THURSDAY 14TH APRIL 2011

After a distinct lack of Roadburners on long journey getting to Tilburg we finally make it to the city and soon realised we were HERE amongst likeminded souls. We get the Roadburn bus to the campsite, pitch the tents and head over to the start of our weekend. For those of you who haven’t been to Roadburn Festival or even Tilburg for that matter, its set in two main venues in the city; 013 and the Midi Theatre. 013 hosts most of the action between three separate stages; Main Stage, Green Room and the tiny Bat Cave. A short walk around the corner is the Midi Theatre, a welcome addition to the festival in 2010 as a fourth stage, somewhat in-between the Main Stage and Green Room in terms of size. For the past 16 years Walter and Jurgen have been curating Roadburn Festival annually and it’s been getting bigger and bigger – 2011 sold out in 17 minutes. According to Walter it started as “a spin-off of the Roadburn website, the Festival has emerged as an event in its own right.  At the very beginning we just wanted to convey the overall feel of the website onto the stage.” This year David D’Andrea designed the official posters (D’Andrea interview on Behind The Wall of Sleep coming soon). Like the Netherlands in general the feeling of Tilburg is relaxed and welcoming. The main strip of bars accommodate festival goers and locals alike, everyone happy to get on with their own business; I somehow just can’t imagine this happening in England. Anyway to the celebration of why we are here; the music.

The first band of our weekend was Acid King and their take on heavy sludgy stoner set us up nicely for what was to come. Playing the likes of  ’2 Wheel Nation’ and ‘Silent Circle’  Acid King are set against the amazing back drop of hippy bikers with Lori commanding the stage and bassist Mark Lamb looking like he is having the time of his life. Trading riffs Saint Vitus would be proud of Acid King groove in and out of their guitar and bass attack. These guys have set a high starting point for Roadburn 2011.

Okay so everybody knows you should  hit the batcave early or be prepared to squeeze. Usually theres a bunch of room just past the bar so if your determined your gonna squash in there. Zoroaster were setting up pretty early on the first day. Whilst looking forward to them I suddenly realised my body and brain was still somewhere on the bus plane train tent or wherever the last 24 hours of travelling took us. Zoroaster had a tough job shaking everyone out of their day jobs and shit they left behind, but they done their best. I was missing some of the thicker sounds of Dog Magic but they soon came through with Matadors ‘Ancient Ones’ slow rasping COMMUNING WITH THE ANCIENT ONES getting everyones necks loosened up for the next 72 hours or so.

No-one knew how this one was gonna pan out. Wovenhand‘s belief systems were outlined in a number of intriguing interviews over the last year. One thing is for certain is that their records manage to catch a tight hold and don’t want to let go. Enigmatic is probably the word. Cant remember if Zoraoster kept us a little too late in the batcave or we ran out for caffeine either way we caught the last three songs. Big mistake.
A man locked in the spiritual wilderness, inviting others on his journey is often a sight to behold in any mundane city centre. Watching it unravel on stage is incredible. At one stage he urged ‘bring it’ to some unfortunate guy who cried out what I think was only encouragement. Bassist Pascal Humbert didn’t make it? Stripped down with drums (some hand drums sprinkled in there too) and keys allowed more emphasis on the punctuated whelps and whoops from the lone dog isolated at the far left of the stage. Shit reined down like thunder. It was no wonder there was no vinyl left at the store over the way. Mistake number 2.

Over to the Midi theatre for Blood Ceremony the anticipation for these guys is high, both albums; Blood Ceremony and Living With The Ancients; are a fantastic mix of Black Widow, Black Sabbath and Coven with occult imagery and 60′s Euro horror celebratory tones. A slow start before kicking into ‘Children of the Future’ where singer Alia O’Brien’s flute transcends the space of the Midi Theatre, this could be 1968. Blood Ceremony have all the correct elements of what I like; heavy guitars, distorted organ, riffage, dark and mysterious. The ‘Great God Pan’ rocks before turning medieval; these guys should be the soundtrack for Psychomania. This has set us up nicely and now we are ready for Pentagram.

After from what could only described as a kind of a spiritual experience from Woven hand’s mind-blowing performance I was now gearing my self up in anticipation for Pentagram. It is pretty well documented that Bobby Liebling (lead singer of the legendary Pentagram) has had his troubles in the past 40 years of the bands existence, whether it was band breaks up or drug and addiction he has been through it all, so to be honest I didn’t quite know what to expect. Bobby did not certainly disappoint, he hit the stage to rapturous applause at 013 venue with a majority of the crowd shouting “BOBBY!!!” which shows how much admiration for this living legend. He lurked around the stage with an evil menacing/sometimes comedic stare which couldn’t help but to leave you mesmerized, and certainly entertained the crowd with his onstage antics.

It was also awesome to see Victor Griffin back in the mix and the chemistry he and Bobby have shared on stage together for all those years. A lot can be owed to Victor Griffin for this performance with his classic “doom” tone and incredible guitar playing as he shredded through the set.  Pentagram also have two new additions to the line up with bassist Greg Turley and Albert Vorn on drums who defiantly given a refreshing new energy to the band. The set consisted of everything from the early 70’s classics like ‘Forever Be My Queen’ ’20 Buck Spin’ and ‘When the Screams Come’ playing the majority of the set were songs taken off the legendary 1985 album Relentless such as “All Your Sins, Relentless, The Ghoul and crowd favourite Sign Of The Wolf which had the crowd singing nodding there heads and singing along word for word. I don’t think any Pentagram fan would have been disappointed with the nights set list, I certainly wasn’t. They also played a few tracks off the new record Last Rites, ‘Call the Man’ and ‘Nothing Left’ which are newer versions of tracks that were recorded in the early 70’s which never made it to record, and a brand new track called’ Into the Ground’ which definitely captured the sound of 80’s era pentagram. Overall the performance was everything I wanted it to be and definitely one of the highlights of the festival.

We squeeze into the Bat Cave to witness the wonderment of Carlton Melton. These guys know how to do it. Striped down to a three piece for this, their first, European tour, they work as a power trio should. Drummer Andy Duvel points his sticks and works his kit like a powerhorse. Bassist John Steuernagel keeps the rhythm pummelling and guitarist Rich Millman keeps the noise quota to the max. This is intense head nodding psych rock battering our senses. They take it up a notch by bring Acid King bassist Mark Lamb up to play second guitar on ‘When You’re In’ which rocks for 5 minutes before Millman takes his guitar off passing it to one of the assembled crowd, who not only takes this in his stride but rocks like he must be a stooge in the audience. He straps the guitar flicks back his long hair by a shake of the head and starts soloing like his has been a member of the band since the beginning. Although this lasts a long time, it’s not long enough and leaves us wanting more. The definite highlight of the first evening by far.

FRIDAY 15TH APRIL 2011

Starting the day with an outdoor breakfast at the campsite in glorious sun couldn’t have been better. Well apart from the hangover. Nicely set up for the day we head back for the start of day 2…

Due to an investable clash in running order on Friday night I was only able to catch the last 3 songs from Finlands Circle (I was watching Pentagram on the main stage) and I from what I’d seen I defiantly wish I’d seen more especially after they ripped through the song ‘Vaellus’, but fortunately I had another opportunity to see them the following night performing a special collaboration of the two bands Circle and Pharaoh Overlord so all was not lost. The performance was originally set for the midi theatre, but due to EARTH being stuck in Sweden when their van broke down they had now swapped slots and were now scheduled to perform their self proclaimed NWOFHM (New Wave OF Finish Heavy Metal) on the main stage of the 013 Venue.  Circle and Pharaoh Overlord is pretty much the same band with all members being in each band but tonight they were joined by Bruce Duffy of 80’s metal band Jesters of Destiny who provided vocals. The band had 5 guitarists (YES 5 guitarists) playing their trademark spaced out hypnotic repetitive riffs. The band were totally dressed the part in spandex pants with studded wrist bands showing there worship for 80’s heavy metal especially Circle singer Mika Ratto in his halford-eseque attire who had me cracking up every time I seen him. The set consisted of a mix of Circle tunes like “Sacrifice” and “ Madman” but to my delight they played quite a few  Pharaoh Overlord tracks,  in particular with the evil hypnotic riffs of ‘Demons Of The Rising Sun’ and ‘Ridin’. There was also a surprise appearance from Sam James Velde from Los Angeles band Nighthorse who sang 2 tracks with the band, these were quite different to their usual 7 minute riff repetition, these were pretty much straight up heavy rock songs which appear on a

After a broken down van on route from Sweden Earth missed their initial slot, we saw them loading in and in what appeared to be the quickest stage turnaround in history, they were finally on stage and ready to go. Kicking straight into ‘Father Midnight’ and ‘The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull’ Earth left me with a magical feeling of witnessing something of beauty. The way Dylan Carlson commands the stage to the way the music sways on the edge of tension, there is something of mystery in here. Adrienne Davies has belief and I would love to have a CD of  her alone. Earth’s music is still slow-paced and lengthy but the expanded

Drenched in a sombre blue haze Yves Klien would have been proud of, Sunn O))) crawled on stage amid amongst the strains of serious tonal damage. Obviously the crowd were in anticipation, downing pills, inserting earplugs, moving closer to speakers or escorting girlfriends out of the auditorium. Anderson and O’malley’s presence illuminated by Kenji Haro’s shreiking maelstrom. Kenji bound by a tight grey helmet of hair, dark glasses reflecting the little light left in the hallway, surrounded by a full circle of monitors. Atilla Cisar’s deep murky requiem defying anyone who wished to head for the exit. Kenji buckled halfway only to lie down flat amongst the monitors, summoned by the resonation. As though waiting for deliverance to a higher (or lower) plane.

Grave Misasma I squeeze into the Bat Cave to witness the headstocks of some BC Rich’s being held above the crowd shoegazedeathmetal anyone?? It’s been a long day. Time for bed…

SATURDAY 16TH APRIL 2011

We have a distinct lack of memory now…..

Liturgy there is a lot of fuss around these guys being the first black metal band signed to Thrill Jockey, they look like a bunch of New York hipsters and doesn’t sound that black metal.

Master Musicians of Bukkake proggy, trance like early 80′s Hawkwind

As White Hills kick into ‘Oceans’ we know we are on for a good ride. Always amazing, tripped out.

After Eve being voted roadburns fan album of the year, Uffomammut were highly anticipated, hitting the mid stage halfway through shrinebuilders set, you didn’t wanna get left outside, so you had to cut some losses. Opening up with Idolum’s Stigma, followed by Eve in all its glory, as a record I find it lacking the oomph of Idolum but live its quiet parts are magnified by the heat of what’s about to come next. Thick relentless fuzzed out riffs coupled with spiraling samples of psycho-delic drone, vocals kept at a whispered minimum. Tension evaporated as some kids with backpacks tried to start a pit. Everyone was too hypno’d to move. The sun set behind them as they saluted the crow in unison.

With being one of my favourite bands at the moment I wanted to see Wolf People rip the Bat Cave apart with their very English take on acid folk rock but when I squeezed in to the tiny room they played the last few bars of ‘Dunder’ and finished 30 minutes earlier than anticipated. Gutted I missed them.

Wow what an experience. I can safely say we all had a blast. 12 months to wait….

What can we expect in 2012, Walter? “Another mightly fine edition of the festival! I don’t like to talk about even bigger and better, as there’s nothing confirmed yet. All we want is to have a well balanced festival, and we hope that several bands will like to play special sets so we can keep covering left field sonic pleasures.” Will you be having guest curators again in 2012? “We’ll be working with guest curators again in 2012, and we’ll ask them to open up the styles and sounds of the festival even further.”

Last words from Walter  “The 2011 edition of Roadburn Festival turned out to be an emotional rollercoaster for me. This year’s Roadburn was thriving on a unique social vibe as the lines between all the bands, audience and staff completely blurred during the festival in a way I never experienced before at Roadburn thanks to the amazing crew at 013. Thus I was able to see many shows, and talk to lots of bands and attendees alike. Roadburn 2011 was a life-changing experience for me…. It was pure magic!”. Thank you Walter and the Roadburn crew. See you in 2012!!!

Words by Jason Stoll, Adam Cooke, Marc Glaysher

Photos by Mark Hovell