After such a ‘Night to Remember’ it’s hard to think of how anything else in the festival could surpass the previous days events, but this is Wacken after all…there is always something on the cards!
Friday at Wacken Open Air 2015 featured a plethora of massive bands that one would even struggle to dream about. We didn’t even get to see everything we wanted to as the day was so jam packed with talent! It’s great how they can book all these acts, but we do need to figure out how we can all be at two places at once. Anyway…to the music!
Epica
I have repeatedly hailed Epica for their consistent and brilliant live performances. The last time I saw Epica play here they were on the smaller Party Stage and completely owned it. Today they graduated to the bigger Black Stage, and guess what? They completely owned that too.
The band started up the days proceedings at 11am, a deathly time of morning for recovering metalheads, especially after the last night, but as the band fired into ‘The Second Stone‘ pyro and all. We were awake bright eyed and horns up. The band played a relatively shorter set then what we are used to seeing, but it was packed with symphonic brilliance such as ‘The Obsessive Devotion‘ and one of my favourites ‘Victims of Contigency‘.
Of course Epica wrapped up the performance by enlightening us to their progressive flair in ‘Consign to Oblivion‘, and although we definitely could have done with a few more Epica classics, the band will be returning to Europe for a full headline tour, and definitely gave us something to look forward to.
Ensiferum
Ensiferum are another one of those bands that have pretty much got a guaranteed spot at Wacken every couple of years. I can’t seem to remember a time where Ensiferum have not played every second year, but that is because they always bring the party to the festival.
Supporting their new album ‘One Man Army‘ at this festival seemed a bit ironic given the legions of fans that had shown up before them – but the amount of people that were present also emphasised that Ensiferum have truly become a festival favourite as the band kicked off with ‘March of War‘.
The setlist included Ensiferum classics such as ‘Twilight Tavern‘ and ‘Lai Lai Hei‘, and while the energy of the band is usually quite huge, it just seemed today like the band were going through the motions. Perhaps the festival season was just taking it’s toll…the music was great but the physical performance just lacked a little in comparison to their other Wacken shows.
The music alone was able to whip the crowd into a frenzy however, even with the mass clods of mud on the grounds that everyone seemed to sink into as soon as a mosh pit broke out, and any band that can do that deserves a hell of a lot of credit!
Falconer
Falconer last year announced that they would be doing a final string of shows over the 2015 summer which alarmed people to the point that it might be the end of the band. That was not the case as Falconer assured people that they would continue to make music, but no more shows would be played. That’s OK, they are not really a live band anyway only playing a handful of shows in their 15 year career. It does make a Falconer live appearance all the more special though, and to play a rare show in a place like Wacken does make it all the more special.
The most respectable trait about this performance is that everything about it is natural – pure power metal all hand-played with no tapes whatsoever. So many power metal bands opt to use backing tapes to enhance their performances, but Falconer have chosen the traditional route despite many of their songs using external instrumentation.
Tracks like ‘Quest for the Crown‘ and ‘Northwind‘ all use folk instruments and keyboards, but were all compensated with guitar work and sounded excellent. It is really an eye opener to show what talented musicians the men from Falconer are.
The show was not particularly energetic, but as aforementioned the band really don’t consider themselves live performers. Despite a few sound problems the music played was epic, clean and a pleasure to listen to with great talent in every note – particularly epic when thousands of metal fans sang out the chorus of ‘The Clarion Call‘ at the end of the show.
Stratovarius
This would be the first time seeing Stratovarius for me with the new line-up. Somehow I have always missed them when they have toured the last 5 years, so it was a very exciting prospect on a personal level to finally see the new members in action – especially guitarist Mathias Kupiainen who I believe to be a talent on an astronomical plane.
The band started out with a couple of fan-favourites in ‘Black Diamond‘ and ‘Eagleheart‘ before switching to the technical proggy gear in ‘Dragons‘. It was pretty much everything I had hoped for in a Stratovarius performance and more, as the previous times I had seen the band a couple of musicians that no longer play in the band really lacked in energy (er hem…Tolkki…), but it was not the case this time.
Band members were flying around the stage in ‘Speed of Light‘ and keyboard and guitar shredding over almost every song was crisp and rampant. The band even found the chance to premier a new track in ‘Shine in the Dark‘ from their new album, definitely out to show the new found musical talent of Stratovarius.
The band played on the Party Stage, but their grandiose presence should have put them on one of the larger stages as it was quite fitting. It does raise the question how the promoters do organise the bands across the stages as it does raise eyebrows when gargantuan bands such as Stratovarius end up on smaller stages, but there must be logical reasoning behind this.
Dream Theater
Another huge band playing their first set at Wacken, and gob smacked by the huge presence before them. Prog giants Dream Theater were here to bring the technical storm after the actual rain storm, and many fans, like myself were curious to see how the band fare in a festival environment. They are an arena band through and through, and rightfully so as their music is so well crafter it needs a 3 hour set to bring it to justice. The band only have an hour today though, and while some joked they would only play two songs, what they chose for a setlist would be interesting.
The band decided to take a heavy and faster approach given the spirit of the festival, playing tracks like ‘Panic Attack‘ and ‘As I Am‘ while including classics such as ‘The Spirit Carries On‘. It was a very well chosen setlist considering what the Dream Theater discography has to offer. and sometimes in a energetic environment such as Wacken a massively proggy setlist can get tiresome very quickly.
It was the perfect approach from Dream Theater who impressed many of the doubters who came forward and said the band aren’t the festival type. Every note was pitch perfect (can’t expect any less from DT really) and all the energy was there. A perfect backdrop to sundown in Northern Germany!
Oomph!
Oomph!’s are one of those bands I discovered years ago because of my obsession with Neue Deutsche Haerte music (thank you Rammstein) in the day. I bought their album ‘Ego‘ in 2001 and have since drifted in and out of interest in this band. Every now and then they will release a totally stunning track that won’t leave my head for quite the while.
Since it was Oomph!’s 25th anniversary, they tailored a setlist that would include all those incredibly catchy songs basically making what was an NDH wet dream for myself. I have only ever seen this band live once 10 years ago when they took the main stage at Wacken, and I was extremely impressed by their holistic performance.
Nothing has changed in 2015 as the band are full of energy and seriously know how to work up a crowd. They have been doing this 25 years after all! Tracks like ‘Labyrinth‘, ‘Wunschkind‘ and ‘Gott ist ein Popstar‘ resonate those catchy beats and industrial undertones to the Wacken crowd who never let up on the fist-pumping and headbanging. When the band sign off with the ever popular ‘Augen Auf‘, you could probably here the countdown lyrics in the pre-chorus miles away.
In Flames
In Flames have released some rather questionable material over the past few years, always leaving the question as to whether this band are actually relevant any more. Yes they pioneered that Gothenburg melodic death metal sound that will all know and love, but their decent into obscurity has left fans rather confused about what to think of them.
I can tell you right away that their live performance is the redeeming factor for this band, as it is simply on another level. Tonight In Flames take the headline spot of the festival for the day, and while some would wonder why, looking at the crowd of people in front of the stage says just why. There were so many people that I couldn’t get near the front of the stage if I tried, but the advantage of being far back was being able to see the light show all across two stages – one of the most immense parts of the performance.
It’s almost as if In Flames know that their newer material is obscure when it comes to them choosing their setlist, as barely of it was present much to the fans delight. Brilliant tracks like ‘Only For The Weak‘, ‘Bullet Ride‘ and ‘Cloud Connected‘ flooded the hour and a half given to the band, with the audience response being the greatest energy given to a band at the entire festival.
Now that the mud was drying up and fans were becoming increasingly more mobile in the pits, everyone was in the mood to celebrate – and what better to the tunes of ‘The Quiet Place‘ and ‘Deliver Us‘. It was the performance every one of the 70’000 fans in attendance was hoping for, and that’s exactly what we got. More than enough for In Flames to be at the top of the ladder when it comes to respectable metal bands, as the final notes of ‘My Sweet Shadow‘ ring out leave me personally with goosebumps.
Within Temptation
The final band of Friday is none other than Within Temptation – yet another huge band that eclipses the size of the Party Stage with a massive set up and grandiose sound, but having seen this band in venues of all shapes and sizes, they always make it work no matter what the circumstances.
It was the first time since 2008 I would see this band live, and they have immensely increased in popularity since then. In that time they have sold hundreds of thousands of albums gaining number one spots across Europe, and even managing to get some special guests on board including famed rapper Xzibit and former Nightwish vocalist Tarja Turunen.
The show itself was a pure representation of how big this band have gotten – a precision-ridden light show synced up the orchestral bombastics of tracks like ‘Angels‘, with every instrument mixed to absolute perfection. The pyro and effects were brought at explosive key moments and the video back drop provided more entertainment to the mass theatrics brought on stage.
As the music was a bit more mellow and mid-tempo, it was the perfect ending to settle down after a huge day of music, and when the classic ‘Mother Earth‘ finished up, it was a instant reminder that there was one more epic day of music ahead!
