Messed!Up
Once again, Dong Open Air called our resident metalhead Christian from our home base in Hamburg down to his sleepy little hometown of Neulirchen-Vluyn.
And as always, Mount Moshmore offered up an interesting experience. From sleaze rock to Death Metal to saxophones, from rainbow pits to neck-breaking thrash, it was a rollercoaster ride in the clouds. Here’s our recap of three intense days on Mount Moshmore. (Or, as it’s usually and boringly called “Halde Norddeutschland”.)
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Day 1: Merch lines, Sleaze Rock and Swedish Nostalgia
The first day kicked off with the finalists of the Wacken Metal Battle: DEADEND / Gun Called Britney. Unfortunately, we missed most of DEADEND’s set due to an absurdly long line at the merch stand, which still left us going home almost empty-handed. (Hey Dong Open Air: Maybe next year you can bring some more stuff? Especially the kid’s sizes?) But while the merc disappointment was big, missing out on the DEADEND show was not the end of the world.
The second band, however, made up for it: Gun Called Britney delivered killer sleaze rock straight from our home base Hamburg. Why had we never heard of them before? Absolutely deserved winners of the Battle. Enjoy your show in Wacken, boys!
Vanaheim surprised us with Pagan Metal featuring a violinist – an unusual combo that worked surprisingly well live. Probably even more fun with a few drinks in the system. Will we extensively listen to some of their records in the future? Debatable. But catching them again in a live context? Hell yes.
Neurotic Machinery were finally able to perform after last year’s weather cancellation. Technically solid, but dual growls alone don’t make a great band. The songs with saxophone elements were really cool – unfortunately, they seemed to be pre-recorded.
Doomcrusher – great name, but their sound was slightly too modern and metalcore-ish for our taste. Our festival crew had an ongoing debate: Were the clean vocals playback? Coming from the guitarist? Or a mix of both? Still a mystery.
Rezet brought the first real musical highlight for our photographer who kept headbanging in the photo pit: old-school thrash/speed metal with plenty of fire. Sadly, the crowd didn’t quite match the band’s energy.
Ensiferum drew a predictably large crowd. A tight show, well executed, and the audience loved it – even though it didn’t fully resonate with us.
Headlining the first night: The Halo Effect. Basically, the better In Flames. Interestingly, the changeover playlist was full of old In Flames songs – the good ones, pre-2006 – exactly the style The Halo Effect now masters. From the first song on, the crowd went wild with endless crowd surfers. Frontman Mikael Stanne was visibly touched – he’d been to Dong Open Air before with his other project Dark Tranquillity a few times before, but this was his first time headlining an actual open air show, as his previous experiences were still held in a tent up on Mount Moshmore. A fantastic end to Day 1, complete with an In Flames cover just before the finish.
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Day 2: Beer, Modelling, Mantar’s Rainbow Apocalypse, and more beer!
Due to family obligations, we sadly missed the early bands of day 2 – including Sweet Electric, who reportedly delivered a strong performance.
Our day started with the traditional climb up Mount Moshmore in far-too-hot temperatures, followed by an ice-cold beer at the summit. Enter Tyranthrope, stepping in last minute for Subterrenean Masquerade – a thrash-crossover beast of a set that kicked off the day properly. Highlight: a Misfits homage called “I Turned Into a Martian” – just a liiiittle bit faster and harder than Danzig & Co. play.
Next up: Formosa – glammy hard rock with party vibes and a frontman running a fashion show mid-set. Fittingly, one of their songs is called “Dressed to Kill”. Groove and swagger in equal measure. As long as you’re rocking, let’s have a drink, put your horns up and fight the fire – their song titles might be clichéd as hell and we hadn’t heard of the Ruhrpott combo before, but we’ll definitely catch them again soon somewhere on the road.
Persefone followed with a melodic death metal show that unexpectedly blew us away – maybe because we had zero expectations, and they smashed it. Even without a bass player.
Then came Dirty Shirt and their Transylvanian folk metal party. It was a VERY wild genre-mashup, but somehow it all worked and the crowd partied hard. Two singers, two violins, a flutist, two backing vocalists, drums, guitar and bass. How many people can fit on one stage? Apparently, a lot.
Straight after: contrast deluxe. Mantar, the charming black metal punk duo from Hamburg/ Gainesville/ Bremen. They kicked things off by stating that instead of half-naked ladies on backing vocal, the audience would now be treated to two half-naked dudes. Their first song didn’t quite land, so singer Hanno added in his typical cocky, yet self-deprecating style you just have to love: (This one needs to sty in German. Sorry.) “Wir haben Freitag 19 Uhr. Ey, wir sind aus Bremen. Da sind die Leute jetzt schon seit drei Tagen besoffen. SEID IHR BEREIT MIT UNS INS LICHT ZU GEHEN???” And from that moment on, full chaos erupted. Constant circle pits, crowdsurfing galore, and highlights like “Halsgericht”, “Hang Em Low”, and “Era Borealis” were celebrated like the world was ending.
To top it all off, the Neukirchen-Vluyn fire brigade cooled the crowd with water – creating a rainbow over the pit. Surreal. Every Mantar show should now have this by default.
Next up: Yet another shift in style with Battle Beast: power metal with a capital P. A devil-horned-hairstyled frontwoman commanding the stage like an eccentric opera singer. Not 1000% our cup of tea – possibly more of a guilty pleasure – but the crowd went nuts and we had fun ourselves as well.
Kissin’ Dynamite returned to Dong as headliners. Their show was a world apart from their last appearance a decade ago – much more production, more theatrics, and a crowd fully on board. Great energy, but we could’ve done with fewer “friends!” in the stage banter.
But hey – it was a great show and the audience disappaerad into the night with grins on their faces. Off to see DJ Benne, festival mainstay and after-show party garant.
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Day 3: Hangovers, Pyros and One Last Mosh Pit
Our travel crew went a bit too hard at the DJ Benne aftershow party, so we didn’t quite make it to the first band of the day – Weckörhead – as planned. And a few more acts fell victim to our recovery time as well.
The soundtrack to our third climb up the Dong hill was provided by band number 3 of day 3: Dragonsfire. We managed to catch the last few tracks from the front – enthusiastic power metal, though there were a few noticeable slip-ups during the solos.
Then came Burn Down Eden: blackened death metal with blast beats and guitar shredding galore, fronted by a substitute vocalist (and missing their bassist as well, as the band currently is in a transition phase, apparently). Solid set. Halfway through, a power nap was necessary due to last night’s shenanigans, which unfortunately meant also missing most of Khirki. What we caught sounded intriguing, and the post-show merch explosion suggests the crowd was very much into the Greek Progressive Alternative Folk Rock.
Our first big highlight of the day: Suidakra. A rainy circle pit with fueled by the fire brigade, the vocalist jumping in while still playing guitar, and a surprise appearance by their former bassist – this set had it all. Minor drawback: all the bagpipe parts came from a backing track.
Next up: Van Canto. A cappella metal that didn’t quite click with us. The crowd was thinner, but the fans that were there had fun. Their rendition of “Master of Puppets” showed the concept can work, and “Fear of the Dark” was actually pretty impressive. Still, the spark didn’t fully ignite for us.
During Van Canto’s set, the winds suddenly picked up, barriers started shaking, and the stormy festival finale began. Three last acts: Destruction, Rise of the Northstar, and Kreator promised a fiery finale.
As Destruction approached, we noticed the demographic shift in front of the stage: more grey hairs, more battle vests, more classic thrash tees.
What followed was pure old-school mayhem. Nonstop circle pits, relentless riffing, and a glorious “Thrash Til Death” to close things out. Or as we say in Germany, lovingly: “Stumpf ist Trumpf.”
Rise of the Northstar brought a much more modern sound – groove-driven metal with breakdowns and Rap vocals. The crowd was into it, though we personally expected a bit more from the “New York Hardcore from Paris meets Japanese Pop Culture” premise.
Finally, Kreator. Just before they hit the stage, a brief rain shower cooled everyone down. Then: full pyro madness. The Ruhrpott thrash legends delivered an arena-worthy metal spectacle, with flames going off from start to finish. Unlike our last Kreator gig (back in December in Hamburg, where pyro was prohibited by the venue), this time they went all-in. The crowd energy was at max – circle pits, walls of death and a relentless stream of crowdsurfers: Fists, screams and horns in the air until the bitter end.
As the last flames burned out, we packed our bags, our necks sore and our hearts full. Another year on Mount Moshmore in the books.
See you next year, people of the Dong!
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Review: Maggi Berg
Photos by Christian Berg
Dong Open Air photo gallery
