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Middle Earth Festival (MEF) 12
After a five year break the Middle Earth Festival returned for the 6th time to Leuk last July and I couldn't miss this.
One day before the event officially started, I met up with about 100 others for a costumed hike to the Gemmi pass. This time the weather was perfect and we only had to cross a couple of small snow fields.
After an enjoyable evening and a refreshing bath in Leukerbad we were ready to conquer Leuk :).
One of the first events on Thursday was Jugger, a game a bit like Rugby where a ball had to be carried into a goal, but almost all players were equipped with cushioned weapons with which other players could be temporarily taken out of the game.
The evening program started with the traditional torchlight procession followed by a concert by An Lár. I was very much looking forward to this concert because An Lár were also playing in 2003, the first time I attended a MEF, and their concert was wonderful. They did not disappoint, playing for more than 2 hours everyone was properly exhausted when An Lár finally left the stage :).
Friday's highlight for me was the concert by Koenix, but this doesn't mean that I didn't do anything else all day long, far from it, there were so many things to watch and participate that I hardly had a free minute.
Koenix played a great concert and were followed by the main act, Letzte Instanz. This was the first concert of theirs I saw, and I wasn't thrilled, somehow it didn't fit into the atmosphere and then it even started to rain, so I retreated into the tower and waited for the bar to open. During the night there were many more concerts in the bar (by Duivelspack, Qui mal y pense and Koenix) and I ended up staying till 3am.
The main event on Saturday was the big Hobbit Feast, fortunately the weather cleared up and it could be held outside on the castle lawn. The fantastic meal was interspersed by entertainment from Forzarello and other Jugglers. The main concert of the evening was by Faun, and even though in the past I was not always taken by their non-acoustic sets, I felt that this time it fit wonderfully into the atmosphere and it was very enjoyable.
Another highlight of the last day was the big Firework choreographed to music by the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Unfortunately, due to the strong winds, the firework had to be aborted, but the part that we did see was breathtaking!
After everything settled down it was time to return to the bars, listen to more concerts and hanging around with friends. This time it was 5am until I finally found my way back to bed ;).
The Middle Earth Festival 2012 was wonderful, it felt like coming home and there were so many friends I hadn't seen in a while that it was sad it had to end so soon.
I would like to mention a huge thanks to the organizers, who put in so much work to make this a reality, as well as everyone who helped that everything ran smoothly. Should there be another MEF in the future, I will definitely be part of it again :).
All my pictures can be found in my web album.Labels: hiking, mef, Middle Earth, pictures, Switzerland
1 Comments:
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Middle Earth Festival?
Schön und gut, aber etwas stört mich daran: Wieso im Namen von weiss ich wem wusste ich nichts davon?
Ich meine ja bloss - da passiert sowas praktisch vor deinen Augen (bessonders gross ist die Schweiz ja nicht) und man hat keine Ahnung davon. Ich glaube, das ist eine Folge davon, wenn man in seiner eigenen Welt lebt.
Allen voran der Satz "...there were so many things to watch and participate that I hardly had a free minute." spricht für sich.
Und die Fotos sind auch toll - ich glaube sogar irgendwo Gandalf entdeckt zu haben.
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