MetalCamp 2006 - Over All

And here we went, on the road again. Four people on a hot Wednesday afternoon towards a Metalcamp we’ve been wishing since last year. We decided to avoid Serbia (because of the visas) and went through Hungary and Croatia. And once you get out of Romania, the driving becomes a pleasure and the radars and crazy drivers are history. And after 2 days of driving, not much sleep and a lot of liquids we reached Tolmin where the groups of metalheads that we encountered confirmed us that we were on the right track. Anyway, through Croatia and Slovenia, with a map and the eyes to the road signs, you really can’t get lost.

Our first taste of the festival was somehow bitter, because it took us over 2 hours to find out where we could get the press passes, even if all the guys there spoke a little English. Once we got there, everything went fast, so we went to set up the tents. Since it was already dark, we decided not to go to the VIP area and so we camped on the parking lot (10 Euro for parking), guided by some nice but somehow chaotic guys in phosphorescent yellow jackets. We strategically choose the place for the tents: me on an ant colony and my friend Bogdan on a small hump in the ground that damaged his back throughout the 4 nights that we slept there. We would have like a cold drink after this, but nothing was available in the festival or camping area. And since in the small town of Tolmin every store closes before 8 o’clock in the evening, our only hope were the small taverns left open. Around 11 o’clock in the night we tried to reach to town, using, of course, the longest road possible (since we haven’t had seen the direct path). We luckily found a few places at a table near the Casino and a waitress was king enough to bring us some sandwiches and the last beers before closing for the night (2 beers were even on the house). With a full stomach you see a different world, so we left for the tents, hoping for an exceptional first day of festival. We fell asleep around 3 o’clock, since we weren’t able to choose a lullaby from the tens of metal masterpieces that rocked the loudspeakers of every surrounding car.

And the next day started wonderfully, with ants in the mouths and no air in the tent. No problem, we’re nature loving people, we didn’t swallowed all of them, we left some to take home with us. And after deciding that the few eco-toilets from the mega-parking were not a good choice, we left for the town, using a shortcut. The toilets in the taverns were also heavily used by others, so we spend our morning eating, drinking and staying in line at the toilet. I have to say that the menus were not impressive at all, but at least we were impressed by the kindness of the waiters. Afterwards, we went to see the festival area, and then paid a visit to the lake shore. There, the perfect blue of the water was unfortunately affected by the stones thrown by some drunken young Germans that tried to break the bottles of wine that they already have thrown in the lake. A good reason for us to leave for a bear and check out the food. So we discovered a cool way of organizing the sales. We had to exchange money for some tickets (values of 0.5, 1, 2.5 Euro) and use that tickets to all sales points. A good way to ensure that the people behind the bar had no problems getting the change without encouraging tipping.

I myself was quite OK with the food, mainly grilled or fried meat, sausages or burgers, with plenty of bread, fresh onions and a crazy and spicy vegetable cream. But my friends, after trying this menu one or twice, felt the sudden urge to try the pizza. Anyway, it’s ok when you’re hungry. In what concerns the drinks, I think that the sponsors limited the offer mostly to their own products, which, except the “cola” items, were quite good. The beer was decent, but it really did not worth the 3 Euro you had to pay for it first time you were buying (when you were handed a small Metalcamp mark and you had to start the quest for the plastic glasses). When bringing back a plastic glass, the price for the next beer was ‘only’ 2 Euro, and so on. A good method though to prevent the transformation of the festival field in an ocean of plastic.

If you have money to spend, you just have to go to the merchandise tents. Since I’m not the type that wears metal belts, bullets or chains, I purchased some t-shirts and some CDs (from 10 to 20 Euro a piece). You can find a lot of things, rarities, vinyl, second-hands and the newest releases. I can say that on the last day, all the shirts produced with the festival logo were sold-out. Aside the merchandise, the drinks and the food, you can’t really spend you money on anything else (maybe a tree climbing or a riverboat cruise, but that’s it), so there’s not much else to do there. In this case, you just have to wait for the shows, hiding from the terrifying sun, preferably by the river or even in the freezing but refreshing water.

The shows were an interesting experience for us in some ways. The volume was quite low (especially for the opening bands), much under the volume I was used in Romania for a similar stage. You could really speak without yelling at 50 meters away from the stage and everybody seemed pleased with that. Second, the rising and the floating over the audience seems like a national sport. When you reach the stage mojo-barriers, the security guys (wearing gloves so the sweating bodies will not slip) take you down and send you peacefully towards the exit and back into the crowd. I’ve seen plenty of young guys (and girls) that came back from the guards, smiling, and fought their way back into the front of the audience, only to try it one more time. The atmosphere in the crowd was always cool. I’ve seen the same people that rose clouds of dust during the Kataklysm show dancing happily while Edguy were playing, only to raise hell again at Kreator and then sit and applaud like in theater hall for Opeth. I haven’t seen any fights, but only people wanting to enjoy music.

And they had a lot to enjoy. Because, the dust, the heat, and all the issues described above put aside, Metalcamp is about music, about metal, about live. Maybe you have to endure a bit, but it’s worth it. Of course, the producers have to think of some issues for the future, especially regarding the public, but in what concerns the music, the bands were great. I’m sure that this story managed to describe just a small part of what happens at Tolmin and maybe some of them would make you think this was a bad experience. Quite the opposite, this was a great experience, and if you got it wrong it’s my fault J . When you see Evergrey’s bass player last show and 3000 people sing together “Recreation Day’, you don’t feel the heat anymore.  You’re not tired anymore after a perfect Hypocrisy how. You forget about anything when Michael Akerfeldt jokes and sings on the stage. So if I was a little bit critical, it’s more like I have some suggestions for the future. If I scared you, please ignore me. But if I reached out to you and gave you the smallest temptation for going there, that was my plan. I already think about Metalcamp 2007. Because it’s rock!

Thanks Metalcamp and Rock The Nation.