Summer is here and across Europe festivals begin to give metalheads a rough choice for which ones to visit. Usually they end up visiting more than one, and why not, a festival is, after all, a big gathering where we can forget about routine and party-party-party. YES, for your well being you have to visit as many festivals as possible!

On Saturday the 27th of June, 'Gods Of Metal' opened its doors in Monza (Milano) at Stadio Brianteo. Since the crack of dawn, fans from all around Italy -mostly- gathered outside waiting for the doors to open. The first day of the festival, with a tempting line up, was about to start. There were two stages organized, one near the other, resulting to a quick setup of the stages for the next act plus the people had the chance of enjoying more bands in a day. Hence, that day we had the chance of seeing 13 bands, with HEAVEN AND HELL and MOTLEY CRUE as headliners.

The kick off was given by the Italian band called THE ROCKER. Well, these guys played just for fifteen minutes and what I could assume from those 15 minutes was that they are some kind of Hard Rock band. EXTREMA took over the nearby stage for 20 minutes full of energy which they passed to the crowd and played a blend of Thrash and Hardcore tunes. I thought they were ok. It is always like this; festivals are bringing people to a party mood and as if by magic all the tunes sound kick-ass. I haven't heard of EXTREMA before, maybe if I had listened to a studio album, my opinion would be completely different, but for the moment, I can say that they had what a band needs to be on stage.

Around 11:30 LAUREN HARRIS hit the stage after a small delay. Honestly, I haven't paid attention to her work and after watching her live I am still not impressed; her stage appearance was not existent and some movements reminded me of Dickinson (of course). I ought to mention though, that the musicians surrounding her are capable of making good music and they proved it on stage. Lauren Harris played for 25 minutes and some songs from her new album, to my ears, sounded strange.

VOIVOD faced the Italian sun at 12:10 for 35 minutes. Their sound was quite good but I have to admit that they are not my cup of tea. Despite my different taste I recognized some songs like Astronomy Domine, The Unknown Knows and Global Warming. So, for the fans of VOIVOD out there, I cannot provide you with much info except that their sound arrangements were quite good and the people present did enjoy their set.

BACKYARD BABIES were not my style of music, at all. I cannot say something about this band. They stayed on stage for almost three quarters.

From the stands of the stadium I enjoyed EPICA, which stayed on stage for almost 45 minutes. This Metal folk band from The Netherlands did achieve to gain more fans that day. It seems that there are lots of folk Metal followers out there. Simone Simons did great delivering songs like Obsessive Devotion, Fools Of Damnation, Sancta Terra, Consign To Oblivion. The sound was massive and crystal clear.

At 14:45, all the way from Okinawa, Japan, Marty Friedman appeared on stage. It was time for a guitar show, and of course Friedman showed exactly what he is capable of, although I do not believe that instrumental music can be enjoyed better under different circumstances. Lots of people were asking for a MEGADETH track and somehow Martin changed the topic by introducing his bandmates, but he could not let the fans down so we had the chance of hearing Hangar 18. The tunes sounded interesting, with a twist of experimentation. Let's not forget that the band is based in Japan and and thus is constantly bombarded with extremes and unusual music trends.

Next, it was time for EDGUY. Their sound arrangements helped a lot and people enjoyed tunes from the new album Trinitus Sanctus as Ministry of Saints and Dead Or Rock. Other songs that followed were Vain Glory Opera (from the self titled album) Babylon (from their most known album Theater Of Salvation), Lavatory Love Machine, King Of Fools and Tears Of A Mandrake. Just before the end of the set, Tobias Sammet (more modest than ever) thanked the crowd and warned us not to go home, after King of Fools since MOTLEY CRUE and HEAVEN AND HELL would appear as well tonight. Hahaha, right, thanks for the info man!!! I was ready to go back to my home sweet home, NOT.

How could I? Next on the list was LITA FORD. I may not be a male to recognize all the female attributes and virtues of that lady, but ok, it was my only chance of seeing her on stage and definitely I would not miss that. Although her stage appearance was poor -ok 20 years have pasted since that gig in London- we all loved listening to tunes like Can't Catch Me, Kiss Me Deadly, Falling In And Out Of Love, Back To The Cave, Hungry and Close My Eyes For Ever. In the encore she presented a new song from her upcoming album with the vocal assistance of her husband. The sound was descent in general, but maybe I had imagined seeing Lita as I used to watch her in the video clips and this did not happen.

When QUEENSRYCHE hit the stage it was raining cats and dogs. But the band and the fans went on as they ignored the weather conditions. The sound was massive and clear. To my great surprise I did not hear a single Operation... track. Was it possible? Yeap, it was. It seemed that it was time for songs from onlyEmpire, Rage For Order and American Soldier. Just before The Best I Can the power went off because of the rain, but the problem was restored in a couple of minutes. During this break Tate had the chance of practicing his Italian. (I suppose that if it would be MANOWAR, the fans would hear the amazing sayings about the power of that band that Italy obviously cannot stand!!!). Empire was the last song on the list and after that the crew started preparing everything for HEAVEN AND HELL.

QUEENSRYCHE setlist:

01. Neue Regel
02. The Whisper
03. Screaming In Digital
04. Walk In The Shadows
05. The Killer
06. Man Down
07. Dead Man's Words
08. The Best I Can
09. The Thin Line
10. Jet City Woman
11. Empire

At 19:45 TESLA started with Forever More. With a kick ass mood and great energy on stage the following one hour flew by. Jeff Keith could not stand still for a moment and the quality of the sound -although there were some speaker problems in the beginning- was very good.

TESLA setlist:

01. Forever More
02. I Wanna Live
03. Modern Day Cowboy
04. Breaking Free
05. Hang Tough
06. Heaven's Trail
07. Getting Better
08. Love Song
09. Signs
10. Little Suzi
11. Into The Now
12. Solo
13. Cumin' Atcha Live
14. Rock Me To The Top

Around 21:00 and after an atmospheric intro HEAVEN AND HELL started with Mob Rules, Children Of The Sea and then I from the Dehumanizer album. I believe that apart from the three tracks from the Devil You Know album the rest of the set list remained the same from the last time. The guitar sound of Iommi was a bit high and Ronnie James Dio still amazed us with his vocals. In Heaven And Hell Dio presented a long version of the song -as in the previous tour- and if I am not mistaken we got some mixed melodies of The Shining in it. I thought it was really cool. In the encore they played a medley of Country Girl and Neon Knights. We can say that Country Girl is not one of the well-known songs and because of that is it nice when we have the chance of hearing it live. Even when it is a part of a medley, the riff of that track is cracking.

HEAVEN AND HELL setlist:

01. The Mob Rules
02. Children Of The Sea
03. I
04. Bible Black
05. Time Machine
06. Drum Solo
07. Fear
08. Falling Off The Edge Of The World
09. Follow The Tears
10. Die Young
11. Heaven And Hell
Encore

12. Country Girl / Neon Knights medley

It was time I guess most of the fans were waiting for. At 23:00 the most infamous band in L.A. kicked off with Kick Start My Heart. Excitement dominated the crowd, great atmosphere indeed, that did last till the end. Wild Side followed, Nikki Six threw himself into this party and he seemed having real fun. In Shout At The Devil I struggled a bit to recognize the song because Vince was running around, breathing heavy and messing a little the melody, but what the heck, it is a concert, and it is MOTLEY CRUE and there is no way of saying something bad for these guys. It was an all-time classics setlist with songs we all know and love. The sound arrangements remained excellent. What I found worth mentioning is that MOTLEY CRUE had a very good communication with the crowd that is very important to every fan. For the band this was another gig and the only thing they had to do is play the songs and get out of here. I am glad that MOTLEY CRUE did not stay only to that and kept reacting with the crowd. Tommy Lee gave out Jagermeister to us, (thanks Tommy!), Vince Neil mentioned his Italian roots and then tried to say in Italian that he feels like our brother, or something like that. It was a really nice atmosphere. The encore was Home Sweet Home with a visual history of the band running behind in the video wall. GREAT!

MOTLEY CRUE setlist:

01. KickStart My Heart
02. Wild Side
03. Shout At The Devil
04. Saints Of Los Angeles
05. Mick Mars Solo
06. Live Wire
07. Motherfucker Of The Year
08. Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)
09. Same Ol' Situation
10. Primal Scream
11. Girls Girls Girls
12. Dr. Feelgood

Encore

13. Home Sweet Home

The first day of Gods Of Metal was over. The festival was quite well organized and the sound did not let anybody down. 'Gods Of Metal' has made a name of its own and although it mainly attracts Italians -for geographical reasons- there were a couple of metal stands that you could find diamonds for your album collection.

PS.I: It has been already said that there was a huge video wall behind MOTLEY CRUE stage, with strong lights, soooo a big Thank you to the guy with a better camera than mine for the MOTLEY CRUE photo and the official MOTLEY CRUE MySpace page.
PS.II: Tommy, one Jagermeister is not enough.
PS.III: I do not care what ZIMMERS HOLE sing about... It is all about posers. MANOWAR KNOW BETTER.