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Venom – 22.05.2015 – Rock Hard, Germany
Event Notes
Rock Hard Festival is a heavy metal festival sponsored by the Rock Hard magazine. It is held annually in Gelsenkirchen, Germany since 2003. Its eleventh edition took place on 22-24 May 2015 and Venom did headline the first day. The festival was initially planned for the 20th anniversary of the magazine in 2003 as a one-time event. But the fans voted it as the best metal open-air in Germany and so they continued. The festival is still held at the amphitheater next to a canal and a park. The amphitheater has a maximum capacity of 7,000 people.
Poster
My Review
They could have been a metal band. They could have been a punk band. They could have been a speed metal ensemble. They could have been a thrash band. They could have been a rock and roll band. They could have dropped any one of these bombs, but instead they drop them all. Because they have it all. They are VENOM.
Front man CRONOS was nothing short of an absolute master this special evening. Being a lead singer, bassplayer and bandleader is something that requires a certain charisma, stage presence, vision and image. It takes a certain type of person to hold this role and CRONOS is the epitome of the front man in a metal band. The key words for him is charisma, presence and energy. He’s GOT it ALL. That thing that grabs the audience and makes them explode with energy, scream for a triple encore and be completely enthralled by every second of the music performance. The audience loves CRONOS and the live performance on 22 MAY 2015 was nothing short of brilliant. But VENOM 2015 ain't no one-man-band, it's three amazing individual characters that together has built up a solid stable line-up the last few years. DANTE is incredible. We’re talking slam, strength, groove, power and the ultimate backbeat. He puts 100% into every beat and with both rock and metal influences he kind of drive the songs along, creating a foundation for CRONOS and on guitar, RAGE, that is full of that early Punk meets Metal sound that has defined VENOM's career. To listen to him play, it's clear that he knows how to craft his music to what is needed from song to song. RAGE is brilliant tonight.
There were hands flailing in the air, people screaming and jumping every which way. The band and audience feed off each other and create an impressive symbiosis of musical energy and the audience LOVE every second of it. Huge moshpits, people crowdsurfing, happy faces, pyros, flames, exciting setlist. In fact, everything is top notch and certainly a big candidate for the gig of the year when we sums the year in seven months. Hell yeah!
Setlist
Rise
Hammerhead
Bloodlust / Black Flame Of Satan / Bloodlust
Die Hard
Long Haired Punks
Buried Alive
The Evil One
Welcome To Hell
Antechrist
Countess Bathory
Flight Of The Hydra
Death Of Rock`N`Roll
Grinding Teeth
Pedal To The Metal
Warhead
Black Metal
In Leauge With Satan
Fallen Angels
Witching Hour
Videos
Pictures
Click the thumbnails below to view a larger image of each picture
