Another nostalgia moment for me to start my last day at Alcatraz. Soil was a regular presence in my playlists when I was a teenager/early twenties, and ‘Halo‘ is still one of my favorite tracks to this day. Getting to see these Americans take over the main stage in the blistering sun was an absolutely great start. Despite the heat their energy was unmatched, and having Ryan McCombs solidly back into his frontman position was probably the best choice they could have done about a decade ago, because he’s damn impressive. And there’s something about him grabbing on that old school microphone while belting his lines. Greatness!

I had a taste for something properly old school, so off I went to the Helldorado Stage to catch the Eternal Champion show. Epic heavy metal with sword and sorcery high fantasy themes and vibes that absolutely kills. Vocalist Jason starts off the show with a chain mail hood, adding some mystery to the show. As soon as the riffs started pouring from the speakers, the crowd simply went wild. It was a killer set that would satisfy anyone with an old school flavor, the future of traditional heavy metal is ensured with acts like these!

One of the top acts of the modern metal scene right now, and kind of a frontrunner, is most definitely Jinjer. And looking at the amount of people who showed up in front of the main stage on this sunny day, we’re not the only ones thinking that. As always, this band brings a near perfect show from start to finish with the highly impressive talents of every single member on full show. Tatiana has a crazy vocal range and commanding stage presence that covers a wide range of emotions. And while the rest of the band might be a little less in the spotlight, what they manage to do with their instruments live, blows us away every time. And getting to hear one of their new tracks live as one of the first ones, it sounds really promising for the upcoming album, a real aggressive track that was! We just can’t get enough of Jinjer, they’ve been blowing up much deservingly so.

A Finnish band on the main stage again? One of the “big 4” of folk metal? Yeah, sign us up! Korpiklaani took over the Prison Stage to have an afternoon folk metal party that left no one in front of them untouched. The band was clearly having tons of fun, and the crowd were matching the vibe. We did miss some of their party classics, but at least tracks like ‘A Man With A Plan’ and closer ‘Vodka‘ came to pass that made the festival ground erupt into full on party mode! Always a delight to see these folk metal legends at work live!

From legends in one genre, off to legends in another one. Swedish melodic death metal icons Dark Tranquillity took over the Swamp Stage and blew us away with another great show as they always do. The whole band is a pleasure to see at work on a stage, but especially Mikael Stanne is something else. The fun and happiness radiating from him when he’s performing in front of this fans is incredibly infectious and gets to me every time. And with their new album almost being out, we got a nice little taste of some of their new music live.

Yes, the rock icon that is Gene Simmons was playing a show on the main stage with his solo live band. And yes, from what I’ve heard, it was much more fun than most people expected. But there was simply no way in hell that I was going to skip seeing Baroness live again for that. There is something about a Baroness show that is food for my soul, like a healing ritual, and I wouldn’t miss on that for all the money in the world. John Baizley is a giant on stage and somehow I always feel a connection when he’s throwing all of his emotions and energy into the performance. And guitarist Gina Gleason is a simply a force to see at work on stage, what an energy. Again one of the top moments of the weekend for me personally.

Another great Helldorado Stage moment, having Danko Jones put down one of the best old school rock ‘n’ roll shows of the weekend. No muss, no fuss, just straight-up hard rock’n’roll from start to finish with one of the most entertaining frontmen in the business. Whenever Danko starts rambling in between songs, you know he’ll get the crowd in the palm of his hand laughing pretty soon. And the music is damn good as well! I’ve been listening to these guys for probably almost 2 decades, and they never disappoint!

Last band of 2024 on the main stage! The organization opted for the modern metal/metalcore giants Architects, and damn, what a good choice that was! They kicked off covering the sky and crowd in red confetti, to then set the stage ablaze with some of the biggest pyro of the weekend. These guys have been going at it for 2 decades, and it doesn’t like there is any slowing down in sight. They recently called out their toxic fans with the track ‘Seeing Red’, being one of the harshest tracks in a long time, sarcastically asking “Are you happy now?” after some killer breakdown. And yes, I can say that we’re happy, what an epic show and end of the weekend was that!

I wasn’t done completely yet, I went back to the Helldorado Stage one last time to catch me some Clutch live. These stoner rockers are always a pure delight to see on stage, especially with their frontman Neil Fallon constantly connecting with the crowd, pulling weird faces and seemingly having the best time of his life. Every single Clutch show blows me away again and gets me in a damn good mood, no matter the time, no matter the place. What a fun way to say bye for now to the Helldorado stage that I frequented quite a lot this year!

On the Swamp Stage, the very last band playing there this year was Opeth. Sadly they were playing at the same time of Clutch, so I thought I was going to miss most of it. Turns out they experienced some technical issues and started much much later than anticipated. So I actually got to see most of their show after all. After having seen them at Tuska earlier this summer, I already knew to expect that old school set of some of their fan’s favorite materials from the time they were proper progressive death metal. And yet again we got that, but in my opinion even more. The show at Tuska was great, but there is something special about seeing Opeth and hearing their old school tracks in a dark environment with their full light show on display. What a banger atmosphere and show that was, top moment of the weekend!