Artmania, 26-28.07.2024, Large Square, Sibiu

Beloved Artmania, what happened to you? And more importantly, how can we fix you? This year Artmania was a bit of a disappointment, because it seems they fell into some of the big-festival pits and a lot of the chill friendly atmosphere that so many of us love it for was missing. I really hope that it was because of Korn headlining (which wasn’t in tune with their style in the first place), because I really didn’t appreciate being so cramped in, having to race to declare my kid because there were limited spots for non-paying children, nor the organisers doing a 180 from declaring Artmania family friendly to recommending we don’t bring our children only two weeks before the festival (as if people could make plans to leave their kids at home for three days on such short notice). Again, I hope it was a fluke and next year will be better handled, because these things left a sour taste in my mouth. Now off to the happy stuff. And the less happy ones.

Day 1
I am a huge fan of progressive metal, but The flower kings are everything I hate about this genre. Cold, insipid tunes that focus more on impressing through technical prowess than they do on delivering good music. I had a hard time connecting to them, found myself focusing on pretty much anything else that was going on around me. And then they ended and it was not a big loss at all.

Alpha Q on the small stage were equally uninteresting, but for entirely different reasons. I could’ve sworn they’re a very young band, but apparently they have eight years behind them, which makes their awkward stage presence and poor “we say alpha, you say Q” attempts to liven the crowd even worse. The instrumental was pretty decent, but the vocals dragged the music down instead of elevating it, like for example Hyperia’s did a week ago. It was the sort of generic heavy metal that could be taken up a notch by some badass vocals, but instead we got a thin voice that lacked power and grease and didn’t really fit well in the picture.

Igorrr. Were. EPIC! By far the best performance of the night and even of the festival, they absolutely rocked. To my shame I hadn’t heard of them before, but when Artmania announced them, I checked them out and fell completely in love. And to my absolute joy, I found out that live they are even better. Defying all genre conventions and effortlessly alternating between electronic music, opera, oriental tunes and desert chants, black metal, grunts, Baroque and who knows what else, and with each band member from a different story (Gautier looking like a typical DJ, Marthe like a soprano from a symphonic band and JB with corpse paint straight out of a black metal band), they were eclectic, surprising, captivating and just overall impressive. They sounded so well together, Marthe especially impressed me with her stage presence and vocals, and even my non-metalhead friend, who looked just baffled and didn’t quite understand what the fuck was happening, was able to admit they are very interesting and talented. The audience seemed enthralled with them and even the next day I kept hearing people bringing up their performance. I went to pick up a new access bracellet for my kid (because of course it didn’t last more than one day) and the first thing the guy at the booth told me was “did you see Igorrr last night? Oh my God, they were amazing”, with a huge awe-like grin on his face. I absolutely shared his opinion.

Lavina had a tough place to fill after such a mesmerising performance and I found it hard to focus on them, but they sounded pretty good. I think I would’ve liked their show under different circumstances.

I left the festival before Satyricon because I don’t like their music, I don’t like what they’re about and I absolutely don’t like their fans. I had absolutely no intention to see them, and I preferred to go home on my little cloud of Igorrr-fangirling sounds.

Day 2
Awake the demons are a very young band that showed a lot of potential. They certainly did better than the more seasoned Alpha Q, so applause are in order.

Borknagar were one of my favourite acts. Chill, without too much fuss or pretense, they delivered a clean, simple show, with lovely music and I wish I could’ve focused more on them because I enjoyed them very much as it was (meaning while keeping an eye on my son jumping around and playing with a balloon). They opened the show by saying “hello, you gipsy fucks”, which caused a lot of uproar on social media and prompted the band to issue an apology saying they meant no offense. To me it was obvious it was in good nature, even though they clearly didn’t pay too much attention to the local culture before opening their mouths, but I was disappointed that such a small moment threw so much shade over an otherwise very pleasant performance and a good band.

Taine came, rocked, animated the crowd, left. They delivered a solid, engaging show, as always, and proved that even on the small stage they can rock the audience, as one of the more popular metal bands of Romania.

I have to admit I had no idea what Spiritbox were about, I listened to them a bit, not enough to realise there’s a pretty lady fronting the band and grunting so hard. That was a pleasant surprise. Less pleasant was the lady’s stage presence, which I know it was just an act, but to me it was pretty off-putting. Didn’t really taste the “we’re going to play one more song, but only because it’s written in our contract” jokes, nor the arrogance she (and her other band members, albeit in smaller doses) displayed. I get it’s a thing, it goes with the music… but not a fan. Still, it was a really fun show, with a lot of energy, a lot of moshing, the audience clearly loved them and things were starting to heat up in anticipation for the final artist. To me it was also entertaining because I was with my best friend, who’s never been to a metal show before, and who had no idea what was about to go down for example when Courtney parted her hands and the audience followed suit. Her glare when people started moving and pushing and one of our other friends wished us luck was very funny, but in the end she enjoyed herself and it was interesting to introduce someone to the metal culture and see their reactions.

As a parenthesis, it was also funny when she noticed the fashion show in the audience. I don’t know how it is in other countries, but here in Romania there’s a small community of metalheads that you see at every live thing. Some of them are not necessarily memorable, but you get used to seeing their faces and become familiar with them. Some make the concerts a whole experience, dressing up very elaborately and making quite an appearance. We know them, we’ve seen them a dozen times and they’ve kind of become part of the festival colour. But to her and her family it was a bit surprising and they were confused why me and my husband were like “myeah, that’s Lemmy, shrug“. Enter more explaining.

Before Korn you couldn’t throw a needle in the Large square. It was sold out and oh boy, you could tell. It was the most crowded I have ever seen it and for the first time I had the feeling of a large festival and less of the cozy friendly Artmania. Obviously it was to be expected near the front row, where we were staying, but from pictures it seemed it was like this all the way to the back. Of course I’m happy that our dear Artmania has such success, but I can’t say I particularly enjoyed the overbooking, the queues and the overbearing crowd. Perhaps the fact that it was full of overexcited teenagers that had zero care for the people around them also contributed to the irritation. I had to ask two girls next to me to take off their spiked bracellets after they both scratched me and one almost hit me in the face with it. Again, you could barely move and there were a ton of moshipts. Basic concert etiquette. I also had to patiently explain to a very upset teen that yes, people want to sit between shows because it’s hot and they are tired and don’t worry, they will get up when the bands start playing and you will have more room and maybe don’t freak out just yet. On the other hand there was also a dude that heard me telling my friend about moshpits and crowdsurfers and what she should do about them to stay safe and offered to switch places with us if things get too hectic. We were fine, and it was entirely safe, but he probably heard me reassuring her and thought we were scared, so it was a nice gesture and a reminder that the metalhead community is generally pretty awesome.

Anyway, back to the performances. Korn were awesome. They had a ton of energy, Jonathan seemed to be enjoying himself a lot, their music is just made for live shows with people headbanging and moshing and singing along and it was generally super entertaining. We waved our middle fingers around, screamed profanities as instructed… you know, the regular :)) Unfortunately the sound was pretty bad, as a large part of the vocals was lost and covered by the loud instruments. It wasn’t the best mixing and it did take out some of the enjoyment. But for the most part it was an intense and energising experience and I’m glad I was there.

We didn’t catch tickets to Day 3. It was a small show at Altemberger House with Alternosfera and a few local bands, part of a new concept that Artmania tried to introduce and that didn’t seem to have much success. We still stayed in the city because we love Sibiu and it truly comes alive during the festival.

I can’t say this was my favourite edition, as I detailed above, but overall I had fun. I love live shows, even when I’m not a huge fan of the bands playing. The energy and enthusiasm are so contagious and liberating, and Sibiu is such a beautiful place. I can never get tired of it. It was also great to share the experience with my friend, especially since our husbands were super nice and took the kids to bed on both evenings, letting the two of us rock out and take a break. Also, Igorrr. Igorrr were just out of this world.