Just realised that I've missed one REALLY vital album - 'GOD IS AN ASTRONAUT- s/t' I had in my 2008 file but it was 2009.
Also BLUENECK - The Fallen Host is, in fact, a 2010 release so that one is removed.
So essentially-GIAA goes in at number 3 and everything down to 71 moves down one- 72 onwards is as was.
I've heard some really great albums since I finished my new 2009 list but won't be changing anything else. Had I heard the new PROTOMEN album in 2009, then my top 5 would look rather different!!!
Sunday 10 January 2010
Tuesday 5 January 2010
GIGGING IN 2009 - THE TOP TEN..AND BOTTOM ONE
TOP FIVE GIGS
1 - DREDG - 02 ACADEMY, LONDON (JUNE)
2 - KING'S X - WULFRUN HALL, WOLVERHAMPTON (JAN)
3 - GOD IS AN ASTRONAUNT - BRUDENELL, LEEDS (JAN)
4 - MAMMAL - RIO's LEEDS (SEPT)
5 - AND SO I WATCH YOU FROM AFAR - BARFLY, LIVERPOOL (APRIL)
TOP FIVE FESTIVAL SETS
1 - JOURNEY - DOWNLOAD (JUNE)
2 - DEF LEPPARD - DOWNLOAD (JUNE)
3 - ANATHEMA - HELLFIRE (NOV)
4 - OPETH - DOWNLOAD (JUNE)
5 - SKINDRED - HAMMERFEST (APR)
WORST GIG OF THE YEAR
STRATOVARIUS/FIREWIND/EDEN'S CURSE - JILLY'S, MANCHESTER
1 - DREDG - 02 ACADEMY, LONDON (JUNE)
2 - KING'S X - WULFRUN HALL, WOLVERHAMPTON (JAN)
3 - GOD IS AN ASTRONAUNT - BRUDENELL, LEEDS (JAN)
4 - MAMMAL - RIO's LEEDS (SEPT)
5 - AND SO I WATCH YOU FROM AFAR - BARFLY, LIVERPOOL (APRIL)
TOP FIVE FESTIVAL SETS
1 - JOURNEY - DOWNLOAD (JUNE)
2 - DEF LEPPARD - DOWNLOAD (JUNE)
3 - ANATHEMA - HELLFIRE (NOV)
4 - OPETH - DOWNLOAD (JUNE)
5 - SKINDRED - HAMMERFEST (APR)
WORST GIG OF THE YEAR
STRATOVARIUS/FIREWIND/EDEN'S CURSE - JILLY'S, MANCHESTER
GIGGING IN 2009 - DECEMBER
DECEMBER
1st – PROPAGANDHI/Protest The Hero/Strike Anywhere/The Final Crisis – Rios,Leeds
3rd – SWALLOW THE SUN/Insomnium/Omnium Gatherum – Star & Garter, Manchester
4th – HARD ROCK HELL III – Pontins, Prestatyn
MONSTER MAGNET/Arthemis/Die Apokalypitschen Reiter/Eden’s Curse/Gun/Korpiklaani/Ratt/Remedy/Sonata Arctica/Sons Of Merrick/Voodoo Johnson/Waylander/Imicus/Black Spiders
6th – ALESTORM/The Rotted/Eden’s Curse – MOHO, Manchester
9th – MONSTER MAGNET/Karma To Burn/Lions – Academy 2, Manchester
11th – DRAGONFORCE/Sabaton/Sylosis/Glamour Of The Kill – Academy, Manchester
17th – HEAVENS BASEMENT/Sworn To Oath – Academy 3, Manchester
19th – AMPLIFIER/Charlie Barnes – Academy 3, Manchester
26th – FURY UK – Hark To Towler, Tottington
28th – ELOHYMN/The Laze/Chaotix/Bobby Peru – Mad Ferret, Preston
I wasn’t too familiar with PROPAGANDHI until I heard their latest rather good album ‘Supporting Caste’ but their melodic punk/metal crossover really hit the spot with a packed Rio’s crowd. The great shame for me was the rather poor performance by PROTEST THE HERO- they were the main reason I’d bought the ticket and they just didn’t seem into it- especially the singer… as the other shows of theirs I’ve seen have been good, I’ll put it down to a bad day at the office
I’d seen all three bands on the bill at Manchester’s Star & Garter at festivals this year OMNIUM GATHERUM opened the show and despite a power cut in mid set, they went down really well with the crowd. It seems most of the crowd were there for INSOMNIUM who were far more impressive than I remembered them at BOA. The crowd thinned a bit for SWALLOW THE SUN but they played a blinder. I really do like their new album and it translates really well to the live environment.
So, the final festival of the year . HARD ROCK HELL is in it’s third year at Pontins in Prestatyn. Having enjoyed Hammerfest there earlier in the year, I decided to get a day ticket for the Friday (The line up for Saturday held very little of interest for me). I arrived just in time to catch another impressive set from IMICUS. ARTHEMIS followed and their classic metal went down great with the packed out Queen Vic venue. My particular favourite of the early bands was REMEDY- a female fronted hard rock outfit from the North East. WAYLANDER got the second stage off to a good start with their celtic folk metal, followed by DIE APOKALYPTISCHEN REITER . Great show- complete with huge flags and stage risers, though the crowd didn’t seem as into it as they were at Bloodstock. KORPIKLAANI stumbled onto the stage next. I’d never seen them before but had been told how great they were live…I’ll reserve my judgement as they were a bit of a mess today. Over on the main stage GUN played to a very receptive crowd. Toby Jepson has revitalised this band and it’s only when you hear them live you remember how many great songs they had from the first part of their career. Sadly, the new stuff they played tonight isn’t in the same league. Never really liked RATT and nothing I saw here changed that – a really lacklustre performance but the now very drunk crowd seemed to like it. For some reason, I’d never really listened to MONSTER MAGNET despite being told by friends that they’d be right up my street…. how I wish I’d listened to them now. I loved this- nothing particularly visual to get excited about but the sound they created…oh boy…. This is going to cost me a fortune grabbing their back catalogue!
Seeing MM meant missing all but ten minutes of BLACK SPIDERS, which was a shame as the bit I saw sounded great. The band I REALLY wanted to see was SONATA ARCTICA, though I was surprised they were at HRH rather than Hammerfest. It was after midnight when they hit the stage and the crowd had thinned a lot. They played well enough, but the sound was bit iffy and there were still too many drunken idiots trying to spoil it for everyone else.
A decent day, but it all took place against the backdrop of really awful atmosphere. It seemed 99% of those there were more interested in the bottom of a glass rather than the music.
ALESTORM were headlining a rather eclectic mix of bands at MoHo- first up were EDEN’S CURSE. I’d seen these guys get a really bad deal on two occasions earlier this year as far as sound goes so I wasn’t expecting much from the awful PA here..as it happens, it wasn’t bad, but I can’t say the same for the performance. Just didn’t enjoy it at all – especially the singer. THE ROTTED’s punk anthems seemed really out of place and they struggled to get a response out of the crowd. That wasn’t a problem for ALESTORM. Pretty much the same setlist they’ve been playing all year, but great fun as ever.
I told you I enjoyed MONSTER MAGNET at HRH, so I just had to catch it again to see if it was just me getting lucky… it wasn’t, they were fantastic again! Both support bands LIONS and KARMA TO BURN were good too- Lions were so good I bought their album afterwards!
The musical spectacular that is the current DRAGONFORCE tour rolled into Manchester- everything that I said about the November gig in Preston, repeat here for all four bands.. brilliant stuff, though slightly confused as to why the place was only half full.
A couple of Academy 3 gigs to close the pre-Christmas action. HEAVEN’S BASEMENT are creating a bit of stir these days and they were finishing off their nationwide tour. Surprised to see so many ‘oldies’ like me in the audience - the support slot they did with Bon Jovi last year must have done them some good! They certainly know how to put a good show on and they’ve got the tunes to back up their confident stage presence. AMPLIFIER at the Academy is becoming something of a Christmas tradition now- this years bash focussed on their ‘Eternity’ album.. I hadn’t realised that beforehand and as I don’t have it, the evening didn’t quite have the same impact on me that Amplifier normally does.
A chance to shake off the mince pies and turkey in the company of FURY UK seemed like a good idea. A good sized crowd were on hand for this one and what a good night it was too as they ripped through 100 minutes of their own material with a couple of fine covers thrown in as the encores..not bad for 3 quid!!!
The last show of the year…phew.. made it!! I’ve raved on here about ELOHYMN before and I’m going to do it again- a set full of new material that sounded truly epic with a couple of older tunes thrown in to close things off – they are promising an album in early 2010, that should be something to get excited about.
1st – PROPAGANDHI/Protest The Hero/Strike Anywhere/The Final Crisis – Rios,Leeds
3rd – SWALLOW THE SUN/Insomnium/Omnium Gatherum – Star & Garter, Manchester
4th – HARD ROCK HELL III – Pontins, Prestatyn
MONSTER MAGNET/Arthemis/Die Apokalypitschen Reiter/Eden’s Curse/Gun/Korpiklaani/Ratt/Remedy/Sonata Arctica/Sons Of Merrick/Voodoo Johnson/Waylander/Imicus/Black Spiders
6th – ALESTORM/The Rotted/Eden’s Curse – MOHO, Manchester
9th – MONSTER MAGNET/Karma To Burn/Lions – Academy 2, Manchester
11th – DRAGONFORCE/Sabaton/Sylosis/Glamour Of The Kill – Academy, Manchester
17th – HEAVENS BASEMENT/Sworn To Oath – Academy 3, Manchester
19th – AMPLIFIER/Charlie Barnes – Academy 3, Manchester
26th – FURY UK – Hark To Towler, Tottington
28th – ELOHYMN/The Laze/Chaotix/Bobby Peru – Mad Ferret, Preston
I wasn’t too familiar with PROPAGANDHI until I heard their latest rather good album ‘Supporting Caste’ but their melodic punk/metal crossover really hit the spot with a packed Rio’s crowd. The great shame for me was the rather poor performance by PROTEST THE HERO- they were the main reason I’d bought the ticket and they just didn’t seem into it- especially the singer… as the other shows of theirs I’ve seen have been good, I’ll put it down to a bad day at the office
I’d seen all three bands on the bill at Manchester’s Star & Garter at festivals this year OMNIUM GATHERUM opened the show and despite a power cut in mid set, they went down really well with the crowd. It seems most of the crowd were there for INSOMNIUM who were far more impressive than I remembered them at BOA. The crowd thinned a bit for SWALLOW THE SUN but they played a blinder. I really do like their new album and it translates really well to the live environment.
So, the final festival of the year . HARD ROCK HELL is in it’s third year at Pontins in Prestatyn. Having enjoyed Hammerfest there earlier in the year, I decided to get a day ticket for the Friday (The line up for Saturday held very little of interest for me). I arrived just in time to catch another impressive set from IMICUS. ARTHEMIS followed and their classic metal went down great with the packed out Queen Vic venue. My particular favourite of the early bands was REMEDY- a female fronted hard rock outfit from the North East. WAYLANDER got the second stage off to a good start with their celtic folk metal, followed by DIE APOKALYPTISCHEN REITER . Great show- complete with huge flags and stage risers, though the crowd didn’t seem as into it as they were at Bloodstock. KORPIKLAANI stumbled onto the stage next. I’d never seen them before but had been told how great they were live…I’ll reserve my judgement as they were a bit of a mess today. Over on the main stage GUN played to a very receptive crowd. Toby Jepson has revitalised this band and it’s only when you hear them live you remember how many great songs they had from the first part of their career. Sadly, the new stuff they played tonight isn’t in the same league. Never really liked RATT and nothing I saw here changed that – a really lacklustre performance but the now very drunk crowd seemed to like it. For some reason, I’d never really listened to MONSTER MAGNET despite being told by friends that they’d be right up my street…. how I wish I’d listened to them now. I loved this- nothing particularly visual to get excited about but the sound they created…oh boy…. This is going to cost me a fortune grabbing their back catalogue!
Seeing MM meant missing all but ten minutes of BLACK SPIDERS, which was a shame as the bit I saw sounded great. The band I REALLY wanted to see was SONATA ARCTICA, though I was surprised they were at HRH rather than Hammerfest. It was after midnight when they hit the stage and the crowd had thinned a lot. They played well enough, but the sound was bit iffy and there were still too many drunken idiots trying to spoil it for everyone else.
A decent day, but it all took place against the backdrop of really awful atmosphere. It seemed 99% of those there were more interested in the bottom of a glass rather than the music.
ALESTORM were headlining a rather eclectic mix of bands at MoHo- first up were EDEN’S CURSE. I’d seen these guys get a really bad deal on two occasions earlier this year as far as sound goes so I wasn’t expecting much from the awful PA here..as it happens, it wasn’t bad, but I can’t say the same for the performance. Just didn’t enjoy it at all – especially the singer. THE ROTTED’s punk anthems seemed really out of place and they struggled to get a response out of the crowd. That wasn’t a problem for ALESTORM. Pretty much the same setlist they’ve been playing all year, but great fun as ever.
I told you I enjoyed MONSTER MAGNET at HRH, so I just had to catch it again to see if it was just me getting lucky… it wasn’t, they were fantastic again! Both support bands LIONS and KARMA TO BURN were good too- Lions were so good I bought their album afterwards!
The musical spectacular that is the current DRAGONFORCE tour rolled into Manchester- everything that I said about the November gig in Preston, repeat here for all four bands.. brilliant stuff, though slightly confused as to why the place was only half full.
A couple of Academy 3 gigs to close the pre-Christmas action. HEAVEN’S BASEMENT are creating a bit of stir these days and they were finishing off their nationwide tour. Surprised to see so many ‘oldies’ like me in the audience - the support slot they did with Bon Jovi last year must have done them some good! They certainly know how to put a good show on and they’ve got the tunes to back up their confident stage presence. AMPLIFIER at the Academy is becoming something of a Christmas tradition now- this years bash focussed on their ‘Eternity’ album.. I hadn’t realised that beforehand and as I don’t have it, the evening didn’t quite have the same impact on me that Amplifier normally does.
A chance to shake off the mince pies and turkey in the company of FURY UK seemed like a good idea. A good sized crowd were on hand for this one and what a good night it was too as they ripped through 100 minutes of their own material with a couple of fine covers thrown in as the encores..not bad for 3 quid!!!
The last show of the year…phew.. made it!! I’ve raved on here about ELOHYMN before and I’m going to do it again- a set full of new material that sounded truly epic with a couple of older tunes thrown in to close things off – they are promising an album in early 2010, that should be something to get excited about.
GIGGING IN 2009 - NOVEMBER
NOVEMBER
1st – BRAINWASH FESTIVAL, Leeds University
EFTERKLANG/Grammatics/Oceansize/Blk Jks/Vessels/These Monsters/Jonquil/Maybeshewill/Her Name Is Calla
2nd – Paradise Lost/Katatonia/Engel
8th- 9th – HELLFIRE FESTIVAL – NEC, BIRMINGHAM
8th – SAXON/Scar My Eyes/The More I See/Gama Bomb/Ted Maul/The Rotted/Marya Roxx/Fury UK/Imicus/The Casino Brawl/The Arusha Accord/Rise To Remain/Exit Ten/Benediction/Anvil/
9th – My Dying Bride/Huron/Lost Souls Club/Blakfish/Painted Smiles/The Morning After/Xerath/No Made Sense/Tesseract/Katatonia/Anathema
18th – FALL OF TROY/Twin Atlantic/Chickenhawk - Academy 3, Manchester
23rd – THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT/Slaves To Gravity – Academy 3, Manchester
24th – EXIT TEN + 3 supports– 02 Academy, Liverpool
25th – EXIT TEN/Hiatus/The Cape Race– MOHO Manchester
29th – DRAGONFORCE/Sabaton/Sylosis/Glamour Of The Kill – 53 Degrees, Preston
BRAINWASH is (this year) a 4 - day festival based in various venues around Leeds. As well as putting on a whole host of great music, the promoters also use the event to raise money for several charities. This year (It’s 4th year) the final day took place in Leeds University-using two stages that ran opposite each other, allowing us to see every single band play their full set. A change to the running order meant I only just arrived just in time to catch HER NAME IS CALLA. Glad I didn’t miss this one, a fine set of noisy post (ish) rock that included a new song. In fact, the songs I was familiar with sounded completely different from their recorded versions. After a quick butty from the SU shop while someone was strumming an acoustic guitar (I mentioned earlier in this blog I don’t ‘Do’ acoustic!!), it was time for MAYBESHEWILL. They kept apologising for their set being crap, but they really had no need to as it was fine from where I was standing, except it was bloody loud- even with my good ear plugs firmly in place! I do wish they’d play the keyboard parts live, though. JONQUIL weren’t really up to much, but THESE MONSTERS were simply epic- huge riffs split open by some superb sax. Sometimes everything appears to disappearing into an untidy mess before somehow breaking out into neat melody. See these guys if you get a chance. With that still ringing in my head, it was time for VESSELS. I have their album and really like it, but I’ve been told so many times they are better live… and they are. They do the ‘quiet-to-loud-and-back-again’ as good as anyone else out there. I suppose you can label it post rock, but really it’s just very intense instrumental music played with feeling. Really looking forward to seeing them on the forthcoming Oceansize dates now. South Africa’s BLK JKS were one of the main draws for me today. Their debut album ‘After Robots’ is really neat mix of rock and some of the more traditional sounds and rhythms of their homeland and was one of my top 20 albums of 2009. The 40 minute set simply flew by –everything on the album was perfectly reproduced here and they managed to get this crowd of blessed out indie fans and post rockers DANCING! Watch out for this name in 2010, they’ve re-located to North America and they have some pretty powerful music bods backing them. OCEANSIZE were next up… they’d had big problems even getting to the venue for their set, having been delayed after playing in Germany the night before. They were only just starting a sound check at the time they were due on-and that was clearly something they’d rather not have been doing. The set itself? Well, for once, I’ll be a bit critical of a band a have an almost unnatural love of. I felt there was too much ‘New’ for a festival show. Sure, they are out promoting a new EP and have some really good sounding material ready for their (as yet unrecorded) new album, but the crowd reaction seemed a little more stunted than it normally is at a ‘size gig. The second stage was being closed by Leeds band GRAMMATICS who were fresh off a support tour opening for BLOC PARTY, and it showed. They were incredibly tight tonight and of the three times I’ve seen them, this was the best. I very nearly called it a night there as I’d not been too impressed with the bits of EFTERKLANG I’d heard before, but am I glad I stayed…oh my word, why haven’t I seen this band before? The core of Efterklang are three people- but they are surrounded (On this VERY small stage) by another 6 or 7 musicians and the sound they create is just magical. Think Sigur Ros but not as Twee, think The Arcade Fire but with more ideas. The hour just flew by and I just had to go and buy their latest live album/DVD before I left… A magical climax to a fantastic day.
No rest for the wicked.. the very next night support act KATATONIA played a fine 45 minute set to a very receptive crowd,but with surprisingly little material from their new album… unlike PARADISE LOST who chose to play plenty of their latest release. They were decent enough but I felt there was ‘something’ missing from their performance.
It was a late decision to go down to HELLFIRE FESTIVAL at the NEC near Birmingham- a decision made when a pair of free tickets came our way!! Originally, this was going to be a 3 day festival, but sales had been slow, so a week or so before the event, it was slimmed down to just two days, but with an extended line up on each.
Day one highlights – Things didn’t start well- the early bands on the Big Cheese/Scuzz stage suffered from really awful sound and equipment issues, not to mention small crowds. I was quite looking forward to seeing TED MAUL in particular but it was just 30 minutes of feedback. During THE ROTTED set, things finally improved- didn’t catch all their set but from what I heard of their punk infused metal, they were pretty good. IMICUS, who were really good at Hammerfest, played another excellent set here but the same couldn’t be said of MARYA ROXX who were truly dreadful. The main arena and Metal Hammer stages were now opening, FURY UK only had a 20 minute set but played a blinder- local band for me too and it made me wonder why I’d not checked them out before. First trip into the very impressive main arena for BENEDICTION showed just how badly this event had sold- it was barely a quarter full. Shame really because the state of the art sound and lighting rig was as good as anything I’ve ever encountered. ANVIL followed them and it’s clear Lips is still enjoying the resurgence in interest in his band that the movie has created. They are both awesome and awful in equal measures, but it just works for them and the crowd lapped it up! Quick run over to the Metal Hammer stage to catch headliners EXIT TEN- as ever, they put on great show and treated us to a couple of new songs, then back to the main arena to catch SAXON-Biff worked the crowd like the old pro he is and the set was crammed with all their classics. After their set at Sonisphere I was worried this band was just treading water, but with this and their BOA performances, it’s clear there is plenty of life in them yet.
Day two highlights – If yesterday’s crowd on the smaller stage was bad, today it was even worse as many preferred to catch the tribute bands playing as part of the ‘Music Live’ exhibition. Shame really as they were some fine performances from XERATH, BLAKFISH, NO MADE SENSE and THE MORNING AFTER especially. I was really looking forward to seeing how TESSERACT performed with their new singer Dan Tompkins, who was playing his first live show with the band. His predecessor had left huge shoes to fill but Dan did a pretty good job- a completely different style both in terms of performance and vocal style, but it worked ok. Over on the main stage ANATHEMA put on the set of the entire weekend, capping it off with their old vocalist Darren White joining them onstage for ‘Sleepless’. I missed most of KATATONIA’s set, but did catch all of MY DYING BRIDE- not my thing at all- before calling it day and heading home before Fields Of The Nephilim played.
An enjoyable couple of days but the lack of numbers must have been a major concern for the organisers.
I’d never seen FALL OF TROY before but their new album is a good ‘un and with the excellent TWIN ATLANTIC and CHICKENHAWK supporting this was a great nights entertainment.
Australian band THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT were out on tour with rising UK outfit SLAVES TO GRAVITY a. I wasn’t quite as impressed with the headliners as I thought I would be on the strength of their recorded work, but the new STG line up seems to be gelling well, and the new material (all bar one song was completely new) sounds good- the shame was there were so few people there to see it.
EXIT TEN were on a headline tour around the UK. The Liverpool show was the better one of the two that I managed to catch. Plenty of new stuff was played on both nights.. shame the support bands were so weak though- they normally have good touring partners!!
Last gig of the month and it was the one with arguably the best line up of the year. I’d pay to see all four bands on their own, so this was great value. GLAMOUR OF THE KILL were playing as we got in the building- they are a much more confident band than they were at Download 08 and they went down well with the ever growing crowd. SYLOSIS have become a firm favourite of mine with their sets at various festivals over the year, and tonight they absolutely nailed it . The reception that SABATON got made you wonder if they were the headliners tonight. The band seemed really humbled by the crowd’s reaction to them and they treated us to 35 minutes of their finest anthems. That was tough for DRAGONFORCE to follow, but they were on fine form tonight. The previous shows of theirs that I’ve seen had been blighted by really awful sound –not tonight, it was perfect (and was being recorded for a live album). Great gig, and one I look forward to seeing all over again soon!
1st – BRAINWASH FESTIVAL, Leeds University
EFTERKLANG/Grammatics/Oceansize/Blk Jks/Vessels/These Monsters/Jonquil/Maybeshewill/Her Name Is Calla
2nd – Paradise Lost/Katatonia/Engel
8th- 9th – HELLFIRE FESTIVAL – NEC, BIRMINGHAM
8th – SAXON/Scar My Eyes/The More I See/Gama Bomb/Ted Maul/The Rotted/Marya Roxx/Fury UK/Imicus/The Casino Brawl/The Arusha Accord/Rise To Remain/Exit Ten/Benediction/Anvil/
9th – My Dying Bride/Huron/Lost Souls Club/Blakfish/Painted Smiles/The Morning After/Xerath/No Made Sense/Tesseract/Katatonia/Anathema
18th – FALL OF TROY/Twin Atlantic/Chickenhawk - Academy 3, Manchester
23rd – THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT/Slaves To Gravity – Academy 3, Manchester
24th – EXIT TEN + 3 supports– 02 Academy, Liverpool
25th – EXIT TEN/Hiatus/The Cape Race– MOHO Manchester
29th – DRAGONFORCE/Sabaton/Sylosis/Glamour Of The Kill – 53 Degrees, Preston
BRAINWASH is (this year) a 4 - day festival based in various venues around Leeds. As well as putting on a whole host of great music, the promoters also use the event to raise money for several charities. This year (It’s 4th year) the final day took place in Leeds University-using two stages that ran opposite each other, allowing us to see every single band play their full set. A change to the running order meant I only just arrived just in time to catch HER NAME IS CALLA. Glad I didn’t miss this one, a fine set of noisy post (ish) rock that included a new song. In fact, the songs I was familiar with sounded completely different from their recorded versions. After a quick butty from the SU shop while someone was strumming an acoustic guitar (I mentioned earlier in this blog I don’t ‘Do’ acoustic!!), it was time for MAYBESHEWILL. They kept apologising for their set being crap, but they really had no need to as it was fine from where I was standing, except it was bloody loud- even with my good ear plugs firmly in place! I do wish they’d play the keyboard parts live, though. JONQUIL weren’t really up to much, but THESE MONSTERS were simply epic- huge riffs split open by some superb sax. Sometimes everything appears to disappearing into an untidy mess before somehow breaking out into neat melody. See these guys if you get a chance. With that still ringing in my head, it was time for VESSELS. I have their album and really like it, but I’ve been told so many times they are better live… and they are. They do the ‘quiet-to-loud-and-back-again’ as good as anyone else out there. I suppose you can label it post rock, but really it’s just very intense instrumental music played with feeling. Really looking forward to seeing them on the forthcoming Oceansize dates now. South Africa’s BLK JKS were one of the main draws for me today. Their debut album ‘After Robots’ is really neat mix of rock and some of the more traditional sounds and rhythms of their homeland and was one of my top 20 albums of 2009. The 40 minute set simply flew by –everything on the album was perfectly reproduced here and they managed to get this crowd of blessed out indie fans and post rockers DANCING! Watch out for this name in 2010, they’ve re-located to North America and they have some pretty powerful music bods backing them. OCEANSIZE were next up… they’d had big problems even getting to the venue for their set, having been delayed after playing in Germany the night before. They were only just starting a sound check at the time they were due on-and that was clearly something they’d rather not have been doing. The set itself? Well, for once, I’ll be a bit critical of a band a have an almost unnatural love of. I felt there was too much ‘New’ for a festival show. Sure, they are out promoting a new EP and have some really good sounding material ready for their (as yet unrecorded) new album, but the crowd reaction seemed a little more stunted than it normally is at a ‘size gig. The second stage was being closed by Leeds band GRAMMATICS who were fresh off a support tour opening for BLOC PARTY, and it showed. They were incredibly tight tonight and of the three times I’ve seen them, this was the best. I very nearly called it a night there as I’d not been too impressed with the bits of EFTERKLANG I’d heard before, but am I glad I stayed…oh my word, why haven’t I seen this band before? The core of Efterklang are three people- but they are surrounded (On this VERY small stage) by another 6 or 7 musicians and the sound they create is just magical. Think Sigur Ros but not as Twee, think The Arcade Fire but with more ideas. The hour just flew by and I just had to go and buy their latest live album/DVD before I left… A magical climax to a fantastic day.
No rest for the wicked.. the very next night support act KATATONIA played a fine 45 minute set to a very receptive crowd,but with surprisingly little material from their new album… unlike PARADISE LOST who chose to play plenty of their latest release. They were decent enough but I felt there was ‘something’ missing from their performance.
It was a late decision to go down to HELLFIRE FESTIVAL at the NEC near Birmingham- a decision made when a pair of free tickets came our way!! Originally, this was going to be a 3 day festival, but sales had been slow, so a week or so before the event, it was slimmed down to just two days, but with an extended line up on each.
Day one highlights – Things didn’t start well- the early bands on the Big Cheese/Scuzz stage suffered from really awful sound and equipment issues, not to mention small crowds. I was quite looking forward to seeing TED MAUL in particular but it was just 30 minutes of feedback. During THE ROTTED set, things finally improved- didn’t catch all their set but from what I heard of their punk infused metal, they were pretty good. IMICUS, who were really good at Hammerfest, played another excellent set here but the same couldn’t be said of MARYA ROXX who were truly dreadful. The main arena and Metal Hammer stages were now opening, FURY UK only had a 20 minute set but played a blinder- local band for me too and it made me wonder why I’d not checked them out before. First trip into the very impressive main arena for BENEDICTION showed just how badly this event had sold- it was barely a quarter full. Shame really because the state of the art sound and lighting rig was as good as anything I’ve ever encountered. ANVIL followed them and it’s clear Lips is still enjoying the resurgence in interest in his band that the movie has created. They are both awesome and awful in equal measures, but it just works for them and the crowd lapped it up! Quick run over to the Metal Hammer stage to catch headliners EXIT TEN- as ever, they put on great show and treated us to a couple of new songs, then back to the main arena to catch SAXON-Biff worked the crowd like the old pro he is and the set was crammed with all their classics. After their set at Sonisphere I was worried this band was just treading water, but with this and their BOA performances, it’s clear there is plenty of life in them yet.
Day two highlights – If yesterday’s crowd on the smaller stage was bad, today it was even worse as many preferred to catch the tribute bands playing as part of the ‘Music Live’ exhibition. Shame really as they were some fine performances from XERATH, BLAKFISH, NO MADE SENSE and THE MORNING AFTER especially. I was really looking forward to seeing how TESSERACT performed with their new singer Dan Tompkins, who was playing his first live show with the band. His predecessor had left huge shoes to fill but Dan did a pretty good job- a completely different style both in terms of performance and vocal style, but it worked ok. Over on the main stage ANATHEMA put on the set of the entire weekend, capping it off with their old vocalist Darren White joining them onstage for ‘Sleepless’. I missed most of KATATONIA’s set, but did catch all of MY DYING BRIDE- not my thing at all- before calling it day and heading home before Fields Of The Nephilim played.
An enjoyable couple of days but the lack of numbers must have been a major concern for the organisers.
I’d never seen FALL OF TROY before but their new album is a good ‘un and with the excellent TWIN ATLANTIC and CHICKENHAWK supporting this was a great nights entertainment.
Australian band THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT were out on tour with rising UK outfit SLAVES TO GRAVITY a. I wasn’t quite as impressed with the headliners as I thought I would be on the strength of their recorded work, but the new STG line up seems to be gelling well, and the new material (all bar one song was completely new) sounds good- the shame was there were so few people there to see it.
EXIT TEN were on a headline tour around the UK. The Liverpool show was the better one of the two that I managed to catch. Plenty of new stuff was played on both nights.. shame the support bands were so weak though- they normally have good touring partners!!
Last gig of the month and it was the one with arguably the best line up of the year. I’d pay to see all four bands on their own, so this was great value. GLAMOUR OF THE KILL were playing as we got in the building- they are a much more confident band than they were at Download 08 and they went down well with the ever growing crowd. SYLOSIS have become a firm favourite of mine with their sets at various festivals over the year, and tonight they absolutely nailed it . The reception that SABATON got made you wonder if they were the headliners tonight. The band seemed really humbled by the crowd’s reaction to them and they treated us to 35 minutes of their finest anthems. That was tough for DRAGONFORCE to follow, but they were on fine form tonight. The previous shows of theirs that I’ve seen had been blighted by really awful sound –not tonight, it was perfect (and was being recorded for a live album). Great gig, and one I look forward to seeing all over again soon!
Monday 4 January 2010
GIGGING IN 2009 - OCTOBER
OCTOBER
2nd – SKINDRED/Karnivool/Dead By April – Academy 2, Manchester
10th – FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND – Academy 2, Manchester
24th – DAMNATION FESTIVAL, Leeds University
JESU/A Storm Of Light/Akercocke/Anathema/ASIWYFA/Firebird/Manatees/Rinoa/Rotting Christ/Stand Up Guy/The Gates Of Slumber/This Will Destroy You/Naxzul
27th – FIGHTSTAR/Prego/Saving Aimee/Young Guns – Academy, Manchester
31st – AMON AMARTH/Entombed– Academy 2, Manchester
I’d been looking forward to seeing Skindred play a headline show of their own and had planned to take in a few ‘local’ shows on this tour as I liked KARNIVOOL and my daughter was raving about DEAD BY APRIL ever since she saw them at Sonisphere – unfortunately, a dose of Swine Flu put paid to that so we only caught the Manchester date. Skindred were good, though I felt the set lacked something. Karnivool played well but were lacking any kind of stagecraft. By comparison DEAD BT APRIL were a ball of energy though there were suspicions that a lot of what we heard wasn’t exactly ‘live’. They seem stuck between wanting to be a metal band and a pop band- nothing wrong with that of course, but it did seem to alienate many in the crowd.
As the flu was still knocking around my body, I really shouldn’t have gone to FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND, but I did- arriving after all the supports had played, I found a nice quiet corner to prop myself up in for FFAF. Must admit, I quite enjoyed it too.. On this tour they were doing a lot of stuff I hadn’t heard before (The setlist had been voted on via their website) and the new songs they played sounded good.
DAMNATION FESTIVAL at Leeds University was my next port of call. Three stages of some of the more ‘out there’ styles and genres of rock/metal means this is a great chance to check out some bands that rarely play here. Most of my day was going to be spent on the Rock Sound stage where ASIWYFA were the day’s standout, but A STORM OF LIGHT, RINOA, MANATEES and STAND UP GUY all played fine sets. The only real ‘downer’ was the Rock Sound stage headliner JESU – I only had a passing acquaintance with them before the festival but had been told by may people they were really good live… either I caught them on a bad night or I was lied to, because they were shocking. Elsewhere we got a great set from ANATHEMA on the main stage. I saw all but ten minutes of ROTTING CHRIST and their melodic approach really came as a nice surprise.
FIGHTSTAR were touring again- this time the Manchester gig got bumped up to the main Academy room but it was barely half full. As ever they played a good set, but they really should be playing longer than 55 minutes as headliners.
After blowing me away at Bloodstock, I was really looking forward to catching AMON AMARTH again. ENTOMBED proved a popular support with the packed crowd and they played a very solid hour long set, then the headliners took it up a notch…the sound quality was better than anything I’d ever heard in this room.
2nd – SKINDRED/Karnivool/Dead By April – Academy 2, Manchester
10th – FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND – Academy 2, Manchester
24th – DAMNATION FESTIVAL, Leeds University
JESU/A Storm Of Light/Akercocke/Anathema/ASIWYFA/Firebird/Manatees/Rinoa/Rotting Christ/Stand Up Guy/The Gates Of Slumber/This Will Destroy You/Naxzul
27th – FIGHTSTAR/Prego/Saving Aimee/Young Guns – Academy, Manchester
31st – AMON AMARTH/Entombed– Academy 2, Manchester
I’d been looking forward to seeing Skindred play a headline show of their own and had planned to take in a few ‘local’ shows on this tour as I liked KARNIVOOL and my daughter was raving about DEAD BY APRIL ever since she saw them at Sonisphere – unfortunately, a dose of Swine Flu put paid to that so we only caught the Manchester date. Skindred were good, though I felt the set lacked something. Karnivool played well but were lacking any kind of stagecraft. By comparison DEAD BT APRIL were a ball of energy though there were suspicions that a lot of what we heard wasn’t exactly ‘live’. They seem stuck between wanting to be a metal band and a pop band- nothing wrong with that of course, but it did seem to alienate many in the crowd.
As the flu was still knocking around my body, I really shouldn’t have gone to FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND, but I did- arriving after all the supports had played, I found a nice quiet corner to prop myself up in for FFAF. Must admit, I quite enjoyed it too.. On this tour they were doing a lot of stuff I hadn’t heard before (The setlist had been voted on via their website) and the new songs they played sounded good.
DAMNATION FESTIVAL at Leeds University was my next port of call. Three stages of some of the more ‘out there’ styles and genres of rock/metal means this is a great chance to check out some bands that rarely play here. Most of my day was going to be spent on the Rock Sound stage where ASIWYFA were the day’s standout, but A STORM OF LIGHT, RINOA, MANATEES and STAND UP GUY all played fine sets. The only real ‘downer’ was the Rock Sound stage headliner JESU – I only had a passing acquaintance with them before the festival but had been told by may people they were really good live… either I caught them on a bad night or I was lied to, because they were shocking. Elsewhere we got a great set from ANATHEMA on the main stage. I saw all but ten minutes of ROTTING CHRIST and their melodic approach really came as a nice surprise.
FIGHTSTAR were touring again- this time the Manchester gig got bumped up to the main Academy room but it was barely half full. As ever they played a good set, but they really should be playing longer than 55 minutes as headliners.
After blowing me away at Bloodstock, I was really looking forward to catching AMON AMARTH again. ENTOMBED proved a popular support with the packed crowd and they played a very solid hour long set, then the headliners took it up a notch…the sound quality was better than anything I’d ever heard in this room.
Sunday 3 January 2010
GIGGING IN 2009 - SEPTEMBER
SEPTEMBER
11th – MAMMAL/Chasinjade/Lifescreen/Theory One – Rio’s, Leeds
14th – STEEL PANTHER – Academy, Manchester
22nd – INME/Zeroscape/Symphony Cult – Academy 3, Manchester
25th – IT BITES/Mostly Autumn – Picturedrome, Holmfirth
26th – 27th – METALFEST - JB’s Dudley
26th - PRIMAL FEAR/Northland/E-Force/Xandria/Power Quest/Circus Maximus/Marshall Law/Brainstorm/Swallow The Sun/Primordial
27th - KALMAH/Hanging Doll/Fairyland/Pathosray/Vision Divine/Omnium Gatherum/Elvenking/Dragonland
29th – ASIWYFA/ Elohymn – MOHO, Manchester
After almost three weeks ‘off’, it was time to get gigging again. Australian band MAMMAL were in the UK in support of their excellent ‘The Majority’ album- the Manchester date was at the dreadful Moho so I opted for the hundred mile round trip to see them the following night in Leeds. Considering their low profile over here, a huge crowd greeted them in Rio’s. For the next 80 minutes, they produced a spine tingling performance that saw the singer spend more time dancing in the crowd, climbing tables, climbing on the bar..even standing on my shoulders at one point.. and I was a good 40 feet from the stage!! Without doubt, a gig of the year contender and left me wanting more. Sadly, within a couple of weeks of this really successful UK tour, they’d announced they were splitting up.
After STEEL PANTHER’s performance at Download, a small UK tour was quickly arranged. The tickets for every venue sold out in minutes so the venues were upgraded, then upgraded again. In Manchester, the original venue got bumped up 3 times- from Club Academy (capacity around 300) to the main room there (2000 capacity) and on the night that was full to bursting! A really fun night – lots of joking around, virtually every song off their ‘Feel The Steel’ album got an airing along with a couple of covers.
INME were out touring with a man down after one of the guitarists had broken an arm. I’d only recently become familiar with their music, but the new material I was familiar with sounded just fine despite being a man down.
IT BITES were touring again, though this time, it was something a bit special, with the band playing their classic ‘Once Around The World’ album in it’s entirety. As they were missing Manchester this time, it meant a short hop to the sleepy Yorkshire town of Holmfirth (..famous for being the place where UK TV series ‘Last OF The Summer Wine’ was filmed). It’s the sort of place where, if you took the cars away, it would probably look no different to how it was a hundred years ago. The venue here is the old converted cinema ‘The Picturedrome’. From the outside an old, unassuming building but as soon as you walk in, it quickly becomes one of the best music venues you’ll ever see a gig in. All the original features have been retained, but a three storey balcony has been added down one side and the main floor slopes nicely towards the stage to give even the smallest of us a good view. MOSTLY AUTUMN played a really good hour long support slot that went down well with the It Bites crowd, then main attraction gave us two hours of perfection. Ever since they came back onto the scene 4 years ago, the fans have been asking for this kind of show and tonight it all came together perfectly- great venue with absolutely perfect sound, a big crowd and the band on fire.
As I was at the It Bites gig in Holmfirth, I missed the first night of the 3 day ‘METALFEST’ down at JB’s in Dudley. The line up for this was simply fantastic, yet ticket sales had been really slow, leading many to suggest the whole thing would be in danger of being cancelled. However, good reports of the Friday attendance were filtering through.
Day two highlights - It wasn’t too busy as Spains’s NORTHLAND, French/Canadian E – FORCE and German female-fronted XANDRIA played their (decent) sets, but it started to fill up nicely by the time Anglo/Italian outfit POWER QUEST hit the stage for the very last time with this line up. Enjoyable as ever, but it will be interesting to see the new line up to see if they can find that ‘missing something’ to take them up to the next level. CIRCUS MAXIMUS were one of the main draws for me – both of their albums have spent a lot of time in my ears over the last two or three years but the only other time they were going to play in the UK, the event got cancelled. Though I felt they lacked a bit of stagecraft, they sounded fantastic. Local lads MARSHALL LAW were next up…not for me, I’m afraid- their ‘meat and potatoes’ metal seemed out of kilter with the rest of the line up- maybe that was the idea, and they went down really well, so what do I know!! BRAINSTORM from Germany proved to be the band of the day. By now we were running way behind schedule (Interval entertainment Doc Insane ran over by almost 45 minutes.. they couldn’t get him off stage!!) They hit the stage full of energy firing on all cylinders and didn’t let up for the entire set. I hadn’t heard a note of their before but I was over at the merch table as soon as their set ended. By comparison, SWALLOW THE SUN are the complete opposite- very little movement on stage, instead they inject their own atmosphere through their layered, doomy sound – a bit of a ‘Marmite’ band for sure and the crowd seemed split. I was already a fan and enjoyed every last note- the new stuff in particular sounded great. PRIMORDIAL was a complete shock to me –just not what I was expecting at all- they played a really good set of accessible-celtic tinged metal. The ever growing crowd seemed to enjoy it too. The changeover for headliners PRIMAL SCREAM took an eternity- well, over an hour which meant by the time they hit the stage, they should have just been coming off!! They played a decent set with a lot of new material included, but I was ready for my bed long before they finished
Day three highlights – Problems…Problems… The start of day two was delayed without any announcement, but there seemed to be a lot of ‘behind the scenes’ action. Eventually Birmingham band HANGING DOLL emerged for their half hour set that went on.. and on..and on- eventually they played for over an hour. Don’t get me wrong, it was a very good set- far better than their Britrock performance a couple of months ago- but obviously something wasn’t right. After their set, it was revealed that not only would HOLY MOSES not be playing, headliners EVERGREY were not turning up either, Plenty of rumour and counter rumour which I’ll not go into here, but basically, this meant a complete change to the days line up, and a lot of people who were really only there for Evergrey turned around and went home. This had really put a downer on everything and the attendance was only about half of what had been there on the Saturday - which is a great shame as there were some really fine performances by every single band. FAIRYLAND and PATHOSRAY share a few members – including a vocalist – after the Pathosray set he had to return home to Italy to attend to an urgent family matter leaving their bassist to take over vocal duties on the Fairyland set. DRAGONLAND and VISION DIVINE were incredibly good but the band I enjoyed most was ELVENKING who’s folk metal brought the slumbering crowd to life. With the headliners not showing up, it was down to KALMAH to close the festival- they were good- surprisingly good in fact – but I doubt there were 150 people left watching by the end.
As you may have worked out - I REALLY don’t like Moho in Manchester, but when ASIWYFA and ELOHYMN play there I put that dislike to one side and hand over my cash!! You know what? The sound wasn’t half bad for this one- Elohymn played a gripping set with more new stuff that went down really well with the sizeable crowd and ASIWYFA were, as ever, truly mindblowing
11th – MAMMAL/Chasinjade/Lifescreen/Theory One – Rio’s, Leeds
14th – STEEL PANTHER – Academy, Manchester
22nd – INME/Zeroscape/Symphony Cult – Academy 3, Manchester
25th – IT BITES/Mostly Autumn – Picturedrome, Holmfirth
26th – 27th – METALFEST - JB’s Dudley
26th - PRIMAL FEAR/Northland/E-Force/Xandria/Power Quest/Circus Maximus/Marshall Law/Brainstorm/Swallow The Sun/Primordial
27th - KALMAH/Hanging Doll/Fairyland/Pathosray/Vision Divine/Omnium Gatherum/Elvenking/Dragonland
29th – ASIWYFA/ Elohymn – MOHO, Manchester
After almost three weeks ‘off’, it was time to get gigging again. Australian band MAMMAL were in the UK in support of their excellent ‘The Majority’ album- the Manchester date was at the dreadful Moho so I opted for the hundred mile round trip to see them the following night in Leeds. Considering their low profile over here, a huge crowd greeted them in Rio’s. For the next 80 minutes, they produced a spine tingling performance that saw the singer spend more time dancing in the crowd, climbing tables, climbing on the bar..even standing on my shoulders at one point.. and I was a good 40 feet from the stage!! Without doubt, a gig of the year contender and left me wanting more. Sadly, within a couple of weeks of this really successful UK tour, they’d announced they were splitting up.
After STEEL PANTHER’s performance at Download, a small UK tour was quickly arranged. The tickets for every venue sold out in minutes so the venues were upgraded, then upgraded again. In Manchester, the original venue got bumped up 3 times- from Club Academy (capacity around 300) to the main room there (2000 capacity) and on the night that was full to bursting! A really fun night – lots of joking around, virtually every song off their ‘Feel The Steel’ album got an airing along with a couple of covers.
INME were out touring with a man down after one of the guitarists had broken an arm. I’d only recently become familiar with their music, but the new material I was familiar with sounded just fine despite being a man down.
IT BITES were touring again, though this time, it was something a bit special, with the band playing their classic ‘Once Around The World’ album in it’s entirety. As they were missing Manchester this time, it meant a short hop to the sleepy Yorkshire town of Holmfirth (..famous for being the place where UK TV series ‘Last OF The Summer Wine’ was filmed). It’s the sort of place where, if you took the cars away, it would probably look no different to how it was a hundred years ago. The venue here is the old converted cinema ‘The Picturedrome’. From the outside an old, unassuming building but as soon as you walk in, it quickly becomes one of the best music venues you’ll ever see a gig in. All the original features have been retained, but a three storey balcony has been added down one side and the main floor slopes nicely towards the stage to give even the smallest of us a good view. MOSTLY AUTUMN played a really good hour long support slot that went down well with the It Bites crowd, then main attraction gave us two hours of perfection. Ever since they came back onto the scene 4 years ago, the fans have been asking for this kind of show and tonight it all came together perfectly- great venue with absolutely perfect sound, a big crowd and the band on fire.
As I was at the It Bites gig in Holmfirth, I missed the first night of the 3 day ‘METALFEST’ down at JB’s in Dudley. The line up for this was simply fantastic, yet ticket sales had been really slow, leading many to suggest the whole thing would be in danger of being cancelled. However, good reports of the Friday attendance were filtering through.
Day two highlights - It wasn’t too busy as Spains’s NORTHLAND, French/Canadian E – FORCE and German female-fronted XANDRIA played their (decent) sets, but it started to fill up nicely by the time Anglo/Italian outfit POWER QUEST hit the stage for the very last time with this line up. Enjoyable as ever, but it will be interesting to see the new line up to see if they can find that ‘missing something’ to take them up to the next level. CIRCUS MAXIMUS were one of the main draws for me – both of their albums have spent a lot of time in my ears over the last two or three years but the only other time they were going to play in the UK, the event got cancelled. Though I felt they lacked a bit of stagecraft, they sounded fantastic. Local lads MARSHALL LAW were next up…not for me, I’m afraid- their ‘meat and potatoes’ metal seemed out of kilter with the rest of the line up- maybe that was the idea, and they went down really well, so what do I know!! BRAINSTORM from Germany proved to be the band of the day. By now we were running way behind schedule (Interval entertainment Doc Insane ran over by almost 45 minutes.. they couldn’t get him off stage!!) They hit the stage full of energy firing on all cylinders and didn’t let up for the entire set. I hadn’t heard a note of their before but I was over at the merch table as soon as their set ended. By comparison, SWALLOW THE SUN are the complete opposite- very little movement on stage, instead they inject their own atmosphere through their layered, doomy sound – a bit of a ‘Marmite’ band for sure and the crowd seemed split. I was already a fan and enjoyed every last note- the new stuff in particular sounded great. PRIMORDIAL was a complete shock to me –just not what I was expecting at all- they played a really good set of accessible-celtic tinged metal. The ever growing crowd seemed to enjoy it too. The changeover for headliners PRIMAL SCREAM took an eternity- well, over an hour which meant by the time they hit the stage, they should have just been coming off!! They played a decent set with a lot of new material included, but I was ready for my bed long before they finished
Day three highlights – Problems…Problems… The start of day two was delayed without any announcement, but there seemed to be a lot of ‘behind the scenes’ action. Eventually Birmingham band HANGING DOLL emerged for their half hour set that went on.. and on..and on- eventually they played for over an hour. Don’t get me wrong, it was a very good set- far better than their Britrock performance a couple of months ago- but obviously something wasn’t right. After their set, it was revealed that not only would HOLY MOSES not be playing, headliners EVERGREY were not turning up either, Plenty of rumour and counter rumour which I’ll not go into here, but basically, this meant a complete change to the days line up, and a lot of people who were really only there for Evergrey turned around and went home. This had really put a downer on everything and the attendance was only about half of what had been there on the Saturday - which is a great shame as there were some really fine performances by every single band. FAIRYLAND and PATHOSRAY share a few members – including a vocalist – after the Pathosray set he had to return home to Italy to attend to an urgent family matter leaving their bassist to take over vocal duties on the Fairyland set. DRAGONLAND and VISION DIVINE were incredibly good but the band I enjoyed most was ELVENKING who’s folk metal brought the slumbering crowd to life. With the headliners not showing up, it was down to KALMAH to close the festival- they were good- surprisingly good in fact – but I doubt there were 150 people left watching by the end.
As you may have worked out - I REALLY don’t like Moho in Manchester, but when ASIWYFA and ELOHYMN play there I put that dislike to one side and hand over my cash!! You know what? The sound wasn’t half bad for this one- Elohymn played a gripping set with more new stuff that went down really well with the sizeable crowd and ASIWYFA were, as ever, truly mindblowing
GIGGING IN 2009 - AUGUST
AUGUST
1st – 2nd SONISPHERE FESTIVAL, Knebworth Park
1st – LINKIN PARK/Blakfish/Skindred/Sylosis/Airborne/Anthrax/Coheed & Cambria/Exit Ten/Fin/Glamour Of The Kill/Oceansize/Twin Atlantic/Thunder
2nd – METALLICA/Avenged Sevenfold/Architects/Buckcherry/Cancer Bats/Machine Head/The Defiled/Feeder/Killing Joke/Lamb Of God/Little London/Mastodon/Paradise Lost/Saxon
14th–16th BLOODSTOCK OPEN AIR, Catton Hall
14th – Blitzkreig/Million Dollar Reload/Gods Of Hellfire/Insomnium/Die Apokalyptischen Reiter/Municipal Waste/Katatonia/Saxon/Maleface/Pythia/Green River Project/Godsized/Bison Hammer/Ventflow
15th – CRADLE OF FILTH/BLIND GUARDIAN/Uncle Rotter/Battlelore/Wolf/The Haunted/Switchblade Scream/OMT/Candlemass/Enslaved/Solsikk/Celesty/Apocalyptica
16th – EUROPE/Beholder/Sabaton/Girlschool/Equilibrium/Anathema/Turisas/Moonspell/Amon Amarth/Tribe/Eden’s Curse
18th – PROTEST THE HERO/Hospital Of Death/Veils – MOHO, Manchester
22nd – BLAKFISH/Mutiny On The Bounty/Holy State – Brudenell, Leeds
I’d been considering ‘doing’ the new SONISPHERE FESTIVAL for some time but with BLOODSTOCK just around the corner and the tickets a shade on the expensive side (similar price to Download- £135- but only two days instead of three), I decided it would be ‘A Festival Too Far! I entered a couple of competitions to win tickets but as I normally would come third in a duel, I put it to the back of my mind… until I came home from work and found SIX tickets in my inbox a few days before the event!!
Having heard all kinds of horror stories about parking at Knebworth for previous events, we took up the option of parking in Stevenage and using the free shuttle buses – if anyone is going to Sonisphere in 2010, I’d highly recommend this – not only do you get dropped off right at the event entrance (Some cars were parked over a mile away!), you also get off the site so much quicker.
Day one highlights – Arrived just in time to catch BLAKFISH play a great set in the tented 3rd stage, then it was over to the second stage to catch another superb show from SKINDRED - even though the weather was deteriorating rapidly, Benji got the crowd dancing in the rain. As the first and second stages were running opposite each other, you could just move between the two stages and see all the action, so it was a quick dash up the hill to the main stage to catch ANTHRAX – I’d never been much of a fan, but they played a pretty good set. It was absolutely chucking it down when AIRBORNE hit the second stage- but the Aussies powered on regardless. A good set, but when singer/guitarist Joel O’Keeffe decided that it would be a good idea the climb the stage scaffolding right to the top, then rip out a solo, then dangle from a flimsy looking pole with one hand, the health and safety manager must have had kittens! Back in the third stage tent, the ever impressive SYLOSIS were mid set by the time I got in. Now was the first dilemma of the festival back up the hill to the main stage for COHEED & CAMBRIA or over to the Jager stage to catch our perennial favourites EXIT TEN. Much as we love the boys from Reading, it had to be Claudio & Co. After 20 minutes of waiting, someone came on stage and announced that Coheed had been delayed on a cross channel ferry, and were going to be late so Japanese band FACT were getting bumped up from the third stage to take their spot… now why they couldn’t have announced this earlier, I don’t know but a quick trot down the hill meant we at least caught the second half of EXIT TEN, though we could have seen it all..grrrrr. When Coheed finally arrived, they went on the third stage while Heaven & Hell were on the main stage-the tent was packed to capacity though and what a great 45 minute set they played-the general consensus was that the more ‘intimate’ surroundings of the tent meant their set was even better than it would have been on the main stage. Staying in the tent, it was great to see my favourite band in the world, OCEANSIZE, go down so well- they rarely get asked to do these sort of things, but on this evidence, I can see that changing. First night headliners LINKIN PARK were a bit.. well… dull really. Sounded good but the performance was very stop-start and when Chester Bennington rolled out his side project band for a few songs mid-set, you could feel what energy was left in the crowd disappear. That wasn’t the end though- down in the tent THUNDER were about to play their final ever show- there were so many people trying to get in that security had to close off all the entrances. Fortunately AFTER we’d got inside! As you can imagine, this was an emotional show for the band – probably not quite as good as their Download show, but certainly one of those ‘I Was There.. ‘ moments for the 2000 people fortunate enough to see it.
Day Two highlights – With much better weather due, BUCKCHERRY and SAXON opened the two main stages, the former being full of enery, the latter sadly seeming rather tame and subdued compared to the band I remembered them to be- mind you, Biff did announce that they only just made the show as they’d been on stage in Germany at 3 a.m. that morning so I suppose that could account for their lack of energy. KILLING JOKE seemed a little out of place, PARADISE LOST and LAMB OF GOD were very impressive, but I really developed an instant dislike for MACHINE HEAD, especially their frontman Rob Flynn who must have spent half the show talking. Sad really as so many people had told me how good they were live. Over on the second stage, FEEDER were a pleasant respite from the heavy start to the day- even the band realised they were ‘A Bit Different’ but the crowd lapped it up. I’d only really got into MASTODON on their latest ‘Crack The Skye’ release so this would be me first live experience and despite an awful sound mix, I really enjoyed it. Time to check some of the action on the third and fourth stages – caught small bits of both CANCER BATS and HEAVEN’S BASEMENT sets-both sounded great, but the best performances of the day-on any stage- came from THE DEFILED on the Jager stage then ARCHTECTS in the third stage tent.
Back to the main stages and AVENGED SEVENFOLD struggled through their second stage headline set, battling crowd apathy and awful sound…two things that headliners METALLICA weren’t troubled by!!
So, all in all, a really good festival- not without it’s problems . The whole thing being on the side of a steep hill didn’t help my old legs, and as the main stage was on top on the hill, it meant you couldn’t see a thing if you were more than 30 yards back. Hope they re-think the layout for 2010.
With the batteries re-charged after a week or so without any gigs, we set off for the annual pilgrimage to ‘The Home Of Metal’ – Catton Hall in deepest Derbyshire for BLOODSTOCK OPEN AIR (BOA).
Day one Highlights – DIE APOKALYPTISCEN REITER (DAR) were the first band to really stir the crowd- something slightly sinister about a German band with a keyboard player in leather shorts (ONLY leather shorts) and gimp mask and a singer who has more than a passing resemblance of Lenin (That’s the Russian geezer, not the one who was in the Beatles!!). Hadn’t heard anything by them at all, but they played a really good set with plenty of crowd interaction too. MUNICIPAL WASTE tried to get a world record for crowd surfing during one song but came up just short- they were fun to watch but not really my thing. KATATONIA and INSOMNIUM play a style of music that isn’t that suited to a sunny August afternoon, but both got a fine response from the crowd, and both joined DAR on my ‘must see again’ list. Not really a fan of joint headliners CARCASS or ARCH ENEMY, so the last main stage band of the day for us would be SAXON. Biff and his band gave the crowd exactly what they wanted – a barrage of their biggest songs from the back catalogue. This was a really assured performance that was considerably better than their performance at Sonisphere earlier in the month. Over on the unsigned stage, BISONHAMMER and THE GREEN RIVER PROJECT were the only bands to really make any kind of impression- the others seemed to be very samey. On the Sophie Lancaster stage, GODSIZED really rocked and PYTHIA were ok- the main feature of this stage was the god-awful sound, just like last year! With neither of the headliners having much appeal, we called it an early night, grabbed a Chinese and headed back to the hotel- as we arrived there, we saw a huge firework display going off over the festival grounds- seems someone prematurely pressed a button midway through Carcass’s set.. whoops!!!
Day two highlights – Didn’t have an awful lot of ‘must see’ bands today. UNCLE ROTTER opened the mainstage- their schlock rock seemed to go down well with the crowd, but not with me- they just seemed totally charmless and even quite irritating…ho-hum, maybe it was just me being an early morning grouch! My mood wasn’t really lifted by BATTLELORE who seemed rather pedestrian. Things did get better though- WOLF’s power rock worked like the musical equivalent of Aspirin on me, ENSLAVED were pretty good too, even if you couldn’t hear the vocalist! THE HAUNTED and CANDLEMASS were the pick of the afternoon though. Yet again, the unsigned tent seemed full of ‘cookie cutter’ bands without a spark of originality between them- shame really as last year was full of bands bending and shaping ‘Metal’ into all different shapes and flavours. I was looking forward to seeing CELESTY‘s first UK show, and they pulled a decent crowd to the Sophie stage. Again, a good set was ruined by the totally inadequate PA- the band deserved better. Back over on the mainstage, APOCALYPTICA did their thing.. it’s a ‘thing’ I’ve never really got, but they went down really well. As with day one, we had ‘Co-Headliners again tonight- first up were power metal legends BLIND GUARDIAN who played a superb set, followed-after a huge delay- by CRADLE OF FILTH. They do absolutely zero for me and I was ready to head out early, but my daughter wanted to see what the fuss was all about….after 20 minutes, she’d had enough, so off we went to find some late night food. On arriving back at the hotel, we met some fellow festival goers- apparently, about 10 minutes after we left, some dick-head started firing huge gobstoppers from a catapult at the band –one hit the guitarist, sending him to the floor and then to the local hospital forcing the rest of the set to be cancelled.
Day three highlights. This was THE day for me, Other than a quick trip down to the Sophie stage in late afternoon to see TRIBE and EDEN’S CURSE-both of whom played well but suffered like all before them with the awful PA, it was going to be main stage all day. SABATON seemed to be the most anticipated band of the whole weekend prior to the festival, and that was bourne out by them pulling the biggest crowd of the weekend for their all too short set- but what a show they put on. They seemed genuinely humbled by the crowd’s reaction and hopefully they’ll be invited back to make up from the crazy amount of time they were given. ANATHEMA were a bit of a mid-afternoon wild card- they come from a Doom Metal background but have left that way in the past now, but despite huge technical difficulties, added to the fact that their drummer couldn’t make it, they turned in the performance of the whole weekend for me. Moonspell followed with an OK show but in the light of what Anathema had served up, it was a case of ‘After The Lord Mayor’s Show’ for them. Thankfully TURISAS got everyone moving again, before AMON AMARTH levelled the place with a blistering hour of Nordic metal- first time I’d ever seen them, but it won’t be the last. If Anathema had been a bit of an unusual booking for Bloodstock, the announcement of EUROPE as final day headliners was positively off the wall. The BOA forums had page after page of people complaining –mostly people who’d only ever heard THAT song!! The expected mass walk out didn’t happen – if anything the main stage was way more packed than it had been for the Saturday headliners. Europe strolled on and for the next hour and a half held the crowd in the palm of their hands with a spellbinding performance… of course, they made us wait for THAT song, but they eventually got around to it- and everyone sang, jumped and yes, even crowd surfed!!
So BOA 2009 was a roaring success- the only slight let down was the poorer standard of the bands on the unsigned stage compared to last year, but that’s a minor quibble…now lets get home and book next years tickets!!
After that it was a pretty quiet rest of the month PROTEST THE HERO were good, but the horrible sound I’d heard on my other two visits to this venue struck again- rendering HOSPITAL OF DEATH’s support slot almost unlistenable. BLAKFISH were on tour again, this time in support of their recently released debut album- a fun performance as ever, though it was Luxembourg support band MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY who stole the show for me
1st – 2nd SONISPHERE FESTIVAL, Knebworth Park
1st – LINKIN PARK/Blakfish/Skindred/Sylosis/Airborne/Anthrax/Coheed & Cambria/Exit Ten/Fin/Glamour Of The Kill/Oceansize/Twin Atlantic/Thunder
2nd – METALLICA/Avenged Sevenfold/Architects/Buckcherry/Cancer Bats/Machine Head/The Defiled/Feeder/Killing Joke/Lamb Of God/Little London/Mastodon/Paradise Lost/Saxon
14th–16th BLOODSTOCK OPEN AIR, Catton Hall
14th – Blitzkreig/Million Dollar Reload/Gods Of Hellfire/Insomnium/Die Apokalyptischen Reiter/Municipal Waste/Katatonia/Saxon/Maleface/Pythia/Green River Project/Godsized/Bison Hammer/Ventflow
15th – CRADLE OF FILTH/BLIND GUARDIAN/Uncle Rotter/Battlelore/Wolf/The Haunted/Switchblade Scream/OMT/Candlemass/Enslaved/Solsikk/Celesty/Apocalyptica
16th – EUROPE/Beholder/Sabaton/Girlschool/Equilibrium/Anathema/Turisas/Moonspell/Amon Amarth/Tribe/Eden’s Curse
18th – PROTEST THE HERO/Hospital Of Death/Veils – MOHO, Manchester
22nd – BLAKFISH/Mutiny On The Bounty/Holy State – Brudenell, Leeds
I’d been considering ‘doing’ the new SONISPHERE FESTIVAL for some time but with BLOODSTOCK just around the corner and the tickets a shade on the expensive side (similar price to Download- £135- but only two days instead of three), I decided it would be ‘A Festival Too Far! I entered a couple of competitions to win tickets but as I normally would come third in a duel, I put it to the back of my mind… until I came home from work and found SIX tickets in my inbox a few days before the event!!
Having heard all kinds of horror stories about parking at Knebworth for previous events, we took up the option of parking in Stevenage and using the free shuttle buses – if anyone is going to Sonisphere in 2010, I’d highly recommend this – not only do you get dropped off right at the event entrance (Some cars were parked over a mile away!), you also get off the site so much quicker.
Day one highlights – Arrived just in time to catch BLAKFISH play a great set in the tented 3rd stage, then it was over to the second stage to catch another superb show from SKINDRED - even though the weather was deteriorating rapidly, Benji got the crowd dancing in the rain. As the first and second stages were running opposite each other, you could just move between the two stages and see all the action, so it was a quick dash up the hill to the main stage to catch ANTHRAX – I’d never been much of a fan, but they played a pretty good set. It was absolutely chucking it down when AIRBORNE hit the second stage- but the Aussies powered on regardless. A good set, but when singer/guitarist Joel O’Keeffe decided that it would be a good idea the climb the stage scaffolding right to the top, then rip out a solo, then dangle from a flimsy looking pole with one hand, the health and safety manager must have had kittens! Back in the third stage tent, the ever impressive SYLOSIS were mid set by the time I got in. Now was the first dilemma of the festival back up the hill to the main stage for COHEED & CAMBRIA or over to the Jager stage to catch our perennial favourites EXIT TEN. Much as we love the boys from Reading, it had to be Claudio & Co. After 20 minutes of waiting, someone came on stage and announced that Coheed had been delayed on a cross channel ferry, and were going to be late so Japanese band FACT were getting bumped up from the third stage to take their spot… now why they couldn’t have announced this earlier, I don’t know but a quick trot down the hill meant we at least caught the second half of EXIT TEN, though we could have seen it all..grrrrr. When Coheed finally arrived, they went on the third stage while Heaven & Hell were on the main stage-the tent was packed to capacity though and what a great 45 minute set they played-the general consensus was that the more ‘intimate’ surroundings of the tent meant their set was even better than it would have been on the main stage. Staying in the tent, it was great to see my favourite band in the world, OCEANSIZE, go down so well- they rarely get asked to do these sort of things, but on this evidence, I can see that changing. First night headliners LINKIN PARK were a bit.. well… dull really. Sounded good but the performance was very stop-start and when Chester Bennington rolled out his side project band for a few songs mid-set, you could feel what energy was left in the crowd disappear. That wasn’t the end though- down in the tent THUNDER were about to play their final ever show- there were so many people trying to get in that security had to close off all the entrances. Fortunately AFTER we’d got inside! As you can imagine, this was an emotional show for the band – probably not quite as good as their Download show, but certainly one of those ‘I Was There.. ‘ moments for the 2000 people fortunate enough to see it.
Day Two highlights – With much better weather due, BUCKCHERRY and SAXON opened the two main stages, the former being full of enery, the latter sadly seeming rather tame and subdued compared to the band I remembered them to be- mind you, Biff did announce that they only just made the show as they’d been on stage in Germany at 3 a.m. that morning so I suppose that could account for their lack of energy. KILLING JOKE seemed a little out of place, PARADISE LOST and LAMB OF GOD were very impressive, but I really developed an instant dislike for MACHINE HEAD, especially their frontman Rob Flynn who must have spent half the show talking. Sad really as so many people had told me how good they were live. Over on the second stage, FEEDER were a pleasant respite from the heavy start to the day- even the band realised they were ‘A Bit Different’ but the crowd lapped it up. I’d only really got into MASTODON on their latest ‘Crack The Skye’ release so this would be me first live experience and despite an awful sound mix, I really enjoyed it. Time to check some of the action on the third and fourth stages – caught small bits of both CANCER BATS and HEAVEN’S BASEMENT sets-both sounded great, but the best performances of the day-on any stage- came from THE DEFILED on the Jager stage then ARCHTECTS in the third stage tent.
Back to the main stages and AVENGED SEVENFOLD struggled through their second stage headline set, battling crowd apathy and awful sound…two things that headliners METALLICA weren’t troubled by!!
So, all in all, a really good festival- not without it’s problems . The whole thing being on the side of a steep hill didn’t help my old legs, and as the main stage was on top on the hill, it meant you couldn’t see a thing if you were more than 30 yards back. Hope they re-think the layout for 2010.
With the batteries re-charged after a week or so without any gigs, we set off for the annual pilgrimage to ‘The Home Of Metal’ – Catton Hall in deepest Derbyshire for BLOODSTOCK OPEN AIR (BOA).
Day one Highlights – DIE APOKALYPTISCEN REITER (DAR) were the first band to really stir the crowd- something slightly sinister about a German band with a keyboard player in leather shorts (ONLY leather shorts) and gimp mask and a singer who has more than a passing resemblance of Lenin (That’s the Russian geezer, not the one who was in the Beatles!!). Hadn’t heard anything by them at all, but they played a really good set with plenty of crowd interaction too. MUNICIPAL WASTE tried to get a world record for crowd surfing during one song but came up just short- they were fun to watch but not really my thing. KATATONIA and INSOMNIUM play a style of music that isn’t that suited to a sunny August afternoon, but both got a fine response from the crowd, and both joined DAR on my ‘must see again’ list. Not really a fan of joint headliners CARCASS or ARCH ENEMY, so the last main stage band of the day for us would be SAXON. Biff and his band gave the crowd exactly what they wanted – a barrage of their biggest songs from the back catalogue. This was a really assured performance that was considerably better than their performance at Sonisphere earlier in the month. Over on the unsigned stage, BISONHAMMER and THE GREEN RIVER PROJECT were the only bands to really make any kind of impression- the others seemed to be very samey. On the Sophie Lancaster stage, GODSIZED really rocked and PYTHIA were ok- the main feature of this stage was the god-awful sound, just like last year! With neither of the headliners having much appeal, we called it an early night, grabbed a Chinese and headed back to the hotel- as we arrived there, we saw a huge firework display going off over the festival grounds- seems someone prematurely pressed a button midway through Carcass’s set.. whoops!!!
Day two highlights – Didn’t have an awful lot of ‘must see’ bands today. UNCLE ROTTER opened the mainstage- their schlock rock seemed to go down well with the crowd, but not with me- they just seemed totally charmless and even quite irritating…ho-hum, maybe it was just me being an early morning grouch! My mood wasn’t really lifted by BATTLELORE who seemed rather pedestrian. Things did get better though- WOLF’s power rock worked like the musical equivalent of Aspirin on me, ENSLAVED were pretty good too, even if you couldn’t hear the vocalist! THE HAUNTED and CANDLEMASS were the pick of the afternoon though. Yet again, the unsigned tent seemed full of ‘cookie cutter’ bands without a spark of originality between them- shame really as last year was full of bands bending and shaping ‘Metal’ into all different shapes and flavours. I was looking forward to seeing CELESTY‘s first UK show, and they pulled a decent crowd to the Sophie stage. Again, a good set was ruined by the totally inadequate PA- the band deserved better. Back over on the mainstage, APOCALYPTICA did their thing.. it’s a ‘thing’ I’ve never really got, but they went down really well. As with day one, we had ‘Co-Headliners again tonight- first up were power metal legends BLIND GUARDIAN who played a superb set, followed-after a huge delay- by CRADLE OF FILTH. They do absolutely zero for me and I was ready to head out early, but my daughter wanted to see what the fuss was all about….after 20 minutes, she’d had enough, so off we went to find some late night food. On arriving back at the hotel, we met some fellow festival goers- apparently, about 10 minutes after we left, some dick-head started firing huge gobstoppers from a catapult at the band –one hit the guitarist, sending him to the floor and then to the local hospital forcing the rest of the set to be cancelled.
Day three highlights. This was THE day for me, Other than a quick trip down to the Sophie stage in late afternoon to see TRIBE and EDEN’S CURSE-both of whom played well but suffered like all before them with the awful PA, it was going to be main stage all day. SABATON seemed to be the most anticipated band of the whole weekend prior to the festival, and that was bourne out by them pulling the biggest crowd of the weekend for their all too short set- but what a show they put on. They seemed genuinely humbled by the crowd’s reaction and hopefully they’ll be invited back to make up from the crazy amount of time they were given. ANATHEMA were a bit of a mid-afternoon wild card- they come from a Doom Metal background but have left that way in the past now, but despite huge technical difficulties, added to the fact that their drummer couldn’t make it, they turned in the performance of the whole weekend for me. Moonspell followed with an OK show but in the light of what Anathema had served up, it was a case of ‘After The Lord Mayor’s Show’ for them. Thankfully TURISAS got everyone moving again, before AMON AMARTH levelled the place with a blistering hour of Nordic metal- first time I’d ever seen them, but it won’t be the last. If Anathema had been a bit of an unusual booking for Bloodstock, the announcement of EUROPE as final day headliners was positively off the wall. The BOA forums had page after page of people complaining –mostly people who’d only ever heard THAT song!! The expected mass walk out didn’t happen – if anything the main stage was way more packed than it had been for the Saturday headliners. Europe strolled on and for the next hour and a half held the crowd in the palm of their hands with a spellbinding performance… of course, they made us wait for THAT song, but they eventually got around to it- and everyone sang, jumped and yes, even crowd surfed!!
So BOA 2009 was a roaring success- the only slight let down was the poorer standard of the bands on the unsigned stage compared to last year, but that’s a minor quibble…now lets get home and book next years tickets!!
After that it was a pretty quiet rest of the month PROTEST THE HERO were good, but the horrible sound I’d heard on my other two visits to this venue struck again- rendering HOSPITAL OF DEATH’s support slot almost unlistenable. BLAKFISH were on tour again, this time in support of their recently released debut album- a fun performance as ever, though it was Luxembourg support band MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY who stole the show for me
Saturday 2 January 2010
GIGGING IN 2009 - JULY
JULY
4th – FOREVER NEVER/Conquer The Masses/Scumface/7 Years Dead/Echovirus – Academy 3,
16th –
25th – BRITROCK – JB's Dudley
By comparison to the previous couple of months, July was going to be pretty quiet on the gig front. FOREVER NEVER were back in town and played a good set, special mention to ECHOVIRUS and the ever wonderful SCUMFACE who played brilliant support slots.
Living in
To round out the month, BRITROCK down at JB’s in
GIGGING IN 2009 - JUNE
JUNE
12th – 14th - DOWNLOAD FESTIVAL
12th – MOTLEY CRUE/Opeth/Lacuna Coil/Staind/Steadlur/Killswitch Engage/In This Moment/Billy Talent
13th – ANVIL/13 Riots/Architects/Auger Bane/Black Spiders/Dragonforce/Fightstar/ Five Finger Death Punch/In Case OF Fire/ The Auteur/Thunder
14th - DEF LEPPARD/Clutch/Dream Theater/God Forbid/Journey/Million Dollar Reload/Steel Panther/Stone Gods/Tesla/Twin Atlantic
18th – CLUTCH/Bakerton Group/ASIWYFA – Cockpit, Leeds
22nd – DREDG/Tiger Please – Barfly, Cardiff
23rd – DREDG/Young Guns – 02 Academy, Islington
24th – PEOPLE IN PLANES/Toadies – Barfly, Liverpool
After the hectic end of May, June started with a 12 day break, though with the 3 day marathon that is DOWNLOAD looking at the end of it, that probably wasn’t a bad thing!
The week leading up to the festival saw the heavens open all day and all night. Two days before the gates opened, the organisers issued a statement warning everyone to bring wet weather gear as the site was waterlogged. Someone ‘Up There’ must have been watching as, with just a day to go before the first bands were due to hit the stages, the clouds cleared, the sun shone and the ground quickly dried. By the time we arrived the temperature was in the 70’s, the skies were cloudless and the ground bone dry – leaving a lot of people looking a little odd in their waterproofs and wellies!
Day one highlights- OPETH played a masterful 50 minute set to a crowd that was readying itself for MOTLEY CRUE who were FAR better than I was expecting, so good in fact I decided against going to catch Meshuggah’s headline slot on stage three!. BILLY TALENT surprised me with a really tight performance too. The only slight let down of the whole day was STAIND who’s style of music seemed totally at odds with the beautiful sunny day!
Day two highlights – I don’t think I’ve ever seen a band be as happy to be playing a headline show as much as ANVIL. Considering they were up against Slipknot on the main stage and The Prodigy on the second one, they managed to pull enough people to pack the third stage tent. Cheesy as hell, but you just cannot help like Lips & co! Most of the best action I saw came in the third stage tent- ARCHITECTS drew a massive crowd and responded with a typically intense set. BLACK SPIDERS bluesy rock came as a nice change and they went down a storm. One of the two ‘surprise Guest’ slots was filled by retiring rockers THUNDER- a personal favourite of the festival organiser, they had been given an hour on the third stage in the early evening – it seemed like the entire Download crowd were trying to watch one of the band’s last ever performances. The band responded with a classy performance.
Dragonforce and 5 Finger Death Punch were my only visits to the mainstage all day and both played well, though the crowd didn’t really seem to warm to Dragonforce as much as their energetic performance deserved.
Day three highlights – The day dawned without a cloud in the sky for the third day running meaning the only problem today was deciding which of the thirty bands I wanted to see I would actually get to. TESLA played a quite splendid set but the mid afternoon 1-2 punch of JOURNEY and then DREAM THEATER was just magical- the guy stood next to me during Journey was in tears (I checked afterwards, they were tears of joy!!). GOD FORBID and CLUTCH rocked the second stage but the biggest reaction all weekend came over on the third stage for STEEL PANTHER- if the crowd was huge for Thunder yesterday, you could double the amount of people who couldn’t get anywhere near the tent! Luckily I’d got myself a good spot and they really were great entertainment. As the sun set, DEF LEPPARD hit the main stage to close the festival. It had been 20 years since I’d seen them live and what a show they put on – great visuals and the sound guy really got the best out of the PA too.
This has to be the greatest three days of music I’ve ever witnessed- everything- from the weather through the new, improved Donington layout to the bands was just perfect – the only downside was that there were so many times I wanted to split myself into two (Even three) to see everyone I wanted to see. We left the site sunburnt, tired but happy- and 20 miles down the road..it started raining…talk about perfect timing!!
A few days to recharge the batteries before heading over to Leeds to get my first full headline set from CLUTCH –I’d struggled to ‘get’ them in the past from their recordings, but a truly great live band and seeing them has helped me ‘get’ their recorded work more. Of course, my new favourites and touring-addicts ASIWYFA were on hand to win over another new audience- going off the amount of CD’s they sold after their set, they certainly did that.
Now then.. I don’t know about you, but I’ve long had a list of bands that were ‘Must Sees’ before I shuffle off this mortal coil..I’ve ticked plenty of them off over the years, but one that had always eluded me was DREDG. Their last visit here was 7/7/2005 for a gig in London… the day of the London Tube/Bus bombings which obviously led to the cancellation of that show. When two shows were announced for consecutive nights- one in Cardiff, the other in London-I just had to make the effort. In Cardiff, the venue was the tiny Barfly. Despite a ton of technical problems throughout the show –including a power cut which caused the show to end a song and a half early- it was a very enjoyable show, but I left happy in the knowledge that I was going to get the chance to see them in a bigger/better venue the night after. The stage at the 02 Academy was about the same size as the venue from the previous night, allowing the band to spread their wings (even allowing for the ‘Stamp Of Origin’ backdrops to be raised). The turnout was phenomenal – and the band treated us to THE perfect evening. Sound was incredible, the technical problems of the previous night were a distant memory – remember the guy stood next to me at Download for Journey? I was VERY close to doing what he did there! Six months on, just remembering it as I type this, the memories come flooding back.
On the way home, as we had missed them at Download, we decided to stop off in Liverpool to catch PEOPLE IN PLANES. I was dead on my feet but I must admit but they played a really good set despite the crowd being barely into double figures.
Right… can I PLEASE have a rest???
12th – 14th - DOWNLOAD FESTIVAL
12th – MOTLEY CRUE/Opeth/Lacuna Coil/Staind/Steadlur/Killswitch Engage/In This Moment/Billy Talent
13th – ANVIL/13 Riots/Architects/Auger Bane/Black Spiders/Dragonforce/Fightstar/ Five Finger Death Punch/In Case OF Fire/ The Auteur/Thunder
14th - DEF LEPPARD/Clutch/Dream Theater/God Forbid/Journey/Million Dollar Reload/Steel Panther/Stone Gods/Tesla/Twin Atlantic
18th – CLUTCH/Bakerton Group/ASIWYFA – Cockpit, Leeds
22nd – DREDG/Tiger Please – Barfly, Cardiff
23rd – DREDG/Young Guns – 02 Academy, Islington
24th – PEOPLE IN PLANES/Toadies – Barfly, Liverpool
After the hectic end of May, June started with a 12 day break, though with the 3 day marathon that is DOWNLOAD looking at the end of it, that probably wasn’t a bad thing!
The week leading up to the festival saw the heavens open all day and all night. Two days before the gates opened, the organisers issued a statement warning everyone to bring wet weather gear as the site was waterlogged. Someone ‘Up There’ must have been watching as, with just a day to go before the first bands were due to hit the stages, the clouds cleared, the sun shone and the ground quickly dried. By the time we arrived the temperature was in the 70’s, the skies were cloudless and the ground bone dry – leaving a lot of people looking a little odd in their waterproofs and wellies!
Day one highlights- OPETH played a masterful 50 minute set to a crowd that was readying itself for MOTLEY CRUE who were FAR better than I was expecting, so good in fact I decided against going to catch Meshuggah’s headline slot on stage three!. BILLY TALENT surprised me with a really tight performance too. The only slight let down of the whole day was STAIND who’s style of music seemed totally at odds with the beautiful sunny day!
Day two highlights – I don’t think I’ve ever seen a band be as happy to be playing a headline show as much as ANVIL. Considering they were up against Slipknot on the main stage and The Prodigy on the second one, they managed to pull enough people to pack the third stage tent. Cheesy as hell, but you just cannot help like Lips & co! Most of the best action I saw came in the third stage tent- ARCHITECTS drew a massive crowd and responded with a typically intense set. BLACK SPIDERS bluesy rock came as a nice change and they went down a storm. One of the two ‘surprise Guest’ slots was filled by retiring rockers THUNDER- a personal favourite of the festival organiser, they had been given an hour on the third stage in the early evening – it seemed like the entire Download crowd were trying to watch one of the band’s last ever performances. The band responded with a classy performance.
Dragonforce and 5 Finger Death Punch were my only visits to the mainstage all day and both played well, though the crowd didn’t really seem to warm to Dragonforce as much as their energetic performance deserved.
Day three highlights – The day dawned without a cloud in the sky for the third day running meaning the only problem today was deciding which of the thirty bands I wanted to see I would actually get to. TESLA played a quite splendid set but the mid afternoon 1-2 punch of JOURNEY and then DREAM THEATER was just magical- the guy stood next to me during Journey was in tears (I checked afterwards, they were tears of joy!!). GOD FORBID and CLUTCH rocked the second stage but the biggest reaction all weekend came over on the third stage for STEEL PANTHER- if the crowd was huge for Thunder yesterday, you could double the amount of people who couldn’t get anywhere near the tent! Luckily I’d got myself a good spot and they really were great entertainment. As the sun set, DEF LEPPARD hit the main stage to close the festival. It had been 20 years since I’d seen them live and what a show they put on – great visuals and the sound guy really got the best out of the PA too.
This has to be the greatest three days of music I’ve ever witnessed- everything- from the weather through the new, improved Donington layout to the bands was just perfect – the only downside was that there were so many times I wanted to split myself into two (Even three) to see everyone I wanted to see. We left the site sunburnt, tired but happy- and 20 miles down the road..it started raining…talk about perfect timing!!
A few days to recharge the batteries before heading over to Leeds to get my first full headline set from CLUTCH –I’d struggled to ‘get’ them in the past from their recordings, but a truly great live band and seeing them has helped me ‘get’ their recorded work more. Of course, my new favourites and touring-addicts ASIWYFA were on hand to win over another new audience- going off the amount of CD’s they sold after their set, they certainly did that.
Now then.. I don’t know about you, but I’ve long had a list of bands that were ‘Must Sees’ before I shuffle off this mortal coil..I’ve ticked plenty of them off over the years, but one that had always eluded me was DREDG. Their last visit here was 7/7/2005 for a gig in London… the day of the London Tube/Bus bombings which obviously led to the cancellation of that show. When two shows were announced for consecutive nights- one in Cardiff, the other in London-I just had to make the effort. In Cardiff, the venue was the tiny Barfly. Despite a ton of technical problems throughout the show –including a power cut which caused the show to end a song and a half early- it was a very enjoyable show, but I left happy in the knowledge that I was going to get the chance to see them in a bigger/better venue the night after. The stage at the 02 Academy was about the same size as the venue from the previous night, allowing the band to spread their wings (even allowing for the ‘Stamp Of Origin’ backdrops to be raised). The turnout was phenomenal – and the band treated us to THE perfect evening. Sound was incredible, the technical problems of the previous night were a distant memory – remember the guy stood next to me at Download for Journey? I was VERY close to doing what he did there! Six months on, just remembering it as I type this, the memories come flooding back.
On the way home, as we had missed them at Download, we decided to stop off in Liverpool to catch PEOPLE IN PLANES. I was dead on my feet but I must admit but they played a really good set despite the crowd being barely into double figures.
Right… can I PLEASE have a rest???
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