ROCKOVÁ OSTRAVA 17.8.2013

11th May, 2013

Now you have a chance to buy baseball caps, T-shirts and key rings with the logo of Rock Ostrava in our e-shop which can be found in the main menu. On the website irockshock.net, there was published an article about the festival. Our website has been translated to English and we are preparing its German version as well so that our foreign visitors have their chance to look through our presentation. On Monday 13th May, the competition about AC/DC will be finished and winners will be drawn. Since 20th May there will be a promotion of the festival on the SEZNAM portal as well as it was last year. This promotion was evaluated very positively by both parties.

7th May, 2013

The group SILENT VOICES will bring with them as a guest a singer Teem Koskel (WINTERNBORN, CELESTY) who will go on this year´s tour. The band has published it on their official website where they promote our festival and they are looking forward to being in Ostrava very much. The singer TIM RIPPER OWENS should sing a song from JUDAS PRIEST with a Czech band at the festival as a guest and that shall be – we believe – a very positive surprise for fans.

30th April, 2013

The last band that will perform at the festival is a German band DESTRUCTION which will perfectly
match the band KREATOR. The band is going to celebrate its 30th birthday this year since the
establishment and therefore we believe that their performance will be one of the best in the festival.
Total number of bands is 13 so there is a great heap of music waiting for us.

26th April, 2013

This year, we are going to welcome at the festival a former frontman of the band Judas Priest –
Tim Ripper Owens – who has recently been performing with the band Dio Disciples and who also
performed with the band ICED Earth. He is returning back to the Czech Republic after almost a year,
where he performed during a concert tour in September last year. This excellent singer will have
his own accompanying band and after a successful performance of Judas Priest Revival last year we
can look forward to songs such as Diamonds and rust, Living after midnight, Electric eye which are
immortal hits.
Another band will be a Finnish formation SILENT VOICE with a keyboard player Henrik Klingberg who
performs with a band SONATA ARCTICA. The lineup will be completed with a band DRINGS AFTER
and a popular trashmetal band that will be performing in Ostrava for the first time.
In cooperation with Mr. Richard Mencner, we are preparing a competition with books about the AC/
DC band issued by this great fan of rock music, as the prizes.

20th April, 2013

The singer Jorn Lande is issuing a new CD named Traveller in June. A small sample can be found here:

We believe that something from his new album will be playe dat the festival.
The band Malignant Tumour, that is going to close the festival, has shot a new video which can be
seen here:

16th April, 2013

We started cooperiaton with the Seznam portal last week so the promotion of the festival will be
there again. Also, there were meetings with other partners of the festival going on. The situation has
improved but we haven´t finished yet. There will be more negotiations on Thursday 18th of April and
we are hoping that everything will be finalized. The situation in the economically demanding times is
not easy, we have already heard many promises and we cannot follow the way of great names. We
are awaiting confirmation of the last names for the festival – these are going to be bands according
to our taste and we hope that you will like them. However, all this had already been said a few times
before…

8th April, 2013

We received a sad news yesterday, Stanislav Hranický – a legendary singer of the band Citron died.
It is a great loss and I feel deep sadness because I have known Standa for 30 years. Last year, we
were waiting until the last moment if he would be able to come on the stage to greet the fans here at
home in Ostrava but his health did not allow him to do it. This year´s performance of Citron at Rock
Ostrava will be in his remembrance and we will keep fingers crossed for the band, because they are
setting off for their tour this Friday. R.I.P.
On Saturday, we decided to terminate our cooperation with Karla Černá who was responsible for
booking of bands. We disagreed on the performing bands, her wish was that the bands At Vance and
Dragons Eye do not perform at the festival. It is not pleasant from the point of view of a fan, we are
doing our best to have an attractive programme. Today, we are going to agree on names that will
finalize this year´s festival. Thank you all for understanding.

1st April, 2013

There should be an opportunity to have a tattoo made at the festival. Tattoo saloons will be
approached and as soon as the winner is selected, we will announce it here. We agreed on
cooperation with Nová Karolina where there probably will be CD signing of two bands. An official
information about this will be published here as soon as the programme is defined clearly. On of the
bands will also have a guest who can perform there and there also will be a promotion of the festival
so we believe this will meet our expectations.
It is also important that the shopping centre Nová Karolina is quite close to Dolní oblast Vítkovice
so there won´t be any problem with transport of fans and bands. One of the considered bands was
a band STORMWITCH which performed in Ostrava in 1989 in ČEZ Arena. The decision-making was
difficult and finally, it is going to be a German band but of a different genre. We are impatiently
awaiting confirmation of the contract as well as you are and Robert Šimek of MALIGNANT has a great
share in this band…

26th March, 2013

Another band that confirmed participation is a German Power Metal band AT VANCE. It is going to be
their first performance in the Czech Republic and at Rock Ostrava. We believe that you will like them
and the final number of bands is 13. We will also publish 2 names of bands that already performed in
the Czech Republic, but never in Ostrava.

25th March, 2013

The festival programme is about to be finalized, there are two more names to be added so the
prolonged expectation will hopefully be to your pleasure. The decision-making was very difficult and
we had a chance to have a great name here. However, it was decided that this is the second year of
the festival and the situation around festivals is not easy. If everything goes well, we will improve our
festival step by step. Perhaps not many people realize that such a festival is missing in Ostrava. After
the first year, many spectators said that the second year would be even harder because it would be
difficult to substitute the main star.
It is true, however, on the other hand, we are very happy that the festival can continue with a
lower budget but the spectator will not be deprived of anything. The situation around rock music
and around festivals with performing foreing bands is extremely complicated because if you want
somebody with a great name you must be very careful and keep the information secret. So far, we
can tell you that both bands are from Germany and one of them had already been to the Czech
Republic and the other hadn´t. We will publish both names immediately after signing the contract
and we will pay attention to promotion of the festival.

13th March, 2013

Today started our cooperation with Deník (newspaper) which will continue until the end of the
festival. Consequently, there will be an editorial support in MF Dnes (newspaper) as well as last year.
Regarding performances, there is one name that we will not see at the festival – it is a band EUROPE.
There are more options and we do not want to amaze you with names but the list has been
shortlisted. We would like to finalize the programme until Friday so that everything is clear. We saw a
performance of a band WISDOM last week. The band was excellent but the sound was very bad. We
encountered this problem at the festival last year and we want to prevent it this year. We want all
bands to have the same sound conditions and to prove their qualities. WISDOM have their qualities
but it was not hearable during the guitar solos. The sound is a very important issue at concerts and
some bands have their sound masters with them so we hope that everything will be fine.

8th March, 2013

We are about to start updating the website. We would like to apologize to the web visitors but the
organization of such event is huge and needless to say, Rock Ostrava is fighting for the favour among
partners and festivals. The situation is not easy and we believe that we will organize the festival in
2014 as well. There are negotiations going on at the municipal government, at the regional office.
There is a prevailing oppinion that such a festival is missing in Ostrava nad that it would be great to
keep it as a tradition.
There will be a contest in the monthly periodical “Naše Ostrava” with three CDs “Plní Energie” of
the band Citron so you have a chance to answer the question correctly and win it. After mutual
agreement with the ISIC company, the owners of the ISIC, ITIC, IYTC, ALIVE from 1st April 2013 will
have a discount 100,- CZK for a ticket.

26th February, 2013

Another great band that will perform at the festival is WITCH HAMMER which was christening their
new CD NEVER STOP on Saturday. The festival programme is getting to its final, we are still waiting
for the last name to be added and that will close this year´s programme. It was all extremely difficult
mainly because there are only one stage and so many bands that wanted to perform. Our opinion is
that it is no good for the bands to start playing at 9am and we opted for a start at midday.

24th January, 2013

We had a meeting with a band KISS FOREVER from Hungary yestarday during their concert in Žilina
(Slovakia) and I must say that the concert was excellent. Outfits, stage show, sound on a really high
level, the band is really looking forward to the Ostrava festival. Laidback musicians who live for KISS
on 100 per cent and are inbelievably modest. We asked the guitar player Zoltán before the concert
which CD is his favourite and he named all of them. He met Paul Stanley – his inspiration – for a
few times and he spoke very positively about him. He even knew the band WISDOM, he is looking
forward to JORN and KREATOR and we believe that you will like the band because it will probably be
impossible to get the original KISS to the festival. We have a recording of our interview which will be
placed here as soon as possible and photos from the concert will be in the photo gallery.

18th February, 2013

Another band that will perform at Rock Ostrava is an excellent Hungarian Power Metal band
WISDOM who is having a tour with SABATON this year. We are convinced that the band will attract
the fans as much as it attracted us and it can be a great surprise of the festival. The time schedule
of the festival is slowly filling and there is one more name missing which is in negotiation now.
Let´s hope that we will be able to secure the name soon and definitely it is not the Slovakian legend
TUBLATANKA which we mentioned before. We are happy to welcome the band at the festival if
everything goes well, but not this year. We need a band that has not played in Ostrava before and
we will not mention any names unless everything is confirmed. The band should match KREATOR and
create the basic attraction for the fans.

17th February, 2013

We received more detailed information from the area Dolní oblast Vítkovice about the place for
Rock Ostrava and the festival can take place directly next to Gong and under the Furnace where
there is a mobile roof. The capacity is 11000 spactators and let´s hope that this year, the area will be
floodlighted so that you can see it in its full beauty. The area is still being improved and our strong
belief is that once it is finished it will be well worth it. During last year´s festival Colours, there was
the OKD FRESH STAGE and it is very interesting because this is directly in the heart of the industrial
zone. The biggest star of the festival, the band KREATOR comes from German ESSEN which used
to be one of the most important cetres of coal mining and steel production which is very close to
Ostrava and Dolní oblast. We did not want to change the place of the festival after the first year and
we wanted to know the changes in the area. The first news gave an information that not everything
can take place in the same way as last year. It means that the festival can be on the same place but
only in areas that are prepared. There shoul not be any problems with ground and surfaces because
it is all fixed so let´s hope that the weather will be good on the 17th August and the visitors will be
satisfied.

12th February, 2013

One of options we were trying to acquire for Rock Ostrava as one of the main stars was the band
SAXON. The negotiation was long and we wished very much to get them but they accepted another
offer. It is a big pity, the combination of Saxon and Kreator could be interesting and the band has
never played in Ostrava. We are working hard as we do not want to the fans to miss an interesting
guest and we want to do our best to have an excellent programme. There will be an attractive guest
for the fans during the christening of the band TITANIC. It will be a women who like JORN and we
are sure that we will prepare a warm welcome for her. Do not miss the chance to get tickets for
390,- CZK, this offer is valid until Friday 15th February. We are not able to publish the name of the
last band until Friday. It is not due to the price of the tickets but because this band should be able to
enliven the festival significantly and they are having only a few cocerts this year. We are waiting for
their statement and should it be positive, the programme would be full.

9th February, 2013

Paul Dianno, Blaze Bailey and Seven will not perform at Rock Ostrava as it was definitely decided
yesterday. Paul´s manager increased the agreed price and after thorough consideration we decided
that Paul´s absence won´t be substituted by Seven and Blaze.
We are sorry and we responded immediately. Titanic and Malignant Tumour were added to the
festival programme. Titanic is recoding a new CD and will christen it in Ostrava. Malignant Tumour
will have the only performace here, in Ostrava. We also have another band from abroad, the name
will be published soon. We are going to finalize the programme next week and prepare the festival
poster so we hope that you will understand the situation.

5th February, 2013

Today we agreed on a performance of another foreign guest, the name will be published within the
end of the week after receiving the contract. We are receiving many offers for festival performacnes
but we are not able to manage them all in the time given. The offers are coming from abroad as well
and these issues are handled by Karla Černá who is in charge of foreign bookings. We are going to
meet the band KISS FOREVER in Žilina. A curiosity about this concert is that the Czech drum player
Radek Šikl won´t be there because he will be on holiday with his wife in Brazil. It is unbelievable how
colourful the music world is – a Czech drum player living in Hungary and having a wife from Brazil…
We are slowly getting to finalisation of the programme. Believe or not, it is not easy and our main
interest is to give the maximum to the spectators.

2nd February, 2013

Another band parforming at Rock Ostrava is a band Doga that will celebrate its 25th anniversary this
year. There was an interview about the festival on Radio Čas and TV POHODA on Thursday. Regarding
the performance of the main star KREATOR, it is going to be a full concert and it is their only concert
in the Czech Republic and Slovakia this year so far. The concert in Ostrava will be published on their
official website soon so we believe our fans can make sure that the concert is confirmed. During their
recording for Radio Čas the drum player of the band Citron – Radim Pařízek – mentioned that he met
with Kreator in Katowice (Poland) at a concert and that it was outstanding. So there is going to be
another meeting in Ostrava and we believe that the atmosphere will be great.

29th January, 2013

After a long wait we can officialy announce that the main star of the Rock Ostrava festival will be the
German band KREATOR that will perform in Ostrava after 18 years. The main aspect of this decision
was their excellent performance in Zlín where they convinced us that the Ostrava fans deserve to see
them. It was a magnificent show and those of you who saw a concert of the band Waltari will enjoy
a great Finnish guitarist Sami Yli-Sirniö as well as the frontman of the band Mille Petrozzu. Do not
forget to buy tickets for a price of 390,- CZK, the offer is valid until 15th February.

26th January, 2013

A new survey has been created because the selection of the bands is in fact closed and we thank
you for your votes. We received an unofficial information that there will be further improvement
works in the area of Dolní Vítkovice in spring and it won´t be possible to have our festival there. This
information was presented to us with a condition that the company, who is doing the reconstruction
works must allow access to the area for the festival. Therefore we are giving you an opportunity
to vote for a place where you want your festival. We want to continue in Dolní oblast but it is also
possible that we will need to find an alternative. We are preparing singning actions in cooperation
with OC Futurum and there will be a festival promotion in form of leaflets, on LCD screens and City
Lights as well.

23rd January, 2013

In order to prevent specualtions, we can confirm that one of the candidates for the main star of Rock
Ostrava was the band UNISONIC. Finally, we decided not to accept this offer although Kai Hanssen
and Michael Kiske are significant celebrities. There were more options and finally we decided to
go for a band tha shall bring more fans. The best option would be to invite both bands but the
negotiations with partners are still open. Despite all this we believe that the second year will be
attractive and rock fans will find what they are looking for.

17th January, 2013

Yesterday we prolonged the validity of the sale of festival tickets for the price of 390,- CZK until 15 th
February. It is due to the fact that the contract with the main star has not been signed yet and we
are awaiting it impatiently. Moreover, Mike Terrana failed to attend the festival so we are intensively
seeking other bands. Ostrava fans deserve quality and believe us, it is not easy. We want to give a
chance also to Czech bands. Now we are finalizing the list of foreign bands and then we will close the
list with Czech bands.

11th January, 2013

Mike Terrana announced today that he will not perform at Rock Ostrava. It is a pity mainly because
he has never played in Ostrava. However, we must react to an information that appeared on the
website of a festival Masters of Rock: “Mike wanted to perform in Ostrava but he was told that the
other performance in Zlín with Tarja Turun is not selling well.” By the way – an information was
issued yesterday telling that the other performance is almost sold out. We deleted Mike from the
news and we removed him from the discussion on the website of Masters of Rock and replaced him
with Jorn in order to meet his request about his performance in Zlín. It was not our aim to fool the
fans that he will not perform in Ostrava. It is a shame that such a grat drum player will not play in
Ostrava, we will try to substitute him fully. Thank you for understanding.

7th January, 2013

We received a few questions about a performance of the band Citron at Rock Ostrava and therefore
we are bringing an answer to you: Citron will perform at the festival and will play the programme
Radegast on the home stage. It will be a different performance than last year and we believe that
fans will like it. It is true that last year´s performance was a great success and we believe that the
history will repeat itself. Today we received a proposal for a second stage and we must consider it all
because bands are interested in performing in Ostrava which is a positive news for us. On the other
hand, everybody wants to perform in the evening and it is not possible to meet such requirement,
somebody will have to start, there is nothing we can do about it. We will see if this offer will be
implemented, the idea is that the performances could take place on the second stage while the main
stage is being reorganized. We will inform you about the result of this offer as soon as a decision is
made.

2nd January, 2013

We would like to wish all the rock music fans all the best in the New Year and many great concerts.
The main star of the Rock Ostrava festival should start the performance at 23:30 and finish around 1
o´clock after midnight and it should be the only one performance in the Czech Republic and Slovakia
this year. We are preparing signing of the bands because it was your wish and we believe that this
will add to your bigger satisfaction with the festival.

More News can be found in the archive here.