The cult festival

Rock am Ring ``2023``

Hi and welcome to Behind The Noise!

 

Rock am Ring 2023:

That was when we sang our throats out with Yungblud, had a never-ending party with the Nova Twins, and embarked on a storied adventure with Tenacious D to face the entire world.

 

Moments that remain unforgettable and that we would like to share with you today.

 

Like so many Ringrockers, we were drawn directly to the first appearance of the RAR after a year's abstinence, which was opened in 2023 by the Irish Rock veterans Flogging Molly, who made a statement for peace and freedom,

provided the first goosebump moment right at the beginning. Exactly the right start for a successful festival weekend...

 

With just under 70,000 Ringrockers, the festival was a less crowded than last year, but it did not dampen the mood, especially since the lower attendance was certainly also due to the current inflation situation in which one or the other had to consider not to visit the festival. Nevertheless, this year's Rock am Ring was a mecca for all rock fans, not only because of the fantastic weather (3 days of sunshine) and an insanely good lineup.

 

Let's start with a band that was already one of our highlights last year...

Fever 333

After their performance last year on the Mandora Stage, where they literally tore the stage down, it was certainly the right decision to put the band in the lineup of the main stage, the "Utopia Stage", this year. Fever 333, who recently made a small change in their line-up and presented their latest single "Swing" the day before, had a lot planned for their performance, at the same time announcing a new era of their work.

 

We can say in advance that the change in the line-up did not harm Fever's famously energetic performance. Jason was as unstoppable as ever, on stage and off, and thus provided the Ringrockers with an unforgettable performance that set the bar mighty high for the following gigs. Not for nothing did Oliver Sykes call of Bring Me the Horizon Fever 333 as the band he would never

Fever 333 at the Rock am Ring Festival 2023

want to follow at a show. Quote, "I think we go quite hard onstage but then you watch those guys [expletive] and you're like, 'F-k, man, how are we gonna top this?' We can't,"

 

"Sky is the limit" - someone once said and especially in this case it was true: Again and again the band went one better with songs like "Majority", "Made In America" or their own version of the well-known Blur track "Song 2". That this was not enough was confirmed by singer Jason when he finished his set high up on the main building next to the stage behind the railing, making not only us but also the security sweat - what a concert!

 

But no time to catch our breath, because the next highlight was already on stage...

Yungblud at the Rock am Ring Festival 2023

Yungblud

If anyone can follow up on such an energetic performance as Fever 333's, it's certainly Yungblud (one of the performances we've been eagerly anticipating since the lineup was released). The electricity still felt in the air from Fever's performance was adapted by the band with the first song "21st Century Liability" and passed on unabated. In the still sweating crowd, people sang along loudly to songs like "Strawberry Lipstick", "Fleabag" or "Sex Not Violence" and especially pogoed during the faster tracks, which certainly pleased singer Yungblud as he constantly encouraged them to do so. With a lot of humor and an incomparable charisma, Yungblud managed to reduce the distance between the stage and the audience, so that one had the feeling of standing directly opposite him. If their performance had not had a time limit, the Ringrockers would certainly have celebrated with the guys from Manchester for a long time,

but as already mentioned, the organizers have taken on a lot this year and created a lineup where one highlight chased the next.

 

Still in ecstasy, we moved out of the sun of the Utopia Stage and sought shelter at the Orbit Stage. The Orbit may be the smallest stage of the Rock am Ring Festival, but it is also the secret jewel of the green hell, presenting national as well as international artists that you might not know and discover for yourself. Due to its manageable size, it is one of our favorite stages, where you can almost touch the musicians.

Set It Off

Set It Off is one of those bands that we had the pleasure to see on the Orbit stage this year. It was not the first time that we visited the guys at one of their gigs and since we knew what a great performance the three of them would give on stage, we were even more excited. As expected, the band from the USA had brought along an extensive repertoire consisting of new, but also older classics, with which they also started their performance. When "Wolf In Sheep's Clothing" was played, there was no stopping those who knew Set it Off. The sound of the band and the singing of the audience, which almost drowned out singer Cody, immediately attracted more curious people and quickly it became crowded. From an initially manageable crowd it developed quite quickly a crowd that grew far beyond the actual infield of the Orbit Stage. It was a huge party, with people dancing all the way to the stands. Songs like "Projector" or "Loose Canon" were of course not to be missed, and a classic

Set It Off at the Rock am Ring Festival 2023

saxophone/guitar battle was of course not to be missed by Cody. One of our absolute highlights, however, was the vocal performance of drummer Maxx, who performed the song "Hypnotized" while Cody played on the drums. Awesome!

 

Foo Fighters

A highlight, a legend and certainly a band that you don't get to see directly that often:

The Foo Fighters were announced this year at the RAR as the headliner of the first day, whereby the organizer has proven exactly the right nose, especially since the Foo Fighters on the same day released their long-awaited new album "But Here We Are", which with the title also immediately announced the theme of the evening. Tireless and despite many strains, which the band also had to deal with the death of their drummer Taylor, the Foo Fighters were on stage that evening and did what they do best! With songs like "The Pretender" or "All My Life" they managed to fill the space from the stage to the Ferris wheel, so that you had the feeling that all 70,000 ring rockers had gathered in front of the stage to pay homage to the Foo Fighters. With classics, new songs and some goosebump moments, the band created a firework of emotions and thus managed a crowning conclusion of the first day... Chapeau!

Day two

And daily greets the groundhog... would be an appropriate phrase to describe this year's weather during the Rock am Ring festival because day two started again with full sun and in the sky there was no sign of a cloud that could have cast a little shadow. According to the in-house meteorologist who has been accompanying Rock am Ring since the beginning, this year would be the best weather the RAR has ever had... and he should be right.

 

So quickly organized something cool and off to the first gig!

Cleopatrick at the Rock am Ring Festival 2023

Cleopatrick

The band may not be known to everyone and that's exactly why we would like to recommend it to you, my "Immortals", this up-and-coming alternative rock duo. With their futuristic mix of rock and progressive, the band creates an intense sound in a very special way that really captivates you. Singer Luke's guitar playing has a hypnotic, almost trance-like quality that is difficult to describe, as it is something you simply have to experience or hear. Cleopatrick has taken us away from the stage into their own world and let us almost forget the worries of everyday life and even the accumulating heat in front of the stage.

 

A performance of a special kind.

Nothing But Thieves

The second band on our must-see list on the second day was Nothing But Thieves. The combo around singer Conor from the small town with the picturesque name "Southend-on-Sea", provided with their distinctive sound for by far the grooviest performance at this year's Rock am Ring Festival.

 

Especially Conor with his unmistakable voice seemed to have a lot of fun and whirled over the whole area of the Utopia Stage despite the temperatures. But not only the band danced like there was no tomorrow, also for the crowd in front of the stage there was no stopping with songs like "I Was Just A Kid" or "Futureproof". Dynamic, fast and above all demanding was the performance, which had only a few breaks to take a breather, like for example during "Impossible", and kept the circle pit constantly in motion. From the first to the last song "Amsterdam" the guys used every second to celebrate together with us in the blazing midday sun.

And since we are already there, we would like to break a lance for the organizers at this point. It is always like to complain but few talk about what an effort behind it is to put such an event on the legs. In addition to the logistics, the organization of thousands of helpers must be carried out so that such a festival goes at all reasonably smoothly across the stage and if we then compare last year with this year, then we see quite quickly that the organizers this year have taken many of the "criticisms" from last year to heart to optimize the festival.

 

In addition to familiar booths from last year, this year some new culinary offerings joined them, creating a colorful and diverse selection that certainly had something for everyone. Even if of course at a festival someone is constantly talking about the price level, we felt that the prices for a festival of such magnitude, yet relatively kept within the framework. A whole pizza salami was available for just under 13 euros... you can't really complain about that.

There were also more merchandise stands where you could buy t-shirts, hoodies and more from your favorite artists. Other new sponsors, like Pringles, enriched the offer and created a successful change for example by their Stage Dive Contest and especially by handing out their red Pringles hats, which not only provided enough protection from the blazing sun, but also resulted in a great panorama, that felt half the crowd in front of the Utopia Stage dipped into a sea of red hats during K.I.Z's performance.

 

But back to the essential....

Nova Twins at the Rock am Ring Festival 2023

One gig that we unfortunately couldn't quite see due to the time overlap (although the timeslots were much better coordinated this year), but would like to highlight is that of Halestorm - What a voice! At the beginning of her performance, the singer used acapella and gave us goosebumps with her raw, smoky rock pipe. The band invited us all to take a seat in their "church" and join in the celebration, making this such a personal moment, despite the large crowd, that we immediately decided a Halestorm concert would be at the top of our bucket list.

 

Nova Twins - our highlight of this year's Rock am Ring Festival!

We first got to know these two exceptional artists at the a small concert in Cologne whose location could hold just 150 people.

Now the Nova Twins were in front of us again and that on our favorite stage, the Orbit Stage. Shortly before the start we talked to one or the other photographer and had to realize that only a few had the two Twins on the screen. We told them that we were sure that this would change after their performance, and we were right.

 

To describe Nova Twins is not an easy task, because the performance and also the musical range of the two artists Amy Love and Georgia South is so enormous that it is hard to summarize.

 

James Wilkinson described the Twins as a duo that "innovatively blends grime, punk and heavy rock with a D.I.Y. ethos" and Alex Rusted called them a "genre-bending fusion of raw punk energy, the electronics of an illegal rave and an unabashed grime attitude." Both statements hit the mark quite well, as what the Nova Twins present is so multi-faceted that it can't really be summed up in one genre.

It seemed so easy for the two to captivate their fans and also those who didn't know the duo yet. The whole area in front of the Orbit Stage turned into one huge party from the beginning, with more and more visitors gathering in front of the stage from song to song. Energetic as well as dynamic, the two musicians danced, ran and jumped across the stage, while the crowd raged below them. Especially during songs like "Cleopatra" or "Taxi" there was loud singing and pogoing. One moment that we especially remembered was when singer Amy asked everyone to squat during the song "Choose Your Fighter". As if electrified, we all continued to move to the rhythm in the crouch and also the circle pit running until just moved crouched further until finally the signal came - An incredible performance of a band that, so we are sure, also makes a great atmosphere on the very big stages.

Halestorm at the Rock am Ring Festival 2023

Even though the next band may not be familiar to everyone right away, surely almost everyone knows the two singers of the group, Jack Black and Kyle Gass, from various movies.

 

Tenacious D

Not only the loud sounds were well received at Rock am Ring, but also the old stories and warm sounds of the acoustic guitars of Tenacious D, which were eagerly awaited not only by us and their fans. Already the day before we saw numerous fans running around with tour shirts of the group and also Conor, singer of the band Nothing But Thieves, expressed his anticipation about the appearance of Tenacious D during his gig. It was clearly a long-awaited highlight for many which was also noticeable by the full audience in front of the Utopia Stage. In their songs, the band combines handmade alternative rock with humorous themes and lets the visitors dive into legendary adventures.

Tenacious D at the Rock am Ring Festival 2023

One moment you are fighting the devil together with the duo, talking about the "best song in the world" or trying to stand up to "the metal" where even pop rock has failed. It's not just a performance, but a real experience in which you are actively involved. Add to that their accomplished and melodic sound, and the extraordinary musical talent of the two make their show a real experience.

 

From the rocking harmonic sounds it went now to a real primeval rock of Nu Metal.

Papa Roach

"Cut my life into pieces, this is my last resort" - and what a last resort it is: a performance by Papa Roach is like an oasis in the midst of everyday stress and worries, which one was allowed to forget on this Saturday evening.

 

Papa Roach just wanted to be on stage and signed her name with songs like "Kill The Noise". In front of the Mandora Stage it was crowded, so that it was hardly possible to think about moving, but this didn't stop the audience from following the call for a "Wall Of Death" right at the beginning. Especially in the area directly in front of the stage the whole crowd moved to the instructions and the music of the band. Papa Roach had brought along a versatile repertoire of old classics as well as new awakeners, which also sometimes contained surprises. So for example with the song "Broken Home", which was connected with the well-known piece of Eminem "Lose Yourself". This was only topped by the moment when a wheelchair user crowd-surfed over the crowd and singer Jacoby came down from the stage to greet him in the pit as well as to hug him.

Basically, we also belong to the advocates who believe that rock music should be played at a rock festival, and whoever knows the band we are going to report on next would certainly not put it in the rock or metal categories. Nevertheless, and even if it does not correspond to our music at all, we would like to report this year about a performance that is certainly musically further away from rock than the sun from the earth, but about what the guys have done on the second evening on the Utopia stage, the performance and even more so the mood they have spread at this year's RAR, about all this, simply belongs to report.

Papa Roach at the Rock am Ring Festival 2023

K.I.Z

Welcome to the mental hospital Birkenheim, which K.I.Z brought to the stage of this year's Rock am Ring festival and invited everyone to become a VIP of the psychiatric ward. Already in 2007 the band was supposed to play in the aftershow program at Rock am Ring appear. A plan which, however, was not really well received by some sponsors due to (in their opinion) too salacious lyrics. This in turn led to the band being uninvited again without further ado. What the guys thought of this, they showed the following year, when they spontaneously rapped from the roof of a bus on the C2 campsite. However, the whole thing was not received by every ring rocker and was even taken as a provocation by some, which was answered with beer cans thrown. On the second day of this year's RAR everything should be different. Instead of beer cans, only the cheers of thousands of enthusiastic spectators followed the guys around the ears and with every song the party got bigger. At the latest when tens of thousands celebrated together with K.I.Z "Hurra die Welt geht unter" (Hurray the world is ending), it should have become clear to even the last doubter that the music of the four guys is far away from rock and metal, but when a sweaty crowd of thousands of people bawling and pogoing celebrate the act on stage then that is somehow close to a rock concert or?

 

So the second day was already coming to an end, but when the kings call, the ring rockers don't let themselves be asked for long.

Kings Of Leon

Rock am Ring. A place where music lovers come together and party for a weekend without being influenced by the world. Just be yourself and celebrate life together with your favorite bands as well as with new friends you might have made at the campsite. A band that takes up such an attitude towards life and combines it with somewhat calmer tones than their predecessors K.I.Z are Kings Of Leon, who found a successful conclusion for the second day of the festival. Known for songs like "Sex On Fire" or "Use Somebody", the band ended the evening with a more relaxed set, which at least for us was a successful change from the previous party mood and thus a crowning conclusion for the second day.

Day three

What shall we say it was "Groundhog Day" because like the two days before also day three offered a lot of sun with a fortunately light breeze. It was the last day of this year's Rock am Rings and you could feel between all the exhaustion, which you could see the Ringrockers literally, a touch of melancholy because the festival ended with this day. But as they say... after the festival is before the festival and so thought then prevails the anticipation of the next RAR.

 

Nevertheless, on Sunday many of the visitors lay a little longer in the feathers, which we noticed during a morning tour of the festival site. However, this changed abruptly when Sum41 called to the stage...

Sum41

Only recently the band had announced their breakup, which is why gigs like this should be enjoyed. But that not only the audience took full advantage of their concert was already evident during the first song "Motivation", where the band right at the beginning rather made it seem as if Sum wanted to add another decade instead of quitting:

 

But not only Deryck and the fans seemed to enjoy the gig also singer Mike from NOFX, who performed on the Utopia Stage after Sum41, took the opportunity during "Walking Disaster" and ran on stage to push Deryck's microphone stand over (for whatever reason). Many spectators had come to see the band play live and, despite the rather high temperatures, a large number of

Sum41 at the Rock am Ring Festival 2023

Pits in the crowd, which Sum41 incited to moshing again and again. Especially with songs like "Fat Lip" or their cover of "We Will Rock You" the crowd really went wild and yet the band managed to drive the crowd on with every song. What a start for the third and last day! After this workout, we were once again drawn across the grounds. From Impericon, Fishermanns Friends over Warsteiner to Titus Skates or a piercing booth where you could get a piercing on the spot, there was still a lot to discover and also to win, so that there was enough entertainment during the breaks.

 

A surprise act that we happened to witness that day was Mod Sun, who was performing on the Orbit Stage at that time. It was the first time that the musician played in Germany, which he confirmed very often with words of gratitude and joy.

Mod Sun at the Rock am Ring Festival 2023

But it was not only these that made Mod Sun's concert seem so authentic, but also his music and passion on stage, which was discharged in an energy whose limit he completely exhausted. The musician put down one sprint after another and gave a performance that resembled a full-body workout. With his concert, he managed to captivate the audience, even those who, like us, walked by rather by chance, and encouraged us all to stay the way we are with songs like "Perfectly Imperfect" - "The way you are is the way you suppose to be."

 

Architects

Architects hardly needs an introduction. The primal rocks of metalcore performed on the Mandora Stage on the last day of the festival and provided an unforgettable demolition. While the sun slowly disappeared on the horizon, the band unloaded a fire on the stage, which was accompanied by

was rewarded by the audience with numerous mosh pits. Especially during songs like "Doomsday", which they dedicated to their deceased guitarist Tom on this day, the masses could hardly be held back and made a good atmosphere. Standing in the crowd with Architects, while all around you people were screaming, pogoing or crowd surfing over your heads was an indescribably binding experience at that moment, which we all shared with the band.

 

Even though the end of this year's festival was approaching so slowly, the moment we were all waiting for that day was getting closer and closer....

 

Die Toten Hosen

A highlight that simply belongs to Rock am Ring.

Die Toten Hosen have something about them that can hardly be put into words and floats a little, like magic in the air. Their performance was energetic, loud and dynamic, so that many pent-up feelings were simply let out into the night with the band. But it was also intense, harmonious and communal, as with the song "Bonnie and Clyde", where everyone sang along loudly. The Toten Hosen gathered half of Rock am Ring that night and there themselves united the most diverse musical tastes. For two hours, the band mercilessly pulled off their performance, leaving hardly any time to catch their breath. For the small as well as big emotions, however, the band left plenty of room and shared them with all of us, which led to one goosebump moment after another. From the enlightenment about social grievances, about national socialism to anecdotes about the Golden Lemons under your title "Forever Punk". Die Toten Hosen delivered an incredible show, which as the last act on the Utopia Stage completely rounded out the festival experience.

Die Toten Hosen at the Rock am Ring Festival 2023

Besonders bei Songs wie „Hier kommt Alex“ oder „Tage wie diese“ hatte man das Gefühl, dass alle Ringrocker nur wegen den Hosen gekommen waren…. Ein unvergleichbarer Chor der zum Teil eingehüllt von zahlreichen brennenden Bengalos den Auftritt der Toten Hosen am diesjährigen Rock am Ring unvergesslich macht. Es soll aber, laut Campino, nicht der letzte Auftritt der Hosen auf Rock am Ring sein: Wenn er 65 ist, erzählte er, wird er mit eingegipstem Bein hoch an den Traversen hinauf aufs Bühnendach klettern. Er wäre zwar älter und heute würde er anstatt drei, 13 Minuten dafür benötigen, aber das würde er sich nicht nehmen lassen doch müssten die Fans sich dann die Zeit nehmen das mit anzusehen;) Wir sind gespannt – und mit Sicherheit dabei, um darüber zu berichten!

 

Bring Me The Horizon

Our last Rock am Ring highlight was the performance of Bring Me The Horizon, who had set up quite a bit on the Mandora Stage, as you can see on the pictures.

Bring Me The Horizon at the Rock am Ring Festival 2023

The band had brought a futuristic story around their performance, in which an AI named Eve, already known from the song "Parasite Eve", asks you to start a cult with her to protect humanity from itself. It would be the next generation, Genxis, which was also touted in a short promotional video. Bring Me The Horizon used their music to try to get the audience to not listen to the AI and turn away from it in order to survive. This story ran throughout the evening and formed a common thread in their performance. From new songs like "Mantra" to songs like "House Of Wolves" or "Shadows Moses" we got to hear a varied mixture of known and new songs of the band this evening, which were also properly celebrated by the crowd. An absolute demolition, which we like to think of!

The Rock am Ring Festival 2023 showed many different facets and was not only a lot of fun for us and the spectators, but also for everyone involved from the police to the stewards, who sometimes joked with us. Such a weekend definitely deserves a repeat and is also already not so far away: The first Early Bird Tickets are already sold for the festival in 2024, which will take place from 07-09 June. We look forward to telling you more about the line-up and the festival, which this year alone attracted more than 70,000 spectators.

 

In the words of Campino, "Shall we finally get this party started?"

Concerts, festivals and more

In our BEHIND THE NOISE column we write about everything around the metal & rock scene and take a look behind the spotlights to give you a better insight into the concert. At this concert, too, we were able to collect exciting and new memories, which we will of course not withhold from you. Intense, unconventional and intoxicating. Welcome to the concert!

One show. Endless memories

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Rock am Ring Comic - Rock am Ring Festival 2023

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