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jackhammer · 06-30-2009, 02:18 PM

Bang Your Head Festival Jun 26/27th June. Germany.

The Germans love Metal and one thing they do and do well is copious amounts of festivals that cater for the Metal fan and what they also do well is organisation. Every band was on stage on time. The facilities were first class (including the toilets) and the atmosphere was unbelievably friendly with many families there too.

Myself and fellow MB member The Cat have been best friends for 23 years now and since he moved to Germany last year for work reasons we combined a visit with a festival to get the best of both worlds. The festival line up was also extremely appealing as the BYH festival combines classic Thrash and Metal bands from the 80's with new (usually) German bands. For our enjoyment on the bill was:

Voivod
Sacred Reich
Sodom

which was the order of the bill on Friday and what a 3 and a half hour blitz that was!

Exodus
W.A.S.P (Saturday)

Voivod have always been one of our favourite metal bands and one of the more progressive too and they played a classic mix of old and new. Finishing with their classic cover of Pink Floyd's 'Astronomy Domine'. To say that I was happier than a pig in shit is an understatement and we were in the front row for these without being crushed (the audiences over there are much more respectful of others).

It was exactly the same for Sacred Reich and they were a band I saw 20 years ago (along with the other bands I mentioned) and it was definitely like being a young kid again strutting around to 'Surf Nicaragua' and 'The American Way'. Ending on their classic cover of Black Sabbath's 'War Pigs'. JH= happy camper.

Sodom followed and have a huge following in their homeland of Germany and were another highlight. The rest of the bill was not to our tastes so we carried on drinking and promptly fell asleep before the last band Journey who we wanted to see for a good time and a bit of fun. Considering I had been travelling for 14 hours the previous day, I'm an old bastard and we lost count after drink 15 I am not surprised!

Saturday was a different story altogether and despite the hours of 6 A.M-12 P.M being filled with constant torrential rain we made the most of it and started drinking at 10 a.m. 14 hours later @12 a.m we were still drinking and onto jagermeister by about 7 p.m. The bill wasn't as strong but we still enjoyed the mighty Exodus and had more fun than we thought possible catching the band W.A.S.P. 400 euro's worth of alcohol, one lost pair of trainers (mine-lost in the 3ft puddles of mud at the campsite) and severe hangovers later we made it to Sunday morning having enjoyed a truly excellent weekend full of laughs, great bands, some contrasting weather (it was 36 degrees on Friday), lots of alcohol and sunburn. We are going again next year and there may well be another MB member from across the pond joining us too!

06-30-2009, 02:18 PM	#11 (permalink)
jackhammer Ba and Be. Join Date: May 2007 Location: This Is England Posts: 17,331	Bang Your Head Festival Jun 26/27th June. Germany. The Germans love Metal and one thing they do and do well is copious amounts of festivals that cater for the Metal fan and what they also do well is organisation. Every band was on stage on time. The facilities were first class (including the toilets) and the atmosphere was unbelievably friendly with many families there too. Myself and fellow MB member The Cat have been best friends for 23 years now and since he moved to Germany last year for work reasons we combined a visit with a festival to get the best of both worlds. The festival line up was also extremely appealing as the BYH festival combines classic Thrash and Metal bands from the 80's with new (usually) German bands. For our enjoyment on the bill was: Voivod Sacred Reich Sodom which was the order of the bill on Friday and what a 3 and a half hour blitz that was! Exodus W.A.S.P (Saturday) Voivod have always been one of our favourite metal bands and one of the more progressive too and they played a classic mix of old and new. Finishing with their classic cover of Pink Floyd's 'Astronomy Domine'. To say that I was happier than a pig in shit is an understatement and we were in the front row for these without being crushed (the audiences over there are much more respectful of others). It was exactly the same for Sacred Reich and they were a band I saw 20 years ago (along with the other bands I mentioned) and it was definitely like being a young kid again strutting around to 'Surf Nicaragua' and 'The American Way'. Ending on their classic cover of Black Sabbath's 'War Pigs'. JH= happy camper. Sodom followed and have a huge following in their homeland of Germany and were another highlight. The rest of the bill was not to our tastes so we carried on drinking and promptly fell asleep before the last band Journey who we wanted to see for a good time and a bit of fun. Considering I had been travelling for 14 hours the previous day, I'm an old bastard and we lost count after drink 15 I am not surprised! Saturday was a different story altogether and despite the hours of 6 A.M-12 P.M being filled with constant torrential rain we made the most of it and started drinking at 10 a.m. 14 hours later @12 a.m we were still drinking and onto jagermeister by about 7 p.m. The bill wasn't as strong but we still enjoyed the mighty Exodus and had more fun than we thought possible catching the band W.A.S.P. 400 euro's worth of alcohol, one lost pair of trainers (mine-lost in the 3ft puddles of mud at the campsite) and severe hangovers later we made it to Sunday morning having enjoyed a truly excellent weekend full of laughs, great bands, some contrasting weather (it was 36 degrees on Friday), lots of alcohol and sunburn. We are going again next year and there may well be another MB member from across the pond joining us too! __________________ It be my music and film collection. “A cynic by experience, a romantic by inclination and now a hero by necessity.”