The Magic of the Magic Circle Festival 2009

This is my review of the Magic Circle Festival 2009. Pictures will be added later.

Death to all infidels!

At Thursday morning I took the train to Copenhagen airport for the second time in two weeks (the other flight was scheduled to the Norway Rock Festival) and now it was time to go to Frankfurt and the Magic Circle Festival in Loreley, Germany.

When I arrived at the airport in Frankfurt I waited for some time for Erman from Norway to arrive so we could go together to the festival. We spent some time at the airport before the train left for St. Goarshausen and we brought some nice liquid so we could start the party on the train. That led to that we both was quite drunk when we arrived to the festival, but it was a lot of fun on the way.

We got a ride with a Brother from the train station to the camping grounds (thank you!) and when I entered the camping site I immediately saw a Swedish tent which was exactly the same as mine. So I thought this is where I’ll put my tent and we later was quite a lot of Swedish people in that area. It was fun to see so many Swedes there, I actually got surprised because I didn’t think there was going to be so many from Sweden that I met.

When I had put up my tent the clock was near 17:00 and it was time for the HOUSE OF DEATH PARTY (the official MANOWAR forum party) which was organized by Mr. Metal himself, Udo Sapper and Tina. Thank you for making this possible! It was awesome to meet so many friends from before and to meet friends and family that you only knew from the forum. Even though I met so many new faces, it was like we had known each other for years. The meeting between Brothers and Sisters from all over the world is the - except for the MANOWAR show - the ultimate highlight of the Magic Circle Festival. I could see MANOWAR in Finland, Norway, Spain, France or wherever - but the Magic Circle Festival brings together my family from all over the world which makes it an unique experience and something to remember for the rest of your life. I think Joey DeMaio is determined to bring Magic Circle Festival to the world forever - In one form or another - and I’m eternally thankful to him for making it possible and to bring together fans from all over the world. The Magic Circle Festival is not about MANOWAR or any other bands - it’s all about the fans!

The House of Death party was great and I personally don’t have many pictures from the party but there’s a lot of them on the official forum. I went to bed (after too many beers) somewhere around 4 in the morning.

The Friday was the official opening of the festival and I got up around 12 to get some breakfast together with my Brothers and Sisters. After Mr. Metal’s inspiring welcome to the festival, I met up with Susanne from the MCM who are organizing the ASGARD SAGA, to help her out with handing out flyers and tell people about the project between MANOWAR and Wolfgang Hohlbein, and so I did for almost two hours. I also got the chance to say hello to Wolfgang and to speak with him and his agent. Really cool! I’m so looking forward to the upcoming book by him, as I think MANOWAR’s music and his texts will complement each other in a great way. It’s just the beginning of the ASGARD SAGA and I think it has some great potential to become something really big. Be sure that you are logged onto www.asgard-saga.com to follow the news and to become a part of the community. The next release of the ASGARD SAGA will be MANOWAR’s new full length album “HAMMER OF THE GODS”(expected winter 2009) followed by a book written by Wolfgang (expected spring 2010).

The House of Death party had given me such a hangover that I had to get some sleep in the afternoon and when I woke up, I headed down for the festival grounds. To my surprise, I heard “Warriors of the World United” blasting through the PA and it turned out that MANOWAR was doing their sound check, which was open for all who wanted to hear! Obviously I had missed the rest of the sound check but it was cool anyway.

Friday evening was absolutely beautiful and I spent some time on the festival grounds, having a beer and just enjoying the amazing scenery around the Loreley. The party in the evening was naturally a bit more calm than the night before, for obvious reasons…… I had a great time with old and new friends, just sitting down, relaxing and having a beer and just talking about everything.

When I woke up on Saturday it was finally the day that we all had been waiting for. MANOWAR was scheduled to hit the main stage around 9.30 in the evening. It became a long day with only the show in mind…. The other bands that were playing during the day was nothing for me, but to tell from the festival grounds there was a lot of people enjoying the music during the day. I went between the festival grounds and the camping area during the day and spending time with my friends.

Just before MANOWAR was scheduled to hit the stage, I found a good spot a bit left to the stage, right in front of the fence. It was great to see a lot of my friends who brought the ULTIMATE FAN PACKAGE to have an awesome view between the stage and the fence. It must have been such an amazing experience when they played “Father” and Eric was sitting on a pedestal just next to them. After the classic “Ben Hur” intro (and one of my favorite parts of the show: seeing Joey run to the drum kit to count in…) and “MANOWAR”, they immediately started playing BLOOD OF MY ENEMIES and the crowd went completely nuts! The band had such an energy and having the audience so close in their faces made it a special night. After BROTHERS OF METAL (pt 1) they continued with CALL TO ARMS and the crowd once again went beserk…. Eric was in such great shape and having an awesome time up there on the stage. BLOOD OF MY ENEMIES and CALL TO ARMS was two of my favorites this night since there was such an energy around the two songs.

And then there’s those great moments of the shows that you never forget (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcjLPXd048o). KINGS OF METAL kicked off and Eric was giving so much energy, that he completely lost it when some girl threw her bra up on the stage. When Karl started to play his solo, Eric continued singing on the last verse of the song, and he just continued and didn’t notice that he had made a mistake…. This led to that the song got completely fucked up but it was so much fun and Eric just laughed at it afterwards…. I think everyone got a great laugh from it and it’s such experiences which gives a show some personality. I still get a good laugh from remembering Karl’s face when Eric just continues to sing next to him when he’s in the middle of the solo… Hehe.

The speeches in the show was very short - Joey held a short and concise speech about that he wasn’t happy with the Loreley organization. There wasn’t any people brought on stage and I think it’s the first time in a very long time they played THE GODS MADE HEAVY METAL only the band on stage. I liked that they kept it short between songs because it made much of the energy stay in the show. Joey did a great bass solo (perhaps not musically or technically) but in the way only he can do it - going totally berserk scratching the bass against the lights and amplifiers. It felt like he did it to prove his point for the speech, that he wasn’t satisfied with Loreley.

They played KILL WITH POWER and HAIL AND KILL and so far it was the same set list as the rest of the shows this summer. But instead of playing BATTLE HYMN and THE CROWN AND THE RING, the band ended the 2-hour show by playing the new EP; THUNDER IN THE SKY, LET THE GODS DECIDE, DIE WITH HONOR and GOD OR MAN.

An amazing show was finished and I’m proud that became my 10th MANOWAR show and I hope that I will be able to see them for at least another ten times. My dream is to see them in South America with all the crazy fans, and in the United States in packed, smaller venues. Let’s see what happens next year when the new album has been released.

I was exhausted after the show, said hello to my friends and got my self a beer, and then I went to bed.

After breakfast on Sunday morning, I began to pack my stuff and headed together with Erman to St. Goarshausen where we took the train to Weisbaden where we changed train to Frankfurt airport. At Weisbaden, we met Joro and his Bulgarian friends together with Mervi, who also was heading for the airport. We spoke about the show and shared our experiences and then had a lot of waiting on the airport until it finally was time to say goodbye.
I arrived at home around 10.30 in the evening, exhausted, tired but very, very happy about what I had been experienced the last days.

Now I’m having a week vacation to relax and reload my batteries before I start to work again.

I want to thank everyone who makes the Magic Circle Festival into just that…… MAGIC!

Thanks to MANOWAR and to all the great people in the Magic Circle Music. A special thank to Joey DeMaio for your never-ending belief in Heavy Metal and the Heavy Metal fans that you carry within your heart.

Thanks to all my wonderful friends!

HAIL TO THE GREATEST FESTIVAL IN THE WORLD!
HAIL TO MANOWAR!
DEATH TO THE FALES ONES!
HAIL AND KILL!

Johan