GODS OF METAL 2004

05/06 June 2004 Parco Nord, Bologna (Italy)

This is my own personal delirium on the weekend spent at the first Gods of Metal Festival in Bologna (previous editions were held so much closer to me... a couple of years ago, the fest was like 5 mins from me, wow!). I have to say, i was not interested at all int he first day of the fest, while the second day was set to be HUGE. I couldn't wait for it. I had to make a choice, though: a pass photo or a backstage photo? LOL. I chose the backstage one cause so i could get free beers. I traded some good photos for gallons of beer. Shame on me. That's why you'll see a lot of stupid backstage stuff instead of the usual "livepics" here. But after all, where else ont he net can you find pics of Anathema spilling beer under a hail-storm? Hope you enjoy the sights...

(click on the thumbnail to get the bigger image)

The Holy Pass

Ok, I admit we were guilty of getting to the show on Saturday a bit late, missing out on the first, ahem, five bands. But hey, the place was far from home and some of us had to work in the morning (writing for Metal Shock surely won't make you get a living... sigh). We got there in time to see Nevermore. And to see a storm gathering. Look at the sky behind the stage...

Me acting all "god of metal". There was a strong wind blowing. VERY strong.

Despite this, our fellow bands Into Eternity (canada) and Anathema (England) were playing the guitar barechested. Is this down to them being used to cold weather, or cause they were drunk?

Rain. Storm. And all those chairs and tables turned around. that wasn't the wind's doing, just the bands feeling liek thrashign stuff when they were done playing "yellow submarine" on the acoustic guitar.

So, we were trapped under a very small tent, the bar tent. Me, the Metal Shock photographer (the great Six Catalano), and Anathema, plus the bartender and a couple more guys. Daniel Cavanagh was obviously not caring: he wanted to go on playing!

He then thought he couldn't wait for another beer, and went outside the tent to spill some! And he passed out beers to anyone! Even to the bartender! And he was going on and on and on, spilling beer. He was amazing. And we burnt out a whole barrel of beer while waiting for the sky to clear up. LOL.

It was still raining, but our hero was still doing his deed! He got us all drunk! Bartender included!

Warrell Dane of Nevermore joined us too, not caring about how much he got rained upon in order to reach our small tent.

HAIL. Look at how big those balls from the sky were. And guess what they did to the stage. They fucking tore it apart!!!! The upper part of the stage was ripped by hail and wind, and the UFO and Stratovarius gigs got cancelled! It was a big mess among the audience, and there were no sounds fromt he stage between 6.15 pm and 10.15 pm, when Judas Priest was announced to be playing. It was a bit of a boring thing.

And then, suddenly. The rainbow!!! LOL. Even the member of a thrash metal band like Into Eternity appreciated it. Weren't they supposed to be all moody and hating the world? Ahaha. (I'm kidding, the Into Eternity guys were great mates, good fun to chat with while being under the rain)

Into Eternity then replaced Anathema behind the bar (the proper bartender was too drunk to go on working! He was SO "rock and roll"!). So, now you see their singer Chris Krall handing a beer to their newest member... of whom, I apologize, I didn't get the name. Sorry, mate! And kudos to your Suffocation sweatshirt!

Ok, as I said, Judas Priest managed to play. Here's a few pics then.

Only for this gig, I managed to get in the photographers pit. Hence the closeups. And te pics of actual gigs, instead of me messing around backstage. LOL.

For some reason, Rob was dancing to YMCA here. See? He is doing the Y off that dance routine we've all danced sooner or later in life.

But the truth was: look at Rob Halford's face in this pic. I'm not kidding now, if I say that he was looking like this for most of the gig. For a lot of people, their show was a letdown that night, their seemed to be a bit slow and totally not into it, just a professional band doing their job without any feeling.

SUNDAY:
As I was saying, Sunday would be the big day, when glam bands would come back to Italy to kick ass. Quireboys, WASP, Twisted Sister, Alice Cooper... a dream come true!
And the day started out very well, when I met Spike and I gave him a copy of the "Spike an' Darrell Bath - take out some insurance" cd. When I talked to Spike during an interview, I mentioned this cd (recorded in 1994), and he was surprised I had that, because it never officially came out, and he didn't have a copy! He had not listened to it ever since it was recorded, ten years ago. He was so happy when I have him the cd, it made my day to make such an idol happy, and then he said I was making his day too. What a pleasure, for a humble fan like me!

I was then invited to look at the photo-session of The Quireboys. Here's a few "stolen" shots :-)

There's a lot of young blood in the band, but Spike will always be the main engine of it all, with his wonderful voice.

Here they are, the ultimate pub band... playing on a huge festival stage in front of thousands of people!

Spike was clearly happy about the whole situation. And they were so warmly welcomed back to Italy, I hope they keep coming back.

After the Quireboys, the drama took place: since their set was cancelled on Saturday, Stratovarius were made to play on Sunday! Kicking out a couple of the opening acts, and cutting short Quireboys' set. Grrr,
I did not watch one second of their show, but I took a pic with Timo Kotipelto just cause I find his name funny. LOL. (i was drunk again on sunday, you can guess...)

After the boredom of Stratovarius, WASP took the stage and blew everyone away. They did an amazing "best of" set, mainly based on their first two albums. Blackie Lawless is on top form nowadays, he got a bit thinner too, and he was never stopped going around on the stage. And he climbed the mic stand! (This lousy pic is supposed to show that moment)

Back backstage, I noticed Lemmy had arrived. Cue journalists trying to get a pic with him :-) How professional!

Instead, I stumbled into Herman Li, the guitarist and mastermind of Dragonforce, one of the two bands that had come all the way to the festival, just to be denied the concert because Stratovarius had to play. I helped him drown his sorrows with beer.

I then went among the crowd and pogo for... Twisted Sister! AMAZING show by the re-united band, they got so much charisma.

This is the only photo I took closer to the stage. Dee Snider ordered everyone to move closer to the stage, to sing "I wanna rock", and I got as close as I could. The best thing is that EVERYONE in the arena got closer to the stage, at his command. Some people swear that people holding the food stalls left them too. Ahah.

This is their goodlooking tour-van. You can't see it in the pic, but over the band names, there's the signatures of each one of them. So now you know.

Alice Cooper now. GOD. God of metal? Nah... just god.

He didn't have his stage props, just his stick and a sword, but he was so charming, he didn't need any of it. He played a few gems from the eighties, like "Who do you think we are", and all my faves: "Be my lover" and "Cold Ethyl" on top of them all. It was the fourth time I was seeing him live, and it was the best in my opinion. He put so much passion in each word he was singing, unlike Rob Halford on the previous day. I loved the 90 minutes of this show. What a great way to end a festival!

For any comment,suggestion,or whatever you might want to tell me,my email is:
paulwhite@tin.it
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	The Holy Pass
	Ok, I admit we were guilty of getting to the show on Saturday a bit late, missing out on the first, ahem, five bands. But hey, the place was far from home and some of us had to work in the morning (writing for Metal Shock surely won't make you get a living... sigh). We got there in time to see Nevermore. And to see a storm gathering. Look at the sky behind the stage...
	Me acting all "god of metal". There was a strong wind blowing. VERY strong.
	Despite this, our fellow bands Into Eternity (canada) and Anathema (England) were playing the guitar barechested. Is this down to them being used to cold weather, or cause they were drunk?
	Rain. Storm. And all those chairs and tables turned around. that wasn't the wind's doing, just the bands feeling liek thrashign stuff when they were done playing "yellow submarine" on the acoustic guitar.
	So, we were trapped under a very small tent, the bar tent. Me, the Metal Shock photographer (the great Six Catalano), and Anathema, plus the bartender and a couple more guys. Daniel Cavanagh was obviously not caring: he wanted to go on playing!
	He then thought he couldn't wait for another beer, and went outside the tent to spill some! And he passed out beers to anyone! Even to the bartender! And he was going on and on and on, spilling beer. He was amazing. And we burnt out a whole barrel of beer while waiting for the sky to clear up. LOL.
	It was still raining, but our hero was still doing his deed! He got us all drunk! Bartender included!
	Warrell Dane of Nevermore joined us too, not caring about how much he got rained upon in order to reach our small tent.
	HAIL. Look at how big those balls from the sky were. And guess what they did to the stage. They fucking tore it apart!!!! The upper part of the stage was ripped by hail and wind, and the UFO and Stratovarius gigs got cancelled! It was a big mess among the audience, and there were no sounds fromt he stage between 6.15 pm and 10.15 pm, when Judas Priest was announced to be playing. It was a bit of a boring thing.
	And then, suddenly. The rainbow!!! LOL. Even the member of a thrash metal band like Into Eternity appreciated it. Weren't they supposed to be all moody and hating the world? Ahaha. (I'm kidding, the Into Eternity guys were great mates, good fun to chat with while being under the rain)
	Into Eternity then replaced Anathema behind the bar (the proper bartender was too drunk to go on working! He was SO "rock and roll"!). So, now you see their singer Chris Krall handing a beer to their newest member... of whom, I apologize, I didn't get the name. Sorry, mate! And kudos to your Suffocation sweatshirt!
	Ok, as I said, Judas Priest managed to play. Here's a few pics then.
	Only for this gig, I managed to get in the photographers pit. Hence the closeups. And te pics of actual gigs, instead of me messing around backstage. LOL.
	For some reason, Rob was dancing to YMCA here. See? He is doing the Y off that dance routine we've all danced sooner or later in life.
	But the truth was: look at Rob Halford's face in this pic. I'm not kidding now, if I say that he was looking like this for most of the gig. For a lot of people, their show was a letdown that night, their seemed to be a bit slow and totally not into it, just a professional band doing their job without any feeling.
	SUNDAY: As I was saying, Sunday would be the big day, when glam bands would come back to Italy to kick ass. Quireboys, WASP, Twisted Sister, Alice Cooper... a dream come true! And the day started out very well, when I met Spike and I gave him a copy of the "Spike an' Darrell Bath - take out some insurance" cd. When I talked to Spike during an interview, I mentioned this cd (recorded in 1994), and he was surprised I had that, because it never officially came out, and he didn't have a copy! He had not listened to it ever since it was recorded, ten years ago. He was so happy when I have him the cd, it made my day to make such an idol happy, and then he said I was making his day too. What a pleasure, for a humble fan like me!
	I was then invited to look at the photo-session of The Quireboys. Here's a few "stolen" shots :-)
	There's a lot of young blood in the band, but Spike will always be the main engine of it all, with his wonderful voice.
	Here they are, the ultimate pub band... playing on a huge festival stage in front of thousands of people!
	Spike was clearly happy about the whole situation. And they were so warmly welcomed back to Italy, I hope they keep coming back.
	After the Quireboys, the drama took place: since their set was cancelled on Saturday, Stratovarius were made to play on Sunday! Kicking out a couple of the opening acts, and cutting short Quireboys' set. Grrr, I did not watch one second of their show, but I took a pic with Timo Kotipelto just cause I find his name funny. LOL. (i was drunk again on sunday, you can guess...)
	After the boredom of Stratovarius, WASP took the stage and blew everyone away. They did an amazing "best of" set, mainly based on their first two albums. Blackie Lawless is on top form nowadays, he got a bit thinner too, and he was never stopped going around on the stage. And he climbed the mic stand! (This lousy pic is supposed to show that moment)
	Back backstage, I noticed Lemmy had arrived. Cue journalists trying to get a pic with him :-) How professional!
	Instead, I stumbled into Herman Li, the guitarist and mastermind of Dragonforce, one of the two bands that had come all the way to the festival, just to be denied the concert because Stratovarius had to play. I helped him drown his sorrows with beer.
	I then went among the crowd and pogo for... Twisted Sister! AMAZING show by the re-united band, they got so much charisma.
	This is the only photo I took closer to the stage. Dee Snider ordered everyone to move closer to the stage, to sing "I wanna rock", and I got as close as I could. The best thing is that EVERYONE in the arena got closer to the stage, at his command. Some people swear that people holding the food stalls left them too. Ahah.
	This is their goodlooking tour-van. You can't see it in the pic, but over the band names, there's the signatures of each one of them. So now you know.
	Alice Cooper now. GOD. God of metal? Nah... just god.
	He didn't have his stage props, just his stick and a sword, but he was so charming, he didn't need any of it. He played a few gems from the eighties, like "Who do you think we are", and all my faves: "Be my lover" and "Cold Ethyl" on top of them all. It was the fourth time I was seeing him live, and it was the best in my opinion. He put so much passion in each word he was singing, unlike Rob Halford on the previous day. I loved the 90 minutes of this show. What a great way to end a festival!