Kreator at Getaway Rock Festival 2011

I have been a fan of Kreator since the late 1980s. I remember watching MTV’s Headbanger’s Ball and having to sit through countless horrible bands in the hopes that they would also throw in “Over the Wall” by Testament or Kreator’s “Betrayer.” “Terrible Certainty” was one of the first CDs I ever purchased back in the 80s. But even though I’ve been a fan for more than two decades, seen countless concerts during that time frame, and Kreator hasn’t split up like most bands from that era, I have never been in the right place at the right time to see them. Until the Getaway Rock Festival…

Kreator's Mille Petrozza

Walking to the front of the stage as the mighty Kreator launched into “Hordes of Chaos” was such a rush. Here I was standing at their feet with camera in hand taking up shots of Kreator. I felt like I was shooting the Betrayer video (as that consists mainly of up shots as well). On top of the visual experience, the sound quality was fantastic.

Sweden's Kreator fans

I don’t think any other band had the Swedish crowd going as crazy as Kreator did at the Getaway Rock Festival 2011.

Ventor Reil on drums for Kreator

I have many more photos of Kreator coming soon.

Kreator

Posted on July 27th, 2011 under Other. Tags: getaway rock festival, kreator, metal. Comments Off on Kreator at GRF 2011

Mark Tornillo and Wolf Hoffmann of Accept

25 years ago, perhaps to the day, I had a ticket to see Accept open for Dio in the summer of 1986. The concert was cancelled and so that experience never happened. Accept faded from view; Dio died. I had seen Dio a few years earlier while I was in high school, but I never got to see Accept.

I never thought for a moment that 25 years later I would witness Accept in Sweden from the base of the stage. This was fun–a lot of fun.

Accept

Wolf Hoffmann of Accept

Wolf Hoffmann was full of energy, faces, and smiles all night long. He looked about half his years, and the crowd loved his enthusiasm.

Herman Frank of Accept

Herman Frank, Accept’s “other guitarist”, has only been with the band when they were at their IMO best (Restless and Wild, Balls to the Wall, and now). He was hurt (four broken ribs and a punctured lung) in a stage fall just a couple months before. This may have been his first show back in action.

Wolf Hoffmann and Peter Baltes

Peter Baltes, on bass, is the only other constant member of Accept, along with Wolf Hoffmann.

Posted on July 22nd, 2011 under Other. Tags: accept, getaway rock festival, metal. Comments: 2

Mikael Åkerfeldt of Opeth

Opeth was brilliant as always at the Getaway Rock Festival. Unfortunately, Mikael spoke all in Swedish (of course, since the festival took place in Gävle, Sweden–less than a couple hours north of Stockholm), which meant that while everyone else was laughing at his between-song comments, I couldn’t understand a word. Apparently he is as funny in Swedish as he is in English.

Opeth at the Getaway Rock Festival 2011

The setlist was:
The Grand Conjuration
Face of Melinda
The Lotus Eater
In My Time Of Need
Master’s Apprentices
The Drapery Falls
Hex Omega

I thought it was a bit short considering they were headlining. Also, Hex Omega seemed like a strange choice to end the evening (morning actually as it was almost 2 a.m. when they finished). It would have been great had they come back out for Deliverance and/or Demon of the Fall, both of which would have ended things more nicely. I’m also sad to see that they no longer play Baying of the Hounds. I don’t think I have heard it the last three times I’ve seen them now.

Of course, I could never say they played too long or even just enough. Two or three hours of Opeth would be fantastic.

Martin Mendez (bass) and Martin Axenrot (drums)

Fredrik Åkesson of Opeth

Joakim Svalberg (new keyboardist)

The new keyboardist sounded fine. I always enjoyed Per Wiberg’s headbanging.

This far north, the night never gets fully dark in early July. The sun sort of sets (just before midnight), some orange moves along the horizon (for an hour or so), and then the sun begins to rise before 2 a.m. This last photo was taken at 1:30 a.m., and it only got lighter from this moment on. I could actually see the sun by the time I got back to my hotel just after 2 a.m.

Opeth plays through the sunrise

Posted on July 19th, 2011 under Other. Tags: getaway rock festival, metal, opeth, sunrise, sweden. Comments Off on Opeth at Getaway Rock Festival

Grutle Kjellson and Arve Isdal of Enslaved

Another photo today of Enslaved…

If all goes well, I’ll be leaving Norway soon, and I will have a fresh, new band from the Getaway Rock Festival for you tomorrow once I’m reunited with my computer in Copenhagen. Who would you like to see next? Alice Cooper? Kreator? Accept? Danzig? Opeth? F.K.Ü.? Ghost? I have more bands as well, almost too many to contemplate processing. I still haven’t looked at most of the photos I took in Sweden.

Posted on July 17th, 2011 under Other. Tags: concert photography, enslaved, getaway rock festival, metal, nikon d7000. Comments Off on Enslaved

Abbath Doom Occulta of Immortal at the Getaway Rock Festival

The plan was to feature a (new) band a day, but I didn’t bring my computer on my trip to Norway with me (5 train transfers from Copenhagen to Oslo wasn’t going to make it very fun to have a big laptop on board so I opted for a Murakami book instead) so here is another photo of Immortal. I’ll have more Immortal from the Getaway Rock Festival at a later date as well. You haven’t seen the last of Abbath Doom Occulta’s lovely face. 😉

Posted on July 16th, 2011 under Other. Tags: getaway rock festival, immortal, metal. Comments Off on Immortal