Iron Maiden - Sabaton - Ghost - Tremonti - The Raven Age - The Wild Lies

To start a festival on Thursday is quite unusual and broke my stride. To me it was Saturday already. One coffee later my world switched into the Friday again and the most important question for the photographers was answered: Are we allowed to take photos of IRON MAIDEN? Yes we are!!! Even stricter rules, contract and stuff, but yeah, happy me :) Photos exclusively on NOCTURNAL HALL.

:: Pics ::

Stage has huge decorations on it now, a huge light construction as well – looks like from an Alien movie. The photo pit was full of pyrotechnic and reduced to half. Safety regulations got amplified, there are 12.500 people in the hall, which was bursting at the seams. But let’s talk about music. First band of the day was :: THE WILD LIES ::. Another new band to me. Well, the band got established in 2013, so a pretty young one, but they caused quite a stir with the debut EP Jack Out The Box, and are described as UK’s most exciting up and coming stadium rock acts. Yes, they have potential for this genre. Definitely. And the already well-filled hall followed the band and rocks as hell. To be honest… I also swing my heaps ;) THE WILD LIES are awesome! Side note: bass player here is the son of Iron Maiden’s guitarist Adrian Smith.

Following :: THE RAVEN AGE :: more or less take the same line, in many ways, are just more melodic musically. Another young band from London, and the son of Irona Maiden’s George Harris live on stage. Seems to be like a big family meeting ;) Ok, the Ed Force One is a Boeing 747 jumbo jet. There should be enough space for 3 bands and “some” equipment ;) THE RAVEN AGE were cool but not as good as The Wild Lies.

We go on with :: TREMONTI ::, slightly delayed. The crowd is in high spirits, so it’s an easy task to master the masses for the former Creed and current Alter Bridge guitarist Mark Tremonti. But, to be honest, no matter how great the songs are and how impressing his technical skills are, live on stage a TREMONTI show is quite static and boring. TREMONTI is much focused on his guitar play and his mates stay in the background. Only the drummer is an eye catcher with his wild actions behind the kit.

Quite the opposite happened with :: GHOST ::. The Westfalenhalle literally started to vibrate. Time for a legendary GHOST ceremony, with a bit more delay. As for that we got enough time to marvel at the new huge backdrop, designed by the so talented Zbigniew M. Bielak. The double intro consisting of Miserere Mei, Deus by Gregorio Allegri and the Masked Ball from Stanley Kubrick's movie Eyes Wide Shut caused once again goose bumps, before GHOST thunderously kicked off their set with the opening duo Spirit and From The Pinnacle To The Pit from the new Meliora album. The sound was powerful and massive and GHOST went all out. Show and light was perfect and strictly choreographed. That’s the way it works. A much better show as I experienced in February. And GHOST already promised a bigger show with the release of a new album. Now, I’m curious…
'Setlist: Miserere Mei, Deus (Gregorio Allegri), Masked Ball (Jocelyn Pook), Spirit, From The Pinnacle To The Pit, Ritual, Prime Mover, Devil Church, Cirice, Spöksonat, He Is, Year Zero, Absolution, Mummy Dust

Hot, hotter, :: SABATON ::. The Swedish power metallers not only had an own tank on stage (with the drumkit behind) but also so much pyrotechnic that people in the photo pit literally got roasted. To Hell And Back, so to say. What a BBQ ;) SABATON funnily started with the Final Countdown, while the crowd chanted “SABATON” and: Noch ein Bier. The hall was shaken to the core. You don’t need to like them, but their show is truly awesome.
During the encore a little 11 years old boy by the name of Gabriel gained fame and honor when singer Joakim got him on stage and bestowed his sun glasses, drumstick and a plectrum on him. I’m sure, this boy will never forget this show his whole life ;)
Setlist: Intro: The Final Countdown, Ghost Division, Gott mit uns (Noch ein Bier), Carolus Rex, Swedish Pagans, Resist And Bite, Art Of War, To Hell And Back // Night Witches, Primo Victoria, Metal Crüe

SCREAM FOR ME DORTMUND! That’s the motto of final show tonight, presented by the mighty :: IRON MAIDEN ::. The stage setting is breathtaking. Too bad, we photographers had to stand in the corner of the pit or the other and never got the whole stage into focus.

:: Pics :: IRON MAIDEN ::

Never mind! IRON MAIDEN kicked off their show with full force and foregrounded the new album The Book Of Souls. Bruce Dickinson ran and whirled over the stage as if there were no tomorrow. He climbed the walls right and left like a monkey and jumped over the speaker like a spring chicken. And the other band members didn’t fall any short. Wow. See my jaw drop. IRON MAIDEN performed so extremely lively that I became giddy. I bow and salute you! This was a performance many other bands, 10, 20 or 30 years younger, may learn a thing or two from them.
And there was so much going on stage, there was so much to see. There was a huge pillar of fire that left me worried to death the stage construction could start burning. To almost every song the backdrop changed and Bruce Dickinson changed his stage outfit. Of course, also Eddie appeared, playing his games with the band members, till Bruce ripped off his devilish heart out of his chest and crushed it. Also the plushy spider monkey wasn’t missed. And once again my photographer’s heart bled, because I wasn’t allowed to take any photo of that *sighs*.
As already mentioned, IRON MAIDEN focused on the new album The Book Of Souls and played half of the songs from. All the other tracks were classics, of course, sang along full-throated by 12.500 fans. What a stunning show. What an amazing feeling to stand among all those fans singing along every track. EPIC! Can’t stop praising and lauding. The band played with so much energy, dedication and delight. There was no routine, no boredom or tiredness to sense at any time. This was truly a show of awesomeness!
Of course, many highlights and classics of the IRON MAIDEN history couldn’t be considered, otherwise MAIDEN had to play for days nonstop. Outstanding finale of the second festival day of the ROCK IM REVIER. Thank you!!!
Setlist: Intro: Doctor Doctor, If Eternity Should, Fail Speed Of Light, Children Of The Damned, Tears Of A Clown, The Red And The Black, The Trooper, Powerslave, Death Or Glory, The Book Of Souls, Hallowed Be Thy Name, Fear Of The Dark, Iron Maiden // The Number Of The Beast, Blood Brothers, Wasted Years

story & pics © Dajana & Dajana Winkel • Photography