maiden said goodbye to Gods of Metal. As far as the band’s tightness and energy go, there are no complaints at all, the guys really stepped back into the golden eighties. The criticism goes to the setlist, which is a big rip-off for the real fans of the band who don’t want a 350th rendition of Fear of the Dark. Still, Maiden proved once again that they are what they’ve long been… true gods of metal!
Let me devote the last paragraph to the festival itself… It might give you a few gray hairs. Gods of Metal is by far the worst-organized festival around. Never mind that you couldn’t buy three-day tickets at the venue itself, not to mention not a centimeter of shade in the worst June heat, pricey drinks and food, and just two sources of running water on a huge site that on top of everything you weren’t allowed to leave once you were in. All this and more are mistakes that a festival of this size and name should not allow itself. So, no matter how great the names on the bill sound, I’m left with no choice but to strongly advise against visiting this festival.
Photos: Špela Macuh
Words: Rok Klemše
Setlist
Kingcrow Black Tide Lauren Harris Airbourne Apocalyptica Rose Tattoo Avenged Sevenfold Iron Maiden
Photo gallery
