Venom – 25.07.2015 – Rock Fest, Spain
Event Notes
The second edition of Rock Fest Barcelona took place 23-25 July 2015 in Santa Coloma de Gramnet.
More than 50.000 people enjojed the 2015 festival. With this, Rock Fest did more than double it´s
attendance numbers from the first year.
Poster
My Review
When the heavy metal community thinks of, and analyzes, the world's best festivals, the four that often come to mind are England's Download Festival, Germany's Wacken Open Air, France´s Hellfest and the Sweden Rock Festival. But another festival that embarked on only its second annual extravaganza is stating it’s case to be among the best. Rock Fest in Barcelona. In a nation famous for spanish league soccer, the running of the bulls and its beaches, Rock Fest Barcelona may be providing the best reason yet to visit Spain. It´s line-up for 2015 sure was impressive.
The 25th of July was the third and last day of the event. Accept had performed an amazing gig in the evening and Judas Priest with frontman and Metal God singer Rob Halford showed off his “still got it” vocal and killed it like pros. They set the bar high, but then Venom clear it with ease. They open their set in front of 10.000 disciples determined to maintain a high with Rise. It´s a confident band that kicks off the concert with one of their new defining anthems. But then, Venom have every right to feel assured, having just a few months ago released the monster album From The Very Dephts. Die Hard and Bloodlust, both from Venom hall of fame follows and are early climax. Not that Venom rest on their laurels and play a predictable Greatest Hits set – Long Haired Punks and Grinding Teeth from the new album have a similar thrust and attack to their oldies and those who were not familiar with the Newcastle band’s new material are shouting along by the second chorus. The slowburning, cinematic sizzle of Buried Alive is sheer brilliance and sees Rage chokes out some huge slow riffs and makes that downright scary track sounds amazing and the crowd loves every minute of it.
Cronos oozes charisma and commands the pit with devil-like power. He casts an eye over the crowd then unleashes the hounds of hell, with the demonic rumble of his trademark bulldozer bass threatening to eviscerate the front rows. He prowls the stage like the master he is of past, present and future black metal. The rarely played speedtrain Flight Of The Hydra is segued into Resurrection before it bleeds into the much loved Welcome To Hell. The old 1000 Days In Sodom is a nice surprise and the always triumphant Countess Bathory echo forth.
The main set is rounded off with Cronos winding down the fast and cranking up the heavy for Warhead on which Dante drums his heart out. Of course, Venom come back and send everyone into a frenzy with encore Black Metal, that is pure metal paradise and as set closer Witching Hour hits, the mosh erupts and you realise you´re standing at the crossroads of something truly great. This is sure a night destined to be treasured by all presents for some time. Immortality assured, once more.
Setlist
Rise
Die Hard
Bloodlust
Long Haired Punks
Grinding Teeth
Buried Alive
Flight Of The Hydra
Resurrection
Welcome To Hell
1000 Days In Sodom
Countess Bathory
Warhead
Black Metal
Witching Hour
Videos
Pictures
Click the thumbnails below to view a larger image of each picture