MetalDays festival moves to Lake Velenje
Velenje, 30 July - The MetalDays music festival, which used to be a staple of the Tolmin area in the north-west of the country, has moved to a new venue, Lake Velenje in the north. Kicking off on Sunday, the seven-day festival will feature some 130 bands that will represent different subgenres of mostly heavy metal music.
Velenje
Lake Velenje.
Photo: Nebojša Tejić/STA
File photo
The festival has swapped the confluence of the Soča and Tolminka rivers for one of the deepest lakes in Slovenia, but its concept of music holidays remains the same.
"We strive to deliver bands of different subgenres, so that everyone can find something for themselves," Nika Brunet Milunović told the STA on behalf of the organisers.
The programme features 132 bands, including Swedish heavy metal band In Flames, English gothic metal band Paradise Lost, Germany's Kreator and Helloween, representatives of thrash metal and power metal, respectively, and British rock band Church of the Cosmic Skull.
The concerts will take place until Friday, while the festival itself will wrap up on Saturday.
The change in venue has been a challenge, both in terms of production and logistics, but it helps that the city of Velenje has good transport connections to other parts of the country, Brunet Milunović said.
The festival is expected to attract some 5,000 visitors a day, a figure that the organisers would be pleased with given the location change. The festival-goers will have at their disposal a dedicated festival zone that will be closed off to others, and early arrivals were possible from Thursday.
What used to be the largest festival in the Tolmin area was first held in 2004. Initially known as MetalCamp, the festival MetalDays attracted some 12,000 visitors in recent years.
The metal music tradition nevertheless continues in Tolmin, as a new festival dubbed Tolminator was held there this week.