The heavy drinking thrash-heads of Tankard is a group I’ve been curious about for some time now, but haven’t gotten round to checking out. This year’s Metalfest would was about to change that…

It actually started out somewhat curiously, as the announcing lady which came on before each band had brought a friend this time, and this poor girl looked like she had no idea of what she had gotten herself into. She actually looked rather bewildered at the enormous crowd which had gathered in front of the stage. Finally, the announcing lady was finished with her speech, and so the girl was told to scream Tankard loudly into the microphone, after which she was quickly ushered off the stage again.

As Tankard entered, there was no confusion about what was going on however, it was thrashing time with a heavy dose of drunken party atmosphere!
They kicked off with the song Time Warp, the opener of their latest album, Vol(l)ume 14, and already from the start the large German crowd showed their love for their native alcoholics. Several moshpits were quickly initiated, some going on as far out as the extreme sides of the crowd, which was well outside the scope of the scene! There was no question that this band had a very big following here at the festival.
Hence, it was not surprising that vocalist Andreas 'Gerre' Geremia managed to instigate a loud clap along, with not much effort being put into it from his side.
After this it was time for some “…old school thrash metal…” as he put it, and they delved deep into the history of the band with songs like The Morning After and Zombie Attack, something the crowd clearly digged as well.
Now, I know I said Gerre didn’t have to put much effort into pleasing the crowd, but this didn’t mean that he, and his band-mates of course, was lazy up on the stage; in fact, they made a very powerful and lively performance. Gerre was running from side to side, engaging the crowd further, as if it was needed, and I could clearly see where this bands big popularity comes from.

Still, the all out old school Germanic thrash attack couldn’t quite grab me. The sound wasn’t perfect, which made the instruments sort of mushy. Not that it was worse than what you would expect at a festival, but it was still this, in combination with not really knowing their humorous lyrics which were also hard to comprehend, which made the show a bit lost on me. I’m not completely sure what it was I expected from the band, but this wasn’t really it…
Well, to be fair, towards the end of the show, they did deliver the sort of show and music which I had imagined in my mind that they would, with real party-songs like the show-ender (Empty) Tankard, and this certainly lifted the experience. Good, but I think I need to know the band better or a fuller experience…

Setlist (incomplete):

Time Warp
The Morning After
Zombie Attack
Slipping From Reality
Rules For Fools
Chemical Invasion
Rectifier
Incredible Loudness
(Empty) Tankard