WITH FULL FORCE Festival

Century Media Records have announced that after long years of silence, RYKER’S, Germany’s leading old school hardcore outfit and pioneers of the European scene in the 90’s, have announced to be reforming in order to perform a special comeback show at the 20^th anniversary of With Full Force festival. Taking place in Roitzschjora, Germany June 27^th – 30^th, 2013, WFF 2013 will also feature bands like MOTORHEAD, SLAYER, IN FLAMES, AGNOSTIC FRONT, SICK OF IT ALL, HATEBREED, PARKWAY DRIVE, DOWN, PARADISE LOST, CALIBAN, TERROR, DEEZ NUTS and many more. Visit the festival’s website for further details at this location.

RYKER’S’ bass-player Chris checked in with a short comment: “Exactly 20 years after the first RYKER’S show in 1993, we are happy to return to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of With Full Force! We actually played at the festival’s second edition…time flies! This will be the only festival show in 2013 for us… C-ya in the pit!” 2013’s band line-up sees original members Chris (Bass), Grobi (Guitars) and Kid-D. (Vocals) team up with newly added second guitarist Fusel and drummer Flo.

In order to warm up properly for the WFF show, RYKER’S will also be performing two special club shows in the coming weeks in Athens, Greece at 7 Sins Club on May 11^th and in Lisbon, Portugal at Ritz Clube on June 1^st. Kassel-based RYKER’S, who were originally inspired by bands like Cro-Mags, Bad Brains, Agnostic Front or also SoCal Hardcore Punkacts such as the Circle Jerks and Bad Religion, were a regular live-act at WFF festival in their early years and even played their farewell show there in 2003. The band’s latest two official releases, 1999’s “Life’s A Gamble…And So Is Death” as well as the “From The Cradle To The Grave” live/covers rendition from 2000, were released on Century Media Records after the band had been previously been signed with indie Lost & Found as well as major-label WEA.

Visit the RYKER’s facebook profile for more details about the band’s coming activity here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rykers/163059720397553

Fifty-one concertgoers were hurt and nine sustained serious injuries when a single lightning bolt struck a mast at the eastern German festival With Full Force Saturday night.

According to Spiegel Online, the lightning strikes sent some music fans flying through the air — and left behind a wasteland of destroyed tents, panicked guests and a venue flooded with mud and deep puddles. “The first showers, heavy as they were, provided just an inkling of what was to come,” the site describes. “Just before 2 a.m., the next black cloud parked over the stage. And the lightning it unloaded resulted in 51 injuries, three of them landing in the intensive care unit of a nearby hospital.”

Emergency services spent several hours at the scene treating those who had been sheltering in a cocktail bar near where the lightning struck, The Local reports.

With Full Force annually attracts tens of thousands of visitors in the town of Roitzschjora near Leipzig. This year, bands like SOULFLY, MADBALL, MACHINE HEAD, FLOGGING MOLLY and PENNYWISE performed at the event.

Source: Blabbermouth.net