On the 9th of September, the annual free festival called Baroeg Open Air was upon us. The festival is the open-air version of a legendary venue called Baroeg in Rotterdam. But we are talking about the festival. When we arrived, the rain just passed over the terrain so everything was muddy and drenched but that didn’t let the spirit die. Like every year, the visitors enjoyed every single second of the festival. Like every year, Dutch Brutal Death Metal Thrash is present at this festival.
Around noon, the gates opened to the terrain. At 12:30, the first band started. On the Talentstage, The Devil’s 3rd took the stage. After a few minutes the people started to pile up at the stage for The Devils 3rd. The crowd was enthusiastic and that had left his marks on the band themselves. They were visibly enjoying their set. The guys certainly proved that they were the right band to be the first band on the festival. For the more die-hard The Devil’s 3rd fans, the band had some old songs in their set like ‘Bring It On’. Sadly, their bassist was playing his last show ever for the band and he made it well worth it. A very good performance from The Devils 3rd.
After The Devils 3rd, we moved to the Large stage. Cenobites was playing and we could see it as a moment of ‘peace’. Cenobites produced some great psychobilly and was great to dance too. The show was great but wasn’t really my thing so we moved on after a good time with Cenobites.
During the show of Dog Eat Dog around 15:30, we were back at the Large Stage. This band produced a combination of hardcore/rapcrossover. It is certainly something else, but I enjoyed it. The tent was really filled a good portion of the people on Baroeg Open Air. Dog Eat Dog had the crowd in their grip and didn’t let go. Dog Eat Dog gave a good show and the crowd enjoyed this unique band.
After Dog Eat Dog, I stayed at the Large Stage because Dool was playing next. Dool took the stage with a confident feeling. The band was ready and so was the crowd. This time the Large Stage was captured by Dark Rock and not by psychobilly or rap crossover. This was serious business. Dool arrived with their unique sound and didn’t let the attention of the crowd escape for a second. They transformed the stage into a dark atmosphere and Dool impressed me for sure. Im certainly going to check out them again.
After Dool, I started to walk around until probably the most legendary Dutch band Asphyx took the stage. The tent was packed with people. It was time for some extremely heavy old school death metal from the guys from Asphyx. Asphyx was extremely serious about their set and the fans really enjoyed this set. What I really noticed, that the band played really loud compared to other bands.
After the set of Asphyx, I started to wander around until a new ‘stage’ was being played on by the sleaze-punk band Jacklust. Around 19:00 the band started and a fairly big crowd has emerged to listen and mosh to Jacklust. It was an energetic performance by the band and the crowd really enjoyed seeing Jacklust play live. Jacklust even had a small surprise for the crowd. The vocalist of The Devils 3rd came along to sing a few notes on one of the songs called ‘All My Friends Are Dead’. During this song, the band and crowd went crazy and Jacklust was one of the most awesome bands I’ve seen on Baroeg Open Air 2017. I’d love to see them play live again at Baroeg Open Air but then on the mainstage.
After Jacklust finished their set, I walked back to the Large Stage where Tokyo Blade was going to start their set. The band plays a combination of hardrock/heavy metal. The atmosphere wasn’t as energetic as the Jacklust gig but the band did everything to get the crowd moving. I guess most of the people were seeing this band as a calm-down moment for the German thrash metal gods Destruction. Tokyo Blade gave a good set of an hour and we can prepare ourselves for the headliner Destruction.
On 21:15, the band Destruction began their set. Time to wreck the stage! The 3 guys gave the crowd an amazing set with classic thrash metal songs scattered all over the set. A worthy headliner and the crowd enjoyed every second of it. And so did I. The band closed the festival in a worthy fashion and we can look back at a successfully festival. Baroeg Open Air 2018, we will see you next year!
Review done by Dirk Kremers | Dutch Brutal/Death/Metal/Thrash NL