Mirthe.org

19 Jun 2005

Fields Of Rock

Despite the predicted heatwave we (and almost 50.000 other music fans) made the journey south to the city of Nijmegen for an entertaining day at Fields Of Rock.
We left Leiden at about 11:30. But since we were stuck in some major traffic, we arrived to late for Metal Church, who played at 13:00. We entered the field just as Motörhead was getting started. We traded money for tokens, got some drinks and enjoyed the music whilst sitting in the grass.
About an hour later (16:10) it was time for Slayer. They played a set of lovely classics. I was mostly shocked by the amount of grey in singer Tom Araya's beard. ;-)
Next up was Velvet Revolver, at which time we deemed it time for a meal.

Then the one I'd been looking forward most, Audioslave. Love the new album and I was curious to see 'em perform together. They played a selection of songs from their two albums, a few Rage Against The Machine songs (including 'Bulls On Parade') and from the Soundgarden collection, 'Spoonman' and an accoustic sing-a-long version of 'Black Hole Sun'.
Unfortunately there was overlap between Audioslave and the performances on the other stages, Helmet and Machine Head. Since we'd already seen the latter perform live, we went over to the so-called MTV stage and were just in time for my favourite Helmet song, Wilma's Rainbow, from their 1994 album Betty. They only played about two more songs and then were done.

We resumed our place in the grass and waited for Black Sabbath. Since Ozzy and the gang featured many a festival these past years (how blasé of me), we decided -after about half an hour- to see what Max Cavalera was doing with his Soulfly. Unfortunatly the sun was shining right into our eyes and the sound wasn't all that great, so we returned to Black Sabbath after a short while. Closing act Rammstein played a set similar to the one in Ahoy last November. Some great pyrotechnics and the obligatory crowd surfing in an inflatable boat.

At midnight we headed home on the soothing sounds of Fear Factury's Demanufacture. Hadn't heard that one in years, but damn that album still rules! All in all a great day, despite the amount of sun and the huge number of people present. You can visit my Fields Of Rock album for some lovely shots from the festival grounds. Update: visit Planet.nl for a review and pics.