This was our first Summer Breeze since we travel from very far away to get there. And what a great experience it was! We chose to stay in the close town of Dinkelsbühl and take the shuttle bus to the festival ground and then return with the last one close to 3 a.m. every day. Dinkelsbühl is a really beautiful town that on these days was full of metalheads. We had the opportunity of crossing our paths with musicians like Edu Falaschi while walking through the streets.
Tuesday, August 13th
The day before the festival´s beginning we went to the campsite and we checked how the finishing touches were done to the big stages. There are 3 big stages: the biggest one is the Main Stage, then the T Stage and a tent style one called the Wera Tool Rebel Stage. Outside the main festival site there is still one more stage, called Campsite Circus Stage. In this last stage take place the shows before the big opening of the festival. And we had the pleasure to watch bands like SOULPRISON, FALL OF SERENITY and DISBELIEF, among others. This was the beginning of this experience that let us watch over 60 bands in 4 days and a half.
Wednesday, August 14th
We arrived to the festival for the opening and went directly to the Main Stage to watch BROTHERS OF METAL.
Epic heavy / power metal with influences of bands like Manowar and the main bands of the style are what this band delivers. A great show to open our experience in the biggest stage.
We decided to try to cover as many bands as we could to enjoy the full festival
Then came bands like SYLOSIS, ANKOR, EMMURE, OBSCURA AND VISCERA each with their own style but always surprising with killer shows that left us wondering what was coming next. From death metal to metalcore, from thrash metal to alternative metal. All the styles are represented in the festival. One of my favorite shows was the one by NAKKEKNAEKKER from Denmark with their death metal with old school influences.
EQUILIBRIUM was another high point with tunes like "Heimat" and "Apokalypse" and then in the main stage the allmighty MESSHUGGAH, opening with "Broken Cog" before getting into tracks like "Rational Gaze", "Kaleidoscope", "Future Breed Machine" and the classic "Bleed".
PAIN took the T-Stage with "Same Old Song". "Suicide Machine", "End of the Line" and "Party in my Head" are just a couple of the tracks delivered by Peter Tägtgren and his band. The end with "Shut Your Mouth" was glorious.
The last band we enjoyed on this first full day was ENSLAVED. the band delivered a killer show with tracks like "Homebound", "Ruun" or "Heimdal"
Thursday 15th August
We started the new day in the Main Stage watching CRYPTA from Brazil. The Brazilian girls did a great show with the noon light and a heat that was starting to rise.
This was a day to watch crushing bands like MENTAL CRUELTY and PALEFACE SWISS and the almighty ABORTED. Most of them played in the T-Stage giving a sense of proximity between the moshing audience and the bands. Brutality was unleashed over the Summer Breeze Open Air Festival and the headbangers reacted with mosh, wall of death, circle pits and more.
IGNEA, THE NIGHT ETERNAL, BLIND CHANNEL and BORN OF OSIRIS were some of the great bands that we had the pleasure to watch during the afternoon. Powerful yet complex at the same time, each one with their own identity.
On this days we had contrasts between the crushing aggression of GUILT TRIP and the dark atmosphere delivered by ROTTING CHRIST. The Greek masters delivered classic tracks like "Non Serviam", "Dies Irae" and "Fire, God and Fear".
Also on the main stage we loved to see BEHEMOTH, DARK TRANQUILLITY and EXODUS. It was fantastic to watch BEHEMOTH with the light of day, quite a different experience from their normal shows. "Cursed Angel of Doom", "Ora Pro Nobis Lucifer", "The Deathless Sun" were just a couple of the tracks delivered by the band. EXODUS was one of the bands with bigger moshpit while they shoot all their classics, starting with "Bonded by Blood", "Piranha", "A Lesson in Violence" and newer tracks like "Blood In, Blood Out".
Finally at the end of the day we had the darkness of HERETOIR and NACHTBLUT to close a wonderful date.
Friday 16th August
Friday started as one of the hottest days with a sun that burnt the skin of the audience. We started with VOODOO KISS, an historic German band that has reformed in 2022 to deliver more heavy metal. Then came THE BUTCHER SISTERS and everything was a crazy party. The people went wild throwing things to the stage and crowdsurfing.
Some of our most waited bands were here: NEAERA with a wild interaction between vocalist Benjamin Hilleke and the audience, full of wall of death and circle pit. "All is Dust", "Paradigm Lost", "Let the Tempest Come" (featuring Bastian from CALLEJON) were just an example of the energy and aggression that this band can deliver.
The norwegian beasts EINHERJER and the brutal MEMORIAM with the almighty ex BOLT THROWER vocalist Karl Willets, delivering crushing sets on the T-Stage. EINHERJER had some sound problems with the sound in the beginning of the set but they managed to unleash tracks like "Crimson Rain", "Dragons of the North" and their all time classic "Ironbound". MEMORIAM played in full daylight and they crushed the audience with tracks like "Onwards into Battle", "All is Lost" and "Total War"
Modern metal was well represented by WHITECHAPEL, DEAR MOTHER and the slamming STILLBIRTH each with their own different style but making the people enjoy their compositions. we really enjoyed the time with these bands. The audience seemed also to enjoy since we witnesed many moshpits during the afternoon.
We really enjoyed the brutal sets of DISENTOMB and the one by our well known NECROTTED. Delivering riff after riff with brutality and guttural vocals taken to the extreme.
The night was coming down and then came CALLEJON, another band that made the audience dance and headbang. And then the night was complete with the darkness of CRADLE OF FILTH, KAMPFAR, CARNATION and NECROPHOBIC. Pure darkness over Dinkelsbühl !!!
Finally the night ended with two classic bands that made the audience trully enjoy: AMON AMARTH with their melodic viking death metal and MOONSPELL with their gothic metal directly from Portugal. Another day that left us exhausted but really happy.
Saturday 17th August
This was the last day of the Summer Breeze Open Air and we were crawling like lizards from stage to stage. NESTOR open our day with their music mix of AOR and hard rock with catchy tunes. If you listen to these guys you will surely be singing their songs long after the show has ended. then came a big contrast with BODYSNATCHER with their crushing deathcore. And the first moshing started.
BEFORE THE DAWN were the next and during the evening we had the pleasure of watching completely different but powerful bands like UNEARTH, BURNING WITCHES and ASPHYX.
ORDEN OGAN, SPIRITBOX came next and then, at night, came the Finnish beasts KORPIKLAANI and all the audience was jumping with their folk metal full of Finland´s classic popular music. We saw a lot of headbang and also dancing on this show.
BOKASSA, EREB ALTOR and INSANITY ALERT came next surprising with their intensity and the aggression delivered on each of their styles. INSANITY ALERT´s show was full of mosh pit and crowd diving while the thrashing compositions were delivered one after the other.
We had the opportunity of watching DYMYTRY and UNPROCESSED but we were waiting the German thrash masters SODOM. "The Saw is the Law", "Agent Orange", "City of God", "Outbreak of Evil" and many more were delivered in this classic band´s show.
Then came three climatic and dark bands one after another on the T Stage: MYRKUR, CULT OF FIRE and ARKONA. We enjoyed these pagan part of the festival full of dark melodies and intense guitar arrangements. A climatic part of the festival, starting with MYRKUR with her great vocal melodies and atmospheric compositions. We were greatly surprised by CULT OF FIRE with their ritual-like show, with two mummy-like guitarist and a vocalist with an altar where he did all this ritualistic ceremonies. ARKONA was a great closing for the festival with those anguished vocals and eerie tunes. The band from Russia delivered their classic tunes with the agonic Masha vocals as one of their main characteristics.
We had a really great experience on the Summer Breeze Open Air 2024. Amazing bands, a great organization, great weather (a little bit hot sometimes). These were 4 days full of all metal styles and if you are a metal lover you will enjoy this festival for sure.We hope to be next year on the festival too!
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