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.