After the hard work of Saturday we were happy to have a relaxing and enjoyable day Sunday, even though we strongly started to feel the need to take a shower.
But as soon as the concerts started we immediately attended the Mask Of Judas performance. We also had an interview scheduled with them in the afternoon. They played songs from their latest mini album “Axis” and I must say I liked their live performance more than their studio material, which I definitely appreciate. After them it was the time for Chronograph's heavy performance on the main stage, followed by Basick Record's and Peterborough's very own Visions, and Monolith Music's Nexilva.
Later on the main stage, one of the funniest moments of the festival took place. Sadly Aliases performance had been cancelled, so the Tech-Fest team decided to replace them with a party. Stiff Bizkit, a Limp Bizkit cover band got on the stage to entertain the attenders for a half hour bouncing set! I was at the press area for my interview at that time so I couldn't attend most of the set, but it featured guests appearances from No Consequence, Linked, and other acts. In any case I recognized songs like “Nookie”, “My Generation”, “Break Stuff”, “Livin It Up” and more. As soon as I realized what was going on, I immediately ran from the press area to the stage to spend my last 15 minutes before the interview there as my friend was preparing the camera... Yes, I must confess I liked Limp Bizkit. They're one of the first "metal" bands I ever got into. And believe it or not, a lot of tech-heads loved that set. There were a lot of people moving, singing and jumping to those songs. It was a good way to slow down and take a funny break from the complicated proggy stuff played at the fest, and in the end everybody knows the lyrics of at least one Limp Bizkit song. You cannot escape.
After that we went back to some fast and furious technical death metal with the UK-based Dyscarnate, delivering one of the most virulent sets of the weekend (we got this on tape too...wait for it, it's coming soon!). After that we moved again to the main stage where we filmed what will be remembered as the most extreme mosh pit of this year's Tech-Fest during Heart Of A Coward's set. The band delivered a massive and devastating performance, confirming they're one of the most interesting hardcore bands to come out of the UK in recent times. They also recently signed a contract with nothing less than Century Media Records!
Shortly after, some quality instrumental music owned Tech-Fest's main stage. First, Basick Record's Chimp Spanner played a heavy and largely attended set, with a big crowd to appreciate the quality of their exhibition.
Immediately after, we saw the “only band not playing 8 strings guitars” as they defined themselves on stage. I'm talking about dutch fusion metal champions Exivious which did a virtuous and flawless exhibition with original and beautiful sounds. Unfortunately, there was just a small crowd to attend their set... The audience was probably tired from the long weekend and decided to take a break and come back for TesseracT performance, but I must say that this was probably the most clean set from a technical and instrumental point of view.
A few minutes before TesseracT's performance, Simon Garrod (Tech-Fest organizer / owner) and James Monteith (TesseracT and HoldTight PR) picked the winners of the contests to win an 8 string Ibanez RG8 and a coustom Double Slit guitar. After that, Simon delivered a small speech asking the crowd to celebrate the success of the festival with a big group hug that was one of the most moving and unforgettable moments of the weekend. Lovely. And TesseracT with the final performance? Well that was an amazing show with an exhausted but enthusiastic crowd enjoying one memorable set from the perfect band to end this festival. It was an intense, moving, and passionate performance to end Tech-Fest in the best way possible.
Yeah, because Tech-Fest, despite the timing troubles, the absence of showers and wi-fi connection, trouble finding power, and all the bands delayed or cancelled, was still the best Festival I have ever been to. And if I had to choose between finally sleeping in a bed and taking a shower the following night or sleeping for 3 more days on the grass, smelling like dirt, I would have definitely chose another Tech-Fest! If you missed this epic event, you better not make the same mistake next year. Be there!
- MATTIA
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