Helldorado!
The first edition was an absolute smash
hit! Surrounded by scantily clad women breathing fire, wrestling their asses off and throwing
knives; the entire outlook of the festival is grandiose. Much more
carnival and much more colorful than the already legendary Speedfest
was. Let’s hope this will have just as a massive run as the festival
that came before. You could just as easily spend time watching the
rock’n roll wrestling show; messing around with the crazy Mambo Kurt as
you could be drinking yourself silly watching the most amazing bands.
What a line-up!
Komatsu
The majestic Duel had the honor of kicking off this first edition. Sure,
they entered the stage to just a handful of crazies in front of the
stage. But soon; the Cobra stage was being watched by loads of people.
And Duel did right by them. What a set and what a sound! A new fan for
life was born with every song they played. This much is sure. When you
play your home town it might be easy to let go of the reigns and slack
off a bit. Komatsu is never one to cruise through their set; they had to
pound everyone into submission with a very heavy and sludgy set. The
first gig on the Tarantula stage was perhaps plagued with a few sound
issues. On the other hand, it’s freaking Komatsu and they will level
anything that stands in their way!
Dead Lord
Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown brought us back to the Cobra stage
to hear their eighties reminiscent, southern tinged rock brought forth
with sheer perfection. It’s Aerosmith and Guns ‘n Roses; but different
and more bluesy. We loved it! But not enough to keep us from heading
back to the Tarantula stage again to hear the Swedes from Dead Lord hit
us over the head with their Lizzyness hardrock. A quick hamburger before
we had to see what kind of ritual La Muerte had in store for us. And an
unholy ritual it was! Candles, incense and an intense wall of smoke
masked the band as they threw us their wicked rock. Sure, there were
some jokes here and there about the burlap sack the vocalist was
wearing. But hey, it’s almost 5th of December over here…
Kid Congo
Tigre Blanco and his gypsy soul brought us down to earth and gave us
some air to breathe, and we must confess, chat with long lost buddies.
(Hope you got home safe Schnaps!) One of the best shows of the night
started right after this. Monomyth, now with Boudewijn Bonebakker
(Gingerpig, Gorefest), gave us a grand adventure. Can you imagine,
thousands of speedrockers and drunken crazies all standing still with
mouths wide open listening in awe to all the spacey goodness Monomyth
brings. Well, it happened, they mesmerized the entire venue. Wild man
Kid Congo and his Pink Monkey Birds then turned everyone out and on back
on the Tarantula stage. He is without a doubt a true legend, and even
though it was clearly not everyone was immediately smitten with the
maestro. The ones that were saw a wild and wonderful character creating
an entirely new universe!
Imperial State Electric was perhaps the least interesting
show of the night. Unfortunately, every song they sent out into the
venue from the Lion stage seemed to be bland and drowned out in fact, by
all the screams and shouts in the crowd. And they were not shouting at
or rooting for the band. But at each other; acting crazy and seemingly
crazier by the minute. Which we all know would only grow louder and
weirder as the night progressed. We should go back to Birth of Joy who
were tearing it up on the other stage. But as mentioned before; you meet
a lot of old friends on Helldorado and you make even more new ones!
Grin! Another one of those bands that delivered one of the best shows of
Helldorado was: Orange Goblin. Massive! Truly and insanely massive!
Unfortunately, we had to miss the last part because of a scheduled
interview with Red Fang. Which went, let’s say, okay?! Grin…
Red Fang
We caught the last part Nashville Pussy and got liquored up to watch the
Red Fang rampage after that. And yes, there they were, creating the
largest pit up till then. Especially when Wires and Prehistoric Dogs hit
the crowd. As if all those older dudes and few women had been waiting
until that moment to go absolutely berserk. What a wicked set! After
which the real shit took hold and the drinking got out of control and
sent a whole freaking lot of us through a ghostly funhouse (a real one
yes.) and we got out just in time for yet another wonderful show by
powerhouse Triggerfinger. And that was the only freakin sad part about
Helldorado. That the fun had to stop and that we now must wait a whole
freaking year for the next edition!
Photo's by Dave van Hout, Jelle de Ru & Josanne van der Heijden