My highest count is Within Temptation. I saw them at M’era Luna alone 4 times (I think). And I went to three separate concerts and I saw them at least 2 more festivals.
The next highest count has to be Opeth because it’s my partner’s favorite band. I have seen them at least three times at concerts and probably 2 or 3 more times at festivals.
Due to the nature of festivals there are surely a few more bands I have seen two or even three times (does it count as seen when you can hear the refrain of Ace of Spades as you put your steak on the grill near your tent? I was young and dumb and didn’t know what I was missing).
I missed Blink 182 and Linkin Park at Leeds Fest 2003 because I was a pretentious 16 year old. Loved LP at 14, but by 16 was completely over it. Probably in a desperate attempt to show how mature I was. Always hated Blink 182, and they were kinda past it even then, but they did define an era.
Went to see Evan Dando instead. It was good, but in retrospect it was a mistake.
Ended up seeing LP in Poland in 2013, but they were past their prime.
I’m just glad The White Stripes had to cancel their performance because Jack broke his hand. I almost definitely would have missed them, and I don’t think I could live with myself knowing that I could have seen them.
My accidental hipster achievement is that, despite being a big fan of them (and I’m coincidentally wearing a shirt of their first album right now), I saw Reuben twice before they’d released a full album and then never saw them again. Just for whatever reason I never managed to make any of their gigs after that.
Iron Maiden could be joint top for me if I’d bothered to go and see them at Sonisphere. I couldn’t see the point as I was going to see them a week later at Wacken and it would be the same set in a much better place.
I went to Wacken 3 times and the first 2 times I had NO idea who anyone was. I missed not only Motörhead but a bunch of other bands. At least I was there for the chorus singing that is Blind Guardian (my partner dragged me to his faves ) and for Opeth obviously. And Sonata Arctica and Nightwish. I really wish Wacken was smaller and not at the other end of Germany. And the next closest festival had the most awesome ever running order for 2020!!!
Which reminds me another band I have seen at least 4 times is Amorphis.
And the one time we went to Graspop, I got so drunk I missed Alice Cooper and I wanted to see Alice Cooper. At least I didn’t miss Within Temptation and Iron Maiden.
Oh god, a “friend”* started a fight with Reuben when they supported Fightstar, trying to get in their tour bus. Didn’t go to the gig, was just passing by after the bar closed, saw the fans waiting outside the venue, and my friends wanted to meet Charlie from Busted for a laugh.
My friends were utter ****s. I fortunately happened to have a programme flyer for the venue in my pocket. Borrowed a pen and pretended to be with the other fans. Think the signed flyer is still in my dads attic
.* “Friend” = someone I couldn’t stand who happened to be in the same friend group.
I have seen all of these bands once Opeth was the only one not at Wacken. That was at High Voltage in London.
Oh, I know. It was just a similar “heard them while sat in my tent nearby” story. I managed to miss out on Motorhead completely while they were still around. The most gutted I was about it was when I found out my housemate ended up in a strip club after the gig with them and In Flames.
In Flames supported Within Temptation at a concert I saw in Portland in 2019 at the Roseland Theater which if I ever manage to stay long enough in Portland again I want to go back to. It was the best non-festival concert of WT I went to. Maybe the best overall concert.
It was so weird because I remember WT being this small unknown band and I had picked up a few MP3s from them via napster and they played at 11am in the morning at M’era and In Flames was a headliner at Wacken probably in the same year.
My friend from Portland accompanied us to her first metal concert ever. She was so surprised when In Flames came to the stage and everyone started jumping and headbanging–luckily some big dudes made a kind of wall between us and the moshpit
PS: And I very very nearly got the drumstick at the end of the WT concert but some other girl had her hand on it, too, and so I let go. I didn’t want to fight.
This was the best lineup I’ve been to. Was a once in a lifetime festival - all three Glastonbury headliners that year (Jay Z, Verve, and Kings of Leon) were playing halfway up the bill. Insanity.
RW has double headliners. It’s such a great idea, allowing dance acts to play after rock acts like REM>Chemical Brothers, or having a crazy support/header like Sigur Ros > Radiohead. I wish more festivals did it.
And back then they only had 2 stages, so friend groups didn’t have to split up all the time, the lineup had far bigger acts throughout the day compared to other festivals, and hardly any clashes. The best clash was Slayer on one stage, and Ben Folds on the other.
There’s some really good stuff there.
Did I mention I also missed at least 1 Slayer concert during my early years…
Although, I think it’s still not exactly my kind of metal.
The best lineup ever would have been Summerbreeze 2020.
I was only waiting for them to announce Arch Enemy as final headliner (they didn’t and also covid)
But they would have had Amorphis, Opeth and Within Temptation…
Also great was Graspop Metal Meeting 2003 or 2005 (I regret that I really don’t remember the early years that well because no digital cameras, thrown out running orders and no money for T Shirts). Graspop had Alice Cooper, Iron Maiden, Within Temptation, Opeth, Apocalyptica, Lacuna Coil and that’s just from memory…
I regularly cry over the Wacken lineups because there is just no way we are going to a 100k people festival that is an 8-10 hour (plus 4-6h traffic jam) drive away and usually ends in a stinking puddle of mud. I am too old for that shit. These days we rent a luxury tent that is as close to the stage as possible and has electricity for our cooling box. Warm beer is for young people.
I saw Heaven & Hell at the one gig they did after Ronnie James Dio had died. They had Glenn Hughes and Jorn Lande splitting vocals and at one point Phil Anselmo ran on stage and joined in the chorus of Neon Knights (Down were playing at the same festival).
And technically it was work, so I was paid to be there
Oh, I’ve just remembered my “before they were famous” moment
When I worked the Bristol Balloon Fiesta in 2002, Busted played the free concert there prior to having released anything. I remember being handed a flyer for them when I arrived and thinking they looked terrible.
Idlewild were definitely famous when I saw them in 2009, but before a run of “full-album” dates in London they decided to stop at a tiny club in my hometown and perform stuff from their entire back-catalog.
There was some great stuff at the two festivals I’ve been to:
I was at both of these! Red Hot Chili Peppers were such a hot mess. Fru was about to punch Anthony at one point for jumping on his guitar cable and making the jack pop out. What a weird show that was.
NIN should definitely have headlined over Smashing Pumpkins. They were unreal
I seem to remember that Chilis were having a whole bunch of problems with their monitors, so just spent a lot of time jamming instead of playing songs.
Yeah, I took the jamming to mean there were ruptures in the band and they possibly weren’t rehearsing in the time between the proper tour and the festival circuit? At various points Chad, Fru and Anthony all looked visibly pissed off. Then Fru left the band…
But maybe it was just monitors. Either way, they weren’t anywhere near as tight as they usually are. It was a train crash.
Opeth was the only one not at Wacken. That was at High Voltage in London.
