Well, well, well…. another edition of Mystic Festival at Stocznia Gdanska, in Gdansk, Poland is over. That was a truly exciting experience.
Over the years, the festival itself has expanded considerably, that’s for sure. Some more venues were added, such as vendor booths, a relaxation zone with reclining chairs and food stands. One could literally be having their own meal and, at the same time, watching bands play live on a huge TV screen! Yes, each and every edition is bigger, better and more spectacular, thanks to the Mystic crew taking care of every organizational aspect. The crew members do seem very dedicated to what they do. It is all very well organized, no doubt about it.
As a result, Mystic Festival has already become one of more interesting events in Europe. Over time, the festival has definitely improved, has become more professional and I am more than sure they`ll surprise us in the future even more.
Unfortunately, there has been some disturbing rumors that some development companies might buy up the venue… there are in fact more and more new building being constructed around Stocznia Gdanska. But I do hope this is just rumors. Why?
Because this is a very unique venue (more precisely speaking, an old shipyard).
Truly original. And its industrial vibe is prefect for music events like Mystic Festival. I don’t think it’d be possible to have a similar fest somewhere else. Anyways, let’s cut to the chase, shall we. Let me tell you what took place this year.
Me and Michal arrived a day before the fest started. We wanted to pick up our passes, get some rest at the hotel and get ready for Mystic`s day one. We met a lot of our friends who also come to the fest: hi you guys! Always a pleasure to see you.
Day 1
Day one started with HELLFUCK (the Shrine Stage). Yes, that stage hosted a number of killer bands. Unfortunately, the guy responsible for lighting opted for the red color and plenty of smoke. As a result, us, in the moat, weren’t able to take good photos.
The sound wasn’t ideal, either. I will talk more about this later. However, the show itself was good. Those guys adore old good Teutonic music in the vein of KREATOR. That was a good one. No doubt. And a good starting band.
Next was EVIL INVADERS from Belgium. And that was when the sound became really bad. After the first three songs, the situation somewhat improved. The show might have been perfect, but it sadly wasn’t.
The guys seemed a wee tired. I know them and I am aware of how much energy they can generate when they play live.
So, I would say their performance was sort of “sluggish.” Anyhow, the fans had a good time. But hell, who wouldn’t enjoy this band if confronted with such songs as “Mental Penitentiary,” “Sledgehammer Justice” or “Raising Hell.” All in all, the setlist featured mostly band`s latest album songs (“Shattering Reflection”).
And this is a very melodic album. Yes, the setlist wasn’t too good and maybe that’s why their performance was so-so. Next was legendary VIO-LENCE. Man, I tell you they simply shredded. What was even more interesting, they were joined by Max from EVIL INVADERS (as second guitarist).
The last show that night was KREATOR. That was really bad. Mille`s voice was crap.
I was certain he was about to implode right in front of my eyes. There were actually more issues with other vocalists at this year`s edition of Mystic Festival. After I saw KREATOR in Katowice, Poland I was kind of expecting they wouldn’t do too well, and they by all means did not. It is really sad, that was a truly lame performance – “Terrible Certainty,” “Extreme Aggression,” “Violent Revolution” or “Pleasure to Kill” didn’t help at all.
SODOM turned out to be much, much better.
Day 2
Day 2 was going to be good. Alas, WIJ and KADAVER were to play live at the same time, so I decided to skip the latter. I went to see WIJ (the Desert Stage). And I must say that was a good decision since their show was excellent, one of the better shows this year, no doubt. WIJ was promoting their latest album with a refreshed lineup (drummer).
Their setlist included such songs as “Panzerfura,” “Skrzypłocz,” “Niezatapialny,” “Z raju won” and “Brek Zarith.” The setlist featured some older songs too. The cult song “Jutra” was first that night and that was enough for me to understand their show was simply going to shred. Some other songs were “Żmij,”
“Lucyferyna,” and “Kat.” The fans reacted very positively to WIJ`s music, there were more and more people coming to see their performance. What a show that was! Many young fans sang along with “Tują Szmaragd.” Stunning. “Poronice” was another awesome song. They wrapped up their show with VENOM`s “W Przymierzu z Diablem.” And the Polish version killed.
I have seen them perform this song many times live and each and every time I have gotten goosebumps. The WIJ`s show made me hungry for more quality music.
So,SODOM was next. I have seen them live countless times and I have always enjoyed what I have seen.
I was a bit surprised that they were scheduled for the Park Stage, not main stage, but, anyhow, they soon showed who`s boss. The set was fast and energetic, no sluggishness of any kind. The mob literally got wild. People were very excited. Didn’t surprise me since our fans are known to react in a very enthusiastic manner when confronted with good music.
And who wouldn’t get excited when confronted with such songs as “Procession to Golgatha” from their cult album “Persecution Mania.” And then we had “Christ Passion” and “Jabba the Hut.” I was happy to see they played such ass-whipping tracks as “The Crippler,” “Sodomized” or “The Saw Is the Law.” The setlist was well-constructed, no weak songs, no fillers of any kind.
Frank Blackfire behaved as if insane on stage. When I heard “Blasphemer,” I got so excited that, for a moment, I forgot I was not 20 anymore. No time to take a deep breath, I tell you – the pace was insane. Next was “Nuclear Winter” and then we were assaulted with “Agent Orange.”
That was just pure mayhem, plain and simple. What a perfect setlist. And then we got “Outbreak of Evil.” Totally devastating show, that one was, peppered with some newer songs here and there (“Sodom and Gomorrah”) and the fans were definitely having a good time. “Remember the Fallen” killed totally and our energy levels were up again.
I should’ve slowed down the moshing since I was not a young fellow anymore. But hell, when you hear songs like “Bombenhagel,” tell me: how can you stand still, huh? The live version of this song crushed.
I was totally intoxicated with what I saw and heard. Took me some time to recover, I kid you not. SODOM fucking rules.
This show and ACCEPT`s were definitely best ones this year. Right after SODOM`s show was over I went to see BRUCE DICKINSON (the Main Stage). As expected, his show was excellent. I don’t know how he does it, but he was doing really fine, despite his age. Maybe because he was assisted by Tanya O’Callaghan, the bassist, and WHITESNAKE member, so that’d explain such high levels of energy emanating from BRUCE.
I was very happy that Bruce himself managed to perform the show. He had a throat infection a couple of days prior to Mystic Fest and had to cancel some shows. Luckily, he made it to Mystic. he was certainly feeling better so the show was amazing.
We didn’t have enough. We still wanted more.
That’s the way it was that night. Never enough of live music! Besides new songs he also performed such classics as “Accident of Birth,” “Laughing in the Hiding Bush,” “Chemical Wedding.” Or “Fight” which turned out to be simply amazing. But it was hard to imagine a show without “Tears of the Dragon.” All in all, that was a stunning performance. I am going to see them live again soon at Masters of Rock. I planned to go see MACHINE HEAD but after DICKINSON I decided not to. I was still in awe of what I just experienced.
Day 3
Day 3 brought us some disappointments, but also the fest`s best show. But first things first. CROWBAR was first – I knew what to expect and I was not disappointed in the least. Good, original, a very CROWBAR`ish, so to say, show.
Yes, I was in the mood for different sorts of music that day but I am sure that other people were satisfied with what they saw. Alas, LIFE OF AGONY is not my cup of tea whatsoever and thus what we did was watch their show relaxing in our reclining chairs, waiting for MYSTICUM to start their show. The band which, all in all, turned out to be a tad boring.
I don’t know, but something is not right with them.
Maybe the drum machine they use? Their riffs are very ok, in my opinion. Nonetheless, I didn’t even finish watching their show. That was bad, but what I witnessed next was even worse. PARADISE LOST was very disappointing, to put it mildly.
Their setlist was bad and the performance was even worse. Even those songs which, in theory, ought to have helped did not. Like “Hallowed Land.” Or the BRONSKI BEAT`s cover song. Seriously? What was that, I want to ask?
Where was the PARADISE LOST I know from their first three albums?
They really should disband, not to mention their presence at the Main Stage was a big mistake.
ACCEPT should’ve been scheduled for the Main Stage instead, not the Park Stage, in my opinion. Yes, I was very disappointed, but I was about to witness the best show of this year`s edition. ACCEPT!!!!
They performed 13 songs live and all those songs killed totally.
The Wolf Hoffman`s crew was simply top-notch! So full of energy and of pure joy of playing music.
They simply love what they do, they are cheerful and full of positive, youthful, constructive energy. No matter to me what you think about them; to me, that was an amazing performance, lock stock and barrel. Truly magical. Best.
But hey, how could it not be the fest`s best performance if there were such songs as “Living for Tonite,” “Restless and Wild” or “Midnight Mover.” Of course, there were other, newer songs such as “Straight Up Jack,” for example – yet this song matched other more classic songs really well even when compared to such monumental hits like “Princess of the Dawn,” “Metal Heart.” And there were more good songs – “Dying Breed,” “Teutonic Terror” and “Pandemic” which gave me a real thrill.
I was even more thrilled when ACCEPT started blasting their heavy artillery – “Fast as a Shark” and final song that night “Balls to the Wall.” What a memorable show it was. I am looking forward to their shows at Masters of Rock and in my home city of Cracow.
The only issue was that because of ACCEPT`s show I missed TERRORIZER and GRAVEYARD.
Well, it was hard to quit watching and go see other bands instead.
TERRORIZER allegedly killed. Whatever. Next to perform was MEGADETH.
I saw them some months before in Katowice (Spodek) and I must say that Dave Mustaine did a great job. Alas, his performance at Mystic wasn’t too good, his vocals were very weak. Hope he is going to do better in the future. He had throat cancer …. hope he gets better soon.
Teem Mantysaari did a lot of excellent guitar job, and he did it really well.
Overall, the show was good, an almost ideal setlist but Dave’s condition didn’t help, that’s for sure. Well, we all have our worse and better days. It is understandable; he`s going to be 62 this September. And when you are 62 years old, well, playing tours doesn’t become a piece of cake. After that show, I decided to call it a day.
Day 4
Well, nothing lasts forever. Day 4 was the fest`s last day. It started off with a really good show by Swedish BEWITCHED.
They should’ve been scheduled for the Park Stage not the Shrine Stage.
The Park Stage “killed” some good shows due to its incompetent lighting operator and bad sound. The venue was really stuffy, full of tightly packed audience, red lighting and smoke…. Which did affect some shows.
Anyhow, let us see what BEWITCHED had to offer us. Well, that was something spectacular since the band themselves had been on hiatus for many years. And all of a sudden, they were back from the dead to play live. Good, because I love their music and they`d never been to Poland.
I hope they`ll play in Byczyna at Black Silesia Fest in the future.
That’d be awesome. Unfortunately, I missed OWLS WOODS GRAVES as I went for a meet up with Polish zine editors. A bit later, we went to see Kerry King`s new crew (the Main Stage). That show was truly impressive. I wish SLAYER`s sound was as massive and heavy as KK`s that night. There were some problems with other shows, but KK was perfect. The sound was very selective and powerful.
The live versions of album songs were much better than their album ones. Of course, there were some SLAYER songs too. Like “Disciple, of course “Raining Blood” and “Black Magic.”
That was enough to turn the show into real hell. Mark Osegueda did really well as a vocalist. A real pleasure that show, indeed. Next was DARK FUNERAL. I didn’t expect too much but that was a great show.
Beside some newer songs they also played such classic cuts as “Ravenna Strigoi Mortii,” “Where Shadows Forever Reign” and “The Arrival of Satan’s Empire.” The show itself wasn’t too long and in broad daylight, but it was really good.
ASPHYX was another band I was looking forward to. Sadly, they had been scheduled to play at the Shrine Stage. The sound was crap, same for lighting (red lights) – not good at all, I think.
Usually, ASPHYX live kills. I am sure if they`d had park stage instead of DARK FUNERAL, they`d`ve killed totally. And man, their setlist included such blows like “The Quest of Absurdity,” “Vermin,” “The Rack” or “Last One on Earth.” In total, 14 songs of lethal death metal.
Another good show was SATYRICON (the Park Stage). I think I saw them like 5 years ago in Cracow (Klub Kwadrat) last time so I was very happy to be able to see them live again.
Satyr was doing fine like he was 20 years old again. He was all over the stage and the band`s merciless onslaught included such blows as “Forhekset,” and “Black Crow on a Tombstone.” Plus, such anthems as “Walk the Path of Sorrow” and “The Pentagram Burns.” And, of course, “Mother North.”
The show was killer. In total, 12 songs and an intro. Wasn’t enough for me but that was one of better shows for sure. The last show that night was legendary BLASPHEMY from Canada. I saw them play live before at Black Silesia.
To be honest, the Black Silesia performance was much better. I am not too much into the music created by these hellish desecrators but I do respect what they do. And more people had mixed feelings about the show.
Some were of the opinion that was a really good show some other complained that the sound wasn’t too good. Well, maybe if they hadn’t been scheduled for the Shrine Stage, their show would’ve been much better.
The Black Silesia show was clearer, the Mystic`s performance (sound) was muddier. Anyhow, the Canadian band attracted a considerable number of tormented souls, yearning for total destruction and that was delivered. In total,
BLASPHEMY played 18 infernal, desecrating hymns that included “Blasphemous Attack,” “Gods of War” or “Blood Upon the Altar.” And, of course, a bunch of debut album songs including “Darkness Prevails,” “Emperor of the Black Abyss,” “Goddess of Perversity” and “Weltering in Blood.”
All in all, this year`s edition of Mystic Festival was a really good one. Plenty of different styles to choose from – fans could pick any band/style they wanted. Well, all good things come to an end. No worries. We will see each other next year in Gdansk. Looking forward to Mystic Festival 2025!!!
NecronosferatuS
