Heavy Weekend Festival

Nancy, France June 21-23, 2024

A special review written by David Bronstein and photographed by Gregory Hernandez

The Zenith Nancy Open Air is a beautiful amphitheatre at the top of a hill in the stunning city of Nancy in France. The venue holds 25,000 people and while the place has been accustomed to hosting everything from pop music to soul, this weekend is dedicated to all things metal and rock. Horror Metal Sounds were here for the closing day on June 23 which featured some incredible acts.

Let's remember the bands that had already graced this stage with Friday headliners Scorpions and Extreme and the up and coming The Last Internationale. On Saturday the venue hosted the legendary Deep Purple. Megadeth were back in town and Pretty Maids and Sacrilege also played. And so to Sunday and the final day. The doors opened at 4pm and we only had to wait an hour for the first band to emerge. Ayron Jones kicked off Sunday in fantastic style. A groove rock fusion band who were able to get the crowd into a rock frenzy early on. This is a band who are highly photogenic and they couldn't help but give us their moves and grooves all over the stage. Singer Ayron Jones hails from Seattle and of course that one city reminds us of all the great music that came out of that scene in the early 90s, although Jones was an infant when the scene exploded. He had been influenced though, music runs through his veins as his band kick off with 'Boys From the Pugent Sound'. 'Supercharged' really gets the fans in the mood to rock and during 'Otherside' the band jam to Nirvana's classic ' Smells Like Teen Spirit'. Slower songs hit the good times too and one memorable one is 'Blood in the Water'. Granted it could be argued that some fans did not know of Ayron Jones before this show, but you get the feeling that after it the band has just obtained new ones.

Tom Morello of course is known the world over in rock circles, being the guitarist for not one but two iconic bands in Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave. Tom is always on the money and is certainly one of the most underrated guitar players out there, certainly the most unique and he delivers his style in the blistering heat once again. Morello's set begins with 'Soldier in the Army of Love' and this is only the seventh time the band has performed this powerful opening track. Morello's set mostly takes up the form of covers. He has great humour too, before the band launch into 'Killing in the Name' he tells the crowd 'this is a famous French folk song that you learned in school'.... There are brilliant guitar solos of Rage classics including 'Testify', 'Bulls on Parade', 'Bombtrack' and 'Bullet in the Head'. Morello takes time to remember his friend and sadly departed Chris Cornell of Soundgarden whom of course Morello worked with in Audioslave and the band give out a superb performance of 'Like a Stone'. The set ends with the John Lennon classic 'Power to the People' complete with a heavier reworking as Morello delivers magic through his fingers and into his guitar, we have been treated by the master.

Alice Cooper hasn't performed with his band in France for 2 years, although he was here last year with Hollywood Vampires. It is interesting to note that his 'Too Close for Comfort' tour is a year old but is now finally making it to Europe. The excitement in the crowd is at fever pitch as a curtain drops to reveal Alice and his band who launch into 'Lock Me Up'. Only one song from Alice's most recent album 'Road' makes the cut here which is 'Welcome to the Show' but of course the fans are here for the classics and they will not be disappointed. Look at this for a run of songs; 'No More Mr. Nice Guy', 'I'm Eighteen', 'Under My Wheels' 'Bed of Nails', 'Billion Dollar Babies' all come one after the other. It is incredible to think that Alice is 76, perhaps only Mick Jagger can rival him for his youthful like energy on the stage. Alice is backed up by a superb band with 3 guitar players. Ryan Roxie is a photographers dream with his poses. Nita Strauss is arguably the best female guitarist on the planet and Tommy Henriksen is having a ton of fun on stage right. For 'Snakebite' Alice brings out a real python and handles it like a master, the crowd were very impressed with this. The band can seamlessly switch from 1970s hits to the 1990s and we quickly get 'Hey Stoopid' from 1991 and go back in time when Alice became a solo act with his first major hit in 1975 'Welcome to My Nightmare'. 'Poison' gets a fantastic reaction and we even have a monster enter the stage for ' Feed My Frankenstein'. The set ends with 'Elected' tongue in cheek reference to all of the elections in the world taking place this year and then 'School's Out wraps the set up. To note we are about five performances away for the 3,000th airing of that classic 1971 tune. Alice leaves the stage having conquered yet again and he will be back on a European arena size tour later this year in October.

To close out the day and a triumphant and fantastic weekend is Judas Priest. They are the 'M' in metal and perhaps take up that word on their own. If an alien was to come down to earth and ask who is the greatest metal band of all time how would we respond? Of course we all have our own choices but two bands come to mind in Black Sabbath and Judas Priest and both are from Birmingham, England- there was certainly something in the water back in the day up there. Rob Halford's voice has to be seen to be believed, thank your ears later. He is utterly fantastic and at 72 is sounding as good as ever. There is a reason that Halford is known as 'Metal God' by fans the world over, his blood runs heavy metal and his genuineness shines through. The band open as a curtain falls and the screams from fans rises with ' Panic Attack' the song from latest album 'Invincible Shield'. The night is awash with metal classics which Priest churn out to an inviting crowd. 'You've Got Another Thing Coming' goes down like a storm. Members of Alice Cooper and Tom Morello can be seen at the mixing desk head banging to 'Turbo Lover' and this song really resonates with the French crowd. 'Electric Eye' can never be played enough and 'Breaking the Law' is an early song in the set. 'Hellbent for Leather' and 'Living After Midnight' complete an historic show which leaves fans ecstatic.

Heavy Weekend was triumphant, certainly one of the great festivals in Europe this summer- here is to 2025!!!! Till then stay metal!

David Bronstein, HMS

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