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Metalfest Open Air 2019 – Day 1: Friday, Part 1

Posted in Concerts, Music, Travels, Uncategorized with tags kissin dynamite, majesty, metalfest open air, plzen on June 18, 2019 by Sara Hammerzmith

So! The festival has officially begun! Or at least it’s about to, and that is excitement! Got up relatively early, I guess, for being a festival day and having some breakfast and chilling. Toivo had chosen campspots with morning shade, which was great, but as soon as the shade was gone it was the kind of heat that’ll seriously burn you alive. So I spent pretty much half my morning laying outside my little tent with a wet towel over me, trying to you know, not die.

First band of the day for me today was Majesty. I want to say that it’s so long since I last saw them, but I’m probably lying. Last I saw them was two years ago when they supported Battle Beast on their Bringer of Pain tour – at least as far as I can remember. So I was pretty excited actually, to see them again. I had dusted off the old albums I owned, and heck yes. I will admit defeat and tell you that I did not bring my camera to this fest. I wasn’t sure regarding the rules, and figured it was safest to leave it at home.

Majesty

So, they started off strongly with “Die Like Kings”. The crowd wasn’t huge – but still more than I perhaps would have expected. Good to see! “Hail to the Majesty” was followed next, and the energy on stage was amazing! At first, I’ll admit I didnt recognize the singer and turned to Szilvi durng the show like “Is it the same guy?” and she just nodded and said he cut his hair. Imagine, so little can change so much!

My own personal favorite, “Rebels of our Time” was third of the list, and hearing this magical song again.. Seriously. Majesty may never really have been a favorite band of mine, but this song has truly been a favorite of mine.

“Hellforces” was next on the list before it was time for a live premiere of a new song – “Wasteland Outlaw”. This is a song from their upcoming album, and I liked it sooo much! And the energy and response from the crowd was amazing!

“Thunder Rider” from the album with the same name was next, a big favorite I can tell, and yet another new song, “We are Legends” got its premiere today – how awesome isn’t that, to be honest?

At last, they wrapped up the set with “Metal Law” and left the stage. The show was so great, despite the heat and sun killing us, and I’m so glad I got to see them again after all this time! Thank you!

After this, we remained in our spots because in only 20 minutes, Kissin’ Dynamite would be gracing the stage.

Kissin’ Dynamite

Finally! While it wasn’t THAT long ago since I last saw them – only about seven or eight months, it still felt good seeing them again. I guess at a certain point all time feels long, no matter how long it actually is, right?

They opened the show with “I’ve Got The Fire”, which also happens to be the opening track on the most recent album “Ecstasy”. The crowd had grown quite a bit since last band, not surprisingly. The vibe and energy on the stage was amazing, as they continued with “Sombody’s Gotta Do It” from the same album.

“Love Me, Hate Me” followed suit before it was time for an oldie but goldie, if I may use that term. “DNA”, one of my personal favorites was fired off. Still, with an amazing chemistry on stage.

“Sex is War” and “Waging War” followed suit – not sure what to make of this selection right after each other, at least not namewise, but still, the show was so good at this point.

Hannes got up to be on the throne places on stage, full on with the cape and crown, and “I Will Be King” was performed. Always the biggest party, if you ask me.

The set was wrapped up with “You’re Not Alone” and “Flying Colors” before leaving the stage for the next band. Very average setlist, but I guess it is what to be expected of a festival gig. It was still beyond enjoyable!

After Kissin’ Dynamite, I headed out to the camp to rest a bit. This kind of heat isn’t kind on me, and I felt I wanted to lay down, eat something small and just take it easy. Something that I did, which I am pretty proud of haha, is that I invented my own little sofa, or chair.

I put my suitcase behind my matress, and thus could sit up, while resting. Loved it.

I got back toward the venue somewhere before or during Amorphis. I took company with Szilvi and Marci, and ate a small panncake to simply get SOMETHING in my system. We made our way all the way, or halfway, up the amphitheater to get some nice spots for Powerwolf, but also the next band – HammerFall.

To be continued

// Sara

Metalfest Open Air 2019: The Journey

Posted in Travels, Uncategorized with tags czech republic, metalfest open air, plzen, prague on June 12, 2019 by Sara Hammerzmith

Oh hey here we go! A little over two weeks since this happened, but better late than never, am I right?

So, the journey began for my part on Wednesday already, and Toivo had already made it to Prague the day before or so, if I’m not mistaken. My journey started very calmly and peacefully with a three hour drive to the airport. Seeing as this festival lied so close to Sweden Rock, my travel options were limited. Normally I would have loved to take the bus down to it, but. Time management.

As I get older, I also get wiser, or in this case, I have less time optimism. So I had actually left home in a good and decent amount of time. Despite various obstacles along the road, I made it to the airport a little bit before the check in opened, so everything was chill. Except for the fact that I had acquired an illness prior to leaving, but oh well. You just gotta roll with it, you know?

So, going through the checks and everything, feeling pretty chill and then I almost fall over my feet when getting to the gates as the first thing I see is one large wall of Sabaton. There was this magazine, Sverigemagazinet, which made an interview with Sabaton about their festival, and it was all here to get. This trip was off to quite an amazing start, huh?

Flight was pretty uneventful, and I landed relatively safely in Prague in time. The flight had been changed in time prior to going, so it was rather late. I made it into the city and met up with Toivo who helped me to the hotel to drop off my stuff before heading out for dinner in the city.

We went to a restaurant called Vytopna in the central of Prague, which has your drinks delivered to you by train. It was an extremely cozy restaurant and a nice meal. After that, we took a stroll home and went to bed. Tomorrow was time for us to head over to Plzen.

Thursday

We went up.. Relatively early. Not super early, but relatively. About 8? We went downstairs to check out the breakfast at the hotel, but decided it wasn’t really worth it. So off we were, off to Prague railway station to lock up our stuff and then head off to a medieval restaurant called U Pavoka in the central of the city. Great food and great setting, and Toivo wants to emphasize he had some mead.

Once finished, we headed off to some sightseeing. Astronomical clock and the Karlsbridge was a few of our stops before FINALLY getting on the train to Plzen. Was a nice, calm train ride, and at the trainstation we met up with Alexandra, one of my good friends frm Czech Republic.

Together with her, we took the tram as close as possible to the festival and then walked what felt like forever until we found the festival and the camping and went to set up our camp. Once tents and all was set up, we headed off to an Albert to pick up the essentials for the festival. Everything is ridiculously cheap in Czech, at least for us so I guess we overshopped a bit? Our hands were hurting like hell afterwards, haha!

Once back on the camping, we chilled out for a moment, went to see some of Toivos friends before meeting up with Szilvi and Marci who were just coming in from Hungary. The rest of the evening were spent with with them, catching up on everything and anything.

Tomorrow, was the first day of the festival.

// Sara