Artmania has been synonym with Sibiu's Large Square for almost a decade, until last year a municipal law forbidding payed concerts in public areas forced them to find a last minute solution and host the shows in a shed at the edge of the city. This year, seeing how the last edition was considered the worst in the festival's history and in order to mark the anniversary of 10 years, they decided to make a free entry festival, that would allow them to go back to the Large Square. Was it an excellent decision? Considering that free entry shows usually mean a shitty audience, I'd say maybe not. However, since they were put in a no-win position by the Town Hall's stupid decision (seriously, do you think the citizens of Sibiu will feel an insurmountable loss if they are not able to access half of the Large Square for a few hours once in a while?), I guess this was the best thing they could do and I appreciate them for putting the festival's heritage and image before the financial gains. I really hope that they'll find a solution for next year as well, as they can't possibly make it free entry every year.
Day 1
Day 1 started in force with the friendly Greeks from Enemy of Reality. A young band, with an excellent soprano, attempting to make its way through the over-populated genre of female fronted symphonic metal, Enemy of reality were very well received by the audience, especially because of the very likable and friendly Iliana. Some guitar solos here and there, some promising keyboards that were unfortunately barely audible for most of the show and of course, some powerful high notes. Nothing too special, just good humour, enthusiasm and music typical for the genre.
After the expansive Greeks, it was time for the melancholic gloomy Danes to take over the stage. The most awaited band of the festival (for me and my husband at least) was Saturnus and it was also the show we enjoyed the most. We stayed in the front row, where we could watch every smile and frown and it was incredible. The amount of emotion they put into their music and what an overwhelming experience it was cannot be described properly through words. It's a music that simply fills my heart, so beautiful it makes me cry and hearing it performed live was even more inspiring and moving, especially in such a beautiful and fitting location. There were even a few drops of rain, as dramatic music in The Large Square goes well with rain, apparently, but nothing to scare us away. The guys in the band are so simple and humble and you can tell they live every note they play, without flashiness and "put your hands up". With a couple of exceptions, there wasn't much of a show in the classical sense of the word, just 6 guys pouring their hearts out. It was a very different experience from all the other shows I've been to, where the bands usually try to play their more aggressive or bouncy songs and get the audience jumping and screaming. There were screams and applauses here as well and the band was received very warmly (I dare say it was the best received band except for Apocalyptica), but mostly between songs, while during the songs it was more dreaming and feeling and living. I was very moved. We asked for an encore, but unfortunately Artmania is very strict with the schedule and never allows encores for the opening bands, so we had to settle for only an hour, but we had a chance to see them visiting Sibiu the next day (we didn't ask for autographs, though, we don't like bothering band members in their free time).
At the opposite pole were Anathema, which left me colder than an icicle in Antarctica, and the contrast was even greater after I had just witness the beauty of Saturnus. Cold, repetitive, soulless music, with a chick bouncing around in a way that made me wonder how on earth can you call yourself a singer if you can't even dance to the rhythm (I have seen two year old kids dance more in tune with the music than her). The setlist only had songs from their latest albums and personally I completely hate the direction they have taken and so I hated the concert as well. I didn't even have the patience to stay until it ended and I rarely leave a show unless something seriously wrong happens. I missed Fragile Dreams, which was the only half decent song in the setlist, but by that time it was too late to save the thing anyway. And what makes it even more frustrating is that they had some amazing songs when they started out and you know they have the potential to create something beautiful and instead they do... this.
Day 2
Seeing Numph live was a bittersweet experience. Another very very young band, but one that's extremely promising. I hadn't heard about them until they were announced to play at Artmania, but I checked them out and immediately fell in love with them. Seriously, what's not to love about a mix between Opeth and Tool? They need to work on their originality, but they're still finding their identity and Opeth and Tool are really not a bad place to draw your inspiration from. Their performance was also lovely, they played very well, despite of the numerous sound problems and they were so sooo timid and nervous it was actually adorable. So far so good, right? Sadly, the bitterness came from the audience, who gave one of the shittiest reception of a good band I ever witnessed. People were actually sitting on the ground in the front rows playing "rock paper scissors" and not giving a shit about the band playing and putting soul and effort into their performance. It was very very disrespectful and it annoyed the hell out of me. It's true they didn't communicate with the audience either, but seeing how the lead singer wouldn't even make eye contact, I'm guessing they were extremely nervous and that's exactly why they needed more encouragement and more respect, especially as the music and interpretation were very good. I think they would have fitted way better in the first night, where people were more into complex atmospheric music, they would've been properly appreciated there. I hope they weren't too disappointed.
Clan of Xymox was the second moment of boredom, fitting straight in line with Anathema's cold, repetitive and soulless music. I can almost excuse Clan of Xymox for being so boring since that's how the whole genre sounds and apparently they can't do any better (as opposed to Anathema). I don't have much to say other than the fact that by the middle of the show I was starting to wonder how is it possible to create a whole discography based on the same riff and time signature and still get so many fans and a 25 years old career.
Another question I have is how can you nail the sound throughout two days of festival and then completely kill it precisely when the most anticipated band goes up on stage. Yes, Apocalyptica had such a crappy sound I mostly guessed the songs rather than actually hear them. Even with this handicap, it was still a pretty kickass performance. The guys are extremely talented instrumentalists and they clearly know how to put up a show and play up their strong suits. The setlist was pretty balanced, with the mandatory songs from the last album, but also with enough thrashy instrumentals to get the blood boiling and the headbanging going. Frankie seems like a nice talented guy and I'm sorry to say this, but every time he got up on stage, I'd roll my eyes and every time he'd go away, I'd get all excited knowing something good was coming up. Yeah, I'm oldschool. And for the love of God, someone advise him to stick to singing instead of talking to the audience. "Raise your hand if you've ever been heartbroken"? "There are shadows everywhere and everyone has a shadow maker in their life"? Oh just pick the "we are Numph, we are from Italy and we are happy to be here" method if you're that uninspired! So yeah, old Apocalyptica was amazing, despite of the sound. New Apocalyptica was pretty boring, despite of the sound - apparently distorted cellos are a challenge for sound engineers, as the voice and the drums sounded just fine. And since new Apocalyptica doesn't really have that many cello parts anymore, it sounded just as well as all the other bands. Props to them for managing to make an unpaying audience clap and headbang all the way to the back rows, though (after the experience with Numph, we preferred to stay in the back and apparently there were more metalheads and civilised people in the back than in the front). It was a good show.
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