Masters of Rock 2026, Day 1: Nostalgia, Legends, and an Explosion of Energy

The first day of the 22nd annual Masters of Rock festival took place on July 16, 2026 at the traditional venue of the R. Jelínek distillery in Vizovice, kicking off four days packed with rock and metal music. This festival, which ranks among the largest events of its kind in Central Europe, welcomed thousands of fans from the Czech Republic and abroad and, from the very first hours, offered a unique atmosphere full of anticipation, energy, and a gathering of a large number of music enthusiasts.

From Fleret to a Metal Storm

The festival gates opened at exactly 11 a.m., and the first fans rushed to the merch booths and, of course, to grab the best spots on the grounds. As they do every other year, the local folk band Fleret kicked off the program. As always, this drew a large crowd of fans, and everyone sang along and had a great time. Everyone who arrived had smiles on their faces and was looking forward (including me) to the next edition of the festival.
The second band, Curse of Cain, was a proper metal opener—and not just any metal opener. The band doesn’t perform very often, so it’s always great to hear them and see them on stage. Their performance isn’t just about the music, which is captivating on its own, but also about the overall visual presentation. Each of the five musicians has their place on stage, and together with two performers, they put on a complete show. Sometimes there’s so much going on that you don’t even know where to look at that moment. I definitely won’t miss it when they come back to play here again.
During Art of Nation’s performance, I had to step back a bit from the stage, but what I heard sounded very promising. Next time, I won’t miss this melodic Swedish band, and I’d love to hear the whole show from a closer distance.

A lack of coordination in contrast to experience

Agent Steel is a very inconsistent band founded and run solely by its lead singer. The lineup for the live show was put together just a few months ago, and unfortunately, this was very evident throughout the entire performance. Everything seemed very uncoordinated and chaotic, and half the band looked like they didn’t want to be on stage at all. No one minded when they finished a little early and finally left the stage.
The next band, Voivod, made a completely opposite impression. This Canadian thrash metal band has been on the scene for over 45 years and still has plenty of energy, which they also transfer to the audience below the stage. It was clear that they had drawn a lot of fans to the venue, as the area in front of the stage was really quite packed.

The black smiling heart and This is not the end of the road for Kissin' Dynamite!

Marko Hietala stepped on stage to play songs from his last album, “Roses from the Deep”, out last year. Starting with “Frankenstein’s Wife”, the Finnish bass player and singer delivered a short but nice performance. He also played songs from his album “Pyre of the Black Heart” as well as some from the Finnish version: “Mustan sydämen rovio”. The ex-member of Nightwish probably disappointed some fans as he didn’t play anything from this area. But Marko Hietala has his own path now and it is nice to see him happy on stage with his songs.
Kissin’ Dynamite played their last show outside Germany with Hannes Braun. Sadly they had to play without their guitarist Ande Braun as he was sick. It didn’t stop them and Hannes made sure to fill the extra space by running around. The band offered the first live performance of “Glory Days”, their last single. We will remember the song “You’re Not Alone” during which the singer rode a pneumatic boat over the crowd! Who knows how it will be with a new singer but the band showed us this is not the end of the road!

From Nostalgia to an Explosion of Energy

Udo Dirkschneider returned to the Czech Republic to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the album “Balls To The Wall.” Once again, it drew a huge crowd of fans—it seems people really crave this kind of thing. But I have to ask: Hasn’t there been enough already? Personally, I’ve never been a fan of either Udo or Accept, and seeing the exact same show—which really hasn’t changed at all—for the third time in such a short period feels like a waste of time to me.
Something similar could be said about another legendary act, the founders of power metal, the band Helloween. But their performance carries much more weight for me. Not only was it the longest performance of the entire festival, but there was also much more going on during it. The musical performance—which, especially at the beginning, didn’t have the sound quite dialed in—was visually complemented by several screens where the backgrounds changed according to the songs being played. The band is celebrating 40 years on the scene, which is why the setlist consists primarily of older hits, including, for example, “Heavy Metal (Is the Law)” or “March of Time” and others. However, there were also some songs from their latest album, “Giants & Monsters.” I also still enjoy how the band members take turns at the microphone, with each singing what suits them best. An interesting interlude was, once again, the acoustic segment, where Andi and Michi needed only one guitar and microphones to captivate the entire audience. If you missed it, you’ll have another chance to see the show next June at the Pilsen Amphitheater.
The Swiss band Ad Infinitum closed out the night at 1:00 a.m. The whole day had been very demanding and a great success, but this performance had an energy that completely swept me away. And I wasn’t the only one. The entire front row—and not just them—danced, sang, and cheered on the band from start to finish.

So that was the first day of this year’s four-day adventure in Vizovice. Be sure to follow us for reports on the coming days, and check out our social media for more content (photos and videos).

Report by Kerry Lynx, Céline Fetel
Photos by Adrian Hextall