live music – Fooyah

Another summer another journey to Germany for a music festival. Well, it’s the only festival I’ve been to for a number of years and it’s in Germany so all of that makes logical sense. Smith and I have been going since 2015 to this festival and this year there weren’t really any big bands that drew us there but we went for the atmosphere, meeting people and some of the lower-down-the-bill bands. Other darkness visits are all within this site:

M’era Luna 2015 – the first time. A long drive and exploration.
M’era Luna 2016 – getting used to the journey and enjoying it more.
M’era Luna 2017 – the one where it pissed down and the car got stuck.
M’era Luna 2018 – the one with the Prodigy.
M’era Luna 2019 – The one with Fear Of Domination.
M’era Luna 2022 – The first one post Covid. Faderhead.

I’ll write more about the journey in another communication I think. There’s too much that happened and things to share especially from the time spent in Hannover. On the Friday we took a tram, train and bus to get to the venue. There was a kiosk in Hildesheim bus station handing out the wristbands so we were pretty much sorted and got into the venue quickly and efficiently. Friday at M’era Luna is all about looking around, seeing the merchandise and maybe attending the disco. We didn’t attend the disco. I did buy the t-shirt, a hood and a metal cup. I also got a small bag for the Legend.

Hildesheim Airport - Converted ML2023 — Hildesheim Airport – Converted ML2023

What follows are my notes from the bands I saw on the Saturday:

Antiage – mains stage – pondering slow standard stuff. Nothing exciting. Bunny dancers. Keyboard on a spring.

Intent Outake – club stage – More threatening. A better band than first one. Sun has come out. Good set design. Couldn’t see Mac operator as hidden behind car, mic with camo netting.

Versus Goliath – main stage – good guitars. Good riffage. A cross between Rage and Linkin Park . Heavy. I liked it. Almost rap. Bought their album.

Rave The Requiem – main stage – Good energetic Swedish rock with three singers and a percussionist. Looked like they enjoyed it. Too many key changes but I enjoyed it overall.

Tanzwut – main stage – rock with bagpipes and a medieval feel. Actually quite enjoyable.

Megaherz – main stage – good German rock. Enjoyed it. Proper rain shower. Heavy rain.

Project Pitchfork – main stage – Honestly boring, even with two drummers. Both drummers playing same thing – what’s the point? Walked during song three.

Solar Fake – club stage – Really fucking good, upbeat. Excellent drummer – he really impressed me.

Mesh – club stage – Boring.

Sunday was a better day weather-wise and I was looking forward to some of the bigger names this time.

Dragol – main stage – mythical? Cellist. Male pianist. Female singer. Slow, but quite interesting. Tom Tom player looked like the caveman from Ghosts.

Blitz Union – club stage – amazing. Thrash bordering on excellent rock. Interacted with the crowd really well. Wall of death. Very enjoyable. Had a good energy rather than the plodding of a lot of the weekend.

Heldmaschine – main stage. A bit plodding German metal. Nothing special.

Eisfrabrik – MainStage. Dressed in white. Bit meh.

Gothminister – main stage. Dressed very goth. New German rock. The keyboards were very chord-y. Songs were too long.

Letzte Instanz – main stage – Rock with violin and a cello. There was a cello solo.

Ashbury Heights – club stage – Very enjoyable set. Not really my stuff but got the crowd moving and the songs were excellent.

Subway to Sally – main stage – A very enjoyable set. If you have a violinist they don’t need to play ALL the time. Oddly very heavy at times.

Mono Inc. – main stage – loved it. Was close to front. They played a cover of Passenger. Excellent crowd dynamics. Great.

Within Temptation – main stage -Derivative female led rock music. I guess it was ok. Nice to see. Not bothered about seeing again.

The overall highlight of the weekend was Mono Inc. for me. I missed them play at the Underground in London because I had covid and so it was lovely to see them and really appreciate it.

Within Temptation - The End of ML2023 — Within Temptation – The End of ML2023

So, that’s it for another year. I’ve seen plenty of new bands and also some that I’ve missed in the past because other music has been on in the hangar stage. It was a lovely atmosphere. All I have to do now is wait for my back to fix itself. I’m being reminded that I’m getting older and all the walking, dancing, sleeping on airbeds and travel might not be great for me. So, until I do it all again next year:

Last night I went to Electrowerkz to see a couple of bands as part of the Zero Day Festival the venue was running. It was nice to be back in London, I stared at some buildings as though I’d never been there before, some parts of London surely are pretty. This festival had a number of bands I wanted to see but none more important than Grausame Töchter. I’d been aware of this band for a while but had never had the opportunity to seen them before. I do love the Electrowerkz venue – I still don’t really know my way around and the place just feels “down to Earth”.

I drove to the Big City as trains are never as convenient and more expensive [that’s what privatisation does for you]. I found a car park and also chatted to reception to make sure they would be open when I returned. Then Smith and I walked down to the venue, a couple of minutes walk away. There was a band on as we arrived and so we watched them for a while. Patenbrigade:Wolff were on stage. They were dressed in orange boiler suits but in a road maintenance way rather than a scary-Slipknot way. I enjoyed this band and have since got two of their albums.

The music was well constructed and had a good variation. One of the singers just seemed to spend most of the time drinking beer and dancing around. There was a female singer and that was a nice change to their set. Overall I was impressed enough to buy some merchandise. This is mostly because it’s a high-viz jacket and I might wear it at work.

Next up was Grausame Töchter. I knew this was going to be a performance piece and I was looking forward to it. Their songs are super catchy and I think I’m probably happy I don’t know what the lyrics are about. Especially after some of their stageshow.

I really enjoyed the show and the songs. Some aspects were very slightly disturbing but I guess that’s what good art will do. There was, at times, a naked woman on stage who, in the act, seemed to be forced into killing themself along with holding up placards with various sexual references. The backing singer of the band was a part of Nachtmarh when I saw them at M’era Luna this year. At the summer show she sprayed the audience with water from a water gun. This time she sprayed the audience with a white substance from a giant syringe.

This show was great fun and I really enjoyed it for the visuals and the music. I knew it would be a “performance” and it turned out to not disappoint. Last on stage were [:SITD:] and they were pretty good. I didn’t enjoy them as much as the second act. For me they were a solid good set, I jus think they lack something in their stage show but each to their own I guess.

Overall an enjoyable evening. I beat the Google Maps time for getting home without actually speeding so that was nice. It took two thirds of the time to get home as it did to actually get to the parking spot. London is annoying at times. Anyway, overall, a really enjoyable evening and one that I’ll remember.

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Tag: live music

M’era Luna 2023