On Saturday, 15.07.23 we visited the Volle-Kraft-Voraus Festival in the Ratiopharm Arena in Neu-Ulm in old tradition of the last years. Bands this year were Soulbound, Lacrimas Profundere, Heldmaschine, Blutengel, ASP and of course the hosts Eisbrecher.
In bright sunshine and slightly higher temperatures of 37° Celsius, we set off in the direction of Ulm with defective air conditioning in the car.
Luci had to stay at home, because you can camp on the site until the following day, but you have to leave the site by 9 a.m. (we learned on site that it had to be cleared by 8 a.m.). So we prefer to drive the two hours home at night and sleep in on Sunday.
Until now, the VKV always started at the beginning of September, except this year. Everyone experienced on site what it can mean to hold a festival in the middle of summer. Heat, heat, heat… this was not only felt outside, but also increasingly inside at the end of the day. It felt like only the hallways of the arena were air-conditioned. Towards evening it was cooler outside than in the arena.
Otherwise, as always, well organised. Separate tickets for standing and seating were issued quickly in front of the entrance in the outdoor area. There were no visible controls for standing and seating. The years before, there were strict controls on who was sitting or standing.
The sound was bad as always in the arena (is always a subjective impression). At least with Eisbrecher you could rely on the sound being right. Unfortunately not this time either… it was miserable and overdriven, as with all bands. We can only give this impression from the stands, directly behind the mixing desks, maybe it was better at the standing places.
We heard Soulbound live for the first time. It’s not our sound, but Lacrimas Profundere surprised us. We’d already watched a few videos and heard a few things, but they weren’t exactly to our taste live, and frontman Julian Larre sang, ran and danced like a berserker across the stage, through the arena and took the audience with him. For us, a cool “new discovery” of the VKV 2023. That’s why we love festivals like the VKV.
This brings us straight to Heldmaschine,who we saw live for the first time in 2019 at VKV and shortly before Corona in Bensheim. We love the guys, their sound simply good New German Hardness. They quickly had the audience on their side and are no longer unknown. They also have the most beautiful drummer in the world in their ranks, Dirk Oechsle… ok the second most beautiful after Christoph Schneider 😉 It’s a pity that Heldmaschine can rarely be seen in southern Germany, but one of our recommendations is to go to their concerts and experience them live. Applies to all artists, however, to support them in the best possible way.
Next was Blutengel, whose stage show was a bit lost on the rather small stage. Had already experienced him live at the Mera Luna. After that ASP burned down the hall. Seeing ASP without the thick waistcoat was a unique experience, thanks to the heat. At the end, the ladies and gentlemen even danced in the aisles of the upper tiers during “Ich will brennen”. The final act was Eisbrecher. As always, fat sound and a modified set list. “Amok” was played again after a long time and also “Heillig”. You had the feeling that Eisbrecher had a lack of energy after the end of the tour or it was the heat.
In the rain, we then drove the night back in the direction of Stuttgart via country roads because the motorway was closed. Despite thunderstorms and aquaplaning, we arrived home safely and recovered in cooler temperatures on Sunday.
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