Steven Wilson - Magma - Crippled Black Phoenix - The Pineapple Thief - Sound Of Contact - Sanguine Hum

Here we are at lovely Lorelei Amphitheater :) Doors open on time, long queues but quick entry. I first walk around and discover the festival area: the official merch tent, other merch and sale booths, drinks, a cocktail bar, those snack boxes and - of course - the viewing platform high above the river Rhine: truly breathtaking! I enjoy my first cool lemon shot and watch the fans making themselves comfortable with folding chairs, blankets, pillows and umbrellas. Funny ;)

:: pics ::

Opening act is :: SANGUINE HUM :: an unknown band to me and they start with a 15 mins delay due to already mentioned technical difficulties. The venue is slowly filling and already present fans still busy with other stuff. Musically SANGUINE HUM reminded me of Rush during their early days but, to be honest, have Rush even more pep and power these days than those British cats. Meanwhile Steven Wilson is already to spot at the stage mixing desk and causes first frenetic screams.
Setlist: Cognoscenti, The Trial, From The Ground Up, In Code, System For Solution, Day Of Release, Phosphor, The Weight Of The World Parts 1, 2 & 3, Coast Of Nebraska

Afterwards it took even longer till :: SOUND OF CONTACT :: made it on stage. This new band around Phil Collins son Simon can already count on a proper unanimously clothed fanbase. The band has just released its debut entitled Dimensionaut, which was meant to be played in its entirety, but due to the delays the setlist already had to be shortened. SOUND OF CONTACT left me live with the same kind of ambivalent feelings their record did. It is like neither fish nor fowl, wanna-be Prog Rock and mainstream at the same time. Simon’s singing was live significantly weaker than on CD and his mates remained rather pale. As if it was not clear whose son he is, Simon started the set playing the drums as intro before handing over the sticks to his live drummer. So far I’d say SOUND OF CONTACT lives from the name of its mainman. It might still take some time till the band has found its musical niches and has established itself.
Setlist: Cosmic Distance Ladder, Pale Blue Dot, Not Coming Down, Omega Point, Möbius Slip Part 1-4

Bei :: THE PINEAPPLE THIEF :: made me feel similar. The first three songs or so still enthused but then songs felt like an ongoing repeat, fizzling out. The footprints of Radiohead are still too big to fit in.
Setlist: Give lt Back, Last Man Standing, Shoot First, Show A Little Love, All The Wars, My Debt To You, Snowdrops, Wake Up The Dead, 3000 Days, Build A World, Reaching Out, Nothing At Best

Okay, calm start, rocking finish! From now on everything changed. Next up was :: CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX :: and I love this band! I was much curious about the band’s new singer. His name is Daniel Änghede and tonight’s show was his second one with CBP. He also plays guitar. Now they are three providing a blisteringly powerful sound. To make it short: he did an awesome job! Surprise number 2: Daisy Chapman is back on keyboards and vocals :) CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX played as if there was no tomorrow and rocked the Amphitheater. A 2 hrs best-of set made the fans freaking out. Incredible! CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX played a hell of a show. Truly outstanding! Of course, Burnt Reynolds was obligatory and it caused goose bumps when the full arena started to sing along. And they didn’t want to stop singing at all… ;)
One little downer for me: I missed to get back to the merch on time to grab me the wanted (and ltd.) Nightrider and The Resurrectionists vinyl :( But I have plans…
Setlist: Jonestown Martin, Troublemaker, Fantastic Justice, The Heart Of Every Country, Laying Traps, Born In A Hurricane, Release The Clowns, The Brain/Poznan, Of A Lifetime, We Forgotten Who We Are, 444, Rise Up And Fight, Partisan/Bella Ciao, Burnt Reynolds

And the next highlight follows with :: MAGMA :: It was actually a flop or top situation. I only know one record of them, Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh, and the one or the other song. And MAGMA is not really easy listening music. With a bad sound for example it could have been a terrible show. Luckily it was not. It much more was a fantastic show! MAGMA music is really strange, weird, wacky, spacy and rad. On a high level. You need to get into this music. You will love it or hate it. If you like it, it will captivate you ;)
Steven Wilson and Mikael Åkerfeldt, both MAGMA fans as it known, watch the show too. Mikael grabbed himself a MAGMA shirt, I failed again (as I actually went to the merch for both Magma and CPB after the Magma show and everything was off already).
Setlist: Slag Tanz, Félicité Thösz, Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh

Time for the grand finale of the first festival day :: STEVEN WILSON :: I unfortunately was not able to see one of the shows of his just finished European tour. So much more I was thrilled to see him now. And this show was just magic! Unbelievable! Stunning! Not from this world. On a huge screen animations caught eyes. Except for one song STEVEN WILSON played his new masterpiece The Raven That Refused To Sing in its entirety, next to a best of through a the previous ones and Radioactive Toy from the Porcupine Tree debut as a homage and the grand finale of a grandiose evening.
Steven Wilson itself acted utmost lively, was jumping, running and even crawling. Seems he had most of the fun during the show. He was joking about his “best friend” Mikael, what made him appear on stage too and left the crowd laughing ;) By the way, knowing that STEVEN WILSON is a Magma fan (and having just listened to them) you will now recognize the influences Magma have. With the setting sun behind and the blue hour ahead we experience one of the greatest shows of the festival. What more to say? It was… magic! :)
Setlist: Luminol, Drive Home, Postcard, The Holy Drinker, Deform To Form A Star, The Watchmaker, Index, Insurgentes, Harmony Korine, Raider II, The Raven That Refused To Sing, Radioactive Toy

That’s the way the first festival day ends. I am totally happy and crawl into my sleeping back with a smile on my face.