We were supposed to set out on M'era Luna Festival at 9 p.m., but the bus was delayed for it was going from far away and unfortunately stuck somewhere on the way. I wasn't surprised by that anyway since so far I've always been late on every of the festivals I've visited. What's more, I was annoyed by the fact that the main organizer, with whom I cooperated on setting this trip, changed his mind as far as payment was concerned exactly the last moment. I don't blame the people who were dissatisfied with that. The only positive aspect of the whole situation was that the euro exchange rate was very good at that time, so I believe nobody had reason to complain.

The first day. ..

We finally got to the place at 7 a.m. (chased by the rainstorms appearing during the journey) and some of us started putting out the tents while the others decided to spend the night in the bus (the rain made them think about the consequences of sleeping in tents). At about 11 a.m we went to buy tickets or to take all sort of accreditations. I must say that the Germans are really reliable since all the formal work was done in just a few minutes, although the queue was quite long.

Finally, after I've armed myself with a camera, I went to fight a battle by the stage. At the beginning the less famous bands played. There was mainly gothic metal or even metal music on the main stage during the whole festival, while on the stage in the hangar we had a chance to hear some of more alternative projects which in general I liked better. And now I'll pass to the most important issue, that is the most impressive concerts. Negative is the band I'm not particularly familiar with, but I must say that their cheerful music and image made a very positive impression on me. Although they bring nothing new to the music I enjoyed listening to them and watching their show which resembled those of the 80's. After that I went to the hangar to see Leaves Eyes and then Atrocity. And here I was surprised when I discovered that the two projects are actually the same band, but in case of the first the vocalist is a woman while the second - a man. I guess that inviting one band and putting two into the programme was a good solution for the organizers to increase the line-up. [:SITD:] presented nothing particular, neither in music, which was very artificial, nor in vocal. Yet, the band attracted attention of some people who were having fun while listening to the music. I haven't seen any performances of the band on other festivals before and I hope that they'll prepare their show better in the future, because playing like thet they won't make them good. I had a chance to see The Cruxshadows for the third time and as usual the show was completely predictable, because Rouge climbs the elements protruding from the stage and goes among the audience each time. I was wondering if he has to break the show because of the weather as it was in Bolków, but nothing like that happened. On M'era Luna Festival the sound was great and as such did a lot of good to the Cruxshadows concert: at last they sounded like on the Cds. There could have been suspicion of playback, as Rouge didn't lose his voice not even once during his stunts, but I believe no one cared for that: everybody had fun and that's the most important. I'm not crazy about The 69 Eyes, but I saw that the gentlemen did really good and in spite of my repulsion I stayed for half of the concert and listened. Jyrki 69 played as good as he could and as far as visual side of the concert is concerned he succeed (not to mention the rocker of the 80s style which suited him very much). After the concert of Combichrist, which took place in March this year in Poznań I thought I saw everything the band can offer, but this time I was flabbergasted. Andy and his music won the audience playing the pieces of the newest album "Everybody Hates You" the concert was really superb and it was simply a duty of each electro-industrial fan to see it. As you may easily guess, the hangar was packed to the top with the enthusiastic people dying to see the show. At the end of the performance, as a clou of the whole concert, the vocalist of Suicide Commando appeared on the stage and together with Andy La Plague they finished the concert in a great style. In my opinion it was one of the best concerts of M'era Luna 2005. VNV Nation did very well, without any marvels actually, but it was really nice to listen and watch both gentlemen who are extremely charismatic. Huge audience was moving and dancing while listening. As you may easily guess the recent material of the album "Matter and Form" prevailed, but they also played the earliest pieces as well. The only thing I missed were encores since the show, pleasant both for eyes and ears, finished much too soon. Hocico played well, but only well. This time gentlemen lacked vigour and power which they usually present on the stage. Perhaps the others didn't notice it as the majority of the audience was having fun. What can I say... yes, the vocalist destroyed the microphone stand and almost the microphone itself by hitting his head with it, but it's really not enough to make the concert something more than just performing the material from the album. Skinny Puppy was the concert I'd been awaiting for a long time. Last year they played on Zillo Fest, but because of the financial reasons I wasn't able to see them there. That was the cause I couldn't wait for their show on M'era Luna Festival. And finally the moment came. .. and I must say I wasn't disappointed; the performance was simply marvellous! It was as if the gentlemen read my mind as far as my vision of the concert was concerned and then conveyed it in an ideal way. Ogry's performance combined with his unbelievable vocal was great. Some people were disgusted when he entered the stage wearing bloodstained hide with snout on his head. Later he started splashing blood towards the audience (which was caramel in fact, but no one needed to know that ;))and finally, running on the stage like mad, he took off his animal mask... The further part of the show included cutting the throat (fake) and other such draws which perfectly suited the convention of the Canadian project. I personally consider Skinny Puppy's concert the best of the whole festival! Unfortunately at the end of the show I felt totally exhausted and went to sleep. As for me, the 13 -hour marathon between 2 stages and the surrounding areas and the search of interesting people to be photographed made my feet rebelled. So I skipped the after parties. ..

The second day...

I was woken up by the rain or, I should rather say, by the downpour and the first thing that came to my mind was " Fortunately I didn't put out my tent"... Some people were a bit surprised by the rain and some were a bit drowned, but finally no one launch out of the tent and no one had to cross the lake to get to one. .. Unfortunately, the festival's area changed into one big layer of mud in which everyone floundered. It was raining for the most of the day, so I was taking pictures only in the hangar, as I didn't have anything to secure the camera from the water. Despite the poor weather both artists and audience were in the mood for concerting. After all during the good concert it was easier to bear the weather... And here's what I saw and described on that day.

Kiew I consider one of the best concerts of the Festival. They played dynamically and the show create the atmosphere in a perfect way. The performance encouraged to learning something more about their music as the part presented during the concert was enchanting. The only disadvantage of the performance was that it was too short! If I could decide on what I want to see on Castle Party Festival I would undoubtedly choose Kiew. As far as Amdusci is concerned I'm afraid I 'll never come around to them. I'm sorry to say that, but I wasn't moved by the Mexican project's performance, neither in March this year in Poznań nor on M'era Luna. It wasn't only me, I believe that if it hadn't been for the rain, most of the audience would have left the hangar, but as it was they were standing and listening to the pieces quite similar to each other. It's a pity, since the band shaped up well, but with every concert they perform worse and worse. Well... the thing is that the image isn't enough. I have mixed feelings as far Flesh Field concert is concerned. On the one hand, they have a nice lady vocalist, who tries to mask her poor voice with her sensual dance, on the other hand the male vocalist with a good voice but poor appearance. If it hadn't been for the rain, I would have taken the pictures, but as it is, I may only mention that Lacuna Coil had large audience hidden under the umbrellas and floundered in mud. But the concert was worth of all this devotion: it started with the hit "Swamped" and that was enough to warm up some of the fans. It was really great till the end and I appreciate the band who gave such a good performance in spite of such bad weather conditions. I was positively surprised by the completely unknown band Subway to Sally. Let it metal combined with folk, but it was performed in such an interesting way that even the person who is not the fan of such music liked it a lot. The band played a very good concert diversified with fire blasts (literally and metaphorically) because at one point the stage "exploded" with fire, and the unsuspecting photographers (including me) were almost blown away. ..What's worth mentioning is that the vocalist cooperated with the audience in a perfect way singing the songs together. Well... you should see it with your own eyes: some things, like Kiew, Combichrist or Skinny Puppy shows are indescribable... Diary of Dreams represents the class of its own; their new image promoting the recent CD "Nigredo" is very good one and the performance itself was all right. The only disadvantage is that their new pieces are secondary and that made their show a bit boring. The DoD fans were satisfied anyway, and those who weren't left the hangar very soon. Generally speaking, it was nice to see the band once again. Perhaps it's strange, but I'd like to write a combined coverage about the concerts of Deine Lakaien, The Klinik i Sisters of Mercy, because I saw them "one by one" with a little break between the last two. So far as I liked the first two concerts because of the arrangement, contact with the audience and the general performance the concert of Sisters of Mercy wasn't my favourite. Yes, Eldrich played very well and fully professionally, but as for me the band has its best years behind. And yes... one anecdote: nobody has a picture of SoM from under the stage. Why? Because the vocalist asked to prepare the list of the photographers whom he would later choose to be allowed to take pictures. But 5 minutes before the concert he refused them all. Well... fame...

Summing up. .. I personally think that M'era Luna is the most interesting festival we have a chance to participate in and it is so for several reasons. First of all, the selection of the bands enables all the people to find something to suit their taste. The star bands are really the best"stock", the less famous groups are also well-selected. The organization of the whole event was very good and the whole staff well-informed, unlike on Wave Gotik Treffen where asking the security or anyone of the staff a question was equal to gaining an answer like "I don't speak English","I don't know, go and ask there (with pointing to the other side of the hall where you got the answer that they don't know and a suggestion to go somewhere else)". So, I may promise to myself, and to the organizers that next year I'll be there again. I hope there will be even more people from Poland as well... The weather won't scare us away! See you next year on the best festival in Europe!

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