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Rock Am Ring 2005 |
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| I decided to fly from Munich (München) to Cologne (Köln)
and then drive to the Nürbergring. I did get lost on the way but stopped
and asked for directions then found my way with their help. Shortly before
arrival I called Stefan and said I would be there shortly, after a little
searching I saw way in the distance someone holding a big Rainbow Peace
flag...waving it around. It was him, not easy to miss. He watched the car
while I waited in line to get my ticket, then we drove to the camping
grounds. This was my first time I met these guys so I was a little
nervous. Turned out to be a nice group of guys. Der Chef , The Whistler, The Nice Guy, Q., The Peacemaker and me. |
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FRIDAY (3-JUNE-2005) |
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| I was very excited to get the event underway and shortly after I unpacked I broke out the bottle of Jackie that I brought with me. Or should I say, the gallon (3 liter) of Jackie I brought with me... We partook in the devil-juice and prepared for the journey to the concert grounds. My friend Todd Hopkins had given me a few songs from Killswitch Engage and I had completely enjoyed it. I was looking forward to seeing them. I pushed my way up to the front after Simple Plan and was ready to mosh. It was a good pit and had a blast, it was the first time in a few years and it felt good. I remained in the pit for Papa Roach, even though they are border line heavy metal / pop, but some songs had the groove that influenced the audience to mosh. It was great. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| I met up with Stefan and the guys again we walked around and caught the end of Mando Diao, all of Weezer and a few songs of Maroon 5. We went back down to the camping grounds to grab some food and drinks before the big bands started to play in the evening. I played a little guitar and sang a few songs before we left | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| <WEEZER> | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| .This was my second time to see Green Day. It's
interesting because the first time I saw them in 2002 in Munich (München)
it was in a very small venue, maybe 250 people. A few fans were even
pulled from the audience and got to play Smoke on the Water for the fans.
Then to see the same 3 guys playing again for 50,000 people was
impressive. I guess as a band you have to play in many different venues,
but I bet larger audiences are more fun. |
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| Shortly before R.E.M. played, shortly after Green Day finished, they flew over in a helicopter. I know it was them, but no one else believed me. They are legends, I loved their music most when I was in college, I still like them now...but in reality I couldn't wait to find my way over to the Alternative stage where Slipknot was playing. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Man o' man, what a tough crowd. No chance to get to the front for them but there were mosh pits all over the place. You can use them to make your way forward...carefully moving through them quickly. I got into one, but was too brutal, it was dark and seemed dangerous for a person who just wanted fun, I would have needed to be angry at something and needing to take it out on a stranger to participate in them. CLOWN was not there, he had a personal problem and could not make it. The lead singer, Corey Taylor, said we could have come without him or not come at all, so we decided to come and kick your as*. The drummer, Joey Jordison, played a rock' in solo, his platform raised up in the air maybe 10 feet (3 meters), tilted forward 90 degrees (grad) and went around in a circle like a clock face. He played during the whole thing. It was cool. It reminded me a little of the drum cage Tommy Lee played in that circled forward while he played his solo. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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SATURDAY (4-JUNE-2005) |
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| Whistler brought along a guitar and amp, Stefan brought along his electric drums, plus we met some other people with a guitar and we played music for most of this day. Stefan and I rocked to Seek and Destroy. Unfortunately, I didn't make it up to the concert grounds on this day...shoot, I really wanted to see most of the bands playing on the center stage. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| <HELMET> | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Oh well, I had a blast playing and singing around our camping ground, word has it that we had an audience. It was magical. <Many details will be purposely left out to protect the integrity of the participants> Trees are your friends. :-) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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SUNDAY (5-JUNE-2005) |
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| My planning for this concert was not the best . My plane would leave Cologne (Köln) at around 15:00, meaning I needed to leave before even the first band started to play on Sunday. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| I did get to see some bands during my 2 1/2 days at the concert, but will surely plan better next time! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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MONDAY (6-JUNE-2005) |
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| What a great time, I drove back to the Köln (Cologne) airport and flew to München (Munich) which took about 10 hours. I look forward to next year. |
