Greenfield Festival 2024, Interlaken 13.06.24 – Day 1

The first day of Greefield Festival 2024 included, as usual, a great line-up consisting of:

1. Alphornbläser
2. Life of Agony
3. The High Times
4. Saltatio Mortis
5. Fjørd
6. Babymetal
7. Bokassa
8. Sum41
9. Escape the Fate
10. Machine Head
11. Karnivool
12. Bring Me the Horizon

Check out the photos from Andy and the review below!

With the arrival of June, the season of major summer music festivals officially begins, and, as every year, the appointment with the Greenfield Festival in Interlaken is a must. The event, held in the magnificent setting of the Bernese mountains, has for years become the largest Swiss festival dedicated to the hardest sounds, be it metal, alt rock, metalcore, industrial, or cyber-punk, offering a varied program for every musical taste. Over the years, big names such as Rammstein, Foo Fighters, Iron Maiden, and System of a Down have graced the stage, and this year, with Green Day and The Prodigy, we have two high-caliber headliners, accompanied by a lineup full of established groups and talented newcomers. Although some felt this year’s lineup was a bit weak and repetitive, the record-breaking crowd attendance over the weekend undoubtedly proves the organizers right.

But let’s take things in order. Arriving at the festival site, we are pleased to see a significant presence of the public from the very first moments after the gates opened and a palpable excitement. After the traditional performance by the folk group with alpine horns (Alphornbläser, indeed), it was time for Life of Agony to open the main stage. The Brooklyn-based band, led by the charismatic Mina Caputo, has been on tour for over a year celebrating the 30th anniversary of “River Runs Red,” a seminal debut album that brought them to the attention of the general public back in the day. Songs from that album dominate the setlist (“Through and Through,” “My Eyes,” “Underground,” or “This Time”), accompanied by tracks from albums like “Ugly” and “Soul Searching Sun.” The band is solid and tight, but perhaps not well-suited to opening the main stage, and, as with their first appearance in 2015, the audience is still partially distracted during the excellent performance by the New Yorkers. A pity.

Time to completely change genres with the German Saltatio Mortis, one of the most established medieval metal bands. With years of experience and concerts played in every remote medieval market in Germany and Europe, the band is an extremely well-oiled machine and delivers a high-impact set, thanks to excellent sound, songs that create a festive atmosphere, and especially thanks to the flamboyant singer Alea, capable of entertaining the audience greatly. It’s just a pity that the band’s medieval peculiarities, both musically and in terms of look, have been somewhat smoothed out, probably to appeal to a slightly more “mainstream” audience. Nevertheless, a great concert.

For many, calling Babymetal a metal band is sacrilege, almost blasphemy! The fact remains that the three Japanese girls are hugely successful both at home and abroad and offer their kawaii metal with great professionalism and precision, typical of the Japanese. Accompanied by a high-level session musicians band, the three front women Su-metal, Moametal, and Momometal sing and dance on a platform, offering choreographies worthy of a Jane Fonda aerobics lesson. Probably if they played in the evening with their full production, the impact would be different, but in this case, after a while, despite the great visual and musical impact, a certain monotony sets in.

The pop-punk that had enormous success in the early 2000s with bands like Blink 182 and Green Day seems to be experiencing a second youth (80,000 fans for the latter at their concert in Milan!), and Sum 41, who have now announced their farewell tour, are taking advantage of it too. Here at Greenfield, the anticipation for the band is palpable. The crowd gathers in large numbers under the stage and fills the site as if the headliners were about to play. Frontman Deryck Whibley and his band are undoubtedly a group with great experience and offer fans an intense punk rock set with 15 tracks covering practically their entire career. The audience dances, moshes, and has fun.

Finally, we manage to make a stop at the second stage to take a look at the American band Escape the Fate. The Las Vegas group, somewhere between metalcore and emo, despite being absolutely professional, does not seem particularly motivated to play in front of the sparse audience of the secondary stage and delivers a decidedly subdued and sterile set that passes without much enthusiasm.

We briskly return to the Jungfrau Stage not to miss the performance of Californian band Machine Head, and here we are sure the level will rise significantly. Absent from the summer festival circuit for a few years, we finally see them on the Greenfield Festival stage. Robb Flynn and his bandmates decide not to take any prisoners from the start and attack the audience with blasts like “Imperium,” “Ten Ton Hammer,” and “CHØKE ØN THE ASHES ØF YØUR HATE.” Holy Shit! With a devastating sound and incredible intensity, the four Californians practically raze everything in their path! Enormous circle pits open up in the audience, and the moshing is intense. The band puts on a great show with suggestive lights and flames (although we can debate how metal confetti really is! *lol*), and the extremely varied setlist covers a good part of their career. The devastating “Davidian” from their debut album “Burn My Eyes” and “Halo” from “The Blackening” close a great concert. Machine Head has definitely set the bar very high for the bands to follow. We hope to see them soon with a headlining show.

After a concert of this caliber, it was definitely challenging for Bring Me the Horizon to maintain the same level. But the English band is highly experienced and used to playing arenas and headlining major festivals like Download and Hellfest, so they take the stage without too much hesitation. I admit I’m not a fan of their music at all, but BMTH is a band that knows how to offer a high-level show to their fans. The stage setup includes led screens on three levels, spectacular and impactful sound, and a singer, Oli Sykes, who, despite being disliked and seen as arrogant by many, knows how to entertain the audience (especially the female fans) with great skill. Not my cup of tea, but definitely a great live band.

And with BMTH’s performance, the first day of Greenfield closes, and we head to the Rock Block for the post-concert festivities. C-ya tomorrow.