I won’t hide that May 5, 2008 was a date I was expecting to come for a while. Looking at the poster for the Mayday Fest, I saw only bands that are either favorites of mine or at least names to be reckoned with in their genre. And this is probably the first "proper" festival to take place in Bulgaria. It's one thing to have one big band supported by 5 Bulgarian ones (whom I have nothing against), and a completely different thing to have a package of bands that would fill a not so small club even by themselves.

And when a thing is done for the first time, unexpected problems are inevitable. In this case the show started an hour and a half after it was supposed to. Rise Up also didn't play due to their frontman Vasko having severe medical problems.

A-Moral from Varna had the hard task of playing first at a big show and therefore they played in front of a pretty empty club, as the crowd that poured through the doors was more interested in the foreign bands' merch than in the band performing. Their loss, as this is one of the best bands in Bulgaria right now. They also played a couple of new songs besides the well known political anthems from their debut album " Kicks for all Jesters”.

Second were Melekh, obviously the heroes of the scene's younger blood. The dudes played the entirety of their debut EP " The Light That Gives Me Hope”. The well known from their shows insanity took place in front of the stage as soon as they started playing - non-stop new-school moshing with all of the karate moves seen on YouTube, and the traditional piling up and climbing towards Boro's mic.

Brothers in Blood, who recently released a killer album, continued what had started. The tracks from "Take Your Life Back" started pouring one after another after the opening meatgrinder "Not Us". The whole hardcore party continued, as, unlike other times, half of the crowd wasn't left indifferent because they had promised themselves to dance only to metalcore, and an old-school band took the stage.

B.F.D.M. were troubled by the unexpected, in my opinion, departure of vocalist Misho, but exactly in the vein of their song " We'll Go On” they had found a way to make the show work - their bassist Vlado took vocal duties, and Marto from Vendetta replaced him on bass. And it worked pretty well!

I was surprised how mush of a good crowd reaction the Macedonians Smut received. I say this because they haven't been here since they opened for Hatebreed in 2006, and the flow in the hardcore scene is such that 70% of the people at the show hadn't been around back then, and when people don't know a band, they just sit and watch instead of moshing their asses off. Well, this was not the case here. The guests from the neighboring country started off with "Forever" from their previous album and then went through a few tunes from the relatively fresh "All I Have". The cherry on top was the cover of Madball's "Pride" that caused almost the whole audience to climb on stage and sing.

A small pause during which the scene was cleared for the headliners' equipment followed. Staff from the club were checking out the foundations of the stage, fearing it may collapse if something similar to Smut's performance happened. But it didn't, and the Canadians BurnThe8Track took the stage. The band supports Ignite on their whole tour, and as far as I know, they handpicked them for the spot. However, somehow tonight it didn't work out for them. Their vocalist also had some problems with his microphone, and exactly as I was thinking that they might need a second guitar to make their sound thicker (because I, like every other Bulgarian, give a piece of mind on things that aren't my job at all), Ignite's guitarist Kevin came on stage for the last two songs. The dude had a birthday, by the way.

Death Before Dishonor were the reason a considerable part of the audience had attended the festival, and I'm sure they weren't left unsatisfied. The Boston gang played a pretty powerful and furious setlist while enjoying themselves at the same time, judging by vocalist Bryan who had a smile on his face the whole time. Heavyweight punches like "Endless Suffering", "Count Me In", "Fuck It All" and the sing-along "Boston Belongs to Me" followed and caused one of the biggest hardcore moshpits I’ve ever seen.

Next were the heavy artillery Born from Pain who, much like B.F.D.M., had to make a few changes to make the show work, because their new frontman Kevin Otto is currently struggling with a vocal chord infection. Vocal duties were taken by bassist and founding member Rob. I'll have to confess I have no idea what was the name of the guy who took his place on bass. Anyway - Born from Pain did a superb job and proved that their two previous awesome shows in Bulgaria were no coincidence. The setlist took us on a walk through the band's now considerable discography, beginning with an instrumental "Relentless" as the intro, followed by "Final Nail", "Rise or Die", "Behind Enemy Lines" and the meaningful ending with "Stop at Nothing".

Sometime around 11 p.m. it was Ignite's turn. Following their awesome show with NOFX last September, expectations were high. And they were fulfilled to the max. From the last album’s intro, through 'Bleeding" and "Fear Is Our Tradition" and so on, the awesome performance began. Frontman Zoli didn't miss the chance to say how happy he is to be back in Bulgaria and how much he likes it here. Of course "A Place Called Home" followed. The politically conscious Hungarian didn't hide who he plans on voting for during the presidential elections in the USA. Then he said some things on topics we do care about like history, communism, nationalism and so on - topics that are touched in Ignite's lyrics.

Kevin's birthday was noted once again, this time with the whole crowd singing “Happy Birthday” for him. We also heard a new song that sounded promising, but there were no promises of the new album coming anytime soon, as it has to be perfect and ready before they released it. Towards the end of their one hour set we heard an acoustic version of "Slowdown", followed by "Live for Better Days". The end of the eight-hour (!) show was put by the classic "Veteran", after which the lights suddenly went on and AC/DC's "TNT" started playing.

That was one of the best concerts, with the best bands, that took place in Bulgaria recently. We can only be happy that such bands started coming here pretty regularly. And to think of all the impressions I missed noting in this report, that is definitely the longest one I have ever written, I can't help thinking what a big and amazing event took place on May 5, 2008!

Words & photos:В Stefan TopuzovВ