After a fantastic first day, we were pretty excited for the excellent lineup in the closing day. After hitting up the local ReWe for some adult beverages and some food, we made our way to the bat cave again for more music.
Having missed attending this very unique festival in 2015, there was no way we will not attend this year with the very impressive lineup. While Balve is a very unique location, it is also a bit of a pain to get there. There is definitely train service, but it is not as frequent as one would expect. This made the decision of renting a car to be able to make our flight back to the states in time on Sunday a no brainer. Another drawback of the remote location is that there are very few housing options, making it a race to book the few hotels or camp.
Haven’t seen Behemoth live since 2008 at Tuska Open Air, we were psyched to be able to hear them play their latest release “The Satanist” live for North American audiences. As park part of the package the tour also included newcomer Myrkur and her killer Black Metal onslaughts.
Celebrating the 20th anniversary of their historic “Demanufacture” album, Fear Factory returns to the Bay Area with a killer touring line-up featuring Soilwork, Spades and Blades and Omnikage. Braving the Tuesday after work traffic, we made our way up to San Francisco for this killer show.
As a new player in the scene, Rockbar has managed to attract pretty good shows in the last few months. Considered a ‘B’ market, San Jose, CA is 30 miles from San Francisco, CA and a completely different world when it comes to Metal shows. Living between the two cities allows us to fully enjoy attending shows in both places.
Being huge fans of Enslaved, we drove all the way back from Las Vegas after Thanksgiving for this show. Fresh of a nine hour drive, the bands did a great job in getting the crowd going and headbanging for the whole show.
Slightly disappointed that this show was on the small stage (upstairs room) of the DNA Lounge, we were prepared to witness one of the most innovative USBM bands: Abigail Williams. In the midst of release their latest opus “The Accuser”, the band is set to melt some faces with their music.
After a very busy October covering a wide variety of shows, the show we have been the most psyched about was Purson and Ghost. We are great fans of Purson and their psychedelic music since their “The Circle and the Blue Door” release (review here).
With the unfortunate news that Epica had to drop off the tour, Martina Edoff, The Agonist and Eluveitie continued to trek forward. Compensating for the loss of a headliner, Eluveitie stepped up and delivered nearly 2 hours of music, more than pleasing all their fans.
Driving up to San Francisco we encountered a traffic jam from hell (thanks highway 101) that made us miss the entire set of Martina Edoff. Luckily we arrived just in time as The Agonist was taking the stage.
Zeal & Ardor - Baroness - Deafheaven
March 8th, 2019 - Houston, Texas
Ensiferum - Septicflesh - Arsis
January 28th, 2019 - Atlanta, Georgia
November 2nd & 3rd, 2018 - Brooklyn, NY
Eye of Solitude - Marche Funebre - Catapult the Dead
March 13th, 2018 - Oakland, California
Enslaved - Wolves in the Throne Room - Myrkur - Khemis
March 9th, 2018 - San Francisco, California
November 6th, 2017 - Atlanta, Georgia
October 29th, 2017 - Rotterdam, Netherlands
October 28th, 2017 - Rotterdam, Netherlands
Brujeria + Powerflo + Pinnata Protest
October 23rd, 2017 - San Francisco, CA
Orphaned Land + Pain + Voodoo KungFu
September 20th, 2017 - Oakland, California
August 16-19th, 2017 - Dinkelsbühl, Germany
August 10th, 2017 - Jaroměř, Czech Republic
August 11th, 2017 - Jaroměř, Czech Republic
August 12th, 2017 - Jaroměř, Czech Republic
July 28-29th, 2017 - Germany
Feb 2-6, 2017 - USA
Feb 2-6, 2017 - USA
Feb 2-6, 2017 - USA
Feb 2-6, 2017 - USA
Children of Bodom + Abbath + Exmortus + Oni
12/05/2016 - The Regency, CA
Sonata Arctica + Leaves' Eyes + Omnium Gatherum
12/02/2016 - Slim's - San Francisco, CA
Epica + Arkona + Fleshgod Apocalypse + The Agonist
11/18/2016 - Social Hall - San Francisco, CA
Fallujah + Between The Buried And Me + Devin Townsend Project
10/05/2016 - Regency Ballroom - San Francisco, CA
