02.08.2012 Volbeat

Wacken Open Air XXIII

Wacken (Germany)

(Pentax K-5 with Sigma AF 70-200mm 2.8 EX DC APO HSM II)

I already wanted to see the Danes of Volbeat live for a long time and today it finally should be ready. The area in front of the two main stages was densely packed and people were standing allover the place until the entrances. Very impressive, I have to admit. And then the band tarried. There was a huge Volbeat banner covering the stage and to the sounds of a long intro the lightshow started until finally the stage was released and with "The Human Instrument" the show decently got started.
The atmosphere was directly from the start off on a very high level and should stay like that until the end. Hilariously it was sung along, danced, jumped and depending on the song more or less crowd surfer were flying across the audience. The band was really keen on playing and presented a nice cross section of the formerly released albums. Of course the Johnny Cash classic "Sad Man's Tongue" may not be missing. During several songs the guys of Volbeat around front ment Michael Schøn Poulsen had organized backstops. So there was for "7 Shots" first Meryfull Fate guitarist Michael Denner on stage announced an in the middle of the song suddenly unannounced Kreator front men Miland Petrozza joined them whereas that completely got lost and was more or less embellishment. Later Poulsen announced another guest playing the contrabass during "16 Dollars" what nobody else at the band could do like that. Finally during "Evelyn" Napalm Death front men Mark Greenway chrashed onto the stage shouting the song. You could like it but do not need to, to me it was more like the last one.
Otherwise they worked much with lights on the stage comletely paved with gantries and runways. There the musicians permanently changed their positions but otherwise the interaction with the audience was reduced to a minimum. From my point of view it was a great and solid show of the Danes, the atmosphere was super just as the sound was (that I already have heared way worse on other stages). Anyhow this was a concert that is inside the category "one among many". Nevertheless it was quite fun.