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Castle Party 2006


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The 13th edition of Castle Party left a strange sense of insufficiency among the Festival goers. The concerts were better than those last year what doesn't change the fact that "something was wrong". I won't complain from the very start and describe the action in Bolków at the last weekend of July 2006 instead.

Friday, 28th July will be the most memorable disappointment of this year's edition. Moving the party from the main yard to the small one probably resulted in many leg fractures as the people were dancing on the stones on the small area (yeah, on this very day one could have an impression that the number of visitors had increased in comparison to the previous editions, but it was ONLY an impression).The only bright side of the evening was the performance of the project Job Karma. The music combined with wonderful visualizations made impression. That was the only advantage of moving the party to the small courtyard - the walls of the castle built up magnificent atmosphere. Unfortunately the rain deterred most of the people - including me - to the clubs so here my review of the Friday evening stops. 

On Saturday up until the concert of Agressiva 69 one could die out of boredom. No Name Desire started the concert day trying to diversify his concert by the show of a man appearing armed in various types of weapons, but unfortunately it didn't let the audience omit his poor performance. De Facto played with wild screams of Deathcamp Project fans in the background  - they came and went - nothing special. Deathcamp Project would have done great if it hadn't been for the sun that destroyed the gloomy image of the band a bit. The concert was OK, but the time  - not.


Hedone and Bończyk and Krzywański were the concerts when I wasn't concentrated so I won't comment upon them. The rain that was sprinkling us from time to time changed into downpour during the concert of Aggressiva 69. This time the people without umbrellas didn't escape from the yard, but started some sort of a pagan dance celebrating forces of nature (just my association :)The performance was definitely a success, though I must admit I'm not a particular fan of the genre. Still the band did fine in moving the audience up.

Funker Vogt was great scenically - energetic show that moved all up to the rhythm of "History", " Killing fields", "Machinen Zeit" and more. The female part of the audience reacted vividly when Jens Kästel took his shirt off.

After this invigorating concert Clan of Xymox entered the stage. The show was good - as usual - full of melancholic, and a bit faster songs like "A Day", "There is No Tomorrow", "Innocent". The band is no surprise anymore and they don't establish the contact with the audience what I find disadvantageous about them.

And so the moment for the best show of the Festival finally came - VNV Nation. The band played fantastically and the crowd was going mad on hearing their best hits  "Epicentre", "Genesis", "Chrome", "Carbon", "Honour" and of course accompanying to "Beloved". The band gave two encores. The only thing the fans missed was "Electronaut" the band didn't play. Still plenty of people said it was the best concert in the whole history of the festival. I believe Ronan Harris saying that he would be back and that he loved Polish audience added to that opinion.

Sunday was opened quite nicely - the concert of Dust Heaven wasn't spectacular, but it was a nice change after the Saturday ones. After DH the Lithuanian band  Mano Juodoji Sesuo presented their poor level and then Batalion D'amour that I didn't see (but I heard they did quite alright. The performance of Delight was as painful as usual ( or even more). I'm sorry to say that, but their playing is getting worse and worse with every concert.

Finally the Birthday Massacre entered the stage and they enchanted the audience with their engagement and unique energy The songs such as "Broken", Happy Birthday", or "Blue" were just great when performed live. After the concert people claimed that Chibi cannot sing, but whatever they say one thing is sure : TBM did their best for the Polish audience what rarely happens in case of foreign bands. What's more they appeared to be sweet people privately. Huge advantage.
 
Fading Colours is that sort of the band which is better on CDs than in playing live. Unfortunately I couldn't enjoy great music for De Coy's unbearable vocal. still, to be honest I have to say that plenty of people liked the concert. Whatever one says about it, it's a pity the concert didn't take place after dark.

Riverside enchanted the numerous fans with the sounds of guitar which sounded great on an open air fest.

Leaves' Eyes and Liv Kristine posing to be a diva delighted all fans of harder music. Unbearable sweet vocalist looked straight into the eyes of the fans, assured that she loved the Poles, moved the people up and so Saturday and Sunday foreign stars increased our self-esteem. How very nice.

The last to play was De/Vision who disappointed many people by blandness of their show. However, as it usually is - some people were delighted with the concert. The crowd sang "Your hands on my skin" enthusiastically and the band gave one encore in turn. The concert was rather pleasant, though moderate ending of the Festival. The last star left the stage - we're waiting for the next edition.

What did the Festival lack? Apart from the totally unsuccessful Friday, the lack of screens on the main stage, the stands that were empty, rain ( but it wasn't the organizers' fault)and lack of potatoes or blandness of their taste - it's not my feeling, I don't like potatoes, but plenty of people complained about it what made me think of potato crisis as the biggest mistake of the organizers.

 So, in comparison to last year edition it was better as far as the concerts are concerned. We're hoping the next edition will be free of the mistakes of 2005 and 2006 editions. Disappointed or not we're looking forward to 2007 edition. some are counting days already.

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Translator: Ultima
Add date: 2006-08-10 / Live reports


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