IT'S A DREAM THAT CAN BE FOR AMON AMARTH AT WACKEN AS BRITISH LION ROAR LOUD
Wacken Open Air 2017, Saturday
7th August 2017
Wacken Saturday, the final day of festivities, turned out to be the best of the lot with several stellar acts putting on impeccable performances as the sun finally decided to make a welcome appearance.
Possessed opened up the main stages and not only warmed up the audience, they almost set fire to them with an utterly blistering display. The Californians included two new songs in their set, 'Shadow Cult' and 'Abandoned', which both went down extremely well.
Claudeous Creamer told us afterwards that he was thrilled to have played Wacken for the very first time and on this showing, he'll be experiencing Metal's Holy Ground many more times.
Jennifer Haben of Beyond The Black was equally thrilled with her band's display and her compelling style of symphonic power Metal deservedly gained many more followers today.
Powerwolf put on possibly the best show of their career with a meaty showing of ferocity and panache. We've never heard the band sounding so direct and in-your-face; they simply captivated today and their day was complete as Osnabrück FC matched the German power Metallers' own victory. We knew this because of the raucous football chants emanating from Powerwolf's dressing room while the match was on.
Alice Cooper also produced a career-topping performance as he rolled back the years to show exactly how a theatrical rock'n'roll show should be done. With an absolutely enthralling display of true showmanship, Alice reaffirmed his status as one of the true all-time greats.
Alice brought all the toys with him for possibly the biggest show of this current tour and hit after hit was rapturously received by a grateful audience who revelled in the whole occasion.
Alice finished his superb set with a cover of Motörhead standard 'Ace Of Spades' before Wacken Open Air founder Thomas Jensen addressed the crowd and announced that the cover of David Bowie's 'Heroes' that was recorded during the 'Bad Magic' sessions would be the Wacken 2018 Hymn. You can see more about that and watch the global premiere of 'Heroes' right here.
While Motörhead held the Harder Stage captive, something ominous was stirring behind the curtain covering the Faster Stage and it came to be that Amon Amarth added their illustrious name to the list of most memorable shows ever in Wacken's twenty-eight year history.
The Vikings not only made the ground shake but ploughed it a new furrow with their most epic production to date and the most accomplished display they have ever produced.
There was a bonus too as Doro Pesch joined the Swedes onstage for a superb rendition of 'A Dream That Cannot Be'. This was not the very first time Amon Amarth had played the song Doro sang on latest album 'Jomsviking' but it was an extremely rare live airing as it cannot be performed without the Metal Queen. A glorious moment.
Steve Harris headlined Wacken 2016 with Maiden and this year he again drew huge attention with British Lion who are impressing everywhere they play.
Steve's offshoot band were superb on the Headbangers Stage tonight as they blasted their way through a setlist packed with yet to be fully discovered gems. These songs have huge depth and meaning and with sound quality to match tonight, British Lion had no trouble winning over a curious audience and ended up as one of the big highlights of the whole festival.
Steve Harris told us after the performance that he loves the challenge of taking British Lion around the festival circuit's smaller stages and his drive and enthusiam is compelling and infectious.
Kreator made a magnificent job of following such a huge cast list but that should be no surprise as they are another band who are currently sounding better than they have ever done.
That is down to the utter quality of the new material from their new 'Gods Of Violence' album which has surpassed all of their previous works and this was a performance that did those tunes complete justice.
It was left to Subway To Sally to close proceedings on what was almost certainly our greatest ever festival experience and the German Folk Metal originators made this prestigious Wacken slot their own with a masterful display that suitably showcased their pedigree.
For those unaware, Subway To Sally are absolutely huge in their homeland but barely heard of outside of it due to their lyrics being exclusively German.
The end of a rousing set brought with it the Wacken 2017 outro at 3.00am and then that was it. Relative silence descended but the memories will last forever.
Already announced for Wacken 2018 are Nightwish, Running Wild (exclusive), Arch Enemy, Dirkschneider, Doro (Special Anniversary Show), In Extremo, Sepultura, Amorphis, Watain, Epica, Knorkator, Belphegor, Firewind and Deserted Fear.
There are many more announcements to come before the bill is complete and we'll be first to the punch in the UK with them, as usual.
Will Steve Harris make it a hat-trick of consecutive Wacken appearances? Stay posted to MetalTalk to find out over the coming weeks. In the meantime there are still many more complete performances from this year to hit YouTube and we'll be featuring some of those in the coming days as we recap on what was one amazing weekend.
Now it's forward and onward to Bloodstock. Our live reporting of Britain's best Metal fest starts on Thursday evening. Prost!
Tickets for Wacken 2018 are on sale right now. Click the banner to get yours. Click here to check out the official Wacken travel partners who offering transport to W:O:A.
And in case you missed them, here's the recaps of Wacken Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
