On the second full day of Bear Stone Festival the sun was out in full glory again, making it another scorching hot day. After a few days of hot Croatian weather I think my body finally started to adjust, perfectly in time to watch some of the better bands in the stoner rock and psychedelic rock genres.
As per usual, the day started with 4 bands playing at the small Mill Stage. First up were Azutmaga, and Hungarian two-piece, who played instrumental riff-focused rock, with quite a few added progressive elements, like some weird time signatures in some of their songs. After a while it started to sound a bit like an instrumental bluesy Black Sabbat, which was good and certainly nice for the early start of the day, but I missed a bit of tempo changes, to try and build some more dynamics into the mix. After Azutmaga we got another two-piece, named Rifftree, who played… well… a lot of big riffs. Interestingly, this duo only played with drums and a bass guitar, which was plugged in through multiple speakers, thereby creating a heavy, sludgey distorted sound, which was probably the loudest to play the Mill Stage the whole weekend.
AcidSitter were up next, proudly spreading the acid love through their excellent merch stating in huge capital letters “Make Acid Great Again”. Coming from Poland, with added Japanese guitarist in the band they brought a very engaging set of psychedelic goodness, making all the psychonauts at the festival super happy. There was so much joy in their set, and they played an effortless set full of repetitive drums, bass lines and plenty of psychedelic wah wah solos. It was an early start for a psych set, but it gave a great introduction to some of the bands playing on the main stage later on the day. Last band to play the Mill Stage were Kayleth from Italy, and they played some nice stoner rock with added psychedelic layers by neat use of synthesisers and theremin. Their set focused hugely on their latest album New Babylon, which you should have a listen to if you’re a fan of the old desert stoner bands like Kyuss, Monster Magnet etc.
Make Acid Great Again!
After some downtime and some much needed food Croatians Nemeček opened the main Stone Stage. I’ve had at least a handful of Croatians telling me about this band during the festival, as they play heavy layered psychedelic drone music, with the added folk instrument called the Slavonian tambura, which was plugged in through a couple of Orange amplifiers and a big pedal board, adding an amazing folk sound to the music. This was a very captivating set, which gradually hypnotised the audience for a good part of an hour. This was a great example of a band (and instrument) you probably only get to see at a festival that’s located in the Balkan.
Nemeček delivering the folk influenced psychedelic drone sounds, with then help of the Slovanian tambura
From Austria came Blitzpøp, which finally provided us with another female band member in the very energetic singer who made good use of the big stage and engaged superbly with the gradually increasing audience. Their music was perhaps a little bit odd, sounding very much like a catchy Rage Against the Machine inspired alternative rock band, and I don’t think they were everyone’s cup of tea, though they played very tight, had a fantastic drummer and bassist, and they provided a solid festival set. This was followed by perhaps one of the bigger Croatian bands to play Bear Stone this year, Them Moose Rush, who played nice fuzzy stoner rock with great, clear vocals. It was obvious from their set that they’ve played many bigger gigs in their career, playing a solid set full of warm, fuzzy riffs and groovey stoner rock rhythms.
Croatian stoner rock masters Them Moose Rush
Where yesterday’s headliners Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, High on Fire and Mother Vulture all provided high energetic and engaging sets, this day ended with 3 bands from the more mellow side of things, but all are excellent and legendary within their genres. First up were Greek stoner rockers 1000mods, which was my first time seeing them, and they certainly didn’t disappoint. With the number of stoner rock bands that had already played the festival, it was great to see a band conquering the main stage, and showing all the other stoner bands how it should be done. Their super warm fuzzy guitar sound, with superb bass and drum groove really went down well, really demonstrating why they are one of the masters in the genre.
Legendary Greek stoner rockers 1000mods
Next up were Colour Haze, from Germany. These guys are another legendary band, having been playing for 30 years now. Whilst perhaps known to be a stoner rock band not dissimilar to Kyuss when they initially started releasing music, they have over the last 3 decades transformed their sound to become a lot more focused on the psychedelics, and the set they delivered at Bear Stone was a fantastic demonstration of this sound. Playing their long songs, building up layers and intensity they delivered a phenomenal set of psychedelic stoner rock. Special note has to be given to drummer Manfred Merwald who played with nothing but his heart and soul, totally understanding that you don’t need to hit the drums hard to create an intense groove building gradually to a huge climax within each song.
Colour Haze delivering the goods
The final band to play in the early hours of the morning were fellow Germans Kadavar, who delivered a well-oiled total stoner riff fest. This was another band high on my wish list and I’m glad I finally got to experience their psychedelic rock music at a place like Bear Stone Festival. Not too dissimilar to Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats they seem to be stuck in the 70s psychedelic hard rock scene, but this was exactly the sort of sound this festival needed to ed the day, and they demonstrated Bear Stone headline status with great effect. It was great to see the main guitarist/singer Cristopher jump into the crowd with his guitar towards the end of the set play a long jammy solo with the crowd rocking out like no other.
We still have one day of Bear Stone Festival left today, which feels more like a little afterparty, as there’s only 4 bands playing on the Mill Stage. For a festival as young as Bear Stone, with this being its 3rd edition, it’s certainly has been a fantastic time, with a superb organisation, a beautiful location and a great line-up including well-established international great names, and a wide range of smaller talented bands from Croatia and surrounding places. It’s only a matter of time that Bear Stone will be on people’s annual festival agenda, also giving a great opportunity to combine some great live music with a nice holiday in this beautiful part of Europe. If you like festivals, stoner/psychedelic rock and a chilled vibe, then this is exactly the sort of festival you want to be going to. I can’t wait to find out what next year will bring.
A very happy and satisfied Bear Stone audience!
There are so many dogs at the festival, but be aware dogs senses are very different than human senses, so it was good to see this responsible owner
