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"AMA Music Festival is live music like no other." So it's stated on the AMA Music Festival official site. Indeed. I've never been to a music festival where food was a headliner. Namely, more people were standing in lines for food than in front of the stage. It looked more like one of those town/village celebrations where you come to eat, drink and socialize and where the bands only serve to liven up the atmosphere and offer people a chance to dance. We all need to eat, but when it comes to a music (!) festival, people (supposedly) attend mainly for the music, therefore things should be arranged so that the audience does not miss half of the (paid!) performances standing in line for food. And there were other lines, too...
Let's start with the first one. When we were only about half a kilometre from the venue, we stopped in a line of cars. Then we drove 200 meters for more than 15 minutes, and where we were supposed to turn right to the parking lot, the road was closed because the parking lot was already fully occupied, and the police directed us elsewhere, like, park in some free parking space in one of the streets. Luckily enough, there was one about a kilometre away. When we finally got in the near, we joined a new line - of people waiting to enter, over three hundred meters long. We wanted to bypass it since we had acreditations but got escorted back. Namely and unusually to our experiences, it was the same line for everybody. The major problem was that they started letting people in at 18.00, and the first performing band, Messa, was scheduled for 18.15. So, its potential audience was only listening - far from the stage. I wonder how many people were in front of it. When Messa was about to finish its gig, we finally passed the finish line and got in. We got ourselves beers (four dL of beer was 6 €, for crying out loud) and came in front of the stage right in time for Katatonia. Another weird thing was three different (fenced and guarded) areas: a side stage balcony for VIPs, a pit (also for accredited), and behind for all the rest - with a mixing table in between.
We settled down somewhat behind the mixing table, but the sound was awful: back vocals were louder than the lead vocal, and, in the first song, "Austerity", you could only hear bass and drums. Also, one of the band's founders and guitarist, Anders Nyström, aka Blakkheim, was missing, only his guitars recorded. After we moved to the pit area, the sound was a little better but still far from good. Could it be that Katatonia's sound technician was drunk or perhaps not even there? Katatonia offered ten more songs: "Colossal Shade", "Lethean", "Birds", "The Winter Of Our Passing", "Forsaker", "Opaline", "My Twin", "Atrium", "Old Heart Falls", and "July". I enjoyed the gig despite sound problems, but it was nothing to its 2010s performance in Ljubljana, which, to me, was one of the best gigs I've ever attended.
We were hungry already - we hadn't eaten since noon or something. Since I'm limited with choices (as one who doesn't eat meat) and, in this case, also by my mind refusing to stand in line for food for at least half an hour, I decided to go with an empty stomach and, additionally, the full bladder (yeah, there were long lines also for toilets) for some more time.
Lacuna Coil saved the event for me. The sound reached the expected level, and the performance was top-notch. The now larger audience showed genuine enthusiasm to its compatriots, which Cristina Scabbia "rewarded" with some speeches, also pointing out her parents come from that region. Lacuna Coil also served 11 tracks, powerfully and graciously: "Blood, Tears, Dust", "Reckless", "Layers Of Time", "Heaven's A Lie XX", "Now Or Never", "Veneficium", "Enjoy The Silence (Depeche Mode cover)", "Never Dawn", "Tight Rope XX", "Swamped XX", and "Nothing Stands In Our Way"; all, without exception, well received. "We fear nothing, we fear nothing", Cristina repeated several times before the last song. From her lips to god's ears...
After Lacuna Coil finished, we took another chance to eat something. On the outskirts, we saw a pizza stand and no line. We approached only to realize there were no more pizzas left. They said they didn't expect such a crowd. Right next, there was another stand - with sandwiches, hot dogs and some other stuff, but at least no noteworthy line. I had a 5 € panini with plain cheese - I haven't eaten something that dull in years, but at least it quieted my stomach.
Next and last: Megadeth - I wasn't looking forward to it. Although I appreciate all metal genres and subgenres, it doesn't mean I enjoy listening to them. Megadeth's music has never been friendly to my ears when thrash metal (early/later) or heavy metal/rock in between, although I'm familiar with Dave Mustaine and Kiko Loureiro as two acknowledged best guitarists of all time and Megadeth as one of the best metal bands. Well, it managed to gather the largest audience and beyond-excited one, while I managed to convince Tomaz to leave early - to avoid exiting crowds and heavy traffic. So, we only got to hear/see six out of 14 tracks (including one encore): "Hangar 18", "Wake Up Dead", "In My Darkest Hour", "Sweating Bullets", "Dread And The Fugitive Mind", and "Angry Again". I only regret not being there for "A tout le monde" since it featured Cristina Scabbia. But it's OK. And, I could easily be angry (again), given the circumstances, but what would be the point? I guess it was just another festival that the promoters wanted to get under the roof as soon as possible and start counting the profits. It's no news being more or less all about money: "money makes the world go around", "people make the money go around", "et (eppur) si muove". Till the next music event - hopefully, a more pleasing one! Regards, Jerneja
Report by Jerneja
Photos/video by Tomaz
Lacuna Coil - Never Dawn
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