The first day of the Rockharz Festival in Ballenstedt, Germany, was a warmup event with only one stage instead of two.

I grabbed a beer and went to the infield to join the crowd for the first band of the festival: Kryptos. The heavy metal band from India impressed from the very first minute. The crowd had fun and the sound was nice. The old-school riffs, catchy vocals and groovy songs were a fine beginning of the festival while the sun shined. After a few snacks and beers I went back to the stage and listened to Orden Ogan. I was surprised how many people stood and headbanged in front of the stage, great! I am not a big fan of power metal, but the guys rocked the area and impressed at least me. They played their well-known songs like “The Things We Believe In” and “F.E.V.E.R” and did a great show with a well mixed sound.

The last musician of the day was Dirkschneider. He is known as the temporary frontman of Accept and mastermind of U.D.O. The festival ground was full of people of different ages and music tastes. So I think it was a good concert for all the people in front of the stage to listen to the Accept covers. He started with “Starlight” and played among other cool songs the most known tracks like “Midnight Mover”, “Princess of the Dawn” and “Breaker”. The last track “Burning” ended with a loud applause and beaming faces. So, the warm-up event was a good start of the festival and made me curious for the coming days.