Helldorado

Helldorado!

The first edition was an absolute smash hit! Surrounded by scantily clad women breathing fire, wrestling their asses off and throwing knives; the entire outlook of the festival is grandiose. Much more carnival and much more colorful than the already legendary Speedfest was. Let’s hope this will have just as a massive run as the festival that came before. You could just as easily spend time watching the rock’n roll wrestling show; messing around with the crazy Mambo Kurt as you could be drinking yourself silly watching the most amazing bands. What a line-up!

 

Komatsu

The majestic Duel had the honor of kicking off this first edition. Sure, they entered the stage to just a handful of crazies in front of the stage. But soon; the Cobra stage was being watched by loads of people. And Duel did right by them. What a set and what a sound! A new fan for life was born with every song they played. This much is sure. When you play your home town it might be easy to let go of the reigns and slack off a bit. Komatsu is never one to cruise through their set; they had to pound everyone into submission with a very heavy and sludgy set. The first gig on the Tarantula stage was perhaps plagued with a few sound issues. On the other hand, it’s freaking Komatsu and they will level anything that stands in their way!

 Dead Lord

Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown brought us back to the Cobra stage to hear their eighties reminiscent, southern tinged rock brought forth with sheer perfection. It’s Aerosmith and Guns ‘n Roses; but different and more bluesy. We loved it! But not enough to keep us from heading back to the Tarantula stage again to hear the Swedes from Dead Lord hit us over the head with their Lizzyness hardrock. A quick hamburger before we had to see what kind of ritual La Muerte had in store for us. And an unholy ritual it was! Candles, incense and an intense wall of smoke masked the band as they threw us their wicked rock. Sure, there were some jokes here and there about the burlap sack the vocalist was wearing. But hey, it’s almost 5th of December over here… 

Kid Congo

Tigre Blanco and his gypsy soul brought us down to earth and gave us some air to breathe, and we must confess, chat with long lost buddies. (Hope you got home safe Schnaps!) One of the best shows of the night started right after this. Monomyth, now with Boudewijn Bonebakker (Gingerpig, Gorefest), gave us a grand adventure. Can you imagine, thousands of speedrockers and drunken crazies all standing still with mouths wide open listening in awe to all the spacey goodness Monomyth brings. Well, it happened, they mesmerized the entire venue. Wild man Kid Congo and his Pink Monkey Birds then turned everyone out and on back on the Tarantula stage. He is without a doubt a true legend, and even though it was clearly not everyone was immediately smitten with the maestro. The ones that were saw a wild and wonderful character creating an entirely new universe!

Imperial State Electric was perhaps the least interesting show of the night. Unfortunately, every song they sent out into the venue from the Lion stage seemed to be bland and drowned out in fact, by all the screams and shouts in the crowd. And they were not shouting at or rooting for the band. But at each other; acting crazy and seemingly crazier by the minute. Which we all know would only grow louder and weirder as the night progressed. We should go back to Birth of Joy who were tearing it up on the other stage. But as mentioned before; you meet a lot of old friends on Helldorado and you make even more new ones! Grin! Another one of those bands that delivered one of the best shows of Helldorado was: Orange Goblin. Massive! Truly and insanely massive! Unfortunately, we had to miss the last part because of a scheduled interview with Red Fang. Which went, let’s say, okay?! Grin…

Red Fang

 

We caught the last part Nashville Pussy and got liquored up to watch the Red Fang rampage after that. And yes, there they were, creating the largest pit up till then. Especially when Wires and Prehistoric Dogs hit the crowd. As if all those older dudes and few women had been waiting until that moment to go absolutely berserk. What a wicked set! After which the real shit took hold and the drinking got out of control and sent a whole freaking lot of us through a ghostly funhouse (a real one yes.) and we got out just in time for yet another wonderful show by powerhouse Triggerfinger. And that was the only freakin sad part about Helldorado. That the fun had to stop and that we now must wait a whole freaking year for the next edition! 

Photo's by Dave van Hout, Jelle de Ru & Josanne van der Heijden