RockHard Festival 2019

by Arta Gailuma
— Photojournalist —

Since the first edition in 2003 Rock Hard Festival has become one of the most important metal open- airs in Germany. Located in a lovely spot directly next to Rhein- Herne canal with a lot of cargo and some party boats drifting past it is a festival with very chilled out atmosphere- one stage, a large area with a heavy metal market, food stalls and beer garden. This year we also had The Crypt- a tent hosting readings of rock stories and an exhibition “Painted in Blood” with prints by three German artists: Thomas Ewerhard, Bjorn Goosses, and Jan Meininghaus.

RockHard Festival 2019 was taking place at the Amphitheater Gelsenkirchen in Germany on 7-9 June and was featured in the 3 days over 20 bands.

Day 1 —

As the before the blue sky was slowly covering with clouds, The Idiots were creating quite a stir in front of the stage. Founded in 1978 this band is one of the oldest punk acts in Germany. After a turbulent past and hiatus the band is playing since 2012 and with the performance at the Rock Hard Festival this year they were celebrating the release of the new album Schweineköter.

American heavy metal band Lizzy Borden did have an impressive performance and could have easily headlined one of the festival days. Bands eponymous frontman was changing masks and costumes for every song with no shortage of props.

Swedish black metallers and tonight’s headliners Watain, as expected, did come along with a whole arsenal of upside down crosses and tridents. For most of the show, the stage was sinking in deep red light and as the band was going through all the fan favorites, an endless flow of crowd surfers was moving direction pit.

Day 2 —

Day two at Rock Hard did start with German hard rockers Tyler Leads taking the stage. Bloody hell, these guys have energy!! Frantically jumping around the stage and not staying on a spot longer than a few seconds they were working through the hour-long set.
American heavy metal quintet Skid Row got announced as “one of the hottest bands ever”. And, I think, the festival goers would agree with that as the arena was suddenly rammed full with fans. We got treated with not only a perfect performance by the band but also a stunning view of a double rainbow curving over the amphitheater.
Day two headline was Gamma Ray. The German heavy metal band was formed by Kai Hansen in 1989 after his departure from power metal band Halloween. They did take us down the memory lane as half of the setlist were older pieces from 90ies era like “Heaven Can’t Wait”, “Land of the Free”, “Heavy Metal Universe”.

Day 3 —

Münster, Germany hard rockers Zodiac did step in to compete for the bill as American heavy metal band The Obsessed due to unforeseen circumstances had to cancel on last minute. Formed in 2010 by singer-guitarist Nick Van Delft and Long Distance Calling drummer Janosch Rathmer the now quartet had their second appearance on Rock Hard Festival.

German post-rock four-piece Long Distance Calling was as brilliant as always, however, it was strange to see them in a broad daylight with no stage lights and smoke.

British rock veterans Magnum did bring us back to their peak times of 80ies with classics like “Vigilante”, “All England’s Eyes” as well as the epic ten and half minutes long anti-war song “Don’t Wake the Lion”.

Finally, on stage tonight was eagerly awaited American death metallers Possessed. Band’s frontman Jeff Becerra, who since 1989 sits in a wheelchair after being injured in a shooting was in the center of attention wildly flicking his hair and showing devil horns. The moshpit was growing bigger and bigger and crowd surfers were moving to the front nonstop from all directions.

Headlining duty on the last festival day went to one of the thrash metal “Big four”- Anthrax. In the 90 minutes long set, we were getting a stream of band’s greatest hits like ” I am the Law”, “Indians” or ” Caught in a Mosh” and fans were showing their appreciation by singing along, screaming and moshing.

Line-up:

Day 1

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Watain
Lizzy Borden
Tygers of Pan Tang
The Idiots
Chapel of Disease
Vulture

Day2

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Gamma Ray
Cannibal Corpse
Skid Row
Symphony X
Heir Apparent
Carnivore A.D.
The Vintage Caravan
Tyler Leads

Day3

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Anthrax
Possessed
Magnum
Fifth Angel
Long Distance Calling
Visigoth
Zodiac
The Spirit

For those who were not there at the festival, here are some moments put together by the organizers and WDR- a German public broadcasting organization:

Rock Hard Festival 2019 official after movie (in German):