Love it or loathe it, heavy metal is bringing people from around the globe closer together this weekend in the Southland.
Lewis Martin, of Marine City, Mich., and his son Trey travel annually to one concert festival and already have plans for Japan next year.
This summer, the Martins decided Chicago Open Air was the place to be. And by the time of the first band’s set at the three-day heavy metal festival at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, they knew every penny of their nearly $900 VIP package was well spent.
“It’s already 100 times better than last year’s Rock on the Range,” Trey Martin, 14, said Friday afternoon in comparing Chicago Open Air to the Columbus, Ohio, fest, also produced by Los Angeles-based Danny Wimmer Presents. “The crowd is bigger, and the VIP area is better.”
The inaugural Open Air festival — held only in Chicago and in Houston, Texas, in September — offers a big, fat taste of the Chicago area and far beyond.
Headliner Rammstein, the theatrical and almost operatic sextet from Berlin, heated up the chilly, drizzly night in its only stateside appearance this year with endless pyrotechnics and flamethrowers from all corners of the stage, contraptions on their body parts and an elevated scissor lift on the field of the 28,000-capacity soccer stadium.
Sweden’s Meshuggah, after announcing a fall U.S. tour coinciding with an album release, closed the second stage with its mix of eight-string guitars, polymetered riffs and guttural vocals.
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Chicago didn’t fail to represent with the godfather of industrial music, Al Jourgensen, leading Ministry through classics “Hail to His Majesty,” “Punch in the Face,” “So What,” “Thieves” and “N.W.O.”
Chevelle, the Chicago-based trio of brothers and their brother-in-law, adeptly mixed the melodic with heavier hitters, including older singles “The Red,” “Send the Pain Below” and “Face to the Floor” alongside cuts from “The North Corridor” released last week.
“This city has forever needed something like this, something heavy for my soul!” Sirius XM host Jose Mangin said in introducing Friday’s first act, Through Fire, a hard-rock quartet from Omaha, Neb., represented by south suburban-based FM Music Management, who closed a six-song set with “Stronger,” the No. 1 track on SiriusXM Octane.
Open Air, also featuring the South Side of Chicago success story Disturbed and French quartet Gojira on Saturday and Des Moines, Iowa’s Slipknot on Sunday with Japanese novelty act Babymetal, welcomed the oldest famous headbanger on Friday. John Hetlinger, an 82-year-old Navy veteran and Lutheran pastor who became a viral star after performing “Bodies” on “America’s Got Talent,” joined Drowning Pool on stage for its 2001 single, with footage of it already a mass hit.
Also on the second stage, Butcher Babies, the old-school metal act from LA, incited crowd surfing as growling, 30-something frontwomen Heidi Shepherd and Carla Harvey pummeled out an intense, in-your-face assault on the senses.
Throughout the day, while lines snaked 200-plus deep for autographs from Rammstein and others, the sprawling layout allowed for a smooth flow between two stages and vendors. A $10 burger from Chicago’s legendary Kuma’s Corner and a $15 “dinosaur bone” colossal beef rib from Virginia-based Aporkalypse Now are among the #GourmetManFood options available all weekend while a 16-ounce Lagunitas Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’ costs $8 in the Headbangers Bier Hall.
“We have everything we need here all in one spot,” said Paul DePooter, 30, who drove to Bridgeview from Davenport, Iowa, early Friday morning with friend Ashley Gardner, 26, and paid $250 each for weekend passes.
“Rammstein is worth that much money and more,” said Gardner, a self-described longtime fan who attended Rammstein’s last stateside performance in 2012.
“I’ve singed the hair on my arms many times seeing Rammstein,” said Ben Brinson, a Seattle, Wash., resident, adding he has attended 13 other Rammstein concerts, including shows in Germany and Canada. “They are fantastic musicians, and their song themes ridicule crazy acts people do that others don’t sing about.”
Chicago Open Air continues from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday with Slipknot, Five Finger Death Punch, Marilyn Manson, Corrosion of Conformity, Killswitch Engage and more. As of press time, tickets remained available, starting at $69.50. For other details, go to www.chicagoopenair.com.
Vickie Jurkowski is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.