Photo Reports

Friday. Day 2. 8:00 in the morning. The campsite is awakened by German Schlager music. And bad weather: it’s raining. The Eifel region reveals its face. Last year, we were baked by the heat for 3 consecutive days – this year, it’s cool and wet. Plenty of rain. So, you sneak through the rain to the secret festival breakfast spot: Café Zur Schönen Aussicht. Small but delightful, they always offer an ‘All-you-can-eat’ breakfast buffet and unlimited coffee during the festival. The owners, who help at the festival food stand in the evenings, serve coffee, juice, and rolls in the morning.

Strengthened, you wait in your camping shelter, watching the thorough watering from above. But the rock gods have mercy, and the rain stops as the concerts begin.

The second day kicked off with last year’s winner of the TollRock talent competition, which always takes place on every festival Saturday: BASEMENTROCK, a local band.

Following them was another local rising star who performed at Wacken in 2023: HOSTAGE. Metalcore with groove and a touch of emo best describes their music. Their dedicated local fan base demanded their appearance, filling the infield with great energy.

One of the festival’s distinctive features is its diverse and stylistically varied band selection. This was evident in the following gig by CLAWFINGER. These Swedish rap metal veterans, with 30 years in the business, have likely played every renowned festival worldwide and collaborated with big names. Except for ACE OF BASE, their Swedish neighbors, with whom they strictly refused to work. The audience’s good vibes reached new heights, and lead singer Tell Zak had a blast trying on almost every headgear from the crowd, including the ‘one-eyed sunglasses’ found on stage the day before.

A radical shift followed: It was time for U.D.O. Udo Dirkschneider, founding vocalist of the band Accept, is a true German metal legend. His unmistakable voice remains strong even at 70+. Since 2023, he’s back with another ACCEPT founding member, Peter Baltes on bass, and U.D.O. has unwaveringly followed their path since 1997. Their catchy metal, with hymn-like choruses, compels the audience to sing along. Don’t expect stage antics from Mr. Dirkschneider; his vocal and musical prowess more than compensate.

The grand finale of day two was BIZKIT PARK. These Belgians from the Eifel’s ‘neighborhood’ rocked hard. Their musical name says it all – they cover everything in the Nu Metal genre. A spectacular light show accompanied their non-stop movement on stage – jumping, dancing, and giving it their all. The brief rain shower went unnoticed; the spectacle was breathtaking. It’s no wonder this band quickly became an act that conquered the biggest festival stages, including their own country’s biggest metal festival Graspop Metal Meeting and later this summer Alcatraz Festival!

A fitting end to day two.

Great things cast their shadows ahead. The 20th edition of the TollRock Festival in Schmidt, in the Eifel region, was scheduled for this year. What better way can a festival distinguish itself than through such a long history? On top of that, this year there was an extra day, and a very special first Thursday evening was imminent.

Before the enjoyment, the gods placed the queue for the campsite. But since the whole village is involved in the festival, it also happens that a resident turns his garage driveway into a stand for beer and grilled sausage (sausage €3, beer €2). The entire thing maintains its familial and non-commercial character. And by Thursday noon, the campsite was already full. Through slight changes within the festival this year, it was also possible to get a few more spectators on site and allow around 4000 spectators. Everything was well organized, running smoothly and all guests had loads of fun. The mood was simply outstanding. Outstandingly happy, peaceful and heart-warming.

The honour of the opening gig went to BOOZE AND GLORY. The West Ham fans and musicians belonging to London’s Oi-Skin scene conjured up a hefty portion of punk rock at its finest on stage and invited everyone to sing along for the first time. In this way, they paved the way for the main act of the first day: H-BLOCKX.

Their album ‘Time to Move’ turns 30 years old this year. It’s time to blast out the classic live on stage, along with many other hits from the band. Always straight in your face with full force. No holding back, no braking, circle pit, and off you go. With hits like ‘Risin’ High’, ‘The Power’, and ‘Ring Of Fire’, these musicians from Münsterland have not only made a name for themselves in Germany but also internationally. The audience knew no restraint until the last note from the speakers.

Simply put: A successful kick-off to TollRock’s anniversary. And a good kick-off to party on at the camp site!

Fully packed room to welcome North Americans, Ice Nine Kills (INK). The band, which presents a performance based on horror films in its shows, has a large legion of fans in Germany and put on a show that lived up to expectations.

Opening the night are two high-quality German proposals. From Fall to Spring mixes alternative metal with touches of electronica and rap; and Ghostkid, a project led by Sebastian „Sushi“ Biesler, who was part of Electric Callboy before they renamed themselves from Eskimo Callboy.

Day two started with ice-cream and Brother Firetribe. It almost looked like they would literally ‘Bring On The Rain‘ but luckily the clouds past with just a few drops and Brother Firetribe were able to ‘Rock in the City‘. All in all a good start for the day.

Next, as promised, Marko Hietala returned to the Tuhdimmat Tahdit stage once more. This time with Tarot, the first of many bands that day, that I had never managed to see before. Unfortunately, due to some technical problems, their set had to be shortened a bit. But nonetheless, it was great to finally see these pioneers of Finnish metal live.

Just as on the day before, the energy level increased drastically with the third band, in this case Huora, another one of those bands that I hadn’t managed to catch live yet. The punk band around Anni Lötjönen easily managed to get the crowd moving.

We’re staying with the Punk theme for a bit longer. The positioning of Klamydia right after Huora (Whore in English) almost seems like a bad joke. What’s not a joke is the crazy amount of seagulls that, almost like vultures, keep stalking their prey in the food court of the festival. Take your eyes or your hands off your food, and it’s gonna be gone.

After fighting off the hungry birds, it’s time for Suburban Tribe to enter the stage. After 13 years, these legends of Finnish alternative metal returned just a bit earlier this summer. Singer Ville Tuomi seemed really enthusiastic to be back on stage in this line up, the rest of the band appeared less energetic.

One band that I can never have quite enough of is Sonata Arctica. Frontman Tony Kakko is just such a great showman that no matter how often I see them, they never disappoint to entertain me thoroughly. Sonata Arctica mainly focused their set on their newest album ‘Clear Cold Beyond‘ with a total of four of their ten songs.

Last, but not least, it’s Apulanta‘s turn. The slightly risky choice to put this little softer band as headliner seemingly paid off. There is still a big crowd gathered on the festival grounds. They appear to have adjusted their setlist a bit to better fit into the setting of a metal festival. The seagulls are still hungrily hovering all over the festival area, but that actually fits very nicely to Apulantas ‘Lokin päällä lokki‘.

At the end of the festival I can certainly say that this was a very well organised event, without any major problems and even the times of waiting in line were rather nice and short. I would have appreciated a couple of bands that aren’t playing here this often, but that’s only a small critic. I’m sure I’m gonna return to this festival again in the future.

Tuhdimmat Tahdit decided to really switch things up this year. With the most obvious change being the entirely Finnish line up this year, which I must say was missing a little bit of something extra in my opinion.

The other big change this year was the switch from two stages to one. After having numerous troubles on the smaller stage last year, I think it made a lot of sense to just focus on one stage this time around. I also found the festival day to be much more relaxed this way. Because of the half an hour breaks, there was enough time to just hang out and chill with friends between bands, which in my opinion is just as important part of festivals then watching the bands. I did hear some other people complain about his thought, so I guess this depends on personal preferences.

Lastly to still have enough time to fit a reasonable amount of bands the starting time of the festival had to be pushed forward to 13 o’clock, which could have been a problem, but I guess due to the new date in July enough people were on their holiday, and therefore it didn’t seem to affect the huge crowed that was lining up in front of the gets to get in right when the doors open.

Kotiteollisuus started the day under the cover of the dark clouds hovering oppressively over the festival grounds. But while the weather looks like a storm is brewing, they still managed to bring some sunshine to my mind. Somehow their easy going and seemingly not too serious performance turned out to be a great way to start the day.

Just before Marko Hietala and his band enter the stage, the clouds open their gates as well, but luckily, as it turns out, they don’t hold up to their appearance at all. After just a few songs the rain is over and while the clouds keep retuning we get to enjoy the rest of the festival with dry feet. Other than the clouds, Marko and his band can absolutely hold up to their image. They even blessed us by playing some relatively new music in the form of ‘Left on Mars‘ which had been released in spring of this year.  At the end of the set, Marko Hietala just says “Well, see you tomorrow” with a pleasant little smile on his face.

Next up is Lost Society, who bring a whole different of level of energy to the festival. Samy Elbanna never fails to get the crowd fired up, and so not too surprisingly some pits start forming in front of the stage. I’m getting too old for that much action, and so I use the chance to check out the new festival layout and all that it has to offer. One of the new things is a cocktail bar with some comfy looking beach chairs, and I can’t resist trying some Piña Colada Spritz.

Before long, it’s already time for one of Finland’s legendary bands: Stratovarius. Who played a good mix between their most famous hits and more recent material.

Afterwards it’s time to go back to Finnish with some good old thrash metal from Mokoma and later Stam1na. Both of these offered a good chance to release some more energy, as they make sitting still nearly impossible.

The day is starting to feel long, but there’s no rest for the wicked and as soon as Amorphis started playing all tiredness is blown away. There’s no big surprises in the setlist, but that isn’t necessary at all anyways. They end day 1 more than properly, with one hit after another. When ‘The Bee’ can be heard, I know it’s time to go home and rest up for the second day of Finnish festival madness.

For more than 40 years, AGNOSTIC FRONT brings finest New York Hardcore to the concert hall stages and festivals around the globe. Europe and its loyal NY HC fan base is a reason to tour annually. This summer, the five piece Roger Miret (vocals), Vinnie Stigma (lead guitar and original founding member), Craig Silverman (guitar), Mike Gallo (Bass) and Danny Lamanga (drums) hit European venues on their ‘Urban Decay Tour 2024’. Opening date was a totally sold-out gig at Café Central in Weinheim, DE.

Before the NYC veterans take the stage, one of Germany’s hardcore veteran bands enters the stage to open the night: 47 Million Dollars. Bringing awesome hardcore music with German lyrics for already 25 years. The venue got hot and the few doors and windows were opened after their appearance to cool down the atmosphere a little.

There is not much to say about the following: you get what you expect. Finest hardcore music, circle pit from the first tune of the opening song ‘The Eliminator’, stage diving, crowd-surfing and sweat, sweat, sweat. These guys know how to rock a venue down to the bare foundations. The audience got in the mood immediately, turning the hall into a sauna with incredible humidity. But you will see no holding back until the last tune of their more than 20 songs set-list including hits like ‘Gotta go’, ‘Old New York’ or ‘Victim in Pain’ is out of the PA.

They will keep on touring until early July, it’s recommended to go and see them if you can!

A sold out On The Rocks truly got warmed up for the upcoming Tuska Festival when the legendary Suburban Tribe played their first show in over 13 years! Preparing for the summer festivals, Suburban Tribe is in top-notch condition and for sure a must-see during any summer festival you might be attending. The set consisted of all the classic songs you’d wanna hear and even an appearance by the original vocalist, mr. Tuska himself Jouni Markkanen busting out some old Suburban Tribe tunes for the old school audience.

In the beginning of June, the madness and circus that is Metallica touring the world with their “M72 Tour” took over Helsinki for the weekend with the usual 2 shows they’ve been playing in every city they’ve landed. Perfect timing for Apocalyptica who had just released their “Apocalyptica Plays Metallica Vol. 2” album, the follow-up to their legendary debut album that got them to where they are right now. And kudos to their management and marketing team, because organizing and booking a show where the iconic Finnish band plays their new album with Metallica covers in the middle of the Metallica weekend in Helsinki is simply genius. The show was everything we’ve come to expect from Apocalyptica, and the Metallica songs played by 3 cellos really strike that youth nostalgia chord within me. Of course, it would have been great to see the Metallica dudes pop by for a little guest appearance, and I bet that a lot of people there were kind of hoping that, but these musical wonders don’t really need such gimmicks to deliver a wonderfully captivating show. Absolutely amazing!

We’re always up for a good black metal gig, and when we saw that the popular Danish project Afsky was going to set foot on Finnish shores to do a small co-headline tour with the just as popular locals Havukruunu, we just knew we had to be there. And while we were of course expecting a class act, we were really surprised by how the night went like and how the atmosphere felt. With all 3 bands, Afsky & Havukruunu with openers Qwälen, came some really intense and relentless shows as you’d expect from a black metal gig, but at the same time, I don’t think we’ve ever attended a black metal show where everyone felt as welcome as here. The bands are not afraid to express their dislike towards a certain faction on the far-right and speak up about certain social issues, causing the crowd to exist of not just your standard black metal fans, but people of many walks of life. We saw for instance a whole bunch of people who portrayed their affiliation to LGBTQ+ quite openly and proud, and we can only praise bands that actually make those people feel comfortable enough to be out and in the open!

Music has the power to unite people of all ages, Steve ‘n’ Seagulls demonstrated that very clearly during their gig at G Livelab in Tampere. The youngest fan in the crowd hasn’t even started school yet, while the oldest arrived at the gig on his mobility scooter. Yet we all got along well and the only thing running hot was the temperature, that almost turned the venue into a big sauna.

I highly recommend catching Steve ‘n’ Seagulls during their ‘More then a Tour’ tour for an evening of light-hearted fun.