Metalhead Meeting, 17.07.2024, Romexpo

For all my love for metal shows and the festival’s longevity, I have never gone to Metalhead Meeting before. I don’t know why, I guess it’s because summer is usually littered with concerts and there was always something else I wanted to see during that time, but this edition had a really cool line-up, I can never get enough of Judas Priest, so there we were (for Day 1, at least).

I have to say, I’m quite impressed with their organisation, as far as parking lot “in the middle of scorching heat” festivals go, this one was definitely the most humane and decent experience I’ve had. Zero lines at the toilets, acceptable lines for drinks, the sound booth was placed so that we had at least some sort of shade, two stages, enough space to move around and not feel cramped… it was good. Hats off. It would be nice though if they could place their festivals sometime other than middle of the summer. I mean I know summer festivals are a thing, but uhm… it was 43 degrees in the shade. It was bad. I poured a glass of water on my chest and in 30 minutes it was dried up, clothes and all. The bands also struggled with the heat, Alestorm complained quite a lot about it and you could tell they were suffering. Tim from NeO had to cover his violin with a cloth during breaks so that it doesn’t burn when he touches it again. I’ve been to many summer festivals, but this topped them all in terms of thermal discomfort. And still, despite of the heat, it was a kick-ass festival and a mega-fun experience.

I don’t have much to say about the bands that played on the second stage because we caught a bit of that much sought shade and refused to move from it for anything in the world, so I only heard them instead of experiencing them properly. But Crimena seemed like a lot of fun and Hyperia caught my attention with their badass female vocalist.

Ne Obliviscaris would’ve benefited more from less light and more cold, wasn’t exactly the right mood for their music, but still they delivered a great performance and I loved their show. They were one of the bands I was most excited to see and they definitely didn’t let me down.

Alestorm were a riot. With their giant inflatable ducky, their lovable curses, “drunken” rambles and entertaining catchy tunes, I danced, jumped and sang all throughout their concert. Their wackiness and joy were contagious and I found myself singing “fuck.you.you’re a fucking wanker” for many days on end. And they brought my girl Patty Gurdy with them! I knew they have a few collaborations with her, but I had no idea they are actually touring together, so I was super excited when I saw her on stage. She is so freaking cute and adorable and she fit in perfectly with the guys’ energy and craziness. Definitely an awesome show.

Steel Panther were… uh… I don’t know what to say. I mean I laughed at some of their bad over the top sex jokes. Never heard them before, so it took me some time to realise they’re mocking the “sex drugs and rock’n’roll” culture instead of embracing it, but caught on eventually. Laughed a bit more. But it would really help if they had some good music to accompany their stand up comedy routine. It’s not a good sign when the best part of a music performance are the spoken bits between songs, and then I’m bored out of my mind when they actually start singing. The dozens of girls from the audience that climbed the stage to rub themselves on the artists seemed to be having fun, so I guess at least some people enjoyed them.

And then, as if to put to shame all of Steel Panther’s shenanigans, Judas Priest entered the stage with class, majesty and badassery. Every time they come back to Romania I say I won’t go see them again. And then I can’t help myself. And every time I see them, I lower my expectations and prepare to be disappointed because Halford is seventy-fucking-three years old and honestly, how much longer can the man sound like a god and be epic as fuck? And then HE can’t help himself. No, really, all joke aside, he was impeccable. I don’t know how he does it, but his talent, his energy, his constancy are absolutely impressive. He sounded fucking great. For more than half of the show we were just baffled by how good he sounds. It’s not possible to be better each time. To sing freaking Painkiller and have more power and control over his voice than he did 20 years ago. An absolute legend. And their new album is so good. They haven’t toned it down a single bit and they sound as good and solid as ever, as opposed to so many other bands who are living off their past glory. I’m actually sad they didn’t sing Trial by fire, but with such a long career (that Halford actually recalled by listing all their albums in order), it must be very difficult to decide on the setlist.

After standing and dancing in the heat for such a long time, I thought I had no energy left for Judas Priest. But the second the all too known War pigs started being sung by thousands of overly excited voices, I forgot about all exhaustion and jumped, headbanged and screamed non stop all the way until the end. I just couldn’t stop, it was so infectious. Only when they ended and the adrenaline wore off did I realise how tired I actually was. I took my sneakers off and walked home barefoot, that’s how bad it was. I mean we’ve all taken down heels after a long night, but the comfortable sneakers? Pain. Pain. (Killeeeeer. Killeeeeeeeeer)

Anyway, it was absolutely awesome. I had a ton of fun, Judas Priest and Rob Halford in particular were magnificent and epic and wonderful and all that. They have a sort of class, elegance and steadiness, both in their music and the way they present themselves, and yet they are still warm and kind to the audience. It’s a very delicate balance, but somehow they manage to achieve it and I have just a ton of respect for them. If there is any band that embodies the status of “legends”, it’s them.