05.08.2011 Heaven Shall Burn

Wacken Open Air XXII

Wacken (Germany)

(Pentax k-x with Tamron SP AF 17-50mm 2.8 XR Di II LD Asp IF and Sigma AF 50-150mm 2.8 EX DC APO HSM II)

Let's stay musically at the same area as directly after As I Lay Dying the Thuringian of Heaven Shall Burn entered the stage. As usual uniformly dressed in red shirts they directly from the start made you aware that they would get straight down to the nitty-gritty.
So they started immediately after the intro with "Profane Believers" of the album "Deaf To Our Prayers" and at the same time the first mosh pits opened. Singer Marcus Bischoff thought that this would not be enough and so he demanded a decent "pig pogo" heating up the atmophere in front of the sate even more and the first small circle pits opened. Marcus absolutely knew how to take the audience and that was giving as much as the guys on stage. The name of the band obliged of course. And so during "Combat" for the first time the flame throwers were enlightened and the stage turned into a flaming inferno. Anyhow Heaven Shall Burn did not spare any expenses and efforts to make this gig an unforgetable one. Besides pillars of fire and fog at some point in time the huge band artwork at the background of the stage fell down and three huge video walls got visible supporting the tracks optically even more.
All that was just the icing on the cake as musically and atmospherical they would not have needed all this. The whole time there were commotations in the crowd, circle pits opened uncoordinated but Marcus was bringing order into that. As to the sounds of "Behind A Wall Of Silence" three huge circle-pits were opened, one around each of the towers in front of the stage. That was really impressive if such a huge mass of people starts moving. Afterwards the women were honored as all reaching the stage via crowdsurfing should receive a band t-shirt. It was not yet said as the first girls were on their way towards the front of the audience and the security in the pit had one's hands full by getting them safely down. I think that after the concert this resulted in having consequences by the promoters.
However, Heaven Shall Burn presented a terrific show. In my point of view one of the highlights of the festival. But not much time to take a breath as on the neigbour stage Judas Priest already were waiting to finally getting started.