Rock Chill-Out by the Lake (2014)

Author: Sebastijan Videc
Photos: Jerneja Jerak
Video: Sebastijan Videc

Location: Schwarzlsee / Graz / Austria
Concert date: 01.08.2014
Ticket price: 109.90€/149.90€

The roots of See Rock go back to 2011, when the big stage on the shore of the artificial Schwarzlsee lake, a stone’s throw from Graz toward Šentilj, started hosting one-off summer concerts by the likes of Bryan Adams, Roxette, The Eagles and others. The very next year the festival began taking on a more rock-and-metal flavor with Guns’n’roses, The Cult, Sonata Arctica and Soulfly. Last year Seerock grew into a two-day festival and once again pulled in big names, Iron Maiden among them (report HERE).

Noise-barrier construction smack in the middle of tourist season and the resulting endless traffic jams on the Styrian motorway kept the Rockline crew from getting to the festival grounds on time. Sadly, the two of us missed All Against My Mind completely, along with a good chunk of the set by rock veterans Uriah Heep, who showed everyone how it’s done. Despite the early hour, the Brits, already in their fifth decade of making music, warmed up a surprisingly big crowd even more in the already scorching heat. In an hour-long set, Uriah Heep ran through their biggest hits, and to the great delight of the somewhat older crowd, neither Lady in black nor the almost folk-classic Easy Livin’ was missing.

The brutal pace didn’t leave us journalists much time to rest and cool off in the shade of the pines on the Schwarzlsee shore. Sabaton were already up next. I have to admit I’m no longer used to seeing these Swedish »army metalheads« at such early hours and with such a short setlist (next year they’ll even be headliners at Wacken!). Everyone who caught their closing main-stage set at Metaldays a week earlier came in with big expectations. But sadly, the late start and sound problems hinted that this probably wouldn’t be a show at the usual level. The by-now-classic opener Ghost Division confirmed the fears about the sound – the vocals were almost inaudible, guitars and bass melted together somewhere in the midrange, and the drums occasionally cut across it all. The sound improved a bit over the course of the set, and the show was saved by the incredible stage energy and, of course, the obligatory jokes at the expense of Joakim’s penis and the call for another beer, »Noch ein bier!«.

After a short break came a fresh dose of rock’n’roll – this time the young Australians Airborune! Opinions are split on this band – on a quick listen they sound like an AC/DC clone – similar riffs, similar vocals, and lo and behold, they’re from ‘down under’ too. Many hold this resemblance to their idols against them, but it seems their music has built a bridge between generations, which was more than obvious on the faces of the packed floor. Youthful energy that AC/DC haven’t had for decades, a fast tempo, catchy melodies and the craziness of frontman Joel O’Keefe can easily get even a static crowd moving, like the Austrian one often is. Joel is especially known for his live ‘outbursts’, having climbed to the top of the stage structure and played guitar from up there more than once (to the great horror of security). This time he didn’t go to such extremes, but he smashed countless beer cans on his head and, to the crowd’s huge approval, soloed on a roadie’s shoulders while the roadie carried him piggyback style inside the »bar ring« that divided the festival area. In ten songs the band ran through all three studio albums, and in the closing Running Free they also threw in the tunes of their idols Black Sabbath, Paranoid, as well as Dog Eat Dog, dedicated to Malcolm Young.

If your name is Bubba or Jedadiah and you live somewhere around Düsseldorf, you’ll surely like the next band to take the stage. The stage was taken over by the German ‘yeehaw’ entertainers The BossHoss. Though they repeatedly assured the crowd they come from Mississippi, the guys actually live and work in Berlin. Despite the English lyrics and the parodying of the American South, rednecks, rodeo, monster trucks and everything that goes with them, they’ve reached their greatest popularity precisely among German-speaking nations, where in ten years of existence they’ve played quite a few hundred concerts. After the explosive shot named Airbourne, the crowd in front of the stage thinned out a bit, but the diehards were rewarded with excellent sound and a great performance by the band, whose core is vocalists Boss Burns (Alec Völkel) and Hoss Power (Sascha Vollmer). The septet, who also play more exotic instruments such as washboard, tamburica, double bass and the like, were joined at Friday’s show by the horn trio Tijuana Underrounds, who conjured up a Mexican mariachi vibe for the whole set with trumpet, sax and trombone.

With so many excellent bands, it was honestly hard to find time to rest and get some much-needed refreshment from the pricey food and overpriced beer, which, just like last year, sticks to five euros a glass or can. But the stage was soon ready for the elder statesmen of Status Quo. Although the short run of shows by the original foursome, ‘The Fab Four’, ended last year, the current lineup, apart from the drummer added last year, has been going for almost three decades. In that time a band learns to breathe as one, and if there’s also a shared love of music in the mix, then only a higher power can stop a quality show. This time the guys – or rather, gentlemen – were stronger than anything. With their infectious melodies they turned the whole place into one giant dance floor with the very first song, Caroline. Old and young danced while the Brits shook hit after hit out of the stage. The vocal harmonies and contrasts between the two main voices, Rossi and Parfitt, magically caressed the middle ear and stopped the dancing only with the legendary In the Army Now, and even that, of course, earned a mighty vocal accompaniment from the whole crowd. A short breather for the older members of the band as well as the crowd came courtesy of Leon Cave and his mastery of drum skills. But that was only the calm before the storm, since a real rock’n’roll storm followed, in which the old-timers showed how it’s done and wrapped up the regular set with Rockin’ All Over the World. In my opinion, the show of the day, and the crowd even managed to call them back to the stage for an encore. Simply unforgettable!

It’s ironic that Rossi’s first band, the one that became the basis for Status Quo, was called The Scorpions, since it was precisely Scorpions (the German ones) who were the main stars of the evening. Both bands go back to the mid-sixties of the last century and will soon mark fifty years. A glamorous stage with video projections, hydraulically rising drums and a catwalk promised a lot, but the music is what counts, and that’s exactly where it went wrong. The show left quite a bitter aftertaste. Already during the opening Sting in the Tail it seemed like Klaus wasn’t quite with it. Close-ups on the video wall showed half-closed eyes and a ‘don’t care’ attitude, as if he’d smoked a joint or two before the show. The start didn’t promise much. He staggered vocally and consequently got almost no reaction from the crowd, which is also visible in the video below. At least at the start, apart from Rudolf Schenker’s posing with his kitschy guitars and stand-in drummer Johan Franzon on a rising platform, the only one worth mentioning was the other guitarist Matthias Jabbs, whose excellently played solos kept the sound at least a bit above average. Klaus’s erratic behavior on stage continued when, to the roadies’ displeasure, he threw a tambourine toward the front rows and at the drums. Things started to improve a bit with The Best is Yet To Come, when Klaus also picked up a guitar, and the crowd finally got going with the romantic classic Send Me An Angel. The band ran through a rich chunk of their catalogue, and the regular set ended all too quickly. It was no surprise that both Rock Me Like a Hurricane and Wind of Change landed in the first encore, and the crowd managed to call the band back to the stage once more. As dismal as it looked at the start, the show luckily picked up and finished well, capping a truly excellent day of rock concerts. For us, a short night’s rest and prep for metal day at See rock awaited.      

Setlist

Sabaton

1. Ghost Division
2. To Hell And Back
3. Carolus Rex
4. Resist And Bite
5. Soldier of 3 Armies
6. Far From the Fame
7. The Art of War
8. Primo Victoria
9. Metal Crüe

Airbourne

1. Ready to Rock
2. Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast
3. No One Fits Me (Better Than You)
4. Diamond in the Rough
5. Girls in Black
6. Cheap Wine & Cheaper Women
7. Black Dog Barking
8. Chewin’ the Fat
9. Live it Up
10. Running Free 

Photo gallery