Roadburn Festival 2011 – Day 2 (by Transylvanian Hungerrr)

I remember clearly that I didn’t sleep too much after the first night. Maybe because I was too tired after that marathon and partly because I was still in shock over what happened during the previous day – mostly due to Wovenhand’s performance. Nothing was quite the same after that moment: it really consumed me, I felt so drained out of energy yet very relieved, sort of at peace with everything and all, contemplating…

The fact that I even left the US in time to catch the festival was a miracle in itself – in my infinite wisdom I realized that my passport was expired on the way to the airport. Cancelled flight, hours in line for the US Passport Autority who couldn’t help out since I’m not yet a citizen, freaking outside my consulate because their network was down and there was only a two hour window when they could release a temporary one – a total shit show. It all worked out in the end, and I had made it…

So the second day started very calmly, sort of reflecting on everything that happen leading to my arrival to Tilburg and what was to come, enjoying a few bottles of Duvel at one of the cafes right next to the venues with my friend from Canada, like everyone else we’re making plans as to who we can catch and what bands we’d have no choice but to miss.

We’re joined for a few by James Kelly of Altar Of Plagues, it’s good to catch up with him, their NYC show on August 1st with Velnias is still fresh in my memory, what an awesome night that was, the highlight of my last summer for sure! I congratulate him yet again for the freshly released Mammal – a monumental album, without a doubt their darkest yet. Having recently returned from studying in China, I’m excited to get the answers to the interview I sent while he was away.

The weather is perfect – sunny and warm. I’m getting a buzz. I see Gunnar passing by and I have to ask him who were his favorites from the day before, and he answered without hesitation: “the three W’s: Wynterfylleth, Wovenhand and Wardruna”. Clearly a good call, but he probably missed Year Of No Light and Circle. Oh well. Grave Miasma guys show up and they join us. Really down to earth guys, I’m curious as hell as how they’ll sound tonight – definitely one of my must see shows.

And so it begins.

It’s 4PM and the Midi Theater is super packed, there’s a line outside. Luckily I have a photo pass, so I make my way in. Year Of No Light is just starting their second set for Roadburn, this time a premiere: they’re performing the soundtrack for CT Dreyer’s horror masterpiece, Vampyr. No one is moving, everyone’s eyes are staring at the projection screen, the music is very soft and barely there in the beginning, but it just builds and builds momentum… It goes hand in hand with the plot, and at pivotal times in the movie it just explodes, only so that it can start all over again. Beautiful!

Very interesting, an equally captivating yet relaxing performance – except for the moments when they go all out, both with the music and lighting. Without a doubt a successful experiment, if we can call it that. Because of the lack of proper lighting the photos are pretty bad, but I filmed over 20 minutes of the whole thing, I will post the footage soon.

A few hours later I would run into guitarist Shiran who was not too long ago in New York City playing 3 nights in a row with his other band, funeral doomsters Monarch. Man, even if those shows were heavy as hell, Year Of No Light just can’t be compared with anything out there right now, still getting shivers from seeing them perform the previous day.

Continue reading: Transylvanian Hungerrr Blog: Roadburn Festival 2011 – Day 2.

For Day 1 click HERE.

Tags: Roadburn, Roadburn 2011, Roadburn Festival, Roadburn Festival 2011, Transylvanian Hungerrr

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 11th, 2011 at 7:59 pm and is filed under 2011, Festival News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.