3-Days-Festivalticket: 82.50 Euro
Festivalticket with Camping: 104 Euro
Campingticket: 15 Euro
Waste deposit camping: 5 Euro

[BRT] One day prior the Pentecost celebration - An expedition into the realms of canned beer. It is 3 pm and the parking ground is already filled with plenty of drunken metal heads. Barbeque odors wafted over the area and surprisingly guitar-driven music thundered from the four corners of the earth. When I arrived I tried to lift my level of alcohol to match with my friends – truly a hard job ;) Of course, next to canned beer also bottom shelf liquor and other kind of booze got passed and many I-have-no-idea metal expert talks were held… that did not come to any point. And then to the party tent some time later? Ah yeah… I remember… but was rather sparsely filled with party animals. Music was classic ranging between old school and hair metal, you know. Since the wild booze mix was made for huge hangovers I decide to leave…

Sodom - Destruction - Tankard - Satan - Year Of The Goat - Sulphur Aeon • Turbonegro - Metal Church - Kadavar - The Exploited - Grand Magus - Tribulation - Sorcerer - Accu§er • Blind Guardian - Cannibal Corpse - Riot V - Moonspell - Orden Ogan - Nightingale - Black Trip - Discreation

[Dajana] Long awaited, eagerly anticipated. Finally! Here we are at the Pentecost weekend to open the summer festival season, which we always and always again kick off with the legendary ROCK HARD FESTIVAL. And once again the NOCTURNAL HALL crew was stoked and crushed stricken (seemed everybody had a cold that weekend) but good-humored into the lovely :: Amphitheater :: in Gelsenkirchen, Germany.

:: Stories :: Friday :: Saturday :: Sunday ::

:: Pics :: Friday :: Saturday :: Sunday :: Fans ::

[Dajana] This year’s billing was varied offering many a highlight. Difficult to say if the billing was better or worse compared to the last year. I guess it is a matter of taste. However, my this year’s favorite emerged to be THE highlight of the entire festival! :) From the organizational point of view nothing has changed. No band cancellation or changes in running order. And so far there was nothing to hear and to read about bad incidents either. Good.
Prizes for the festival tickets got increased by 7.50 Euro. There have been new booths, others disappeared, but most remained the same. No specials this year on the small stage, only a huge screen displaying the live stream of the Rockpalast camera crew. During the changeover fans could watch the last games of the German soccer league on Friday and Saturday.
The Sunday was completely sold out. No wonder, BLIND GUARDIAN headlined the last day. The other two days the ROCK HARD FESTIVAL was well visited.

[Psycho] Welcome at our big family reunion. And this statement was never truer than this year. For this meeting alone it is worth to attend the ROCK HARD FESTIVAL.
[Dajana] Although a dear friend was sorely missed this year. Fuck the flu… (since I had caught a cold too)
[Psycho] Only weather dealt us a bad hand. But at the end it wasn’t as bad as forecasted and acceptable as a long as you did not camp there. The big rain did not happen but it got really cold. Though we got sunburnt during the short moments the sun showed up. While the beer prices remained the same, food prices increased noticeably. At the same size of the portions. So I don’t know why the security wondered about people with food in their bags… Talking about the billing, one could say the Friday was a home run. During the other two days the musical spectrum was much wider.

[Sui] Aside from the really nerve-wrecking journey (hailstorm and traffic jams) I was much looking forward to the ROCK HARD FESTIVAL. Same procedure as every year.

[Dajana] Last but not least I would like to personally thank the :: CCS Security :: for their incredible job and company. Not only at RHF but all the other concerts and festival around we always meet them. Girls & boys, you are awesome! ♥

story • Psycho, Sui, BRT, Dajana • © Dajana & Dajana Winkel • Photography