It's always feels so nice when you do that last turn into the small and bumpy road up to the Headbangers Open Air Festival and it sure wasn't an exception this year. The sun was shining and the lineup was super as always. Ok, rumors said that KILLING MACHINE had cancelled and was being replaced by TALES OF HORROR. The first was unfortunately true but then I don't know what happened because it was a really strange break in the billing where KILLING MACHINE should have played and no replacement was to be seen at all.

I know I should trust this Festival with booking good bands but with all these new True Metal bands around I tend to be skeptic when a band looks like they're from the 80's nowadays. Damn was I wrong, STEEL HORSE perhaps qualify for all the clichés but it didn't feel as studied as many bands. They put on a kick ass show and the energy was contagious, really good. Sure, nothing new about it but I don't see any harm in that since I love the music and as long as you do it because you love it too, I don't mind. STEEL HORSE did a great job as the first band of the Festival, they were a lot of fun to watch and the music kicked ass. It really feels great to be proven wrong and again I feel a little stupid for dismiss a band before giving them a fair chance. STEEL HORSE deserve that because high quality 80's Heavy Metal should fit in most people's taste.

"Songs Of Fire"
"Run To Survive"
"Burning Soul"
"Night Terrors"
"Line Of Fire"
"Winds Of Time"
"Phantom Of The Opera
"Raise Your Fist"
"Wild Power"

You can always count on GRAND MAGUS to do a great performance though I think they lost a little attitude after the release of "Hammer Of The North", that extreme drive they used to have has been a little lost. But that sure is a statement I need to take back after their performance on this Festival. This was absolutely the old GRAND MAGUS again, the intensity and drive was back again, just as it should be and even if this was at least the third time I saw them this summer I was still as excited and with all rights, this was their best gig of the three. It could be that it took a while for the new songs to settle because at this one "At Midnight They'll Get Wise", "I, They Jury" and "Hammer Of The North" felt like a natural part of the set rather than the new songs. And I really like GRAND MAGUS better on stage like this one, still decent but a little smaller than the major Festival stages, it takes a lot from a trio to fill one and I don't think GRAND MAGUS does that. But here I didn't even think about that. The troika before the encores was the absolute highlight, "The Shadow Knows" is my favorite from "Iron Will" and "Ravens Guide Our Way" one of the best from the "Hammer"-release and the song "Iron Will" is an absolutely great live track. It couldn't have been better really.

"Kingslayer"
"Like The Oar Strikes The Water"
"Silver Into Steel"
"At Midnight They'll Get Wise"
"I, The Jury"
"Hammer Of The North"
"Wolf's Return"
"Ulvaskall"
"The Shadow Knows"
"Ravens Guide Our Way"
"Iron Will"
—-
"Nine"
"Lodbrok"

Then SHOK PARIS took the Festival by storm. You never know with these reunited bands if they will be a bunch of tired old farts or if they kick ass. I don't mind bands reforming if they do it for the right reasons, if they find the drive and dedication again then it's ok. SHOK PARIS was glowing of pure energy. Vic Hix has an amazing voice but what was most fascinating with him was his stage presence and explosive way of moving around. Absolutely amazing! They also have a whole bunch of good songs to top their performance off with, it's great to see that music created 20-25 years ago still holds today. SHOK PARIS's melodic US Metal sure fits in my taste and I love the albums and yes, they were one of the bands I was looking forward the most to see on this Festival but I never expected this. Apart from a serious doze of their entire back catalogue they paid tribute to the HOA-people as well and ended the show with WRETCH's "Make This Garden Burn". SHOK PARIS really blew me away and I think most of the people on the Festival will agree with me here. One performance that would be very hard to top I'd say.

"Marsielles De Sade"
"Battle Cry"
"Burn It Down"
"On Your Feet"
"Concrete Killers"
"On A Wing And A Prayer"
"Tokyo Rose"
"Take You Away"
"Decharge Electrique"
"Steel And Starlight"
"Never Say Why"
"Hot On Your Heels"
"American Dream"
"Find A Way Out"
"Rocked Outta Love"
"Go For The Throat"
"Go Down Fighting"
"Run But Don't Hide"
"Make This Garden Burn"

After SHOK PARIS DESTRUCTION got it hard, Shmeir and co are always good. You know what you get when going to watch DESTRUCTION. But that was their disadvantage this night. I've seen this before and knew exactly what to expect and after a performance like their predecessors that just isn't enough. But of course, it was a good show like always. "Curse The Goods", "Life Without Sense" and "Nailed To The Cross", it takes much before songs like that goes out of date or gets boring. And I really like the stage set DESTRUCTION brings, it's really easy with those side drops and flamed skulls on the mike-stands. That enhances the show and gives the crowd more to look at because it takes a lot of a band to fill a stage as trio. DESTRUCTION has done that forever but these props sure sets the mood right. But still that wasn't really enough this night.

"Intro"
"Curse The Gods"
"The Butcher Strikes Back"
"Antichrist - Death Trap"
"Eternal Ban"
"Life Without Sense"
"Invincible Force"
"The Damned" / "Cracked Brain" / "Reject Emotions"
"Tormentor"
"Unconscious Ruins"
"Thrash till death"
"Nailed To The Cross"
"Bestial Invasion "
—
"Total Desaster"
"Mad Butcher"
"Outro" (Omen theme)