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ROCK AM RING Festival 2009 - REVIEW

Thursday:

We arrived at thursday at Rock am Ring and found a place for our tents on B2a - the clocest camping site to the festival area :P On thursday there was the Ringrocker.com Warm Up Party and we went to see:

Edge of Thorns: boring because I hate metal music

Mambo Kurt: weird but funny but it's not really music

Friday:

Expatriate: was ok.

Scouting for Girls: Very good. Highlight: "Keep On Walking"

Juliette Lewis: very nice. she is very powerful and entertaining. good voice.

Selig: first highlight of the festival. I didn't expect it to be as good as it was. Very good quality music and they showed nice art videos to the music on stage. Also a very nice atmosphere in the audience. Highlights: "Sie hat geschrien"

Razorlight: It was the forth time I've seen them live (always by happenstance). Not as annoying as they used to be on the "Ode To Ochrasy Tour" with Mando Diao in 2006 but still quite boring.

Placebo: It was the 12th time I've seen them live. Ok my supposed to be highlight of the festival. and it definetely was a highlight somehow but it wasn't thaaat good. They had technical problems like they had quite often when I saw them but not the last times before though. Also Molko's voice wasn't as good as it can be - the way he sang was different. I especially missed it how he sings words really long like the phrase "I'm medicated how are you" on "Follow the Cops Back Home" - he didn't sing it that long like on the record which is the best thing about his voice. Also the audience was overcrowded and kind of annoying, you always had to take care about staying on your feet so you couldn't really concentrate on the music - a problem which is very common on Placebo concerts since their huge success in 2004 though :( And I still have to get used to the new drummer...besides that the setlist was ok but I missed "Devil In The Details" along of the many of my fave songs which I don't expect to see live again anyway and they really don't always have to play "Black Eyed". Highlights: "Bionic", "Follow the Cops Back Home", "Special K", "Every You Every Me", "Battle for the Sun","Meds", "Song to Say Goodbye", "Come Undone".

The Killers: It was the second time I've seen them live. Surprisingly awesome! Even the new songs of "Day & Age" which I find quite boring were nice in live. Very good show, very well played music. It was so good that I stayed longer than I'd planned before I left for Marilyn Manson. Hightlights: "Somebody Told Me" (of course!), "All These Things That I've Done", "Mr. Bightside".

Marilyn Manson: It was the third time I've seen them live. Suprisingly bad. I saw only half of it thanks to the Killers. But the setlist from there was quite boring and the sound wasn't that good. At the Hurricane Festival in 2007 it was waaaay better so I was very disappointed this time. Also Manson seemed to be in a very bad mood. He kicked the microphones away all the time and well it's no news that he doesn't change himself on stage and has a crew to do that for him but this time he made their work very hard. Also there was no show really this time, no huge chairs, no knife-microphone, no nothing. Very disappointing!

Polarkreis 18: very nice and relaxing. I didn't really know them before so it was surprisingly nice.

Saturday:
Sugarplum Fairy: It was the 14th time I've seen them live (holy fuck). Ok that was a very bad déjà-vu of the Rock am Ring gig in 2007 where I missed half of the gig thanks to the Smashing Pumpkins. This time I missed half of it again because they played 15 minutes earlier than they were supposed to so I missed about 12 minutes of the already too short 25 minutes. grrr. The rest was nice as always even though it was raining.

White Lies: was ok.

The Script: Only saw them from further away, was ok.

Phoenix: was very nice, especially the voice

Machine Head: It was the second time I've seen them live. Was ok. I prefer the songs of "The Burning Red" which they don't play live anymore and the other songs are too much metal for me. Still haven't seen "From This Day" live :(

A Day to Remember: I saw the end by chance, not my music.

The Soundtrack of Our Lives: Another highlight! But 25 minutes was way too short. Awesome sound, nice performance! Funny thing was how they kicked the coca cola labels off the stage one after another (sheerly by accident - haha - not) Very nice setlist too! Highlights: "Second life Replay", "Babel On".

Bloc Party: It was the second time I've seen them live. Surprisingly good! At the Hurricane Festival in 2007 I found them quite boring but this time it was very nice and good. Very good sound! I saw the entire gig which I didn't plan but it was just too good to leave. Highlights: "Banquet", "The Prayer".

Slipknot: Eveyrtime I wanted to see them before it got cancelled but this time they did actually play. Unfortunately I missed "Wait & Bleed" god damn it! - I've always wanted to see that song live :( but I missed the beginning thanks to Bloc Party so I missed that song. But besides that it was really good and very good sound. I was standing pretty far away from the stage but the sound was still awesome and also the atmosphere was very nice. One of the rare hard rock bands that I like.

Mando Diao: That was the 24th time I've seen them live. Definetely one of the festival highlights. Nothing new since it was quite the same show and setlist as I've already seen three times at the "Give Me Fire" tour but this time they played the song "Give Me Fire" which they didn't at the shows I've been to before so that was very nice. Unfortunately the audience was way overcrowded so it was quite hard to concentrate on the music and to dance but it got better later. The sound was very good, also very good show as usual since GMF and the background band they have. So all in all a great gig again even though it's not as much rocking anymore as it used to be before GMF. I missed "The Shining", "Chrystal" and "Go Out Tonight" but well you can't have it all. Highlights: "Long Before Rock'n'Roll", the acoustic version of "If I Don't Live Today...", "Sheepdog", "Good Morning, Herr Horst", "Give Me Fire".

dredg: was nice and relaxing.

Sunday:

Little Man Tate: It was the second time I've seen them live. Was very nice.

The Kilians: It was the third time I've seen them live. As usual they know how to entertain the audience (that's a german talent). So the atmosphere was very good. And very nice performance and sound.

Middle Class Rut: they were different but nice.

New Found Glory: the only bit of punk rock this year at RaR but since it was US punk and I'm not so crazy about punk from the US it was just ok.

The All-American Rejects: very different from what I expected but it was ok.

Peter Bjorn and John: very nice! good sound!

The Subways: I only caught the last two songs including "Rock & Roll Queen" which is the only song I really like so it was nice.

Chris Cornell: was quite nice. Including a rainbow next to the stage.

Billy Talent: It was the forth time I've seen them live. As usual the sound was way too quiet in the back. I was standing in the front of the third barrier but you couldn't hardly understand anything there (which is not supposed to happen there). The same as their gig at the Hurricane Festival in 2006. So the sound was very bad in this way. Besides that it was ok, the atmosphere in the audience was very nice though. But I don't really like their music and I especially don't like that screaming voice live.

MIA.: I caught only the last two songs but that was more than enough anyway. I just don't like them live.

The Kooks: It was the forth time I've seen them live. As usual the sound wasn't as good as on record. The accent of the voice is too much in live so the music sounds better on the records. But I don't like the "Konk" record really but in live it was ok. The songs of the first record "Inside In / Inside Out" I love and they played a lot of them so that was very nice. The best thing is when the singer plays songs acoustic like he did with a brand new song "Princess of my mind" which was very very nice. But the audience was overcrowded again so it was pretty hard to dance. Highlights: "Princess of my mind", "Oooh La", "Sofa Song", "You Don't Love Me".

Black Stone Cherry: not my music but it was ok. Only stayed there to have a bit more of the festival before it ended.

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What else is there to say? Oh the weather: on thursday and friday it was already pretty cold but it was ok. On saturday and sunday it rained a lot so it was freezingly cold. Sleeping in the tent was very uncomfortable thanks to the freezing cold and to the stones you were lying on. The weather was so bad it made the festival quite hard to enjoy. Taking a shower in the cold was pretty diificult too because there was no way to use a hair dryer so my hair didn't dry really which made me freeze even more. But as usual the live music made all that bullshit worth anyway.

On saturday I spread out the Mando Diao / Sugarplum Fairy stickers and flyers for the competition (Mando Diao Street Team Mission) all over the festival. I ended up doing it alone since I had no contact to the other Units at the festival and the friend of my Hamburg Unit wasn't around at that time too. But later I ran into a girl from the Munich Unit by accident so she helped me spread out the stickers. Funny thing was that there were supposed to be only three winners but estimated 95% of the stickers were printed as winning ones haha so in the end there were more winners than prizes. I was promised to get "The Wild One" CD of Sugarplum Fairy for that too, I hope I still get it since I wanted to have it for so long but had no money yet :D

Organisation: Very good was the way the entrance to the barriers in front of the Centerstage were organized (with red light / green light and limitation). It was never really overcrowded in front of the Centerstage (except when Placebo played but only because people pushed more). But in front of the Alternastage it was always overcrowded in the late evenings because there was no organisation at all - that could have gone very bad with all the squashing - very dangerous. A good thing this year was that it didn't stink as much as last year thanks to much more toilets all around the festival. At the entrance they were very picky about the provisions to take into the festival area. They wanted you to take only originally sealed food and drinks into the area but I outsmarted those fuckers :P But mainly you felt very well taking care of at the festival, a good organisation like no other festival.

All in all it was a great festival but not almost as good as in the last three years. Highlights: Placebo, Mando Diao, Selig, The Soundtrack of Our Lives, The Killers.

Now after all the brain-holiday it's time to go back to reality :( ♥ Rock am Ring ♥

OKFM's top albums
1. Bloc Party - Silent Alarm (116) 2. CocoRosie - Noah's Ark (110) 3. The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground & Nico (108) 4. David Bowie - Low (106) 5. Polarkreis 18 - The Colour of Snow (97) 6. Björk - Medúlla (88) 7. The Birthday Massacre - Violet (88) 8. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - The Best Of (86) 9. David Bowie - Hunky Dory (84) 10. Various Artists - Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain (84) 11. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular (83) 12. David Archuleta - David Archuleta (81) 13. Kerli - Love Is Dead (78) 14. Björk - Post (76) 15. Joy Division - Substance 1977-1980 (76) 16. Foetus - Flow (73) 17. Mayhem - Ordo Ad Chao (71) 18. Madonna - Ray of Light (71) 19. Björk - Homogenic (69) 20. Polarkreis 18 - Polarkreis 18 (67) 21. Kate Bush - Hounds of Love (65) 22. Stereo Total - Paris-Berlin (65) 23. Björk - Debut (64) 24. Totenmond - Reich in Rost (62) 25. Nirvana - In Utero (62) 26. Satyricon - Volcano (61) 27. MIA. - Stille Post (60) 28. Death in June - Operation Hummingbird (60) 29. Dir en grey - Withering to death. (60) 30. Emilie Autumn - Opheliac (60)

Fr., 29. Mai. – Immergut Festival 2009

Freitag

Man möge mich läutern, dass ich das Wetter vom immergut in Frage gestellt habe, denn so sehr es nach Regen im Vorfeld aussah, und in Potsdam goss es wirklich wie aus Eimern, so sehr durfte man das herrliche Wetter genießen. Im Vergleich zum letzen Jahr war so einiges anders. So musste ich mich dieses Mal nicht durchschnorren, obwohl es wohl wieder gut geklappt hätte, denn genug Leute waren ja da, was man deutlich an der Parkplatzsituation spüren konnte.
Durch ein wenig Hin und Her beim Einkaufen, Parken und Zeug zum Campingplatz Getrage bekam ich von Kate Mosh leider nur ein Lied während des Zelt Aufbauens mit, schade eigentlich, denn im Zebra waren sind echt gut.
Das erste Mal aufs Gelände ging es dann zu Virginia Jetzt!, die waren ganz solide und ein bisschen was kannte ich sogar noch von früher, was damals den Weg auf die Kassette meiner Schwester fand. So richtig vom Hocker hat mich danach kein Name gerissen, deshalb gabs erstmal eine Bratwurst am Zelt.
Polarkreis 18 musste ich sehen, um mir meine Vorurteile zu bestätigen. Alleine bei diesem klischeehaften an der Bühnenrüstung Rumgeklettere musste ich schmunzeln. Der Rest ist eher weniger erwähnenswert, wenn man das Publikum nicht mal zum Mitsingen bei dem gehypten Lied schlechthin bewegen kann…
Über The Whitest Boy Alive war ich dann durchaus sehr überrascht, denn eigentlich machen sie so gar nicht meine Musik und trotzdem haben sie es geschafft mich irgendwie zu überzeugen. Anders will ich es gar nicht ausdrücken, klar ist nur, dass sie wohl den Weg in meine Sammlung finden werden.
Bei Die Sterne hat ich dann noch kurz vorbeigeguckt. War nicht so mein Ding, muss ja auch nicht.

Samstag

Da ich nicht nur zum chillen gekommen war, sondern auch um ein wenig Musik zu hören, ging es zu Silvester und Hundreds. Halt mehr als angehört hab ich dann auch nicht, soll heißen ich fand sie nicht ganz so dufte.
Telekinesis war dann schon ein ganz anderes Kaliber. Alleine der singende Drummer/ der ungewöhnliche Bühnenaufbau haben mein Interesse geweckt. Also mal richtig hingehört und Gefallen dran gefunden.
Hello Saferide danach war dann aber wieder nicht so mein Fall. Lustig war aber, dass man doch stark das Gefühl hatte, das sie beim Auftritt nicht ganz so auf der Höhe war( „Das gleiche Wasser möchte ich jetzte auch bitte trinken“ )
Zu Friska Viljor wurde es dann das erste Mal so richtig voll an diesem Tag. Verständlich, denn die Band hob sich schon ein wenig von den anderen ab, alleine weil sie ein bisschen rockiger waren, als das meiste, was auf dem immergut gespielt hat. Mir hat es auf jeden Fall sehr sehr dolle gefallen. Irgendwie war auch die Band mit starken Folkeinflüssen, die auf keinem gescheiten Festival fehlen darf.
Danach gabs wieder ne Wurst und ein Bier und ne Menge Vorfreude auf Tomte, die aber mehr oder weniger aus der meiner Mitmenschen resultierte, denn für mich waren sie auch eher so eine Band, die man gerne hört, aber nicht wirklich gezielt zu Hause in der Playlist hat, dennoch war der Auftritt sehr solide. Für Kettcar gilt dann wohl dasselbe, nur alles noch ne Schippe mehr und besser.(Sound of Setteling Cover ;)
Und so ging das immergut für mich zu Ende, die anderen Bands interessierten mich nicht mehr so dolle und irgendwie spürte ich das Verlangen mal zu schlafen, ja lacht ruhig :P

Insgesamt kann ich wieder mal ein positives Resümee ziehen: Recht viele Bands gesehen (mehr als erwartet) Spaß gehabt und mal ne echt gesunde Hautfarbe bekommen :D

So schaut warscheinlich meine Tagesplanung aus...

Freitag

15:25 - 16:05 The All American Rejects
17:50 - 18:50 Guano Apes
19:20 - 20:50 Billy Talent
21:30 - 23:00 Limp Bizkit
23:45 - 1:00 Peter Fox

Samstag

12:40 - 13:05 Wirtz
15:55 - 16:35 Shinedown
17:00 - 17:40 Enter Shikari
18:05 - 18:45 Papa Roach
20:20 - 21:10 Killswitch Engage
21:30 - 23:00 The Killers
23:45 - 1:00 Korn
1:00 - 2:05 Polarkreis 18 ( wohl eher nicht xD )

Sonntag

15:20 - 16:05 Flogging Molly
16:30 - 17:25 Volbeat
17:50 - 18:50 Machine Head
19:20 - 20:35 The Prodigy
21:15 - 23:00 Slipknot
23:50 - 1:00 Mando Diao

Anti-Flag
Accelerators
At the Close of Every Day
Bat for Lashes
Bonaparte
Caroline Weeks
Deathstars
Feuerengel
Heideroosjes II
Infadels
Kim Janssen
LPG
Polarkreis 18
Spinvis II
Voicst

Fr., 1. Mai. – Selig

Ein ungenießbares sächsisches Biermixgetränk und ein Ohrenbluten verursachender Radiosender hatten zum Stubenrocker Konzert eingeladen. Bands wie Klee, Polarkreis 18 oder eben Selig spielen kostenlos vor kleiner Kulisse um den Bekanntheitsgrad der Sponsoren und vor allem deren Homepages zu steigern. Wozu ein Bier eine Homepage braucht, versteh ich zwar bis heute nicht, aber in diesem Fall konnte man sich bis zum Dienstag vor dem Konzert dort anmelden und bekam dann eine Bestätigung, dass man und seine Begleitung dabei sein darf. Nur 350 Personen durften an diesem Abend dabei sein, die restlichen Karten brachte dann der Radiosender unter das Volk, dass aber volljährig sein musste und dieses wurde auch anhand des Personalausweises am Eingang kontrolliert. Deutschland, deine Alkoholwerbung.

weiterlesen

...für einen Sampler in dramaturgischer Reihenfolge
...for a sampler in dramaturgical order

Poison Prince von Amy Macdonald
I'm Outta Time von Oasis
Chinese Blues von Travis
Allein Allein von Polarkreis 18
Human (Main Version) von The Killers
Viva la Vida von Coldplay
It's My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry von Glasvegas
Mitgefühl oder Haut von Ruben Cossani
Always Where I Need to Be von The Kooks
Fascination von Alphabeat
Electric Feel von MGMT
Mein Freund (Radio Mix Extended) von MIA.
D.A.N.C.E. von Justice
Oxford Comma von Vampire Weekend
Alles Neu oder Haus am See von Peter Fox
Rockferry von Duffy
Oh My Life von Beth Rowley
The Way I Am von Ingrid Michaelson
Cape Cañaveral von Conor Oberst
Asking for Flowers oder Alicia Ross von Kathleen Edwards
White Winter Hymnal von Fleet Foxes
Sex on Fire von Kings of Leon
spieglein, spieglein von Gisbert zu Knyphausen

First of all my 45 Top Records of '08

Like This:
Artist - Album - Rating (0 to 10 Points)
First Song Heard - Best Song (atm)

01. The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age of the Understatement - 10,0
The Age of the Understatement - My Mistakes Were Made for You
02. Kings of Leon - Only by the Night - 9,5
Crawl - Sex on Fire
03. Slut - StillNo1 - 9,5
Say Yes to Everything - Tomorrow Will Be Mine
04. Polarkreis 18 - The Colour of Snow - 9,0
Allein Allein - The Colour of Snow
05. Coldplay - Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends - 9,0
Violet Hill - Viva la Vida
06. Peter Fox - Stadtaffe - 9,0
Alles Neu - Schwarz zu Blau
07. Blood Red Shoes - Box of Secrets - 9,0
I Wish I Was Someone Better - You Bring Me Down
08. Santogold - Santogold - 8,5
Lights Out - Lights Out
09. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes - 8,5
Sun It Rises - Your Protector
10. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular - 8,5
Time to Pretend - Kids
11. Dirty Pretty Things - Romance at Short Notice - 8,5
Hippy's Son - Best Face
12. Panic at the Disco - Pretty. Odd. - 8,5
Nine in the Afternoon - Do You Know What I'm Seeing
13. Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs - 8,5
I Will Possess Your Heart - I Will Possess Your Heart
14. Johnossi - All They Ever Wanted - 8,5
Party With My Pain - 18 Karat Gold
15. Deichkind - Arbeit nervt - 8,5
Arbeit nervt - Ich und mein Computer
16. Mystery Jets - Twenty One - 8,0
Hideaway - Two Doors Down
17. The Hoosiers - The Trick To Life - 8,0
Goodbye Mr.A - Cops And Robbers
18. I Am Kloot - Play Moolah Rouge - 8,0
one man brawl - Hey Little Bird
19. The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely - 8,0
Salute Your Solution - The Switch and the Spur
20. The Killers - Day & Age - 8,0
Human - I Can't Stay
21. Blackmail - Tempo Tempo - 8,0
False Medication - Feel It (Day by Day)
22. The Kooks - Konk - 7,5
Always Where I Need to Be - Always Where I Need to Be
23. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend - 7,5
Mansard Roof - Walcott
24. Why? - Alopecia - 7,5
The Hollows - Fatalist Palmistry
25. Conor Oberst - Conor Oberst - 7,5
Souled Out!!! - Cape Canaveral
26. Lightspeed Champion - Falling Off The Lavender Bridge - 7,5
Tell Me What It's Worth - Galaxy Of The Lost
27. Bloc Party - Intimacy - 7,5
Mercury - Halo
28. Dr. Dog - We All Belong - 7,5
Old News - My Old Ways
29. The Faint - Fasciination - 7,5
The Geeks Were Right - The Geeks Were Right
30. Get Well Soon - Rest Now Weary Head You Will Get Well Soon - 7,5
If This Hat Is Missing I Have Gone Hunting - If This Hat Is Missing I Have Gone Hunting
31. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! - 7,5
Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
32. Albert Hammond, Jr. - ¿Como Te Llama? - 7,5
GfC - GfC
33. Madsen - Frieden im Krieg - 7,5
Nachtbaden - Verschwende Dich Nicht
34. Adam Green - Sixes & Sevens - 7,5
Morning After Midnight - Tropical Island
35. Kaiser Chiefs - Off With Their Heads - 7,5
Never Miss a Beat - Never Miss a Beat
36. My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges - 7,5
Evil Urges - Librarian
37. The Subways - All or Nothing - 7,0
Kalifornia - Move To Newlyn
38. Kaizers Orchestra - Maskineri - 7,0
Apokalyps Meg - Bastard Sønn
39. Nada Surf - Lucky - 7,0
Whose Authority - Whose Authority
40. British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music? - 7,0
All In It - No Lucifer
41. Thrice - The Alchemy Index Pts. III & IV - 7,0
Broken Lungs - The Sky is Falling
42. Kettcar - Sylt - 7,0
Graceland - Geringfügig, befristet, raus
43. The Futureheads - This Is Not the World - 7,0
The Beginning of the Twist - The Beginning of the Twist
44. Cold War Kids - Loyalty to Loyalty - 6,5
Something Is Not Right With Me - Something Is Not Right With Me
45. Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple - 6,0
Run - Blind Mary


Top 25 Singles

01. Kings of Leon - Sex on Fire
02. The Last Shadow Puppets - My Mistakes Were Made for You
03. MGMT - Kids
04. Death Cab for Cutie - I Will Possess Your Heart
05. Coldplay - Viva la Vida
06. Amy Macdonald - This Is the Life
07. Eagles of Death Metal - Wanna Be in LA
08. The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age of the Understatement
09. The Hoosiers - Worried About Ray
10. Hercules and Love Affair - Blind
11. Tocotronic - Mein Ruin
12. Kanye West - American Boy (feat. Estelle)
13. Kanye West - Homecoming (feat. Chris Martin)
14. Santogold - Lights Out
15. Coldplay - Violet Hill
16. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
17. MGMT - Time to Pretend
18. Polarkreis 18 - Allein Allein
19. The Killers - Human
20. Glasvegas - Geraldine
21. Santogold - Say Aha
22. Get Well Soon - If This Hat Is Missing I Have Gone Hunting
23. Mystery Jets - Two Doors Down
24. The Faint - The Geeks Were Right
25. Oasis - The Shock of the Lightning

Top 10 Concerts

01. Dirty Pretty Things - Luxor / Cologne
02. Slut - Zeche Carl / Essen
03. Radiohead - Hurricane Festival 2008
04. The Faint - Melkweg / Amsterdam
05. Babyshambles - Rock Am Ring 2008
06. Death Cab For Cutie - Live Music Hall / Cologne
07. Panic at the Disco - Live Music Hall / Cologne
08. Gogol Bordello - Area 4 Festival 2008
09. JUSTICE - Rock Am Ring 2008
10. Deichkind - Westfallenhalle 3 / Dortmund