Now that fall is quickly approaching, it is time to dive into the topic of this year’s summer heavy metal festivals that happened…or not. One very missed festival that the US was putting on for years until the pandemic forced its rath on to it, is Psychofest, Las Vegas. This was 4 days of rolling out of the hotel bed, taking the elevator downstairs to the casino where there were four or five stages of metal to explore, including the pool stage. Dubbed the “luxury” festival because it is mostly indoors away from the brutal August heat, moshpits in pools were allowed, and you’re basically living in the festival with a shower and bed instead of a tent and some mud.

Sadly, festivals of this caliber, specifically in the US, are not without their problems. For one, after four days of smoke filled Casino dry air, your vocals turn to a shriveled up, scratchy throated old man level. Psychofest did have a great mix of metal genres from black metal to stoner metal, along with alternative sounds such as psychedelic rock and hip hop, to name a few. Normally, festivals with schizophrenic lineups have problems with fights or just difficulty avoiding the lame bands swimming in between the good bands. Psychofest was all love, and metalheads taking over an entire casino for a weekend was a comical adventure for the normies. Tragically and official to this year, Psychofest is no more. There are many factors as to why, but it definitely has to do with it not being cost effective anymore. This, in turn, is due to the greedy mongers that are taking huge fees for literally everything, and now are replacing these types of fests with the new money grab trend of throwing one day cram fests with over 40 bands from your favorite decade spread across too many stages in heat stroke inspiring weather. The exorbitant fees of getting European bands over here, among other issues, have destroyed the small but mighty fun festivals so that all metalheads can no longer have fun at well put on festivals in the US.

Now, let’s discuss another decent festival that is also in the US that, in this particular year, was a shitshow with how it was run. Maryland Deathfest is always a great lineup of extreme metal from the US and all over the world. This year, the original lineup featured England’s gothic doom band My Dying Bride. Then, due to some unforeseen circumstances with the band, they couldn’t make it happen. The lineup still had some greats, including Aura Noir, Primordial, Archgoat, Bloodbath, etc. The problem here was that you had to pay ridiculous prices to see all bands at all of the stages, even for one day. You could buy a day pass that only gives a person access to 2 of the 5 stages and a cool local bar, Angel’s Rock Bar, that sits within the festival grounds. Then, on top of that nonsense, you have to cross a large street intersection to get to two of the 5 stages. This involves drunk metalheads playing in traffic, annoying the locals, locals annoying metalheads, and nonsensical suffering at the outdoor stages because they were not allowed to take any beverages, including water from one side of the street to the other. Of course, the bands were one after another from one side of the street to the other, not to mention all the overlaps. So, either slam it, stay dehydrated, or miss a band were the only real options.

The location is part of the problem, despite it being cool back in the day to be close to the harbor and right in the heart of the city of Baltimore. Now, Baltimore is, unfortunately, a shithole in most areas, and the backdrop of this area is a dilapidated, half wrecking ball destructed building that could ironically be a great backdrop for a death metal album cover. As someone who doesn’t follow rules blindly, I opted to ask the festival security organizers why we had to do this. At the end of the day, city liquor laws or not, they got at least 3 times the money on booze than they would have if we could carry our drinks around the fest like modern civilized adults. Even at Psychofest, in the city where you can drink on the streets and in an Uber legally, they kept toying with telling the festival attendees that they couldn’t bring their liquids from one venue to the next which we’re all inside the same goddamn casino!

Like the open-minded and forgiving person I am, I’ve already planned to go to MDF next year. This time, all venues are included, and the price, at least for a 4 day American festival, is acceptable. The lineup being “too damn good” gets me every time. That’s why sheeple flock to these “While We Were Young,” “Sick New World,” and friends’ one day slam cram festivals to, by default, make rich, greedy, all gendered business people successful at the expense of the bands and fans. They get good lineups and cash in on the old acts that, some of which, are on their last legs. They overcharge for everything and don’t ever think about what would make fans more comfortable during the grueling experience of running around in high heat for 20 min sets, and with not enough water or shade available. They know the older fans probably can afford the insane VIP prices that are the only way to almost enjoy the experience without 50 plus year olds dropping dead like flies.

So, having experienced this festival treatment for years, I’ve branched out to at least one European festival per year lately. It has changed my life for the better. In Europe, the festival grounds are usually much more appropriate and accommodating to the needs of the fest attendees. Everything is spaced out well, not too far apart, and in a tranquil location. Then, there is the fact that the organizers think about the peoples’ comfort and well-being, which in turn draws more crowds and more peace in general. This year was my 2nd time at my favorite festival Steelfest, in Finland, which is primarily all black metal for 3 days. It’s 2 stages that you can walk to and from in less than 3 minutes, plus no bands overlap set times. There are also large picnic benches conveniently placed at both the indoor and outdoor stages to sit, rest, and socialize. There are plenty of bartenders, bathrooms, food, cool merch, shade, and amazing bands to calmly entertain yourself with. If there were any downside to this absolutely peaceful festival, it would be that they tend to run out of most hard liquor the last 2 or 3 hours of the last day of the festival. This probably is because everyone has more fun than anticipated, and drinks are normally priced for Finland rates. They don’t charge too much for the festival itself either. It’s run so well that one day I brought a zip lock bag of supplements into the fest by accident, and security wondered if I was selling drugs. I explained, and he held on to that bag all day and gave it back as I left late that evening. In America I’d probably be escorted out in handcuffs with my vitamins confiscated as if it were crack.

Consideration for others, quality of life, and treating others how you wish to be treated is the real key to success at these festivals. More happy metalheads can also lead to more money and more pleasantries for everyone involved. Just because America has some idiotic laws that are pure biased and subjective, it doesn’t mean that festival organizations can’t think about the human basic needs to make everyone experience something 100% positive. Live music is the best therapy, and it would be nice to enjoy a 4 day binge of it without the bullshit and chaos. Get it together, USA, and I’ll see you in the pit!!!