Thursday:

Ah, Metalcamp, how we have missed you. The greatest, most atmospheric festival on earth (if I may say so myself), placed beautifully in the Slovenian part of the Alps just by the picture-perfect (and icy cold) river Soča and the friendly township of Tolmin; truly hell have been brought to paradise.

We actually arrived Wednesday, but so late there wasn’t much to do but get our tent up and then hurry into town to get a beer before the bars closed down for the last peaceful night for a week. I am constantly amazed that the locals put up with us smelly, dirty metalheads for so long, always smiling and with a helpful word on our way.

The Thursday was mostly a pre-party, as the music wouldn’t start until the day after; still this was a perfect time to just hang out, relax and take the sites in.
The place had actually changed quite a bit from the previous years, which was something we noticed upon entering town. Where the military shop used to be was now a toy-store, and the supermarket had shrunk to make place for a(nother) shoe-store. The two most important places on our agenda remained the same as always though; the Okrepčevalnica Tmin with the great service and best pizzas in the world, and ‘M’bar (named so because when you taste their treats you can’t help but go Mmm!) which serves up a perfect banana split.

After stocking up on goodies and other useful supplies in town, we took a stroll down Merchant Alley at the festival before duly installing ourselves at the Beach Bar. The actual opening party wasn’t set to start until hours later, but the music and the atmosphere was already high, with beer flowing and quite a few braving the refreshing waters of the river.
Taking the wet weather from last year into account it was a welcome sight to see that the bar was also one of the things which had undergone a major change. The bar itself had melted together from two counters into one big one, and where the old one had been there was now a terrace sheltering from further watery visits. The weather held though, and lucky it was as the main event of the night was an outdoor Guitar Hero competition.
This competition fell a bit short as the guitar started to malfunction, but it had still done the trick and everywhere people were headbanging arm in arm with friends and complete strangers. We met up with an Italian (I believe it was) guy with a drinking-horn and his friends and joined in the fray, spending the rest of the night in joyful frenzy.

Friday:

And so the music starts…
Returning from a quick pitstop in town, we found some Germans had taken up residence next to our tent to get a share of the shade. We joined them for a drink before going down to see Dreamshade, who had the honour of opening up for the festival on the Main Stage. The crowd wasn’t terribly big, but they were enthusiastic which resulted in a good start for the music at this years Metalcamp.

After this well-digested musical treat there was really no other option but to stroll down to the Beach Bar once more in wait of other bands to make an appearance. This time the weather hit us and it hit us hard, and we were stuck on the newly built terrace. This turned out to be very pleasant actually, as we could keep dry while watching the strength of Mother Nature unfold with a cold beer in our hand.

Still, it meant that we missed out on Keep Of Kalessin and only got back in time for Death Angel. Lucky us I would say, as they made a stellar performance in the falling darkness and pouring rain.
The rest of the evening was just set for music, and the next ones up were the extreme death band Kataklysm who managed to bore me out of my mind, and we left early to find a dry spot.
The main act of the day was definitely Nightwish, and as we had not yet seen them with Anette Olzon on vocals, we were interested in seeing what she would bring to the table. The production was tiptop, but the show didn’t grab me and we ended up cutting this show short as well in favour of some food and a warm, dry bed.

Saturday:

Despite a poor outlook on the weather-report, our trip to town went without problems. Our first stop was the Hotel Krn, as they have a nice and varied breakfast buffet with a metal soundtrack to go, all for the meagre price of 6 euro.
The plan was to make a short stop in camp before heading down for the Beach Bar before the music started, but these plans were foiled by a sudden downpour of water, the likes of the one stopping us at said bar the day before. Luckily for us, it ended with just enough time for us to head down for the Hollenthon gig on the Main Stage, and kept dry for the remainder of the day.

This was to be a very busy day music-ways, so after watching Suidakra we decided to drop Sodom, preferring to gather energy for the rest of the fully booked schedule. The break would prove longer than expected though, as Satyricon was held up somewhere and couldn’t make it in time for their gig.
It was quickly decided from the festivals side that the schedule would go unchanged, and Soziedad Alkoholika was pulled from the 2nd Stage to fill the void. Satyricon just had to wait until the other bands were done to get their chance (which meant they would go on at 2:30 in the night).

One long break, and several cheap, delicious beers later, it was time for Testament, who just like their fellow thrashers in Death Angel played a stellar performance.
After this it was time for the main act of the day (or night as it had turned to by now) with the German power metal act Blind Guardian, which gave us yet another great gig.

As true darkness fell over the Slovenian landscape in the hue of night, darkness also descended on the Main Stage at the hands of first Belphegor and afterwards Satyricon. Satyricon had to do without us though as we simply couldn’t stand up anymore, and therefore went back to camp, happy about the day and festival so far.

Sunday:

This day was plagued by a lot of program changes due to late-comings and cancellations; luckily Metalcamp were quick to post the revised schedule on the large screens at the festival ground.

Since Negura Bunget weren’t playing this day, Hatred, who were playing first, delayed their start to take over the other band's time. This didn’t bother us too much as both bands were more or less counted out of our plans anyway. Instead we slept in late (a bit too late actually...) and didn’t come down to the festival grounds until Graveworm were set to go on. Even though they started as they should, they had to cut their set short to make room for Sonic Syndicate who were moved here from their original Monday spot. This was probably done to prevent further gaps as the main act of the evening, Dimmu Borgir were running very late since their equipment had gotten lost somewhere (a problem they shared with both Sodom and Satyricon from the day before).

During the following break (as we decided to skip Legion Of The Damned and Lamb Of God) we socialized in a bar for a while with some Germans who kindly named us Hooligans Of Asgaard as we kept shouting Amon Amarth. I even ended up being the subject for an interview with them for their magazine at one time; I’ll post more on this later when I hear from them again.

After this nice past-time the Hooligans Of Asgaard went up to see the thunder gods themselves; Amon Amarth! Fittingly playing in darkness and pouring rain they took our souls on a valkyries ride to the mighty doors of the speargod’s hall. After safely delivering us back, the weather was once again dry and calm.
As we knew there was no way they could fill Amon Amarth’s shoes we skipped Deathstars in preference of beer and some more socializing. Many nice people visiting Metalcamp I must say.

Finally, at 2:20 a.m. the Norwegian black-metal force Dimmu Borgir decided to make an appearance, but as they had never located their own equipment and had to borrow from others, no press was allowed to cover their concert. Instead we just watched some of it from afar, before heading back for camp where we could hear the end of the show, which came quicker than expected; Dimmu Borgir cut their announced 1½ hour show down to one spanning a meagre 45 minutes...

Monday:

After replenishing our internal batteries with a dose of the Tolminska pizza from Okrepčevalnica Tmin, we headed back for more music. In stark contrast to the other day, the program held up very well and the only changes were that Negura Bunget who hadn’t shown up before opened up for the day which left Vader to fill the hole left by Sonic Syndicate.
As one of our German Amon Amarth friends told us they (Negura Bunget) were an interesting band to watch, we went down to have a look.
I was surprised to see how few people the crowd held; this was something which lasted the entire day. I suppose there were a lot of weekend only tickets sold, which meant the pressure would be off for the last couple of days of the festival.

This was one of our busiest days in terms of music as we first had Vader, then Destruction who were directly followed by Napalm Death and DragonForce.
After this run we finally had time for a break to hang out with some of the friends we’d made over the last couple of days, while Hatebreed were tearing up the Main Stage.
Then finally came the main attraction of the day, which was none other than Down (the American star constellation counting members of among others Pantera and Corrosion Of Conformity).

Down put on a great show, and as they bid us farewell we were in no way ready for sleep. Instead we decided to hang out with our German friends once more. Ok, so we had to pull them out of bed in order to do so, but they didn’t seem to mind too much. Germans are good people.

Tuesday:

The last day of a festival will always be tainted by a somewhat tragic feeling. I know the official statement is that the festival is open one more day, but this is still the last day with live music; and to be honest, the day after people have already left or spend the day packing and leaving.

Still, there were quite a few bands even on this day that we were looking forward to, and the first one of these were Italian thrashers Extrema, which I remembered fondly from their Copenhagen show warming up for Death Angel last year. Again, they delivered a quality show; however, probably due to extreme raining during the whole day up until this point the crowd was extremely small.

The next band on our agenda was My Dying Bride, and fitting to their music the sky had become heavy with gray clouds and a light rain was once more dripping down upon us like the weeping of some higher power.
Doing a complete 180 in mood, the next band on the stage were the always and ever happy power-metal quintet Edguy, which paved the way for another complete change of mood into extreme aggression. You guessed it; the headliner and closing band for the festival was none other than Kreator.
It was fun to see how Tobias Sammet’s wish for us to sing Olé Olé from 3(!) years ago was still in affect without so much as a reminder. This will probably haunt Kreator until the end of their days as they play this festival...

As the last notes rang out, people started heading away from the stage. Some out to their tents, others to the main bar opposite the stage, where Metalcamp were handing out 300 free beers and an afterparty with a stripshow for the survivors.
We decided to go for some food, after which we went to bid the Beach Bar one last farewell.
The music was over, and the bar was closed; still some brave souls dared the waters one last time before the end of this year. It was a beautiful, yet sombre sight as the fog slowly rose above the river.

As we walked back to camp Mother Nature took one last swing at us, displaying her talent at pyrotechnics as the night-sky was alight with lightning-bolts outlining the majestic Alps.
Once more a heavy rain fell, and we spent the last night sleeping in the car as most of our tent was drowned in mud.

Wednesday:

Now there was nothing left to do but pack up and leave.
As more or less everything was covered in mud by now, we just stowed everything into the car and began driving. Here I must extend a heart-filled thanks to another one of our Italian friends, Savo was his name, as he came to give a much needed push to the car so we could get it all the way out to the road (I myself both managed to slip in the mud at one time, and get sprayed by mud from the car at another).
I hope he had an easier time afterwards with his own.

Of course, we had to make a stop at the Tmin bar, for a final Tolminska pizza; after which we went to the local supermarket and stocked up on Laško pivo which would see us through until next year.

Postscript:

Even though we suffered a little by the schizophrenic weather, Metalcamp is still my favourite of all festivals, and it has been since the first time we visited.

I believe there were fewer visitors this year than last; especially the Tuesday saw some very small crowds in front of the Main Stage for all but the main acts. Still, I feel Metalcamp is just the size it should be. This way neither the festival grounds nor the city itself is overrun by people. There are many, yes, but not more than you can navigate through at any given time.

For bands it looks to be a favourite as well. Nowhere else have I seen so many artists stick around for such a long time; and almost all are more than happy to go hang out with fans by the riverside instead of hiding away backstage. Everyone is on equal terms, and everyone is enjoying the world’s only Heavy Metal Holiday!