RoD header

Translate

aerzte2Zeppelinfeld, Nuremberg, Germany
7th June 2019
Rock im Park Day 1 with reviews of Trivium, Architects, Bring Me The Horizon, Die Ärzte

A week before, we received the good news by email: An accreditation for this year’s edition of ROCK IM PARK, the slightly smaller twin of storied festival behemoth ROCK AM RING. The arrival in Nuremberg and the check-in procedure on Friday early afternoon went surprisingly smooth. The weather was really warm and sunny, and everything boded well for a perfect festival start.


Trivium

First up on today’s selection list was TRIVIUM, the Floridian Metal band around Matt Heafy. They were scheduled in the afternoon on the Park stage, and delivered an impressive set in the scorching heat, which provoked lots of circle pits. Some might say that the whole level of stage interaction is a too ‘metal’, aka a little overblown, but I personally found their 55-minute set very entertaining, and the close-out with the classic ‘In Waves’ left me craving for more. So those guys lucky enough to see TRIVIUM in the few upcoming club shows which have been scheduled this month have something to look forward to. // https://www.facebook.com/trivium/ or www.trivium.org // Setlist: 01. The Sin and the Sentence / 02. Beyond Oblivion / 03. Sever the Hand / 04. Beauty in the Sorrow / 05. Until the World Goes Cold / 06. Betrayer / 07. Down From The Sky / 08. The Heart From Your Hate / 09. Strife / 10. In Waves.

trivium7


Architects

Sometimes small delays can have lucky consequences: DROPKICK MURPHYS were delayed on their way to Rock im Park, thus ARCHITECTS filled in for them, positioning them on the large Zeppelin stage immediately ahead of BRING ME THE HORIZON. Originally both bands were scheduled in parallel on separate stages, which led to countless complaints on social media channels, as lots of fans wanted to see both bands. The UK ‘math core’ pioneers delivered one of their trademark intensive shows, which has made them a cornerstone of their genre. Their 60-minute setlist featured a best-of from the bands back catalogue and transmitted the energy to the tens of thousands of fans in front of the stage, perfectly accentuated with some pyrotechnics. // https://www.facebook.com/architectsuk or www.architectsofficial.com // Setlist: 01. Modern Misery / 02. Nihilist / 03. Naysayer / 04. These Colours / 05. Holy Hell / 06. Royal Beggars / 07. Gravedigger / 08. Mortal after all / 09. A Match Made in Heaven / 10. Hereafter

architects4


Bring Me The Horizon

Next in the line-up of the Zeppelin Stage was fellow UK band and Co-headliner BRING ME THE HORIZON, who initially started out as a Metalcore band, but have moved away from their original outset to something more mass compatible. But it turns out that they have not lost anything in terms of their appeal to their fans, as the room in front of the festival’s largest stage was filled up completely. BRING ME THE HORIZON brought a big stage production with them, featuring a multi-level stage, huge projection screens, and a handful of masked dancers sporting flags, and occasional flamethrowers. Lead singer Olli Sykes seemed to be in a good mood that day and commended the fans for all the love they were showing the band in Germany, despite mentioning in a passive aggressive way that he is so sick and tired of hearing about the band having gone soft. And he seemed to be hell-bent on documenting quite the opposite, as he whirled over the stage like a maniac, throwing himself to the floor and screaming his lungs out during song passages. All in all, the gig was among the most intense of the day, and coupled with the stage production definitely a fest for the eyes.

trivium1 impression

https://www.facebook.com/bmthofficial/ or www.bmthofficial.com // Setlist: 01. Mantra / 02. The House of Wolves / 03. Medicine / 04. Wonderful Life / 05. Shadow Moses / 06. Sugar, Honey, Ice & Tea / 07. Happy Song / 08. Mother Tongue / 09. Can You Feel My Heart / 10. Diamonds Aren’t Forever / 11. Nihilist Blues / 12. Follow You / 13. Throne / 14. Drown


Die Ärzte

Germany’s self-declared “best band of the world”, DIE ÄRZTE from Berlin have announced their long anticipated live comeback from a six-year-long hiatus during last year’s ROCK AM RING press conference, and it certainly served as a boost to early ticket sales for this year’s edition, especially as the two gigs are the only gigs in Germany for this year. So, the anticipation level was sky high, although many of the festival visitors were still in fluent state when DIE ÄRZTE started their career over three decades ago. So when dusk set it over Nuremberg, the curtain in front of the stage sporting a giant “Ä” fell after the band started to play the classic ‘Country Roads’, which morphed into the song ‘Unrockbar’.

aerzte5

The trio consisting of Farin Urlaub, Bela B and Rodrigo González, filled their headline role in a very relaxed manner. A large amount of banter went back and forth between the band members, as they casually changed instruments and shared vocal duties for their 135-minute (!) set. However, if you were not a die-hard fan of the band, especially the first half of this extended playtime was on the verge of becoming boring, as the talk episodes became quite lengthy. However, during the second half of the set, the band picked up the pace somewhat, and it became very entertaining. Only the weather gods were not completely merciful with the festival visitors, as half way into the set, rain showers started to set in. Thankfully, it was not the torrential rain and thunderstorms which had been forecast in a severe weather warning, which was broadcast in the afternoon.

aerzte2

So, in hindsight the festival organizers and visitors could consider themselves lucky that the gig did not have to be cancelled. And DIE ÄRZTE showed some extreme consideration, as they played those songs reserved for the encore immediately, thereby sparing their large audience a few minutes of standing, screaming and clapping in the rain. // For more info go to www.bademeister.com // Setlist: 01. Unrockbar / 02. Wie es geht / 03. Die Besten / 04. Scheitern / 05. 2000 Mädchen / 06. Ignorama / 07. Punkbabies / 08. Lasse Reden / 09. Perfekt / 10. Fiasko / 11. Angeber / 12. ½ Lovesong / 13. Sohn der Leere / 14. Antizombie / 15. Der Graf / 16. Himmelblau / 17. Manchmal / 18. Hurra / 19. Heulerei / 20. Schundersong / 21. Abschied / 22. Abschied / 23. Schrei / 24. Westerland / 25. Zu spät / 26. Rebell / 27. Junge / 28. Dauerwelle / 29. Revolution / 30. Ist das Alles

aerzte9


The first day of ROCK IM PARK 2019 definitely could have been worse. The weather was excellent for the majority of the day, and the forecast heavy rain fortunately turned out to be a lighter one, which was nothing a poncho could not handle. What was bad though was the sanitary situation. It turned out that a large part of the toilets was not working due to flaws in the technical installation, which resulted in long queues in front of the few functioning ones. This had the operators working all through the night to fix the problem, but cost many festival visitors a lot of time, during which they had to queue.

All pictures by Elena Arens from Rock am Ring

Comments powered by CComment