Anyone in Europe this summer?

[Megawozniak]

I recall seeing a thread for this last month, but can't find it now - apologies.

I'm going solo to Wacken, Graspop, Metalcamp from Canada. The magnitude of one person in a sea of 80k is hitting me, and I'm wondering if there are others making the trek as well who want to meet up before a festival and paint the town red. I was searching for reviews of Wacken and happened to see an UM contingent went over last year, is the same thing happening again?

[General Zod]

A few of us did Wacken last year. 3 of the same 4 are doing Sweden Rock. We wanted to do Metal Camp, but the line up is atrocious. Hopefully next year.

That Graspop line up is beyond amazing. However, 100,000 people is a little too crowded for my liking.

Zod

[mtndewqueen88]

I'm actually studying in France until August 5th, but I missed Wacken tickets by two days. I haven't been fully convinced on any other festivals yet, but that doesn't mean that I've given up

Besides, I'm positive if you're friendly and have good beer to share, you'll make lots of friends! If you have facebook, there's a crowd going from the Wacken facebook group too.

[dcowboys311]

Originally Posted by mtndewqueen88

I'm actually studying in France until August 5th, but I missed Wacken tickets by two days. I haven't been fully convinced on any other festivals yet, but that doesn't mean that I've given up

Besides, I'm positive if you're friendly and have good beer to share, you'll make lots of friends! If you have facebook, there's a crowd going from the Wacken facebook group too.

The only reason someone wouldn't like the Hellfest lineup is that they don't like metal. And it's in France! Go to that!

PS say hi to the people over there who I know who are with you (Daniel, Kristen, etc)

[General Zod]

Originally Posted by dcowboys311

The only reason someone wouldn't like the Hellfest lineup is that they don't like metal. And it's in France! Go to that!

Agreed. That Hellfest line up is pretty solid.

Zod

[rms]

Originally Posted by General Zod

Agreed. That Hellfest line up is pretty solid.

Zod

I think KIT X was the only lineup in the foreign lands to make me want to travel...fucking a that lineup was A+

[Abba]

I'm flying over to meet up with some of my German friends at Graspop, and then going (most likely solo) to Serbia for the Castle Festival. Only about a month to go...

You're welcome to have some beers at our tent at Graspop; there will be 7 or 8 of us there. As if that line-up didn't already rule, seeing that KISS will be doing the Alive! album in its entirety just tops it off.

Pat

[Cheiron]

Originally Posted by dcowboys311

The only reason someone wouldn't like the Hellfest lineup is that they don't like metal. And it's in France! Go to that!

PS say hi to the people over there who I know who are with you (Daniel, Kristen, etc)

Well when you have 80 bands you are bound to have a good lineup!

How do festivals like these work? Can you see most of the bands if you try hard, or do you at times have to make hard decisions? I've never been to a festival like that...

Cool to see that Baroness is on the lineup. What a great band from Georgia. BTW. This always gets me thinking. Baroness. I wonder if they were ever a 'local' band in the Georgia scene. There are other bands like that too. I never hear about them until after they are big, and then I find out that that they are from the 'area.' I have to imagine that they never tried to do the local scene thing, and just focused on creating their music and then putting it out there.

I know that Mastodon used to play a lot of local shows. Not to stray >_>

[General Zod]

Originally Posted by Cheiron

How do festivals like these work? Can you see most of the bands if you try hard, or do you at times have to make hard decisions? I've never been to a festival like that...

The typical set up is, two main stages and a few smaller stages. There are never bands on both of the main stages at the same time. And obviously these stages are reserved for the larger acts. The smaller stages usually compliment each other, but seem to have no correlation with what's transpiring on the main stages. As for seeing most of the bands you want to see... it really depends on how many of the bands you want to see. If it's a very strong line up, there are bound to be conflicts.

Here's an example of how Sweden Rock is doing it this year...

http://www.swedenrock.com/runningorder2008.htm

Zod

[Cheiron]

Wow. Every band gets at least an hour. That's awesome. I was wondering too if sometimes these smaller bands only get like 20-30 minute sets. But you could truly go for some of the smaller bands and get full (or longer than usual as it may be) sets from them.

[dcowboys311]

Haha, that Sweden Rock lineup would work out perfectly for me. Only 2 overlaps on the entire festival for bands I'd want to see - ELO and At the Gates, and Avantasia and Primordial.