Hard Rock Hell III Festival

Pontin's, Prestatyn, North Wales

Saturday, December 5 2009

"Pontin's" is a summer resort; families from - mostly - Stoke and Manchester visit and stay for a while every year, when the temperature is the right one... The establishment features bungalows, two concert halls, a Pub with a small stage. Now, when the time is Ryche, the resort is the place! Our boys headline the fest this year, it's the last show for 2009 and various surprises and treats are about to be presented next year, also known as the year of the cabaret.

The place is packed and the intro before "Neue Regel" is being played twice. First time the band faced this technical problem, so a repeat was necessary. Second time is successful and the "New Rule" shakes the ground.

The band is in GREat shape, despite the Jetlag, they just got here last night. Tate addresses the crowd. "You know what... apart from religions and what everybody believes in... I have never realized that... Hell is located in Wales"! Grand response from the audience, a huge round of applauses and then back to the machine. After "Another rainy night", GT does this lil’ speech we all love. "Oh, what a great song! Remember when you were listening to it back then? In your car maybe? Cranking up the Queensryche... We used to have these tapes then... Not the best sound but you could carry them with you... There were vinyl records of course... Great sound but it was kinda hard to carry stereo equipment along... Then CDs came out... Exceptional sound, easy to carry with... until you scratched them! Then you could hear the damage... Then we invented mp3... So easy to take them with you... and they sound like shit"! Outstanding! Tate deserves an A plus for that one and the band is playing amazingly! They, naturally, honored "Rage for order", "American soldier" and "Empire"; they chose not to leave the stage for the encore, in order to avoid losing more time...

It was my debut in listening to "Surgical Strike"... I just wish they could do a tour playing the whole RFO album... Next summer sounds good...

Costas Koulis

Photos : Dimitris Kazantzis, Costas Koulis

Neue Regel
The Whisper 
Screaming In Digital 
I Dream in Infrared 
Walk In The Shadows 
Surgical Strike 
Sliver 
If I Were King 
Man Down! 
Best I Can 
Another Rainy Night (Without You) 
One and Only 
Silent Lucidity 
Empire

Hell is located in Prestatyn, North Wales and Queensryche are playing there... I have to admit that the old Greek joke is so right... Hell ain't a bad place... Hell is where the best venues are...

When I first heard that Ryche are gonna play in a Dio forsaken place in North Wales in December, I said to myself "Yeah, right, some other time". Yeah, I'm full of it when talking to myself... Α few weeks later I'm starting reconsider... Nice fest, many bands that won't come to Greece in the next few years. And then... Queensryche! They are coming overseas, straight after ShipRocked, the music cruise; they were headlining it...

It's ten in the morning... I'm in Manchester, outside departures. Just waiting for the head of the British Empire, insanely tall Mark Coops and his sweet wife Rachel, to come. They show up, we talk a bit and then drive to Prestatyn. Almost an hour later we reach "Pontin's" summer resort...

Mark and Rach have booked a lovely bungalow and that's the very big difference, regarding this festival. Ticket is including accommodation and concerts, which means all the fans are practically neighbors... You might get carried away one night... not a problem, assuming you have the energy to drag yourself a few meters, to reach your own bungalow...

Thursday night and we run into one of the most exceptional members of the Brit Empire, Steve, aka Burning Man. The man who's flown to Iceland, along with Bruce Dickinson (sixes flight etc.) to see Maiden live on stage, is also a huge RycHead. Jake, a new member, is with him, he's about to see Ryche live for the very first time.

I heard a lot of stuff about ShipRocked, yet, when I have Mark and Rachel with me, I can only hate them... ehm, strike that one ryche out... I can only ask them, cuz they WERE there... It seems it was an endless meet & greet.

The concert has just ended and, till the next act gets on stage, I'm talking to some of the lads and lasses... Andy is English, he lives in Ireland, yet he traveled all the way from Dublin and he loved it. Berryphil and his wife were with us as well and Jake is still in shock...

The last paragraph goes to my good buddy and fanatic Rycher, Dimitris Kazantzis, who's probably more crazy than me, when it come to the boys from Jet City... Queensryche cabaret? You bet!

Costas Koulis