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Rock Am Ring 2006 |
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| It was an early start. I rode the train from the Munich Central Station (München Haupbahnhaft) to Coblenz (Koblenz) and took the bus to the Nürbergring. Like the previous year, the guys were already there and Stefan came up from the camping grounds to pick me up and walk with me back to the group. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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FRIDAY (2-JUNE-2006) |
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| The weather this year was not the best, but we made the best of it and walked up to the concert grounds to see Alice in Chains to start the weekend concert. The band had not toured since 1994 and this was their first world-wide tour since the death of their original lead singer (Layne Stanley, left in the picture below) who died in April 2002. William DuVall was the singer for this concert. There were many comments from other bands about the excitement of playing the same stage as them becuase it will be one of, if not the last time Alice in Chains will perform together. In an interview, Jerry Cantrell, said he wanted to tour as Alice in Chains one last time as a tribute to Layne, then they will go on to for another band and write new songs. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| We got separated shortly after Alice in Chains and I
found myself up in the front for Dir En Grey. They come from Japan I
believe. It wasn't really my kind of music but there was a nice mosh pit
happening for them so I participated in that. The lead singer scratched
himself and spit blood. Hopefully it was fake blood, but that was a little
hardcore, I hadn't seen that since Blackie Lawless in the late 1980's.
Maybe they were influenced by him. <DIR EN GREY> I remained up in the front for the Deftones, again moshing until I tired. This was the first time I had ever crowd surfed. It was a cool experience. I tapped the person in front of me on the shoulder and made the signal to give me a boost up on top of the crowd. He did and the rest was like clockwork. They carried me over their heads to the front of the people and a security guard caught me, saving me from a 7 foot (2.5 meter) drop to the concrete ground. I immediately thought, I need to do this again. So I walked around, made my way up to where the crowd was dense enough to support the activity and did it again. Unfortunately, I ended up in the same place with the same security guard catching me, he said, next time I will let you fall to the ground. After more research on crowd surfing there is an unwritten rule that 3 times and you are out. I only did it twice, but maybe because I am 6ft 200lbs (1.8 meter, 90kilo) he said that would be it for me. It was cool and will do it again at some time in the future. |
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| I called Stefan on the mobile and we meet up for Tool. They were good and after hearing them I went out and purchased their best of CD. They have a good sound. I wasn't the biggest TOOL fan, to be honest I cant say that I knew any of their music. They put on such a great show and the music sounded very good. I didn't realize they were that heavy and I didn't know about them. They are more of an alternative heavy metal band, so maybe this is why. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| One of the biggest regrets I have as far as music concerts go is missing Guns N' Roses. They were supposed to play after Tool, but they weren't even in the country when Tool left the stage. The announcer came onto the stage and said they would be ready to play around 2:30-3:00AM. I was there with Stefan, we had light clothing and it was raining and cold. We decided to go back to the camping site and skip the show. Guns N' Roses did make it and they did play, from 3:00-4:30AM. Should have stayed....I hope to see them again in the future, I have never seen them live and hope I will get another chance. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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SATURDAY (3-JUNE-2006) |
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| The big band for this day was going to be Metallica. I have seen them 3 times and this would be my 4th. The first time with their newest bassist. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I remember Reiner wanted to go to the concert grounds early to see Alter Bridge. They were running a little behind schedule and we saw the entire set of Strapping Young Lad. Oh man, this was even too hard and fast for me. Perhaps it takes a special person to like my kind of music, but I think it takes an even specialier <is that a word?> person to like this. SYL is a combination of thrash, grindcore, industrial and progressive metal. We saw Alter Bridge, too, and they were cool. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| We hung around, ate some food and drank some beers for most of the day at the concert. Stefan and me viewed Cradle of Filth. Again, a special kind of music. Cradle of Filth started out as a black metal group but has evolved to a more gothic, symphonic genre of metal. After they stopped playing, I felt the need to mosh and pushed my up to the front for Soulfly. I like their music as it has a very moshible rhythm to it. I stayed for the full set and we all met down at the camping plot and prepared for Metallica. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| I guess due to the weather many of the bands were running a little late. We arrived a little early for Metallica and caught Bullet For My Valentine and The Darkness who played before Metallica. We(I) had no desire to see Reamon (I saw him with my wife when he and the Alternative All-stars opened for Bon Jovi in 2003). There is nothing wrong with his music, but to call it heavy metal is not right, it is pop. We just walked around and drank a few beers until the big show. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Man it was packed. Absolutely no chance to get close enough to see the guys in detail. I really could only see the lights and the jumbo screens. I am very good at pushing my way forward, but for this concert it was totally impossible. I tried everything, even asking the people in front of me to pick me up to crowd surf to the front did not work out. No one would lift me up. Perhaps I was too far back. They played all the songs you would expect them to play as well as their new songs from St. Anger. They are the biggest heavy metal band of all time. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| We got separated during the concert and met back at the camping grounds after the concert. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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SUNDAY (4-JUNE-2006) |
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| I didn't make it out of the tent until late this day and missed most of it. There weren't many bands playing early that I wanted to see anyway. We ended up going to the concert at around 19:00, to see Depeche Mode. They have a cult like following. Some of his music is dark and depressive, but overall it was a good show, we stayed towards the back and viewed the show mostly on the jumbo screens. I can say it was relaxing and it closed out Rock am Ring 2006 on a good note. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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MONDAY (5-JUNE-2006) |
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| What a great time, I went back by train, took about 8 hours. I look forward to next year. |
