Crisis Never Ends
Justice
Another Breath
Confronto
Rise&Fall
Black Friday'29
Verse
Mental
Photos Courtesy of www.chandracumari.de
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Sucks'n' Summer 2005
05-06/08/05
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Leisnig, Germany
After 8 hours of comfortable train travelling, we finally arrived in the small town called Leisnig, one hour away from Leipzig and it seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. I was thinking about, at least, a small city, but I couldn’t imagine that the sucksnsummer festival took place in this tiny town. Anyway, who cares about the city if there is such a big number of great bands playing the fest?
The festival took place over 2 days, unfortunately it was raining the whole Saturday and Friday night but anyway it was an amazing experience and I’m really glad I had the possibility to be there.
FRIDAY 05.08
Something X Inside:
German newcomers playing strongly Champion-influenced, positive hardcore. They did a good job and the crowd seemed to like it.
Black Friday 29:
Propably Germany’s most popular hardcore-band at the moment and they proved again why. Their Cro-Mags, Judge-styled nyhc with a modern touch totally fits in the roster’s lineup.
Even if the set was crowded and the pit was rather big, the band seemed to be disappointed about the crowd.
Crushing Caspars:
Worst band of the day. Punk/Rock’n’Roll fusion and singer sounding like he never drinks anything else than whiskey.
Insted:
California HClegends Insted were headlining the first day and they were the last band playing outside. Insted played a great set with all their hits and the crowd was going crazy, starting many circle pits and singing along all time. It was great to see many adults around singing along with their youth heroes and Insted convinced every single person that they did the reunion not because of money reasons, but simply because they love hardcore.
Crisis Never Ends:
After Insted, the last bands had to play in the small club AJZ. Crisis never Ends from Stuttgart was the first band I’ve seen in there, because I missed Zero Mentality and Deadlock. Even if I’m not a fan of pure metal-riffing combined with tough guy mosh, I have to admit they pulled lots of energy on stage and the crowd totally enjoyed their set. Not my type of music but also not a bad show.
Confronto:
Confronto was the last band of the day and they totally destroyed the overcrowded club! They might make use of the same elements Crisis never ends does, but these brazilian vegan straight edge warriors totally convinced me from the first to the last song. The singer screamed his lungs out as if there is no tomorrow and the instrument-section produced an impressive, brutal sound. Together with Insted,Fridays’ best band.
SATURDAY 06.08
Down Village:
The newcomers Down village opened the second day. East-Germanys’ five-piece played modern hardcore with Terror-style breakdowns. Unfortunately it already started raining, so the set wasn’t well-attended. These dudes performance was alright- Nothing special but also nothing to complain about. These guys are still young and I’m sure they will become bigger soon.
Verse:
The second band of the days was Verse, a pretty new one coming out of the US. I was excited to see if they could hold what their debut “Rebuild” promised and they totally did. Melodic, emotional oldschool hardcore reminding me of an emotional version of Comeback Kid. The performance was great, the 5 likeable guys totally convinced with their passionate set
Mental:
Mental was one of the reasons why I went to the festival, so I expected much from their set. The sun was shining again while the Boston 4-piece started playing. Even I though I really liked the set, I expected more from Mental. They played too short, just about 20 minutes, and the crowd was not going as crazy for them as I expected. Anyway, it was a good show and they played various songs from every release, including their new album of course.
Justice:
Justice played right after Mental and the crowd was going crazy for Belgium's, and propably Europe’s most popular oldschool-hardcore band at the moment. The pit was big,the crowd was singing along all the time and the band showed how to play perfect 2 step-oldschool hxc. 2,3 JUSTICE!
No Turning Back:
Holland's No Turning Back plays classic NY-hc with “I hate you”-lyrics and in-your-face breakdowns.The pit action changed from 2 step move to mosh and the band showed why Bridge 9 signed them after touring their asses off for years. Energetic,powerful set, I just don’t go crazy for them.
Settle The Score:
It was raining and raining when Settle the score from West-Germany started their tough-guy NY-style-hardcore set. I did not expect much cause I’m not into the tough guy posing and the whole mentality, but Settle The Score knew how to animate the crowd. The moshpit was huge and very brutal after a few songs, which totally fit with the band and their music. I was surprised by their performance, so in the end I have to say that STS is totally worth checking out live
Misconduct:
Worst band of the second day, they totally disappointed me and I can’t believe that they developed from a powerful oldschool hc-band to a bad sounding Millencolin-copy. Even their old songs sounded powerless and totally boring.
Another Breath:
New York’s Another Breath started playing when it was raining like hell but from the first second on, the band totally impressed me with their creative melodic-oldschool sound. The messages, the performance and most important: the music had totally blown me away and it seemed like the same happened to many, the biggest circle pit of the fest was just one highlight of this awesome set which will stay in my memories for a long time. Surely one of the best bands of this festival.
Cataract:
The swiss metalmosh-monster was one of the most popular bands playing the festival and even though it was still raining hard, their set was very crowded. Cataract convinced with their hardcore-mosh based on pure metal-riffing. The pit was huge over the whole, long set and it seemed like mosh is a new kind of fashion because many people started doing weird (but amusing) moves sometimes looking like a raver trying to beat someone up...
Ignite:
Headliners of the second day and I did not know what to expect from the California-dreamboys because their last releases were pretty bad in my eyes. It was obviously the most crowded set of the fest and the people went crazy in the rain while Ignite played. I have to admit that Ignite was the biggest surprise of the whole festival, they did not lose any of their passion and played an amazing set. Stagedives were totally crazy and the set had to stop a couple of times because the festival guys had to pull the water down the from the tent-roof on the stage. It was too rainy and too cold, but it was worth standing in the rain, it was simply worth it also for the Misfits cover they did.
Tangled Lines:
New band from East-Germany and the first playing in the totally overcrowded club.The Tangled Lines play Charles Bronson styled hardcore with a slight oldschool-touch and female vocals. The crowd went crazy when they covered “New direction” by Gorilla Biscuits and “Young till I die” by 7 Seconds.
Strength Approach:
Great band from Italy playing passionate melodic and fast hardcore.These guys already knew how to animate the crowd, which worked out well. The, as usual, overcrowded room was totally enjoying their set.
Vitamin X
Last band of the fest and I was really excited to see them.The crazy singer stagedived minutely and it was simply perfect entertainment combined with trashy hc-punk at its best. No one cared about the sound quality which wasn’t perfect at all, the band told the crowd to start circle pits, wall of deaths, stagedives and so the festival ended up as a big party.
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