Magic Circle festival (2010)

Arhiv Arhiv Last updated 11 June 2026

Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik

Location: Tolmin / Slovenia
Concert date: 11.07.2010
Attendance: 4000
Ticket price: 60,00€

What’s a person even supposed to say when the World Cup final and Magic Circle festival collide – basically an extension of Tolmin’s annual Metal Camp? Who’s gonna win? The Spaniards? The Dutch? Or Manowar? Manowar? Yep. The metal Conans, Manowar. In Slovenia. After wrapping up this year’s winter run, the “Death To Infidels Tour”, they naturally wanted some summer shows too. And this year’s Magic Circle festival landed right in Tolmin. Awesome. Especially when the support acts include some power metal outfits you don’t get to see every day. That goes above all for Virgin Steele, as songwriters among the finest and also the most overlooked “savage power” metallers around. Add the symphonic-melodic perfectionists Kamelot, and spice the whole thing up with the killer mix of extreme, melodic and punchy that the Swedes in Arch Enemy serve up.

The report will be a bit shorter, since I only made it to the front of the stage 20 minutes before five in the afternoon, when Virgin Steele came on. So I wasn’t fated to see Crosswind from Greece or Germany’s Metalforce. Virgin Steele haven’t done a proper European tour since 2001, when we could catch them in Austria as support on HammerFall’s “Renegade” tour. They obviously figured out that touring, thanks to the commercial flop, is a total loss for them, so between 2002 and 2010 they only showed up in Europe now and then. At festivals. Here and there. Even the 2006 album “Visions Of Eden” went completely overlooked, and Virgin Steele didn’t even go on tour to promote it. The numbers don’t add up. The fan base is too small. Savatage even split up over that.

When Virgin Steele kicked off with Immortal I Stand, a few puzzles popped up. Is that guitarist on stage Edward Pursino, or isn’t it? It is, it is. If nothing else, that signature nose gives him away. Pursino has shaved off his mustache and beard and gone for a “friendly lad” haircut. The years just slip by quietly, and the forehead keeps growing and growing. The black Gibson SG still hasn’t left him, though. Besides the devilish DeFeis, the stage held drummer Frank Gilchreist and guitarist Josh Block (who played bass on the 2001 European tour). Did I forget to list somebody? Yes. The bass player. Virgin Steele play live without a bassist. They don’t need one in the studio either. That’s a rare case, but one we know even from the progressive forefathers Van Der Graaf Generator. On top of everything, DeFeis decided to be just the singer, and Virgin Steele played the entire set with a keyboard backing track. In a way it makes sense – for a mere four, maybe five shows around Europe it’s not practical to drag all the gear along – but still. It’s weird watching Virgin Steele play to a backing track. You can console yourself that the track is, one way or another, “studio David DeFeis”, but you’d have to be at least a bit drunk to stay indifferent to it.

In one hour Virgin Steele did show that they haven’t forgotten how to handle a stage, and with a classic repertoire that also included Wine Of Violence, Symphony Of Steel, Kingdom Of The Fearless, Noble Savage, Defiance and, as expected, the closing Burning Of Rome (Cry For Pompeii), they made some 400 half-naked metalheads happy! Those were fending off the terrible afternoon sultriness. Toward the end of the set the sky clouded over dangerously and it looked like a proper storm was coming. But it only looked like it.

David fired up the crowd good and proper a few times, with his charisma and the stage power that “Virgin Steele-style” power metal demands – a band with a unique artistic profile on planet Earth – but above all his excellent performance proved that the singer has kept his chameleon voice completely intact. If we weren’t convinced before, we were by the flawless delivery of the tough chorus in Noble Savage. And yet, damn it. Who’s going to play the keyboards, if not DeFeis? So something was missing. And yes. Those of us who saw the band on stage in 2001 know it’s capable of playing without a backing track. Precisely because of that keyboard shortfall, this was the kind of Virgin Steele show that’s ripe for sinking into oblivion as soon as possible.

The dominance of American bands continued when Manowar’s protégés Holyhell took the stage. These American power metallers build many of their marches on the rhythmic foundations of their “steroid-built” role models, and add mild gothic touches via singer Maria Breon’s vocals, but they came across as rather pale and stereotypical. And that’s without a keyboard backing track! Holyhell should definitely have played before Virgin Steele on the bill. The monotonous power metal tunes were dosed with a hefty bag of posing, in which you’d have had a hard time finding anyone that day to match the band’s guitarist Joe Stump. A few of his solo escapades quickly showed he’s a neo-classically trained musician, mainly inspired by Y. J. Malmsteen. The band also put a cover of Dio’s Holy Diver in the set. Nice that they thank the late vocal eminence that way, but the rhythm section stumbled badly a few times during the execution. Maria’s singing wasn’t quite up to the level of the original either.

Kamelot can boast a string of outstanding compressed gems, the very definition of excellent mixing of power metal catchiness, anthemic quality and epic pomp. In short, richly arranged songs with authoritative, melodically spot-on choruses. The band, as the only one at the festival, also offered plenty of pyrotechnics. This American band from Florida surprises with a European sound. So of course they’re much more successful in Europe with their output than in the USA. They opened the show with Rule The World from the current studio album “Ghost Opera”, and backed up its promotion with the title track.

Despite the great mood in the crowd and a decent dose of stage theater, the impression of the show was spoiled by Roy Khan’s vocals, which simply couldn’t hit certain passages in the choruses, so he had to adapt his singing and stick to lower registers. Still, Kamelot delivered their set with total confidence, adding The Great Pandemonium, Center Of The Universe and The Haunting (Somewhere In Time) among others to the lineup, and closed with March Of Mephisto.

Arch Enemy were the festival’s ugly duckling! Let’s call them melodic death metallers. The embodiment of an excellent balance of extreme and melodic, tuned to perfection, tight as hell, a band where the brilliance of the individual members of the quintet amplifies itself to the max. And this time even Tolmin’s Magic Circle Festival couldn’t escape that phenomenon. That’s hardly difficult when you’ve got Carcass man Michael Amott, his younger brother Christopher, Mercyful Fate bassist Sharlee D’Angelo, the fantastic Daniel Erlandsson on drums and, on top of that, a wild filly who “barks out” all the growl vocals – the beastly Angela Gossow. They say poison comes in small bottles. In Angela’s case that’s definitely true – at least as far as stage presence goes.

The band opened their solid, coherent set with The Immortal! The stage in the spirit of strobe flashing! The sound was excellent. Up to that point the bands hadn’t really served up anything special sound-wise, but with Arch Enemy both guitars were clearly audible all show long. All the solos. Left guitar and right guitar. All the harmonies in thirds. Through the guitar work, the bass line pushed vehemently through with a metallic rumble, and Erlandsson stunned yet again with his drumming technique. It was a pleasure to watch him in his solo spot. Angela, dressed as always in military style, didn’t skip her typical stage routine of whirling her hair either! Of course the growls were reinforced at the ends of phrases with “echo” effects, and the girl held up great on stage through the hour-long set. The Amott brothers once again bewitched the guitar connoisseurs with their work, especially their precision, as embodied in the song Ravenous. The band is at the peak of its powers, and that shows in the stage power of the superb working chemistry and bonds that have grown between the musicians.

When Angela tried to challenge the crowd during the show to start a “circle pit”, she couldn’t get it going no matter what. So she dedicated Dark Insanity to everyone who doesn’t like “moshing”. The crowd was simply made up mostly of “power” metalheads. Still, the front of the stage was already packed. Of course at the expense of Manowar fans, who wanted to secure the best possible spot to watch the show even before their heroes came on.

As said. Arch Enemy didn’t run into any general madness in front of the stage this time. Still, their flawless execution strung together I Will Live Again, Revolution Begins, The Immortal, Dead Eyes See No Future and Bury Me An Angel, among others. Angela needed a few breaks between songs to catch her breath. The instrumental Snow Bound came in handy, flowing into the end of the show when the band hit the gas with Nemesis. Right at the end people in front of the stage finally woke up properly, when hands at last went up en masse during We Will Rise. In quality, the Arch Enemy show was a notch above all the performers, Manowar included. That’s indisputable. Like they’d landed from another planet. In the performance itself, where the elements of extreme, all-out aggression and an innate sense for adding tasty melodies (usually masterfully harmonized by both guitar wizards) went hand in hand with seemingly feather-light ease. With uncompromising shows like this, Arch Enemy might even earn a special place in the music encyclopedia or, if you like, the textbook!

The World Cup final ended at just the right time, with the Spaniards destroying the Dutch three minutes before the end of extra time, heh, heh, heh… And all the football-loving metalheads finally “scraped” themselves down to the front of the stage. It’s 23.00 and a solemn opening chant rings out! The flags go up. The fans go nuts. Some 4000, no more. A little for a festival and for Manowar. This time the Italian fans rescued it.

The new Call To Arms hits! Looooud!!!! Toooo loud!!! Can you hear anything? Nope. The sound was “mushy”, DeMaio decidedly cranked up too far in the mix. The stage looked like a fortress, seeing the gigantic stack of monitors “dressed” in steel! As it should be for Manowar. Even after Hand Of Doom the sound didn’t look like it was getting any better. Eric Adams had his day and laid down his vocals at the required level. Even with those trademark screams, which didn’t leave him in the lurch at any point.

A Manowar show is an adventure into the tempest of war. For the band and the crowd. Some will never return from this tempest of war, as the song Hand Of Doom says a bit later. Kings Of Metal gave hope that the guys wouldn’t play mostly newer songs, and the situation turned around soon after with God Or Man from the “Thunder In The Sky” (2009) EP, one of the successful songs, which sounded seriously fiery on stage too. By that song the sound had been fixed thoroughly and you could tell Logan and DeMaio apart by ear. Next came a quiet teaser for the new studio album “Hammer Of The Gods”, titled Die With Honour, which doesn’t stray in style from anything heard earlier in the set.

The people in front of the stage, spellbound, raise their hands overhead in the shape of a hammer to salute the band on stage while the flags flutter. But that was a much, much scaled-down version of Manowar shows as they’re known in, say, Germany. This time the situation was rescued mostly by the Italian fans of the band, who were swarming the grounds. They also made by far the most noise during the show.

Every member of the band was guaranteed a solo spot. Adams’ was especially fun, making the crowd follow some of the most impossible vocal runs and rough up their vocal cords and airways. In one of the rare breaks reserved for theatrical speeches, DeMaio called on the people to sing a happy birthday toast – who would’ve thought, to the birthday boy and girl Eric Adams and Holyhell singer Maria Breon!

Through the newer Thunder In The Sky, Sleipnir and Loki God Of Fire, the show tipped toward its end. Of course the “one-of-a-kind” theater with Joey DeMaio didn’t fail to show up. After the “overly emotional outpourings” and the “unfolding of a deep insight into the main principle of life”, at the command of the chief-dimwit comes the unified “Fuck You” screaming of the crowd, echoing across the Tolmin hills. And of course the theatrical pouring of beer over his face and maybe even into his mouth… Ballerina DeMaio even decided to show off some “manliness”, if we take that gesture as a form of “machismo”.

For the encore, Manowar take on Black Sabbath’s Heaven And Hell in honor of Ronnie James Dio, where Adams comes in with the least throatiness of his whole Tolmin show. It’s played the Manowar way, and toward the end the double bass drum pedal joins in too. But DeMaio more than obviously botched one of the transitions…

With Black Wind, Fire And Steel, Manowar say goodbye after an hour and 45 minutes. That one classic isn’t enough to wash away the bitter aftertaste of ignoring the golden catalog. The band has apparently decided to play only songs written after 2000. That’s pretty sad, since the eighties material is cult, not to mention the unforgettable classic “Triumph Of The Steel” (1992). DeMaio snapping all the strings on his bass at the end amid canned thunder and lightning, is far from a real patch for the subconscious nudge that dictates the overall state of the evening as “lackluster”. Still, very nice fireworks, guys. But it’ll be even nicer at the Bang Your Head!!! festival this year!

Let’s wrap it up like this. If you’re a Manowar fan, then you have to like whatever Manowar do. So you have no right to an opinion. If DeMaio and company snap tomorrow and start playing trip hop, you’ll only be a true metalhead if you listen to trip-hop. What’s definite is that a handful of a few thousand heads enjoyed themselves and partied with the band, and that the material was performed at the required quality level. Of course it has to be added that the sound gets manipulated quite a bit throughout the show. One moment they crank DeMaio up so far that it can even look funny, seeing the guitar drowned out, even the vocals, while “ballerina” Joey confidently and rapturously babbles away at nothing in front of him…. Adams, who actually sang very well in Tolmin, gets a huge amount of “echo” effect propping up his vocals. So if you’re real fans, you need to go see Manowar in Germany. Tolmin offered a pale shadow. But a good deal of the blame for the poorer turnout also falls on the band itself, which no longer wants to play the classic material. Still, even that’s better than listening to Adams’ Nessun Dorma “recital”.

photos: Aleš Podbrežnik