Romanian Rock Meeting, Arenele Romane, 14-18.05.15

Romanian Rock Meeting started as a Blind Guardian concert plus some opening bands, became a festival with a second day (actually first) of concerts in Club Colectiv and then again changed and became an opportunity to promote the young(er) Romanian metal bands as the access was free in Club Colectiv. I really respect Maximum Rock for all their work on the metal scene in Romania, their events are always well organised, they have their annual contest for young metal bands which they later try to include in the larger concerts as opening acts and they generally have a professional attitude all around and seem to be doing things because of a real passion, instead of doing them simply for the money, so I always attend their events with positive expectations.

Day 1 was a Romanian metal evening, in a nice club with extremely clean toilets (yes, this is something you begin to appreciate when almost all concert venues have toilets that look like they went through a war) and very few people. Judging strictly by this night, it looks like our metal scene is indeed in dire need of promotion, which I don’t think is necessarily true. Of course promotion is never a bad thing (promotion, not advertisement aggression), but from where I’m standing, things don’t look as sad as they looked the other night. We have a pretty strong metal scene and good concert attendance, even when it comes to local bands. Anyway, the other night we were treated with some good music, even though I don’t think there were more than 30 people when the headliner played and even less during the other acts. Despite of that (or maybe precisely because of that), it was a very friendly atmosphere, with the bands joking with the audience and with one another, especially since half of the audience was made out of other band members that were supposed to sing that night and their friends. My favourite part was when a father was teaching his young daughter how to headbang properly during Krepuskul, it was precious!

Still vision is a very young band, made out of five very enthusiastic, lovable and talented guys. They describe themselves as „metal with thrash, alternative, progressive, deathwaltz, hardpolka, tuborg, diablo swing and televisioncore influences”, which seems like a very bold statement coming from a band that was born less than 2 years ago. I didn’t search for every single influence in there, but they are indeed very eclectic and in a good way. They didn’t seem to have any stage fright whatsoever, they looked like they have been doing this their whole lives and I loved their attitude, they were charming in a rather goofy kind of way. And they are clearly Iron Maiden fans, among all the influences and genres and subgenres, there was always a classic Steve Harris riff looming in there :) I see tons of potential.

Mindcage Escape was another interesting and rather eclectic band, that was more along the lines of a progressive Judas Priest, but with tons of influences from other genres. It was a night of free spirited and experimental musicians, clearly unconfined by boundaries of genres and other types of boxes. In fact, the only reason I’m trying hard to come up with some sort of genre classification (and I am indeed trying hard) is because these are new bands that need some description. The lead singer was a bit off ryhthm during the first songs, but he’s clearly a talented fellow (I loved his voice) and overall the whole sound was very interesting, they definitely got me hooked.

Tragic replaced Tiarra at the last moment since Tiarra’s lead singer got sick. At first I was happy, because I had seen Tiarra before and if I found them boring even during my gothic days, I could only imagine how I’d feel now that I’m into more lively music. But then, tragedy came in the form of a band that even has its own genre of metal (yes, their Facebook page states they play „tragic metal”. Riiiight....). People were moshing and headbanging and generally being excited, so I’m guessing they were.... good? I don’t know, it’s a kind of music that I don’t understand for the life of me, I almost fell asleep on a chair. Also, they take themselves way too seriously. This is something that always puts me off, but when they manifested like that in the middle of three otherwise very friendly and laid-back shows, it was even more annoying.

And then Krepuskul came to lighten up the atmosphere. With a very joyful lead singer, constantly joking and trying to liven things and with their contagious heavy music, they gave a really cool performance. I had the distinct and unique pleasure of being invited by my husband to a romantic dance on death metal music. Hey, if Andu instructed us to do so... gotta listen to the lead singer. Always listen to the lead singer :) As you can tell, everything was in good fun and despite of the fact that the music is pretty aggressive, the atmosphere was so warm and relaxed. We left energised and ready for the next day with Blind Guardian.

In a fantastic struck of bad luck, the next day turned into the next week. Day 2 wasn’t looking very bright when Orden Ogan cancelled a day before the show because one of their members was ill and where replaced with Open Mind, but it eventually looked even darker when Blind Guardian cancelled as well because they were stuck at the Turkish border and couldn’t arrive in time. Thankfully, the stars (re)aligned and they were able to reschedule the concert on Monday, the 18th.

So on Day 5 we gathered with tons of enthusiasm to meet with the bards and with a „surprise” band. The opening band turned out to be Open Mind, which was not that much of a surprise since I kinda expected to see them and they were supposed to play on Friday anyway, but I guess the „surprise” was that they were available on Monday as well. Their first song sounded very well and I was even wondering why did I find them so boring during Maximum Rock last year, but as the setlist rolled on, I realised it’s actually just one good song repeated over and over again. They tried hard again, they seemed very dedicated, but I was just as uninterested as the other time.

And then Blind Guardian took over. I hadn’t been so excited about a concert since forever (and I’m normally very excited about my concerts), and surprisingly, even though the expectations were very high and I had already seen them before and knew what they’re capable of, I was still blown away. It was an amazing night! First of all, their music is great. I love this band, I love every album they made and I’m completely fascinated with them; they have everything - power, complexity, emotion, creativity, you name it. Second, their beautiful music translates perfectly live. It’s very common for power metal bands to have memorable songs you can sing along to and that generate epic choirs from the crowd, but Blind Guardian take it to the next level. I don’t think there’s any fan of the genre who doesn’t know this performance and moments like that are the main reason I love going to live shows. Last night was just like that, with less people, but not any less excitement, with headbanging, jumping, smiling and yes, singing and screaming our lungs out.

It was very cute that they told us that they are making a DVD with the performances from this tour and that we might actually see ourselves there. I think most of us realised that we can’t compete with the larger crowds in the other countries, but still, we showed them all the love we were capable of. We even sung the chorus of Valhalla for minutes in a row after the song was over! I was almost out of breath and I felt like I needed someone to hold my arms up to keep clapping, but I was still yelling the lyrics. It was beautiful! Some fans even crowdsurfed, which was kinda funny because there were very few people who wanted to be a part of it and the crowdsurfing was actually some guys walking with another person on their arms, instead of passing that person to the back of the crowd. The two photographers I was sitting next to were very amused that they were trying to get closer to the event, as I was trying to squeeze through them to get further and avoid receiving a boot in my head, while my husband and some other guys were trying hard not to drop some dude on his head. That’s another thing I love during these shows, the way the crowd members interact with smiles and nods to one another, and even protecting one another if there’s need for that, even though they’ve never met.

The setlist was amazing, especially since it included their less played Bright eyes and Skalds and Shadows. The balance between the new and old songs was great, as every album except Battalions of Fear was represented with at least one song and I think they did a good job at picking both popular and „forgotten” tracks, especially since they have so many good ones that it’s hard to choose. Hansi was definitely in shape, hitting a lot of high notes and generally sounding very good and making it look effortless and the rest of the band kept up with him, especially Andre and Marcus, who were a joy to watch.

I saved the best for last, which is their admirable attitude on stage. I was saying the other time that I love how down to earth and simple the band members are and I was again impressed by their modest and genuinely friendly attitude. They treated their delay so elegantly, asking us where were we on Friday night, as they waited and waited and we didn’t show up, and then immediately apologising and telling us how glad they are they finally made it. They were absolutely lovable with their huge smiles, their enthusiasm for the music and their love for the fans! Hansi tried a few words in Romanian and it was so adorable how he kept addressing us with „Bucurestiiii” and narrating what the next song was going to be about. All bands try to make the fans believe they are special and that it's the best night of their life, but few actually succeed. Blind Guardian do and this makes you go the extra mile, sing louder, cheer harder, jump higher, all to see their faces light up with joy and know that they will remember the night they played in your town. My husband had a sore throat and swore he wouldn’t scream, I had a sore neck and swore I wouldn’t headbang and of course all our self-preserving decisions went down the drain the second the band got up on stage. We left the venue hoarse, tired, soaking wet, but extremely extremely happy. It had been a memorable night.