Legends come to life
It’s been a couple of hours since I woke up from a dreamless sleep following my return from Sibiu’s Artmania festival, after the top night of concerts … and yesternight’s songs are still ringing in my head. I think I deserved the break given my success in the last exam, while now I’m awaiting to present my final paper marking the end of my first row of university studies.
The trip was pretty bad given the new rise in train ticket prices and the choice of transportation was limited to the much coveted buses of the Dacos and Transmixt Sibiu companies but it had to do. Beauty is followed by suffering (so it is said) so I’m guessing the trouble was worth it and as an excuse I must say that it was a rather quick notice trip, not thoroughly planned ahead.
Still, after some damn expensive dinner upon arrival, we dove in (by we meaning Elyme and I) the crowd, trying to reach a good vantage point that would allow us both a plain sight of the scene. We didn’t manage that save for the very end but still …
Marco Hietala’s Tarot band took first to the stage (during which we were still eating) but one could say for sure that the little crowd gathered by that time didn’t really warm up to them. We noticed that later on when The Gathering came on, who had to take it upon themselves to warm up the .. well … still gathering crowd. Amazingly they did a very good job at this and Anneke (the vocalist) seems to be extremely energetic, something that really helped the atmosphere given out by their songs. Still no head-banging at that point but towards the end of their show the crowd really started to gain momentum and activity and they gave them a well-deserved ovational good-bye, for a good show … though one would have a though time trying to make up the logic of the program … or to place The Gathering in a clear genre.
The most awaited band of the night, the Englishmen from My Dying Bride were up next (again a strange development from the twisted mind of the organizers) with their moody songs and simply amazing vocals. The shouting and cheers seemed never to end while the large number of people that came there solely for them tried to move up close to get the probably first live view of one of the greatest bands in the history of metal music. Aaron and Co did little to disappoint and soon the air was filled with his ever flexible voice giving life to some of their well-known hits but also newer songs. The general ecstasy was of course spiced up with the usual problems of general participation concerts, people stepping on your feet trying to move, people pushing to move forward and coming to a halt right in you (and then proceed to a general display of old-fashioned head-banging) … but what would open-air concerts be without this?
The sound during MDB’s concert were marred at some point by an overload along the drums’ sound system which resulted in heavy noise in the speakers. It took the engineers a couple of songs to address that but it was something that most people were aware of … and wasn’t very nice.
The downside of Aaron & Co was that the last three-four songs were not only in same register of his voice but also in the same general melodic line, which promptly created a rather dull and boring atmosphere lighted up only by some heavy drum solos. That was rather unfortunate. Another downside was the short good-bye without even announcing the last song, they just stopped said good night and proceeded to dismantle the drum set which instantly cut the fans’ hopes for an encore which would have been really nice.
This was all followed up by another change of the crowd’s lineup as MDB fans took either leave or a back-seat and gothic fans of the dutch band Within Temptation move forth. It was quite a gamble for the organizers since all these switches and changing in genre and stage setup might have worn down a lot of people.
Sharon, Robert & Co took some time to appear on stage, but that was due to scene decorations (brought in to mark the promotion of their Heart of Everything album launched this year) and not to mic testing (as for The Gathering) or drums setup (My Dying Bride). They also brought a pre-installed drum set which barely needed adjustments (as opposed to the other bands which used the same set only with a different setup).
I must say that WT did a lot more on stage than all the other bands put together and the public (fans and non-fans) really took up the challenge. Sharon’s sensuous moves (opposing Aaron’s spasms earlier) while Ruud and Robert were moving across stage continuously (changing places or charging other band members, Martijn the keyboards often found himself facing Ruud) really added up to their songs and general show. The opening song was an amazing choice and while most songs were from their new album (but already well known by everybody) older hits like “Mother Earth” could not miss from the setlist. The crowd constantly sang and cheered, especially during the two song encore which followed a short break. Unfortunately the second song in the encore setlist was followed by an interruption by a member of their personal staff who announced Sharon and then Robert that there should be no third song. Both of them seemed genuinely upset about this as they both took the microphone to announce their regrets and give thanks to the public which indeed was awesome.
Great show from Within Temptation and also interesting as I found that Robert quite often managed to steal the show from Sharon with his jumping and clapping which did a lot to incite the public, much more than Sharon’s moved (yet she was still the most photographed, naturally).
The night had ended but was quickly followed by a long walk through the twisted streets of old Sibiu, away from drinking rockers for the most part. Decent food, good show, tiresome trip … but pretty good memories still.
To some people’s disappointment I decided against carrying the Pentax to the concert. Yeah … sometimes setting yourself loose with the mood can’t be done with a brick around your neck. So, dear readers … maybe you’ll get photos from Sziget and/or Sighisoar. But not now.
See you around.