Zeppelinfeld, Nürnberg, Germany 9th June 2024
Rock im Park Day 3 with reviews of Royal Blood, Enter Shikari, Queens Of The Stone Age, Beartooth
Day 3 of the legendary festival arrived far too early. It promised to be another sunny day with some cloudy spells and nice temperatures plus a great line-up.
Royal Blood
Last Saturday, as the afternoon sun beat down on the sprawling grounds of Rock im Park, ROYAL BLOOD took the largest stage by storm. Despite the early hour, the energy was electric as the British duo, Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher, exploded onto the scene. Unfazed by the midday heat, the crowd surged forward, a sea of bodies ready to be pummelled by ROYAL BLOOD’s signature sound. Kerr, a whirlwind of charisma, stalked the stage, his dual use bass guitar a weapon of sonic destruction. The low-end thundered with earth-shaking power, filling the festival with a wall of sound that defied the limitations of a two-piece band. Thatcher, a powerhouse behind the kit, was a blur of motion. His thunderous drumming perfectly complemented Kerr’s bass lines, creating a tight, dynamic soundscape that pulsed with raw energy. Even more impressive was how he parted the sea of fans for a wall of death without any change in mimics simply by gesturing. Tracks like the opener ‘Out of the Black’, or ‘Little Monster’ had the crowd in a frenzy, a heaving mass of mosh pits and fist-pumping anthems. The sunshine seemed to amplify the raw power of ROYAL BLOOD’s performance. Each riff crackled with electricity, each drumbeat shook the ground. It was a masterclass in how to create a massive sound with minimal instrumentation, a testament to the duo's incredible musicianship and stage presence. By the end of their set, ROYAL BLOOD had left the crowd breathless and exhilarated. They proved once again why they are one of the most exciting live bands with the fewest band members around. Even under the midday sun, they managed to cast a shadow with the sheer force of their performance, an unforgettable moment in this year’s Rock im Park. www.royalbloodband.com
Enter Shikari
The band from St. Albans, UK have always liked to cross and push genre boundaries, and they have developed their very own original style over the years. Post-Hardcore is the basis - in addition there are excursions into Electro sounds, Dubstep and Drum’n’Bass rhythms. The eclectic mix was next up after ROYAL BLOOD on the main Utopia stage. And lots of fans squeezed into the front of stage areas to see their idols. ENTER SHIKARI started their gig with a spoken word performance of a poem by singer Rou, which some of the fans recited with him. This was then followed by ‘…Meltdown’, which gave everyone the chance to release the pent-up energy and engage in some form of moshing and circle-pitting. From a sound perspective it felt like Rory Clewlows guitar was getting swamped by the base, vocals and synth sounds of his band mates. Only later into the set, this was corrected with the sound being more balanced afterwards. However, I don’t know if it was due to the spoken word intro, or the gimmicky assets on stage like huge LED light cubes, or the aforementioned sound issues: the energy level, which usually accompanies an ENTER SHIKARI gig was slightly subdued this time, and it felt more like a theatrical performance than a rowdy, sweaty gig. This is not to say that it was bad or anything. The fans obviously loved it, but I don’t know if ENTER SHIKARI made a lot of new ones. www.entershikari.com
Queens Of The Stone Age
The Californian band QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, or QOTSA - as they are being referred to by their fans - made their way over the Atlantic for a few summer festival appearances and several thousand enthusiasts made their way to the Utopia stage to see their idols. Or maybe it was to secure a good spot for the upcoming headliner DIE ÄRZTE, I don’t know. What I do know is that what followed during the next 80 minutes was one of the most cringe-worthy, uninspiring performances I saw over the last years. I know this sounds harsh, and I am being totally subjective here. The gig began rather innocuous with a classical music piece from ‘Conan the Barbarian’ soundtrack, to which the band walked on stage. And to the surprise of everyone, QOTSA kicked off their set with one of their bigger hits ‘Little Sister’, which got the crowd fired up. Then a bunch of rather less known songs followed, which led a visible amount of people to yield to the urge to check their phones instead of watching the performance. This started to derail, when Josh Homme started to pay leery compliments to female fans in the crowd, and during ‘My God is the sun’ he jumped onto the barrier between stage and audience and started to engage in a seemingly endless “I sing something - you have to sing it back” exercise. Then, when not enough people responded, Josh shouted “Louder - you sons of bitches”, before he smashed his glass of red wine - which a roadie just handed to him - into the stage barrier. He then swung the microphone around seemingly uncontrolled and yelled “Are you scared you fucking pussy” to someone in the front line, ducking away from his swings. He then threw his mic into the crowd, and instructed them not to give it back, but to pass it around all the way to the back. The rampage continued beyond the originally scheduled play time, as he insulted his bass player, who put down his bass guitar to end the set, and he threw wild threats to the sound system operators in case they would cut him off. This all seemed so random and unnecessary, that it left a cringe aftertaste. So in the end it did not matter if this was scripted or not. I would much rather chose a truly entertaining performance over one from an ageing Rock’n’Roll wannabe edge lord. http://qotsa.com/
Beartooth
BEARTOOTH from Columbus, Ohio have only been around since 2012, and they have released their debut album ‘Disgusting’ in 2014, which was followed by the immensely successful second long player ‘Aggressive’, which put them onto the map of Metalcore lovers throughout the world. Their latest album ‘The Surface’ has been released in 2023, and has only cemented their status among fans. This was also visible in the number of fans squeezing into good viewing positions on the Mandora Stage, despite the fact that the self-declared best band of the world DIE ÄRZTE was playing their headliner show in parallel. Those who came to the party had no reason to be disappointed, as BEARTOOTH came out firing on all cylinders with the opener ‘Sunshine!’. Besides the omnipresent dust of ground stone, BEARTOOTH also added yellow confetti to the air to kick-start the party mood. And it went on without room to breathe: The crowd immediately responded by firing up the mosh pit, and BEARTOOTH were more than up to the task to keep things going. The energy levels they unleashed in the crowd in front of the Mandora Stage certainly did not fail to impress. The people kept things crazy - but in a solid, responsible way. Crowd surfers were carried towards the stage, and security did its best to pluck all of them from the hands back to the ground. Circle Pits were opened and people went wild, but at least no one’s nose got bit off from what I saw. This positive aura was also underscored by Caleb’s messages between the songs: He introduced every band member in a unique way and urged everyone to continue to show love and support to everyone exhibiting signs of mental health struggles. The stage production was augmented with lasers, huge pyrotechnics throwing flames for dozens of meters, and further confetti cannon shots. Last but not least the music live performance and song selection were epic. Time flew by as the band drew a best of-selection from their albums The end of the main set came a little early after only a good hour of playtime, but with the last song ‘Overdose’ the crowd got a farewell in the form of beautiful fireworks, and afterwards hundreds of sweaty kids spilled into the warm summer night of the festival grounds with the blessed feeling of having witnessed an up close and personal show with their idols. www.beartoothband.com
Summary of Day 3
Sunday was a memorable farewell day in the park. The weather once again was simply perfect, as it was not too warm, but still a decent amount of sunshine. The festival operators also did quite a good job of guiding the stream of the 80,000 visitors. Thus, the stage closures that Rock im Park is so notorious for, were at a minimum. And finally: The anticipated 30th year anniversary next year from June 6th to 8th has been announced. There will be a fourth stage, over 100+ bands, and no one less than SLIPKNOT have been announced as the first headliner. So get your tickets while you still can, as this for sure is going to be legendary!
All Pictures by Christian Beyermann
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