Kavarna Rock: a festival to be remembered

I’ve been hearing for years about Kavarna Rock and this time I went for it. With Delain, Kamelot and Within Temptation playing just a bit (4h) down south, how could I miss it?

First day:
I was impressed from the get go. I wanted the full experience so I went camping. From what I had heard from other festivals, I was not expecting that nice a camping ground. But here we are camped in a city park, with lots of space, with grass and trees. There are showers near and all you can think of. Now that we are settled, let’s pick up our press badges. I have never seen such a well organised press center. I even have a badge with my name and photo on it. We slowly but surely went on to the stage. The venue is a stadium, so there is a lot of grass, which is amazing.

It was time for battle of the bands. It is such a great thing to be done for new bands. Who knows, maybe one of these bands will be coming back years later as a main act? I was partial to them because they are Romanian, but I am really happy An Theos won. Cannot wait to catch a full show on Sunday. After all the bands, relax time. Eat, drink, panic. Why? Because it started to rain. Not that I was afraid for the festival, but as you might remember, I was camping and that doesn’t go well with rain. Thankfully it stopped in less than 15 minutes and you could not even tell it had rained. That’s the summer I know. Truth be told, it would have been nice to be a bit warmer at night, but the weather was fantastic. Being here, in another country, to a festival, camping… This is what freedom looks like.

Second day
This was going to be a busy busy day for us. We wanted to go a bit through the city, grab some lunch and then „grab the fence”. And by that I mean being in the front row for Delain. Right after their show we would have ran to catch an interview with none other than Sharon Den Adel. I would not call myself easily impressionable but it was Sharon, the fairy queen mother of dragons. The show started with the second winners of the battle bands. They are fresh, but have potential. Next, Delain!! Whoop whoop! I had already met with Otto (precious amazing baby) and stayed for the soundcheck (when you are with the press, you can do that).  I may be partial to them since I run a Romanian fanclub, but they are so so nice. Charlotte put on a great show, making everyone jump and scream. She truly gave her all. We had such such a great time. Their songs are user-friendly so I invite you all to really check them out. They played all our favourite songs. I cannot describe the feeling of seeing them live, hearing them songs, jumping up and down. I truly love this band. This was my 3rd concert of theirs but here’s to hoping there will be many many more to come. 

Only downside? Now the aforementioned interview with Sharon Den Adel (Within Temptation’s singer) had to be taken at their hotel, which meant missing 15 minutes of Delain and about half an hour of Kamelot. Sure, that was more than a bummer since those were the bands we also came from, but I cannot blame them. They were staying at one the most beautiful hotel I’ve ever seen in Bulgaria (considering I’ve been there over 30 times, that is saying something).  The hotel was 10 kms away and the people from Kavarna Rock offered to drive us there. Everyone here is so nice and helpful and friendly, I really have no words.  We shall skip the interview in this story, not to spoil you, but I will tell you Sharon is just amazing.

Cue back to the fest and we arrive at Kamelot. First reaction: ALISSA IS ON STAGE. I REPEAT, THIS IS NOT A DRILL. ALISSA IS WITH THEM! (Alissa White-Gluz, singer of Arch Enemy and tour guest of Kamelot. You can recognise her from her blue hair,  white long cape and generally looking like a powerful goddess) And Tommy (lead singer) said he loves us. Awww. Seriously now, they were great. My first show of theirs and it was magic. Until their next show (which happens to be in Bucharest. I am a bit spoiled right now) I will thoroughly learn their music. Great band and atmosphere. I have a new crush, I swear :)).

Unisonic was next and I did not know what to expect. They were nice, a classic rock act. People enjoyed them. There was a lot of „Kiske” being screamed (the name of the lead singer). I don’t know whether that is unfair to the other members or not, but he is the main interest, if I might say. You might have heard of the band he used to be in: Helloween. There you go. Obviously, the setlist had to have some Helloween songs in it and those were the ones the crowd liked the most.

But boy oh boy here was Within Temptation coming. I was in the front with enough space to jump and headbang so that is exactly what I did. From their first song, Paradise (featuring Tarja, my biggest love, on a screen) to the encore, I was there singing with them word for word. The crowd was there for them. It is really amazing to watch them live, whether you have been a long time fan or just want to go check them out. They are truly headliner material. It was just magic. Thank you! For playing, for dancing, for including Our Solemn Hour (one of my utmost favourite songs) or The Cross. Their playlist is mostly composed of their last two albums, which I love dearly, but give me an old powerful symphonic song and you win me over. I must remark once again that I don’t know how Sharon does it: singing perfectly and constantly running and jumping. If you were to put lots of stairs and objects on stage she’d be the happiest to climb them all. The crowd was absolutely wild. Hence, they came to an encore, bringing an acoustic version of Sinead. (Universe, please make it happen for a theatre tour of WT outside the Netherlands. Or get me there). And with Mother Earth we screamed as hard as we could. I had goosebumps all throughout the show. WT will do that to you. I bow to thee.

Third day
I must confess, I was not really excited to see anyone from today’s lineup but I gave them a fair chance to win me over. The day starts with An Theos, the big (Romanian) winners of the Battle of the Bands. They are so so good. If I can decribe them, they would be a young Haggard. They play Romanian songs, folk ones. You know you are Romanian when you dance a „hora” at a metal festival :))

Next up, Candlemass and UFO. You can tell that they are big bands, with loads of years behind them. They bring you only the best classic rock. Not something particularly new or different, but it’s clean, classic and rock.

Everyone seemed to be gathering for Hamerfall. The image of thousands of people chanting and putting their fist in air. Good music and good stage presence. When I say Hammer, you say… fall. Let the hammer fall! At the end, when presenting the band, the solist introduced Oscar Dronjak as „Girls, Ladies, the man, the legend, the myth: Oscar Dronjak”. I happen to agree.

After so many days and bands it was time to see the real headliners, Twisted (Fucking) Sister. As they like to say, „our name is not Twisted, our name is not Sister, our name is not Twisted Sister. Our name is Twisted Fucking Sister”. There was a lot of „fucking” and „sick motherfuckers” going on, but just wow. They are not a band I would usually listen to, but I know they are big. And then some. WE’RE NOT GOING TO TAKE IT! The crowd was singing with them, sometimes almost louder. We were not gonna take and we wanted to rock. The band made us feel at home, made us be loud, made us be in awe. All this was saddened by the recent death of their drummer, AJ Pero. Hearing the band talk about him, singing without the stage lights and just using phones for light was something so so touching. If that was for me, I cannot imagine how hard it must have been for the band. Stepping in for AJ was Mike Portnoy (you know, the living legend, best drummer there is, co-founder of Dream Theater). I keep rewatching videos because the show was just that great. The band was moved to the core by how much love there was from the crowd. It is that what made harder that they had to announce that next year will be their last year. They have about 10 shows this year and 4 or 5 next year and Twisted Fucking Sister will be done, after 40 years. The whole show was great and explosive, amazing, a bit sad, but fucking rock ‘n roll.

It is hard to believe it all comes to an end. The few days of Kavarna Rock were days of total freedom, of meeting and seeing amazing bands, of meeting people, of being a part of something. Thank you again and I hope I will see you all again. July 1-3. Buy your tickets! Meet us there! It will be worth it!