After the first day at Bear Stone Festival, on the second day things really kicked off with a full day of bands, including some of the big names on the festival line-up. The Balkan summer had kicked in fully as well, with blue skies all day and not a single cloud to be seen, something someone living in Scotland isn’t used to. The sun and the heat did add to the chilled vibes of the festival, seeing loads of people making use of the cold spring river for refreshing swims. There is something quite special seeing someone float on a giant inflatable unicorn while there’s a band giving their heart and soul on stage.
The honourable task of starting the second day was Tight Grips, another local Croatian band, and they started things very well. This 3-piece plays a grungey sounding melodic stoner rock, with great vocals, reminding me a bit of Eddie Vedder at times. Towards the end of the set things got very psychedelic with great use of their synthesiser. Following Tight Grips were the first of two French bands, Tight Confusion, who set the bar very high with a progressive, psychedelic rock set, not dissimilar to good old Earthless jam. Their bass player especially was very impressive, and it wasn’t very surprising they attracted a very big crowd on and around the small Mill Stage.
Stonetree was next, playing pretty much not very memorable generic stoner rock. Last band on the Mill Stage was Baron Crâne, and this French 3-piece was my discovery of the day. They were immense, playing very passionate mostly instrumental rock, with loads of psychedelic jam and stoner rock influences. Just to see the sheer joy the band had on stage which translated into the crowd that were non-stop dancing to their songs was just brilliant.
Baron Crâne playing a superb set
This was the end of the Mill Stage line-up for day 2, and that’s one of the other things that makes Bear Stone a great festival, namely there aren’t any clashes. So, there’s no excuse to miss anything. On to the main stage (Stone Stage) we went to see ### (pronounced as hitting a bit of wood 3 times in a row) playing in the bright Croatian sunshine. It was a bit of a revelation to finally see not just one, but two women on stage, with the gender balance being somewhat under presented at the festival. Again an instrumental band, they laid down some heavy bass grooves with loads of melodic guitar parts, sometimes reminding me a bit of Dirty-era Sonic Youth.
Talking about the hot day and the Stone Stage being positioned perfectly in line with the blazing sun, not the best conditions to be playing a super energetic stoner rock set whilst wearing red pointy hats, which is exactly what Gnome did. And they have quite the following based on the army of red pointy hats that suddenly appeared from out of nowhere. This Belgium 3-piece have gradually been making a bigger name for themselves, possible by the memorable red pointy hats, but also by playing great, catchy music and having some of the silliest videos to go with their songs.
Gnomes with silly pointy hats playing in the blazing sun
After a quick food break (praise to the veggie plant-based food stall!), it was time to see my pals in Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs do their thing. Having been a fan of Pigsx7 for many years and have seen them grow from playing small venue gigs to big festival stages is pretty amazing, so I was curious how they would go down in Croatia, a country they had never played before. Well, they went down a treat, with the audience chanting “PIGS! PIGS! PIGS!” loudly after each song. Of course, it certainly helps that Pigsx7 are an amazing live band, playing super tight and having a singer (Matthew Baty) looking like possessed wrestler making use of every bit of space on the big stage. They played a good mix of songs from their last couple of albums, giving a great showcase of what they are about.
Catching up with Pigsx7 and festival organiser Marin
Next up it was time for the band most people had been waiting for all day, the mighty High on Fire. The number of amps on stage had doubled (at least), and there was a new drum kit on stage, and an hour and a bit of a total assault on the ears, with the band providing a masterclass in heavy riffs, pounding drums and great bass playing. If you’ve seen High on Fire live before than you know exactly what I mean, they are relentless on stage, giving no breathing space and just throwing riff after riff at the crowd. Seeing Big Business / Melvins drummer Coady Willis on drums with High on Fire for the first time was amazing as well, just going to show what an absolute machine he is. High on Fire was not unexpectedly a highlight of the day, perhaps of the whole festival. Last band of the day, and having the perhaps difficult task to follow High on Fire was UK based band Mother Vulture, who also played at the year zero festival edition, therefore the only band to have played the festival
twice now. They played a super energetic rock set, with the bass player and guitarist pretty much never standing still, climbing on amps, jumping off and spinning around on stage whilst playing high energy rock riffs, which was pretty impressive to witness.
High on Fire bringing all the riffs
That was Bear Stone Festival Day 2, and today we get to do it all again with less intense riffing and slightly more psychedelic stoner bands making their appearance on the main stage, with bands such as Colour Haze, 1000Mods and Kadavar making their Bear Stone debut.
Gnome fans
Crowd at the Mill Stage
