An Irish airline operating their flights between Ireland and other European countries,USA.

It's operated by British Midland Airline.Their main airports are
Manchester, East Midlands, Birmingham, Cardiff,and to several European countries

A new airline in Spain, operating their flights mainly between Barcelona and European cities ,some parts in the Northern Africa.

An airline in Czech Republic. A lot of budget fares for the short/middle distance flights

Based on London (Luton,Gatwick and Stansted Airport:UK) and
many routes among European countries.

Based on Cologne/Bonn and Stuttgart

Their flights are from Bradford,Manchester and Belfast (UK), mostly to western Europe.

Hungarian international airline. Their routes aren't only in Europe,but also some other continents.

Both domestic and international routes based on some southern Norwegian cities.

Their routes connect between Poland,Slovakia and Hungary to western Europe.

Based on Prague.

The Denish low cost air line based on Scandinavian countries.Their flghts covers Europe and some cities in Morocco.

An airline in Czech Republic. A lot of budget fares for the short/middle distance flights.

Based on London (Luton,Gatwick and Stansted Airport:UK) and many routes among European countries.The most active lowcost airline in Europe.

Based on Prague.

Their routes are between Gdansk, Poznan, Warsaw, Wroklaw, Krakow in Poland and other European cities.

Both domestic and international routes based on some southern Norwegian cities.

Based on London (Luton,Gatwick and Stansted Airport:UK) and many routes among European countries.The most active lowcost airline in Europe.

This airline covers many routes mostly from Hungary and Poland.

Its routes cover whole European countries.Each country's web site is available.The student coach card can be purchased on the web site,and then discounted tickets are available.

The national timetable information system in Czech Republic.

The gate to BAOA!


In preparation to open on Thursday

Merchandise shops in a fortress.....

Stíny Plamenů is a Czech black metal band. I've found a vocalist/bassist in this band also plays in another band Trollech that I'm quite interested in....

Stíny Plamenů

Latest album "Výprava za pravdou špíny"
Buy at Werewolfshop>>

It was officially announced that BAOA 2011 would start on the 11th of August, Thursday, but a pre-festival "Warm up party" was held a day before, so it was the Wednesday to kick-off the festival for us. We got to the Jaromer rail station by train, then took a walk to the festival site as some other audiences. A sign "Koncert" was shown at several points on our way, so it was easy to head there.

Brutal Assault Open Air was the first festival to visit in Czech Republic. I've heard the name of this festival since before, but it was much bigger scale and more numbers of bands than I thought. Another focus was a location that the festival was held. The festival site was in the historical army fortress called Josefov that's about 130km east from Prague. It was such unique atmosphere as a festival site, having good-price beer, chatting with friendly metalheads from a lot of countries

I stayed in a hotel in Hradec Kralove where is about 20km away from the festival site, as the shuttle bus was operated between the Hradec Kralove main station and the festival. The first bus run at 11:00, and I took it departing around 13:00 at the first day. There were 2 stages that were Obscure stage and Nosferatu stage, and I was walking around the festival site before the gig started with my friend. A lot of food stands having different types of menu and plenty of seats to have a rest were there.

I saw Inveracity, Beheaded, and General Surgery at the beginning, and it seemed Inveracity and Beheaded were touring together in Europe around those days. They played in the early time when the sun was still bright, but plenty of audiences headed to their gigs.

The next show I watched was Hollenthon from Austria.Their music was symphonic, but I didn't really imagine they would play that type of songs from their appearance though:0
Samael started to play at the Nosferatu stage after Hollenthon. Their musical genre is expressed as "Electro-dark metal" on the BA website, and yes, they certainly played electric cool sounds with dark atmosphere. The sun set and started to be dark at the festival site around that time, so it made the stage even more atmospheric.

The bands played in this festival were really variety, as I started to see brutal death metal bands like Inveracity and Beheaded, then turned to symphonic and electro-metal bands. Then, the next gig was one of my favorite bands Septicflesh Their show has great and emotional atmosphere every time, even if it wasn't the best gig at that night, as I personally prefer their gig played in Hellfest. All songs they played were from their recent 2 albums "Sumerian Daemons" and "Communion".

- Septicflesh Setlist- 1.Behold... The Land of Promise 2.Unbeliever 3.Virtues Of The Beast 4.Communion 5.Lovecraft's Death 6.Annubis 7.We, The Gods 8.Persepolis 9.Red Code Cult

Fintroll played at the Obscure stage after Septicflesh. I haven't listened their recent albums, but their gig was cheerful especially at festivals every time.
When the vocalist Attila in Mayhem appeared with creepy horror-like make up on the Nosferatu stage, the audiences were so excited and screaming to cheer the band. I was a bit surprised that they were still so popular.

It was fine and warm even after the sun set at the first day. But I was worried about weather for the following days, as raining was expected by the weather forecast.....
I called a taxi that I found the phone number on the BA website, but both a taxi driver and us were't able to recognize each other, so I took another one that I found on the spot with my friend. It was described that a taxi between the festival and Hredec Kralove costs 300CZK per way on the BA website, but it seemed it was only for taxi that phone numbers were shown on the website. The taxi we took at the first night seemed not the one mentioned on the website, so actually it cost 600CZK. Wow, exactly doubled price

We tried to take the shuttle bus to the festival at the Hradec Kralove main station as we did yesterday, but we didn't find it after all I don't know if the bus stop changed or it was cancelled, but some other metallers were looking for the bus as well. We had to head to the festival anyway, so took the train to Jaromer that was the nearest rail station to the festival.
It was chilly and raining at the second day, besides it was quite far to walk under such weather from the Jaromer station, so we took a taxi, then it cost 100CZK. By the way, the taxi that phone numbers were on the BA website was a yellow car, showing "Brutal Assault Taxi" at the back window.

A big screen to show the gigs was between the Obscure stage and the Nosferatu stage, and it informed Eths had been cancelled. The screen worked really well during the festival, so even the audiences who were quite back of the festival site could see it. Excellent job
I saw Novembre as the first band at the second day, and took some pictures because a friend of mine asked me to do that. But it was the first time and a good chance to see their gig though.

I suppose it was sometime later than Novembre finished playing, and it started heavily raining. Fortunately, I was having some food and beer at a seat under the roof with my friend, but it rained heavier, the audiences hopped in under the roof one after another, then almost nobody was walking out of the roof when it was nearly storm for a while But, I heard some sounds from the stage even when it was raining heaviest, so I guess the gigs were still going. I really wonder how the gigs and the audiences were at that time.....

When it was raining less heavier, The Berzerker's show started at the Nosferatu stage. Their appearance was confirmed when the festival date was getting closer, but their gig was cool. I liked it.

It was still a bit raining when Primordial appeared on the Nosferatu stage. Actually it was the worst weather at the second day in the festival this year, but the audiences were really enthusiastic. Hanging the Irish flag on the stage as usual, Primordial was playing songs mainly from their latest album "To the nameless dead". I suppose some audiences from Ireland excitingly encouraged their show.
Behemoth was a killer-live band as usual. I wonder how their performance is so perfect every time.
A lot of photographers were in front of the Nosferatu stage when Cradle of Filth started playing. I'm not familiar with this band, although it supposed to be one of the main acts in the festival, but their performance was excellent as a show.
I've seen 1349 some times in Norway, but I didn't exactly know they had been such a popular band in other countries:0 I know their gigs are great, but they seemed even bigger at that night.

Cradle of Filth
I tried to call a BA taxi again, and both a driver and us managed to recognize each other this time. Then, of course the price was fixed to 300CZK per way, different from last night. Good job

It was still rainy on the 3rd day, but was a bit better than the previous day though. We took a train to the Jaromer station, and then taxi to the festival site as we did yesterday. The ground was totally muddy and partly slippery, besides it was surprisingly chilly as a day in August:0

I headed to Arkona's show at first. It's a Russian band and their music had a lot of Russian traditional taste, including lyrics sang in Russian on the stage. Is seemed they may have played in Russia a lot, but haven't got used to play in other countries?? Anyway, clothes that the vocalist wore looked really warm, as it was cold:0

Next gig I headed to was a Polish death metallers Hate. A lot of audiences from Poland cheered the band with waving Polish flags.
And Paradise Lost.... Their show was gentle and cool as usual.

It was surprising that we could see such many different types of bands for 3 days with an inexpensive ticket price in this festival. The audiences were really friendly and kind, so we had a chat with a lot of people from many countries. I liked food in the festival as well, so only one disappointment was weather, but we can't blame anybody about it. It just depends on a luck.... Another point was that the running order with time schedule was accurate. We really enjoyed this festival, and would like to visit Czech Republic again.