Darkwave.ro electro/industrial music magazine | news – reviews – interviews – concerts – festivals – parties

On June 20 and 21, 2009 I had the immense pleasure to be a special guest of the Blackfield Festival, Germany. I represented www.darkwave.ro, webzine dedicated to the fans of dark music in Romania. For more info on the festival, access http://www.blackfield-festival.de/ and definitely book your tickets in advance to go to the next one in June 2010!

Photo Galleries:

 

Rotersand

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Project Pitchfork

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End of Green

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Diary of Dreams

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Santa Hates You

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IAMX

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Frozen Plasma

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Letzte Instanz

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Apoptygma Berzerk

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Atmosphere at Blackfield Festival 2009

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I was sort of prepared for what a German electro/dark/Goth festival has to offer after going to the Wave Gotik Treffen. I knew what to expect, I knew that Germans are wonderful people and that it would be easy to find my way around. And definitely have a lot of fun and take millions of pictures. Special thanks to Peddy Sadighi for inviting me. Congratulations for a perfectly organized second edition of the Blackfield Festival. The bands’ performances were something to remember for the rest of my life. The performances were energetic and 100% professional.

The atmosphere and location

Absolutely amazing! I felt goose bumps for HOURS on end both at the actual festival and the warm up party. More information on the actual performances of the bands is available on www.reflectionsofdarkness.com.

The music of the 25+ bands was something I cannot describe in regular words. I guess the closest words to describe the concerts would be: uplifting, aggressive, exciting, intriguing, military march-like, loud, instigating, energetic, special as in closer to senses and mind than other types of music performances. Each band performed for about 45-60 minutes. No more than 15 minutes were needed to change the sets between the performances.

The location is a large amphitheater with thousands of seats, with a perfect view from every side. The stage is covered with a large tent like roof, and the Rhine flows right behind the stage. The photos taken from the upper side of the amphitheater are, thus, absolutely spectacular.

The audience

I was very impressed by the audience, who just kept dancing for 2 days! 12 hours a day, thousands of people enjoyed every band and every song. I am one of the lucky people who have had the chance to see many live concerts in my life, and I strongly believe that live concerts are one of the best experiences in someone’s life. Well, the Blackfieldiens are something special! The energy, enthusiasm, openness and obviously excellent physical shape (it’s not easy to dance 12 hours, dressed in black, with a lot of accessories and usually wearing 5 kilo black boots in summer!) are the things I’ll never forget. I guess the proximity of shops, kiosks and actual stage, as well as the excellent organization of the festival made things easy. The food court, shops and stage were close and everything was at hand. You could even buy cigarettes from paddlers.

The participants were devoted fans of the industrial/electro/dark/goth music and fashion. One observation though. At WGT I must admit that the participants were more oriented towards the “Gothic fashion” than at Blackfield. Here I noticed more official band T-shirts than in Leipzig. The most popular T-shirts were Front 242, VNV Nation Project Pitchfork, Santa Hates You, Apoptygma Berzerk, End of Green, Solitary Experiments, Rotersand, Frozen Plasma, Depeche Mode (:X), and, last but not least, the official Blackfield Festival T-shirt. While at WGT I was impressed by the incredible Gothic outfits, at Blackfield I was more impressed by the dancing and industrial atmosphere.

The CD’s for sale

A wonderful surprise for the German bands (I bet!), and at the same time a slight personal disappointment was the fact that I had to literally hunt down the newly released albums of VNV Nation, Diary of Dreams, Project Pitchfork, the solo album of Felix Marc (Frozen Plasma) and some other new releases. I talked to the vendors and they said that the stock of CD’s would be sold in minutes… Good for the Germans! In the end, I came home with Project Pitchfork and Felix Marc (thank God). I was lucky enough to be there when they still had a few copies. I guess it is a matter of both money and music related buying habits.