Alcatraz Metal Hard Rock and Metal festival 2019, feat. Saxon, Rose Tattoo, Sodom
This review is for Thomas Wouters, my friend and guitarist/singer of Bodyfarm, who died the day we drove off to Gent. Offline and ignorant, but with a Bodyfarm shirt I drove. Not knowing I’d hear the terrible news until Rose Tattoo got to stage (with plenty of deceased band members to commemorate) I started this in Gent:
In a weekend with 6 or 7 metalfestivals planned you can’t do ‘m all unless you have patience. Since 2011 the second weekend of August had held me on Bloodstock (2011), on Brutal Assault (2012, 2014), on PartySan (2013, 2015, 2018) and Into the Grave (2016, 2017) and I know there are more. One in Portugal, Sweden Something Metal and Alcatraz; albeit the least heavy/underground of the lot, we’d go once. Wanda also would love to return to PartySan, but be patient as you’ve never been into Belgium before
The first bands announced were Saxon (later mentioned: special Castles and Eagles set), Rose Tattoo and DEMOLITION HAMMER!! Hypocrisy and Sodom made me book tickets. Sit at the laptop to organize a holiday of two weeks, another novity for Wanda, we combined Gent, Ieper (World War I highlight), Kortrijk (this one), Passchendaele (God Dethroned highlight) and Metal Méan (next review). Get cash, fill the beloved VW Golf Mk II diesel and off!! Gent is a lovely old city, filled with ancient merchant houses next to two rivers (Leie and Schelde), some castles (with infamous torture chamber
), some breweries of old and a stench of sewage in the entire city… we got a Dulle Griet (named after an infamous Gent warrior maiden and a gun so big Gentenaren are happy it never fired) in Café De Dulle Griet and a Max Of The House (1,2 liter of 7,6 per cent beer in a glass I had to pawn my shoe for
But getting onto Alcatraz itself was chaos to the max. No volunteer knew where we’d have to be, we got even shooed away from Expo Center, where our car was to be parked >< No shuttle bus, no wrist band office, no shade and no one caring at all we’d be in misery. Wanda hates it dearly if she doesn’t know what to expect and a night of beers with Westfriesians Gerlof and Wilfred doubled her idea to quit whatsoever before a band played. I was sooo stupid to get drunk after a day of incertainties… I even had to pay full euro for that damned trip to the Expo! 3 hours and no supermarket or ATM near… extra payment for what? Call it tourist tax and I believe you but that question wasn’t even answered!! Best part of the first night in Kortrijk was the afterparty of the drum cycle of Kortrijk’s performance (some 15 kids playing drums simultaneously) with loads of AC/DC and Skynyrd. Gerlof thought he died on Friday…
The first band on Alcatraz 2019 main stage ‘The Prison’ was Crobot. The band does an easylistening set of stoner, but it gets worrisome when the singer opens his mouth. Gladly Nervosa opened the Swamp Stage (the tent) with a furious set in good sound with a full tent in front of them. Nice: the Kreator cover Betrayer. Wanda felt I betrayed her getting so drunk. We soon found some acquaintances, of which I had not expected any more than Peter (Lord Belial) and Rob T. Marcel IX was around, Coen & Wortel and the Carnation guys. They were set to play on Saturday, but that’s of later concern. Literally. See Saturday part. Marcel sure as hell pushed me to go see Helstar; little did he know I hated it from beginning to end. Described as ‘pioneer of speed metal’ in the leaflet, all I heard was whiny heavy metal third class. I knew the Carnation guys, Erwin included, were hot for Demolition Hammer! It was that Wanda picked me up otherwise I’d be single again, but a lot of the harm done was blown to a memory when Steve, James, Derek and Angel were done with the sound check and washed the weekend clean. We went over our heads to the diabolical fast and aggressive music, violent lyrics and even more violent circle pit from the second song on (Neanderthal after a blistering Skull Fracturing Nightmare). I had to protect Wanda song by song, as the crowdsurfers were crazy as fuck. Never mind the leaflet and a sign next to each stage forbidding to fly
We also got Human Dissection, Infectious Hospital Waste, Carnivorous Obsession, Crippling Velocity and Aborticide when the band had to make an abrupt stop! No .44?? Nope, the organizers were so strict the band was baffled as much as we were then. Wanda got a guitar pick and I got thanked by both Steve and James for freaking out.
Some organizers will never learn, I guess. After the abrupt stop to the highlight of a week Belgium so far, Firewind got to main stage. What a waste of air and extinguishers >< Back to the Swamp for Vltimas, but as it doesn’t really hold my favorite musicians ever (of Morbid Angel, Cryptopsy and Aura Noir) we got bored by Dave’s space cowboy set and left. When My Fart is Murder befouled the air we got into the tent again to experience the Napalm Death sound check. Loud and chaotic, just like the set the Brits played. Wanda had never seen them and enjoyed it so much I sneaked out for some ND cotton and returned
The band played all favorite songs, held plenty of politics mumbo jumbo but stayed true’till the end. The band turned the tent into Crowdsurffestalooza but thanks but no thanks to the lights I didn’t stay’till that end. I met a man who was impressed by my Neckwreckers set (thanks Torty, Stach!) but even more impressed by the MDF shirt underneath. He told me he was bar personnel at the Ottobar and he got a beer
Oh yeah Wanda got a picture of a ND Set list:
- Unchallenged Hate
- Instinct of Survival
- Continuing War on Stupidity
- When all is Said and Done
- Smash a Single Digit
- Standardization
- Suffer the Children
- Breed to Breath
- Scum
- Life?
- The Kill
- You Suffer
- Dead
- Silence is Deafening
- How the Years Condemn
- Nazi Punks Fuck Off
- Siege of Power
And there are even songs crossed out HA HA HA Napalm Death had 50 minutes, so to speak
I was so sweaty I had to rush to the tent for a clean shirt and a hoodie; Sodom was about to deepen the trenches Napalm Death left :cool: so I brought my Westwoudse AC/DC Fans shirt :cool: I didn’t get to front row, but the band had such a bad sound near stage I didn’t mind retreating a bit. Fanboyness is for later, I thought. We had seen ourselves on the big screens StuBru had planted, Alcatraz is broadcasted live through Studio Brussel. See if we can find any streams; from band perspective we were left from center at the beginning of the show. Tom Angelripper was alone on stage during the intro, did three bass strokes, then Husky followed before Blackfire and Jorck opened up their HM Bass pedals. Here’s the set list:
- Tribute to Moby Dick
- Silence Is Consent
- The Crippler
- The Saw Is the Law
- Outbreak of Evil
- Conflagration
- Agent Orange
- Blasphemer
- One Step Over the Line
- Partisan
- Tired and Red
- Remember The Fallen
- Bombenhagel
When Sodom nearly was finished, Wanda got out of the tent and we met the Demolition Crew!! The guys were so thrilled we’d freaked out, they had to have a picture with us and, of course, vice versa. See Wanda’s FB for details haha. She also got an original Demolition Hammer sticker to add to the beloved VW Golf Mk II diesel, as we see co-ownership of the car by now. In the meantime Uriah Heep was already playing for quite some time and Rob was all over it. He wanted to film it and add it to his YT account. I thought nothing bad of the band, but meeting Rob and Peter during Uriah Heep held a huge ‘ouwe lul meets ouwe lul’-moment hihihi. For fifty years we still haven’t been able to eradicate those geezers, they stand their ground. What a change of mood happened next: from the Prison stage with Uriah Heep we heard Roger Glover’s Love is All from El Presidio (rock bar with beer in glass) and Vio-Lence made its way to the Swamp stage… a band that had met high expectations (Ronald of Overruled even said this band was the sole reason to come to Belgium) but never had my attention… Let’s stay positive and say ‘the vocals killed it’, or ‘the sound could be better’… who am I kidding? We hated it. I will never be thrilled by Sean Killian’s vocals, I think. Eternal Nightmare is an album I almost instantly deleted from a tape that was given to me.
By then, Wanda was already on front row for Saxon. The band had brought their famous Eagle set and it looks fantastic! The band was in for a treat, as they (still) celebrate their fortieth anniversary with a possibility of a live recording. Clearly, Saxon played Alcatraz before, as the band goes to length to thank and greet Alcatraz crew and audience. First thing I saw when a cameraman shifted his gear towards the raging audience: Wanda!! Here’s what I wrote:
- Motorcycle Man
- Battering Ram
- Wheels of Steel
- Strong arm of the Law
- Denim & Leather
- 4 more songs
- They Played Rock ‘n’Roll (with fantastic eighties photo- and film footage of Motörhead, Girlschool, Iron Maiden, Angel Witch and the likes)
- The Eagle has Landed (Wanda on screen again :cool: )
- Battalions
- Dogs of War (no Exploited members around
)
- And the Bands Played on
- Solid Ball of Rock (yep, with 3D-impression of a demolition ball/hammer \m/ )
- To Hell and Back
- Power and the Glory (a very, very young family in big ear muffs, one of the kids in denim freaking out. He got my Eagle has Landed patch and the mother was in tears. Good tears)
- Heavy Metal Thunder
- Crusader
- 747 – Strangers in the Night
- Princess of the Night
Ome Biff did it again! 68 years old and still trying to reach that second high C! (the first one failed
) You can say anything, but the energy this band has, is an anchor for many artists around this genre!! The sound was amazing, the show effects all work pleasantly, the band is happy on any stage so it seems. Biff doesn’t actually do that much, but his interaction with fans, band and crew(s) is awesome to watch. From afar or from front row, it is a pleasure to see this. Biff also announced Saxon was making room for Mr. Åkerfeldt & Co. I thought ‘leave immediately’, Wanda agreed. What we heard of Opeth from the tent wasn’t that cocky and sucky like last times they played, but still, even a (nearly) Black Water Park set couldn’t get me back to Swamp Stage. Dry humor OK, but for once, stop pissing off metalheads ‘just because you don’t own +20,000 LPs’. Ugghhhh. Tomorrow: Deserted Fear and Carnation. Hahh!!!
Breakfast at Alcatraz is a mess. OK, the food is plenty and pretty good at the camping site, but the volunteers don’t give a flying fuck if you’d paid or not, if you took about the amount of an orphanage to eat, only when a coffee spills you hear someone reacting? We bought the expensive breakfast vouchers (€ 12,50 or € 6 per person a day; ‘order now or they’ll be sold out’????), but apart from Friday no one saw what leaflet we had. So, Wanda packed her plate double as I ate ‘only one’ piece of egg/bacon/bread. I was happy she did, as the food on the terrain wasn’t really top notch for her. I didn’t mind, but Wanda’s intestines protested until we reached Ieper…
Coming back to Swamp Stage already gave a foul mouth: it was announced Carnation wouldn’t play today, but uncertain when they would on Sunday. I decided to stick around the small tent The Morgue between bands, hear/see if Deserted Fear would check sound/begin/play. We preferred good conversation (Riffs – Goddess – Goes Erik) over the first few bands anyway, as Buried Tomorrow screeched us away, Fifth Angel squeaked a bit, Sanctuary already missed but so far no Mahne… First band we did see was also shortlived, as Strid shooed Wanda away the minute he opened his mouth for Soilwork. Ronald tried to convince me to join him to Flotsam & Jetsam, but we’d rather eat. Ahh, XXL fricandel for only 2 coins ‘with loads of sauce’, so I ordered chili sauce and mayonnaise, but now I had to pay 4 coins! What the fuck, no way!! Keep your sauce abundance then, fat ass! Wanda told she’d regretted coming here more and more, and today I agreed as there still was no sign of Fabian… U.D.O. refused to play Accept songs but why the fuuu does every single riff the band plays have an Accept feel? Or even a full Accept riff-rip off! Every song I hear Midnight Mover, or a riff from Monster Man, Russian Roulette or whatnot. Wanda said ‘Udo sounds like a troll’ and turned her head violently towards The Morgue, where no Simon was present too…
I was hoping Hypocrisy would bring in some joy as I saw Wanda’s mouth edges sink deeper and deeper. The band’s intro was a full hit: AC/DC – Rock‘n’Roll Train + Fractured Millennium; to be followed by
- Valley of the Damned
- End of Disclosure
- Adjusting the Sun
- one I can’t recall
- Pleasure of Molestation – Obsculum Obscenum – Penetralia medley
- Fire in the Sky
- by then, we were heading for the tent – hoodie – fruits – bread
The one message that did get through (my boss’ iKolereding is at home, I brought my Nokia but it’s in the tent) concerned Peter’s view on Thin Lizzy: ‘hopeless’. I saw a tribute to Phil and Gary, but kept reminding ‘not the Neville brothers’ and Killer on the Loose. Ricky Warwick can sing a bit, but in my eyes not good enough to host The Lizzy like this. I’d rather turn back time an hour and hear Roswell 47 live… off to bed. Peter and Rob did see Avatar (for a bit) and mentioned ‘Circus Renz is in Kortrijk’; the amount of adolescents in ghastly make up overwhelmed us all day. Earplugs, off.
Some parts of Alcatraz are harder to ignore than Avatar fans: the band hailing the early visitors played stupid Dutch tunes (I AM NOT GOING TO MENTION WHICH) and let’s piss them off: The Kenny’s kennen ut nie!! © Wanda hahaha. And they played every friggin’festival day!!
Time for some real music: CARNATION!!! The band played diabolically loud, tight as a rotting corpse in peat soil and infectious like Ebola! Of course we stood first row, about twenty minutes before The Swamp became Ground Zero and had a lot of fun interacting with the band. In return, Wanda got a set list, I’ve got another one of Jonathan’s guitar picks and we both bare Simon’s blood stains on our denims. Here’s the set list, later to be signed ‘to commemorate Thomas Wouters’: [thank you Simon, Yarne]!
- The Whisperer
- Hellfire
- Plaguebreeder
- Hatred Unleashed
- Sermon of the Dead
- Disciples of Bloodlust
- Necromancer
- Chapel of Abhorrence
- Fathomless Depths (‘for Thomas, our friend of Bodyfarm’. Note, until then I had no idea yet :’( )
AWESOME!! GREAT!! COOL!! ‘fill in other praises’
\m/ But what a downfall happens, as Anvil is on Prison stage now… the sound is OK but the songs really, really suck. Happily we return to front row in The Swamp for Unleashed. I wasn’t in for another near-brawl (like during Sodom) so I parked Wanda at the gate and took my place halfway the tent. What does Johnny do: spit his vile about Christianity, society in general and the lack of people with mind strength over our heads, supported by an awesomely tight band. All he has to say is ‘Welcome Warriors’ and all hell breaks loose in the swamp. The sound is raging and sharp, the band blazing and sharp, the lights doable and sharp, the audience bashing sharply, need I mention sharp? I was so under the atmosphere I had to buy another Unleashed ‘something’ for Wanda, but didn’t get further than Goddess’Harm in that Dutch Denim of mine. He was surprised Defender made it to the denim, but not Goddess of Desire? As I bought about three-hours-of-pay in stripe patches (denim # 16 bought in Gent) I will gladly cover Epica (a bit
) with it. Returning to the Swamp for the remainder of Unleashed was a good idea. Theyplayed:
- Blood of Lies
- Lead Us into War
- The Longships are Coming
- The Dark One (‘off the cassette version’, Johnny tells us
)
- Stand Your Ground (no WT on my Dutch Denim *grin* )
- I have Sworn Allegiance
- The Hunt for White Christ
- Hammer Battalion
- Into Glory Ride
Strange fact: Johnny Hedlund doesn’t seem to know how long he’s actually going to play, as since the ending of Stand Your Ground he announced each song as the last. We remained near the tent and I had an Away moment for myself: Voïvod drummer Michel Langevin stood next to Unleashed’s performance and greeted me \m/ Mainly because of Metal Church fucking up again (ehh Mike Howe fucked up again) that is. The following basket of chicken did NOT do any harm haha.
The security staff of Alcatraz are not really followers of their own rules. A sign ‘no flash lights’ is obeyed “for the band performing”, but the no smoking sign is ignored by nearly the entire mosh crew in front. Also the ‘no crowd surfing’ plate is highly laughed about. Also, a few of the crew members try to hand out set lists and guitar picks beforehand. Wanda gets offered a Voïvod set list beforehand, I stick to my paper and pen for
- Post Society
- Psychic Vacuum
- Obsolete Beings
- The Prow
- Iconspiracy
- Order of the Blackguards (!)
- Overreaction (!)
- Fall
- Voïvod
Snake is a clown, unbelievably funny in his eighties denim (feat. Carcass, Discharge, Possessed and a beautiful Voïvod sign; probably drawn by Away himself) and movement on stage; Chewie with a huge daisy on his chest and Rocky rocking his beard off. Old days relived, not circling about early goldies but still a firm grip on modern Voïvod music, this was a killer gig. All we have of the promised set list is a blurry picture of a man that rushed away for Sacred Reich… no problem. We had a great time with the band, the audience and each other… and headed out for said Sacred Reich. The band had started with a new track, soon to be followed by Who’s to Blame and Ignorance, a massive but non-violent pit occurring instantly. I see people pushing tears of pure joy away, instantly reliving Dynamo Open Airs, Heavy Sound festival gestures and tour shirts of 1990 Sepultura… I am amongst believers. Friends. Acquaintances. Freaks, if you count the washed away Avatar schminck. Sacred Reich will never let you down, Phil Rind’s grin will see to that. I had had no set list but a can of Red Bull from that security dude and it freaked me out, not wanting to stand still AND not wanting to join the Sacred Pit. See if I remember most of the set list:
- New song
- Who’s to Blame
- Ignorance
- New song
- Love/Hate
- Manifest Reality
- Surf Nicaragua
I met Peter near the RockTribune signing booth and he was the one to break the news about Thomas… he apologized 7 times for breaking my day, but how could he not? We were offline for nearly a week and when we entered Gent it wasn’t on MA yet… but the Carnation fellows sparked an idea: get that set list signed “for Thomas”; Simon gladly scribbled that near his signature. We didn’t have to wait long for the Sacred Reich signing session as well, so I grabbed a promotional Alcatraz card and said hello to Phil. He was happy I remembered Dynamo Open Air but I forgot to ask if he’d remember if he was supposed to play Forever Young 1990 hihi [he was in the hospital in Hoorn then, the rest of the band WAS in Grootebroek \m/ ]. Dave McClain on the other hand was impressed by the beer coins on my Dutch Denim and said ‘hold on a sec’, fiddled his jacket and handed me an original consumption coin from his favorite bar Alameda Eagles in California! That’s great!! What to do, put it on my Dutch Denim?? I don’t know yet. Wiley Arnett just smiled at me and newcomer Joey Radziwill is even younger than the last Sacred Reich piece ever put out hahahahaha. Great guys!! Walking around we spotted some Deicide, but Glenn’s head was clearly still in Florida and sounded muffled. The band was OK though. We’d rather have an Hommage for a Chocolate Muffin
We were perfectly close to Prison stage when Rose Tattoo had begun. OK, I was in emotion, but what better than a band that had several members deceased before this show? Think of Pete Wells, the founder of The Tats original slide driven sound? Mick Cocks, Lobby Lloyde, Dallas 'Digger' Royall, Ian Rilen, Neil Smith?? The band never gave up and now, some 13 years since Wells passed away is still a band on the run, on the move, progressing (slightly) towards their 45th anniversary, still sounding angry and well-thought, never the easy way rock’n’roll? ‘Get ready to board the train’, Angry shouts and off they go:
- Bad Boy (for Love)
- Scarred for Life
- One of the Boys
- Assault & Battery
- Rock’n’Roll Outlaw
- Fast Eddy & The Butcher (!)
- Rock’n’Roll is King
- City Blues
- Freedom’s Flame
- Sweet Love
- We Can’t Be Beaten
- Nice Boys (don’t Play Rock’n’Roll)
- Astra Wally (encore)
I hope for many music lovers Rose Tattoo will keep playing for as long as Angry will stand on his feet. Rose Tattoo is a well oiled machine, that leaves room for individual members, slide or not, pounding rock’n’roll music played the way it should be: juuuuust loud enough. We emptied our pockets of coins, as Powerwolf sure as hell sounded ‘fabricated’, Tesseract ‘overdone’, Meshuggah ‘not worthy of notes’
and Rotting Christ ‘not rotten anymore’. Back at the tent we heard Avantasia try to overpower Soulfly’s sound check hihi. They couldn’t. In a faraway past I owned the first Avantasia record, but I have no clue if it’s still worth checking out. We are tired. The Soulfly drum check is so loud, even Wanda had her pillow over her head and mine too.
With our Sunday breakfast leaflet we seemed to be able to get breakfast. We chose to get coffee and suddenly needed new coins for that? I don’t dig that anymore. With a huge effort I scraped some € 6 out of my wallet for 4 coffees and moved on, back to our beloved VW Golf Mk II diesel. To get to Ieper, to see Passchendaele (I have to, as I once said ‘Passiondale is THE best record of the first decade of the new millennium’) but Ieper was a huge letdown for both of us. I’ve never felt less welcome and more unsafe than in Surmont B&B. A student wouldn’t live there for a fiver a month, but we paid €166 and left after one night. In horror. Way too steep stairs, uneven stairs, an open water cabinet, windows nearly falling out, bumping heads AND WE’RE BOTH UNDER 175 cm small! Add a rabid try to muffle the complaints behind the stitched carpet and I left steaming angry. But after a bad start Alcatraz WAS worth it. Demolition Hammer, Carnation, Rose Tattoo and Sacred Reich were absolutely amazing. Voïvod cool, as was Unleashed. Pity we never knew if Deserted Fear DID play. We drove home on Tuesday, only to return to Belgium on Thursday for Metal Méan: Asphyx, Tormentor, Primordial. Jürgen and Sylvia. Metal.
[edit: we got to Durbuy and Méan, via Westwoud that is, but the hassle for tickets totally fucked us up. See
http://metal-tavern.proboards.com/threa ... -demoliton for this one's reactions and
http://metal-tavern.proboards.com/thread/747/metal-show if you're member or guest of Metal Tavern]