Back again at the Magic Circle Festival after one year in absence, yet it almost felt as though we had never left.

Two years ago we saw Manowar perform an epic two nights in a row show in Bad Arolsen, Germany, and last year they played Loreley, Germany, but we were sadly unable to fit this show into our already tight summer schedule. So, when we learned that for this year they had decided to cross the German border and let Magic Circle Festival visit the beautiful Tolmin, Slovenia, which we already knew and loved through the Metalcamp Festival we were delighted to once again be able to see the leatherclad heroes of true metal.
Because, let’s face it; there may be other bands present, but Magic Circle Festival IS all about Manowar.
Here they can, and do, perform what they want, just the way they want to; and the fans, all wearing Manowar shirts, and more than not branded by the sign of the hammer, love them for it!

The actual festival was, as the previous year, set to last for one day only, but as they had hooked up with Metalcamp and took place in direct succession of this festival, they had decided to overlap each other for a bit making the Manowar festivities last for three days, instead of just the one with live music.
This was done by means of a Manowar Activity Tent, placed out at the camping ground where fans and visitors of both festivals could go and enjoy a nice icy-cold 1 Euro beer (the cheapest one at the entire festival) as they took part in, or just watched several different activities planned to keep everyone in good spirits until the bands started playing.
There was the mandatory Miss Manowar competition, the Manowar Triathlon (including beer drinking, Eric Adam screaming and endurance) and an air guitar competition to name but a few…
As we were sort of busy with the Metalcamp coverage, we sadly missed out on most of the activities in this awesome tent, but we did manage to catch the finale of the Nordic Mythology quiz (won by a Norwegian girl (and as they said, it would have been shameful if Norway DIDN’T win such a quiz)), and we caught parts of the ever popular Metal Karaoke, which always seemed to end in one of two ways; laughs and cheers for men and “Show your tits!” for women. What I found odd about the latter event was that, as far I heard it at least, not a single Manowar hymn was sung…
As the last day before the festival drew towards an end, a traditional Metal Disco commenced, and even though a very large and intimidating man had just stood upon the stage and read to us the ten commandments of true metal, about how we should never kneel to anyone and how we should never listen to anything but true metal, such words seemed easily forgotten as strange techno tunes about gummy-bears were mixed into the otherwise rocking set, and the DJ readily accepted the authorities demands of shutting the party down. Two songs more were allowed, and he began playing Achilles but son changed his mind and tune to a shorter Manowar song…

The actual festival day passed in much the same way as our days as Metalcamp, this was just the very next day after all.
In the Manowar Activity Tent we had met a couple of Danish friend which we spent the day with, and as this was their first time visiting this place we went sightseeing of sorts when there was no music playing, which meant we both had time once again to visit the town of Tolmin, and also spend a few well-deserved hours down at the beach bar and in the river. Actually, I’m not sure just how long a time we spent there, as it is hard to keep track of time in such timeless and soothing surroundings…
We knew we wanted to be back before the Main Stage in time for the true metal warriors of Metalforce, but we had decided to drop Crosswind as none of us knew them, and the water was just so damn nice.

This sort of brings us back to the music; and I feel I have already made clear that there was, is, and always will be only one band crucial to the Magic Circle Festival, namely Manowar.
Other than them, the ever unsurprising addition of Metalforce and HolyHell had also been put on the billing, as well as a host of more or less known artists and bands including Arch Enemy and Virgin Steele.
My biggest anticipation apart from the headliners must be said to have been Kamelot, a band I have trashed in an earlier review but have gained interest in later on. They performed admirably, and brought the second best show of the when all comes down to it.
I had a bit of anticipation about the Manowar show actually, seeing as they had only two hours of stage time and clearly recalling how ill-used this time usually is. Thankfully, bassist Joey DeMaio held his place, and more importantly his tongue, throughout the show, and it ended up with being the most driven and energetic Manowar concert I have ever seen!

So, for the important parts, the music delivered as promised. But what about the festival?
Well, as Magic Circle took over where Metalcamp left of, all the facilities were already in place and ready to use, which would lead me to believe that the festival management would be left with a lot of time concentrating on making things good and memorable for the fans.
This, in many ways, was not the case however…
I know it was only a one-day festival, but considering how diehard Manowar’s fans are, and how special an event this really is, it did seem a bit cheap to me to have the festival wristbands made out of paper only. I know a lot of people rejoice in collecting wristbands from the festivals they visit (I myself am one), and I’m sure a lot would have loved to go home sporting a nice new wristband in the collection…
Another thing missing, which should be on the very top of every festival committees to-do list, was the basic festival t-shirt.
Yes, there was a special booth committed to selling every kind of Manowar merchandise you could possibly think of, but a t-shirt for the whole festival is a must-have, and it simply was not there! Unforgiveable.
I could personally have done with a bit more info regarding playing times as well. A program would have been nice, and a bit better announcement of what was going on at the 2nd Stage. To be honest, it was purely a coincidence that I even found out that this stage was still open, let alone that there were bands playing.

Of course, it wasn’t all bad.
As I believe I have mentioned before, the Manowar Activity Tent actually held a lot of activities, and for the time I was there things ran smoothly and stayed on schedule.
After finding out that there was a second stage, I also noticed how much more varied the program actually was than I had first anticipated; this was a large improvement from the festival two years ago. In regards to this though, I feel I must mention Who Was I, the modern metal (or whatever you choose to call this elusive genre) act from the US who were closing down the Main Stage after Manowar.
Sure, the band was great performers in their own right, putting on a very energetic and compelling show and their singer did everything in his power to get the ten-man strong audience who stuck around going into the action, but honestly, compared to the rest of the program they stuck out like a stripper at a Mormon camp, and the reactions from the crowd showed it. They were actually not bad, just incredibly misplaced…
Magic Circle also showed the finale of the Football World Championship on a large screen on the second stage, and although I myself am not a huge sportsfan, I know there were several who were, and this was a nice gesture to them.

With a low attendance of people, I would guess that somewhere around 3000 people were visiting the festival, I could fear for the future of this special little festival, but if they do go on, I am excited to see what they’ll be coming up with next, and where they will go (or stay, if that is the case) in the future.
And of course, as long as Manowar is good, everything is good.