Well, this was certainly a great start of Bear Stone Festival. With only 4 bands on the first day’s schedule, plus the jam band Sviraj!jam closing the day, everyone got a really good taste of what’s to come for the remainder of the festival. As far as festival locations go, Bear Stone must be one of the best, with absolutely gorgeous scenery being located along the river Mrežnica. It’s just something else completely to see people rafting along the waterfalls in the river, whilst people are swimming and others are relaxing in the sun whilst the bands are playing, which really adds to the super chilled vibe of the festival. I also have to give huge credits to the festival organisers, as everything so far has been run spot on, and it’s not often that the festival organizer meets you in person when you arrive to give you a guided tour of the festival grounds, including the sampling of his special bottle of rakija, which was made for his wedding
Opening the procedures on the Mill Stage were Croatians A Gram Trip, who played the heaviest set of the day, with doomey riffs and at times very gnarly, sludgey vocals. They were having an absolute blast whilst perhaps not attracting the biggest audience of the day. It was great to hear the songs of their latest EP If We Leave Tomorrow live, which any fan of the doom/sludge genre should really check out.
A Gram Trip
Next up were three-piece Jantar, also from Zagreb, who played a superb set showcasing their instrumental progressive rock/metal, with a drummer who simply excelled, whilst having so much fun in doing so. It’s really nice to see bands I’ve not heard of before playing such impressive sets, and Jantar deserves to play on bigger stages. Following Jantar was another instrumental three-piece, Entropist, who were the 3rd Croatian band playing the festival. As I wrote in my festival preview post, Bear Stone has given this amazing opportunity for local Croatian bands to showcase their music and talents, and Entropist certainly took this opportunity on board really well. They were great in building up the atmosphere and tension in their music, with quiet passages leading into more heavier riff-based headbanging material.
Jantar
Last band on the Mill Stage were Italians Slowtorch, who were drew the biggest crowd of the day, and whilst unknown beforehand to me, had a local following present. Their attractive blend of stoner and heavy rock reminded me a lot of Clutch, perhaps even more so because of the great stage presence of singer Matteo, who really gave everything during his performance. Slowtorch impressed me a lot, and were a great headliner for the first day at Bear Stone. I wouldn’t be surprised if they end up playing one of the Desert Fest editions in the future.
Slowtorch
Whilst Sviraj!jam was playing on the Jam Stage people visibly in a great mood, talking about the bands they’ve seen that day and getting excited for the remainder of this Bear Stone edition. On day 2 we’re getting some of the big guns playing on the main stage, such as Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs and High On Fire, plus a variety of more local and not so local bands, and I for one can’t wait!
Sviraj!jam
