Party-San Open Air 2015, feat. Bloodbath, Cannibal Corpse, Behemoth, Flughafen Oberwehler, Schlotheim Germany
Party-San is a festival setting I like a lot. It’s not that expensive like Lowlands, park your car next to your tent without the Wacken chaos doing so
, the programming is wide but not Graspop-commercial, the beer is better than on Bloodstock, breakfast is worse than any Wãldrock food, village nearby like Dokk’Em, plenty of friends like… yeah which fest doesn’t hold some of my friends? With just one name, I knew Daniel would be all over it, a.k.a. Bloodbath, but also I soon heard Kees Bloemkool might join us (or to Brutal Assault for Kreator??) would consider going, Supergoomba Pim would go with friends, my Steenwijk buddies are regular visitors. One detail I liked a lot too: Soulburn and Asphyx on one day! So, even from musician-side I would have friends around. What about my German friends, the Hannover Ladies, Andrée, Käthe, Wiebke, Gaby, the Brutz gang?? I love it!! One other cool thing: PartySan always prints extraordinary rare shirts with themes on it. The reunion show of Asphyx? Asphyx-type PSOA logo shirt. Bloodbath returning on Schlotheim soil? Bloodbath-type PSOA logo shirt. Und so weiter.
Two years ago I took Kimberly with me, but this year I never mentioned PSOA to her. In her current financial and physical state (broken ankle) I wonder if she’d show up anyway, she has her ways of lurking up on places I don’t expect. Mikert had a ticket around the same time we got it, but it was quite unsure if he’d join us in the end, hence the remark on Kees earlier. Kees doubted, Tijmen doubted, fine with me, I don’t buy extra tickets this time. Over the years I think I have had some € 1,500 worth of tickets to be sold last minute, I hope I quit that habit. With the MDF experience nearby, I made sure I won’t be stressed before leaving, so I took another day off beforehand. Up to August I had no idea who would be the third of fourth visitor to my VW Golf Mk II diesel and I simply don’t care. One week before the festival Tijmen called me, he had some troubles reading the German instructions how to pay for his ticket. I told him: ‘Read like Dutch, boggle an UNG at the end of the word and you read German’
OK, we head out to Schlotheim with the five of us! Kees just entered the VW Golf owners club one day before heading east, my wheelbearing is new again. Off to Deventer first, as Kees still had to pick up his ticket (Alicia bought Mikert’s one, he couldn’t make it in the end). Near Deventer we found out it was Tamar that had a ticket to spare! I offered her place in the car (and the tent
) but she declined. In Germany we spotted one Borderpatrol car for about ten minutes, not noticing it was US they signalled!! The Boneheadspatrol finally drove in front of my car (Tijmen drove) and signalled us to follow and pull over. What a douchebags! They even didn’t believe me I had SOAP in my toiletry bag. Wir haben kein Drogen, Ich rauch nicht!! As a result we had lost Kees’car and arranged to meet on Wewelsburg’s rastplatz. Entering Schlotheim and all worries and irritation evaporated. We are in a METALTOWN! It was so hot we stayed near our tent shadows for quite some time, erradicating my car’s battery with Kees’electric cooling box. But we had cold HJs to shed, as Pim already greated us before finding our weekend’s place. Some fools with shot glasses called us pussies for not trying the homebrewn garlic liquor. I am sooooo sorry I had that garlic filth I had to brush my teeth three times and STILL taste garlic!
First priority: band and festival merchandise! I got the special edition Asphyx Krushes PSOA 15 shirt and a nice black metal themed festival shirt, but didn’t like the Bloodbath themed shirt. Neither did Daniel. The following metal disco was fun, as we soon met the Steenwijk friends Bart and Rob. The night was short, as I seemed to have a leak in my airbed and as the bands wouldn’t start before 4 PM, we had all the time in the world to find me an extra airbed. Or… children’s matress, 140 cm was the biggest thing I might lay on… but it was even more comfortable then I thought. The shop owner was nearly embarrassed when she saw us metalheads with a children’s matress… stupid chick. Let’s say we have seen the village four times haha. The festival site hadn’t even been opened when I parked Kees’car (he was ‘done driving’
) for a while first long trip he ever drove
) It was hot, incredible. I have no idea why they didn’t open the site earlier, as the terrain also held a tent with a stage and a bar (which hardly could keep the beer cold, we later found out
). If it had to do with the volunteers, fine with me, maybe explain so??
The first band on stage was Degial. I had not heard of this band before and after the show the opinions varied, I was underimpressed, Daniel liked it. intervals between bands are short, 15 minutes between bands. So, if you take too much time to get beers, the next band has already begun. Same with Morbus Chron. It took so long to get my next round of beers, Morbus Chron seemed to be halfway the set already. Fine. I liked the couple of songs, but wasn’t as excited as ‘the first time’ (EMM 2014). Kimberly did sneak herself in again and she nearly made me miss Midnight. The leaflet helped. It was described as ‘one of the most important underground bands since the start of the new millenium’ and ‘masked chaotic trio from Cleveland Ohio’ ‘mixing speed metal, black metal and classic heavy metal’. I don’t need so much words, I couldn’t simply see what’s so special about this band apart from ‘hardly touring’ to ‘not worthy of another tour’ to me. What was worth another tour: NUCLEAR ASSAULT! Less chaotic than the Dynamo Metal Fest show, sharper, louder at least… a set only consisting of Game Over, Handle With Care and Survive songs I totally freaked out. I also met Andrée and Käthe and had a great time with them. A nice fall back to earth was the following Secrets of the Moon show. Wtf do I need with a band slower and less doomy than Type O? I never was a Typ0 fan to begin with! Another miskleun was The Ruins of Beverast. I hated it. I’d rather… no I won’t spill my venom or my semen here
the doom was obnoxiously loud and shrill. No, rather pick up my upteenth Primordial show. The band was good. Alan was on fire (or should I say ‘on fire as usual’??) and I wanted to hear The Coffin Ships, Gallows Hymn and As Rome Burns. I got all three, near stage or on the camping ground. No pictures, no need for more beer. I said goodbye to all acquaintances and hobbled off to the tent. Exhausted and, happily, not sunburnt. I wore a shirt during the day, my denim when the night nearly came. Behemoth? When? I already hit the new matress. It slept fine.
Tijmen obviously didn’t sleep fine. He had problems with his stomach for almost three days in a row and he even ended up on the First Aid stand on Thursday. I found out when I gave the mini Nuclear Assault patch to Kees, he said he had not seen Nuclear Assault as he accompanied Tijmen during… Nuclear Assault. Kees still wasn’t eager to drive, so I took his VW Golf Mk IV to the nearest train station in Mühlhausen. With vinegar in my veins we got a train ticket.. it would take him 9 hours (!) just to get back to The Netherlands and then he’d need at least three hours more to go get to Bovenkarspel… poor guy. € 87 for Mühlhausen – Kerkrade and then some € 45 for Kerkrade – Bovenkarspel.. Typing this I noticed we should have chosen Hengelo as prime Dutch destination instead, it would have been at least two hours shorter… poor guy. With two liters of water and a bunch of bananas he’d make it… man how I felt bad leaving him there. The fact I’d ‘miss’ a few bands didn’t matter at all, but re-entering the festival site I got a glimpse of Dutch goregrinders Cliteater from the bar tent. Hot in the shade, so to say. Of Vanhelgd I can be short too, Daniel really liked it but we were sitting in the shade of the tent. Up next was Gehennah, one of the reasons Pim got excited for this festival. The mix black metal - Queen – stoner – Motörhead without Lemmy but with Bram Vis was quite nice. They even played the GG Allin cover ‘Drink Fight Fuck’. Without fistfight.
Aeturnus on the other hand hardly did anything to me. I was happy to meet the Sabiendas guys, the Hannover Ladies (I got all remaining Stonehenge consumption coins! Thanks!), Jogi (see Brutz Und Brakel, Berlin, Nov. 2-3 ) and ate American pulled pork! Excellent!! About a pound of meat, tasty sauce, some coleslaw on a good bun. I couldn’t linger about food too long, as I wanted to be on first row for Soulburn. Soulburn gave me goosebumps. I got the full monty: band members acknowledging me, smiling faces, sharp sound check, UBERLAUT volume, a set list from Remco (thanks!!), a great set, nice lighting, still a sharp soundband going nuts, some bumps to the back as well, neck massage between songs… yeah this was great. No wonder with such a set list:
- Crypts of the Black
- Absinthesis
- Hymn of the Forsaken (Hymn of the Headbangers?
)
- Claws of Tribulation
- Hellish Entrapment (including intro)
- In Suffocating Darkness
- I Do Not Bleed From Your Crown Of Thorns
- Feeding on Angels (Freaking on Angels
)
- Outro
When will my voice return to me? I LOVE THIS!!! I managed to get another round of beers spilt and returned to the front line for Deserted Fear. I was being pushed aside with evil grins on their faces? Fuck off stranger, I have four beers and I’m in a hurry! Get the fuck off my path before I kick you! Deserted Fear made me forget this little incident, the band was clearly hot and on fire (had seen an enormous amount of Deserted Fear shirts and patches around all weekend). The band played an excellent cross of both albums, the 45 minutes seemed over in 45 seconds… this was great! The enormous joy these men show on stage, you can plaster a house with the smiles of Mahne and Fabian Hildebrandt haha. It’s a great band, they’re great guys and they get what they deserve: a raging crowd, headbangers, moshers, beer drinkers, nodding onlookers, merch sales… I wanted to buy Kees a Deserted Fear shirt but he refused, he said he already had enough shirts. OK, Kees, understood, but the Stonehenge shirt you’re wearing is already white… you bought it BLACK, remember? Shirt is only two years old… One band I’m not really going to buy a shirt for anyone is Postmortem. The Berlin organizers of Brutz & Brakel do play in a death metal band, but the sound is dull and the band isn’t top notch for a change (see RockHard festival, Amphitheater Gelsenkirchen, June 10th-12th ) and I leave without further ado.
I wanted to check out something I had not seen before, but had a hunch with the band name: Speedbreaker. Yup, premonition correct, it was like Peter Pan Speedrock all the way. I do not really know that genre that well, but I sometimes think ‘who was the first one, except Motörhead that did such stuff?’ As a welcome change in style of music on such a festival it was cool, but not really commemorative to me. But... walking around... buying stuff, drinking beer… I had no idea Melechesh was up next. So, what did I get? Just a mere fifty seconds of Ladders to Sumeria and the band was off. OK. I screw up sometimes. I’m sorry. But to who? I need to eat, drink, shit, note bands, meet friends, have more beer and… wait for Agalloch. I have heard the band over the years on YT, but never got to see them. I made some pictures, but as I’m not familiar with the songs I don’t know if it actually was a good show or not. From the camping it sounded great, I did get to see 3 songs. The drum stick hit my head, but I didn’t want to risk my arms for it. I was near the main stage fence for friggin’Asphyx!! I have the set list on the back of a rare shirt, don’t care how rare, but they GAVE DEATH METAL ANOTHER MILESTONE! Paul was in bloody top form, Alwin roaring like fire, Stephan going wild, Martin… oh Martin. A smile bigger than a plastered house, the first crowdsurfers of the fest, security being cool about that, band sounding like an atomic clock [to me, at least, first row, see below] and loud as it should be.. Death The Brutal And The Loud Way:
- Intro
- Vermin
- Scorbutics
- Death the Brutal Way
- MS Bismarck (oh no, they didn’t do my all-time favorite Asphyx song, they played Into the Timewaste! Daniel freaking out! My smile said it too.)
- Deathhammer
- Wasteland of Terror
- Forgotten War
- The Rack
- Last One on Earth
Meeting Martin the next day I had heard there had been some debate on the terrain about the sound of this particular show, but Martin said to me ‘we had a great sound and on you it wasn’t showing it was less than good’ *enormous grin* We meet again Martin, MDF 2016 you’ll have at least one shouter, one headbanger and the rest combined in at least one man
. This was so cool. I let all grabbers do their thing (Stephan’s drum stick hit my head
, set lists being torn apart, guitar picks flying away from the crowd, a small wind occurred
), I was happy anyway… and awaiting Bloodbath… and, yeah what? Why was Bloodbath NOT scheduled as headliner of one of the days, but two bands following afterwards? I remember one Elsrock not even waiting for Samael, a few blurry thoughts about ancient Samael shows, but still I don’t see why Samael was a headliner and Bloodbath wasn’t. To be short, much ado about me getting bored. Bored? With Bloodbath playing? Yeah I got bored. With Bloodbath. With Nick Holmes. With a small wind blowing away all of those death metal favorite songs blown away. Nick should be in a white duster with brown gore visible, not a black coverall dress. Not with a sound that wasn’t fantastic. Daniel, I know, cut me up with a colic infested knife, show me my own liver, laugh at my face and barbeque me, but I was bored as fuck. Even Eaten couldn’t wind me up. Of all Bloodbath Greatness I Felt Nothing. Call me the biggest DeathMetalNoEarNoBrain in the world, I don’t care, I had nothing with this show. Daniel said before or later, I don’t remember, he wanted to hear the band instead of seeing it. Uh…
What followed after Nick? Uh… Oei.… Er… Are you sure? [all on minimum timbre] Ensiferum? Add a few short expansions to the shortest non-verbal expressions to embarrassments on a shitload of PSOA visitors… mostly in brutal death metal shirts… waiting for… Cannibal Corpse. It sure wasn’t the first CC show on PSOA, but they showed balls by starting with one of their slower songs… Scourge of Iron! The band got the full appreciation pit, headbangers, shouters and the waltz rolled on:
- Scourge of Iron
- Demented Aggression
- Evisceration Plague
- Stripped, Raped and Strangled
- Disposal of the Body
- Sentenced to Burn
- Kill or Become
- Sick Embodiment
- some more songs, I was soooo happy I wandered one more time through the crowd and went to the tent.
Even the water I put under my car was boiling hot… brushed my teeth half-choking and rolled onto the matress…
Saturday would be a short day, I imagined. A lot less beer, maybe? Less sun tain oil? Lifeless would be in the tent and the overall line up on main stage wasn’t really special like Friday. We drove into town for breakfast and cash and managed to miss Lifeless anyhow
It rained a bit, but that cooling down on the entire festival was welcome. I made sure I had at least 4 liter water for the return drive, as I knew I would have to do it all alone. Tijmen had sent a text message he was in Holland again, tired, still a bit upset stomach, but relatively OK. Pfoei, no need to worry anymore. The first band I got to see was Cowboy Bob & Trailer Trash. I thought it was a joke, but the band did get some attention. Hell, every band that plays some Johnny Cash on a metalfestival gets attention, but the rest wasn’t up my sleeve. Daniel did like it a lot more than I expected, that’s for sure. On main stage we had Holocausto Canibal afterwards. The band was delighted to be the first Portugese band ever to appear on PSOA? Huh? What about Moonspell? Anyway, with such heat returning to the festival ground I wasn’t really in for grind. Kees, Alicia and me roamed the little shops again for obnoxious amounts of patches and in one particular stand I found about 6 different AC/DC floormats… I said to Alicia, grinning, I’d have to be stopped in three seconds otherwise I’d buy one… I counted one, two and said ‘the heck I want it’ I also found 2 different Lifeless patches and Daniel grabbed the yellow one. Back to main stage for Evil Invaders? Nah, we stood at the Havana Club bar and heard a totally false impression on Exciter’s Violence and Force, then a weird Destruction tune? I had expected more of an ‘own sound, own thing’, I think. I met Lampy again and got invited to the next Death Metal Birthday that will feature at least God Dethroned! Thanks!! In the meantime I met Marcel The Eindhoven Insanity and Marcel Number 5 and Pim I (Soopergoomba) and Pim II
. Winterfylleth filled the main stage at that moment and I must say I liked it a lot. I’m still not familiar with the band but I will keep an eye out for (live-) material.
It became time for some food, the garlic bread was excellent! On main stage the thrashers could go berserk as Toxic Holocaust entered main stage. The band clearly had the vibe going, the pit was pretty violent and the smiles on band and audience were telling nice tales
. What a cool band! I returned to the tent for a small dump / brush teeth / personal hygiene [in the right order
] and returned to main stage where Krisiun had just begun. Some days I think the band awesome and want to buy material, but the band members still wear Black Force Domain shirts and just be Krisiun. I couldn’t help it, thinking ‘they’ve been doing this for over 25 years’ and walked out. This simply wasn’t my Krisiun moment, I guess. Walking around again, meeting the Hannover Ladies I heard Daniel say he’d seen Lifeless… and loved it… darn. I hope they get to play a lot more in the future… After Krisiun my hunger for death metal wasn’t satisfied, oh no. We stood near the tent where Deathrite got themselves a nice welcome, the band plays a dark, heavy cross between Fleshcrawl and Lifeless, try this for a taste:
https://youtu.be/pATWKhpUSQU Even Sven Gross of Fleshcrawl was part of the headbangers! Good to see you, dude! Not in the mood for Rotting Christ I sat in my car for a while. Mesmerizing, trying to start the car… it fired! So my battery wasn’t dead after all! I stayed in my car so long I missed Ghost Brigade for the biggest part, but I didn’t care too much. Typing this I found a YT Playlist with most bands of this festival and my ear caught this attention:
https://youtu.be/wICPawefEtk?list=PL...F8t167b_oNcqbm (check out
https://youtu.be/tvFyvkwb89M as well, you’ll like it).
More death metal? YESSSS! Kataklysm checked sound and begun with To Reign Again! Goosebumps all over my arms and back! I met Martin van Drunen and his girlfriend again, had a nice chat but forgot to ask which website she works on… Martin had not seen Kataklysm in all these years so I offered him a beer, but with a backstage pass it’s not the smartest thing to do to keep accepting beer. I left them be, Martin had plenty of fans to be selfied with
.As I Slither early in the set, The Black Sheep, Push The Venom, Ambassador of Pain before I collapsed near a bar… Play this first part loud to get an idea
https://youtu.be/HoegFtJNFKE (Maurizio sounded BETTER than on this vid!). I will probably never buy a Kataklysm album again, but I will keep seeing this band blow up festivals and venues!! AWESOME! But what a mood extinguisher next: Mayhem. Concerning Mayhem I am the vampire virgin with an overdose of garlic! I felt so bad I ordered the biggest garlic infestation, veggie and all, I could find. I didn’t care I had no chance on ANY romance anymore, I washed the pig blood off with garlic. I could hardly walk anymore so I decided to skip both My Dying Bride AND Samael’s special Ceremony of Opposites set. Dane will kill me for this, but I couldn’t walk anymore. Let him drag me back to the festival grounds then if he’s so eager to see this show
Back at the tent I wasn’t the only one tired and sore. I asked if Daniel had seen Mantar but he hadn’t. I brushed my teeth three times because of all the Knoblauch and tripped onto my mattress. Gone in a whim, we agreed to awaken each other as early as possible. Drive in the coolness of morning was the idea, so to speak. We stopped near Am Biggenkopf again, passed Wewelsburg without Boneheadpatrol
and Kees told me he had no interest in meeting my friend. With Oberhausen first spotted on the road signs, I lost the view on Alicia driving. Kees called Daniel to say they’d go straight to Arnhem and on. I tried three times to call Henric, Daniel even found his home number, but we missed each other. Near Amersfoort I got a call from Henric, we won’t drive back now. We meet again. At home I hung my tent to dry, filled up my Laundromat and shaved. With the first drops of shower falling I noticed my shampoo didn’t even bubble, as my hair was soooo filthy
I dreaded the comb haha.
All together: PartySan is cool. Period. No matter if it’s cloudy, rainy or blistering hot, it’s a great setting. Good bands, not too crowded, awesome merch and friends from all over Germany and other countries. Pity we had to drop Tijmen, but he’s OK. As for the bands.. Nuclear Assault, Primordial, Soulburn, Deserted Fear, Asphyx, Cannibal Corpse, Deathrite, Toxic Holocaust and Kataklysm summed up made up a worthy trip to Schlotheim once more. No wishy washy Heaven Shall Burn-turn-down this time, but I also haven’t seen much of the headliners. I’m OK with that. With so many friends and so much metal I am a happy camper. The next edition is already announce, but with the line up so far I won’t consider: so far ‘just’ At the Gates and Paradise Lost. I’m broke but I don’t care. Again. Metal!
some reactions on:
http://www.mruforums.com/f22/partysan-2 ... set-17272/