Defenders Of The Old Fest III

[Keir]

Anyone here going to this festival? I will be there the first day and most of the second.

[Hans]

Nice flyer!!

[Ernest Thesiger]

What a bill - and poster! Which Aggression are playing, the Canadians?

[IronBloodBlasphemy]

I'll be there all three nights.

[Keir]

Which Aggression are playing, the Canadians?

Yes indeed.

[Lama]

I'll be there all three nights.

Lucky bastard!

This bill is insane!!

[Khnud]

I want one of those flyers.

[Keir]

They are supposed to have shirts with that design for sale at the fest. Definitely getting one of those if they have my size.

[Khnud]

If "Long Live The Loud" was a death metal record the cover should have looked like this.

[Keir]

Unfortunately the shirts had a different design, that was just for the poster.

So how was Defenders Of The Old III? Due to some bad luck and poor planning on my part it took me 7 hours to get to Brooklyn, which means I missed Aggression. I also missed Nightmare City who had replaced Magic Circle at the last minute, but I wasn't too bothered by that. I entered the club just in time to see Machine Of War (formerly NME) go on stage and after a minute or 2 decided I'd rather go down the street for some paneer saag.

Returning to The Bell House with a full stomach I was ready for some Maximum Destruction! Destructor hit the stage with 2 original members and 2 members of Wretch filling the other spots. They sounded great but I couldn't help feel a little disappointed that they didn't play more older material. Highlight: Iron Curtain.

Liege Lord were next and they put on a powerful performance with a great mix of songs from all 3 albums. Highlight: Master Control

I saw Riot V last year at Ragnarokkr so I knew I was in for a treat when they closed out the first day. This was a particularly special set as they played over 20 songs and even had guest appearances by former Riot guitarists L.A. Kouvaris and Rick Ventura. I was a bit surprised by the woman doing backing vocals, but apparently that was because they needed someone who could sing higher than Todd Michael Hall (not sure she accomplished that either!) Highlight: No Lies (even though Rick sounded out of practice, this has always been one of my favorite sleeper songs from Riot and they haven't played it since 1981)

I'll post my review of day 2 tomorrow.

[Manillaungol]

They don't seem to have them in stock yet?

http://defendersoftheoldfestival.bigcar ... -iii-shirt

[doomedplanet]

I heard that Aggression were amazing.

[Keir]

Day 2

Quite serendipitously, Saturday was also the day of the NYC Vegetarian Festival, so that gave me something to do while I waited for the second night of metal. This time I got to The Bell House in time to see the first band, Natur, start. They did a great job getting the crowd ready for the rest of the show. I was a little sad they didn't play Spider Baby, but I was even sadder that they didn't have any merch for sale.
Highlight: the exuberant smoke machine

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I was not expecting much from Cauchemar as I am not really a fan of doom metal, but they put on a great show. I have a feeling they picked some of their faster songs for this show, and singer Annick Giroux really got into the theatrics which is always a plus.
Highlight: Annick's extra tight Mercyful Fate shirt

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High Spirits were without a doubt the most energetic band of the night. I can't wait to see them again in 6 weeks.
Highlight: the singalong during Midnight Sun (a song they dedicated to Mark Reale)

I could never get into October 31 on CD, but people kept telling me that they were a band that needed to be seen live. They were right! Good music with audience participation and crazy onstage antics aplenty. I still don't plan on buying their albums, but I will go see them next time they play nearby.
Highlight: King Fowley eating a poster that said "Power"

Finally, Brocas Helm performed their first east coast show and I was not disappointed. As soon as they left the stage I ran out of there and made it home at 3am, a satisfied man!
Highlight: Fly High

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What about The Rods and Exciter? To be honest I am not a big fan of either band, at least not enough to stay another night, and I am going to see The Rods at Ragnarokkr anyway. Overall I had a great time at Defenders Of The Old III and I hope there will be a fourth one. My 2 minor complaints were the lack of good merch and the huge amount of overlap between this festival and Ragnarokkr (not that I really mind seeing most of these bands twice).

[IronBloodBlasphemy]

I heard that Aggression were amazing.

probably a bit overstated, but they were enjoyable enough. Exciter was amazing! Unbelievable performance. Band of the weekend. Really all the bands that I saw over the three days played really well. I missed the openers all three days due to traffic and/or non-interest. Highlights for me: Destructor (best band of Day #1), Brocas Helm, Aggression, October 31, The Rods, High Spirits, Exciter, and Nifelheim.

[Aiden]

I actually wouldn't mind getting a copy of the poster. I showed it to a non-metal music fan in work and he said how he really likes the effort that metal bands and fests seem to make when it comes to artwork compared to the more 'indie' style that he's into.

Cheers for the updates and pics.