Festival Reports
Finally! After several times having to postpone due to the pandemic, we have a sequel to 2019’s well received Hoarsefest, the small festival put together by the Oceanhoarse guys. A fest that heralds the local Finnish up-and-comers in the metal scene and provides clinics by renowned names from that same scene like… We sadly had to miss out on the first couple of bands, and Thy Row, but I’m pretty sure they all killed it!
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Steelchaos day two was clearly the main day for many people as it clearly drew the biggest crowd with a fantastic lineup from old school heavy metal to skull crushing death metal and to good ol’ Finnish black metal. Even though the more classic heavy metal acts all delivered, it was very clear that still this festivals target audience enjoys more of the extreme music when the biggest hordes gathered during the more extreme metal bands. The festival area concept still worked well with minimal lines to get beer or food but the toilet situation was a complete disaster when men’s inside bathrooms were out of commission, that’s really the only complaint about the arrangement of the festival, just sort your shit out, quite literally when it comes to proper toilets for drunk metalheads to do their needs in.
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After the glorious and epic return of Steelfest last spring (check out the reports here, here, here and here), now it’s time for its little brother (or sister if you so will) Steelchaos! This would be the first edition that takes place with a proper live audience at the “new” location. And on top of that, there is a stellar line-up again, with compared to the last edition of Steelfest, way more variety and room for other genres like death metal and traditional heavy/speed metal. And with the cherry on top, the Finland exclusive show of Venom Inc. celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Venom classic ‘Black Metal’.
But that was for the next day. First we traveled down to Hyvinkää, to the all too familiar Steelfest grounds where the indoors venue would be the place for Steelchaos from now on. With on the Friday a lovely line-up with Finnish natives Satan’s Fall, Malicious, Flame and Barathrum, topped off with the Austrian black/death metal maniacs Belphegor and Swedish melodic death/black metal legends Sacramentum, we got a proper start of 2 days of underground metal madness!
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The last day of Graspop 2022 was the best day for me. So many old school rock bands and my favorite band: The Offspring. The whole day was filled with excitement. Plus, the weather was also less burning. A little breeze of wind and a few drops of rain were welcome after the scorching heat from the day before.
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On the 3rd day of Graspop 2022 we got to enjoy a lot of classic rock bands. Bands that are often forced to play their most famous songs last or else the crowd will get angry. Bands like that. You know them, even if you think you don’t. On this day it was really hot, up to about 31 degrees. Scorching, but free water cooled us luckily somewhat.
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Heaving been sick the previous days and having to skip the first day sort of (except for some live streams), I was so happy I finally got to the holy grounds of Graspop Metal Meeting. It’s been long enough, having to wait for 2 years, I’m not going to miss it a 3rd time. So I took my stuff and got over there. A bit of a hot day already, but definitely still doable. So glad I made it to the holy grounds.
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While I was sick at home, Graspop Metal Meeting had already started. I couldn’t just ignore the fact that Graspop was happening on the other side of the country. Luckily, Graspop does live streams for a lot of bands, and I was able to view some from the comfort of my couch. These are my experiences of the first festival day, “from home edition”:
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Day 4 and the end is in sight, just a few more hours to go!
Time to take stock -this festival has been brilliant for a number of reasons;
a) The organisation has been superb. I have had no problems getting in or out of either the main building or the smaller venues inside. In most cases the bands have gone onstage and finished at the advertised times. It has also been good that you can come and go as you please, food and drink is obviously cheaper outside the venue.
b) No problems with security at all that I have seen. I know that some people are moaning about it but I think security has been great.
c) Blackpool itself, not a great place, but any locals I have come into contact with have been really nice
d) The people attending have been so good natured. Everyone is just here for the music and a great time. I did think the majority of attendees would bold men, but there are all sorts attending. Good to see so many South Americans that punk really means something to.
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Day 3 dawns and it’s all beginning to catch up with me. The late nights drinking into the early hours are beginning to take its toll. The atmosphere in the pubs is really good though so you just get caught up in it all. You are having such a great time, especially as this hasn’t happened for a couple of years, you just want to savour it all.
After grabbing breakfast it’s time to take my usual walk to Club Casbah.
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Up bright and early and it’s into day 2 of rebellion Festival in Blackpool. It’s a nice day, so it’s off to find something to eat before starting off at Club Casbah again with Migrana Social from Mexico.
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