Rockharz 2013
July 11th - 13th Where: Ballendstedt, Harz region, Germany

This year Rockharz Open Air marked its 20th anniversary, and it also achieved another success: While the visitor count was around 11,000 in the recent years, it was 12,000 this year, meaning an increase by 20%. It is attracting a rising number of people from outside of Germany and is thus becoming more and more international. Compared to other festivals with 51,000 to 101,000 (or even more) visitors it is still comparatively small, but offers a lineup worthy of the big ones. This gives the festival a pretty unique standing in the scene as it combines the perks of a small festival with the ones of a large one. You will probably never get lost, and chances are you won't have too much trouble finding your friends again. Meanwhile you can still see bands such as Kreator, Iced Earth, Accept, Soulfly, and Avantasia (just to name this year's bigger names). Fans of Female Fronted Metal don't come away empty-handed either, as we saw last year (see review here) and as was proven again this year. Arkona, Delain, Van Canto, and Eluveitie all had decent length sets, and as a cherry on top Amanda Somerville was performing a two hour set with Avantasia.

Evenpath + Asylum Pyre
Yverdon-les-Bains (31/05/2013, Switzerland)