Rock Im Park 2008

[Matt308]

Okay. How many effing days to charge that $itch. I want my dang pics!!!

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Sorry Matt. I have been swamped with school work and work. I will be back online like normal in a few days and then everything will be back to normal and you will get your pictures.

[Matt308]

Excellent, Adler. Wondered where you were.

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Here you go Matt.

I quick review of the weekend and some pics. This is not all of the pics yet. My camera batt went dead, so I have to wait for the rest of pics including the band pics from a friend of mine.

Thursday 5 June 2008

We got to Rock im Park on Thursday morning at about 0700 and they made us stand around waiting for them to open the gates at 1000.

At 1000 the gates opened and it was a rush to get to the good camping spots. At some gates there were allready about 1000 people waiting to get in. We were lucky and at our gate there were only about 100 people or so. We squeezed through the security with relative ease and ran to the same spot that we camp in every year. As soon as we got there we set up up the tents and then had to make about 10 trips to get all our beer and food up to the camp site.

Eventually that was done and we sat around for the rest of Thursday until about 4 in the morning drinking beer, listening to good music, and BBQ ribs and other good meat on the grill.

Friday 6 June 2008

Woke up Friday morning and drank more beer...

At about 12 Oclock we headed to the areas were the stages were. I actually only to see about 1/3 of the bands that I actually wanted to see.

One has to remember that at festivals like this, if you want to be upfront of the stage, you have to get there early and stay there. You can not wander from stage to stage and watch different bands. If you do so (like we did) you will not get a good spot.

On the way to the stages I hooked up with Metalsuzan and here husband. They are ****ing really cool people. I just really wish we could have hung out some more. It was pretty stupid because on Saturday my Cell Phone battery went dead, and I could no longer get in touch with them.

Anyhow these are the bands that I saw on Friday and a small review of each one:

Fiction Plane at 1335
I did not actually plan to see this band. It just happened so by chance because no one else was playing at the time. The singer for this band is Joe Sumner who is the son of Sting.

I was actually pretty surprised by this band. Not really my kind of music, but for the time of day, it was not bad listening to. They sounded pretty good and I will certainly check them out a bit later.

Rating: 7/10

Rival Schools at 1445
I only watched about 3 of there songs. I am not a big fan, but it was allright to sit in the grass and drink a beer to.

Rating: 5/10

Kid Rock at 1755
We showed up for Kid Rock about 2 songs into his set. I am not a big fan of his music, but he put on a really great show. He had some big chested women up on stage dancing and he pretty much sang a best of set list.

The atmosphere was great, the sound was great, and it was one hell of a party!

Rating: 8/10

Sportfreunde Stiller at 1910
I hate this band. I had no desire to see them, but they played right before a band that I really wanted to see, so I saw them too. Well sort of...

I sat in the grass talking to Suzan and Krys (Banger) the whole time.

Rating: 0/10 (10/10 for the chilling in the grass with Suzan and Krys)

Die Toten Hosen at 2100
I love this band! They allways put on a great show and they did not let us down this time. They played about 20 songs and the sound was great. They really do love to play live and give the best possible show they can.

A few weeks ago the singer Campino brook his foot after kicking a trash can after Liverpool lost a game. Even though his foot was in a cast, you could not tell. He was jumping and diving all over the place.

He even climbed to the top of the stage about 60 to 75 feet up and lit a flair from the rafters and sang a song from up there!

Awesome show!

Rating 10/10

After these bands, went back to the camp and drank more beer.

Saturday 7 June 2008

Well woke up around 0730 and drank more beer and had more BBQ.

Around 1200 went to the stages again.

These are the bands that we saw first:

Gavin Rossdale at 1440
Good show but a bit too short and early in the day. He played some good classic Bush songs. Like I said though, too early and too short.

Rating: 7/10

Opeth at 1550
Great sound...

Unfortunatly I did not get to see the show. It started Hailing and Thunderstorming really bad. We spent the whole show under a beer tent trying to keep our heads from getting pelted by ice.

Atleast I got to hear them.

Rating 5/10 (probably would have been higher, if I had actually gotten to see them)

After Opeth, we went back to the camping area to dry off and get warm. This was a good idea because my tent was underwater, and I had to dry everything off.

Also found out that during this storm, lightning struck in one of the camping areas and injured 6 people when a tree fell on them.

Okay later we went back to the bands.

Rage Against the Machine at 2130
Man it was packed! I think the majority of the 80,000 people were watching RATM.

To be honest though I was not impressed. I am not a fan of RATM and I thought there sound was average at best. Since I am not a fan and the band did nothing more me, I only stuck around for about 5 or 6 songs and ditched RATM for Motorhead.

Rating 5/10

Motorhead at 2200
Great show! They sounded pretty good (could have been better) but the song selection was really good. They played a mix of old and new songs and saved the best for the end when they played Ace of Spades, Damage Case and Overkill.

I really wish I had a full setlist for this show.

Rating: 8/10

Went back to the camp and drank more beer and built a fire to keep warm.

Sunday 8 June 2008

Woke up and drank more beer and BBQ. Shortly thereafter we packed up camp so that after Metallica tonight we could just get in the car and head home. I only live about 40km from the festival.

At about 12 we headed over to the stages again.

Unfortunatly I missed Airbourne because I wanted a good spot during Metallica on the main stage.

Here are the bands I saw:

Alpha Galates at 1330
I had never heard of this Canadian band, and I am not a fan of them now, but they were very interesting. The sound was pretty decent and the songs were very unique sounding. Atleast live they were. I really can not describe this band. The frontman and singer is the drummer...

Rating: 6/10

Alter Bridge at 1420
Great show and great band! They played a good selection of songs and hte sound was really really good! I have allways liked this band since I saw them for the first time in 2006. As usual they impressed me, and I really love the charisma of this band.

Rating: 8/10 (only because they did not play a longer and later set which they deserve).

Disturbed at 1520
This band has allways been a pretty annoying band to me. I allways though every song sounded the same and they were pretty cheesie. the show however was really good and the sound was great. I would actually pay to go and see them again. They are a show band and get the audience into the show pretty quick.

Rating: 7/10

In Flames at 1630
Boring!!!

I really do like In Flames and the last time I saw them, they put on a very strong and great show. This show they just seemed to not have any energy and no interaction with the audience. I was very dissapointed...

Rating: 4/10

Nightwish at 1750
Something was missing from this show. This was the first time I have seen Nightwish without Tarja and I think her stage pressense in missing. The sound was not bad and the stage show was actually really good. I will have to watch them again before I can really make a good opinion of what I think of them now.

Rating: 7/10

The Offspring
Very very very disapointing! The sound sucked and the band did not even seem to care about being on the stage. They took the stage, said hello, played there setlist without moving all set long and then left without saying good bye. I was very very disapointed. The audience must have been as well, because no one was moving or jumping around.

Pretty much sucked....

Rating: 1/10

Metallica at 2100

METALLICA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was my 10th time seeing Metallica!! It was an amazing show! The band really sounded great. Kirk was hitting note for note and Lars was dead on. The double bass sounded ****ing amazing! James even sounded ****ing great! He was really into it and was screaming the songs with the famouse Het growl!

I was very very impressed with them. It was one of the best Metallica shows I have seen.

Here is the set list:

Ecstasy of Gold
Creeping Death
For Whom The Bell Tolls
Ride The Lightning
The Four Horsemen
Bleeding Me
No Remorse
The Memory Remains
...And Justice For All
Fade To Black
Master Of Puppets
Motorbreath
Nothing Else Matters
Sad But True
One
Enter Sandman
- - - - -
Die, Die My Darling
Stone Cold Crazy
Seek and Destroy

Rating: 1000/10

After Metallica we went home...

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

And pics...

Beer

We bought our beer from the on post shopette because it was cheaper. Unfortunately after we bought about 15 pallets of German beer we had to switch over to American beer. Coors is much better than Budweiser...









Camping Area


Yeah that is me cooking some Ribs


Some guys made a slip n slide with a big tarp and some water.
















Yeah I was drunk and eating ribs...





The Rain on Saturday





The Stage Areas


The smaller Alterna Stage




The large Center Stage








A view of the audience for Kid Rock on our way into the Stage Area

Random Drunk Guy at the Center Stage right before Metallica...



Like I said, these are only 1/16 of the pics taken. I just need to get the rest.

[Matt308]

Oh HELL yes! That looks awesome. Loved your descriptions, Adler. How many stages? You made it sound like many bands were only a half hour to an hour apart. That implies multiple stages, right?

And let's be honest, with your writing about your diet consisting of Beer and BBQ for multiple days (dawn till dusk), you must have had the trots!!!

I love it!!

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Oh HELL yes! That looks awesome. Loved your descriptions, Adler. How many stages? You made it sound like many bands were only a half hour to an hour apart. That implies multiple stages, right?

There was 3 stages.

Center Stage - Very large main stage where the big bands, ie. Metallica, Rage Against the Machine, Kid Rock, etc.. play.

Alterna Stage - Medium size stage where other big bands play ie. Motorhead, Bullet For My Valentine, The Prodigy, etc... play.

Center Stage - Small size where mostly up and coming bands play.

Music is played around the clock from 12 until about 2 in the morning every day.

There is a also a very large party tent with a live DJ and that tent has music blasting 24 hours a day.

The whole weekend is a big ****ing party.

And let's be honest, with your writing about your diet consisting of Beer and BBQ for multiple days (dawn till dusk), you must have had the trots!!!

I love it!!

Lets put it this way. I have not touched alcohol since Sunday and I have not had any meat all week either....

[Marcel]

Saw Fiction plane some time ago, the singer really sounds like his dad, doesn't he?

Oh and Metallica, I really want to go the next time they come here. It's been too long since I saw them. I'm glad we're going to play some Metallica covers with my band, should be fun.

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Saw Fiction plane some time ago, the singer really sounds like his dad, doesn't he?

He really does. You can tell that he is trying to distance himself though.

Oh and Metallica, I really want to go the next time they come here. It's been too long since I saw them. I'm glad we're going to play some Metallica covers with my band, should be fun.

You should have caught them at the Pinkpop festival in your country a few weeks ago.

[Matt308]

Lets put it this way. I have not touched alcohol since Sunday and I have not had any meat all week either....

[Marcel]

You should have caught them at the Pinkpop festival in your country a few weeks ago.

I know, wasn't there that day, but I have the recording on my computer.