Tons of Rock, Halden, Norway 24/6 – 17: Part 1
So! It was the D-Day. I kind of decided of this festival very last minute. I thought about it for the longest of time, in fact, planned it for the longest of time but never got around to actually do anything about it – story of my life, if you like. You see, at this very festival, Tons of Rock, Sabaton was set to do their own very very special Carolus Rex set – and it was set to be even more special thinking about the fact that this is the very spot that Carolus was actually assassinated at. How amazing? Very amazing, if you ask me. But, the line up of the festival as a whole wasn’t very exciting, and I was lucky to see that the two other bands I desperately wanted to see did in fact play the exact same day as Sabaton. What a time to be alive.
Halden, however, isn’t very far from where I personally life, which makes about everything so much easier as I could simply hop in my car, drive there, and then drive home after the show. How convenient, huh? And it was a real nice drive. Nice weather, not a lot of traffic, easy roads until you get to Norway – Norway is kind of fucked up like that (unnskyld Hansi!). But gladly, I made it there. Once at Fredriksten, I was very happy to see it was good signs and easy to get around – I usually get very very anxious when I’m supposed to park, but it worked fine this time. Sort of anyone. Either way – I arrived about an hour and a half before Delain was set to start, which is a new good record for me – I tend to always end up a bit late, as you probably learned by now… So I’m proud of myself!
I wasn’t sure how to navigate at this place, but I figured I’d walk toward the magnificent fortress and by the camping and follow people and hope for the best. Halfway up the hill I feel someone coming from behind and it turns out it was Linn! I had almost forgotten she and her sister were there, so it was great to see her. She helped me find where to get my wristband and then we stood and chatted for a long time before I had to get inside in order not to miss Delain! It wasn’t a massive line, which made me very happy as it was easy to get in.
And this festival, the festival ground, is beautiful. It has a massive hill in the middle of it, and is right next to the fortress, or I should say, incorporated with it in fact. So beautiful, and so small actually! Delain was playing inside the tent, so I went there about 15 minutes before the show was about to start and I was glad to see I could in fact get to the front. Happy days!
Delain
Right on time – seriously, I love these bands that are on time. I remember so many years ago when I always had to complain about bands getting on stage way too late. But not anymore! Perhaps it’s because I changed musictaste? Who knows.
“The Monarch” started running as the intro, and the bandmembers sans Charlotte entered the stage and they started the show off with “Hands of Gold”. Charlotte came on stage with her new bright hair, and a beautiful black body with simple jeans. Seriously, this woman is a style icon. I will not deny that. I envied her look on the last tour, and even still now.
“Suckerpunch” was next song on the list, I’ve really grown to love this song, I will not deny that. “Get The Devil Out of Me” followed… And you know, the band was really good. They seemed to lack a little bit of energy, but I think I sort of have to blame that on a very very meh crowd. But they still killed it, believe me.
The very lovely, and beautiful “The Hurricane” – I guess you remember how much I actually love this song, I can’t… I can’t with Charlottes words you know. She knows exactly how to put my feelings into words. It’s like she reads my mind. “Fire with Fire” followed suit, and then “Mother Machine” and “Don’t Let Go” before they wrapped the entire set up with “We Are The Others”.
The band thanked for themselves, and walked off the stage. It was a good start on the day – and I guess this band isn’t all that big up here after all, seeing the small crowd and pretty meh crowd that showed up, but it’ll get better. The set was a bit short – but it was still good. Thank you Delain!
After this, I had pretty much no bands I wanted to see until Amaranthe which was set to perform right before Sabaton, so I strolled around a bit. At first I climbed the entire hill watching out over the festival and watching Airbourne on a distance. It was magnificent. This whole scenic place was just… beyond me. And then, I headed off to the merch instantly to pick up a Delain shirt – a lovely 3/4 sleeved shirt as well as a festival shirt – you know it’s mandatory. I met up with Linn and My who were watching Airbourne at the time, and spent the rest of the gig with them.
After the show was over, I stayed around for a while to catch up with Angelina, a good friend of mine I haven’t seen in ages. We proceeded to get something to eat, once she’d gotten down from the high – the high you get from watching your favorite band perform live. I know exactly the feeling, because that is me after every single Sabaton show. We went up the hill, sat down for hours and hours of talking and catching up about everything and nothing, and it was so good to see her again. We went down to the merch to catch up on a shirt for her from Airbourne, looked through the other stalls until it was time for her to leave. She’d only come here for Airbourne, so she wasn’t staying long.
We said our good byes, and she left.
TO BE CONTINUED
// Sara
Sara Hammerzmith 
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