At 0:15 the screens next to the stage announced that In Flames would be the next to enter the stage. It was much more crowded compared to Running Wild which is quite uncommon for an act playing that late and so I was extremely looking forward to what the guys from Gothenburg brought with them.
The sails were hoisted and the buccaneers of Running Wild were conquering the Harder Stage. The band is one of the old hands of the German metal scene and meanwhile consists only of Rolf “Rock ‘n’ Rolf” Kasparek who is the only founding member still being active.
There it was! The band that was the starting point for listening to metal more than 20 years ago: Clawfinger. 1993 they released their debut album “Deaf Dumb Blind” and matching to that 25 years jubilee the album cover decorated the banner at the background of the stage.
After the calmer sounds of Schandmaul now back to serious metal. Once again I did not insist on watching the Finns of Children Of Bodom that were keen on playing like they always were and showed that they were rightly one of the main acts.
After the youth memories with Mr. Big it directly continued back at the Harder Stage, where the German medieval rock band Schandmaul was preparing to amuse the people with their wonderful melodies.
Oh my god! There were a lot of youth memories coming back into my mind. At the beginning of the 90s the guys of Mr. Big had reached at least at Germany their highest level of familiarity with the two ballads “Wild World” and “To Be With You” and now they were able for the very first time to prove on the Louder Stage that they were capable of more than only cuddle songs.
After Amorphis directly the next Finns. Korpiklaani just released their latest much celebrated opus called “Kulkija”. But nevertheless there are only two songs being played of it which are “Henkselipoika” and “Kotikonnut”.
Let’s stay on the Scandinavian side. With the Finns of Amorphis there was the second highlight of the day directly afterwards. The men around singer Tomi Joutsen stormed onto the Faster Stage on time to directly start furious with the opener of their current album “Queen Of Time” “The Bee”.
My personal first highlight of the day. Somehow by accident I came across the Danish guys from Kellermensch during Wacken 2012. And now, 6 years later I meet them again at the very same place. And yet, they did not lose any of their charisma.
The last time that I saw Judas Priest, who are besides Iron Maiden pioneers for the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, was back in 2011 on the Wacken Open Air. To that time the concert took place in line with their Epitaph tour and this tour should be the last world tour of the band. Meanwhile we do have 2018 and Judas Priest just released with “Firepower” their 18. studio album. Of course they had to go on world tour with it.