TONS OF ROCK 2014 – Day 2 – Halden, Fredriksten Festning

Day two at Halden fortress started with the same great mood as the previous one ended, but this time the show was directed by Black Debbath, a Norwegian band performing heavy political rock with themes inspired from Norwegian political issues and debates. They sing about the problems in the right wing, or about how often you should replace the kitchen clothes or how the statue park at Ekeberg is turning into a…well, you might want to translate this one yourself. The members of Black Debbath are probably some of the most talented rock-musician-comedians ever and they constantly pull of several jokes between their songs. They also take a moment to promote their merchandise items, such as kitchen cloths or cooking aprons, that would be signed after the show. They declared they’d sign everything, and I saw some photos from the signing session during which they ended up signing boobs and ass cheecks. Guess everything meant everything.

A day or two prior to the festival I found out that there’s actually a small stage outside the festival area and there the entrance was free and several young bands would perform on Friday and Saturday. After Black Debbath I went to this Huth stage to enjoy the lovely live performance of Aiming for Enrike, a duo that I’d happily watch on monthly basis. I have no clue how to classify their guitar/drums play and improvisation, but I know for sure it sounds fantastic live and it built the right amount of energy needed for the remaining shows of the day. If you ever see this band’s name on any concert poster, don’t hesitate to check them out.

OBLITERATION live @ Tons of Rock 2014
(Photo: Andrea Chirulescu)

 

Oslo Ess was next on the main stage, but I had to leave their concert after one song so I can’t make any comments on thier music or show. Instead, I can make a lot of positive comments about the band that started next in the tent – Obliteration. I missed so many chances to see them live, so I was really excited to finally catch their show. I remember that the vocalist put some blood on his face, but I think they could have performed in pink clothes and still have one of the ‘meanest’ attitude ever. I guess they don’t sing much about love and fairy tales in their unholy, somewhat primitive, death metal. They’re an impressive bunch and I think they can easily put to shame a lot of the more experienced festival headliners.

Back to light and to the big stages, it’s time for more melodic death metal with happier faces on stage from the Swedes in Soilwork. I’m not sure if the crowd appreciated the singer’s intention of speaking English rather than his Swedish dialect, but this, combined with a rather poor sound quality during the show, made it less intense than I’m used to when it comes to this band. So I quickly lost interest in it and went hunting for some food. Once the belly was happy I returned to see the veterans from WASP and be once more convinced that many of the bands that are still ‘hired’ as headliners are better off enjoyed at home, without the visual of the old bored men in front of you. I admit that I caught one of the guitarists jumping in the air and doing some great headbanging, but I didn’t get the same kick out of WASP’s concert as few years back. But then again, a lot of the paying crowd is stuck in the past as well, so it’s not much I can comment against that.

From the new wave of bands that made a big name and a big fanbase, the Swedes from Ghost took over the stage and performed their demonic ritual at a level that was way way way higher than the one I witnessed few years ago at another festival. I didn’t really get their music much, but I was mind blown from the first moment by how cool they actually put together the whole live performance. I also have a feeling they changed the vocalist (I saw him described as Papa Emeritus II) and that might also have impacted the overall attitude and atmosphere. This should have definitely be the main concert of the day, as they delivered the perfect ritual that mesmerized the crowd.

The program had one more band left on the main stage, the Norwegians from Turbonegro and their punk/rock/glam mix that wasn’t quite the ideal sound to bother your ears after all the Ghost magic. They also had the lousiest light for photography, so my tired brain simply didn’t want to comprehend what happened during the rest of the concert. I know for sure it must have been enjoyed by a lot of people, since I saw quite an amount of Turboneger fans wearing their vests or tshirts or hats or face paintings or patchs showing their ‘addiction’ to Turbojugend. That is a nice idea and it makes for some really interesting outfits. So I can only hope to have more energy for a future concert of the band to see how they actually are on stage from A to Z.

 

TONS OF ROCK 2014 – Day 1