The venue was an abandoned factory packed with a colorful mixture of nearly 5000 psychobillys, skinheads, punkers, rockers and metalheads and a surplus of amenities including numerous eat-stands, bars, tiki totem carvers and a great custom hot rod show.

One of the festival\'s sub-headliners, GBH, had an accident on the highway and were forced to cancel their show. As did MOD, who in fact canceled their completed European tour. Therefore on main stage one, every band had gone up one place on the bill.

The Butcher
Hence The Butcher, featuring Paul Wouters on drums, was to open the festival on main stage two. Their fast songs with speed punk and hardcore sing-alongs, got remarkably much response considered the early hour.

Sunnpimp
Opening on stage one was Sunnpimp. Their mixture of sixties garage-rock and a bit of seventies hardrock was far from convincing. In particular the group\'s frontman, who had dressed up in a costume, was a weak link.

The Bellrays
Way better was the soul drenched garage-rock delivered by drummer Craig Waters and his band The Bellrays using the motto \"Blues is the teacher, punk is the preacher\". The vocals of lead singer Lisa Kekaula would give Aretha Franklin a smile of approval. Definitely the most suprprising and one of the best performances this festival.

Klingonz
Extraterrestrial clowns with quiffs? That can only be The Klingonz! Drummer Mocker and his band suffered a bit from a bad sound, but the craziest psychobilly unit in the world won over the enthusiastic crowd. Stilts, serpentines, a bubble blowing machine and a fire spitter added to the visual impact of these scary clowns.

Los Putas
Los Putas, featuring Lucien on drums, were playing the smaller thrashers stage. These Belgian rednecks offered nothing new but proved to be a solid live-band delivering decent sleazy speedrock ‘n roll out of the speakers. Of course, tease-mistress Inga a Go-Go\'s sensual performance helped to get the crowd in the right mood.

Entombed
Entombed\'s massive debut album led to an even more groundbreaking alliance of the heaviest rock \'n roll and hard as nails metal sludge. The Swedish death ‘n roll kings, featuring the skilled Olle Dahlstedt behind the drum kit, showed no mercy and bulldozed over each and everyone with their loud and dirty music.

Def Americans
On the third, smaller stage the Def Americans payed tribute to the late great Johnny Cash. The excellent female vocals during the Cash/Carter duets added a bit extra to the spiced-up tribute by drummer Thijs Vonk and the rest of the band.

The Real McKenzies
Bagpipes, booze, kilts and tattoos - the Real McKenzies, featuring Sean Sellers on drums, know how to party. Maybe a bit too much as lead vocalist Paul McKenzie did not hit the right notes for a couple of times. Drunk and indecent of Scottish descent, these Canadian brethren blended their punk and folk into an ideal festival mixture, much to the crowd\'s delight.

Batmobile
Drummer Johnny Zuidhof, along with brothers Jeroen and Eric Haamers on vocals/guitar and double bass respectively, form Batmobile - the only psychobilly band from the early eighties still playing in the original line-up. Their huge experience was undeniable, as was the passion in their playing. Johnny added interesting jazzy twists to the relentless driving psychobilly beats. A very good show by this thight trio and a great way to present \'Cross Contamination\', their new split cd with Peter Pan Speedrock where both groups are covering each other.

Peter Pan Speedrock
Speaking of Peter Pan Speedrock: the festival hosts played on the main stage in hall one and ruled the crowd as if they were headlining. It was a home game for Bart Nederhand and his group, and they easily underlined once again to be the true kings of 3-chord speedrock ‘n roll. In fact, they had better switched played with Black Label Society\'s Zakk Wylde, who seemed less inspired and a bit too self

Sixtyniners
Female drummer Claudia Hek and guitarist/singer Michiel Hoving, better known as the Sixtyniners, played sympathetic garage rock \'n roll though out of tune on several moments.

The Casualties
From the gutters of New York City came The Casualties, featuring tight, hard-hitting sticksman Mark Eggers on drums. They proved that street punk and professionality can go along well. The band\'s pissed-off aggro anthems almost set fire to the venue.One of the hardest bands on this festival. Impressive performance.

Black Label Society
Final band on main stage one and headlining this Speedfest edition was Black Label Society. A wall of amplifiers, deadheads, a theatrical intro - all ingredients for a bombastic metal show were available. Drummer Craig Nunenmacher, who is currently working on a solo project called Mourning Doves featuring Bert Henry on drums, supported Zakk Wylde\'s heavy leads and solos well. Still somehow the festival\'s climax seemed to had passed. Even the BLS beach-balls that were thrown from stage could not make a change. Undeniably crushingly heavy and southern as hell though.

Speedfest 2008, appealing diverse subcultures, was quite a success. Peter Pan Speedrock did a great job organizing it. Drummerszone is already looking forward to the next edition.