Deadly 7@ The Beauty Bar 10/26/07

Since I didnt have a blog back when I saw this show, I wanted to do a review of it and let people in on one of the coolest shows to hit the Vegas scene in a long time! Here is my review:

There is a crazy ass punk-girl band here in Vegas that is made up of 7 ex-showgirls called the Deadly 7! They are named after the seven deadly sins and they are true to the name!! Deadly!!! I saw a show of theirs at the Beauty Bar on Blak Fridays about a month ago. It was very bombastic and crazy with smoke bombs,ambulances,riot police,and guys with pig masks! There was lots of blood and sexual content and tape over nipples. The music was rude and offensive and punk rock! Sgt Blak and his band the Kuntz played the instruments of terror! There were suicides and candlewax..there were nuns and paganistic rituals. It was absolutely insane!!!!!!!
Here is a video taken from that nite and I am in it!! Watch for me pushing back at the riot police and flipping him off!!! Lol! Good shite!

I think this is cool so I wanted to post it!!They did an interview at their managers house with a radio jock and here is how it went....

They are having another show at the Icehouse on main street downtown on friday the 7th and I dont think the club knows what they are in for!!! Its going to be insane! These girls are going to go far so go see them while you can in a small club before you will never see them like that again! Their page is at http://www.myspace.com/thedeadlyseven Many of their individual pages have been taken off myspace for obsenity but this page is still up!! Check them out!!! I swear you wont ever see anything like this again!!!

If you want to see the photos I shot for Minglenow.com at this show go to http://leahburlington.com and hit the gallery page and the deadly 7 are there!

11/25/07 The MIST!!!!!

I gotta tell you guys I have loved Stephen King since I was a kid and have all his books. I dont remember reading The Mist,but I may have when I was a kid. I absolutely wanted to go see this movie and I had only seen a couple of trailers about it and heard it had a twisted ending,so I didnt know what I was in for. My buddy Al and I went and were both blown away by the scary/gore fest that was being shown to us. I loved the audience screaming and laughing out loud to some of the one liners! I am not going to spoil the movie for anyone that hasnt gone yet, but I will say that the story line is fanatastic, but if you are religious or sensitive do not see this flick, you will be offended. I thought it was all ironic as hell and funny because they got the comments so spot on in what is going on in our world and how people can be more monsterous than and beasties in the Mist!!! Loved that shit!! Especially when you get fear instilled into people by a religious fanatic! What a hoot! Then comes the twist, the ending....I will not tell you but I will say is this; I was shocked and a bit traumatized at the end...I have seen so many horror movies in my life,but this was the ending of all endings my friends...This was "THE" ending! The most fucked up ending I have ever seen. I am still a bit emotional about it and it was a few hours agao that I saw it. Dont take your kids people...this is gnarly! BUT: I loved it!! It stirred emotions up,it was ironic,and genious!!! It wasnt even the same ending that was in the book and I dont know what that was,but this ending was perfect.(Deal with it fans of the book!)I will definatly buy this when it comes out on DVD!! This was a kick-ass,scary,fun,freaked out flick!! Go see it but leave the kids at home!! Its about time we finally got a killer horror movie again! Its been far too long.....

Their offical site is here at: www.themist-movie.com

And here is the trailer if you havn't seen it:

Ozzy & Rob Zombie at the Joint 11/24/07

One thing that pisses me off about Vegas is how steep the prices of concerts can be if its a big name. When I saw that Ozzy and Zombie were coming to the Joint at the Hard Rock, I was stoked!! on the otherhand,when I saw the tickets were $150 for general and $500 for VIP balcony(Which sucks!) I was floored and pissed! I said no way am I spending that kind of cash on two bands that I have seen numerous times for like $40 each. I am not cheap by any means and I have the money...its the principal of the thing. Not everyone can afford it. I know the venue is small,only about 1500 or so people. I know they are playing togther. That is cool. It just seemed outta control. So yesterday I was going to stay home with my head cold and watch movies.... Well that didnt happen. My good buddy Jimi called me and told me I was going to the show no matter what!! He also called our bud Morpheus and told him he was going to...dont ask me how he got tix,but he managed to get all three of us in. I was again,Stoked about this show!


When I get there I meet up with the guys just in time to see Zombie go on. He had basically the same stage set as when they were with Godsmack show here awhile back. He played the same songs as he always does, Dragula,More Human,AmericanWitch,etc....but with Zombie its always good no matter what! The show was high energy and John 5 looked evil as hell and was all over the place. Rob was right up in the crowd at one point and he was killer! It was a regular Zombie show..... Always good with no surprises!

We were crusin around and chatting and drinking until Ozzy went on and were wondering how Ozzy was going to sound. I heard through the grapevine that Ozzy lipsynched during the VH1 Rock Honors and he did. We saw that. Now we would see how the Ozzman would do tonight,so anticipation was high since he hasnt played solo in about 4 years here. I have seen him several times since like 86,so its always good to see Ozzy up on stage still to this day even though he is up there in age! I have been a fan of him for years so I just hoped he would kick our asses!

I managed to sqeeze up front with Bobby and Landon so I could get some shots of the band and maybe some video for my blog. I was right up on the barricade and in front of Zakk,which was killer because I love that dude!


He was going off and just shredding it up like he does!! He as usual always puts on a great show and rocks our asses off. Ozzy looked great and had a headband on. He looked fit and strong!

He even threw some water out into the crowd. He was rocking out pretty good and seemed to be singing pretty well. In my video, I heard him truly singing and it was definatly him. I was told by another little bird,that they cancelled San Diego because he couldnt sing. He lost his voice. I guess that happens a lot to him now a days,so sometimes he is forced to lip sync. I guess its just on with the show. He was still being his normal Ozzness and it was a kick-ass show!! I still wouldnt have paid that kind of money but I am grateful to my friend for taking me because it was a total BLAST!!! ( Thanks Jimi!!!) : )

Zakk was so close we could almost touch him!! Even got some great shots with my point and shoot!!

This is the set list for the show in Vegas and I think it was a pretty good selection. Fourteen songs is pretty decent for someone that has been around for that many years and can barely speak. I love the man and hope he does this for many more years!!
Here is s small clip from the show... starting with happy birthday to Blasko..Bark at the Moon, and the moon was full last nite!!! Owwwwwoooooo!

After the show we went over to the Body English club for a bit and that was lame to us as we cant stand dance music. They were butchering Guns and Roses with a mix of dance shit and it was terrible. So we had a few and bailed out. Then we went to the side bar and chatted with some people from LA we know and listened to a Doors Tribute band called Wild Child. They were pretty spot on!! After and couple more drinks and then some sobering up and chatting with some BLS guy, I wandered to the restroom and I bumped into Adam(Ozzy's Keyboardist) and Blasko(his bassist who's bithday it was!) and they both remembered me from the Rock Honors! Me and Adam played Craps with Jerry Cantrell at the Manadalay Bay for picks and photos! Every time I shot a winner I got a pick or photo with Jerrry! That was surreal!! All and all it was a great Saturday night in Vegas, and hung out with some great friends,new and old. Got some great photos and a set list thanks to Chris from 7th Son! (Thanks!!)

If you get a chance,go see this show!! It was a blast from the past!!!!

I would give it \m/\m/\m/\m/ horn's up!!!

11/19/07 Beowulf the I MAX experience!!!!

I got the extreme pleasure of seeing Beowulf in IMAX last nite at the Brenden Palms Theater!
This movie is one of the coolest experiences I have ever had at a movie,period!! I really liked the story because I love history and ancient battle scenes with warriors and all that stuff(my fave movie is Excalibur) so I really dug the movie! If it wasnt in 3D it probably wouldnt be that cool,but it was still a must see!
The first thing that happened was getting these weird glasses for the 3D thing and I wasnt expecting much because remember the old days of 3D...not that great.. well from the minute they start the screen with the opening IMAX stuff,everyone went silent..until it was over when a guy blurted out, " I'm Impressed!!!!" We all laughed and then the movie started!! From the opening credits, it was mind blowing how real this was!! I took off the glasses to see what the screen looked like and it was just blurry. So put them back on and was in for s ride!! You could actually put your hand out and feel like you were touching something coming outta the screen!! It was crazy!!! The whole movie was really cool with all the actors in this new way of digital animation was very real. It was almost perfect and I am sure within a few years you wont be able to tell the difference from real actors and animated. Its called motion capture technique and its taking off! It was crazy how every hair was shown and every nuance of the face and the light and shadow was amazing!! I loved it and was in awe the whole show. The artists that did this need to get an oscar for their work,not the actors!! There is a lot of gory parts and the dragon sequences were the best I have ever seen!! It was spectacular!!!
Go see this movie in the IMAX experience and see what I am talking about!! It is excellent!!! I hope to see a lot more movies done like this because its just so damn much fun to watch!!!!!

Check out their website at:

http://www.beowulfmovie.com/
And the trailer is here:

I would give this movie: \m/\m/\m/\m/\m/ Horn's up!!!!

11/18/07 Trans Siberian Orchestra in Vegas

Last Year my good buddy Taylor told me about this show that I should go to..."its a Christmas show,"he told me, "but with heavy metal music with an orchestra, with members of the 80's prog-metal band,Savatage playing!" I was like,no way man, I hate Christmas music!(I know,bah humbug!)He bought us tickets and I reluctanly decided to go with him. We had decent seats and could see the stage perfectly. I was tripping on the huge lighting rigs and said so. He said to me.."just wait!" When the show started I was blown away by the sheer energy and power of the music and the lightshow was something out of a Pink Floyd concert. They had like 5 guy singers that did their parts and a woman singer that was wonderful. They had a guy narrating the story of a Christmas tale throughout, then another song would explode from the story! It was incredible!!! I was floored! I was in tears! It was moving! There was over 7,000 people there who may have felt the same. After the show the band comes out to meet the fans,but we just had to leave due to being just exhausted from this spectacle!! Here is a video from a live show I got on YouTube:




So when I saw they were coming back this year on Nov 18th I made sure to get us tickets. I got two amazing seats in the middle section about 20 rows back(perfect!!!) from a cool musician I met named John. He playes with Jon Oliva, the singer for Savatage and originator of this TSO show. He has a band out called Jon Oliva's Pain that you should seriously check out!!! When Taylor and I got to our seats we were just stoked! They were so close!(Thanks John!!!)
It was good to share with the guy that turned me onto them in the first place!
This show was a little different; They had a new guy singer that was a long-hair instead of the baldy guy from last year that I loved. This guy was awesome though! They had a few small changes but all in all it was a phenomenal show once again and seeing it so close was shocking!! We needed sun glasses for the laser light show and all the bright lights!! Yeeow! Was so cool!!
They have huge firepots and we actually felt them when they went off!! I swear the drummer must get singed hairs on the back of his head every show!!! It was so hot! Al Pitrelli was killer as usual and so was Angus the other guitarist. The dueling keybordists is a fun part of the show as is the part when they acually come into the audience and play! I loved that they did Carmina Burana,my fave classical song in the world!! It always brings a tear to my eye.
It was the loudest,most impressive show I have ever seen,so people, I am telling you, when they come back,go see this show!!! It also gives you a good feeling inside that there is some good left in the world and we should love each other and give of each other...its a beautiful message!
Merry Christmas every one!!! (A little early!)

(Photos taken from TSO web-site.)

I would give this show: \m/\m/\m/\m/\m/ Horn's up!!!!!

One crazy Rockin' weekend in Vegas!!!

11/16/07 Blak Fridays

This weekend I had a lot of choices to make as in what to do because it was slam packed with all kinds of shows,movies and goings on...One thing I have noticed in my almost 20 years of living here is; its either all or nothing...as is too much to do or nothing at all. This was one of those crazy weekends where I was just out the entire weekend.
It started out with friday night: I decided to go see my old buddy Morpheus at his event at the
Beauty Bar called Blak Fridays:

Sometimes its a mix of live bands and him DJ'ing before and after the bands. Then we usually rock out until the wee hours of the morn. After all of that rocking we usually crawl to the Griffen for early hours of more drinking and conversing(if you can hear over the ecclectic music playing on the Juke)
Morpheus is the premire Rock/Metal/Punk/ spinner in Vegas today!
He plays such a diverse array of tunes that you cant help saying at about every song " I love that song", and go out on the small dance floor rock out,bang your head and dance your ass off! We usually rock out with Morph and he is a blast! He has great taste is music and loves it as much as I do!! He also has a passion for all things rock! This is a kick-ass DJ that you will want to be at your next event!!!! Check him out at: Morpheus Blak

This is the "man" at the Beauty Bar on 11/16/07...

I got there a bit early so we went over to Hogs and Heiffers up the street and took in some of the ambiance of a cross between Coyote Ugly and a biker bar with women behind the bar that dont take any shit and dance for the customers. They are a bit abrassive,but I love it!!!


They also dont have any fruit so dont order a Corona with a lime...it wont happen. Lol! They play quite a bit of classic rock and biker rock,so you will see some hogs parked out front! Good shit!
After a few beers there(we actually had a couple of guys there buy us beers!!!) we headed back to the Beauty Bar and said hi to the sweetest manicurist in the world, Cari. She was painting Morpheus' nails Black,go figure..hehe. We rocked out to some old Maiden,Saxon and Metallica, and my neck was sore. Havn't done that in a minute! After all the rocking out we were shot and headed to the Griffen for our usual drinks and chat. It was 4am before I sobered up and called it a nite. It was a really fun nite hanging with Morph,Alan, and Chris (first time in years since she and I hung out!!) Good times!!!

11/17/07 H.I.M at the Joint

Saturday nite I already had a ticket for H.I.M at the Joint and everyone I knew was at HellYeah at the HOB. I had such a bad experience with scary-ass men at the last show they did,I swore that I would never see that band live again...just bad energy man! Nothing to do with the band,just their fans that are a bit over-testosteroned-out-alpha-males. (NOT ALL, so dont get offened. Always the one ass that ruins the nite for everyone) So I talked to Morpheus and he got a ticket for H.I.M too, so I met he and Jimi there at the Circle Bar (Where everyone meets before the shows at the Hard Rock!!) They looked totally Goth/Rock and I thought they were the coolest looking guys at the HR!!


We went in and we watched Ville Vallo and Co. do a stand up job of their Dark Romantic form of goth metal. Neither of the guys had ever heard them and they got their first taste of them and really dug their tunes! I love H.I.M. and have for a few years now and have all their cds. I just bought their new CD Venus Doom and havnt really had a chance to sit down and listen, but I am sure I will like it! They had a killer set and here is their set-list to all you fans of theirs:

These guys are fantastic live and I just love Ville's stage presence!! You never heard so many girls screaming between songs than at this show! It was deafening!
Here is an older video of H.I.M. of a killer song"Right Here in These Arms"...beautiful!!!

After a killer set of " Love Metal" I went out to meet Alan so we could go see Rocky Horror. I walked out into the HR and happened to hear some kickin' Johnny Cash tunes at the Side Bar! It was a band doing a tribute to the Man in Black and I was told it was a band called Cashed Out!!! these guys were so right on with all the guitar picking and a woman was singing the Rosanne Cash parts and she was wonderful! The guy doing Johnny was so spot on, I couldnt believe it! If we werent going to RH,Iwould have stayed there and jammed out to some of their set.

But alas, we had to zip over to the Onyx Theater inside The Rack,a fetish clothes store inside Commercial Center on E. Sahara, as fast as we could without getting a ticket to catch the Rocky Horror Picture Show at 11:30pm!! This wasnt just the movie,it is the theatrical verion with a cast of characters in a small theater. You can find all that is Rocky Horror at this link

Divine Decadance !! I took my buddy Alan,who loves RH,and he had never been to the actual theatrical version,so he was a virgin. Good thing we arrived late because they humiliate the RH virgins before the show begins...lucky him!!! Lol! I have seen these guys and gals work their magic before and met Corey who played Rocky last time and Riff Raff this time. He is really a character himself. This was his birthday show and it was a blast!!

With all the bantering of the crowd and the characters,sometimes its hard to keep up,but its so much fun and you just laugh your ass off continually! It is crazy and I would recommend you guys go see it if you're into the whole scene!! You can even dress up,they encourage it! Its only $7 at the door and you can pay a buck for the goodie bag with the props for the film sequences! Good stuff! So if you need some fun, they do this every other saturday nite. The next show is Dec 1st!! Its at:
The ONYX THEATER located in THE RACK at 953 E Sahara Ave. NW side of Commercial Center.
Even after that at about 2 am we cruised over to Crown and Anchor for some grub. It was my first time there and their fish and chips were pretty good! I really dug that they had Wyder Cider on Tap!!!Yay!! Love that shite! Then it was onto home again at about 4am.

Bullet Boys and Dirty Penny at the ROX in Vegas 11/9/07!!

Friday nite the 9th of Nov I went out to show at the ROX that I had only heard about that day; The Bullet Boys with a Santa Cruz band called Dirty Penny! I wasnt expecting a show like what I was about to see,but I was damn sure happy that I brought my camera!!!It felt like the 80's were back that nite and seeing Dirty Penny with the old Crue style spikey shags was a kick in the ass!! I told them they stole my hair and that they reminded me of Veins Of Jenna. They seemed cool with the comparison. They looked like a band right off the sunset strip in the early 80's that would have handed you a flyer to a future show and asked you for your number!! They looked so glam!!! It was the Sleaze patrol all over again!!! : )

The nite started with a band that I dont remember the name of,(so sorry guys)because I was late getting there. But after getting a few libations in me to get me started up,(Pomagranate rockstar and vodka just rules!!) the show really got kicked off when Marq Torien came out and I saw he cut off his long locks and went back to being a brunette..I also realised that he looked damn good for an 80's rock legend! He was also sporting a guitar, something I have never seen him do before. Have seen these guys in 89 and around 99 or so so it wasnt my first go round with the BB's. I also saw that Marq was the only remaining original memeber of the band. He has a new KILLER guitar player named Charlie Wayne Morrill, that until I googled him today, I didnt even realise who is was. He was in one of the premire glam bands inthe early 80's called Hawk. He is also in Iron Horse. The guys just rules and he is hot! Then he has Steve Bray,on bass, from old Luv Hunter days back in 88 when I first moved here! That blew me away cause I havn't seen him in years! The drummer is Danny Seven who is a kick-ass drummer and works in an animal shelter when he isn't on tour. It takes a special person to do that job! He just rawks!

When they started playing, its like they just BLEW up!! They had so much energy and vitality and Marq and Charlie were on FIRE!! They just blew me away!! They played a pretty killer set of oldies but nothing was better than when they played old fave "Smooth up in Ya!"We went wild with all kinds of rocking out and dancing to this smoltering song that used to get the girls all hot and bothered back in the day when we watched Marq on MTV!!! That was a HOT video and there wasnt many hotter then Marq Torien!! He still smokes! But my eyes were on his guitarist Charlie that was melting me to the core...he is amazing! That was a kick-ass set and I was lucky enough to hang with the Boys this weekend and meet their manager Doobie,who really loves my massage now. I hope I helped the guy with his bad back. These guys are on a van tour and that is rough,but they dont complain..its all in the name of ROCK!!! Go see them if you can on their tour!!! These guys are a great,funny bunch of characters!! Make sure you buy them a drink and tell Charlie I said " Aint it fun?" Hahaha!

Tour dates for Bullet Boys are as follows:

Nov 9 2007
8:00P
The Rox
Las Vegas, Nevada
Nov 13 2007
8:00P
Club Vegas
Salt Lake City, Utah
Nov 14 2007
8:00P
Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom
Denver, Colorado
Nov 17 2007
8:00P
Mainline Bar & Grill
Downer, Minnesota
Nov 18 2007
8:00P
Vnuk’s Lounge
Cudahy, Wisconsin
Nov 19 2007
8:00P
Emerald Theatre
Mount Clemens, Michigan
Nov 21 2007
8:00P
The Cove
Geneva, Ohio
Nov 22 2007
8:00P
Mill Street Brews
Southbridge, Massachusetts
Nov 23 2007
8:00P
Jaxx
Springfield, Virginia
Nov 24 2007
8:00P
Shaker’s
Cambridge, Ohio
Nov 25 2007
8:00P
Steppin’ Out
Virginia Beach, Virginia
Nov 26 2007
8:00P
The Cutting Room
New York, New York
Nov 28 2007
8:00P
The Village
Little Rock, Arkansas
Nov 29 2007
8:00P
GW Roadhouse
Laredo, Texas
Nov 30 2007
8:00P
Phil’s
Texarkana, Texas
Dec 2 2007
8:00P
Jack’s Patio Bar & Grill
San Antonio, Texas
Dec 3 2007
8:00P
Launchpad
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Dec 7 2007
8:00P
The Underground
Reno, Nevada

I wasnt able to focus after that onslaught,but Dirty Penny did a killer set of their type of of hair metal that we once loved and they are trying to bring it back! I am so glad to see that there are bands like this still around with young raw talent that can kick our asses and give us nothin but a good time!! They have a new cd coming out called "Take it Sleazy!" They have a cool myspace page at: myspace.com/dirtypennysucks

Tour dates for Dirty Penny are as follows:

Cervantes Ball Room
Denver, Colorado
Nov 15 2007
8:00P
George’s Union Station
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado
Nov 16 2007
9:00P
Lakewood bar & Grill W/Gypsy Pistoleros
DALLAS, Texas
Nov 17 2007
8:00P
ROCKSTAR BAR W/ Gypsy Pistoleros
Fort Worth, Texas
Nov 21 2007
8:00P
ROCKSTAR BAR&GRILL
FORTWORTH, Texas
Nov 23 2007
8:00P
CAINS BALLROOM
TULSA, Oklahoma
Nov 24 2007
10:00P
The Roc
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Nov 28 2007
8:00P
1974 PUB&GRILL
TULSA, Oklahoma
Nov 30 2007
8:00P
MAXIMEDIA STUDIOS
DALLAS, Texas
Dec 2 2007
9:00P
Headhunters
Austin, Texas

These guys kick ass and take no prisoners!!! Go see them on tour and bring your hairspray!!! : )

My experience at Wacken Open Air 07!!

My Wacken Open Air Experience-
By Leah Burlington 8/23/07

To most American Metal-Head's,a Metal-Fest to them is in the context of Ozzfest and Rocklahoma. Those are about the ONLY true Metal Festivals we have,but its absolutely nothing in compare to the Metal-Fests in Europe like Bang Your Head,SwedenFest,Hell Fest, and countless others that go on all summer long across the Atlantic. One thing that most of you dont know is: Metal never died over there and bands you havn't heard from for years that you thought were gone in the 80's,like Saxon,
Biff from SAXON!!

Doug and Paul from SAXON!!

Manowar,Fastway,and Rose Tattoo are still thriving and playing all the fests that are all over Europe! These bands and others are revered and respected. You still see dudes wearing denim jackets with metal band patches all over them just like when we were teenagers in the 80's. Its not old guys either,its young guys that obviously had cool-ass brothers or Dads that taught them how to wear the uniforms of metal with pride because we are a like a club. We are the misfits of societyand we dont give a fuck what anyone says...metal is not just music,its a way of life!!!
The greatest and most respected fest in Europe is Wacken Open Air that sits in a HUGE cow pasture in a small village of 1700 people about 45 minutes north of Hamburg,Germany.
Arial view of WOA Fest!(pic courtesy of WOA website! http://wacken.com/ )

This fest was started by a guy named Thomas Jensen 18 years ago in 1990 and was small at first but it grew over the years and has become the largest Metal Fest in the world that has metal-heads in every country from around the globe coming to Germany to bang their fuckin' heads and party with thousands of their brothers and sisters! This year bands like Saxon,Iced Earth and Immortal, headlined the fest and it sold out to 82,000 people. Saxon played a free warm-up gig (yes they are still around and have put out new cd's every other year since 1979!!!) to about 300 people two days before the show and blew us away! Thursday they played to over 40,000 screaming fans when they headlined Wacken! That was just incredible! I got to see them twice in one week,and I had been waiting for years to finally see them! It was worth the wait!!! You can find all that is SAXON at http://www.saxon747.com/

Got to interview SAXON in the press tent!

Got to work on Nigel and Doug from SAXON!

The festival is over three days and this year 70 bands graced the four stages. There is the Black Stage that had bands like Napalm Death,Possesed,Lacuna Coil, and Dimmu Borgir. Then there was the True Metal Stage that had bands like Therion,Grave Digger,Blind Gaurdian, and Iced Earth. Then there was the Party Stage that I never got to because the fuckin mud was so bad over there, that had Black Dahlia Murder,Enslaved,Schandmaul,and Samael. There was the W.E.T. Stage in a tent that had a muddy mosh-pit and hosted bands like Mennen,Turisa's,Black Majesty, and 1349.They also had the Metal Battles there from bands from all over the world with new upcoming bands like the young band from Finnland called Sturm and Drang that has kids from 13-16 years old playing,that blew away most bands I have heard twice their age!
ICED EARTH!

Blind Guardian!

Dimmu Borgir!

Type O Negative's Kenny Hickey!!

I decided I wanted to experince this fest at least once in my life-time and it was set in stone when I met a girl on Myspace named Carola from Furth Germany that found me on Jorn Lande's page (we are both HUGE fans!!) She procceded to ask me if I wanted to come over there to see Wacken and she said she would be my tour-guide and let me stay with her and her family. I decided to get my ticket,quit my job,spend a shit-load of cash on a pro-camera and fly 10 hours to Germany and stay with a person I had never met. It was an adventure that was something I am not used to, but it all turned out for the good when we found we were a perfect match to go to this fest together.It was a 6 hour drive from Frankfurt to Hamburg! We went to the world famous

HEADBANGERS BALLROOM and met the main man, Otti!!

We drank and rocked out with fellow Metal-Heads and Bobby the Blitz from Overkill joined us!

We blasted the Metal all the way there and found that our nice little cottage that we rented was wonderful.
If you can rent a room or cottage for the fest,do it! Its cheap and you can find them on the internet.We paid 40 euro a day(about $22 a piece a nite for 5 days!) The only thing that sucks about going to western Europe is that our money isnt worth shit! I lost $300 on $1000 that I took due to the shitty exchange. So I had $700 to buy all my shit and eat for 16 days. Then the fest is $120 and the gas is steep!! They go by liters and it was about 1.30 euro per liter,which comes to around $8 to$9 a gallon!!! It cost me $80 to fill her small hatchback tank. Also the Audobahn just means freeway in German and you can go as fast as you want in most places but not all...read the rules before you drive there. Also ausfahrt means car-exit,its not the name of every city or town in Gemany like I thought,because of the signs that say that at every exit!
Some things you should know before going to Wacken...if you dont find a cottage or room to rent in one of the small villages all over the place near Wacken, you will be camping in a tent. There was probably 20-30,000 tents at the camping site. There was a lot of rain for two weeks before the show,so there was a lot of mud at the parking site. It was a huge pain getting there for the fans and the traffic was horrendous. I heard the jam was 8 hours for a normal 45 minute drive from Hamburg because of the problems with the mud and the parking. Most cars going to the fest have WOA stickers on them and you will know the fans by all the headbanging you see in the cars! People were just partying outside their cars while they were waiting for them to move!! It was like Heavy Metal Parking Lot on the Audobahn!!

The Mud!!

The mud was so bad at the fest site that they put hay all over the site to soak it up and it helped somewhat but it was like walking on jello sometimes...it was weird and scary. I thought I would lose my shoes at one time on the way over to see Blind Guardian.Was worth it except for seeing a chick taking a piss by the wall...ick! Oh yes,the toilets get bad! You can rent your own for $140 for three days but have your handy(cell) handy so they can call you for the reservation. We forgot ours and were gald when we saw the clean toilets at the press area! Thank God!
One thing that is great to know is..the German beer is so damn good and preservative free that you can drink the shit all day and nite and not get a hangover!! I didnt believe it until I felt it!! The Becks is 4.9% alcohol and its so much better over there..also do yourself a favor and get some Erdinger beer!Its the best tasting beer I have ever had! I basically drank beer about every day over there and felt fine every day!! Was killer! They dont sell regular bottled water over at the fest, but they have it elsewhere. They sell carbonated shit that sucks. Get your own and take it with you so you dont get dehydrated.

The Fest!!

We were very lucky to get backstage/press passes and we could VIP park (was $20 euro for the pass) right by the backstage door. The first day we walked like three miles in the rain to find the press area to get our passes. I had huge bleeding blisters the whole time because of that walk! We didnt know where to park but we didnt make that mistake twice. We got a ride to the fest site from a nice Greek guy named Stavros that had some KILLER Ouzo that was like FIRE! Thank God for him! When we got there we were so happy to see that we had access to clean toilets,a BBQ,a coffe shop, and COLD Becks Beer!!! Yay! So we go back and just mingle around and I find out that Saxon is doing a press interview and I have access. I actually get to ask Biff a few questions and he said they will be on a triple bill with two bands that they couldnt release to the public yet in the USA in january or Feburary!He said we Americans will be estatic to see that bill!
Guy sleepin in the hay! LOl!

Another guy playin in the hay!!

We walked around the fest in the hay,which people were actaully having a blast in,bought lots of Metal shirts in the 5 euro bin,shopped in the HUGE cd store and found hard to get in the USA cds, ate lecker (Yummy) stuffed ham and cheese pies,and drank lots of cold beer! The first day was rainy but the other two were like a hot day in California. People had tans and there was some sunburned people passed out in the hay! I got to see some cool bands I have never heard or seen before like Therion,Rage,Black majesty,Stratovarious, and Mennen. My Fave new band was RAGE who had a full orchestra playing onstage with them...when I asked the singer about the band he said they have been around over 25 years and have that many cds out! How could I have not have heard of them?? The shitty-ass american radio/media thats why! We have American Idol mentality...whats trendy for the day.Where's the loyalty? I have loved metal like Priest,Maiden and Saxon since I was a kid and I still buy their cds! They are still out there, you just have to look a little harder than your radio station people! There are tons of killer new bands that played too like In Flames,Lacuna Coil,and Dir en Grey. Then there were some old faves like Type-O-Negative,Dimmu Borgir,Icedearth,Immortal,Destruction,and Cannibal Corpse.

My new friend Carola and I !

There were so many bands playing at different times that I didnt even get to see a quater of them! Also all the stages go at the same time except for the Black and True Metal stages,because they were side by side. I thought it was funny that when In Flames was on one side all the people were going nuts over there and on the other side, the Cannibal Corpse people were sitting around just waiting. When Flames were between songs the Cannibal fans were like chanting CANNIBAL!!!.. it was weird! All these different metal fans coming together for the same reason, just different bands.
The best bands there for me was Saxon,Iced Earth,Blind Guardian,Dimmu Borgir,Type-O- Negative,Rage,Therion,Lacuna Coil,and Mennen.

Joss of Mennen!

There was a lot of bands I just didnt get to see due to they were playing at the same time as someone else I wanted to see. You really have to map it out to see every one you want and then you still may miss someone. I got to tell ya, I would rather be back in the press area instead of the actual fest area because of the cleanliness of it. There are some die-hard,hard core metal-heads that are out there in the muck and mire and they dont even give a shit about it. They are partying for three days,seeing tons of metal bands, and just being crazy as fuck because they can. I salute those fuckers for their bravery and just plain craziness. I couldnt be out there with them that much.I had the sanctuary of the press area and was able to hang out with some cool bands,fans,editors,photographers,managers,and reg people back there.Believe me that area was a party within itself. There was over 3000 people just hanging back there. There were full screen TV's so you can watch the fest. It was cool as shit! I still had to be in the huge ass crowd for the bands I wanted to see believe me but I braved it,but not without a cold Becks in my hand!

Becks stand with all kinds of Headbangers!

Crazy fans with sweet Astrid!

My new European friends!! Lol!

BYOE: Bring your own EVERYTHING,including the cart!!!

My review of the whole experience is this: A killer Festival for any fan of metal in the world!! It brings all kinds of the genre's together in the same place to just go crazy and drink and rock out and meet new people. The sound was incredible,the lights shows were insane,lots of pyro,and lots flat out METAL!It was the most twisted time I have ever had and getting to shoot in a photo-pit with about 80 photog's from all my fave magazines was crazy as hell!Most of the people I met were really friendly and a lot of them were nutty! The people were having the time of their lives! A lot of these people come every year and have the wristbands on their arm for years! These people are seriously die-hard metal-heads. They live it and breathe it..
Just like me...

The COVETED wristbands that wont come off unless you CUT them off!!

Next year...Wacken Open Air with Avantasia and IRON MAIDEN!!! Will you be there???

http://www.wacken.com/