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[Dajana] Everything will be better next year, I wrote last year. Hm. No. It wasn't. I honestly have to say that. The line-up fell short of the expectations of a double anniversary, which was clearly reflected in the number of visitors. The high average age of the audience was also significant - on the one hand a plus point for fan loyalty, on the other hand a bad sign for the next generation. How can the ROCK HARD FESTIVAL continue? A question that has occupied us all and will continue to do so. The discussions about the festival are in full swing. A lot has changed fundamentally in the scene. A simple "let's keep it up, we've been doing it like this for the last 20 years" seems to be no longer an option. It needs new ideas, fresh concepts and innovations to continue such a festival successfully. Well, we'll see where the journey goes...
Of course, and despite the criticism above, there have been bands at all three days I loved to see performing live. And of course, the organization was great again, even with the reduced staff. The new security team was very relaxed, but very inexperienced in the photo pit. Was probably their first metal festival. The stewards were more concerned with looking through their WhatsApp messages than intercepting the incoming crowd surfers.
What I also noticed: There were only four (4!) female musicians at the whole festival: Sabina Classen and Francis Tobolsky, plus the guest singer at Nestor, and Vanja Šlajh, the TRIPTYKON bass player. That's very little!

[Psycho] I wouldn't be surprised if the festival organizers didn't reach the profit threshold this year. It was pretty empty on the individual days, and I think the 5,000 mark was never broken. This means that there were about 1/3 fewer metal heads than possible. Almost in defiance, officials announced after the festival that the cut would have been 7,000 spectators per day - which is hardly imaginable.
It is difficult to speculate as to the reasons. Everything has become more expensive, including the festival ticket and the food around it (laudable exception: the merch prices). But, these days, people tend to keep their money together. Another important reason may have been the festival concept itself. There was practically nothing to be seen of a big party for the 20th festival anniversary or 40 years of the print magazine. There could have been more atmosphere and a few special anniversary actions. The line-up didn't reflect any of the anniversaries either, instead it was business as usual, and that too with one of the weakest band selections in recent years. So the only exciting day was Friday: higher hit density, established bands, special sets. This I was missing on the other two days. From my point of view, only 3 bands were real highlights: TRIPTYKON, VOIVOD and VICIOUS RUMORS, closely followed by BENEDICTION and (with some distance) IRON FATE. For three days that's a bit thin (that a band like KATATONIA acts miles away from their normal form is of course unpredictable). On the other hand, the organizers have to gradually think about what kind of festival they want to present in the future. It feels like the average age of the visitors is increasing every year, but in principle things are still the same as they were 10 or 15 years ago. For a younger audience this is probably becoming less and less interesting. But is that the concept now? And if so, how should the whole thing be developed further? It was still nice, but that was partly due to meeting other people and having a few beers together – but you don't necessarily need a festival for that. I am therefore curious to see how long the ROCK HARD FESTIVALcan hold up in this form without some changes.

[Sui] The ROCK HARD FESTIVAL 2023 left mixed feelings. As I said before, I was very happy to finally be reunited with the old gang. That alone was worth the long journey. However, I also expected a more exciting selection of bands and more activities from an anniversary festival. The current unreliability of overseas bands may have been one of the reasons. But doesn't the European scene really have any other bands to offer than SODOM and TANKARD? Even the openers were all seasoned, slightly gray warriors (apart from maybe WUCAN). This is not a sustainable festival concept. Of course, there were also highlights this year, and in my opinion more than 3: TRIPTYKON and VICIOUS RUMORS on Friday, VOIVOD and BRIAN DOWNEY'S ALIVE & DANGEROUS on Saturday and IRON FATE, WUCAN and MSG on Sunday. However, the question is: how long can the RHF continue to exist in this form? If you continue to pursue the oldie concept, sooner or later the audience will literally die away. And as Psycho (as so often) aptly pointed out: You can also meet other people and have a beer together somewhere else.

[BRT] Despite all the initial criticism, I had a lot of fun again, met my friends and other great people and saw some great bands. Many of the points that Psycho and Sui have already mentioned are also discussed in the scene as a whole. The audience that is getting older and older, costs and prices, what do I put in front of people who increasingly have the feeling that the bands repeat themselves every three to four years. How to get people off the sofa? Does the organizer have to be more special? Or will the party crowd stay away? Festivals like Dying Victims Attack have proven that there are young people in the scene, but can you apply that 1:1 to a big festival like the ROCK HARD FESTIVAL? Hard to say if that would draw a big crowd. Lots of questions that organizers of other smaller festivals also ask themselves, but there is often a clearer specialization to be observed. And a significantly smaller party crowd. Bands like WUCAN or KNIFE prove that there are young, fresh and exciting bands in the scene. There's no question that it's difficult anyway to make everyone happy with such a colorful program. The four of us rarely agree, which reflects the diversity of the scene. There's a lot that fits between AOR and Death Metal, but rarely do people hear both. There can and will therefore never be a consensus, which is good but also difficult at the same time. At least for the organizer...

[Seb] I concur with most of the points that have already been made! And as far as the lineup goes, it would not be fair if I was too critical of it, after all I am not exactly the target audience. I wouldn't mind to see more than one "real" Death Metal and/or Black Metal band on the next billing, though ;-) My main problem was this year’s sound: Apart from the CELTIC FROST set every other show I liked had to battle sound problems of various severity. Can happen, will of course always happen now and then. But that a sound crew is actually helpless for an entire headliner set just can't (or better shouldn’t, after all it did….) be. 2023 won't go down as one of my favorite RHF editions, even though I'll certainly remember the first evening. Roll on ROCK HARD FESTIVAL 2024....

Stories • BRT, Psycho, Sui, Seb, Dajana • Pics © Dajana & Dajana Winkel • Photography