Shadows over Transyvania- A phenomenal festival at mystic grounds
The festival proved its reputation as the largest and most monumental heavy metal festival in Eastern Europe! But namely, music wise as the bands that performed at this year’s edition were just phenomenal! Logistics and organisation wise there were flaws that mainly occurred due to extremely large increase of visitors this year so we will give the organisers the benefit of the doubt and hopefully next year all will be better organisational wise.
When we take all of the shows that a specific band ever had and take into consideration the effort and effect from the specific show at the festival, some of the best performances were given by: Cult of Fire, Lacuna Coil, Kreator, Dimmu Borgir, Saxon and some others that will be discussed throughout the review.
DAY 1- 30.7.2024: COMBICHRIST; LOATHE; BEHEMOTH; EIHWAR; CULT OF FIRE; CATTLE DECAPITATION
This was one of the best days as usually day 1 is filled with pure happiness as nothing can ruin pure happiness of entering the grounds of the festival we awaited for so long! Or we thought that, as the majority of people had a bad day as entrance lines very insane. Personally, we were lucky to receive the wrist bands very early so didn’t have this problem, but for the majority of the first day I felt sorry for all those that skipped one line for the other: as drinks and top-up lines were also insanely long.
Combichrist sounded and looked phenomenal on the large festival stage and really fired up the atmosphere! All that were lucky to see them had a blast!
Behemoth proved that they are bigger than Jesus Christ and they have celebrated 33 years of existence without any signs of stopping! They had a very attractive show with curtain fall performance and it was purely amazing!
DAY 2- 31.7.2024: SVALBARD; TOXIC HOLOCAUST; KVELERTAK; BRUTUS; TESTAMENT; AMON AMARTH; CANCER BATS; GUTALAX; SUFFOCATION; DRAGONFORCE; THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN; BIPOLAR ARCHITECTURE; TAKE OFFENSE; UFOMAMMUT; ARKONA (cancelled); D.R.I.; TERROR; JESUS PIECE; THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER; CONVERGE
Unfortunately, Arkona show has been cancelled which really sucked as we were looking forward to the show very much.
Suffocation destroyed and slayed, the band gave an excellent performance and one of the best performances of the festival that were held during the day.
Gutalax gave an extremely fun show as always and the fire hose that sprayed water into the audience was the perfect addition to this extremely hot day and fire up performance.
Amon Amarth thrilled us with a great performance and hits were mercilessly catching one after the other. Amazing show!
Testament was perfect as always and many, many others made our day, especially The Black Dahlia Murder but many others also.
DAY 3- 1.8.2024: JUNE TURNS BLACK; TANKARD; DESTRUCTION; BARONESS; HATEBREED; KREATOR; GAEREA; DESTROYER 666; BURY TOMORROW; SODOM; ELUVEITIE; NORNA; INDIAN FALL; CRO-MAGS; MASSACRE; COMEBACK KID; AMENRA; EIVOR; HO99O9
Another incredible day in which it’s impossible to point out the highlights as there were too many. Most memorable performances were given by: Kreator, Gaerea, Destroyer 666 and Amenra. Mystical magic of the Amenra is indescribable as they transcend genres and have won me over although I’m not a fan of the genre of music they play. Gaerea exceeded themselves and Destroyer 666 had an amazing show although it was early on. It was quite strange watching Destroyer 666 in the middle of the day in sun and heat, but nevertheless a good experience. Kreator put on one hell of a show and proved why the band must be on a bucket list for every metalhead to see at least once in a lifetime!
Hatebreed celebrated 30 years of Perseverance and gave a fantastic show and introduced Ball of death to the audience! Eluveitie were purely incredible in their performance, but the sound wasn’t perfect and I had to move around the audience to find a spot in which the sound was better, which was a shame as I lost my space in the front.
DAY 4- 2.8.2024: STRIGOI; CYNIC; IMMINENCE; DARK TRANQUILLITY; ABBATH; DIMMU BORGIR; BODYSNATCHER; ANAAL NATHKRATH; ORDEN; OGAN; DELAIN; SAXON; HELGA; LASTELLE; SATURNUS; HAVOK; ABORTED; DEICIDE; VENOM INC.; THERAPY?; SÓLSTAFIR
Another great day at the festival! Dimmu Borgir celebrated 30 years of existence and the celebration was marvellous! Special highlights of the day were prepared by Dark Tranquillity and Saxon as this time they out-did themselves as I thought it was impossible to love them more than I did, but it turned out I was wrong- there was some more space for even more love! Great shows were also given by: Abbath, Anaal Nathkrath and Venom Inc. Sólstafir enchanted all of us with their special out-of-this-world magic and I’m sure they gathered new fans as the audience had a significant number of youngsters.
DAY 5 – 3.8.2024: SLOPE; STONED JESUS; CROWNSHIFT; LEPROUS; JINJER; SUICIDAL TENDENCIES; MACHIAVELIAN GOD; SERRABULHO; EMMURE; THE EXPLOITED; THE HALO EFFECT; OPETH; DOPELORD; TAKING BAVK AUGUST; NANOWAR OF STEEL; LEFT TO DIE; HUMANITY’S LAST BREATH; 1000 MODS; DARK FUNERAL; PARADISE LOST; 1349
We have survived up to now and I find camping enjoyable and fell completely in love with this festival. It was very much needed as we were just searching for a new tradition, a festival to have as our own tradition and surely we will return many times. This was another great day with pure enjoyment with bands such as: Jinjer, The Exploited, The Halo Effect, Opeth, Paradise Lost, 1349 and many others. Our hearts were completely won over by magnificent performances of Nanowar Of Steel and Dark Funeral and those are the bands we can’t get enough of each time! Pure perfection!
This was the day of complete domination of the third stage as the greatest bands were on that stage, such as The Exploited, Dark Funeral (which was perfect for the atmosphere), 1349 and many others.
DAY 6- 4.8.2024: SHOW ME THE BODY; A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS; THE AMITY AFFLICTION; LACUNA COIL; K.K’S PRIEST; PENDULUM; CRIMENA; MISERY INDEX; ARMORED SAINT; NAPALM DEATH; EXODUS; FEAR FACTORY; THE DEVIL’S TRADE; SHY.LOW; URNE; INCANTATION; MAYBESHEWILL; TEXTURES; GOD IS AN ASTRONAUT; INSOMNUIM; WATAIN; FROG LEAP
Too bad as many participants left the festival because it was the last day of the festival and for some, the travel was very long and it was Sunday which is unfortunate for people who work the following day and have a 10 or 12 hour ride back home. Exodus celebrated 40 years next year of existence and they made it into one marvellous celebration. Lacuna Coil and Napalm Death gave excellent performances as well as many others.
Insomnium were the stars I’ve been waiting for all week as I adore the band and I enjoyed the concert very much, but I left it very shaken up. They finished their concert with a song “Heart Like a Grave” which is a masterpiece, but it fuckin too sad and I cry every time I hear it and usually cant be stopped easily as I associate the song with the most horrific hell I went through during life. I cried my eyes out. The song is a masterpiece but not appropriate to end a show. In my humble opinion.
Watain were definitely the star of the day as their show was mind-blowing and one beautiful experience in the beautiful ambience of mountains and woods on the third stage.
Why should you attend Rockstadt?
Indeed, why? So many people were dissatisfied and social media was filled with memes stating: “Extreme que fest”, “Moshpit with wasps” “Waspstadt” and others. Well, bees are not the organisers fault and hopefully the organisation next year will be in line with the number of attendees of the festival.
MINUSES
One of the biggest problems was problems with sound (eg. Misery Index, Eluveitie and others) which didn’t enable the best experience of the concert.
There should be a bigger gap between the bands performing especially if the band is starting on the third stage as it was sometimes impossible to catch the beginnings of all concerts we wanted as the third stage is quite distant and it takes time for the crowd to arrive.
If a band was cancelled- there were no announcements on the video walls and I found out about the cancellations by accident.
There was no online top-up so the ques became insane and hopefully all will be better next year.
There was no water in the women’s toilets and it was horrific but luckily, the next day the problem was solved with deliverance of Toi-Toi.
Cell phone charging spots would be great, as there were none.
Bus shuttle station wasn’t visible enough and complete traffic chaos occurred after the end of each day.
There were no water-fill up stations and hopefully there will be some as heat is getting pretty dangerous during the summer and that would be a nice touch of care for the visitors of the festival.
Many were complaining even about rough toilet paper which I find hilarious, as for those that have been to many festivals- know you can consider yourself lucky if you find toilet paper at all. So those who have a problem with paper should stay at the hotel, not the camp. Forget rough paper- enjoy metal!
There were several people that were not able to enter the green camp although they bought the tickets due to the camp being overbooked, so an alternative solution for them was found.
Press corner had no basic working conditions as it was too small and we were not able to write posts on our laptops at the spot and we were hoping for that as we were in the camp and had no other solutions to work.
It would be great if there were a lot more to choose from apart from shirts and hoodies to buy: eg. raincoats, bullet belts, jewellery and all other accessories.
PLUSES
All these “Minuses” stated above can be forgotten as all the “Pluses” are bigger and more significant! Line-up of the festival was purely incredible and still it wasn’t overcrowded like some other festivals, it was easy to get around the stages and see all. One of the biggest advantages is that the beer was cheap and it played a significant part for us to feel welcome and want to come again as this is one of the rare festivals at which greed hasn’t taken over the show.
I noticed a lot of very handsome men, and women of course. This festival was very appealing to the younger generation as I suppose it’s more affordable than western EU festivals and that contributed to great overall energy of the festival!
It was incredible that this festival is indeed bigger than others as it contains a full 6 days of concerts which was a purely incredible experience!
Security working on the festival was great and treated all with respect and understanding. One security member even crowd surfed which was a great sight!
Staff and local people were nice and friendly and there was a lot to see in the surroundings, especially castles.
Summary:
If you are a snowflake and just love to remember all the complaints: maybe you should stay at home as there is no danger of rough toilet paper. If you are a true metalhead: you will forget all that wasn’t perfect and will surely come next year. Everything was perfect when you look back, the only thing missing was: mud bathing as the rain came only for the last day. So, even the weather was perfect and it’s up to you how you will remember things. We had a blast and had a perfectly good time!
Gallery:
ROCKSTADT EXTREME FEST 2024 – Romania, Râșnov – 31.07. – 04.08.2024
