My Top 5 live experiences in 2019

I know I say it everytime but this year was full of amazing concerts, so it was really really hard to choose only 5 of them. I had to put out the festivals and counted only individual concerts. I tried my best to do it and you can read the result bellow.

5. BEAST IN BLACK

The fifth rank was hard to choose. I was deciding between BiB and Oomph!. And BEATS IN BLACK won because I waited for their headline show so long. It was their first headline show in Czech in general. The show was fantastic! Even some stupid individuals standing next to me I enjoyed it a lot. I think (and I'm not alone) this band has big shiny future. So I cannot wait to hear more from them. My article about the concert you can read HERE.

Ghost + All Them Witches + Tribulation live in Prague 1/12/2019

The last concert of the year. Who I should spend my last concert with than with GHOST? We had to wait for their headline tour very long time. Even Cardinal Copia mentioned that at the beginning. They were here around few times but always like a support band (Iron Maiden and Metallica). So finally we could enjoy their full set with every funny things included. And for me it was the first real ritual (saw them only supported Metallica in summer). The concert was placed in quite new venue O2 Universum. We wanted to be in the first row so it was quite stressful for us because we didn't know exactly where to go inside. But after 5 hours of waiting the doors were opened and after long run we made it to the first row. 

Skillet + Devour the Day live in Prague 28/11/2019

On Thursday 28th November my another music dream came true. I could finally see SKILLET live. I know they play in Czech quite often but somehow I always missed their gig. But not this time. In the moment they started to sell the tickets I bought mine. Skillet is a bit different band among the bands I normally listen to. Because they call themselves a christian band and many of their songs are dedicated to God or Jesus. Well, I'm neither a Christian nor any other religion believer (well, sometimes I believe in mighty Thor 😃 ), but I simply like their music. Because the topics of their songs are often about believing in yourself and don't giving up. And everything is packed in good rock show. Do you need more? 

Amon Amarth + Arch Enemy + Hypocrisy live in Prague 17/11/2019

Swedish invasion in Czech (again) as Johan, Amon Amarth singer, called Sunday night in Prague. Because that night we could see three swedish metal bands - AMON AMARTH, ARCH ENEMY and HYPOCRISY. Amon Amarth was the main band for me. I have this band in my Top 3 list (with Lordi and Ghost) and I always wanted to see them from the first row. Also my big dream was to meet the band and take a photo with them. So this time I simply bought VIP package. It was for fair price because we got also some cool merch. 

Beast In Black + Myrath live in Prague 12/11/2019

Well, my "relationship" with BEAST IN BLACK was a bit complicated. I remember my friend sent me a link for "Blind and Frozen" video and just "listen to it, it's amazing, you will love it". My first reaction was "well, not bad" but I wasn't impressed a lot. But then I listened to it again and again and you know the rest. I LOVE this band now! It was long time of waiting to see this band live. They played two times as a support for another bands, but finally in June they played a gig at Metalfest in Pilsen. And I really enjoyed it. But their own concert, that's something else. So I couldn't wait till November 12th to see them again in Prague. And it was amazing (of course)...

Amen's Guitar Clinic in Selb 2/11/2019

AMEN, the guitarist of LORDI, started those kind of events 2 years ago. It's an event when he plays some Lordi songs and has some little talk and you can also ask him some questions. And at the end there is meet&greet so you can take a photo with him and get some stuff signed by him. Every guitar clinic was far away from the Czech Republic... untill now. Amen announced new dates and one of them was in Selb, little town right next to the czech borders. So the decision was clear. We are going...

Kissin' Dynamite + Black Rain live in Prague 1/11/2019

I don't listen to KISSIN' DYNAMITE for a long time (maybe 2-3 years) but when I saw them live for the first time I fell in love with them. I missed their concert at Metalfest because we arrived late so I really looked forward to this gig. Also since that time Kissin' Dynamite started to be really popular here so the gig was sold out.

The Rasmus + Eddie Stoilow live in Prague 24/10/2019

Just imagine this. When you were a teenager you fell in love with some band. It was very big love. You also met many great people thanks to this band. Nowdays you still listen to this band. Not so much as before but you still love them. And this band decided to tour with the album you started to listen to them. I'm talking about THE RASMUS. They were my first big music love. I started to listen to them 16 years ago when I watched the music video "In the Shadows" in TV. Dead Letters was on of the most important albums in my life. And it's a fan's dream when the band plays this whole album from the first song (First Day of My Life) to the last one (Funeral Song). 

Static-X, Wednesday 13, Soil and Dope live in Prague 14/10/2019

This concert wasn't planned at all. A day before my friend wrote me he has an extra ticket and that he invites me. Ok, why not? STATIC-X are back on the tour. The band performed live in Czech 10 years ago. Then they took a break but what we all know, the frontman Wayne Static died in 2014. In 2018 the band was resurrected and tour with anonymous singer. 

Concert plans autumn/winter 2019/20

This September is for me a little resting time before the concert storm. Expecially November will be really crazy.

October - The Rasmus 24/10 - Oh yeah, these finnish men are back. But this time it will be very special. The Rasmus will perform all the songs from Dead Letters album. It was released in 2003 and I also started to listen to them in this time. So this will be for me (and many other older fans) very special evening. 

November - Kissin Dynamite 1/11 - It's not a long time when I started to listen to this band. I went to their concert just to join my friends. But it happened I fell in love with Kissin Dynamite. 

Amen's guitar clinic 2/11 - Well, this will be also very special evening. Amen, the guitarist of Lordi, does some solo events. And finally he's coming close to czech borders.

Beast in Black 12/11 - Finally Beast in Black have solo gig in Czech. It was about the time! And this gig is already sold out.

Amon Amarth 17/11 - My beloved vikings Amon Amarth are coming back to Czech. And this time I bought also VIP ticket. I just need to have photo withe the guys. They also bring Arch Enemy and Hypocrisy with them. 

Winter Masters of Rock 23/11 - The winter version of populat czech festival. This time with Powerwolf, Bloodbound, Moonspell, Insomnium and Silver Dust, of course.

Skillet 28/11 - Also one of the band I have never seen live but I love their songs. I cannot with to see Skillet.

December - Ghost 1/12 - This is just pure love. My big dream will come true. Yes, I saw them live as a support of Metallica but that's not the same. You just need to see Ghost in the dark and not during day light. 

January - Sabaton 26/1 - Sabaton together with Apocalyptica and Amaranthe. The show when you wanna be. 

And one "maybe concert" is also in November (15th). And it's Mayhem. Yes, this band. Why? Why not :D 

Metallica + Ghost + Bokassa live in Prague 18/8/2019

One of the biggest metal band METALLICA came back to Prague after a year to play open air concert. Well, I'm not the biggest Metallica fan. But I guess there are bands what you just have to see live. Like Metallica or AC/DC. I missed AC/DC last time in Prague but not Metallica this time.  Also this time Metallica brought one certain band as their support... the one and only GHOST. I was desperated that this band avoids to Czechia so long. Well, they played here in 2014 again as a support for Iron Maiden but that's all. So I bought my ticket immediately after starting the sale. Meanwhile Ghost announced their solo gig in Prague in December. So I decided to take it easy and not to hurry to the stage. It was also impossible to get into the first row. First, I had a problem during tickets check when my bar code didn't work for a while and second I hurt my little toe few days before the concert. Yeah, that's me...

Review: Lordi- Recordead live in Z7 (2019)

LORDI released their new DVD "Recordead live in Z7" which is their first official DVD. Yes, they released some stuff before but this new DVD is the first one which was made under their control. It was also mixed by Mana, the drummer. You can buy the record in many versions, as a digipak DVD, Blu-Ray and also as the vinyls with the live music. All you can order at AFM official label store.

Rammstein live in Prague 17/7/2019

The german band RAMMSTEIN released the 7th album called Rammstein and started the new tour. They played 2 years ago in Prague but I missed those gigs. So this time I just had to be there. So it happened that I visited the 2nd show in Prague this July. Yes, Rammstein played two shows in row here and both shows were sold out. This is just to show you how much Rammstein is popular here. It was my 3rd time to see them live and everytime I was in the first row. It didn't change this time neither. I arrived to arena after 9AM (!!!) and met my friend Alex with her mother. Later my friend Marika and her boyfriend joined us. The waiting outside the arena was running quite fast. The gates were opened at 3:30PM and we got into the first row on the left side of stage. The stage was just incredible! I have read in some report that the stage remineded someone the nazi style of buildings. To be honest, Rammstein always play this game even though we know they are not this kind of band. 

Pekelný ostrov festival 6/7/2019 (Lordi)

Finally that day came and we left for Pekelný ostrov festival. This festival is mostly focused on czech bands. But this year they also invited LORDI as the headliner for Saturday. At first I wasn't sure if I will go there. But then something happened. The bass player OX announced he's leaving the band after summer festivals. And since that time I was sure I need to go there. Because I simply coudn't miss to see OX for the last time on the stage. So we arrived just before the gates were openned and with bunch of my friends we started to occupy the front line. First it seemed to be very unpleasant because the sun was shining and it was fucking hot. But later it started to be more cloudy and it also rained for a while. Also the festival has two stages. So when no-one played on "our" stage we could sit down and rest a bit. We also had luck that the bands were quite okay so the time was running fast.

KISS + ZZ Top live in Prague 19/6/2019

KISS arrived to say goodbye also to Prague. They were the main stars of Prague Rocks festival, together with ZZ TOP and BSP (czech band). You can think about KISS whatever you want but they ARE rock legends. With lots of their hits you just need to hear the first tones and you know what song is it. This makes them (and some other bands) legendary. I saw KISS four times and knowing this is the last time was a bit sad. But I was ready to enjoy the concert as much as I could. That day I arrived from a school trip (I'm a teacher) and I couldn't come early to the venue. I also had some health problems and couldn't wait a long time before the show. Somehow I was ready that I won't be somewhere in the front. Twice I saw KISS from the front rows and once I was in the first row but some crazy fans pushed so hard that I had to leave. So my last time was again from the back. But I had "the standing close to stage" ticket so it wasn't so big problem. 

Slipknot live in Prague 11/6/2019

First of all I wanna say I'm not a hardcore fan of SLIPKNOT. I know mostly their hits and maybe some more. Till the last moment I wasn't sure if I will attend this concert. But few days before I was reading some posts at facebook event and someone was selling the seat ticket with a good view, so I said "why not? Let's go there.". Slipknot was in my list "must to see live". So I met the guy who sold me the ticket and on Tuesday 11.6. I was sitting in O2 Arena in Prague and waiting for Slipknot concert. 

Metalfest 31/5-2/6/2019

Powerwolf

Also this year we decided to go to METALFEST. Even I said I don't know if I wanna go there again because it's strarting to be too crowded. But this year there were so many awesome bands that we coudn't miss it. But before I start to write about the bands let me tell you something about the festival. This year it was sold out for the first time. This means 15 000 people if Attila from Powerwolf was right. And I really don't think this areal is made for such an amount of people. Yes, they added some stands with food and drinks. But that's not enough. I loved Metalfest because it was the place for some nice chilling time. You didn't have to stand for a long time to see the band because it's placed in amphitheatre. You could just sit on the bench and chill. But there are no more placest on the benches when you don't come soon. And I really don't want to talk about toilets. That was just bleh.... I really wish they would reduce the amount of tickets. But I know they won't becase money is money...

Mötley Crüe in the books (Review)

A while ago Netflix released new movie about MÖTLEY CRÜE called The Dirt. This movie didn't come from nowhere. It's based on their biographical book The Dirt. Today I don't want to talk about this movie. But if you like Mötley you should go and watch it. It's very entertaining. Watch the trailer HERE. But it gives you just a hint about the band. If you want the whole picture you should read the book. This article is about the books which are related to Mötley Crüe.

Note: I own the books in their czech versions.

Poets of the Fall live in Prague 23/4/2019

Let me tell you something about this cool band. It was really long ago when I discovered finnish band POETS OF THE FALL. Actually it was a time when I finished my high school and I also visited Finland for the first time. And on my second visit in 2008 I had a chance to see this band live twice (once at Ankkarock festival and once at their solo concert in Helsinki). To be honest I don't remember a lot from those events. And also I lost my way to this band after that. I have to admit I'm not so familiar with the new stuff. But when they announced european tour I was pretty sure I need to see them again.... after 11 years it was about the time :D 

Septicflesh + Krisiun + Diabolical + Science of Disorder live in Prague 4/4/2019

On Thursday the 4th of April my favourite band SEPTICFLESH came back to Prague. I really like this band tour so often. Because last time I saw them in Prague it was in January last year and they will play at Metalfest in June. But on Thursday they again brought some interesting support bands. And I'm sorry for photo quality. There were really bad lights and fog everywhere. 

Oomph! + Heldmachine live in Prague 29/3/2019

First of all I would like to describe my relationship with this band. I started to listen to OOMPH! like 13 years ago. I also started a fanpage which is still linked on band's offical website (how cool is that, ha?). Even I lost my way to this band trough the years few times I always found the way back. And Oomph! was, are and will be my beloved band. And that I met guys many times personally, this makes a lot, too. They are one of the nicest people ever. After all those years they are still nice to their fans as at the time I met them for the first time. And thanks to my fanpage, when I was translating their german lyrics, I also practised my german a lot. I graduated from german language at highschool (not english). And I really think that german is a nice language. So everytime I hear "german is so awful" I always think "you know nothing".... But back to this concert. This was my fifth time I saw Oomph! live. But this time I also bought VIP upgrade because I wanted to be in the front line. And it showed to be a good move. Because without that you had no chance to be in the front. But still it was quite a fight. But let's talk about this later....

Bloodbound + Dynazty + Manimal in Prague 23/3/2019

It was full swedish night. There were flying some dragons over Prague because BLOODBOUND shared the stage here. I have seen Bloodbound many times at some festivals. But DYNAZTY was a band I was looking the most for. 

Hudební ceny Evropy 2 - The Rasmus 21/3/2019

The czech radio Evropa 2 celebrated its birthday on Thursday 21st March. They always arrange some kind of awards for czech music scene. And this time they invited finnish band THE RASMUS. They won the award for Legendary act and performed short set at the after party. Even it was quite strange event for me I decided to go. Because why to loose the opportunity to see my fave band, right? :D

Concert plans spring/summer 2019

Well, this year a lot of amazing concerts will happen... again. But I guess 2019 is special with many big stadium concerts in summer. So what concerts are Top for me in spring/summer?

March - The Rasmus 21/3 - I missed their last concert in Brno. Just because it was in Brno :D So I was happy when one czech radio station announced The Rasmus will play on one of their event. And it will be in PRAGUE!

Bloodbound + Dynazty 23/3 - Only 2 days after TR there will be big power metal ride in Prague with swedish Bloodbound. And they will bring amazing Dynazty.

Oomph! 29/3 - Of course, I have never missed any chance to see Oomph! in Czech. My music love over 13 years and still strong.

April - Septicflesh 4/4 - April will be a bit more heavy it seems :D Starting with these amazing Septicflesh band from Greece. But it seems I will go there alone. Or is anyone going, too?

Ektomorf 15/4 - Also this hungarian band. Ektomorf is probably the only one thrash metal band I can listen to.

Poets of the Fall 23/4 - I guess this will be very nostalgic concert. Also this will be the first time when this finnish band Poets of the Fall plays in Czech.

June - Metalfest 31/5 - 2/6 - Amon Amarth, Powerwolf, Beast in Black, Dee Snider, Septicflesh... no more need to be said <3

KISS 19/6 - It's a final tour. No fan can't miss this! And also ZZ Top will play with them.

Disturbed 24/6 - I'm very curious about this concert. I have never seen Disturbed live before.

July - Lordi 5/7 - Lordi will play on Pekelny ostrov festival. I really don't care about the rest of festival. Only Lordi.

Rammstein 17/7 - The new album (and probably the last) of Rammstein will be also relased this year. So maybe this will be the last chance to see them live (I hope not).

August - Metallica + GHOST 18/8 - Yeah, Ghost are finally coming to Prague. Like support band for Metallica. Well, better than nothing. And I have never seen Metallica neither.

And since Slipknot concert in June is sold out I will see if I will buy a ticket just before the concert from someone. So not sure about this one yet.

Behemoth! + At the Gates + Wolves in the Throne Room in Prague 12/1/2019

Maybe I should start this report somehow like "The day was dark. The hell opened its gates and BEHEMOTH! arrived to Prague to perform their dark mass." Well, I don't see Behemoth like the satanist band first. I think the lyrics are more about the criticism of Christianity. At least I don't consider me to be a satanist but atheist. After all, Behemoth concert was well spent time with amazing music. 

My Top 5 Live Experiences in 2018

Last year was again full of amazing concerts and festivals, but honestly it was quite easy to choose only 5 top concerts.

5. HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES (Prague Rocks festival)

New festival brought quite big stars into Prague like Ozzy Osbourne or Jonathan Davis from Korn. But for me the biggest star was HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES with Alice Cooper, Joe Perry and Johnny Depp. First I love Alice Cooper and I could see Johnny on my own eyes. I'm fan of Johnny for many many years and he was really cool. My post about the event HERE.