Soulfly
Max Cavalera these days looks like a cross between a homeless bum and Chris Barnes (maybe one and the same?) The music was unbearable, and he actually said “jumpdafuckup!” (I thought it was just an urban legend…) I took my pictures and jumped the fuck out of there. Sad to see a former legend tarnish his legacy like that.
Helloween
Having seen them twice before, I knew what to expect from these guys: a tight energetic show with few surprises but tons and tons of fun. However, their set at Bloodstock was bedeviled with the goddamn sound problems that had so pissed off Schmier and co earlier in the day. Andi was singing offkey a lot of the time; having seen them live before, I know that he is a good singer, and the only logical conclusion is that his monitors weren’t working and he wasn’t hearing the rest of the band. Don’t worry, he wasn’t the only one. Appallingly, I couldn’t hear the guitars from the crowd either. What guitars occasionally flashed through the rumbly bass and overloud snare and vocals were tarred and muddied beyond recognition. Absolutely disgraceful, and you feel for the band in these situations.
Regarding the setlist, there were no unexpected inclusions as the band ran through their extensive repertoire of well-loved hits. Kicking off with 13 minutes of ‘Halloween’, they did mostly songs from the two KEEPER albums, which I reckon is slightly over-cooking it.
As it was, 75 minutes gave us ‘Halloween’ (Michael, Sascha and Dani screwed up the beginning), ‘March of Time’, ‘As Long As I Fall’ (the band screwed this up on at least two occasions with missed entries), ‘Eagle Fly Free’ (Andi terribly offkey on this one), ‘A Tale That Wasn’t Right’ (normally a fan favourite but receiving a very muted response from the crowd), before a five minute drum solo by Dani broke it up somewhat.
‘Dr Stein’ got a wonderful reception, but the medley was pretty unsatisfying, and I don’t know why they actually do it – maybe it’s to avoid having to play the full songs, which to be honest are pretty bad with the exception of ‘Keeper of the Seven Keys’. I mean, ‘I Can’ and ‘Perfect Gentleman’ aren’t exactly knocking on the door of Helloween classics. Play ‘Keeper’ in its entirety!
‘Future World’ and ‘I Want Out’ closed the night. On the itineraries they were giving out at the festival, it stated ‘Helloween + Special Guest’; we weren’t treated to one unfortunately. I’d have settled for ‘Helloween + Sound’ myself…
Setlist
Halloween
March of Time
As Long As I Fall
Eagle Fly Free
A Tale That Wasn’t Right
Drum Solo
If I Could Fly
Dr Stein
Medley (I Can/Where the Rain Grows/Perfect Gentleman/Power/Keeper of the Seven Keys)
Future World
I Want Out
Day 2 —>
