WACKEN OPEN AIR 2010 (Day 3)

August 7th – And So It Ended…

Crucified Barbara – W.E.T. Stage

Right before these Swedish chicks entered the stage, the tent stage was packed full with attendees. As they started “Killer On His Knees”, many were swept away by their sexy looks and by the heaviness of their material.

Even though their material includes Hard Rock flavors, it was Metal and it was purely heavy. Drums, bass, and guitars were loud and pumping fury. The band’s singer yet again proved women can play Metal without being operatic about it.

Although their chosen material was practically simple, the raging crowd took interest and rocked the place. Crucified Barbara put on a good show by mixing good Heavy Metal twitches with sexy and darkened stuff. Their selection of songs was rather good and they performed a few of their hit tracks. Without a doubt, though, to become drawn to their music, you’d have to see a longer show.

Setlist

1. “Killer On His Knees”
2. “Play Me Hard”
3. “Sex Action”
4. “Creatures”
5. “Blackened Bones”
6. “Losing the Game”
7. “In Distortion We Trust”

Overkill – True Metal Stage

The green and black parade came to destroy again. The thrashing Overkill from New York went onward to continue their moshfest after their last time here in 2005. It was puzzling, even during the show, why this veteran and amazing band isn’t a part of the festival headliners. Well, surely they aren’t Maiden, Crue, or Cooper, yet they could easily take on Slayer any day any time.

Overkill knew how to select their tracks for their show and Bobby Blitz knew how to guide the crowd through the songs via small talk speeches to let everyone know what is about to hit their faces. Also, it is amazing how much energy this guy has… it’s like an Energizer bunny that never stops.

Only three songs were selected off of the new Ironbound release, which is also terrific. Other tracks were from the 80’s and early 90’s; nothing from their late 90’s stuff. Many would agree that their 80’s material is way better than what went on after I Hear Black. Although they selected good tracks for this show, not much activity could be seen in the back of the audience.

As for their performance, fans were certainly awarded with a good US Thrash show; probably the best in all of Wacken. Seeing this band impressively playing great classics side-by-side of their new comeback old school stuff, left me confused as to why this band has not been elevated to a world-class status. To quote Overkill on how to respond to all who didn’t like the show and may have thought otherwise about their world class status – “Fuck You”!

Setlist

1. “The Green and Black”
2. “Rotten to the Core”
3. “Wrecking Crew”
4. “Hello from the Gutter” (Damn great)
5. “Coma” (Didn’t expect that one, but was thrilled to see it live)
6. “Hammerhead”
7. “Ironbound”
8. “In Union We Stand” (proud to be a Metalhead)
9. “Bring Me the Night” (The 80’s return with a new track out of Ironbound).“Elimination’ (The song’s power never ends)
10. “Fuck You” (The Subhumans Cover)
11. “Overkill” (Motorhead Cover)
12. “Fuck You” (Again and again, with a cool reprise)

W.A.S.P. – True Metal Stage

A show many were waiting for had to be W.A.S.P. and Blackie Lawless. The Heavy / Glam Metal power L.O.V.E Machine from L.A. rolled hard and to the core. The beginning of a loud siren left everyone in suspense. Slowly the members of W.A.S.P. went on the stage. Many thought the show would start with “The Last Command” or “Wild Child”, but instead Blackie prepared a surprise and rushed with “On Your Knees”, which is also a wonderful pick.

Speaking of picks, W.A.S.P. knew exactly what to give to their fans, and although “Animal (Fuck Like A Beast)” or “Arena Of Pleasure” or “I Am One” (which is a mega live track) wasn’t on their menu, they gave a full 80’s attack with only a few tracks from their early 90’s period and the new album, Babylon. The fans loved their picks as W.A.S.P. got more than a few aces for that. During the show, Blackie seemed energized and knew how to flame the crowd. Although he didn’t drink blood from a skull or spit icy fire from his mouth, that didn’t bother everyone from having a good time.

The long solo of the band’s guitarist, Doug Blair, on “The Idol” was amazing. While there were several parts where he repeated himself, he showed the true power of such an awesome song. To summarize, W.A.S.P. performed an amazing show… sadly it was only an hour long.

Setlist

1. “On Your Knees” (A great opener, the crowd screamed like there was no tomorrow)
2. “The Real Me (The Who cover)” (On the chorus, Blackie didn’t have to sing because the crowd did it for him)
3. “L.O.V.E. Machine” (Say no more …)
4. “Babylon’s Burning” (Great show by the band’s pounding drummer, Mike Dupke)
5. “Wild Child” (Probably one of the strongest moments of the show .. everyone went insane on that one singing along with Blackie)
6. “Hellion / I Don’t Need No Doctor / Scream Until You Like It” (Cool medley, Blackie is healthy and needs no doctor to make the crowd scream)
7. “Chainsaw Charlie (Murders in the New Morgue)” (Always a pleasure to hear that one, when the sound of the chainsaw roared it was time to get whacked)
8. “The Idol” (The most exciting moment of the show, not due to heaviness but due to pure emotion from a song from the most catatonic album W.A.S.P. could muster)
9. “I Wanna Be Somebody” (Rage and blood from a well-done closer)

Stratovarius – Party Stage

The old melodic Power Metal brand from Finland went on stage with their new album line-up. No more Tolkki on the lead, now it’s Kotipelto and Johansson. The selection of “Hunting High And Low” as an opener was selected well, just as it was selected on their live album, Polaris – Live. However, with the good opening pick came annoying problems with the sound. At first it was hard to hear Kotipelto singing, then it was hard to hear Johansson.

Don’t think that those sound problems ended there… they came again on several other songs on the playlist. On the other hand, Stratovarius themselves weren’t performing as well as they could. They put on a good show, selected good tracks, mostly from the Vision album, yet many in the crowd probably thought they could have done better. Maybe the production hurt them here and there, but they had some mistakes along the way too. In conclusion, a good show but nobody is perfect. Stratovarius is still a big name in the Metal world, and usually their form is superb.

Setlist

1. “Hunting High and Low” (Great opener, shame for those sound troubles)
2. “Higher We Go”
3. “Speed of Light” (Great speedy track with a great performance by the band’s new guitarist on the lead)
4. “The Kiss of Judas” (Better versions have been performed, but it was ok)
5. “Against the Wind”
6. “Deep Unknown” (One of the better tracks off their new album)
7. “Eagleheart”
8. “Winter Skies”
9. “Phoenix”
10. “Paradise” (This and the finisher are why Visions is probably the best album by the band)
11. “Black Diamond”

Edguy – True Metal Stage

Like they were spit out of a dragon’s mouth, Edguy attacked with the strongest and powerful songs they could arrange. From time to time they were reminiscent of Helloween because of their usual nonsense, however not too much on this show. As Tobias Sammet raised his voice on “Dead Or Rock” and “Speedhoven”, Heavy Metal was in the air and alive with tons of people that came to see this great band. Shame it ended so fast.

Tobias and his longtime partners in crime displayed yet again that they are still on a cruising altitude course to become a Heavy Metal giant. Throughout the show they sounded as if they were bombing all the way. Even the great bass player of Helloween came to do them honors by joining them on two songs, “Lavatory Love Machine” and the Glam-ish “Superheroes”, and they were outstanding. But the songs that really blew me away were “Tears Of The Mandrake” and “King Of Fools”. This show was probably the heaviest of this festival, and boy it was great to be present. Maybe the most important aspect was to see Tobias… a true gift to the Metal world and to the fans who will come to next year’s Wacken and will enjoy his Avantasia project once again.

Setlist

1. “Dead or Rock” (Killing opener)
2. “Speedhoven”
3. “Tears of a Mandrake” (Nothing could have bested that one)
4. “Vain Glory Opera”
5. “Lavatory Love Machine” (With Markus Grosskopf)
6. “Superheroes” (With Markus Grosskopf… Heavy as hell with three guitarists)
7. “Save Me” (A beautiful ballad in order to make everyone calm down a bit after the blast they had earlier)
8. “Sacrifice”
9. “King of Fools”(Superb closer, catchy and easy to listen to)

U.D.O. – True Metal Stage

What a great way to start up the Wacken festival and also to finish it! U.D.O., the German Metal god is alive and kicking more than ever before. If you could have closed your eyes and listened to his performance, you would certainly be convinced that it was 1986. It was great to hear his voice has not changed throughout the years.

Udo gave the audience exactly what they needed to finish the festival with a good taste and a memory. From the beginning of his show, he hit the crowd with his powerful song “The Bogeyman”, and straight after it with the song “Dominator” — both are from his latest album Dominator. He continued with the song “Independence Day”, generating what all felt during the show – a true celebration for every Metalhead around. Udo gave fans a greatest hits live show as he attacked with songs from his entire solo career.

“The Bullet And The Bomb” straight ahead from the Thunderball album came next and displayed each riff as master riffs. You could feel the blade as he sawed with his voice, and there wasn’t a Metalhead around that didn’t bang his head to its ambivalent power. “Vendetta” reminded of a march as each drum beat was like the beating of a heart. Igor Gianola produced a nice harmony with Stefan Kaufmann, but that was just a little taste of what was upcoming.

Everyone wanted Accept and everyone got it. With the emergence of “Princes of the Dawn”, the stage belonged to Stefan Kaufmann; he teased the audience with the riff from the song alongside Igor, while actually complimenting him with the opening riff. The song was perfectly played with a sing-a-long by the audience. Another Accept classic was “Midnight Mover” from the 1985 Metal Heart album. A little bit of a Glamish song that provided another nostalgic moment for the audience. They hit note after note exactly as on the album… picture perfect. “Man and Machine” came afterwards with an opening drum part by Mr. Jovino; showing what a machine he really is.

From 1987, Udo gave fans “Animal House” — the song title from his debut solo album — a fast and heavy Metal song, and almost the entire crowd joined him in a shout that we are “…living in animal house”. Udo really knows how to make the crowd enthusiastic. Later on came another 1985 classic from the Accept years: the hit “Metal Heart”. The lights on the stage turned red and reminded everyone of their bleeding hearts for more Accept. That song was so powerful from top to bottom… the guitar riffs, drums, and the sing-along chorus. The band also gave fans a great solo performance as all the crowd joined repeatedly with the guitar melody.

At this moment, everyone felt that they were brothers of Metal. “Holy” prepared us for what came afterwards. However, you can’t finish a Udo concert without one of the strongest Metal anthems for generations – “Balls To The Wall”. Enough said about this song, it was the crown jewel that completed the show.

Setlist

1. “The Bogeyman”
2. “Dominator”
3. “Independence Day”
4. “The Bullet And The Bomb”
5. “Thunderball”
6. “Vendetta”
7. “Princess Of The Dawn”
8. “Guitar Solo”
9. “Midnight Mover”
10. “Man And Machine”
11. “Animal House”
12. “Metal Heart”
13. “Holy”
14. “Balls To The Wall”

Epilogue

After the U.D.O. show, Wacken was officially over. Unofficially, everybody stayed out late to have their last quick fix of fun before hitting the sack and heading out home in the morning. Once again the Mecca of Metal, which is Wacken, turned everyone upside down. Wacken provided tons of Metal, day and night, alcohol, and the opportunity to meet amazing people and make new friends. Believe us when we say that if you haven’t been there, go as fast you can. That is the ultimate Metal experience – Harder, Louder, Faster!!