As in the last two years the Back to Rock festival had been a wet affair and there was trouble not only with the weather but also with lesser audience numbers, the Bluerockers decided on a smaller party in a more familial atmosphere with just Swiss bands.
Just like in the previous years you could find a lot, just on a smaller scale, no matter if you were looking for a bottle Met, a shirt, a decorative skull or a CD. Two tents offered plenty of room for the audience, the bigger one with the stage for performances, the smaller with a bar and side-shows like a darts competition. And there was plenty of food to choose from, yet there was no camping option this year.
Friday 03.09.2010 I chose to skip because of the long journey; on this day only the smaller tent was open, with a small stage to offer performances of local acts: : Crusher were crowned as one of the best 4 bands of the Kanton at „BandX Aargau“. They are influenced by Led Zeppelin, Mötley Crüe and Judas Priest and add a bit Heavy Metal to their Hard Rock. Varicose was founded only in 2009, a band with a front lady that offers – according to their own info – powerful rock, heavy riffs and booming drums plus an expressive voice.
Saturday 04. 09. 2010 The weather was nice that day – about time after 1 years of rain and storm at Back To Rock. After a little walk from the railway station you could enter the area already at 16:00 h. Still there was some time to wait, as besides background music and this darts competition nothing was going on. Perhaps some Karaoke or a cover band might have attracted also some more people. At 19.30 h the first of four bands started playing:
More photos in the gallery, see link in the header
Slow Drive Rock n’Fuckin’ Roll from Luzern city is the style those gentlemen have created. Basically their sound is not bad, also the vocals, but this certain something is still missing. The mixing was unfortunately also quite bad, the bass drum was pretty much covering up everything else.
More photos in the gallery, see link in the header
Rostrokr For my taste this was the best band of this evening, although the sound mix was still far from acceptable. Who listens to this band via myspace might think that I had gone insane, but on that very evening Rostrokr were Top and singer BedaBeda, or something, sounded much better than on those recordings. The lyrics of those guys from Küssnacht revolve around war and their faible for trenches.
More photos in the gallery, see link in the header
The Garlicks Those guys in their early twens do have a hard time to top the second band, and they show their lack of live experience. Especially singer Miuer didn´t quite know at first what to do on stage. Their music can be defined as Hard Rock -Rockabilly with raspy vocals.
More photos in the gallery, see link in the header
Sin Starlett The outfit of singer Eli was something to get used to – in tight yellow-black styped leggins and headband he storms on stage, and soon it became clear that outfit and sound not quite fit. Although even Iron Maiden offended visually back then in similar outfits, but nowadays you would expect a bit more originality, also concerning the music of Sin Starlett.
Summary: The Bluerockers once again have put a lot of work into this and tried to make the best of a small budget, so that this festival can survive. If this is the case is still uncertain, but let´s hope that those enthusiastic guys have another chance to organize such a familial cosy festival. Unfortunately this year it did not work out with audience appeal, perhaps because a big top act was missing and there were just Swiss bands, who were not that well-known and that can be checked out elsewhere, too, not only here in Reiden.
