Rockwave Festival: The Prodigy, Judas Priest, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Rotting Christ, John Garcia, Maplerun, Electric Litany, Exarsis // TerraVibe Park, Malakasa, Greece // 04.07.2015

Saturday noon and we visit the grounds of Terravibe Park once more, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Rockwave festival. After a period of irrelevant names towards rock culture, they decided to make things right and give the rock/metal bands the place they deserve in the fest. This year they brought the Birmingham Metal Gods Judas Priest, the Greek legends Rotting Christ, the stoner rockers Maplerun and of course the Thrashers Exarsis.

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Exarsis hit the stage at 15:40 with “False Flag Attack” sounding the alarm for the moshers! It was one of the first times I saw the crowd so active so early during any festival. Suicidal Angels were the first ones to achieve that on the Vibe stage, during the Sonisphere fest of 2010, now it was their . With their set consisting of songs off “The Human Project” (“Brutal State”, “Abnormal Generation” dedicated to their moshing fans, “Skull And Bones”) as well as “The Brutal State” (“Surveillance Society”, “Dying Earth”, “Addicting Life Waste”, “Toxic Terror”, “Under Destruction”), Exarsis managed to wake everyone up for good! Also, they didn’t forget to thank the festival for giving them the chance to open for Judas Priest, but also to mention the Greek referendum taking place the day after that and shortly share their views on it.

– John Savvidis

Well that was a good day to go to a music festival. Nice weather good friends and cold beers, what else can someone ask for? The truth is I can think of one or two things but we will see them up close in a bit. In my opinion this was by far the most easy going Rockwave Festival I’ve ever been to!! And that was really refreshing.

To take things from the top. Two stages with so much different kind of music you could watch and enjoy. Not an easy thing, especially when you had to go from thrash metal to alternative experimental rock. Or even from more rock sounds to a black metal massacre. Surely the audience was more multi-musical in a hole but I think that kind of choice make some difference in the mood.

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At about 16:30 Electric Litany opened up the Terra stage. Their experimental alternative rock is not my kind of music but they are doing something unique. Melancholic soundtrack melodies mixed with post punk breaks and some alternative influences, that’s the kind of music this band is playing and it does it real good. For 45 minutes they played songs from both albums they’ve released. Not a very energetic band on stage but I don’t think jumping and running would be something that is fitted in this kind of music. Around 200 people had gathered close to the stage and watched the band, although most of us preferred the shadow of a bid tree and sit down on the grass relaxing with their music.

– Paris Dimitropoulos

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Next up was Maplerun! One of the bands I wasn’t particularly familiar with, who played something I would describe as the answer to the following question “How would Rage Against The Machine sound if they decided to play stoner?”. They did a damn good job of entertaining the crowd, although the closing cover of System Of A Down’s “Toxicity” was not good vocally. Generally I was content with their performance and I give them credit for having to deal with such a hot weather (as well as Exarsis).

– John Savvidis

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John Garcia doesn’t need an introduction. Even for a hardheaded metalhead like me (old dogs can’t learn new tricks) I know that mister John Garcia was the singer and co-founded member of legends Kyuss. His voice is like a trademark for some years now. You can’t be wrong of who is singing. And for an hour his voice accompanied old and new stuff making the people watching him and his band, having a great time. I bet beer sold a lot within that hour. Great sound, great performance, great music. And Mr. Garcia had all those things. The perfect combination for any live.

– Paris Dimitropoulos

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Time for one of the great legends of the Greek metal scene, the band you never ever get sick of seeing live, because you know you’re going to have a blast. Every time. That’s Rotting Christ ladies and gentlemen. With their set consisting of classics (“King Of A Stellar War”, “Non Serviam”, “The Sign Of Evil Existence”) some choice cuts of the past (“Transform All Suffering Into Plagues” and “Societas Satanas” by Thou Art Lord), modern classics  (“The Sign Of Prime Creation”, “Noctis Era”, “Nemecic”, “Athanatoi Este”) and stuff off “Kata Ton Daimona Eautou” (“Grandis Spiritus Diavolos”, “Kata Ton Daimona Eautou”, “In Yumen Xibalba”, “P’unchaw kachun – Tuta kachun”), they showed once more how it’s done. The energy from the crowd was insane like every time, and more from the band itself, while Rob “The Metal God” Halford was standing on the side of the stage enjoying their gig (there’s video proof of that).

– John Savvidis

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To tell the bitter truth I didn’t know Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. And I say bitter because those guys (and the girl-drummer) are rocking amazing!! Never ending highroads with nature scenes changing all the time, riding a Harley Davidson and with the sounds of this band, damn that’s a good dream. Wish it came true!! Indie and noise rock alongside with a dark feeling makes a perfect addicted recipe for this kind of rock ‘n roll. A kind of music you can enjoy with friends or even alone. For over an hour they traveled us to magical places.

– Paris Dimitropoulos

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Speaking of showing people how it’s done and legendary names, you have to stand in awe before THE METAL GODS. With only 90 minutes in their hands, they took the Vibe stage by storm, using none other but their golden history and great visual accompanying every song accordingly. Starting off with “Dragonaut” off “Redeemer Of Souls” (from which we heard the title track, “Halls Of Valhalla” and “Beginning Of The End” as an outro) and going on with “Metal Gods” off “British Steel”. The classics made it to the set once more (“Electric Eye”, “Breaking The Law”, “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming”, “Painkiller”, “Victim Of Changes”, “Hell Bent For Leather” with a huge wall of death in the middle, “Turbo Lover”) as well as great choice cuts of the past (“Jawbreaker”, “Beyond The Realms Of Death”, “Living After Midnight”, “Devil’s Child”).

I’ve watched all 8 bands of the festival and I would like to make a comment for the bands of the Vibe Stage. I will always be amazed by Rotting Christ live performance even when I have seen them 100 times and Metal God Halford truly ripped the sky that night.

– Paris Dimitropoulos

Their performance was top-notch given the time they had (remember in the 2011 mayhem they were headliners, half an hour makes a huge difference guys), and I was more than happy to see Ritchie Faulker being an important part of the Judas Priest machine. For those who complain about the setlist being bad or whatnot, I tell you this: if it’s a bad setlist, then why have some thousands of people screamed their lungs out in every song? Usually you don’t sing along to bands you don’t enjoy their set. And that shows the brilliance of Priest: even with a less surprising and shorter set than the one of 2011, they can still rock us till we can’t headbang anymore. End of story.

– John Savvidis

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I didn’t like Prodigy, I still have some objections about them. But after I’ve seen them live I would prefer to see them another 100 times again than hear them alone in my house. We’ve watched them from some distance and sited on the grass….yeah for about 1 minute. Unbelievable energy, amazing sound, great performance (never stopped running) and awesome live played songs. “Breathe” was the opening song…and then the crowd never stopped to dance. Even I couldn’t put my ass down and danced like a buffoon. Prodigy live are something different, they are energy incarnate. And mixing together all those musical influences so damn good is truly unique and unbelievable. “Voodoo People”, “Wild Frontier”, “Invaders Must Die”, “Smack My Bitch Up” (with amazing crowd jumping looked like a sea of people) are some of the highlights of the night. The only real problem was that I’ve missed my favorite song of them (No Good) and that their performance lasted only about one hour. That was truly disappointed really. Even then I could leave Terra Vibe Park without a big smile on my face.

Been a fun of this music for so long didn’t make me so hardheaded. In fact 10 years ago I wouldn’t bother to listen to The Prodigy. Ok I used to like 2 songs but from that point to watch them live were some hundred miles away for me once. Now as I said I would see them over and over again. And almost all the bands I wrote of above. So what I want to say really is to never be hardheaded and close minded. Music is something beautiful and express feelings. And it can surely express one feeling with several different ways. Until next year…….”All My Party People”!!!!

– Paris Dimitropoulos

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