Admittedly, after the amazing show by ICS Vortex which we had just witnessed, Wacken really didn’t have to offer up anything else for our pleasure and enjoyment. But then again, with Kreator on the poster, why miss out?

“25 years of the Metal Mecca! We are very proud to be part of this!”
- Miland ‘Mille’ Petrozza (vocals/guitar)

Ending the service of the Black Stage for this year, this show was set to be a blast. Up on the stage we could see the full stage setup that the band has been using in more or less extent since the release of the Phantom Antichrist album – you know the one, with the zombie horse statues and all the rest. Good stuff.
The title track of this album was also what got to mark the beginning of the show, after the Mars Mantra intro had warmed up the speakers of course. Before the band went on stage though, there were other people there – people looking like hooligans, wearing bombers and balaclavas, filling the air with smoke from the roman fires (and we all know how Kreator loves smoke-filled stages!) – so obviously Kreator still knew how to renew themselves, even in well-known surroundings.
No, Kreator weren’t pulling any punches this night – the mighty stage decorations, the actors, and not least the large and warming pyro-show which set the night on fire, something that truly helped the show along in the right direction, but as I’ve always said, it isn’t enough to carry a show on its own. A cool setlist is welcome, and a good performance is alpha and omega! Luckily, Kreator had both of these points checked off their list as well – the setlist, although not very surprising, could easily be seen as a sort of ‘best of’ of the bands later work, spiced up with a few older ones or good measure. The performance was, also this, not exactly tipping us over by surprise, but it was a strong, solid Kreator show the way we’ve come to depend on them delivering as of late – no complaints at all from here!

“Music brings people together – religion and politics rips them apart!”
- Petrozza (vocals/guitar)

The rest of the audience had no complaints either, and were more than happy to chant the Kreator name loud and proud into the night between songs, and sometimes during.
A good old-fashioned moshpit got itself started right at the beginning of the show, and through the wilderness of it, no crowd-surfers dared send themselves through. As you can imagine, it was hard to feel that this was in fact between 9 and 10 p.m. on the final night of one of the roughest festivals on the planet!
Kreator had set out to prove that they deserved all of the accolades, and this was done by filling their show with entertaining puzzle pieces that made for one amazing whole – I have not yet even mentioned that the revolutionist actors made a re-entry to the stage, much in the same manner as before, for the fitting song Civilization Collapse, or that Kreator themselves opened up for the classic, brutal end combo of Flag Of Hate and Tormentor with a short snippet of Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean and Judas Priest’s Painkiller. My favourite break from convention was Sami Yli-Sirniö’s acoustic intro to United In Hate – yes, he did in fact play it live on an acoustic guitar instead of having it as a pre-recorded track. Much respect for that!

I might have felt that ICS Vortex had filled me up with all the good music I needed, but Wacken truly showed why it is the most well-visited and metal festival on Earth – it gave us the proverbial icing on the cake as Kreator set their top position among the Teutonic Big Four in stone. What a way to end the celebration of Wacken’s 25th year!

Setlist:

Mars Mantra
Phantom Antichrist
From Flood To Fire
Warcurse
Endless Pain
Pleasure To Kill
Hordes Of Chaos (A Necrologue For The Elite)
Phobia
Enemy Of God
Civilization Collapse
The Patriarch
Violent Revolution
United In Hate
Flag Of Hate
Tormentor