Hörnerfest 2011
Hoernerfest 2011
Location: Brande-Hörnerkirchen (DE)
1 – 2 Juli 2011
Photography: darkradiation.de
It’s time to travel to the far-away Brande Hörnerkirchen in Germany. In this small village in the middle of nowhere, the annual folk-festival ‘Hörnerfest’ takes place. The festival, which took place for the 6th time, has about 2000 visitors annually, the majority of which are German or Danish. What was immediately noticed on arrival was the friendly atmosphere that around the area. Less than five minutes on the site, and the car was already hugged by a man in a giant Obelix-suite!
After our arrival we set up our tent, got acquainted with the neighbors and went to sleep, the next two days would, be filled with intense partying, good music and tremendous fun! Friday Friday, July 1st. The first day of the festival. We were ready to start visiting at the first band. But before this, we went to see what else there was at Hörnerfest, and that turned out to be quite a lot for such a small festival! At the campsite was a large medieval market, where you could get everything from booze to weapons, from jewelry to tools. Was also a tent where you could smoke hookah here. Furthermore, there was a small stage where bards and small bands performed acoustically. Very nicely done,it was made sure you didn’t have to get bored at this festival!
Kultasiipi
Kultasiipi (what a name!) was the band could start this festival, and was also one of the least. This German band makes a standard sort of folk-metal as many times before and better heard. What was striking was that the texts were entirely sung in Finnish. To wish the song sound this band somewhat about what caused the traditional folk instruments not properly come into their own. There was also not played tight at some points. Surely the least tire this weekend.
Rating: 2/5
Das Niveau
Less than a day before the festival came the bad news that Thorondir had to cancel. Fortunately, is the organization ‘Das level “at the last to know. The German Tenacious D, with two men stood on the podium, made acoustic songs with lyrics about the most varied subjects. Thus came to the delight of the audience, a number beyond which recounted that “Ficken” was surely a very great word! The cool thing was that this band was good to hear our Dutch by the excellent sound. Furthermore, it was this time for the first “Circle of Death”, a group of people, in a circle, arm in arm hooks and then go jump in circles. The two men on stage played here like in an extra verse to dedicate this scene. They had clearly defined, just like the audience. Very fun and laughed a lot during this tie!
Trelleborg
Then it was time for some folk metal from Russia. It immediately noticed that this not typical German band, had significantly less response than the German audience favorites. However, this did not spoil the fun. Front quickly creating one of the first pit during this festival. The sound was with this band doing fine, although the accordionist was not quite good dividends. What also stood out were the downright ridiculous poses of the singer, who thought to pose for a photo shoot rather than that he was engaged in performance!
Score: 3/5
Cumulo Nimbus
Then it was time for Cumulo Nimbus, a band that does seem to be very big in Germany. Many fans were currently on site to all together to build a party and a celebration it was! The band typically German folk rock / metal is played enthusiastically, diligently and sent the sounds of their music to the audience. The response was incredible, with many dancing, pitt income, singing people. The set was varied, with ballads and pure party songs that succeeded in rapidly. One of the highlights of this festival!
Score: 5/5

Cruadalach
Time for the Czechs Cruadalach to fire their combination of metal and medieval sounds to the audience. However, the band could only be disappointing after the exuberant celebration of Cumulo Nimbus. Despite this total was not played badly, and was also the sound here again fantastic, as was characteristic of nearly the entire festival. Furthermore, it was really special and could not make much impression on the visitors present.
Rating: 2/5
Die Streuner
This band also enjoys much attention in Germany. The acoustic sing-alongs then did it well, and the stage was it packed with people, all of whom enthusiastically singing along to songs like ‘Give ein voll’ and ‘Trinke Wein. As the title already suggests doing this were mostly drink songs, especially when the word “Saufen ‘just seemed a little too often. Gave the audience eagerly responded to, and the first drunken visitors were a fact. Nice touch was a dancer on stage was summoned, who went to the music of Die Streuner Riverdancen (traditional Irish dance). Very cool band, and then also “Men with beards” was sung was quite festive, with a polonaise by the audience.
Mutabor
After the catchy songs of Die drink Streuner we thought that it was about time for a beer, then declined at ease to the tent. Because of the small size of the festival was not you doing here longer than five to 10 minutes, even if you stood on the other side of the site! Ideal. By the time Mutabor have started declining again, but this strange mix of styles, which she self Blockflötenpunkrockfolk ‘call was not for us. Decided anyway to try the hookah, and it was to do better than the strange music of Mutabor!
Fire Show
Once done with the hookah it was already quite dark already. This could only mean one thing; it was time for the fire show Flammenrausch. All too often you see a bad fire shows at festivals, fire shows which totally spectacular, and you feel like you can do it better yourself. I also feared for the fire show, because what could well imagine that such a small festival as Hörnerfest? The fire show was just great. Spectacular stunts with whips were on fire, burning hoops, giant fireballs which the air shots, nothing too crazy. Half of the show I’ve also been watching open-mouthed, great! It was also an ideal ‘warm up’ before the end this Friday, Tanzwut.
Tanzwut
Although the intention was that Tanzwut would begin immediately after the fire show, it took at least 40 minutes before the band took the stage. Due to excessive sound check, a monitor that does not work properly, and probably still many other things this performance was significantly delayed. But the wait proved worthwhile when the band took the stage, accompanied by thick smoke and a heavy beat. The music of Tanzwut, made by members of the better-known “Corvus Corax” consists of a base of heavy riffs, electronic, almost industrial-sounding beats and folk influences through bagpipes. The band played tight, and the danceable beats made sure that soon a great dancing, partying crowd came to the podium. Nevertheless walked slowly but surely empty when Tanzwut, considering it soon became colder that night. Although the band played very well, it lacked a bit of enthusiasm and contact with the public. All in all, a fitting conclusion to the day, but not the best band of the festival.
Score: 4/5
After a very cold night and the prospect for this day was not much better. Dark clouds covered the sky, and it was just wait would fall for the first squall.
Spiegelkeller
Saturday was the German band ‘Keller Spiegel’ that might kick off. This band bleeds from the same vessel as “Battlelore” so female vocals, interspersed with male grunts. All this was accompanied by a non-too-inspired rhythm section. Totally not special, so therefore we decided at that time just walking to the center of the village to go get some food. The center is located about a half hour walk, so it is easy to do.
Score: 1/5

Vogelfrey
Fortunately, we were just in time for the German Vogelfrey. For the third time present with their mix of rock, folk and metal. Also this band was one of the audience favorites this weekend. It was sung loud and a great pit took place on the stage. Those who dared not run into this pit there banged wildly on the loose. A great atmosphere, with catchy songs! The band had therefore clearly defined in, and contact between audience and band was very good! Although it was impossible to lose the attention of the band was still highlighted with a loud bang fireworks when the end came on the set. After an additional encore, with loud cheers from the audience, it was after 50 minutes even for this band unfortunately time to leave the stage.
Score: 5/5

Finsterforst
Then it was time for German Finsterforst, one of the harder bands of the festival. This band plays folk metal in the vein of Finntroll, and these influences are also sure to hear back on the music. Normally they perform with a keyboardist and accordionist to play the role of “authentic” instruments, but today was the accordionist are not there. His party also came from tape, which was unfortunate. However, the overall sound was good dividends. The band did not come until later in earnest. However, they were enthusiastic, and played 50 minutes in a strong set. This resulted in a big pit for the podium. Very strong performance, only perhaps a little early on the scheduled day. If they start the evening are planned, I’m sure the party would become even greater.
Score: 4/5
Des Teufels Lockvögel
With so many variables within the German ‘Mittelaltermetal “or” folk-rock “genre (or whatever name you want to give Also note), there must always be one who perform less aware than the rest. With this band pounced your spontaneous feeling of ‘Been there, done that’, which was very unfortunate. That’s why this time around we therefore decided to go back to the water pipes, considering that the previous day was very good birth.

Gwydion
When the Portuguese Gwydion began his soundcheck, the first rain came down. The rain held until after Haggard (the headliner of the evening) to, which was very unfortunate. This did, however, people do not like to watch the performances. Although it was very quiet when Gwydion began, soon many people infected by the infectious folk-metal pot that make this Portuguese. It quickly became busier for the podium, despite the rain that fell by this time pouring from the sky. The band also did their very best to keep the audience in by extremely tight play, and a lot to handle uptempo songs in the set. This created another pit and even a Circle of Death! All in all, a very strong performance from the Portuguese, who seemed genuinely happy to get their music heard.
Score: 4/5

Nachtgeschrei
Nachtgeschrei. Much is there to say about it except that the music at times seems an EXACT copy of the well-known ‘In Extremo. The band sounded very nice, only the originality was hard to find. A nice point of the performance was that between the songs the singer addressed the audience with the words “Thank you for braving the rain, if you are wet, then I may as well ‘. After those words, he grabbed a bottle of water and poured it over his empty head. Respect!
Score: 3/5
Omnia
Despite that yours does not have much to do with the Dutch Omnia, however, but to see how our fellow countrymen here dissuaded. The conclusion is simple; They played excellent! Contrary to what the Netherlands still want to do once they played here many catchy songs, with many opportunities to dance. More encouragement, most therefore not needed, and there was a lot of dancing in the pouring rain, very nice to see! The only point of criticism was the performance of the singer, Steve. Again and again he kept his speech about ‘how bad things are going on in the world. ” Although he does so often, he involved this time, the German and even the US government in! The talk sounded at one point more like a punk band than a pagan-folk band. Bit of an unfortunate point on an otherwise excellent performance!
Fire Show
This day was another fire show place, only this time in the pouring rain. The show was slightly different than the day before, but still excellent. Furthermore, it was an ideal opportunity to warm up equally, given it was getting colder. The still pouring rain made it not much better.
Haggard
The German Haggard had the honor to close off Hörnerfest 2011. Also in this band, just like Tanzwut the night before, ran the soundcheck very off. Not so crazy, they saw at least 12 men are on stage! This band is a mix of classical music and metal. Although it sounds like a crazy combination this music paid dividends. Quiet, classic pieces are easily changed with the intense metal-violence. Too bad it was raining hard enough that so many people were looking for a dryer haven, resulting in many people for the podium. Then it started to thunder walked most people, including us, away. A shame, because the sound was excellent and the band was in good form.
Conclusion
About Hörnerfest itself I can be brief; it was a great festival! For only 38 euros for two days of great atmosphere and great bands! The small scale of the festival is the atmosphere only benefit. The festival itself is very well organized. Problems are solved very quickly, and there was plenty to do outside the bands. Extras like a tent where you could smoke hookah, a place to archery, and other things give the festival so much value! The main point of this festival was that the music always sounded excellent, I have never heard such good sound at a festival! Further, it was very nice that every band a Meet & amp; Greet gave. In terms of food, there was little variety, but what was there was very good and tasty! For bread to freshly baked bread to fries, it was all exquisite and not expensive. All in all I recommend this festival to all who love the smaller bands in the folk / folk metal / folk rock. Although the distance for some Dutch can be a problem, it’s definitely worth it! So for all those who love small, intimate festivals, check Hörnerfest! We are at least next year again!