The “heavy” day
Welcome back to follow the adventure of Nova Rock! After Friday, let’s see the bands of Saturday the 13th: Sepultura, A Day To Remember, Alter Bridge, Iron Maiden and Sabaton. After a heavy downpour at the beginning of the afternoon, the sun came back stronger and the bands of the evening were ready to keep the heat high.
The first band of the day for me was Brazilian trash metal band Sepultura (1984). Sabaton was doing a signing session at the same time but luckily the signing tent is next to the Blue Stage, allowing fans to enjoy the music while waiting. I have to admit that I didn’t know much about this band and I probably still don’t, but I enjoyed their performance. That’s not a genre I am listening to a lot but seeing such an influencing band live was something. I am happy I got this opportunity during their “Celebrating Life Through Death” farewell tour. Derrick Leon Green is for sure an impressive singer. They were also at Metalfest OpenAir and they still have a few dates in Europe before the end.
After that, still on the Blue Stage, came the Americans from A Day To Remember (2003). The metalcore band with pop influence was a total discovery and a pleasant surprise. The perfect style to make everyone move and dance after the rain that came earlier in the day. They reminded me of bands I used to listen to when I was a teenager, in the vibe of Green Day or Fall Out Boy with some songs such as “Bad Blood”, but mainly heavier as a lot of songs mixed clear vocals and scream. Their show was good and they kept the crowd in movement.
The Blue Stage on Saturday was mainly occupied by America, with the heavy metal band Alter Bridge (2004) after A Day To Remember. The band delivered a very good show, starting with their single “Silent Divide” out in January 2026 and part of their new album. Their setlist otherwise was a blend of their old records and they of course played one of their most famous songs, “Metalingus”, popularized also by the wrestler Edge.
The heavy metal legend Iron Maiden (1975) took over the Blue Stage in the evening for an impressive two hours and fifteen minutes long show. Nova Rock first thought about putting the American Legendary Band and the Swedish from Sabaton almost at the same time but they quickly changed their mind and it was the good thing to do. Nevertheless if one wanted to be close to the stage for Sabaton, they had to leave Iron Maiden’s show earlier, which is what I did. Still I am happy I got to see most of Iron Maiden. Bruce Dickinson was truly impressive, as well as the rest of the band. The band of course played their classics such as “Run to the Hills” or “The Trooper”, but they also played a song last played in 1988: “Infinite Dreams” and I think it is always nice when a band decides to do some change and to play old songs. Time flew by very fast and I almost regretted leaving the show earlier.
Regrets that didn’t last long thanks to the incredible show the heavy metal band Sabaton (1999) delivered. It was a bit shorter than the show in Plzen on the 3rd of June as they shortened the interactions between the songs and removed two songs from the setlist, but they still gave an incredible performance to the crowd. Pyrotechnical effects, tanks, smoke and even some fireworks! The show would have been worthy to close the festival in my opinion. The crowd was crazy and many hardcore fans were there, wearing costumes of historical figures such as Napoleon or Templar outfits. The addition of the choir to the show brings so much depth to Sabaton’s songs such as “Christmas Truce” or “Templars” and if it isn’t as huge as their show with the legendary orchestra, it is still an amazing experience. Sabaton gave a lot to Nova Rock and the public gave everything they could in return! I wasn’t sure I would enjoy the show as much as I enjoyed the one I saw less than two weeks before, especially because of the bigger number of people and the smaller setlist, but I did and for me it truly shows that the band knows perfectly how to adapt to any venue and circumstance.
Day 3 was on the heavy metal side and with two incredible headliners. If the festival could have stopped there, I swear Sunday wouldn't have been less interesting. Stay tuned for day 4!
Photos and report by Céline Fetel