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Rock Am Ring 2007 |
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| My journey started at 4:30am from the Markt Schwaben s-bahn station on 1-June-2007. The train ride was uneventful and as expected from the German train system, the arriaval in Koblenz was punctual. A short walk to the bus from the Koblenz hauptbahnhof that would take me to the festival grounds was the start of a great weekend of heavy metal and rock and roll. As in most years, I would meet some friends who left a few days earlier to secure the best camping spot...the same camping spot we have had for 3 years now, I think they have been going a little longer than me. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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FRIDAY (1-JUNE-2007) |
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| I arrived about noon at the fest-grounds, there really weren't too many bands on Friday that I wanted to see. Mostly I went to the camping ground, setup camp, drank some beer and ate some good food. The highlight of the evening was the White Stripes, the stage was really cool, all red. It takes a lot for 2 people, 1 set of drums and a guitar to entertain 20-30,000 people. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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SATURDAY (2-JUNE-2007) |
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| The early part of this day consists of recovering from the first day. Once we get the grill burning and the steaks cooking things get back to normal again...as normal as they can be at the festival. The concerts kicked off, for me anyway around 15:00. Stefan and I went to see Bloodsimple. This was the first year where I browsed around on the internet and listened to some of the music before I went to the concert. Followed by Lamb of God. A few minutes after Bloodsimple stopped playing, I went up to the front so I could take part in the moshing that would surely take place. It did. I had moshed many times in the past but I can say this pit was the most aggressive I have ever participated in. Too many fists were flying high and low, once I got hit in the ribs and fell to the ground, I called it quits. One interesting mosh activity I had never seen or participated in was the lining up in 2 lines, face to face, about 20 feet apart. Once the music started we ran at each other and met full force in the middle. It kind of reminded me of the battles you would see on films between forces fighting with swords. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| After reading up a little about moshing, I came across an
article that called this form of moshing, the Wall of Death. In the same
article they mentioned that Lamb of God was famous for making this happen
before their song Black Label. Since many fans had been injured at passed
concerts while performing the Wall of Death, Randy Blythe (lead singer)
was instructed not to incite it. Instead he screams "you know what to f*cking
do" before the song, most people did know. Anyway, this was one of
the tougher/aggressive mosh pits.
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| Wolfmother was pretty good I must admit. I wasn't planning on going to this one but everyone else was so I went along. I'd call them a Led Zepplin / Lenny Kravitz mix. Again a 3 man band where the lead guitar sang, the bass guitarist played keyboards as well, and the drummer drummed. I found them a talented group! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| The Smashing Pumpkins where nice to see. In the mid-1990's they were mega-stars, still are, and I related a bit to the words in their songs...then. I could see Billy Corgan's bald head from way in the back. The centerstage has 4 jumbo screens so you can stand anywhere and watch what is happening. They all came out dressed in white and played 'Today' to begin the concert. They ended with some guitar jamming with Uli John Roth (ex-Scorpions). I enjoyed that the most. They really just played some basic lics and scales on top of basic chord progressions, but don't underestimate the talent, concentration and practice required to do something like this. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| On the way back to the camping grounds we stopped by to hear a few songs from Slayer. I do like some of the songs from Slayer (South of Heaven, Angel of Death and Mandatory Suicide), I don't like their relationship with Satan. The lead guitarist, Kerry King, has always had such a unique/awkward/off-tone style. You might remember his solo with the Beastie Boys in You Gotta' Fight For Your Right. In one way they don't sound right, but in another they fit the type of music. Maybe it's just one reason they are the masters and possible/likely grandfathers of Thrash Metal. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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SUNDAY (3-JUNE-2007) |
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| We stayed down at the camping grounds for most of the day, ate some good food and drank some more beer. We bring along a guitar every year and I played a few songs and jammed along with some background music I brought along this year. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Inside the festival grounds there is a place where many of the performing artists sign autographs. I was lucky enough to see Dave Mustaine from Megadeth. When I saw they were playing I really wanted to see them live and possibly see him close up at the autograph stand. I did get to see him at the autograph tent it was cool and so was he. I really thought he was totally awesome saying what he said in Some Kind of Monster to Lars Ulrich. His words touched me. I told him to be watching for me at the concert because I will be front row, as the security escorted me out of the autograph tent. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| <CHIMAIRA> | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Getting into the concert tent, on the otherhand, turned out to be a significant effort. Standing chest to chest, pushing and shoving for about 20-25 minutes until we finally got in. Just in time to hear the last song from As I Lay Dying. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| The venue was pretty small so getting into the mosh pit for Chimaira was not a problem. This pit was more my style. No fists flying, just people bumping into each other and crowd surfing. I had a great time in this one, unlike the one in Lamb of God. I did have a new mosh experience here as well. At the beginning of the song we started running around in a very large circle. No one in the middle, just running around. It looked pretty cool. I broke it down when I ran out into the middle and started acting like the king of the world, someone else quickly came in to knock me down and take over my self promoted role, then another, than another, then it was over...again we moshed. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| I pushed my way up to the front like I said for Megadeth
and was ready for the big concert. I was really impressed by the
concert, I must say. There was a nice light show. Simply put,
there was a backup guitarist, a bass guitarist, a drummer and Dave
Mustaine. I rocked the entire concert, because Dave can play and I
like his music. I caught 3 guitar picks, 1 is here:
2 were from Dave and one from someone else. I gave the second one from Dave to somebody standing next to me because he seemed like a big fan who rocked the whole time with me. The other one I gave to someone I met on the way back to the camping grounds. No idea why, it was a purple pick which I didn't really like so it was not a big deal...yes it was. A drum stick bounced off my fingers...man I wanted that. |
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MONDAY (4-JUNE-2007) |
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| What a great time, I drove back with the guys who I spent the time with there, took about 6 hours. I look forward to next year. |
