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Argentina’s Maximus Festival 2017: Different strokes for different folks

May 2017, Buenos Aires, Argentina. The feeling that something big was about to happen increased as soon as we arrived at the entrance of the Tecnopolis park and passed by the monumental arch, announcing the logo of the Maximus Festival. And yes, it happened!

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Thousands of souls from all over the country -and continent- came to Buenos Aires the past May 6th, looking forwards to the best day of their life. The huge double stage decorated with rusty colors, smokestacks, still producing fumes, as well as pipes and other industrial paraphernalia, resembled an old, forgotten, refinery. The shed’s entrance to the left served as the third stage, sector 26 and the “rockstar cemetery”, and several other attractions were distributed all over the field, providing the public with a lot of scenery to roam around.

The show began with an unexpected change in the line-up of the stages, because HATEBREED had problems with its flight, and could not arrive on time to Argentina. Their show was differed and changed to the Thunder Dome: a little stage thought for the local bands. MISSON profited from the last-minute changes, primarily in charge of the Rockatansky stage opening around 1:30 pm, pumping up the engines of those who were gradually filling the area. They were followed by the Americans from RED FANG, one of the lesser-known bands of the day, who were the ones cutting the ribbon in Maximus Stage. Right after their powerful show, people was feeling like more.

Papa Emeritus (GHOST)

Something similar happened with the Germans BOHSE ONKELZ -also in the Maximus Stage-, who were unknown for many, and left the stage with new fans after 40 minutes of melodic punk. The local bands were playing at the Thunder Dome, this time with higher tech level than the first edition. EL BUEN SALVAJE and INSOBRIO opened the dome and, although the crowd wasn’t the largest, they offered a fair show. ASSPERA showed up at the Rockatansky Stage, at the time initally sheduled for HATEBREED, playing his famous grotesque songs chanted by his faithful fans, and after that, MELIAN rocked out their people under the Thunder Dome.

But while HELKER was getting ready to go on the same place, some masked acquaintances showed up in the big stage: the people from GHOST. They played seven songs, including “Square Hammer“, “Cirice” and “Year Zero“, and that was all it took for the Grammy winners to ignite the audience, and be considered one of the best shows of the day for their fans. “Are you happier than three hours ago? Because we do,” Papa Emeritus III said to his congregation before playing the last song, “Mummy Dust“, which he presented as the heaviest in the band’s repertoire.

Black flags showing words like Love, Death, Hate, War and others more explicit, fulfilled the perfect welcoming scenery for an Icon of the shock rock like Rob Zombie. Armed with some of the best musicians of the industrial metal, like John 5 at guitars and Ginger Fish at the drums, the eccentric singer made his apparition dress in black and white, and playing the best of his repertoire. Some hits from his past with WHITE ZOMBIE, as “More Human than Human” and “Thunder Kiss ’65” made people sing along, jump and dance the whole show. It was a party in which Rob threw inflatable balls and alien dolls. As he usually does, the musician went down of the stage to sing with the fans and, before the final with “Dragula“, paid tribute to the Ramones with a cover of “Blitzkrieg Bop“.

Was almost sunset when, with the attitude of a gang, FIVE FINGERS DEATH PUNCH showed up to make their debut in Argentina, exciting from the very first song. “Wash It All Away” and “Under And Over It” were some of the best-received by the audience, and with the acoustic version of “Remember Everything“, “el pelado” -as people kindly called to singer Ivan Moody- cleared every doubt about his abilities. At the same time, HATEBREED raised the Dome’s temperature with a brief but powerful set, highlighting the unrestrained “Destroy Everything“, dedicated in this opportunity to SLAYER, who – as Jamey Jasta said- lent their instruments to make their show possible, since they arrived, but their guitars didn’t.

The night settled and with it, the most dark and heavy band of the whole event: SLAYER. “Repentless” was the opening song and for almost an hour and 15 minutes, Kerry King, Tom Araya, Gary Holt and Paul Bostaph bashed the audience with riffs and beats that came faster and faster without any mercy. The cover of their last album at the backdrop, red lights with flashes and their menacing aspects of skulls and chains made the perfect setting. As incredible as it was to watch, the band played with the energy of four kids. They definitely blew up the whole venue with a setlist composed by new singles and very classic songs such as “South of Heaven“, “Reign in Blood” and “Angel of Death“. The crowd went crazy.

Alarms of war, red stage, the raised fist, the star… this only means something: PROPHETS OF RAGE are in. The band with B-Real and Chuck D in the voices was responsible for closing the Rockatansky Stage. With a set of 17 songs, mostly from RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, the band pleased the fans greatly, since there was also time for new and original songs. Covers of CYPRESS HILL, PUBLIC ENEMY and even a mini version of “Seven Nation Army“, from the WHITE STRIPES, completed the setlist of the night in which we discovered that B-Real, besides rapping, can sing any Zack De La Rocha song. Both vocalists went down to the pit to sing along with the audience, they spoke in Spanish and joked with their audience, but Tom Morello was the protagonist, showing off with the guitar and requesting – through a message on the back of it – “for the mothers of the disappeared”.

The punctuality of the shows was the rule at the festival. At 9:30 pm the intro of “Roads Untraveled“, the opening song of LINKIN PARK, began. It was a gentle beginning that included the world premiere of “Talking To Myself“, a track from their upcoming album to be released this May 19th. As the show developed, the more classic songs appeared. “I think I hear people singing new songs”, Mike Shinoda blurted, adding, “That’s great, thank you, you are awesome.” In fact, the audience – mostly in their teens – focused their energies in chanting every song, new and old, exploding with the well-known “In The End“. After playing the first notes of it, the band heard the audience sing and showed some love by chanting the entire first verse and chorus. A very emotional moment, without a doubt. After the 22 songs that completed the setlist of the night they said goodbye. It was eleven o’clock.

During two consecutive editions, the Maximus Festival brought to South America some of the biggest bands in the heavy music, always giving room to the new artists of the scene, the main attraction among other activities designed to increase the festival experience. After a triumphant first year, this second edition laid the foundations and left an enthusiastic capital to continue building up and enlarging the scene, thinking from now on in the future editions.

Frank Hernández
Director en Rocktambulos
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