Review of Screamfest - yes its long trying to cover 20 bands and the cruise!
Got to venue and missed the opening act darker half, got to the front to hear (and see) vanishing point great set and sound surprising being that good 2nd band up. I went to the merch stand to get the customary tour shirt and hung it from my belt, plus a program, went and caught the synperium set, they were awesome besides being so young, then saw Spawn of Possession chalky was in fine voice! I went outside to get some air and a bit to eat,curtesy from a hotdog vendow parked outside the venue $5- not bad! Went back inside to catch "Rotting Christ" set truely got me hooked, Malevolent creation was a bit of a bore but they were on stage for 45 minutes, Destroyer 666 were brutal as and then Sonata Articta came on and the crowd especially the females went crazy, couldn't hear much of what they were saying the sound quality wasn't the greatest, they played 10 songs and left with no encore - that sucked!!!!
Day 2 - I met up with some west aussies who were near the front and pushed into the line which was handy, and the door opened 15 minutes late - that would never happen here (would it???). Defamer were first up and got the crowd pumped for another awesome day of metal. Universum were next and didn't appeal to me whatsoever after seeing them at dragonforce they left me with a fould taste so I wasn't paying much attention to the band, so I went for a walk around and bumped into Dan and Taz, then a few minutes later the drummers from Lacrymae and advent sorrow, they were telling me that they were staying a in a run-down hostel in King's cross and told them where I was staying and asked for a swap - as if
? Killlrazer were on next and wasn't too keen on them eight either so I went for a walk and bumped into Sam from virgin black it was a 30sec chat but its something I'll remember for a while, so I continued to walk to one of the deli's close by and got a chockie bar & a drink, that was consumed rather quickly as I wanted front row to see Virgin Black which was a stand-out on day two. Eyefear was next and the lead singer Danny has hair to his ankle and it is real!!!! The band produced a tight set to the crowds liking and a few were screaming for songs he did when he was with pegazus. I went outside after the eyefear set and got my pic taken with Danny and hair. I walked down the road to a burger place where they make real burgers and got something cheap and was able to keep my energy levels up for another 6hrs. I caught the back end of Eye of the enemy which was great, and Black majesty were getting te crowd worked for the following bands that were coming up. I tried to get to the front to mosh with edguy but that never worked out, so I stayed up the back behind the producer's desk and watched it from there which sounded better than standing in the front speakers and hear crackling!!!! The first of the big acts came on Ensiferum got the crowd moving along and singing until they couldn't sing no more. Cynic were next yet another tight set, even though I hurt none of their albums....Dark Funeral were next and got the metal revellers wanting to hear more from the band but there was nothing that could be done, even though there was 2 pre-determined encore's! The guitar and the ticket to the cruise was drawn and won! Edguy came on stage and almost tore te the roof off getting everyone up singing and dancing during the set. I left there satisified even though there were a couple of bands that were a let-down all in all it was a memorable couple of days.
Now the boat cruise - plenty of food, beer, and not much in the way of metal, but all in all it was something that I'll never forget - bring on Thursday night w Ensiferum, Cynic and Edguy!!!!
LE