Loud Park, “the heaviest metal festival in Japan” and most certainly the biggest one with some 10.000 daily visitors, returned back to its “home” at the Saitama Super Arena from 2009 exile at the Makuhari Messe. The BogFires delegate was of course present in Tokyo on both days and jumped onto the Keihin-Tohoku and Shõnan-Shinjuku line trains from our base camp in Shinjuku.By visiting this in-house festival for the fourth year in row, precise Japanese customs and hospitality during this well-organised event are already taken as given. And no disappointment was experienced this time either. Some improvements would possibly be needed to the insufficient ventilation of the Arena, resulting to sweaty condition particularly at the front sections of the stages. Moreover, altering sound quality of the performances was notable.
DAY 1
Photo report at: http://www.loudpark.com/10/gallery/index.html
Saturday was kicked-off by the Americans Holy Grail and Engel from Sweden. Despite the early start at eleven, the Arena was already quite full and the atmosphere easily lifted to a proper heavy metal level by these two energetic gigs. A good thing about Saitama is that the venue doesn’t allow a single beam of sunlight to enter the hall, which makes even the morning and day slots feel like if it was evening. Moreover, it is easy to get around to spot bands from different angles. Or, alternatively, to follow them all from the same spot with only 5-10 minutes waiting times between the sets, as the two stages are placed side by side.
The Big Rock Stage was next invaded by Chthonic. This fast and furious Taiwanese group has created an interesting concept fusing black and death metal twists, and orchestral elements, with the flair of their local tone and heritage. A nice set indeed. And extra points for the impressive make-up of the singer.
Next the left stage was invaded by some Swedish vikings in the form of Amon Amarth. The band is seemingly enjoying wide popularity in Japan, and the audience was easily captured into the stodgy but joyous thumping of these Scandinavian mythologists.
A man has to eat to stay fit, and due to the poor availability of meatless options inside the venue, the sets of Edguy and Dir En Grey had to be sacrificed for some Starbucking and chatting time. Then back to the hall to see a good bit of Hellyeah and the latter part of their grooving set, before Ratt rolled onto the stage to realize my anticipated personal highlight of the two days.
It’s almost 25 years since the big impression that Invasion of Privacy and other early Ratt albums made for that small boy, and now I finally got a chance to witness this L.A. group live. Objectively looking, the band was certainly not in a top form, but of course it was pretty emotional to hear the three original members with two later Ratt packers playing a number of classic tunes. In fact, surprisingly many songs were played from the debut album in addition to the self-obvious “Round n’ Round”, not however forgetting the later anthems “You’re in Love”, “Lay It Down”, and “Way Cool Junior”. “Best of Me” and “Eat Me Up Alive” were heard from the recent “Infestation” album.
Ratt was followed by their German coevals Accept. Even though the band is naturally not the same without Udo, their new singer Mark Tornillo is doing his part as a vocalist and front man really well. The new songs are pretty rocky and the old ones also manage to engender some reminiscences from the days back.
As Stone Sour next populated the stage, they were welcomed by increased clamor by the audience. Corey Taylor has obviously been able to channel much attention also to his second band thanks to the high popularity of Slipknot in Japan. The gig itself seemed quite standard, and the emotional bursts of Corey were perhaps a bit overscale. But of course very legitimate at the same time, given the hard period he has recently been forced to go through, resulting from the demise of SK band mate Paul Gray.
The Metal God Rob Halford was in a good shape, musically and visually, with his solo band. Perhaps an illusion of different context, but Rob’s presence seemed somehow more jovial than usually with the Priest, and the band rocked hard. However, the Halford songs are mostly unfamiliar to the undersigned, which made the experience a bit bland.
Finally, the closing slot was devoted to the pulsating and furious set of Korn. Clearer highlights or changes in dynamics could have made the set even more entertaining, but the overall performance quality of this Californian quartet was highly respectable. And for the first time during the long day, the sounds were as good as they should be; powerful and discernible at the same time.
DAY 2
Photo report at: http://www.loudpark.com/10/gallery/1017.html
On Sunday, the openers 3 Inches of Blood and Trash Talk were unfortunately not seen by this delegation. But we were right at the spot when Reckless Love kicked off their first ever Asian gig. The young Finnish band performed the songs from their debut album with such a professional workmanship and cheerfulness - the latter being a natural ingredient of the classic 80’s hair metal setting - that it is very easy to foresee that the band will be a regular visitor to the Japanese ground in the future. As heard from the guys later that day, the excitement before the set was palpable: even though RL has recently played a number of sold out shows in mid-size venues for instance in the UK, the audience of few thousands eye pairs was a new experience for them. From the spectator perspective too, the set felt quite different from my previous RL experience in June when they for a handful of tired visitors in a small Finnish festival. But the intensity and attitude was the same, as this band takes the entertainment very seriously.
To follow the good start, the warmed-up audience faced another newcomer to the Japanese ground, Halestorm from Pennsylvania, US. This vibrant band was the biggest positive surprise and experience of the festival for me. Lzzy Hale, the female-front figure of the band appeared highly charismatic onstage, and what a powerful and beautiful voice she has. The set highlight was delivered by the power ballad “Familiar Taste of Poison” that caused notable shivering in one’s spine. There was nothing wrong with the rest of the band either, as it played in a tight and amusing manner with good sounds. In fact, the band was much more interesting in a live setting, sounding rougher and more dynamic, than on its self-titled 2009 which suffers from somewhat overproduced and flat profile. The album is not yet available in Japan, but Halestorm also received very good response from the polite Japanese crowd.
Turisas, the Finnish folk metalers with black and red painted faces, in turn, visited Tokyo for the second time during this year. Their appearance on the Finland Fest in May had probably provided the band with an extra boost in popularity, and the number of Turisas T-shirts and even full costumes on the hall floor was notable. However, their unique style dressing- and music-wise did not convince the BogFires team this time either, so after a couple of songs it was time to test the promising pasta place outside the Arena.
Alexisonfire had to be sacrificed for this successful excursion too, but we were back in the darkness to get most of the Kuni set. The songs or performance of this Japanese heavy metal veteran perhaps were not of the most interesting kind, but his band was surely worth checking. The stage was manned by the whole bunch of long-term heavy metal workmen in the form of Mark Slaughter, Frankie Banali, and Chuck Wright. And in fact, it was somehow refreshing to enjoy some old-school jamming among a number of more modern offerings.
Spiritual Beggars continued on the more traditional style current but was a slight disappointment, perhaps due to my rather high expectations ignited by their moody “Return to Zero” album from this autumn. There was nothing wrong in the presence of Amott, Wiberg and the rest, as such, but the somewhat messy sounds and perhaps even too loud volume in general, and particularly the dominating bass sound covering guitars made the experience more unpleasant than it could have been. And as anticipated by numerous SB interviews in recent magazines, the new vocalist Apollo Papathanasio was indeed quite talented.
Angra was skipped for some talking in the guest bar, but Motörhead was of course a must-see. Well, at least the beginning of the set. I have to admit that this was my first Lemmy experience, but did of course offer no grand surprises or emotions. After a couple of songs the set is more or less seen. To keep up the Motörhead image as a loud band alive, Lemmy insisted the sound guys to get the volume up, from the already loud standard Loud Park level. I guess they didn’t fulfill his wish.
Avenged Sevenfold, closing the Ultimate Stage, was of specific personal interest. The gig was good and emotional. The latter quality was increased by the tragic decease of the band’s drummer Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan at the end of the previous year. The drum virtuoso Mike Portnoy, who just had shocked the world order of progressive metal community by his resignation from Dream Theater, had joined A7X not only to fulfill the drum tracks on the latest “Nightmare” album but also to handle the cans on the subsequent World Tour. During their set, much focus was also paid on Mr. Portnoy by his band mates as well as the camera men. Speaking of which, it is a pleasure, as always in Loud Park, to follow the big video screen between the stages, as the work of camera men and the director are of highest quality. And as a nice gift for the bands, we heard that they are handed a CD of their set immediately after they have climbed off the stage. Good Japanese service indeed!
The familiar soccer yelling echoed from the back of the stage a few minutes Ozzy Osbourne stormed on the stage and caused the whole Arena cheering for his grandpaish and joyful appearance. In terms of his singing, well, Ozzy was Ozzy, in fact dealing the show quite well regarding. The set consisted of a number of classic Ozzy and Sabbath tracks, as well as the familiar amusements of the Prince of Darkness such as the constant shout requests for the audience and the custom water bucket show. The current OO band is in an extremely tight shape, and the integration of Gus G as the newest link in the history of Ozzy’s talented guitarists has seemingly functioned well.
We want to express our warmest thanks to Onta-san and Creativeman for their hospitality! And thanks go also to the staff of the guest bar and Current Rock Inn as well as to the bands and people we had the pleasure to meet in Tokyo.
TMK
To see the official photos, check the live report at www.loudpark.com
