Ok, I admit it. This is quite overdue. Paaspop seems centuries ago, and the review should have been here for you to read weeks ago. Let's just say our hangovers have just cleared. Because if it's one thing that could define our yearly Paaspop tradition, it has to be: loads and loads of alcohol.
Nevertheless, here it is: our report of two days of beer, bands and sunshine as the first real sunrays hit the little rural town of Schijndel. With contributions by Buzzin Hornet, Carn, Niamen and Napalm Lex.
Paaspop. The "little" festival in a pasture near the idyllic town of Schijndel. From a small festival for locals it has grown into the official "opener of the Dutch festival season", with acts ranging from pop to death metal, dance and even some cabaret and theatre.
For us Metalragers, this year's lineup isn't the best ever but we certainly had a good time with acts like Peter Pan Speedrock, Delain and Ignite, of which you can read more in the rest of this review. [Carn]
Band Zonder Banaan
It’s always a good laugh with the fun metal band Band Zonder Banaan, which is Dutch for band without a banana (don’t ask). With the start of 'Alle Remmen Los' the audience immediately turns into one partying mob which goes on until the last tones of the last song of the band. During the show I got the feeling not everything went as smooth as it looked, several faults were made and at the end of the show not every musician looked very happy. Of course most people didn’t notice it and had a good time and in the end that what it's all about. [Niamen]
After Forever
After Forever has already played on the paaspop festival in 2004. Back then, they were surprised by the response they got from the audience. With a professional stage performance they show that the past few years of recording and touring has left a positive affect on the group. Truly one of the better performances of Paaspop this year. Too bad I couldn’t see the end of the show because I had to see Blaze Of Glory perform in the theatre tent. [Niamen]
Zita Swoon
One of the cool things about Paaspop is the fact that Terror plays just a couple of metres away from some techno dj, and all this drenched in an atmosphere of southern Dutch folklore (being: beer, drinking it and throwing it).
Belgians Zita Swoon are one example who hardly fit that profile, but I have to hand it to the festival organisation: great decision. Their swinging, mostly black-music orientated bundle of cheerfullness was a nice change. And even though the tent was only half-full, and a good portion of the attendents were taking the opportunity to talk through the music, I'd still say it was a succesfull gig. Courtacy of Zita Swoon's great talent and showmanship.[Napalm Lex]
Blaze Of Glory
One of the performances I was looking out for. I had seen them 2 years earlier when they surprised me very much. A cover band named after the famous Bon Jovi song which plays only the good old heavy metal songs. Within the hour the best songs of Mötorhead, Iron Maiden, Van Halen, AC/DC and many more were fired at the audience who loved everything they played. Combine this with spandex suits, skulls on stage and look a likes of Slash and Angus Young and you have a slight impression of a great performance. The bad side of this performance was that after more than an hour of metalsigns and airguitar Blaze Of Glory ended their set in style. Hell Yeah Heavy Metal. [Niamen]
Heideroosjes
'We are Johnny and Anita, together on the Cita'. Well, try explaning that lyric to a Japanese audience at your succesfull short tour. No real wonder their most popular Dutch song is no longer part of their setlist most of the time. But performing that particular song in the Masters Of Rock tent got welcomed with nothing less than an absolute party. Same went for 'Scapegoat Revolution', 'Damclub Hooligan', 'Lekker Belangrijk' and so on. Fact of the matter is: Heideroosjes live-gigs are good fun for anyone who likes punkrock. No matter the language. Heideroosjes rule, and have done so for about 20 years or so. Not bad. [Napalm Lex]
Ignite
This was the first European tour for Ignite since the release of their latest effort Our Darkest Days. And since it was one of the first shows frontman Zoli endured voice problems. Almost all songs came of their latest three albums and the setlist included 'Bleeding', 'Call On My Brothers', 'Let It Burn' and 'Veteran'. Of course the band also played their awesome UW cover for 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' with which they always get the crowd screaming along. The guys of Ignite got a long European tour ahead and it is recommended you go and see these guys play if you are into Hardcore. [Buzzin Hornet]
Audiobullys
Suck [Napalm Lex]
Next to the bands, Paaspop is known for just having fun. Guys who are yelling "MY AIRBED HAS A LEAK. FUCK! MY AIRBED HAS A LEAK" continiously for 20 something minutes are almost more entertaining than the line-up of the festival.
Waking up at 8 AM and not being able to sleep is a first time for me. But it happened at Paaspop. So what do you do at that ungodly time, with the alcohol still running through your blood? You go get a cup of coffee! And the best thing when having instant-coffee at that time is with Dutch singalong classic "lekker ding lekker ding lekker ding stoephoer" played by the Frisian partycrew, which put a smile on my and Napalm Lex's face. The day couldnt get any better. [Carn]
Delain
Gothic rockers Delain played their debut show on Paaspop in Schijndel. This isn't strange since they band hasn't been playing for a couple of months. They managed to play an incredible good show for such a young band. The band entertained the crowd with songs coming of their debut album Lucidity and I think they played all songs on this album once, sometimes even twice (during the encore). Even the woman who is fronting Delain keeps on growing. She moved forward from being a humble but good vocalist to a true entertainer. The band is the only Dutch act on this years Fields of Rock festival in the Netherlands and their album has been released in France and will be released in Spain and Germany soon. I think it is easy to conclude they are going strong! [Buzzin Hornet]
Denvis & The Real Deal
The Spades frontman Denvis obviously has chosen a new direction for the time being. Whilst the band that made him (in)famous is known for the hardrock groove (the hardrock groove!), his deal with The Real Deal is different biscuit.
A nice combination of blues, soul and Denvis' unmistakeble talent for cracking jokes and entertaining a crowd probably summons up the sound of his latest invention. Although the songs aren't that eyebrow raising it is a proper band, hardly a gimmick. It's cool to see that Denvis is a versatile musician after all. [Napalm Lex]
Something that ruled very much was the cheap beer backstage, the most important reason for us to be there. Watching 'famous artists' isn't a thing for us, but the 50-cents-cheaper-beverages. How do you make a journalist happy? Get `m drunk!
The pop-quiz was fun as always, especially if it is about Dutch covers from German songs, German covers from Dutch songs, English artists who sang a certain song in German, German this German that. But even though the theme was 'German', it was still tons of fun. It's creepy that some people actually knew most of the songs.. weird old guys.[Carn]
Ac/dshe
TNT.. pampada pampada... TNT! Ac/Dshe is probably one of the better AC/DC coverbands around. The remarkable aspect is that it's an all-girl afair. Somehow it's not surprising to see this combination (hard-rock and chicks) to be an immense succes at a festival. But that would be a cheap judgement. Ac/Dshe are an excellent rock band. [Napalm Lex]
Peter Pan Speedrock
Peter Pan Speedrock have been around for some fivehundred years, played about sixthousand gigs and somewhere around a million of those shows were at the Paaspop festival. It's hardly surprising to see them billed at the closing slot of the Masters Of Rock tent this edition.
Slightly more surprising was the amount of new material played, which sounded a bit more accessible than the Spread Eagle material.
Combined with the great sing-a-longs such as 'Knuckleboys', 'Go Satan Go' and 'Ressurection' (still one of the greatest rock songs ever), it's more than just fun. [Napalm Lex]
Within Temptation
Well, there's only one guy at Metalrage who could give you a real good review for this gig, but I guess he won't since Carn and Napalm Lex totally ruined the experience for him. Throughout the set, they couldn't resist screaming along the lyrics (which they don't know in the first place). What can I say, Within Temptation are all over the festivals these days, and if you aren't fed up with them yet there must be something wrong with you. What have you done now? [Napalm Lex]
The only downside of this years Paaspop would be the lack of beer we brought with us. Maybe because we are cheapskates, but when we noticed that we ran out of beer the only thing that was left for us to do was to go to bed, but maybe we're getting old ourselves. On to next year's edition! [Carn]