| 3-Days-Festivalpass incl. Programme book: 129 Euro plus fees | SOLD OUT |

• Prophetic Overture • Vrîmuot - 1476 - Thurnin - Illudium - Readings by Ernie Fleetenkieker

Amenra - My Dying Bride - Darkspace - The Vision Bleak - Disillusion - Laster • Crone - Year Of The Cobra - 1476

Agalloch - Darkher - Vemod - Dornenreich - Novembers Doom - Gráb - Saturnus - Slagmaur - E-L-R • Tar Pond - Dymna Lotva - Illudium - Gospelheim

[Dajana] The PROPHECY FEST also seems to be taking off this year. The festival was already completely sold out in May, which might have been mainly due to the announcement of AGALLOCH's (until then exclusive) reunion show. But the British dark metallers from MY DYING BRIDE certainly contributed something too ;) The only thing missing from this monster package for me personally was TENHI, who released their wonderful album Valkama in May. That would have been it! ;) But I don't want to complain - the 2023 billing once again has great bands to offer!

[Seb] It took a long time, but this year I'm finally at the PROPHECY FEST. I was often in the cave as a child, but the last time was certainly more than 25 years ago. Since Dajana has been thrilled every time so far and :: Prophecy Productions :: kindly accredited me, I could finally close one of the gaps in my festival biography. With AGGALOCH, SLAGMAUR and especially GRÀB there were several bands I really wanted to see (again), and of course, and the rest of the billing was of course impressive too!

[Dajana] There were a lot of things that changed or improved this year. For the first time there were two stages, whereby the "small stage" served as a "filler". This means that bands were allowed to play 2x short sets during the change-over.

[Dajana] Also new was the welcome beer brewed locally and especially bottled for the PROPHECY FEST as Pilsener and a dark ale from the :: Landbrauerei Tobias Mohrmann ::, plus the free visit to the :: Luisenhütte :: (the oldest and completely extant blast furnace in Germany for festival visitors. In addition, you could book a historical city tour, there were more toilets on the campground, campers were allowed to shower in the municipal bath and there was a bike rental, which I heard later. was very well received.

[Seb] I also thought it was a great idea that in the visitor information, in addition to the immediate surroundings, there were also lots of destinations for bike tours of up to two hours in length (each route) - a good idea for visitors with a long journey, who might also like to see the beautiful Sauerland. I have never seen (or consciously perceived) so at any other festival.

:: Thursday :: Friday :: Saturday :: Summary :: Impressions ::

[Dajana] What was not available this year was the livestream. When asked, I was told that this feature was a not insignificant cost factor and that from this year on, the Corona cultural funding would no longer exist.

[Seb] However, there was filming during the festival with both static and portable cameras, so eventually there will be official moving images from this edition.

[Dajana] Last year the PROPHECY FEST took place at the end of the month, where it was, especially on Thursday, quite fresh (2°C) on the meadow. This year the summer, which was weakening in August, was supposed to make up for it, because temperatures around 30°C were announced for the weekend ;)
As expected, the prices have also changed. The ticket price for the festival has gone up by 30 euros, which I still consider moderate. The tokens were available this time for 2 euros, instead of 1.60 Euro in 2022, so inevitably the prices for drinks and food have increased too.

[Seb] 4 Euro (2 tokens) for a 0,3 beer and even 8 Euro for a bottle of Bulmers Cider I found hard to the limit... (beer was just as expensive at Rock Hard Festival - Dajana), but the prices are not set by the label. Does the profit go to the cultural association? (ask for it - Dajana).

[Dajana] Before we go into the details, the last words of the intro go once again to Prophecy Productions: THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for this so wonderful and unique festival and this great weekend! Thanks to the :: Schützenbruderschaft Sankt Sebastian :: and the :: Festspielverein Balve ::. Thanks to all the helping hands, paramedics and Fiedel Security for a relaxed festival with all-round carefree organization. And - of course - thanks to all bands for unforgettable live performances. Thank you! From the bottom of our hearts! ♥♥♥

Stories • Seb & Dajana • Pics © Dajana & Dajana Winkel • Photography