Scorpions rocked Wacken like a hurricane – report of the second day 01.08

If the first day at Wacken was a mixture of historical bands and new acts, for the second day the groups that made the history of the genre are taking a big advantage. Our day was filled with amazing music, meetings with extraordinary people and the unique atmosphere that only this place on Earth has. But let’s start at the very beginning of our day: the weather was partially cloudy so the temperature was ideal, almost chilly, so we were not risking sunburn or dehydration at all. The Chaoszine team arrived at the infield just in time to witness an amazing project…

Dio Disciples

After Ronnie James Dio‘s death, the world has never been the same. There is a huge hole in our lives and nobody else will be able to fill it. Luckily he had many friends and colleagues, so Wendy Dio started and formed this new group called Dio Disciples. Ronnie’s friends do an amazing job in honouring his musical legacy, so we couldn’t pass on the opportunity to see them in the amazing setting that is Wacken Open Air. On vocals, we find Joey Belladonna and Oni Logan, who both need no introduction, and they manage to deliver a high-quality performance without pretences. The stellar lineup is completed by Scot Warren on keyboards, Ira Black on guitar, Bjorn Engles on bass and Simon Wright on drums. If you needed any more proof that this band is legendary, you came to the wrong place. They’re the history and the present of heavy metal.

Photo: Sabrina Ramdoyal.

After this, we got invited to an exclusive round table with Wacken founder Thomas Jensen, in which we chatted about how the festival is structured, his family, and what Wacken United means. He was very kind and easy-going, sharing with us details and funny anecdotes about his life and his dedication to bringing heavy metal music to everyone. Since he is obviously a heavy metal fan, I asked if he sings when he’s in the shower, and he instead replied that he doesn’t, but when he was on tour, he said he smoked in the shower, so that’s pretty heavy metal in my opinion!

We love music and we love Wacken, but we can’t live without food either. And food in Wacken is absolutely delicious, I still have not yet found a vendor that has low-quality dishes. A quick meal, then we raced to the Louder stage to see Mr. Big.

Mr. Big

One of my good friends and esteemed musician Daniele wrote a report of Mr. Big not too long ago for Chaoszine, so I was curious to see them live since he praised their performance so much. And boy, was he right. This band is simply spectacular and there is nothing else to say. They have a power on stage that is rarely seen these days. I got emotional when they dedicated “Take Cover” to Pat Torpey, that was extremely touching and it shows how Pat profoundly impacted Mr. Big‘s work and legacy. Then it was time for some fun with “The Electric Drill Song“, I laughed the whole time! What a show. The band played quite a lot of songs from “Lean Into It” while sprinkling some covers here and there. “Baba O’Riley“, “Lucky This Time“, “Wild World“, there is nothing these guys can’t do. It is so sad that they are almost done with their Farewell tour, even though it will not be a farewell from music itself, so catch them if you can before it’s too late!

Photo: Sabrina Ramdoyal.

KK’s Priest

KK’s Priest had a glowing performance at Wacken Open Air, demonstrating their vintage heavy metal roots and exciting the audience. The band, fronted by veteran Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing, performed a combination of their tracks, classic Judas Priest songs and some covers as well, which appealed to both longstanding fans and new listeners. Their show featured strong guitar riffs, dynamic vocals, and an active stage presence. The only thing that was not perfect was the audio; the volume was perfect but especially at the beginning of their set, the microphone was not probably correctly set as Tim Owens on vocals sounded like he was screeching unintentionally. Nevertheless, the overwhelming response from the audience confirmed the band’s great debut at this legendary festival.

Photo: Sabrina Ramdoyal.

Accept

There are some bands that purely you can’t ignore, whether you are a fan of classic heavy metal or not. And the crowd that gathered in front of the Faster stage was proof that one of these bands is Accept. These German gentlemen have something totally unique to deliver, and whilst every band performs better for Wacken, they probably topped most of them. Mark Tornillo and company grabbed full hands from their discography to build their setlist, including also some tracks off of their latest release “Humanoid”. During “Balls To The Wall” there was a special appearance of Tim Owens of KK’s Priest that played on the adjacent stage a little earlier, and I thought the world was ending because the power that this song delivers and the crowd’s response to it was crazy. We saw history happening in front of our very eyes, so thank you Wacken for this amazing addition!

Photo: Sabrina Ramdoyal.

Scorpions

The clock strikes 22:15 and one of the most anticipated acts is about to start the show. I’m talking about the legendary Scorpions, who with almost a 60-year career they were ready to enchant and amaze the Wacken audience. The whole group is in top shape, delivering an extraordinary show given that they are a little less young than other groups we’ve seen. Klaus Meine on vocals is the one that got me a little bit worried he was less active than his fellow companions, but his voice endures and he is still able to engage proficiently with the audience. It looks like the surprises were not finished, as Doro comes on stage to duet with Meine on “Big City Nights“. It’s good to have the Queen back again on the Holy Ground after her last year’s anniversary celebration! Then, the night was almost over, with only “Still Loving You” and “Rock You Like A Hurricane” as an encore. The crowd sang along with passion and Meine gladly let the Wacken attendees take over on vocals more than once during those tracks. After their performance ended we were graced with a drone show, which was very exciting and also very well executed. This second day couldn’t have ended in a better manner!

Photo: Sabrina Ramdoyal.