Festival Season is Upon Us

Not long to go, peeps.

Which are your favourite festivals? What makes them special? Do you go for the music and the acts? Or do you go to be with your mates? To get sloshed and end up in a ditch? Or is it all of those things?

I want to know - please send me your thoughts either via Instagram or email - nicole@rockculture.net

If you’re a person who travels, which countries do you think pull off the best festivals and why?

Rockculture are particularly fond of Rock im Park and Rock Werchter. Both always have incredible line-ups and the hospitality is good. This year we’re also looking to attend some British festivals, like Lytham Festival, so watch this space.

The line ups for these festivals are insane - Babymetal, Dogstar, Green Day, Corey Taylor, Machine Head, While She Sleeps, Queens of the Stone Age - dude! that’s only Nuremberg! Werchter have Foo Fighters headlining and Lytham Festival have Madness, Rick Astley, James and Johnny Marr.

Here’s some photos from some of our faves from last year’s Rock im Park which was epic, to say the least.

Architects at RIP 2023

Turnstile @ RIP 2023

YONAKA @ RIP 2023

Hot Milk @ RIP 2023

FAVE TWO NEW RELEASES

Can we just start with SLIPKNOT please? Rock is not dead and they have just proved it.

I used to be scared of SLIPKNOT. Proper scared. I loved their music, but as an MTV-generation kid, their videos freaked me out; I could never add the two together and never got the masks. Then my 13-year-old kid took me to my first ever gig, confessing I never partook in the Meet & Greet he had the pleasure of attending. The rest is history, as they say…

Their first two albums “Slipknot” and “Iowa” were aggressive and full of attitude, but their third album “Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses)” was a genuine masterpiece. You can argue the next two albums all you like, e.g. a little more mainstream followed by a homage to Paul Gray, but this, their sixth album “We Are Not Your Kind” is by far the best music SLIPKNOT have released since “Vol.3”.

I have read reviews of this album, that it isn’t hard core enough, but surely musicians have to grow rather than play the same old over and over again. With Jay Weinberg on drums, songs like “Birth of the Cruel” are a testament to a musical evolution by the band and for those who really need to vent “Red Flag” (Rockculture’s favourite) and “Solway Firth” are surely enough to keep the vocal chords (un)happy. Corey Taylor’s voice has matured and the production of the album is altogether a lot warmer than many would expect.

SLIPKNOT have worked with a lot of samples this time around, but so clever and so in tune with a solid metal album, that the only thing we can really criticize about their latest release, is that they are taking so bloody long to play it live. Though, I guess, it gives us enough time to learn the lyrics by heart. Every single word.

Live Nation are in charge of their German tour, with Special Guest BEHEMOTH, kicking off on

29.01.20 in Frankfurt, Festhalle then the following dates along with more dates throughout Europe

08.02.20 Stuttgart Schleyerhalle

09.02.20 München Olympiahalle

12.02.20 Zürich Hallenstadion *

14.02.20 Wien Stadthalle

16.02.20 Hamburg Barclaycard Arena

17.02.20 Berlin Mercedes-Benz Arena

18.02.20 Dortmund Westfalenhalle

For more information, follow any of these links

www.slipknot1.com

www.facebook.com/slipknot

www.instagram.com/slipknot

www.twitter.com/slipknot

www.youtube.com/user/slipknot

ANOTHER ALBUM RELEASE AND UPCOMING TOUR

Another sixth album release, i.e. counting their twin release of “Juggernaut Alpha & Omega” as two separate releases, came about for the Djent masters of PERIPHERY.

The unbelievably gifted musicians from Washington have only just gone ahead and perfected their art with this album “Periphery IV: Hail Stan”. Not phased by their Grammy nomination, Spencer Sotelo (vocals), Misha Mansoor, Jake Bowen and Mark Holcomb (guitars) and Matt Halpern (drums) have furthered anything you have ever wanted to label Prog Rock.

Holcomb says “our new material is not what is expected of us. It would be great to be known for our unpredictability.”

We can predict their shows in November to be something which will leave you flabbergasted. Their German dates are

01.11.19 Köln Essigfabrik

02.11.19 Hamburg Greenspan

04.11.19 München Backstage Werk

(Promoter FKP Scorpio)