Prepare for round 2! Rock Im Revier, Germany’s famous little brother of Rock Am Ring, is once again gathering more than 10,000 rock and metal fans. After they moved to Dortmund, it seems that the organizers finally found the perfect location for their giant event, with headliners as Iron Maiden, Slayer and Nightwish. Being an indoor festival, metalheads no longer have to worry about the infamous German weather conditions during springtime, and the huge Westfalenhalle in Dortmund was packed from the first minute on.
On Thursday, May 26, the line-up was clearly set up to please the moderate fans and alternative rockers, and therefore, Rock Im Revier was opened by South Africa’s Prime Circle, proving that Seether are not the only great musicians from that continent, where rock music is a rather rare phenomenon. With his rough but charming voice, Ross Learmonth guided the fans through a set of soft rock with some harsh, but mostly melodic and rhythmic elements and strong power ballads, that even brought some dancers on to the huge middle floor of the stadium. With only 45 minutes of play time, their show was short, but apparently the rather small audience was warmed up for some German – or rather Romanian – power metal!
Attila Dorn and his pack were back to celebrate the forces of the “Army Of The Night”, and with their amazing make-up, light show and wind machines, Powerwolf were able to mix darkness with brilliant earworms of songs. From the first second on, they instigated godlike choirs from the audience, who seemed to know every song by heart and were immediately “Blessed And Possessed” by the wolves. With his adorable Romanian accent, Attila knew how to charm the girls and ghouls of Dortmund. and they squeezed so much energy into their one hour set that not a single person would go home without humming the chorus of “Amen & Attack”, that’s for sure.
After that mighty metal inferno, it was time to dive right back into the 90s, where Shirley Manson proved that Garbage will never get old and are back for good. Their brand new album ‘Strange Little Birds’ is scheduled to be released in June, but the legendary indie rockers already threw their first bits and pieces of new material into the crowd. Of course, most fans were still rocking the front row to hear the old classics like “Stupid Girl”, “Vow” or “Push It”, and it seemed as if Shirley Manson – although her hair colour changed a bit into a lovely pink – is just not getting any older and still rocked the stage like no other frontwoman in the indie scene. It’s unbelievable that this lady will cross the magic line of her 50th birthday this August, because let’s be honest here: if all vocalists had the balls that Shirley has, there wouldn’t be so much boredom and paleness in the rock scene over the last ten years. You just have to adore her – and therefore, it’s sad that Garbage didn’t get the headline slot.
Mando Diao might be the more famous band, but clearly not the headliner of the festival, when it comes to originality. With their typical rock riffs and melodies, the Swedes caused cheering fans and jumping crowds even though the arena was visibly not completely sold out. But in the end, their sound seemed so clean, perfect and nice, that you start to wonder what happened to the crushing rock songs that once had deep messages and . But, oh well – the crowd was visibly happy and with those four bands, Rock Im Revier had a blast on its first day. More to come, my little rockers!
