Daves Blog: Thoughts & Opinions forced into words

Arch Enemy with Soilwork - Southampton Engine Rooms - 24/08/2016

2016-08-25T17:05:00.000+01:00

Image by FastDecals.com

Temperatures once again soared across Britain yesterday and so the mass of sweat drenched bodies seen leaving the Engine Rooms would’ve been forgiven for their state. However, the heat is only a miniscule reason for the motley, dishevelled crew who made their way home. Soilwork and Arch Enemy had provided them with an unforgettable evening and I for one was still picking my jaw up from the floor long after the last lick of guitar had left the stage.

Arriving in time to see Soilwork start their set was a stroke of luck and slightly baffling, main support starting before 8pm? What’s going on here then? Could this mean an early curfew and therefore an earlier time for a less than spring chicken Dave to be tucked up in his bed, that would be glorious!
Soilwork are an awesome live band who really throw their all into what they do. “Stabbing The Drama” is still one of my favourite songs and seeing them close on that was special for me. The rest of their set was packed full of the ferocious melodic death metal that their fans have loved from the second these Swedes plugged in the amps back in 1995. The heat inside the venue did seem to be holding the crowd back from really letting themselves go, that was until frontman Björn "Speed" Strid asked, in the politest way I have ever seen at a metal gig, for a massive circle pit before they ripped into “Tongue”. This got the crowd whipped into a frenzy and they offered a response to the energy being dispensed from the stage. This carried into the next song “Overload” which turned the Engine Rooms into a bounce-fest!

Escaping outside for some fresh and (slightly) cooler air I really started to get excited. I have never seen Arch Enemy put on a bad set when I have seen them in support slots or on festival bills, but this was their own headline show, something I have wanted to see for many years.

The entrance instrumental “Khaos Overture” gave me goosebumps and I had a feeling that this was going to be special. As soon as “Yesterday Is Dead And Gone” erupted from the stage until “Nemesis” faded from the speakers, there was nothing but ‘Pure Fucking Metal’ belted from Alissa White-Gluz and the band. Speaking of Alissa, Arch Enemy have definitely found the perfect replacement for Angela Gossow in her. Guttural, growling vocals and a superb stage presence that allows her to instantly control the crowd. Not to mention the dazzling blue-green hair that is whipped around like a colourful tornado.
This set was, for me, almost perfect. No room for “Rise Of The Tyrant” or “Leader Of The Rats”, however that takes nothing away from a list of songs that went from belter to belter without leaving the crowd a second to recover before the next was brutally ejected from the stage. Listening through the set as I write this I am constantly stopping and just disappearing into the memories from the gig. The run into the encore of “No Gods, No Masters”, “Dead Bury Their Dead” & “We Will Rise” is just a thing of beauty! And, as my friend I attended the gig with pointed out, Arch Enemy are very good at writing lyrics that would be amazing if added to a tattoo design you had, if you’re into tattoos of course. Chants of ‘Arch Enemy’ rang out from the crowd until the band re-emerged to huge cheers as if they were taking their place atop the Olympics podium, which is one way to describe how incredible they were last night. Ripping into “Blood On Your Hands” tore away any residual energy had been built up in the crowd whilst the band were off stage. Leading into an elongated version of “Snow Bound” as the bridge between the last two songs provided the guitarists the opportunity to show off their skills, and what skills those are! Knowing there was only one song left I was glancing at the clock to see whether the earlier train would be a possibility, and it was, until “Nemesis” rose up in a fury on the stage. There was no way I was going to be leaving until this gig was put to bed.

To put it simply, Arch Enemy were jaw-droppingly, face-meltingly, downright superb. There is nothing I could say about that gig that would do it true justice. On the walk away from the venue, still in complete shock & awe, the only word that I could utter was…..fuck.

In the midst of house buying

2016-08-10T20:23:00.000+01:00

Welcome to the second part of this house buying set of blogs.

At the conclusion of part 1, my house hunting had taken a swerve due to the mortgage amount I could get from lenders. And I had decided that looking at the Help to Buy – Shared Ownership Scheme would be a way around this issue.

After a bit of looking around, I managed to find a 2 bed property under the Shared Ownership (SO) scheme and booked a viewing.

It wasn’t quite the love at first sight feeling I had with the original property I had viewed a good few months before, however I was very impressed with the size, location (ish) and feel of the property. One drawback being the fact it had no lift for a 2nd floor flat, meaning my leg workout would have to step up, get it? Stairs, step up…alright I’ll get my coat!

There was an idea that once I found a place that my friend, who is currently renting, would move in and help towards the mortgage and bills. Whilst being able to save for his own place as it would be cheaper than he is currently paying. Once I had thought about this property and decided that I would be interested in going ahead I took my friend to view the property. Although there were a couple of reservations to address, he was fairly happy to live there if everything went through ok.

So I went back to my mortgage adviser and we got the ball rolling. He was happy that the amount I was looking for would be affordable with my income and advised me to instruct the estate agent to take it off market; this is one of the more fun parts of house buying, getting to tell the estate agent that you are going ahead with the purchase and not to show anyone else around “your” house. One thing you will likely need to do when buying a Shared Ownership property is to sign up at ‘Help to Buy.com’. If you are asked to sign up, make sure you get all the information from the estate agent as to who runs the association on the property you are purchasing. All I was told was, “you need to sign up to this and give them info”, not the best direction I have been given when they are asking for all of your financial information and you’re unsure who will be viewing it!

Everything was going in the right direction, everyone had the paperwork they needed from me and, after sitting down with the mortgage advisor for a few hours of trawling through the list of lenders until we found one that could support me with my finances, I had a mortgage illustration (this is basically a draft of a mortgage offer. It lays out the repayments, charges etc if you ended up accepting that mortgage.)

So I was quite happy with how things were looking, until four days later. Yes just four days had passed before the first snag appeared. And when I say snag it was pretty much a derailment of the entire situation. The mortgage lender decided to change the mortgage details and offer £10,000 less than before, there are certain times that it feels like the wind has been knocked out of you and this was certainly one of them! Made slightly worse when my mortgage advisor asked if I could make it work, financial help from family; promotion at work etc. To which I kindly responded that he was not going to be getting a positive answer from me seeing as we had already stretched my finances to the limit to get the original offer in. There was never an explanation as to why the lender changed their mind on how much they could lend me either.

That left me with the choice of:

Looking at other lenders to see if another offer could be accepted – this wasn’t overly viable as the original lender had been (I think) the 12^th best option from the list of lenders. So the deals I would be looking at wouldn’t be of great benefit to me.

Or to drop the idea of getting that property.

I’m sure you can guess which option I took.

And so once again, I was back at square one and searching for a new property.
The one saving grace was that all the troubles happened before I had spent any money on solicitors’ fees or anything, so I hadn’t lost out on any money – just a bit of my sanity as things seem to be coming together only to unravel again just as quickly.

They do say that every cloud has a silver lining and there was soon to be a glimmer on the horizon of my property purchasing journey.

I'm off to buy a house

2016-06-15T18:16:00.004+01:00

Entering the world of house buying is a rather scary prospect.
Mortgage, variables, interest, solicitors, surveys, terms, advisors, lenders…..just a number of words that are thrown your way in a short space of time.
This blog, and the following 2, are about my experience, good & bad, of purchasing a property.

There are a number of ways you can get your journey to being a home owner underway (to name a few);

View properties to get an idea of the type of home you are looking for.
Speak to an advisor to see how much you are likely to see as a maximum mortgage lend.
Decide on the sort of property you want (1/2/3 bed, house/flat etc.) and look at prices in the area/s you wish to live.

After moving back to my parents’ house after my third stint of renting away from home, I looked at the money I had spent on renting to just end up back where I started once again and realised what a waste it had been. So I made the decision that the next time I moved out it would be to buy my own place. The jouney had begun.

After saving for a while, I was in a bank and speaking with an advisor about my account, when I was asked if there was anything else I needed help with. Deciding to make the most of this, I asked if I could have a chat about mortgages, I was then passed to a colleague who looked at my finances and gave me some figures which that bank would be able to offer me. With thanks I left with “some” knowledge towards my first mortgage.

Some time later I found a property that looked great in the advert with an unbelievably low price, I called to book a viewing and went to see the place that weekend. To say love at first sight is pretty much how it went! The place was incredible and the price they wanted for it was amazing. Unfortunately, I wasn’t in a position to be able to afford it, but I did have a bar set for subsequent places I viewed. I still need to have a look at how much it eventually sold for and if there were any issues found on survey as it was an absolute steal!

After some more saving I started to look into places with a bit more gusto! I had decided that 2016 would be the year I moved out and jumped onto the property ladder, now I just had to find my first home.
Viewings came and went and, to be honest, I was beginning to lose hope rather rapidly. It’s amazing how many places that need “Tender Loving Care” would be better serviced with a wrecking ball. I know estate agents want the sale but surely they can look at a place and tell the seller that some things need changing.
Just a quick list of some things to look for when you are viewing properties:

Damp: I saw a few properties that had visible damp and damage from previous damp. And to be told that “all old properties will have damp” is utter baloney! A house that has been cared for will stand the test of time. Plus the fact that mortgage lenders will have a hissyfit if they discover damp when they carry out their viewing prior to offering you the money. I have friends who bought a property which had a damp issue and had to pay in excess of £2000 to get it fixed before the lender would give them the full amount they asked for.
Space: Sounds simple enough but check the kitchen for cupboards/drawers, the living room for putting sofa, chairs, tv unit in, bedroom for bed, wardrobe, drawers/dresser.
Interior: Check for cracks in the walls and windowframes. If it’s double glazed (and I hope it is) is there condensation in between the glass, this could show that the insulation has blown. Check that taps work at a good pressure and the hot heats up quickly, to show a working boiler.
Area: Try to view the property a few times to get a feel for the area. Is there a lot of traffic? Is it near a pub with a late licence? And try to go at different times so that you can see how much light the property gets in the morning/afternoon, if the weatherman is friendly then you may be able to see it in rain (check for leaks/damp/flooding) & wind and in the sunshine.

Now that my house buying was picking up speed and I was looking at more properties I decided to go and see a mortgage advisor. This is someone who will basically do the hard work for you (albeit for a fee) and guide you through what is essentialy just a lot of jargon and effort as you approach mortgage lenders and try to get the money needed for a property.

The person I spoke to asked me a lot of questions with regards to my incomings and outgoings to get an idea of how much I would be able to afford and fed this into a database. He then applied the same info onto lenders websites to see what offer they would potentially return with. It turned out that I was looking at a pretty measly sum of money, in the grand scheme of things (60k would be a lovely Lotto win!), even with a fairly nice chunk for a deposit.

So I headed back to the drawing board with an idea of the sort of house prices I could look at.

This is when I started looking into the fairly new concept of Shared Ownership. A scheme aimed at helping people who will struggle to get onto the property ladder whilst not having to fall into the renting trap.
Basically, you buy a portion of the property, usually in 25% increments, and pay rent on the rest. Making it more affordable on the mortgage as you only have to borrow a smaller amount, although you must remember that lenders will take into account the rent portion as an essential outgoing which affects your finances and the amount you will be offered.

With this new tactic in place, the hunt was back on…

Simple Plan - Taking One For The Team album review

2016-03-07T18:34:00.004+00:00

Photo from Kerrang.com

If you’re a fan of the ‘That’s Not Metal (TNM)’ podcast, then you will have likely heard the scathing review they gave this album. I say scathing, that’s the politest way I can describe the destruction they gave Simple Plans new offering! Listening to their review I was left thinking, I'm a Simple Plan fan, surely it can't be that bad?! Well, here's my view of the new album.

Now, Simple Plan are pure pop-punk, and they have been since their inception 17 years ago and that’s great as they do it well. However, there is something lacking with this album. It seems to have the pop-punk elements mixed with….well, just plain oddness!

Opener ‘Opinion Overload’ brings the usual upbeat fast paced tune that is expected from Simple Plan, before moving into ‘Boom!’ which keeps the party going.
And then ‘Kiss Me’ comes onto the scene and sounds like, as TNM podcast put it, a One Direction revival. It does not come across well at all.
‘Farewell’ revives the album going back into the pop-punk roots until it all unravels again with the reggae like ballad of ‘Singing in the Rain’.
Hope springs as the band power through the next couple of songs with the renewed vigour of old school Simple Plan. Until they invite Nelly to collaborate on a song. Now, I am a fan of Nelly, so him and the Simple Plan guys working together sounds pretty ace to me. However, it is not. ‘I Don’t Wanna Go to Bed’ is quite simply, a train wreck that wouldn’t seem out of place at a Christmas office party. If it had been created by Maroon 5 or Mark Ronson then I would’ve understood but Simple Plan? Really?!
Moving swiftly on and the to-ing and fro-ing of the album comes around again with some classic pop-punk before the pace is slowed right down with a ballad, this is something Simple Plan like to slip at least one of onto each of their albums. ‘Perfectly Perfect’ may not have the most ingenious of titles but it suits the message of the ballad and is one style of music that Simple Plan do that I really enjoy, as long as it isn't over-cooked.

There are two songs on this album with the word “wanna” in the title, really guys? At least the second is slightly better, if only very loosely a rock song. And we carry on to another ballad, significantly worse than the last, and seemingly a waste on the album which hasn’t boasted many upbeat cheery songs so far, as we go into the last song with hope that they have a very strong finish….

That was wishful thinking indeed as they draft in Juliet Simms to round off this album with another ballad for some reason (remember the over-cooked comment?). I do like ‘I Dream About You’ but it isn’t enough to save my opinion of this very lacklustre album from the Simple Plan guys.

Very disappointing.

If you still wish to catch the guys on tour, they are arriving on UK shores nearer the end of March.
Who knows, maybe the new album will transfer well onto the stage.

Bury Tomorrow - Earthbound album review

2016-03-02T18:00:00.000+00:00

Photo from Kerrang.com

Bury Tomorrow needed to keep the momentum they created with 2014s ‘Runes’ going if they are to boost themselves in the metal community.
A very solid set at Download 2014 left the path open for the guys to move on to better things.

And ‘Earthbound’ has definitely helped solidify the band in the metalcore scene.

From the roaring opening bars of ‘The Eternal’ through the 10 song album to finale ‘Bloodline’, Daniel Winter-Bates' guttural screaming vocals burn out of the speakers. Supported by James Cameron’s clean vocals and Davyd Winter-Bates driving bass guitar, this album is the complete package.

The title track is a furious assault on the ears with Adam Jackson pounding the drums into submission. ‘Restless & Cold’ is probably the closest a metalcore band can come to singing a ballad, a much slower paced song which allows the senses to calm after the onslaught Bury Tomorrow have offered so far through the album, quickly picked up again in furiously delivered ‘301’. The guys don't let up as they close the album out with 'Memories' which, if I had to choose, is probably my favourite song from this collection of great tunes.

Any of the songs from this album will seamlessly fit into the bands live set.
The band are 10 years old this year and long may they continue.

Tobias Sammet's Avantasia - Ghostlights review

2016-02-28T20:04:00.000+00:00

Album artwork by Thomas Ewerhard

I really thought that Tobias was going to call an end to his Avantasia metal opera project in 2014 after they had blown away Wacken Open Air festival with an incredible set. However, in late 2015, it was announced that there would be a new album which would conclude the story started on 2013s ‘Mystery of Time’ album.

In December 2015, the track ‘Mystery of a Blood Red Rose’ was released and straight away I was in love with it, ramping up my excitement for the album even further.

In January 2016 ‘Ghostlights’, released through Nuclear Blast, landed to very well-deserved, great reviews from its peers. Many people stated it was much darker and edgier than previous Avantasia albums and I would certainly agree.

This offering from Sammet is 12 songs of pure brilliance. It provides the type of music that you can lose yourself in and listen to as the story unfolds with guest vocalists adding a difference to a variety of characters; or, you can just as easily have it playing in the background as a distraction whilst you chop the veg for Sunday dinner.

The 12-minute juggernaut 'Let the Storm Descend Upon You’ does what it says on the tin. You can hear-feel (new word!) the tempest building before a medley of singers guide you through the battering drums and pelting guitar riffs. The breakdown halfway through reflects the calm eye of the storm before the pounding instruments return to whip up the frenzy until the end.

The album consists of fast power metal songs entwined with the slower ballad type tunes that Sammet is capable of throwing together as if he was making a culinary masterpiece. Frenzied 'Master of the Pendulum' glides gracefully into the slow tempered 'Isle of Evermore' with little more than effortlessness.

The wealth of guest vocalists Tobias seems to be able to net is another asset to the Avantasia machine, Ghostlights proudly boasts appearances from Dee Snider (Twisted Sister), Sharon Den Adel (Within Temptation) and Geoff Tate (Queensryche) among others.

The Ghostlights World tour kicks off soon and I, for one, am extremely excited to see a 3 hour Avantasia gig! I will be very happy to see the majority of this album played and wouldn't be surprised if they play it in full. It will be interesting to see if any guests appear throughout the night.

Avantasia are playing the O2 Forum Kentish Town, London on March 8th 2016; Tickets onsale at all the usual ticket websites.

If this is when Tobias finally hangs up his Avantasia coat, then it will be a job very well done.

Photo from Stereoboard.com

Thanks for reading.

Tattoos - Ink for Life

2016-01-17T10:58:00.000+00:00

I will start this by stating that I am not trying to preach at people, so please do not take it that way. This is just to throw out some tips and ideas that I have thought of since getting a tattoo and binge watching Tattoo Fixers™ and hopefully this will help others who are thinking about getting one.

To throw some of my background into this, I am now 28 years old and finally got my first tattoo. I have wanted to get one for some years now but was constantly changing my mind as to what design I wanted. It wasn’t until I was at a music festival last year, looking at some of the awesome ink on display that I wondered, “what is it that has some great meaning to my life”. Then, as if a lightbulb switched on above my head I realised, music! So with that in mind I found a quote that summed up exactly how I felt and got in contact with a tattooist. She was more than happy to sketch some stuff up and kept in contact with me until we were both happy with the design and that was that. I now have a tattoo that I am super happy with and also have ideas for 3 more, yes I caught the bug!

This leads me onto my first point: Know what you want.
The tattoo will be on your skin forever, unless you get laser removal (which is apparently much worse than the pain of a tattoo). So make sure you have a design that you are happy with, even if you just saw it on the table at a convention and immediately wanted it. It is a personal thing that no one else can force you to get.
Plus, going to a tattooist, whether it’s a friend or the local shop, with an idea and some sketches/photos of the kind of thing you’re looking for will greatly help them to give you the design you want. Also, have a look around at different artists. Some can do portraits that look like a photo, others can colour so that it looks like Monet has used you as a canvas, check out their portfolios (which, in the world of Instagram, is a piece of cake!).

Now, this may sound a little preachy and I apologise. But try not to get drunk before your tattoo, alcohol thins the blood and guess what, a needle dragging across your skin is going to make you bleed! I’m not saying you have to be sober for a month beforehand but try not to walk in to your appointment after 3 bottles of vodka. This point also stems from watching a lot of Tattoo Fixers™ where a lot of the stories are “I was obliterated on holiday and…” and all of sudden they wake up and realise what a terrible mistake they have made. When you’re drunk you might not be of sound mind to make decisions about the picture you’re asking the tattooist to put onto your skin.
Anyway, enough soapboxing, let’s move on.

It hurts! The only way to describe the type of pain is that it feels like someone is dragging a needle through your skin…..oh wait. People react differently to pain, some can’t stand it, others enjoy it. There are numbing creams available which do work well I’m told. But, at the end of the day, pain is momentary, that tattoo that you will receive at the end is permanent.
Personally, I didn’t mind the line work, until it went near my armpit, definitely felt that! The shading grew more painful as time went on, as the tattooist went across the same patch of skin time & again, which was quite tender by then. But after a couple of hours it was done, no more pain and a beautiful design that I can wear forever.

Try to eat before your appointment, a good intake of sugar will help your body through what is effectively trauma to the skin. I took a couple of bottles of Lucozade and a small chocolate bar in with me to give a boost during the tattooing.

And finally, take note of what your tattooist says about the aftercare of the piece. There are plenty of lotions and moisturisers that will help keep it clean and allow the skin to heal nicely.

I hope that the points raised help you when thinking about and getting a tattoo done.
Once again, I never wanted to come across as a tattoo know-it-all, just to throw out some things that I have thought of since joining the inked world.

Thanks for reading.

Blog revamp and a splash of paint

2016-01-10T19:46:00.001+00:00

Hello all!

So I have been rather neglecting this blog for a while.
It seems to be a couple of posts a year, depending on how many festivals I go to.

This has to change and it will!

I have played about with the layout, thought up some new topics to 'entertain' you with and linked a couple of friends blogs (just promise you'll come back!) - over there *points to right side of the screen* under 'External Blogs'.

And I will be posting more very soon.

If you have any suggestions for things you want me to write about, please let me know by jotting them in the comments below.

Thanks!

England Rugby - World Cup Woes

2015-10-07T17:58:00.003+01:00

Well, England Rugby have played themselves into the record books, the first host nation to go out of the world cup in the group stages.

Not the best of accolades but it is something that will be in pub quizzes for many years in the future.
The question raised now is, what went wrong and where do England go from here?

What went wrong is simple, England lost to Wales and Australia in the group games and therefore gave up all hope of qualification.

Going back to the start of the tournament, there was a lot of optimism around England that maybe this team could go all the way. Maybe losing to New Zealand in the final but hey! at least they'd made the final.

And then Lancaster released his final squad for the world cup, then a few eyebrows were raised. Recent rugby union convert Sam Burgess would be in the team whilst tried and tested centres Luther Burrell and Kyle Eastmond are left out. As a Bath Rugby fan myself, I was disappointed to see Burgess included. He has had some good games for Bath but he is still learning the game and often offloads and tackles as if he is still in league, not what you want to be seeing in games of union I can assure you. But also the fact that he would be acting at centre in the world cup. He has played here for Bath and...well.....let's just say it's better when he doesn't, he has been tried at flanker and seems to fit that role much better. But Lancaster wants him in the centre and that was that.

And so it came to Friday 18th September, the opening match of the rugby world cup 2015, England v Fiji. The final score was 35-11 to England, with them also picking up the try bonus point for scoring 4 tries. It was by no means a walkover for England and I still feel that they underestimated Fiji but a win is a win and it was 5 points on the board for the hosts.

Unfortunately, centre Jonathan Joseph and no.8 Ben Morgan picked up injuries and were out of the game against Wales.

Wales have had a horrendous time with injuries going into this world cup and it was thought that, whilst it would be close, England would walk out of the game with the win.
That wasn't to be.

Wales won 28-25 on the night but that doesn't tell the whole story.
Lancaster decided to replace the injured Joseph by moving Barritt from his position of inside centre to the unfamiliar outside centre and throw Burgess in. This was yet another untried centre pairing under Lancaster and it is getting ridiculous. Slade had played outside Burgess in a warm up game and they looked fairly ok together, so why not use this combo again? Or better yet, pick a player who has played at centre for England with great achievement during the 6Nations?... Oh, because Burrell was sat at home with his slippers on after being left out.

Anyway, England were 10 points ahead after 53minutes of play before Wales clawed their way back into it after silly penalties given away by England and some dire defending for the Welsh try, helped with a group of backs that are unsure how to play together.
A huge penalty from Dan Biggar overturned the deficit and put Wales ahead with 5 minutes to go. Then England picked up a penalty in the Wales end, kickable for Owen Farrell who had a 100% kicking record for the game so far. But instead of pointing to the posts and likely picking up a draw, captain Chris Robshaw indicated to touch, showing no messing around and that England were going for the win. They set up the lineout and were promptly dumped into touch by the Welsh defence before they had even settled with the ball. And that was that.
Now, Robshaw has been vilified for the decision to go to touch. Personally, and this is completely my personal opinion, I have no issue with the decision to go for the win. However, with 2 minutes to go you could bet everything that the Wales defence will be a rock. They clearly weren't going to jump at the lineout and just shove the maul England would set up, just as they did. So why didn't Robshaw and the team have a plan B? Throw the ball to the back of the lineout and spread it, or send it back to the scrum half from the jump and look for a gap opened from the surprise change of tactic at the lineout. But no, they tried to go for the drive and played right into Wales hands.
This left England needing a win against Australia to have a hope of qualifying for the knockout stages. And that is not a position you want to be in!

The week leading up to the game, every member of the England squad came out and said they knew what had to be done, they would throw the kitchen sink at Oz & that they would definitely qualify from the group.

But that’s not quite how things worked out.

England crumpled to a 33-13 loss that ended their world cup.
And, in all honesty, they got much more than they deserved. There was nothing about England that even suggested that they had to win and were doing everything in their power to do so.
The scrum was dismantled with ease. The only direction England had was going through Joseph, who was still being brought back from the injury that left him out of the Wales game, and he was being swallowed by the Aussies before he even had control of the ball. The breakdown was an embarrassment, Australia were over the ball supporting their weight immediately, whilst England meandered to help their teammate and subsequently had a penalty called against them. I’m not sure if Ben Youngs’ was carrying a knock but he was incredibly slow at getting to the ruck. Even Mike Brown didn’t seem like his sleight-footed running self. England had nothing to offer and Australia gleefully dismantled them with ease.

Now to think about some changes that can be made in order to re-build after a very disappointing world cup. It is a huge shame that we were saying that 4 years ago but never mind.

Firstly, Stuart Lancaster has to go. In football it is the managers who are thrown to the wolves when things don’t go right and I have always thought that the 11+ players on the pitch just get away with it, pick up their pay checks and wait for the next gaffer to pick him. But Lancaster has had 4 years to sort out what he wants from the team and he hasn’t done that. His tenure included a resounding victory against New Zealand in 2012 when the clouds looked like they were clearing and England may emerge dominant in the game once again. But instead we have dropped back and fallen behind once again. He has been in charge of England through four 6 Nations tournaments and come runner-up each time, that is just not good enough. Not to mention Lancasters’ decisions for this tournament – the initial squad selections (mentioned earlier in this post). 3 games of a world cup with 3 different backs lineup?! Building the team around Farrell, just to drop him for Ford (who has grown extremely well into the role) and then to go back to Farrell after the Fiji game. Ford did nothing wrong in the Fiji game and actually controlled everything when he came on at half time v Australia, everything that worked was running through Ford whose game management is becoming second to none (Bath bias). So, unfortunately, I would say that Lancaster has to get the ol’heave ho.

As for the rest of the coaching staff, it would be a breath of fresh air to replace everyone. But would any of them be pushed up to the top job? Would any of them have done enough to avoid the chop? It would have to be a no from me. A complete clear out and re-build from top to bottom. Possibly to include those at the very top in the RFU.

Onto the team, I have personally never seen Robshaw as a captain and I think now is the time to take the title from him. I seem to recall an issue a few years ago where, ironically, he went for posts on a late penalty rather than going to touch. But he has held the reins on the pitch and has come up short. It is time to give someone else the helm to steer the ship in a new direction.
It is a subject which really came to the fore in the build up to the world cup, England players playing club rugby abroad ineligible for inclusion in the squad. This does seem like a genuinely fair rule, it means the players are all in their home country playing against and with each other whilst still coming up against the best foreign players in the European cups. However, when you have 2 players who have been voted European player of the year the past 2 seasons (Steffon Armitage & Nick Abendanon) you must surely have to re-look at the rule! I’m not saying that those two men would’ve been the difference between a group stage exit embarrassment and being crowned champions, but the fact they were omitted without a second thought is another reason that England are holding themselves back.
Speaking of players left behind, how about Dylan Hartley? Cited for a head-butt at the end of the Aviva Premiership season. England’s ‘bad boy’ was ruled out of the warm up matches and would miss the opening game v Fiji. Now, a head-butt is a stupid thing for a sports player to commit and Hartley was rightly punished. But France’s Huget stamped on a players head (still unpunished, go and watch the video of it and tell me he shouldn’t face criminal charges) and was selected in their squad, so why not Dylan? Well, for starters, this recent ban meant that Hartley’s total weeks banned was up to 54. 54 weeks where a player has been repeatedly punished for infractions and I feel that he deserved to be left out of the squad. And even some of the blame shouldered onto him for the woeful performances, a subsequent punishment of the knock on effect his ill-discipline can have onto the squad as a whole.

Today, Tuesday, Lancaster has announced the team that will face Uruguay in England’s last world cup match. As expected a lot of fringe players have been brought in, including Slade at 13. With Farrell as his central partner….yup, yet another centre pairing for Lancaster. Excuse me for thinking laterally but when England faced France in a warm up game, Burgess & Slade played together and looked fairly decent, why not stick them in again?! It’s Uruguay, Burgess can’t do much harm! Although he has received a warning for a high tackle in the Australia game so maybe this is his “punishment”.

Anyway, those are some of my thoughts as to the state of the England team after an incredibly short stint in their home world cup.
I hope you enjoyed it and please feel free to add your ideas in the comments.

Download 2015 Review

2015-06-16T15:51:00.002+01:00

There are times when you think you have a great idea, no festivals in 2015 was one of these ideas for me.
Until the announcements began.

With the run that was built up for the Sunday of Download, the decision for a day ticket was pretty swift. You may be thinking that one day isn’t overly breaking the no festival rule and I would agree. Unfortunately, with a mix of more fantastic announcements filling the line-up and very low will power. I ended up getting a full weekend ticket for Download 2015.

This is how the festival panned out for me.

Stage Key: Main – M: Zippo/2^nd – Z: Maverick/3^rd – MV: Jakes’/4^th – J
Scores out of 10

Friday

Slightly delayed arriving at the arena before being caught up in the mega queue that had sprung up. I was wondering why it was taking so long to get people in until I saw how the new “cashless” (will talk about this more in a moment) system was working with the scanning of tickets. So I think that will need addressing to keep the flow of people constant. One option I’ve seen mentioned is to open the arena 2 hours before the music begins rather than the current 1 hour. But then I’m sure there are plenty of people at Live Nation being paid great amounts of money for their ideas so I’ll leave it to them.

Once I was onto the hallowed ground the first port of call was for a cold bottle of water as the temperature had really ramped up. It was also my first chance to see the supposed media heightened horror of a cashless festival first-hand. I asked for a water and then held my wristband up to the little scanner which beeped with a green light and stated “Payment Successful” and showed my remaining balance. Not only did the system work perfectly for me all weekend, it made life so much easier without messing around with notes and jangling change. And I definitely felt safer not having to carry my wallet with me. I understand there were a few problems for some people and this will need to be addressed before next year, but I have nothing but praise for the system.

So, onto the first band of the festival which turned out to be; Lacuna Coil (M-8) had great energy on the main stage and made use of the ramp which made its return from the 2014 festival. Christina Scabbia and Andrea Ferro entertained the sizeable crowd that had surfaced in the bright sunshine with a set that spanned the band’s career. The cover of Depeche Mode’s ‘Enjoy the Silence’ was devoured by the crowd before a powerful finale of ‘Our Truth’.
After a bit of exploring around the newly laid out festival site, I managed to find myself down at the front for Clutch (M-10) and I’m really glad I did. They were superb and the setlist couldn’t have been better. On the screens during the festival there was an interview with lead singer Neil Fallon saying that his biggest fear is not being able to do what he loves. And it was extremely evident that he, and his bandmates, love playing music. One thing I enjoy as a music fan & festival goer is seeing bands playing with passion for the fans and not for commercial gain (although that is a real bonus!) A real tight unit with some belting tunes stapled this as a top scoring set.
With Five Finger Death Punch up next on the main stage I made myself scarce to find some good music….I mean an alternative choice. For this I was slightly spoilt as I could’ve gone to the tent to see Sylosis but ended up heading to Corrosion Of Conformity (Z-7) for my first visit of the 2^nd stage this year. Some old school heavy metal was a good choice for the following bands I’d be seeing and C.O.C were really enjoyable, I just wish I knew more than one of their songs and would likely have been more invested in them.
I stuck with 2^nd stage to catch a couple of songs from Thunder (Z-7), who would’ve likely scored higher if I’d stayed with them for longer. They sounded very good and can still blast out the hits like it’s….well 2011 when they re-formed.
From British rock to British heavy metal and Judas Priest (M-10) smashed the main stage to pieces taking no prisoners. I have seen Priest on a number of occasions but I think this may have been the best. Tearing through each epic hit like a dog with a T-bone steak and giving Download an hour of intense metal with face melting riffs and Rob Halfords signature screams. Even giving me a surprise by singing (most of) ‘Breaking The Law’, which has been left to the crowd the last few times I’ve seen them.
Heading around to the Zippo stage to see a band that clashed with this year’s headliners in 2013, and who I decided to watch instead. Black Stone Cherry (Z-8) clearly suffered with some technical problems at the beginning of their set, possibly due to the sustained rainfall that had settled over Donnington (and making me rue the decision to only take a hoody with me). Even though it is their staple set opener, the opening words of ‘Rain Wizard’ “Here comes the rain!” was extremely apt. They are always so shocked and grateful at the fans that turn up for them, “in the bullshit rain” as guitarist Ben Wells puts it (he’s not wrong!). I can’t see another band more worthy, I have seen them grow from venues that hold 400 people to owning arenas and they will only continue to grow with the calibre of music they are pouring out. They gave us a new song ‘Roadrunner’ which sounded just awesome!
I went to Wembley to see a band for the 4^th time in January; now it was time to make that 5 times. Some bands know how to control the stage and capture the audience from the second they walk out, Slipknot (M-10) are one of those bands and thoroughly proved it with another slaying of the main stage headliner spot. The addition of new album, “The Grey Chapter” has given the band an even bigger arsenal of ear-pounding, fist-pumping songs to blast through. I’d have preferred ‘Killpop’ to have been left at home but no matter, the head banger of ‘Custer’ mixed with stalwarts such as, ‘Duality’ and ‘Eyeless’ left no-one with the notion that Slipknot didn’t deserve to be there. As with Black Stone Cherry, the band recognise the UK as a huge part of their fanbase and Corey Taylor thanked the crowd on numerous occasions. I’m one of those people that always laugh when a band says how “this is the best gig we’ve ever played” or “you are the best crowd ever”, but it’s obvious just how close to the heart the Maggots (Slipknot fans) are to band.

And with that brain-melting performance, it was the end of the first day and an extremely successful one it was. The decision to attend the full weekend looked to have been a very good one, apart from being soaked through to the bone. This is one reason that the new festival attendance of staying in a hotel becomes a superb idea.

Saturday

Before the weekend, the weather forecast showed Friday to be hot & dry, Saturday to be a washout with Sunday bringing up a cloudy cool day. So after the drenching I had unexpectedly received on the Friday, I headed to the shop to pick up a new hoodie and also found some cheap ponchos (yes, I should have taken some with me, my bad!). Supplies purchased and it was off to Download day 2. However, as soon as I left the hotel the poncho went on, I was hoping that with the rain on the Friday and it being like that in the morning that the weather-front had hit earlier and the rain wouldn’t take up much of Saturday. Wishful thinking in the end.

Making it into the arena to see a band I haven’t seen since 2007, Funeral For A Friend (M-6) unsurprisingly drew a rather small crowd in the rain, which was a shame as it seemed to knock them off their pace a bit. They were good enough but it seemed rather flat. They spoke about previous attendances of Download and how they were playing in the exact same spot as their first appearance in 2003, coming full circle. Although they didn’t seem to realise that this isn’t a good thing!
Moving on to a bit of early afternoon thrash metal which Malefice (Z-6) duly obliged with. A frantic 25 minutes ploughed from the stage with vocalist Dale Butcher leading the crowd with head banging and circle pits all over the place. I’m not sure what I felt was off with them but they just didn’t keep hold of my attention which is why their score is lower than I personally thought they’d get.
Time to take things down a notch and enjoy some Finnish cellists playing through their repertoire. Apocalyptica (Z-4) couldn’t have disappointed me much more than they did with the few songs I stayed to watch. They have added a vocalist from somewhere which was the start of taking much of the performance away. They included 2 songs from the new album which I haven’t heard, possibly more my problem than theirs but still! I was coming off a fairly poor showing at Wacken last year and this did nothing to help repair my opinion of them.
I really need picking up after Apocalyptica and I was hoping that a band I have wanted to see for years would do the trick. They did that and went beyond. What a fantastic performance by Hollywood Undead (M-9). Powering through new and old songs, interacting with the crowd, bouncing around like lunatics and just fully enjoying themselves. The energy just flowed from the stage and infected the crowd who bounced and sang with the good time they were clearly having. If I get the chance to see them again I definitely will, preferably out of the rain this time, much harder to move your feet when they are stuck in mud! My only gripe with the set is it appeared that possibly a tape was used during ‘Undead’, the vocals seemed to stay rather constant throughout. But who knows, either way, the rest of the set was sublime with each band member having the spotlight and belting out tune after tune. Thank you Hollywood Undead, you really started my Saturday!
Moving over to the newly-named Maverick stage for the first time this year it was evident that it was indeed a much bigger tent than previous years. And yet, you still couldn’t fit in everyone to see Upon A Burning Body (MV-8) destroy the stage. A blistering set from the Texan metallers happily lapped up by the boisterous crowd. Leaning heavily on their 2014 album “The World Is My Enemy Now”, UABB finished with a cover of ‘Turn Down For What’. On record this features Ice-T from Bodycount and with them due to sub-headline this stage later in the day I was hoping that he would make an appearance with them. Unfortunately this didn’t happen and his parts were just added with a tape playing. Can’t win them all I guess.
Testament (Z-9) handed us a 30 minute thrash fest. With pulsating beats emanating from the stage, these metal veterans treated us to a 6 song set that spanned their career. Including a back-to-back of ‘Practice What You Preach’ and ‘Into The Pit’ which had me beaming from ear to ear. They could easily have enjoyed being on stage for longer and I wouldn’t have complained.
Sticking with 2^nd stage and catching a couple of songs from Carcass (Z-7) before heading off for a long stint at main stage was a good call. I always enjoy seeing Carcass and they were really on form from what I saw. I imagine if I had stayed for their full set the score would be higher.
Time for a run of main stage bands who were a large part of why I ended up attending for the full festival. First, Rise Against (M-8) just always seem to have fun when they play and the smile during this set on Tim McIlrath’s face is evidence of this. I was expecting them to play more from their new album “The Black Market”. But they just threw out more of their classics, much to the crowd’s pleasure, ‘Prayer Of The Refugee’ was particularly ferocious.
I really hoped that I could see a full set from the next band; in 2013 I arrived late to catch their last few songs. And late last year they played here in Portsmouth, well…they were playing until someone jumped from the balcony and the gig was cut short. So, could A Day To Remember (M-10) live up to the hype? Simply yes, and more. If this band aren’t Download headliners in the next few years I’ll be very surprised. They have everything down to a tee. Stage show, crowd interaction, songs that have already moved toward being anthemic and an adoring fanbase which is growing at an incredible pace. As with other bands, ADTR paid tribute to the UK as being massive supporters of them. Throwing in a cover of Oasis’ ‘Champagne Supernova’ was a little bit special, although Jeremy saying “get back together guys” was unnecessary. Just me? Fair enough. An amazing set from a band going from strength to strength and I was able to see it all!
Last year I finally saw Faith No More (M-10) and although they were awesome (I gave them the max rating then as well), it is now clear that they were suffering from sound problems. There was none of that on Saturday and the guys just blew it away. It was ace to hear ‘Motherfucker’ with absolute clarity and once again, Mike Patton showed that is a comedy genius along with a fantastic vocalist. During their cover of The Commodores’ ‘Easy’ Mike jumped off the stage to allow a crowd member who was being stretchered away to sing before asking the crowd what they did to him, in a light hearted manner. He also spotted someone who was obviously waiting for Muse and “couldn’t give a fuck about Faith No More…bitch”, the camera panned to said person and they couldn’t have looked any more bored, almost falling asleep on the barrier. There was no chance I’d be sleeping as FNM ripped through classics and new songs alike. Fantastic set by these guys and I hope they stick around for a while this time.

The main stage headliner didn’t really do much for me so I now had a decision to make, who to see?!
I decided to split some sets up and get a good dose of bands I hadn’t seen before.

Starting with Marilyn Manson (Z-8). I’ve heard many reports about MM, in that he is either really good or terrible. I have to say that in my opinion he really brought his A-game to Download. Although disappearing after each song was annoying, possibly more as I knew I wasn’t staying for the whole set. But I was able to see ‘Disposable Teens’, ‘mOBSCENE’ and ‘Sweet Dreams’ so that left me pretty darn happy. His voice sounded good and he owned each song, although the wind had picked up so there was some sound loss creeping in. Not sure if I would see another Manson show, but I can at least say I’ve seen him and wasn’t left disappointed.

Moving across to the hill at main stage I stood and watched a bit of Muse (M-8) whilst I waited for my Saturday headliners to begin, before catching the end of the set afterwards as well. As I said earlier, Muse aren’t a band that I’m overly bothered about. I enjoy the hits but have never really invested much time in them. After seeing them I think this opinion is still the same. Seeing ‘Hysteria’, ‘Supermassive Black Hole’ and ‘Knights Of Cydonia’ was almost perfect for me. Not taking anything away from the band as they are superb at what they do and technically stunning, it’s just that the music leaves me with a shrug of the shoulders feeling. I think that if I saw them indoors at their own show then maybe it’d change my opinion of them, who knows.
In the middle of my 2 viewings of Muse I saw a band that I have liked since their inception. Hey! Hello! (J-10) were absolutely superb, with new vocalist Hollis J at the helm and, whilst I did like Victoria Liedtke, what a replacement! Hollis controlled the crowd whilst Ginger Wildheart and the band fired out riff after riff. A fair amount of pyro effects were used in the tiny tent which was a little worrying when it didn’t look like the band had room to move let alone letting off flashbangs and the like! I wondered how the newly situated tent would fair with sound bleed from main and 2^nd but was grateful to notice that you cannot hear a damn thing whilst the band are pounding out tunes. They played a couple of new songs which will be on the new album, the fact that there will be a new Hey! Hello! Album is the best news! Amazing stuff and a very worthy festival headliner for me.

Sunday

Forecasters saying that the Sunday would be cool, cloudy and mainly dry was so nice to see after the constant rain of the previous day. Deciding on wearing my light rain jacket and a hoodie I left for the shuttle bus. After the 15 minute walk I was covered in sweat with the sun beating down, thanks weather prediction! Not that this lovely weather lasted long.

Sirens In The Delta (J-8) were first up and since I have heard them on record I have wanted to see them. They didn’t disappoint. Ferocious start to the final day with these Teeside metallers. Vocalist Katie has an extremely powerful voice which is backed up by the bands fierce guitars and drums.
Another band I have wanted to see for a long time is H.E.A.T (Z-9) and now that I have, I want to again! Fantastic set which I would’ve been happier to see last a lot longer than the 25 minutes they had. Packing in all the songs I wanted to see and seeing lead singer Erik Gronwall bouncing around in the crowd enjoying it just as much as the fans was awesome. With the bands I’d be seeing later in the day this old school rock group was a great warm up.
Hung around at second stage to catch a couple of songs from Von Hertzen Brothers (Z-7) whom I really enjoyed when they supported The Wildhearts. Once again they were very good for the 3 songs I saw, which included ‘Flowers & Rust’ which helped as I knew it! However, I wasn’t staying with them long as there was more pressing issues.
Namely going to the tent to see Evil Scarecrow (MV-9) perform some “Blue Peter metal” as they put it. With cardboard robots, mud & straw from the floor replacing expensive flashy pyro and a scuttling mosh. If you get the chance to, please go and see this band - awesome tunes and comedy all rolled into one. As lead singer Dr Hell states, “the best band you’ll see all weekend. On this stage. At 1pm on the Sunday”, he certainly wasn’t wrong. Hearing them play the ‘Thundercats’ theme tune was cool, and now I just want to watch the show! The finale of ‘Crabulon’ was ace with everyone in the crowd throwing their pincers in the air.
By now, 3 days in a field had started to take their toll on the legs, fortunately it was time for a nice long stay by main stage. Starting with Tremonti (M-6) who sounded really good and is obviously incredibly skilled with the guitar. However, I must hold my hand up and say I haven’t listened to his album. Or subsequent second album that I didn’t even know he had made! So I found myself drifting in and out of what was happening on stage, represented in the lower score.
Up next came Blackberry Smoke (M-7) with some silky Southern rock to carry Download through the afternoon. It was a shame that the forecast had decided to change and gave us a fairly good dousing of rain during this whole set. It really did dampen (sorry) my mood and I just couldn’t get into them, apart from some light head bobbing, I hardly paid attention to the stage. The music that did register with me did sound really good though so I am annoyed at myself as much as the weather that my focus just wasn’t there.
Once the rain cleared and Billy Idol (M-8) took the stage there wasn’t any lack of focus, and a party sing-a-long vibe just broke out across the crowd. All the classics were aired along with a look back to Idol’s Generation X days. Some artists begin to lose their voice and ability in the later years but Billy sounded nigh on perfect as he rolled through his set. He is someone that I always thought I would never get the chance to see. Now I have, I have no regrets.
Time for some rock royalty as Slash (M-9) took the stage with Myles Kennedy and his band. Another artist who I really need to listen to his own stuff but that was still enjoyable with the tones of Kennedy mixed in with the musical masterclass that comes with watching Slash shred a guitar as easily as if he is just reading a paper. And with it being a Slash show the set was interspersed with Guns’n’Roses covers. Which, as good as they were, just weren’t the same without Axl at the mic. Not taking anything away from Myles as he performed them very well, it just didn’t quite have the same feeling.
A quick trip to 2^nd to catch a bit of In Flames (Z-7) followed. They sounded really good and looking back at the set they played I kind of wish I’d stayed to see more of them. It was good to see them get a very decent sized crowd, who all obliged when asked to create massive circle pits and for everyone to crowd surf, I wasn’t sure the logistics of everyone being in the air at the same time would work but there you go.
The reason I left that set early was to get a good spot back at main to see a band for the first time and to also bid them farewell as they finally put away their gear for good. Motley Crue (M-9 & 6) 2 scores for this band may look odd, however if you have heard Vince Neil singing lately you’d understand perfectly. For starters let’s remove him from the equation, Crue were awesome! Musically sound, Nikki, Mick & Tommy lead the crowd through their career with smooth playing and harsh backing vocals. The stage show was sublime with more pyro than you see some headliners have these days. Now, add Vince Neil’s vocals back into the mix and my word it all goes to pot. As I said with Billy Idol, sometimes age takes its toll and that has definitely happened to Vince. It took me a while to work out what each song was and when they paid tribute to Britain and covered the Sex Pistols ‘Anarchy In The UK’, I was expecting Johnny Rotten to run on stage and throw a tub of butter at him! So, they get a 9 for performance and stage theatrics & a 6 when Vince was “singing”, which is a shame as it was my first experience of them live.

And so it came to the final band of Download 2015, after the shambles that I had just witnessed I was slightly nervous that the headliners might not be as good as I was really hoping them to be.

Of course I didn’t need to worry, KISS (M-10) absolutely stole the festival for me. An incredible show that puts them as one of the best live bands I have seen. It seemed that Paul Stanley’s voice had to warm up a little bit which was a shame for opener ‘Detroit Rock City’ but he overcame it and the rest of the set was amazing. A superbly chosen setlist complimented with fireworks and pyro a-plenty, I was left wondering how much propane had been used by Crue & KISS combined! Scissor lifts to propel all the band into the air, Paul Stanley flying out across the crowd on a harness, Spaceman’s firework guitar, Gene Simmons’ tongue…enough said! This set really did have everything. Including an almost blinding firework show to finish it off.

It was a fantastic end to what had been an epic festival, quite possibly my favourite Download so far.
I think it will take a lot to get me back next year, however I now have the festival bug again and may be more easily persuaded!

Thanks for reading.

Wacken Open Air 2014 Review

2014-08-17T09:33:00.002+01:00

After missing a year of Wacken, I once again travelled to Northern Germany to attend the 25^th anniversary of the festival.

After the first band announcement it was quickly decided that a ticket would be bought, and it had to be a swift purchase as the festival sold out in 2 days.
In September, Wacken announced that they had the headliner locked in. Fast forward to December, and with it, the Wacken advent calendar, where they announce a couple of bands each day. A lot of these are filler/smaller bands to build up the undercard with a few big names thrown in. After the headliner talk in September it was widely expected that the Christmas Eve band would be the Night to Remember band (main headliner), when that box revealed Megadeth, a lot of people reacted negatively to them being the main band of the festival, myself being one of them. But Wacken quickly squashed that notion and we were left to wait for the big announcement.
As we headed into June 2014, there was a lot of animosity towards the organisers who had still not revealed the main headline act that was supposedly booked 9 months previous. Yes, it had been almost a year (and we were now less than 2 months before the festival) since we had been told to get excited about the super act they had lined up. And in that time being told “We’ll announce soon”, “You’re gonna love it”, “Just you wait, it’s coming”. This just wasn’t good enough, and had flights not been booked and paid for, I would have sold my ticket. On the way back from Download 2014, during a social media check, Wacken finally disclosed that the Night to Remember headliner would be Accept.
Now, Accept are not a bad band, and are pretty damn huge in their homeland of Germany. But really?! They’re the main band of the 25^th anniversary festival? 25 years of the biggest metal festival in the world and Accept are the flagship? That just seems like a major kick to the balls (proverbially in ladies cases) of the fans that helped sell out the festival in record time. I’m not going to blabber on about this announcement, but Wacken really did get a lot of peoples’ backs up with what was a lack-lustre line-up and a weak headline act. Couple that with the fact that we were left in the dark for months on end and it left a very bitter taste and no excitement whatsoever about attending the festival.

Wednesday

So, all packed and ready to go, at 3:30am. It has to be said that whoever invented a time like that in the morning had a serious chip on their shoulder! I do have to say one thing about Heathrow Terminal 5, which looking at my 2012 review I did mention there, is that there are 3 departure gate areas. This time we were leaving from Area C, which according to signs takes about 20 minutes to get to. This is fine when they announce which gate you need earlier that 40 minutes before you’re flight. So, after taking a tube train to the gate, we boarded the flight and then I promptly fell asleep (it was early! Too early!), so I’m afraid can’t mention too much about the flight.

Arriving in/negotiating travel in a foreign country is so much easier when you’ve been there before. Swiftly getting to Hamburg central train station, I stumbled into a snag, there were no advertised trains to Itzehoe. And not even a train to Elmshorn, where you usually have to change to finish the journey. After sidling over to an information desk, I was told to head to Hamburg-Altona and take a train from there. This seemed straight forward enough and as it turns out, it is so much easier than going from central station as Altona provides direct trains to Itzehoe. No messing around lugging bags around when changing trains, much more fun! Even now, I still wasn’t feeling in the festival spirit.
Arriving at the holy Wacken ground provided me with a new experience this year. Before, when you stepped off the bus, you’d have your ticket scanned and be given your wristband before passing security and entering the campground. Last year they changed that, you now have your ticket looked at (and a small part ripped off) and then you’re into the campsite, with security guards just glancing at bags.
After setting up the tents, I strolled off to get my wristband. Fortunately, Mike had attended last year’s festival and knew where he was going. Then we found the queues! I feel it must’ve been at least an hour-long wait in the baking sun, with dust being kicked up from the ground (something that would be a staple of the weekend). I’m really unsure about the new area for wristbands, I have never waited long at the previous area by the entrance to the campsite and it seemed to run smoother there. Especially as one bus would arrive at a time carrying maybe 50 people, said people would get wristbands and be on-site before the next load appeared. Now, you have people taking time setting up tents, gazebos, having beers etc. and then converging on the wristband exchange booths in one huge group. Wacken have also changed the tickets, in that they now state your name on them which is checked against your ID. Even though that was one reason that the queue moved slower, I think that is a fantastic idea as it stops touting and people being ripped off for ticket prices……What? They’ve got rid of that for 2015? And now there are already tickets for triple the face value on eBay? Oh.

The plan was to make our way into the tent stages to watch a few bands for the remainder of the day, but the heat and early wake-up had begun to take their toll, so the decision was made to head back to the tents and chill for a while.
A few hours later and I headed back towards the arena and into the Bullhead City Circus tent to catch a few acts to begin the festival. On the way in, I heard a little bit of Dunkelschon on one of the small outdoor stages, I just can’t remember anything about them.
As I mentioned to Mike at this point, I still wasn’t feeling excited or having that festival feeling. Even though I was set up, had my wristband and had heard some live music!

Red Helen – 5 – These guys were the Metal Battle (international battle of the bands) winners from South Africa. I only made it into the tent to catch their last 2 songs but they sounded pretty good.

Bembers – N/A – There are times when you make a mistake at a festival. And there are times when you accidentally watch a comedian at a German festival who does his set in German, who’d have thought it! So I haven’t rated Bembers as I have no idea what he said (my German is very limited). Although I think at one point he called President Obama a pussy, just don’t quote me on that! The crowd seemed to enjoy it and I imagine had I known what the hell was happening I may have too.

Ax ‘N’ Sex – 4 – A hard, sleaze rock group formed in 1989, who played the very first Wacken festival in 1990 (and subsequently the second fest as well). They returned for the 25^th anniversary and I have to say, bored the hell out of me. It wasn’t that they’re bad, it’s just…sometimes bands need to realise it’s ok to grow old gracefully and not continue lumbering around a stage trying to send people to sleep or entertain them, whichever they were attempting.

John Diva & The Rockets Of Love – 10 – The final act to watch on the Wednesday was a cover band. I had decided to watch about half hour of the set before retiring to bed, this ended up changing to watching the whole set and wishing it would continue! They were absolutely superb and thoroughly got me into the festival spirit, finally. Colossal hits from Twisted Sister, Motley Crue, Bon Jovi and a host of other classic rock bands were blasted from the stage and slung right back with just as much fervour by the huge crowd that had been enticed by the roaring guitars.
During the set I thought, if this was me, I’d come on stage wearing a Germany shirt in honour of their World Cup win. After a short interval John Diva did adorn a German flag waistcoat and congratulated the country for the achievement.
As a sidenote, there really isn’t anything at Hamburg airport or the train stations, nor anywhere on the route to Wacken that seemed to suggest they won. I was expecting billboards, banners and all other manner of triumphant media.
To get back on point, John Diva was so much fun and a great way to really open the festival for me. Not quite the same as seeing the legendary acts he covered live, but damn sure close to it!

Thursday

Waking up to hear rain hitting your tent is a fear that festival goers live with and as such, happened on the Thursday morning. Not too heavy, but enough to make you question the attire to choose for the day. Subsequently the pondering didn't need to happen as the clouds moved on and the heat ratcheted up. The in-field doesn’t open until the afternoon but I was planning on spending much of the day in the tent (which is situated outside of the main arena) anyway.

Key: Stages – True Metal (Main 1) – TM; Black (Main 2) – B; Party – P; Bullhead City Circus Tent stages (W.E.T and Headbanger) – T
Metal battle winners – MB *country* (All MB bands were on the tent stages)
All ratings out of 10.

Dismorial – MB Caucasian Republic - 6 – The best way to wake up at a festival? How about some death metal barraging off the stage? That’ll do it. Good start to the day and a decent band from a region that I have never heard of until today!
Trouble Agency – MB Belgium – 7 – Next up we had these Belgian thrash metallers who produced a great sound, very clearly influenced by Metallica. Including the lead singer looking and sounding like a young James Hetfield.
Convivium – MB Sweden – 6 – Some melodic metal from the forests of Sweden. Decent enough set and they finished in the top 5 of the metal battle competition at Wacken.
Agni Kai – MB FYR Macedonia – 5 – This heavy metal band has developed aspects of the djent genre with the introduction of a new guitarist to the fold. They weren’t bad…They just weren’t overly good either.
Room Of The Mad Robots – MB Hungary - 4 – These guys really missed a trick not playing in robot costumes. In fact, if they did, it might make them sound better. Did not enjoy this set at all.
Hellhound – MB Japan – 4 – Hoping for a better set after the previous dross, I was left disappointed again. The only word they seemed to know was “metal” and so every song just consisted of that being sung over and over (and over and over etc). Not too bad at a metal festival, but it would’ve been nice to have heard some other words. Plus the lead vocalist constantly and unnecessarily wailed in a high pitch (ala Cradle of Filth) that left me thinking about walking out of the tent until the next band were on. It’s a shame really as they sounded like they could be a great live band.
Revolution Within – MB Portugal – 8 – This was more like it! A great mix of thrash and metalcore. Pulsating guitars, unforgiving drums and vocals that left no ear untouched. I really enjoyed this set and wish it could’ve lasted longer than 20 minutes.
Evocation – MB China – 4 – After the pick-me-up delivered by Revolution Within, this was a bump back to earth with some force. Advertised as black death metal it had already raised my eyebrow as to “would this be good or bad?” and, as it turned out, it was bad. I lost focus so many times watching this band all I can remember is that they threw confetti from the stage when they came on. And even then, that may have been a different band! Someone remembered them as they got into the top 5 of the battle.
Juodvarnis – MB Lithuania – 3 – Another boring set and my mood was really beginning to dampen by this time. Even the vocalist didn’t seem too bothered about the big stage that they had reached, even having a lie down during one of the songs! Admittedly he continued singing but still!

And now for something a little different: wrestling. The Bullhead City Wrestling team put on a decent show, even if it was a bit silly with the amount of no sell moves that were delivered. It was just a bit of fun that broke up the, mostly bad, music that had been on offer throughout the day. The compere/ring announcer got the most laughs of the day with his constant babbling. Again, with a lot of the talk being in German I wasn’t sure why some wrestlers got booed and some cheered but nevermind.

After that it was back to the metal battle.

Cosmogon – MB Luxembourg – 5 – Slightly better than many of the previous bands but nothing to really shout about. Some straight up metal that was pleasant to listen to.
Earth Divide – MB Faroe Islands – 4 – If I thought the music post-wrestling was going to be better, then these prog metallers certainly put paid to that notion. Metal battle bands get 20 minute slots each and I was bored with this band after about 2 of those 20!
[In Mute] – MB Spain – 10 – By far the best metal battle band I saw and deservedly they won the battle of Wacken. Seeing a female vocalist in a band described as melodic death metal led to the assumption of some clean vocals backed up by growling. This was not the case as Steffi, said female lead, roared at the crowd through the set with deeper vocals than even I could manage. Backed up by a very tight sounding band, they definitely have a new fan in me.
Huldre – MB Denmark – 5 – In hindsight, I would’ve left the tent after In Mute had I known what would follow them. But seeing as it was a folk metal band from the bogs of Denmark and a flyer stating that a Huldre show is not to be missed, I stuck around. Only to be left bitterly disappointed. Boring vocals and mopey music, the only decent thing about the set was seeing a hurdy-gurdy being played. As for the “stage show” of some trees, was there really any need?! They ended 3^rd in the metal battle standings, maybe the judges liked trees?

And so concluded the metal battle of 2014, I knew who my favourites were and as I said, they deservedly won.

Fork – T – 5 – There’s something fun about bands that play acapella to cover songs. Fork is one of these bands and before the festival I listened to a few of their songs and was rather looking forward to seeing them live. I was really let-down in the end. They don’t cover metal songs which, at the biggest metal festival in the world, seems a bit pointless. They even decided to go in the opposite direction and include a mash up of pop songs in the middle of the set, although ‘Cotton-Eye Joe’ and ‘Rasputin’ were nice surprises. But even ‘The Final Countdown’ seemed very lacking. They did seem to know that people weren’t going to like it though as they kept apologising to the extremely small crowd. Take nothing from them as artists, they are extremely good at what they do. I still don’t know how they make some of the instrument sounds with just their voices, but it just wasn’t what I was expecting and I ended up leaving early.

And so, after 7 hours in the tent it was time to enter the main arena for the first time in 2014. And it was to see a band that I saw in 2012.

Hammerfall – B – 8 – They got an 8 in 2012 and they received the same score this year. This would probably have been higher except that I was lazy and sat down watching it on one of the screens. It was a special show playing ‘Glory To The Brave’ in full. This included bringing out ex-members of the band to guest on songs, which was a really great gesture by the band. This was their first set since calling a hiatus in August 2012, playing 2 more festivals after that years’ Wacken set. The reason the hiatus was called was so that they could “play for another 15 years”, based on this showing that is entirely possible. They also played a song from the upcoming new album which sounded really good. A decent showing from the veteran power metallers.

Beyond The Black – T – 7 – Not being content with 7 hours in the tent, I headed back. Although, to be fair, I needed any reason possible to miss Steel Panther on the main stage, seriously…why are they getting such good bookings?! Anyway, stumbled across this band whom I was a little concerned about on first glance, seeing a woman sitting behind an acoustic guitar, participating in what can only be described as a crooning duet with a guy. This changed very quickly when leaving the acoustic guitar, the band threw out a heavy riff and the vocals took on a much deeper tone. Still, they were a good enough watch and again, they weren’t Steel Panther so that’s a huge plus for them.

Letz-Zep – T – 8 – Pretty much what it says in the name, a Led Zeppelin tribute band. Having not seen the Zep or any of their tribute bands in the past, I had nothing to compare this set too. However, they sounded very good and the vocals and guitar solos were close enough to being Led Zep for me. They drew a very sizeable crowd and it just became a mass sing-a-long which was great fun.

Saxon – B – 9 – I knew that getting a good spot in the arena for Saxon would be near impossible so ended up taking a seat in the movie field where they had the set on the big screen. Based on what I saw Saxon really should’ve been the headliner, they were fantastic. I have never seen a bad set from the veteran metallers and hope they can carry on playing for a while yet. They had extra musicians with them at Wacken including a violin quartet and the different sound of the strings added something extra to all the classics that this set contained. Closing out with ‘Princess Of The Night’ and ‘Denim & Leather’ finished a fantastic set. After seeing the stage show and visuals they had brought I wondered if it would upstage the next band, and it really did.

There were large inflatable balls being knocked about by the crowd as we waited for the headliners to take to the stage. I did wonder if this was a distraction away from the disappointment of the main band they had announced.

Accept – TM – 5 – I still feel that this was the worst choice of Night To Remember headliner Wacken could field, especially being the 25^th anniversary. I don’t want to take anything away from Accept who are a decent band and sounded on form, but it just seemed to be too big of a spot for them to fill (whilst not having Udo in the band). This was my fourth time at Wacken and I have seen it headlined by Iron Maiden, Ozzy Osbourne & Volbeat, so I apologise in finding Accept a complete waste of the highest slot at Wacken. Whether a band had pulled out and they were a late filler? I don’t know, such was the 9 month silence from the festival over the matter that when Accept were announced, I was less than enthused. For me, it turned into a Night To Forget, had they pushed Saxon into the top slot and had Accept sub-headlining, that would’ve worked well. But for me, they had the lesser band highest and they were out-done, musically and stage show(ally) by Saxon. It was billed as a ‘Restless And Wild’ best of show, I’m not sure why as only 5 out of 18 songs were from the album that is 32 years old (maybe that’s a lucky number in Wacken?) I ended up leaving after 4 or 5 songs and headed back to the tent for an early night.

Friday

Another hot day and another day I would be mostly inside the tent. I, like many others, felt this years’ line-up was rather poor. However, you just have to make the most of what you’re given. This meant I would get the chance to see a lot of new bands instead of ones I had seen earlier in the month.

Chthonic – B – 8 – Starting the day in the bright sunshine being treated to some metal from Taiwan. These were really enjoyable and employed a video screen into their backdrop, which surprised me for an opening band. But the artwork and lyrics posted on the screen really enhanced the show. A fantastic start to Friday and it was cool to see the band include an orchestra in the latter part of their set.

Nailed To Obscurity – T – 7 – Heading into the tent for a stint of 5 hours and first up were death metallers, Nailed To Obscurity. Finding new bands is a great part of the festival experience for me, and finding new bands that I like is even better. Heavy riffs interlaced across varying depths of vocals make this band one to watch out for.

For The Imperium – T – 7 – Now, what to say about this band? Well, they were very good and they’re from Finland. What kind of music do they play? Well, it’s….sort of….like…..well…if you mix black metal with death metal and throw in some metalcore, you’d still not be close. At the end of the day they are a great band with a great sound, whatever it is!

Neopera – T – 9 – Now, readers of previous blogs on here will know that I am a huge fan of operatic/symphonic metal. This band, much like Amaranthe, include 1 female & 1 male clean vocalists and 1 male screamer. Unlike Amaranthe, the clean vocals are very operatic (I guess with opera in the name that’s kind of obvious huh?) and they are fantastic. I really enjoyed this set and it would probably have got full marks if it had been longer, although Mike will completely disagree with that. Music that flies backwards and forwards between classical pieces and growling that wouldn’t be amiss on a DevilDriver album, leaves you no time to breathe in a whirlwind of melody and riffs.

Collibus – T – 8 – Some female fronted metal from here in the UK and a band I had missed on a couple of occasions this year. I’m glad that I did finally manage to see them as they are great. Having only just released their debut album this year, this band has a strong foothold in the metal world already.

COP-UK – T – 5 – Not bad musicians, although I did find myself getting bored the longer the set went on. But my major gripe with them is that they really seemed to be emulating Steel Panther. That joke is wearing thin with Panther, let alone another band doing it. The lead singer asked “who has Yorkshire in them? And who wants some Yorkshire in them”, I can’t even say they drew a smile from me.

Torment – T – 8 – Very good thrash band or ‘Thrash n Roll’ as they call it, who were playing a 30^th anniversary show. And I really enjoyed it, the guitars, drums and volatile vocals kept my attention. And that was before the lead singer started swinging a chainsaw around, and then proceeded to cut up a guitar and throw the pieces into the crowd. Not entirely sure how safe that was but still. I don’t know if they do this at all their gigs, but it seems like something that would push up their outgoing costs significantly. Nevermind, it looked cool and they were a good band to watch before heading back out into the heat.

Heaven Shall Burn – TM – 9 – These guys are brilliant live. One of those bands that, watching live is just an absolute pleasure. I was expecting this set to be leaning towards their new album released last year, but it was a complete mix from all of their records, which is ace as every one of their albums contains some ace songs. Natives of Germany meant that the in-between song chat was lost on me but that didn’t take anything away from the set.

Children Of Bodom – B – 8 – Having somehow not seen this band since 2008, I had forgotten how bloody good they are. Throughout a hits-packed set, lead singer Alexi Laiho delivered some very entertaining banter. The band threw in a partial cover of a pop song, which reminded me of the ‘Umbrella’ cover they played at Wacken 2008. CoB are seriously great live and hopefully it won’t be another 6 years until I see them again!

Apocalyptica – TM – 5 – I saw Apocalyptica at a small venue in Portsmouth when it was just the 4 guys playing. At Wacken they brought a whole orchestra with them. Now, being a band of cellists you would think that this would make a lot of sense. Unfortunately it didn’t come across as a success. I was looking forward to the set but found myself very bored and uninterested from a very early stage, not even their cover of Metallicas ‘Fight Fire With Fire’ could help. This was a shame, as they are absolutely fantastic musicians, it just seemed to amount to too much with the added instruments.

Hamatom – T – 8 – Leaving Apocalyptica slightly earlier than planned, I managed to get into the tent (only just, mind, since it was almost packed to capacity) and caught the last few songs from Hamatom. Great tunes and an enigmatic frontman led to a very enjoyable watch. Not entirely sure why the band play wearing a variety of masks, but each to their own. The entire crowd were enamoured throughout, constantly chanting the bands’ name and all holding their middle fingers in the air on instruction by the lead singer for the final song.

The Vintage Caravan – T – 10 – One thing that was helpful about a lack-lustre line-up is that I was able to see plenty of new bands and discover some gems like these Icelandic rockers. As their name may suggest, they play psychedelic blues infused rock and it is incredible. I sat down for the first part of the set but was soon on my feet clapping and nodding along to the floating beats and mesmerising riffs that the band made look easy.

Hell – T – 10 – I can’t say extreme metal is one of my favourites but I seriously enjoyed Hell. Brutal without being just a wall of noise (*cough* Mayhem *cough*) and a frontman who just wouldn’t stand still. This included whipping himself, faith-healing members of the crowd and dodging the ample pyrotechnics they forced into the tent. The rest of the band played with a fervour that really could have come from the fiery depths below! The only issue I had at this point was that my feet and legs were really beginning to ache.

Nightmare –T – 8 – French death/thrash/power (mixed bag of tricks these guys have) metal was up next and they were very good. They pulled a very decent sized crowd seeing as they were clashing with Slayer, which surprised me a bit. But the band did deserve it, punchy songs with enough pace to keep your head bouncing. Unfortunately, the tiredness that had begun setting in during Hell was starting to pick up pace and sapping my energy which meant I lost focus of the set occasionally. Nothing to do with the band, just my slowly aging body!

A Pale Horse Named Death – T – 7 – Gothic-doom metal straight out of Brooklyn… Literally! The band had just flown in in time for the set. They were very enjoyable, it’s a bit of a shame they didn’t get a bigger crowd as this seemed to annoy the band and they kept pandering for cheers and it seemed rather forced. But, musically, I can’t falter them; catchy, sludgy songs that felt right at place in the late night slot they had been given.

By the time they were finishing, I was totally finished myself. I wasn’t even sure if my legs would carry me back to the tent! They did though, via King Diamond on the main stage, and had I not been dead on my feet I would’ve like to have caught some of his stuff.

Saturday

And so it came to the last music day of this year’s Wacken festival. Before the festival, weather forecasts were saying that the Saturday would bring thundery showers. Turns out the forecast was wrong - shocker isn’t it? And the glorious sunshine was baking the ground before I had set foot out of the tent.

Now, for the final time in 2014, I entered the arena (without being searched, not the greatest move by security) and took up place at a stage I hadn’t been to all weekend! A fact only realised during the set.

Prong – P – 8 – A band I had been looking forward to seeing since they were announced and they were brilliant. Clashing with Arch Enemy wasn’t the best but as I am seeing Arch Enemy later this year it seemed to make sense to see Prong. Good decision that was, fantastic hardcore metal to begin the last day. They drew a very sizeable crowd, which, being up against Arch Enemy, was a big surprise. It certainly didn’t daunt the band though as they powered through their set. Lead singer Tommy Victor called for hands to be raised and he was answered with a sea of fists for ‘Whose Fist Is This Anyway?’, following this up with ‘Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck’ was awesome.

Sodom – TM – 5 – Saw them at Wacken 2011 when they scored an 8, this time, not so much. I feel that they suffered from some sound issues but still, this wasn’t good. In fact, one of the only things that helped their score was the fact they played ‘Surfin’ Bird’.

Behemoth – B – 6 – I am not a massive fan of death metal but I did enjoy the majority of Behemoth, feeling just a tad bored at times. But my main issue with this set is that it really should’ve been played at night, or at least dusk. The whole underground death metal schtick that the band portrays was really lost in the bright sunshine Wacken was enjoying. Burning upside down crosses which were barely visible, as was lead singer Nergals’ ornamental microphone stand. So it was a shame that the imagery was lost but a decent showing from the band all the same.

Devin Townsend Project – TM – 8 – After seeing a fair amount of Devin’s set at Sonisphere in July, I was really looking forward to seeing the entirety at Wacken. And I wasn’t disappointed - he was brilliant. His backdrop was a videoscreen showing off his Ziltoid puppet creation playing various instruments, as well as some groovy colour images which would’ve been interesting to the festival goers who were ‘under the influence’. Getting thousands of metalheads to participate in a group hug was a superb sight. Then having to tell the crowd to “chat amongst yourselves” whilst the band discussed what song to play when realising they still had 15 minutes on stage, rather than it being the end of the set, was comical, but seemed very apt for the jovial style that Devin provides live.

Emporer – B – 7 – This black metal band re- re-united this year and were playing Wacken with their debut album ‘In The Nightside Eclipse’ in full for its’ 20^th anniversary. Had I listened to the album more often I may have enjoyed them more. But I really did like what I heard from Emporer who, like Behemoth, seemed to suffer for playing during the day, and a particularly bright & sunny day at that. Heavy, black metal being screeched into sunlight doesn’t quite have the same nightmarish feeling as it does in a night-time dark and mood filled set. And seeing as this was originally announced as their first live performance since 2008 (subsequently they played a few other fests and gigs before Wacken), I’m very surprised they weren’t put on later. However, they were good and I was planning on leaving the set early anyway.

The Ocean – T – 8 – The Bullhead City Circus Tent had largely been my home at this year’s festival, but on the last day this was the only visit. And it was to see a band I have wanted to watch for a while and finally the chance arose. The Ocean play prog metal with elements of metalcore thrown in for good measure and it blends perfectly. I’m pretty sure they were the only band playing in the tent that used a videoscreen backdrop which was cool to see. A very enjoyable set from a great band who are even better live.

Amon Amarth – TM – 10 – Heading back into the arena to catch these Viking death metallers and having to pick my jaw up off the floor with how good they were! (I don’t know if my jaw did actually hit the floor, it was so dusty in the air it was too difficult to tell.) They were absolutely immense and by far the best I have seen them play. The stage show included a longboat with 2 smoke-filled dragon heads at either end, and enough pyro to burn down a large village! It has to be said, for a death metal vocalist, John Hegg had a constant smile painted on his face throughout the set. But then again, it looked like 99% of Wacken attendees were in front of the stage and loving every second of it so you can understand the cheeky grin.

Megadeth – B – 9 – I have seen Megadeth twice before, both times indoors, and they’ve been really good. Some bands don’t transfer well onto outdoor stages, but my first time seeing Megadeth outside? Outstanding! There did seem to be some sound issues at the beginning and I did think ‘uh-oh, this is going to be terrible’, but those fears were soon laid to rest as the band settled into their familiar thrash sounds, pounding them from the stage like a herd of galloping stallions. Furious riffs complimented Dave Mustaine’s unique vocals throughout the hit-filled set. At the end of every Megadeth show, Dave Mustaine always leaves with his signature “you’ve been great, we’ve been Megadeth” slogan. It really seemed that after the thanks, bows and waves from the band they were going to just walk off. But then Mustaine bounded back to the mic to give the crowd what they were waiting for. In truth he could easily have said “We’ve been Megadeth and we’ve been fecking awesome!” and it would’ve rung true.

And so, we arrived at the final band I would be seeing at Wacken 2014 (the decision had been made to miss Kreator due to my feet trying to fall off).

Avantasia – TM – 10 – The number one reason I bought a ticket for this years’ festival was the announcement of this band and from the millisecond the curtain dropped that decision was truly vindicated. Avantasia were just stunning, and lead vocalist Tobias Sammet was on mega form. Tobi has got to be one of, if not the, best frontmen ever. His on-stage banter (when in English) is marvellous; I imagine it is in German as well, I just don’t know what he’s saying. Part of this included running across to the adjoining Black stage and asking the fans waiting for Kreator if they are enjoying the “gay metal” of Avantasia, before addressing the Avantasia fans with “nevermind them, let’s carry on with the real music of the evening”. This was all in jest as he admits that Millie Petrozza (Kreator vocalist) is like his brother and he loves Kreator. I can’t complain about the setlist which included songs from last years’ new album. Every song was faultlessly delivered through the singers and the musicians and I think I lost my voice about halfway through the 2 hour slot. The plethora of singers that have been wrapped into the Avantasia family were all fantastic. I wish I could remember more German from school as it looked like Tobi and Michael Kiske shared a great joke before the song ‘Avantasia’. Tobias had said that this could be the last show, or at least the last for many years, from Avantasia and they said good-bye in fantastic fashion. As with Black Sabbath, if that is the last live showing, I am hugely satisfied that I was there to witness it.

Once back at the tent and heading to sleep I was able to hear both Kreator (thrash metal) and Van Canto (acapella group), a very strange mix, from the arena. I was able to catch Van Canto performing a Nightwish song with Tarja Turunen (original Nightwish singer) which was pretty awesome.

Sunday

Being woken up at 6am is always fun…..oh wait, no it’s not. However, with the plan to leave the campsite early, it didn’t overly matter. It was an easy enough trip to the airport, I got straight onto a shuttle bus at the festival gates, amid a few festival goers whose early rising caught up with them straight away. Arriving at Itzehoe, a very nice German couple asked if we’d like to club together with them and get a Group Save ticket, essentially saving 5€ on the journey. After getting off the train at Hamburg Altona and taking a short walk to the underground (S-Bahn), we arrived at the platform without noticing any ticket machines. No-one else had stopped either so I was left slightly confused. Nevertheless, a train was boarded and we were on the final leg of the journey to the airport. If stopped, we had planned on playing the ignorant tourist card. But, as the train carried us further into Hamburg the guilt chip began to kick in and we ended up jumping off at Hauptbahnhof to grab a ticket. I have never been ticket checked on the S-Bahn (and subsequently not this year either!) but it still felt fraudulent to be riding around Germany for free.

Getting to the airport almost 9 hours early may seem excessive but after a short wait for the shower, which was free this year after Wacken and the airport made an agreement, was utterly glorious. What wasn’t fun was the cleaner I met before the shower became available, she spoke German and Spanish with no English, whereas I was the total opposite. Once inside the heaven of hot water she then proceeded to constantly knock on the door and, I assume, inform me there was a queue. A queue? Seriously? 75,000 people (albeit not all going through the airport) have been in a dusty field for the best part of a week, of course there will be high demand for the shower! Anyway, after I was sufficiently clean again, I spent the rest of the day walking around the airport, there isn’t a lot to do but it beats sitting in a dusty field!
I do have to mention the arrival at Heathrow, where you usually get held up at some point or other. It was excellent this year, customs was a breeze with the new chipped passport and my bag arrived on the belt about 3 minutes after I got there!

And so my Wacken 2014 adventure had come to its conclusion and I have to say, it was brilliant. As stated at the beginning of the review, I was not impressed with the lineup and there was a high possibility that I wouldn’t have gone had I not booked the flights so early in the year. But it turned out to be a great weekend and I’m glad I went. I discovered some new bands, saw some of my favourites and was able to miss some crap, sorry but I just don’t like Steel Panther..or Five Finger Death Punch…or Bring Me The Horizon..or….well, you get the point.
It just goes to show that even with a mediocre line-up in the case of big name bands you can still make a good time for yourself. Spending a lot of time in the tent did me no harm and I got to see a large number of bands when looking at the larger bands playing left me feeling let down.
And if, as said, it turns out to be the final live Avantasia set then I am ridiculously happy that I was there.
When Wacken announced their first set of acts for next year I did get the usual tug at the back of my brain that I would want to go. However, I have said that 2015 will be used for other activities and I will stick to that….maybe. But Wacken 2015 sold out entirely within 12 hours of going on sale so I won’t have to worry my wallet about that.

Thanks for a fantastic time Wacken Open Air, maybe I will step onto the Holy Land again one day.

Sonisphere 2014 Review

2014-07-13T16:42:00.001+01:00

So, no festivals in 2014 is going well so far.

Then Sonisphere announced they were returning with a full 3 day festival, with Metallica: By Request closing the weekend. Day ticket bought! Then BST (which I also reviewed here) announced Black Sabbath on that Friday – AEG & Kili used to host Soni but AEG had split and put on one of the greatest metal bands against their old allies who had The Prodigy headlining the Friday of Soni, sneaky move AEG! So, that left the Saturday with nothing to do……and my wallet very relieved. I started a new job at the end of April and in my first pay packet in May I received a little extra for the ‘work in hand’ I had done. Cue me joking to the friend who I was attending the day fests with that I would use the money to go to Sonisphere on the Saturday as well. After laughing it off as a no-go we ended up buying the Saturday tickets and sorting a hotel (seriously, I have no will power!). So the weekend was going ahead and would mean in 3 days I would see Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden (with an adjusted Maiden England set) and Metallica (playing songs chosen by the fans who would be seeing them). After the awesome-ness that was Friday in Hyde Park, it was up to Sonisphere to prove that returning after a 2 year hiatus was the right move and that Kili had the skills to pull it off without AEGs’ help.

Saturday

I stayed in London and took the train to Stevenage, then transferred onto the shuttle buses (which were very clearly signposted and so easy to find) to take me to the festival site. I had only one gripe about this and that was that the bus prices were advertised as £8 for a weekend wristband, when I arrived it was £10. Not a major difference but still wrongfully advertised. Getting to the site and, remembering from past day ticket attendances, I slowly recalled how to get around and eventually walked into the arena, just to be drenched in a short heavy shower that appeared out of nowhere.

All ratings out of 10. Stage key – Apollo/Main – A; Saturn/2^nd – S; Bohemia Tent – B; Jagermeister Tent – J; Satellite Tent – ST.

TesseracT – A – 6 – Some Prog metal to begin the day on the main stage with Tesseract, with lead singer Daniel Tomkins making his first appearance back with the band after 3 years away. It was a really enjoyable set from these guys, with only one oddity for me. They played 5 out of 6 songs from their debut EP and one from their first album. Personally I would’ve just played the last song from the EP and had a full ‘Concealing Fate’ set.

Alestorm – S – 8 – PIRATE METAL!!!! Nothing beats a good heavy sea shanty about mead, wenches and the ocean blue. If the floaty djent style of TesseracT hadn’t woken people up, Alestorm certainly did (amid a few sound problems that seemed to be caused by the wind that had picked up, which is why they didn’t receive the best score). This is such a fun band to watch, simple lyrics to instantly sing along too with some heavy riffing that makes you look like a car bobblehead going over a hundred speed bumps. Second song ‘Drink’ from the forthcoming new album just epitomised the band, ‘We are here to drink your beer and steal your rum at the point of a gun’ followed by the chant of ‘drink, drink, drink’ etc had pint cups a-plenty raised aloft from the huge masses that had been drawn to the stage. Closer ‘Keelhauled’ gained a huge reaction from the crowd that had just witnessed a fantastic set from a bunch of Scottish pirates. Alestorm have announced a UK tour for later this year and I will definitely be partaking in lots of rum drinking before the gig!

Calling All Cars – B – 8 – For any reason to get away from the awful Babymetal, I headed into the big tent to watch these Australian rockers do their thing. And that thing was hugely enjoyable. Pure rock n’roll to bring in the afternoon and a band to keep an eye on in the future now they have relocated to the UK.

Chas & Dave – S – 7 – Yeah, so, ummmm, Chas & Dave played a set on 2^nd stage. It was very fun to see and sing songs that I’ve heard played in the past and totally forgotten about. ‘Snooker Loopy’, ‘Margate’, ‘Diddly Umma Day’ & ‘Rabbit’ were just ridiculous good fun. It was viewed as a rather odd booking for the festival but I think it worked amazingly well. Especially when the crowd reciprocated the fun times of the stage into circle pits and walls of death to the oldie pop rockers! Unfortunately, I apparently began to lose interest at the end, mainly when a random festival goer shouted ‘cheer the fuck up’ in my face which brought me out of the dazed, dreamlike state that I had apparently lapsed into! But it was still an experience to see them and carried on the fun festival vibe.

Ghost B.C. – A – 7 – A band I have been wanting to see for a long time and never had the chance too, meant I was really looking forward to this set. They didn’t disappoint me but they also didn’t amaze me as much as I was expecting. Superb start to the set with ‘Year Zero’ which the Nameless Ghouls pounded out from the stage as Papa Emeritus emerged to the crowds delight. The masks and iris-less contacts work by the band add to the eerie horror effect of the unknown the band produce. Papa Emeritus’s strange vocals also create an unholy sound with the thumping drums and ripping riffs from the Ghouls. This seemed to be completely undone when they played, “a cover as you call it” – Papa, ‘If You Have Ghosts’ which comes across as a rather pop-like choice of song for the Swedish metallers. Even the finish of ‘Ritual’ and ‘Monstrance Clock’ don’t really pull it back into the depths of gloomy heaviness and left me feeling a bit let down with the band.

The Winery Dogs – S – 5 – Needing a boost after Ghost I headed to see ex-Dream Theaters’ Mike Portnoy play with his new band. Instead of a pick-up, I ended up almost falling asleep, save for the rain keeping me alert. I’m not sure I even paid the band as much as 2 minutes of attention. It’s not that they aren’t good; in fact they are a very decent rock group with some great, well-built songs. It’s just that they get very boring, very quickly and, especially at a festival, that is never going to help through a set.

Anthrax – A – 9 – Now, some thrash metal from these guys was just what was needed to bring the afternoon back up to speed. The fact that they had played ‘Among The Living’ in full on the Friday meant I was expecting a slightly obscure set, and what they did play on the Saturday was just awesome. ‘I Am The Law’ and ‘Indians’ from the Among The Living album got a second airing in 2 days and the rest of the set filled with back catalogue belters before finishing with cover song ‘Antisocial’. It seemed that the massive audience weren’t fully prepared for some of the older songs meaning vocalist Joey Belladonna and guitarist Scott Ian had to double their efforts to get the crowd singing and moving. Their trying was hugely rewarded by the end of the set and it was a solid 45 minutes for the veterans.

Carcass – S – 8 – A band that I was originally disappointed about being announced to be playing the Saturday. Even though I’ll be seeing them at Wacken later this month (no festivals in 2014 – whoops). Extreme metal seemed a rather heavy and unusual choice for Sonisphere to book, but nevertheless Carcass brought the metal and the crowd lapped it up circle and mosh pits all over the show. The band played songs mostly from last years’ album ‘Surgical Steel’, which, it has to be said, is a superb offering from the Liverpool grindcore aficionados. It was nice to see ex-drummer Ken Owen invited out onto the stage to join the band for the final song. Ken suffered a brain haemorrhage in 1999 and has only played a few shows since the bands reformation in 2007 after a 12 year hiatus. After Anthrax and Carcass, Soni Saturday was really back in full swing and the next artist I saw would cement that fact.

Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls – A – 10 – Folk-punk on the main stage was just superb. Frank Turner is a fantastic frontman and songwriter and captivated the gigantic crowds he drew. Before taking the stage he was asked if he was nervous about playing a rock/metal festival with an acoustic guitar. “Of course not!” was the reply and it really showed. A setlist plucked from the last 4 of his albums contained something for everyone, gaining a massive reception for ‘Glory Hallelujah’. It’s not often that you will see festival goers performing star jumps in the late afternoon but Mr Turner just flashes his cheeky grin and sure enough the floor is rocking in no time. Being a massive Iron Maiden fan, crowned with a Mastermind victory with Maiden as his special topic, I think Frank was looking forward to the headliners more than anyone! Closing with the triple hit of fan favourites ‘Recovery’, ‘I Still Believe’ and ‘Four Simple Words’ meant that one of the sets of the weekend that I was looking forward to most left me with a gigantic smile on my face, and hugely impressed with how the band coped with their slot.

Stampin’ Ground – J – 6 – Popped along to the nearby Jager tent to catch the end of this set and had to stay outside due to it being rammed inside. It was a shame not to get in to see them as they sounded absolutely brutal. This was the band’s third show after an 8 year hiatus but it didn’t sound like they’d spent a minute apart. Guitars and drums were furious and complimented the growling vocals perfectly.

Whilst stuffing my face with a burger I sat down and caught some of Hundred Reasons –A – 7 – set on the main stage. They were playing debut album ‘Ideas Above Our Station’ in full and sounded excellent. It was one set that I would’ve liked to see in full but there were other matters to attend to.

Strolling across to the smaller tent I ended up being there much earlier than anticipated and caught Lounge Kittens doing their cover of LimpBizkits’ ‘Rollin’. I do like what I’ve heard of the Lounge Kittens and it was cool to be able to see them, still find it odd to hear them swear though! But after that were two of the reasons I wanted to attend the festival on the Saturday.

Before Iron Maiden took to the stage for Download 2013 they had a Spitfire fly over the crowd. This time, Bruce Dickinson (himself a pilot) announced that there would be a World War 1 dogfight over the grounds of Sonisphere. And it was brilliant! Bruce and the guys from The Great War Display Team delivered 12 minutes of aero acrobatics and every face was facing the skies to watch the display commemorating 100 years since WW1, followed by rapturous applause and cheers as they flew over the arena at the end of the show.

Eureka Machines – ST – 10 – This band never disappoint to make me smile and enjoy every moment of their set. This time was no different, 10 out of 10 rating fully deserved for the Yorkshire pop-rockers who, I was glad to see, drew a sizeable crowd when up against the Deftones on main stage. Fitting in songs from all three of their albums and still managing to include some banter from the stage. I like how Eureka Machines don’t take themselves seriously and just enjoy being on stage and playing. This was 30 minutes of pure enjoyment, meaning I couldn’t stay still for a second and was left with a feeling of pure elation after they had finished.

Slayer – S – 8 – SLLLAAAAAAAAAAAYYYEEEERRRRRR!!!! Sorry, had to get that out of the system. This was my first time seeing the thrash masters and I was left well and truly awestruck. The band ripped through classics ‘War Ensemble’, ‘Raining Blood’ and ‘Angel Of Death’ with such tenacity that they could’ve been written the day before! Kerry King shreds his guitar so easily, he could have a picnic at the same time and Tom Arayas’ vocals were nigh-on perfection. I’ve heard that Slayer can be bad at times but this certainly wasn’t one of them. It was a great touch when they pulled down the Slayer backdrop to show off a Heineken beer curtain tailored as a tribute to band founder and former axe-man Jeff Hanneman, who passed away last year.

Iron Maiden – A – 10 – What is there to say about Iron Maiden? They are a truly superb band who can still play like they did 30 years ago. This was the final date of a 3 year long Maiden England setlist, which as Bruce said “means we’ve had 3 years to get this right”, and right is how they got it! A truly stunning end to the tour and I’m glad I was there to witness it. The set had been slightly changed from the one I saw at Download last year. By changed, I mean it was 1 song shorter and 2 had been swapped but the fact that the 2 new songs were ‘Revelations’ and ‘Sanctuary’, colour me immensely happy! The stage show is so impressive with changing backdrops, Eddie props, 12 foot Eddie robots and of course, Bruce waving the Union Jack like a madman. The amount of energy these guys have still shows and draws a response from the crowd with the appearance of a rolling ocean pouring away from the stage. There is a lot of talk about the mainstay headliners of today; Maiden, Metallica, Aerosmith etc. not having huge amounts of time left and where will the next ones come from. But for me, as long as Maiden can still put out a performance like this, I will still see them over and over again.

Sunday

And so we arrived at the final day of the festival. Entering the arena after strolling through the campsite (because that’s not a security issue) I placed myself in front of main stage. I say in front, it was a fair way back as security had a barrier set up by the midway speaker stacks blocking people getting to the stage. I could see that there were cherry pickers, diggers and the like buzzing around the front of the stage and wondered what on earth was going on. Turns out that Metallica had arrived and announced they wanted to add their iconic Snake Pit to the main stage. Cue a lot of running around from festival staff and consequently meaning the first band came on roughly 20 minutes late.

Gojira – A – 5 – I did wonder, with all the kerfuffle with the stage, if Gojira would be cancelled but they weren’t. And I’m glad of that as they are a band I have been meaning to see for a while and never managed it. They sounded really good and a great heavy start to the day. I didn’t stay long due to the delay but I will hopefully be able to see them do a full set in the future. The delay and the fact that it appeared Gojira were still getting their full half-hour meant missing the small part of Protest The Hero that I was hoping but I was already in an over-excited mood for the next band I’d be seeing.

The Hype Theory – ST – 10 – I discovered this band at Camden Rocks at the end of May and don’t think a day has gone by since, when I haven’t listened to them. Slight change in style after Gojira but this pop-punk outfit know how to have fun. Guitarist Sean ramps up the crowd by throwing his guitar around and never standing still. Lead singer Katy delivers clean vocals and urges the crowd to out sing her. Tom calmly delivers the riffs before hitting the keys for the immense ballad ‘Gone’. And Jack (bass) & Josh (drums) keep the frenetic pace going. They also played a new song which sounded awesome. The ending of the set was accompanied with inflatables being batted around by the crowd, including a signed beach ball which I unfortunately didn’t manage to get, d’oh! The only way this set would have been better for me is if it had been longer. A real fanboy 30 minutes and I can’t wait to catch them again later in the year.

Devin Townsend Project – A – 7 – After the Hype Theory I was planning on catching the last 10 minutes or so of Devin’s set. Thanks to the earlier delay, I managed to see a fair amount more and was very impressed with the Canadian nutter. “I’m not a chest pounding metalhead” announces Devin before proceeding into a full bellied scream intro for the next song. You seem pretty metal to me Dev! A great frontman with some great songs and this was really enjoyable. Devin has already said he is bringing back his alien puppet compadre ‘Ziltoid’, and that he will be playing that show at the Royal Albert Hall next year; I anticipate that it is going to be excellent.

The Bots – ST – 4 – In the same stance as The Graveltones, this band are a two-piece who can make a damn good show. Except that I couldn’t have been more bored throughout what I saw. I don’t know if it was a lack of energy on my part or if they just weren’t good enough to keep my attention but it was a set that was instantly forgettable.

Krokodil – J – 6 – This was much better, even though I hadn’t heard a stitch of their music before the festival. They are a very lively band with pulsating riffs and heavy beats like nobody’s business. A couple of times the lead singer made a sort of screechy noise which reminded me of Cradle Of Filth, but other than that little mishap it was a good showing from the band. It was said that guitarist Lags had 10 minutes to get across the festival site to play with his other band. I really hoped he would make it as that was exactly where I was heading.

Gallows – B – 7 – After seeing them at BST on the Friday, I decided to go and catch them in a slightly bigger venue and it was a good call. They weren’t as good as BST but I think a lot of that was due to the sound. Still, the energy they created was just as ferocious and Lags, having made it across the arena, ended the set playing guitar whilst crowdsurfing which was a sight to see, even though it did look like he got dropped at one point. I’m hopeful that this band can release a couple more well received records and push on as a force in hardcore music.

Reel Big Fish – S – 8 – Just one of the most fun bands to see play live. Re-iterated by the headline show I saw in Portsmouth this last week, most fun ever! Arriving at the end of ‘I Want Your Girlfriend’ was cool and then they launched into ‘Imperial March’ as an intro to ‘Where Have You Been’, at the start of which the power just cut out completely. The band continued to play and I could still hear from where I was, just not as clearly. The power returned at the end of the song to a huge cheer and RBF finished off their set with the laughs and ska-punk fun-ness expected when seeing the band. The reaction to the partial cover of Offsprings’ ‘Self-Esteem’ shows that the punk rockers would be a welcome addition on future Soni line-ups.

Sweet Savage – J – 8 – These metalheads from Northern Ireland have been around since 1979 and still know how to have a good time. A decent set from these guys whilst I had a mid-afternoon sit down. I saw them at Wacken 2011 but didn’t really know much of their stuff so it was nice to enjoy what they did play. They didn’t draw too big of a crowd but I imagine that was due to Mastadon being on the main stage. They played ‘Killing Time’ which is a song of theirs Metallica have covered and finished the set with ‘(Irish) Whiskey In The Jar’, which was great to see for the first time that I would that day. As they left the stage they thanked Lars Ulrich, Metallica drummer, for inviting them to be on the bill which was a nice touch to show the family of metal.

Dropkick Murphys – S – 9 – First off, these guys are much heavier than I remember, especially for a band that utilise bagpipes, tin whistles and mandolins. But they definitely know how to put on a show and cause the ground to shake with the amount of bouncing the crowd inevitably can’t stop. The setlist couldn’t have been much better for me personally and I was so happy to see ‘Rose Tattoo’ live. They barely stopped to breathe as they smashed through their set and if it had lasted another hour I don’t think they would have slowed the pace. If you get the chance to catch Dropkicks I highly advise you do so.

The Bronx – B – 7 – Another band I hadn’t listened to much before the festival and one that I enjoyed a lot. A mix of hardcore and punk build a heavy sounding melody with vocals screamed in your face from frontman Matt Caughthran - who ended the set by crowdsurfing around the tent, and really controlling the audience with where to send him next. I wish I’d known more of their material as I feel they would’ve deserved a higher score but it was good enough to stand and watch the guys go crazy and the crowd loving it.

Raging Speedhorn – J – 8 – Playing just their 2nd show together since they hung up the mics back in 2008. And they were fantastic, both vocalists having no trouble growling to the crowd and telling them to step forward. One thing I’ve noticed at festivals this year is that bands have been told not to incite circle pits, walls of death etc., not that that will stop the fans from doing so. However, Speedhorn mentioned that new rule and just said ‘fuck it, we want this whole tent spinning’! Cue a giant circle pit opening and by-standers being told to step back (by the same guys who had just said step forward!) One thing I haven’t mentioned is the layout of the Jager tent, with a pillar directly front & centre of the stage. If that tent returns the organisers may want to rethink that! I had made the decision to leave Speedhorn early so as to get a spot at main, but what I did see of these guys was very enjoyable.

Metallica – A – 10 – And so it came to the final band of Sonisphere 2014 for me and I can’t think of another band that I would’ve preferred it to be. Metallica were absolutely superb and this was easily one of the tightest and best sets I’ve seen from them. Whether they were still riding the crest of the wave after smashing Glastonbury, happy to be back with their fami-leh, or just cranked it up a notch for Soni, I don’t know but it was flawless. Metallica by request was such a great idea to run with, giving the fans the chance to vote for what songs they wanted to hear. I was a little disappointed when more rare tracks weren’t chosen but then this is Metallica and at the end of the day, whatever they play will be awesome. Lars said in an interview that the fact that mostly staple songs are being chosen just means he is doing his job right when he normally chooses the songs to play. As soon as opener ‘Battery’ had finished it was obvious that Metallica were going to stake their claim for band of the weekend and I think they deserved that title. The new song ‘Lords Of Summer’ sounds excellent and then it came to what I was waiting for the most. The first song of the encore ‘Whiskey In The Jar’, I absolutely love this song and the way Metallica perform it so this was just a dream for me. After that they had the vote of the day between ‘Four Horseman’, ‘Wherever I May Roam’ and ‘..And Justice For All’, which And Justice won, that pleased me as it was the song I voted for. Whiskey into And Justice was just incredible and the band seemed so happy playing I doubt they would’ve stopped had there not been a curfew.

And so ended Sonisphere festival 2014, I was meaning to keep this review shorter than most, so apologies for that.
As for the question of a triumphant return for Soni? I think it was a resounding yes. There wasn’t much that went wrong technically and no trouble that I witnessed. Although since the festival there have been a few stories that really make you wonder what the fuck is wrong with some “humans”.
I am really looking forward to seeing what Soni can pull off for next year, even though I won’t be going for the full weekend.
Seriously, no festivals in 2015! You have to help me with that, I think I have a problem!

Thanks for reading.

BST - Black Sabbath Time

2014-07-07T21:05:00.000+01:00

Friday 4th July 2014, American Independence Day and the day Black Sabbath took over Hyde Park. For the purpose of this blog I will be concentrating fully on the gods of rock and metal.
The supporting bill included some other major names in heavy music and so the decision to get a ticket was simple. I just wish I had waited until someone accidentally posted the link to the friends and family tickets that only cost £2.50, but no matter.

(Scores out of 10)
Arriving at the festival site slightly later than planned meant missing Soulfly which is rather annoying as they are a band that I have never managed to see. Seems to be a conspiracy against me seeing them still!
So my opening band of the day was Motorhead (7), these guys can still rock with the best of them but it is clear that Lemmys' frailty is becoming an issue. Still, I don't think anyone telling him that will stop the guy taking the stage and blasting out the hits. A 45 minute set included all the stalwarts you'd expect to see, including an impressive drum solo from Mikkey Dee to allow Lemmy a breather backstage. A decent enough set from the guys but it may be time to start dialing back. After pulling out of their Wacken show after 30 minutes last year they are returning to Germany at the end of the month, it will be interesting to see how that works out this time round.

Following that, we had Faith No More (10), being my first time seeing them I couldn't have been happier. A superb setlist which the band blasted from the stage without a thought to slowing the pace. The band are so tightly knit it's amazing to think they had a ten year hiatus not so long ago, which has definitely been put into history. Mike Patton showed his incredible vocal range from quoting the Exorcists' "your mother sucks cocks in hell" (a quote he said a number of times!) through to a brilliant cover of The Commodores' 'Easy'. The band included the world premiere of two new songs in their set and it has to be said, they sounded bloody marvellous! Really looking forward to what these guys do in the future.

Before the next band on main stage I took a quick stroll around the site and caught part of the Blitz Kids (7) set on the Summer stage (or Little Bandstand as it would be better called), they sounded pretty good and I will look out for catching them again so that I can give them a proper listen.
Back on main and Soundgarden (8) took to the stage. I saw a bit of their set at Download 2012, funnily enough sub-headlining to Black Sabbath, and really didn't think much of them. In fact, when I saw they were subbing at BST, I was looking for any reason to not see them. The fact I gave them another go was a good call in the end. Chris Cornell started the set by telling the crowd that he wouldn't be chatting too much as it was 20 years ago that the album Superunknown was released and they were going to be playing it in its entirety. And it was awesome! They sounded great, Mike McCready joined them on-stage for title track 'Superunknown' and the band, much like FNM but with an additional 2 years, have really pushed on since their hiatus, including a new album, and seem to enjoy what they're doing again. I don't know if they will look to write and put out another new record or just carry on with more live shows, but either way, they were well worth the watch.

Cutting the Soundgarden set 4 songs short, I walked into the Village Hall tent to see another band that have eluded me until now (and a subsequent second time. But that's another story for another blog that may be out soon). Before I get into that, it has to be said that BST didn't seem to think this stage through, it was pitch black inside and everyone struggled to see when they walked in and tried to find a spot to stand. Maybe some house lights could help before the band start, just a suggestion. However, after finding a space, the stage erupted when Gallows (9) arrived on the scene. Nothing like a blast of hardcore punk after a day of rock'n'roll to blow the cobwebs away and keep your attention focused on the front and centre. Lead singer, Wade MacNeil was in the crowd as soon as guitarist Lags had played the first note. These guys are ferocious and punishing in delivering their hard hitting music and don't let up for a second until the final note is played. New song 'Chains' sounds amazing and the new album that Wade promised would be out in Autumn is looking like it'll be a belter! They ended the set with both Wade and Lags in the crowd and it was great to see, not only the appreciation from the fans, but the respect shown right back by the band. Many bands say thanks for the support but these guys know their roots and were happy to be right in the mix with their fellow music loving family.

Before the main event I stopped by the Summer Stage where Turbowolf (7) were delivering their brand of hard rock. They seem like a decent enough band, one to keep an eye on in the future. I didn't hang around long as I wanted to get a good spot for Sabbath but did see the Cuban Brothers (5) performing 'Ace Of Spades', which seemed good fun. Until I noticed the non-singing guy in the tight fitting onesie and so can only give a mid range score. Some things you just can't un-see!
But now it was time for what we had been waiting for, the mighty Black Sabbath (10) took to the Great Oak stage and made it their own. I thought they were superb at Download 2012, but I think this time they were even better. Ozzys' voice was near perfect. Tony Iommi slung his guitar through riffs and solos like there was nothing to it. Geezer Butler kept the low-toned bass driving throughout each song and long-term stand-in drummer Tommy Clufetos fits in nicely behind the skins (and isn't afraid to control the crowd with a frenetic solo whilst the other members have a quick break). The setlist, including 2 songs from new album '13', could not have been much better. 'War Pigs' is a great opener to lure the crowd in straight away and once in their grasp there is no escaping Black Sabbath as they hurl their fused style of doom, prog metal (and in the latter stages of the show, buckets of water) at you. 'Children of the Grave' was belted out as if it was 1971 and the band had only just written it. The encore consisting solely of 'Paranoid' ended a fantastic Sabbath gig and Ozzy and his band mates thanked the crowd for the unwavering support throughout the years.
The huge fireworks finale signaled the last show of this tour and indeed it may well be the very last Sabbath show ever, depending on Iommis health and whether or not he and the others feel they want to continue. But if it was the final show, it was a hell of a send off! Sabbath Bloody Sabbath 'til the end.

Thanks for reading.

Download Festival 2014 Review

2014-06-22T14:39:00.001+01:00

So, after saying I wouldn't be going to any festivals in 2014, I am actually attending 2 full weekends and 2 days of Sonisphere. Guess my willpower is next to non-existant, whoops. However, the decision to attend Download for the third year in a row has turned out to be one of the best decisions ever. It has been a superb weekend and I wish it hadn't had to come to an end.... although my feet, legs, arms, neck etc would hugely disagree with that statement!

As with last year I decided to just buy a weekend arena ticket and tuck myself away in Derby in a hotel. I drove up this time which saved lugging everything around on trains and coaches and made the journey far easier. After settling in, it was time for some sleep ready to hit Donington Park on the Friday.

Key: Stage names --- Stephen Sutton Main Stage – M; Zippo Encore Second Stage – Z; Pepsi Max tent – P; Red Bull tent – R; Jagermeister stage – J. All ratings out of ten.

Friday

Prior to the festival, summer had finally turned up in the UK and the weekend of Download was forecast to remain the same with hot sunshine and little rain. Friday certainly lived up to this and after getting the shuttle from Derby to Download, it was already roasting. Another batch of sun cream applied and it was off to the gates.
Unlike last year, when there was much to-ing and fro-ing, I now knew where to queue to get the ticket checked and wristband given. After getting into the arena and purchasing a cold bottle of water straight away, it was time for the music.

Tax The Heat – Z – 7 – A very enjoyable start to the festival. Great little rock and roll band to nod along to. Not much more to add to that really.

Caught the last song of Miss May I on the main stage, which is the same as I heard when I saw them at a Killswitch gig months earlier. Should try and catch a whole set at some point.

Crossfaith – M – 7 – These guys are such a great live band. Given rise to their “electronicore” style of music they infuse electronic sounds with heavy riffs and mental drum solos. Their cover of ‘Omen’ going over very well with the bouncing masses in front of the stage. Frontman Koie Kenta was extremely grateful to their fans for their success over the years. And I can only see this band getting stronger.

Powerman 5000 – M – 5 – My first thought to this band being announced was “who?!” Transpires that I sing one of their tracks daily in my head, so I was quite looking forward to them. Unfortunately, they didn’t quite live up to expectations. I think they would’ve worked better on 2^nd or even in the larger tent and playing to a crowd of their fans. Main stage seemed a bit too much for them. And apart from big hitters ‘Bombshell’ and ‘When Worlds Collide’, which were saved until the end, the crowd just seemed completely uninterested. I did enjoy the set but it just felt quite flat for the most part.

Skindred – M – 10 – Ah, Skindred. What can you say about Skindred? Well, they are one of the most entertaining bands to watch at the moment. Benji Webbe is fast becoming one of the best frontmen of this generation, who else can get the Download crowd to do the Harlem Shake?! They played a great set including 2 off the new album, which isn’t the best in my opinion, and stalwarts ‘Pressure’, ‘Nobody’ and ‘Warning’ (with guest vocals from Crossfaiths Koie Kenta). Speaking to a fellow Downloader later in the weekend I suggested that Skindred could push themselves into a 2^nd stage headliner spot (and beyond) in years to come. They have the stage show and crowd work sorted, just need to produce a couple more well received albums to have the whole package.

Making my way back to 2^nd stage I managed to see the last couple of songs from The Answer. I really enjoy this band and would’ve seen them if not for Skindred playing on main.

The Temperance Movement – Z – 7 – I don’t think I have ever been this chilled out during a festival set before. A fantastic blues rock band that acted as superb background music whilst I was beginning to flag in the heat. I really hope I can see them again.

Within Temptation – M – 10 – I have to thank Andy C (festival booker) here for adding Rival Sons to the Zippo stage line-up. That stopped the clash of Within Temptation and Flogging Molly which was causing me some distress before the festival. I had to sell my ticket for Within Temptation in London and so, desperately wanted to see them at Download. And I’m extremely glad I did, they were amazing. As I have said in previous reviews, symphonic metal is one of my favourite genres of music and I was not disappointed with this set. Sharon den Adel is an amazing frontwoman and owned every track, if I can be that energetic and powerful a month before I turn 40 I’ll be very happy! For me, the setlist was near perfect. I would say it was a bit too ‘Hydra’ heavy, except that a) it’s the album they’ve been touring and b) it is an incredible album. The only thing that would’ve topped this set would’ve been Xzibit and/or Howard Jones coming on stage during the songs they feature in. But I cannot fault WT at all, one of the best bands of the weekend for sure.

Flogging Molly – Z – 10 – “And now for something completely different” said frontman Dave King, and he’s not wrong. But Flogging Molly are simply just an amazing, fun band to see live. They played a great folk-punk set with all the favourites packed in and you couldn’t help but bop along. Flogging Molly are that band that you can’t help but enjoy everything that is coming off the stage. I just wish they could’ve had a longer set. A plane flew over during their set and in Dave Kings words “it had to be a Ryanair didn’t it!” If you haven’t seen this band before I highly recommend you do so. Great entertainment with superb songs as an added bonus.

Bad Religion – Z – 9 – Full on punk rock blasted with ferocious tenacity was the order for the Friday sub headline set. Bad Religion opened with ‘Fuck You’ and didn’t let up until the final bars of set closer ‘Sorrow’. Managed to get front and centre for this and it was so much fun, I’ve wanted to see them for a long time and wasn’t disappointed. They played 3 songs from their newest album but also included a song from nearly every other album they have released since 1982. It’s amazing to see a band formed in 1979 still have that much enjoyment on stage, playing to their fans and hopefully they’ll be around for a while longer yet.

The Offspring – Z – 10 – Time for my first headliner of Download 2014 and I was slightly worried that they would disappoint me. I’d heard reviews that they are lacklustre and bored in their playing nowadays. The fact they were playing the album ‘Smash’ in full was something I was looking forward to and after 20 seconds of Nitro I knew that this was going to be The Offspring at their best. The whole band looked like they were enjoying it as much as the crowd. It started raining during the set (just a brief cooling shower) and unlike many previous years of Download, this was greeted by a huge cheer from the crowd. After playing through Smash it was time for the hits. I would’ve liked a couple of songs from ‘Conspiracy of One’ but can’t complain about the tunes that did get aired. It turned into a complete sing-a-long with ‘Pretty Fly’ and ‘Why Don’t You Get a Job’ being belted out by everyone around me. I can happily say I have now seen The Offspring and am delighted by that fact. It was a great way to end the first day of Download and now fully into the festival feel I couldn’t wait for day 2.

Band of the day – The Offspring, just too good to ignore as the highlight of the day.
Surprise of the day – Very difficult to pick as there were so many good bands on the Friday. I think it will have to go to Bad Religion, as I wasn't expecting them to still be that good.

Saturday

The forecast for Saturday was that it would be cooler with more cloud cover. And after the heat of Friday I was rather happy about this! It’s always easier getting into a festival once you have a wristband on and after a member of the security staff asked if he could give me a tug (and then explaining he meant the wristband and not that I’d be getting lucky) I was into the second day of the festival. This would start with the longest period of time I have spent at one stage for all of the festivals I have attended.

Dying Fetus – M – 9 – Now, death metal is a great style of music but there is a thin line for bands to be good or just sound like an awful racket. On record, Dying Fetus aren’t really my cup of tea. Live, however, they were absolutely fantastic. I was so surprised at how much I enjoyed their set that I didn’t want it to last just 30 minutes. It was such a shock to like them as much as I did. The reason Dying Fetus got booked to play was due to a Twitter campaign, #whynotdyingfetus, and vocalist John Gallagher paid tribute to the fans that got them on the line up. Phenomenal start to the day and it was only 11.30am.

Fozzy – M – 7 – I am a big fan of Fozzy, although not so much the last album. But this set left me a little disappointed. Something was lacking and it meant they didn’t score as highly as I was anticipating. That being said, they still sounded good and I did enjoy it. Chris Jericho is a great frontman and his time in WWE has helped that, during part of the set it sounded like he was cutting a promo on RAW. But whether the main stage was a step too far for them I don’t know. Chris also said that he had made an agreement with the higher powers that it wouldn’t rain, this was about 5 minutes before it did start raining, albeit barely a drizzle. They played 2 songs from their upcoming album and they were great so I have higher hopes for that record.

Bury Tomorrow – M – 9 – From going into the set thinking, ‘I’m not a huge fan of this band’ to coming out with the mindset of ‘wow, that was brilliant’, is a perfect example of why I love live music. A fantastic band that will only get bigger as time goes on. I do like metalcore and I really like how Bury Tomorrow have added more melodic elements into their structure as well. Bury Tomorrow commanded the main stage and kept the crowd entertained with a battle of the sexes, including a female only mosh pit, and adapting the crouch down to jump up into a lie down to jump up segment. Ending the set with the big hit of ‘Lionheart’ and asking for as many crowd surfers as possible was awesome (for the crowd at least, I think the security staff had a heart attack when they heard that) They’re playing a small venue in Portsmouth later in the year which I wasn’t going to attend, I may reappraise that decision. – edit - Since writing that I have indeed purchased a ticket.

Took a little wander after Bury Tomorrow to fill up the water bottle and stood outside the Red Bull tent listening to Colt 45 – R - 7 – Only caught a couple of songs but they seem like a decent rock band. If I remember correctly they were one I was going to check out at Camden Rocks or something similar. I will keep an eye out if these guys are playing somewhere close by.

While She Sleeps – M – 8 – Metalcore band from Sheffield who tore apart the main stage. Heavy riffs and screaming vocals a-plenty and they seemed really happy being there. This band are really on an upwards incline and it was easy to see why. After taking some time out in the early part of 2014 for lead singer Lawrence ‘Loz’ Taylor to undergo throat surgery, they made their return UK performance a memorable one. The crowd were really into them and there was a lot of movement at the front. At the end of the set, Loz climbed the sound desk/video camera tower in the middle of the arena and planted the WSS flag he had been holding. Unfortunately it was the other side to where I was standing so I couldn’t get a photo.

Bowling For Soup – M – 9 – Well, this was just super fun! And, somehow, the first time I have seen BFS. The banter from the group was brilliant and at times I thought I was at a comedy gig rather than music. The BFS photo opportunity was hilarious if not a little long winded; it was a music gig after all. The Queens’ knight killing a giant inflatable sheep got a lot of laughs, especially as it seemed to be a difficult task! And when they were actually playing, they were faultless. All the hits got an airing and the crowd were fully into it, ‘1985’ and ‘Punk Rock 101’ were definite highlights. The band doesn’t take themselves seriously and that helped with the good-natured, fun-loving feel of the set. Definitely a band to check out at their own shows.

Killswitch Engage – M – 8 – Saw these guys at their headline show earlier this year and they were fantastic, they were just as good at Download. Jesse Leach has slotted straight back into the band as if he never left, commanding the old and new records. I wasn’t sure if another metalcore band was going to prove too much for one day, or if by following Bowling For Soup they would seem out of place. But I was proven wrong by a band that knows what they’re doing and do it very well indeed, every song was pounded out with as much energy from start to finish. Apart from Adam Ds’ guitar breaking from which he eventually gave up with and went to party with the crowd.

During the set I went to watch some of Skyharbors’ set in the Red Bull tent (7) who sounded very good and I would’ve stayed longer had KSE not started playing Life To Lifeless, which is one of my favourite songs.
Just looking back at the setlist and I don’t think I would’ve changed a thing. KSE are great entertainment and now that Jesse is back I hope they will continue to get stronger bookings and move up the pile.

Monster Magnet – Z – 6 – After the heaviness of the metalcore Saturday had thrown out so far, stoner rock was the best place to head for a relaxing 40 minutes. They scored a mid-range 6 as I seemed to relax a bit too much and found myself drifting in and out of listening, but from what I did hear they played decent enough rock that went down well with those camped out in front of the stage.

The Wildhearts – Z – 10 – Saturday at Download was re-named on the Facebook Wildhearts page to The Wildhearts Day. And they did exactly what they always do; they owned the stage like it was their own gig. I managed to get front and centre for the set and had ridiculous good fun. The Wildhearts brand of pop-punk perfectly allows you to jump around, clap, sing and just have a damn good time with fellow minded fans. The setlist was pretty much as expected with only a 40 minute set (although the band cut it short themselves. Maybe, as last time they played Download their sound was turned off when they continued to play over their allotted time). But, for die-hard Wildhearts fans it just created a great sing-a-long and for new listeners it was the biggest songs that they could just enjoy. Random Jon Poole had taken place as bassist for this gig, replacing Scott Sorry from Aprils tour. You could tell how much fun the band has playing to their fans with the broad smiles that adorned their faces throughout the set. Ginger told the crowd to hang around for “the greatest frontman ever, Dee Snider”, however, I had other plans first.

Fall Out Boy – M – 10 – And so it came to the worst clash, and one of only a couple this year, of the festival - Fall Out Boy vs. Twisted Sister. In the end the only way to determine who to see was to see both and split the sets. Starting with FOB, I managed to stay for 8 songs and listened to ‘Sugar, We’re Going Down’ whilst walking off to 2^nd stage and they were absolutely brilliant. I wasn’t sure how they would go down at Download being a more “emo-scene” rock band but they definitely brought their A-game, and a lot of fire! As soon as opener ‘The Phoenix’ blasted out of the speakers it was clear that FOB were deserving of their sub-headline slot and they never looked back after that. They went over really well with the sizeable crowd they drew and I wish I could’ve stayed for the entirety of their set. However, I couldn’t miss the opportunity of seeing Twisted Sister and so I headed off to catch the remainder of them.

Twisted Sister – Z – 10 – I arrived at second stage at the end of ‘You Can’t Stop Rock’n’Roll’ and managed to get into the front section. It seems that the festival was a lot quieter this year, not that I’m complaining! So my first full taste of Twisted Sister live was iconic ‘Shoot Em Down’, for a band that has existed since 1972 in varying lineups, these guys have so much energy and presence it puts some newer bands to shame. Guitarist Eddie Ojeda had the crowd in the palm of his hand when he spoke about the festival organisers putting them on the ‘lesser’ stage again. And that we had to be so loud, the people listening to FOB would realise their mistake at not seeing Twisted Sister. Enter the intro to ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’ and the crowd really did go mental for it. Dee led a sing-a-long throughout and it was crazy good fun. Into the opening bars of ‘Burn In Hell’ a DHL plane came into land at nearby East Midlands Airport. This stopped Dee in his tracks, “is that normal?! I’m having 9/11 flashbacks! They should put a sign up by the stage!” after much laughter Dee then had a lightbulb moment, “oh no! I have to sing Burn In Hell after talking about 9/11!” However, this small disturbance didn’t stop the band from tearing through the song with ferocious tenacity. This brought us to the final song of the set, rock anthem ‘I Wanna Rock’, to say this was fun would be understatement of the century! The entire crowd answered Dee's call with an almighty “ROCK!” The band then tested the reaction to “I Wanna Fuck”, to say the ground shook with the crowds response is not far off what happened! That had to be the loudest I have ever heard a crowd! As I left the 2^nd stage the band came back out to play a cover of Motorheads’ ‘Born To Raise Hell’ which would’ve been cool to stay and see but I’d already walked away.

Heading around towards the smaller stages I saw the last couple of songs from Malevolence – R – 7 – They sounded pretty good, will have to keep an eye out if they do their own shows around this way.

Ginger Wildheart (acoustic) – J – 9 – My sub-headliner for the Saturday was an acoustic set from The Wildhearts frontman Ginger. Really enjoyed this and wanted to give it a 10 but something just wasn’t there to make it a perfect set. When I saw him play acoustic at Camden Rocks the set was filled with Wildhearts songs which had already been played an hour previous at Download and so I was expecting it to be more Ginger solo orientated, seeing as he now has 5 albums from which to choose from. But instead he just played a different selection of Wildhearts songs, which I was fine with. Chris Catalyst (of Eureka Machines) accompanied him on acoustic, although sat out of the first song when he broke his guitar after the first verse! And Random Jon Poole added his acoustic bass to the show. Some great banter from the enigmatic frontman helped this fun and lively set turn into a mass sing-a-long from the sizeable crowd he drew. I always enjoy watching Ginger, solo or with The Wildhearts, and am really looking forward to his Birthday Bash later in the year.

Before taking a spot for the day’s headliner, The Howling – R – 8 – started playing in the tent and so I was able to stand and catch the first 2 songs they played. After seeing them support Volbeat earlier this year I was surprised at how much better they sounded. Everything seemed cleaner and more mature in musical terms as well as the band's stage presence. These guys could well start making a big name for themselves.

Linkin Park – M – 10 – Hybrid Theory was the first real alternative album I ever bought and so is a major part of the reason I am now a metalhead/rock fan/grunger or whatever terms people nowadays use. So when it was announced that half of this set would be that album in full I was delighted, just hoping that the band would be on form. They started with a video saying how excited they were to be playing the album which included the intro to ‘Papercut’ (first song on the album.) I really thought they would then kick into the song as a great way to begin and was a bit annoyed when the video continued. When the band finally did take the stage they blew me away. They were absolutely fantastic and I think that is the first time I have sung along with every word of every song. Having listened to the album a few times before the festival I still forgot that every track is an absolute belter, some of which haven’t been played live since the early 2000s and a full debut of ‘Cure For The Itch’. Mike Shinoda and Chester Benningtons’ vocal were nigh on perfect and they looked extremely happy and comfortable on stage. Shinoda adorned a bright red wig for ’Papercut’ as that was the colour of his hair when the single was released. At the end of the album play-through Mike Shinoda said, ‘if this was 2001 we’d be done, we’d have nothing else.’ I had decided before the festival to leave after Hybrid Theory as, other than Meteora, I’m not a huge fan of their other work, so this was my cue to leave. Looking back on the setlist I’m happy with that decision. It was a great way to end the Saturday and I’m glad that Linkin Park were so good for the first time seeing a band that helped shape my musical tastes.

Band of the day – Linkin Park, no contest. Great fun and even now I can’t stop smiling thinking about great a time I had.

Surprise of the day – Dying Fetus, a Twitter campaign that gained motion and got them booked and they were really good. Well played Dying Fetus.

Sunday

And so we reached the final day of Download 2014, this would be a day with a lot of moving between stages and catching half sets here and there.

Red Dragon Cartel – M – 7 – A decent start to the day with some classic rock. Being an ex-guitarist for Ozzy Osborne, Jake E Lee and his new band threw in a couple of cover songs, closing with Bark At The Moon which was pretty cool.

Kill Devil Hill – Z – 6 – Wasn’t really sure what to expect from Vinny Appices’ supergroup but they were pretty good. It had started to drizzle during the set and my mind was torn between listening to the band and wondering how heavy the rain was going to get (turns out, not very) So I found myself not paying attention at times, hence the lower score. I’m also annoyed with myself as, after leaving the set early, Phil Anselmo came on stage to perform a cover of Panteras ‘Mouth For War’ which would’ve been ace to see.

Heading across the arena I stopped to see the end of Winger – M – 5 – expecting them to close on ‘Seventeen’, when they didn’t they got an average score of 5 seeing as they weren’t bad and I only saw 2 and a bit songs.

The Graveltones – P - 8 – It had taken 2 and a half days for me to venture to the right side of the arena and into the Pepsi Max tent but my first taste of it in 2014 was a good one. In 2013, the sound in the tent was ridiculously loud and therefore I spent most of my time there listening from outside which takes away from the performance. Immediately when arriving at the stage it was obvious that these issues had been sorted and the sound was excellent inside the tent. As were The Graveltones, it’s amazing how much noise can be made by just two people but it was extremely enjoyable and makes up for missing them at Camden Rocks.

Buckcherry – M – 7 – Good band, good songs, good atmosphere. The band has since stated that it wasn’t their best performance but I certainly enjoyed it. The partial cover of AC/DCs ‘Big Balls’ was dedicated to Father’s Day, seeing as that coincided with the Sunday of Download. Set closer ‘Crazy Bitch’ went over as well as it always does.

Thy Art Is Murder – P – 3 – Went back to the Pepsi Max tent and sat outside whilst TAIM finished their set. In hindsight I wish I’d been anywhere else. It sounded terrible. Apparently I am not a fan of the ‘deathcore’ genre! And after looking through a list of bands noted as deathcore, that opinion hasn’t changed. Fair play to them but it’s just not for me.

Feed The Rhino – P – 9 – What an incredible set from these guys, furious energy pounding out some fantastic tunes. They seemed to draw a bigger crowd than they expected but it didn’t faze them at all. Lead singer Lee Tobin spent as much time in the crowd and the pits as he did bouncing around the stage in total control of his audience. This is a band that could become huge very easily and I expect to see them on larger stages in the not too distant future.

Nipping out of the tent to fill up the water bottle I caught Richie Sambora playing ‘Wanted Dead Or Alive’ on main stage. Purely for seeing this song live he scores a 7.

The Treatment – P – 10 – Tremendous set from a band that had impressed me when they supported Airbourne early this year. Powerful rock’n’roll erupted from the stage and didn’t let up for the entire 30 minute slot. The one thing I would’ve changed with their set list would’ve been swapping the last 2 songs around and closing with ‘I Bleed Rock’n’Roll’ so as to put a stamp on the set. But that’s just me and I’m not in the band so never mind.

Sepultura – Z – 6 - Having seen Sepultura before, I was looking forward to this set and was left rather disappointed. I think with the fact they only had a half hour set I was expecting them to run out all the major songs, only getting ‘Roots Bloody Roots’ to finish with just seemed a bit of a let-down personally. The band, as always, were good at what they do and Derrick Greens’ voice was flawless as usual. I really do think that I had built an expectation of the set and then felt bored when it didn’t turn out how I was expecting. Derrick introduced a song by saying “there are a lot of people out there who only talk shit, we are Sepultura”, I was wondering where he was going with the statement until they broke into ‘Propaganda’, then everything made more sense. I had the same giggle as I always do during ‘Rattamahatta’……hehe rattamahatta. I did think they would say something about the World Cup currently taking place in Brazil (the band's birthplace) and the protests surrounding it but I guess that may just have been me.

Sabaton – Z – 7 – I’d been quite fortunate with clashes this year, Sabaton vs. Volbeat was a nasty one though. Add to that the fact that the (not so) secret band in the tent had been confirmed as Black Stone Cherry and it offered up a nasty 3-way clash. I had decided that I wouldn’t be seeing BSC (or whoever was the secret band, wink wink nudge) before the festival as I saw them in a small venue in February and will be seeing them again in November. This left the original Sabaton or Volbeat decision, Sabaton were in the lead being as I’d never seen them but Volbeat are one of my favourites. Cue the usual flurry of tour announcements as festival season kicks in, and Volbeat were announced to play Portsmouth before the festival started. So the decision was simple, I’d be seeing Sabaton at Download. Unfortunately, Volbeat started on the main stage whilst I was waiting at 2^nd and it just planted that seed in the mind that I could be seeing Volbeat right now. I stuck with the Sabaton decision and was glad I did. They came on stage and blasted through the superb ‘Ghost Division’ and ‘To Hell And Back’, which were two songs that I particularly wanted to see. The crowd really got into them and a sea of horns were relentlessly being thrown towards the stage throughout both tracks. It was then that my subconscious took over and I left 2^nd to walk to main and the draw of Volbeat. I’m glad I have seen Sabaton and would gladly do so again, preferably when there isn’t somewhere else I’d also like to be. It wouldn’t surprise me to see them in higher positions at future festivals on these shores.

Volbeat – M – 9 – Heading round to Volbeat during the set meant taking a spot further back from the stage than I would’ve liked and I think this is what took something away from the set. Musically, they sounded brilliant and I can’t fault Michael Poulsens’ vocals, but it wasn’t quite enough to be able to give them the top score. The other annoying thing about arriving late was that I turned up just after they had played ‘Lola Montez’ which is a personal favourite of mine. I liked the stage they had brought with them; it seemed simple but effective and gave the eye something else to take in. When they headlined Wacken in 2012 they proved that they are more than capable of making that spot their own, hopefully they will continue to get bigger in this country and carry on their rise up the line-up. I have now bought a ticket for their local show and am ridiculously excited about that.

Memphis May Fire – P – 5 – Back at the Pepsi Max tent and took a seat outside whilst these guys played out their set. They didn’t sound bad and had I been inside I reckon I would’ve enjoyed it, but it did enough to just sit down and listen to.

Against Me! – P – 10 – Wow! What an absolutely incredible set from this band. They drew a sizeable crowd and didn’t disappoint. This was punk rock as it should be; fast, bouncey and in your face. There wasn’t a lot of crowd interaction between songs but for this set that didn’t matter. Against Me! smashed through their songs and managed to fit 10 into the small half hour set, which certainly gave a good account of the calibre of their music. I left the tent wanting more, which I suppose is the desire of musicians and bands and hope that they will come back and tour over here.

Once again making the trek across the arena I had the unfortunate opportunity to see Steel Panther who were still on main at the time and getting 3 girls to make out on stage, because that’s just what they do. I saw their set closer ‘Death To All But Metal’ however, this year they didn’t bring out Corey Taylor for his vocals so they will get a mid-range 5. I really do see them going from strength to strength very quickly and shooting up festival line-ups, they are possible future headliners if the joke doesn’t wear off before then (it wore off for me about a month after their first album), but we shall see.

Seether – Z – 7 – Having seen Seether before and being disappointed with them, I gave them a chance to prove that I saw them on a bad day. Catching the last few songs at Download did prove that, they sounded really good and it would’ve been great to have been able to see more of them. ‘Fake It’ and ‘Remedy’ are two classic songs and seemed to get a great reaction from the crowd at the front of the stage.

The Pretty Reckless – Z – 5 – I was totally disappointed in this set and band. One of the bands I was looking forward to seeing before the festival and it was absolutely dreadful. The only reason they get a 5 is because I managed to see ‘Heaven Knows’, but I certainly won’t be rushing to see them again. At times it was like watching a Black Label Society show with how long and drawn out the guitar solos were. Taylor Momsens’ mic was too loud. And it was utterly boring. I was always going to be leaving early to head over to the tent, I just wish I’d done so earlier and been able to watch some of Alter Bridges’ sub-headline set.

The Used – P – 9 – Well, this was awesome, I really wasn’t expecting them to be as good as they were. I wasn’t sure if the large crowd was partly because Dillinger Escape Plan were headlining the tent, but it appeared that they loved every minute of The Used regardless. Apart from two songs showcasing the new album they didn’t play anything post-2007, which was when I was really into them, so that helped my enjoyment. In saying that, the new songs sounded damn good, ‘Revolution’ especially. The band were so appreciative of the fans and especially with how vocal they were. Their style of hardcore-alt rock was a great way to begin the end of the festival and I would happily have had them as my final headliner. Except there was one more band to go before bidding farewell to Download 2014.

Aerosmith – M – 10 – One of those classic rock bands that adorn so many 'must see' band lists is Aerosmith. I did have trepidations before they started in the fact that a band that has been going for 44 years always carries the possibility of being poor live; Can a 66 year old hit every note like he could back in the day? Can the drummer keep the pace? Will the guitarists still be able to shred through solos like they’re taking a stroll through the park? Aerosmith answered those questions and more with a resounding hell yeah we can! So much so, I think I would have to say that they are the best band I have seen at Download over the last 3 years I have attended. Not to take anything away from the others, Aerosmith were just that damn good. The whole set was completely perfect in every sense. The setlist was incredible with all the big hitters there, lacking ‘Back In The Saddle’ but that can be my only gripe which is smothered by how much amazingness was included. The entire crowd singing along to ‘I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing’, which has been one of my favourite songs since the film Armageddon was released, was a pure highlight for me. Seeing Joe Perry sing ‘Freedom Fighter’ was awesome and showed how much depth this band still has. After making my way to the back of the arena during the intermission I saw the encore of ‘Dream On’ &‘Sweet Emotion’ before leaving the festival site, and since learning that they also played ‘Mama Kin’. But I think I had definitely seen enough by this point to be stupidly happy on the way home.

Band of the day – Aerosmith, it had to be. Nothing compared to them across the whole festival.

Surprise of the day – Against Me!, full on, heart racing punk rock at it’s best.

And so we came to the end of this years’ festival and I have to say it may have been the best time I’ve had at a festival so far. Whether it was the decent weather, how well it was organised this year, the fact that it was quieter and so seemed more accessible, I don’t know. But Download 2014 will always be remembered for the ace time that was had.

I said at the end of last years’ review that I wouldn’t be attending any festivals in 2014, a quote that didn’t hold well. However, next year is all about the rugby world cup in England and attending as many games as possible so I may do some day tickets if the line up really calls to me but won’t be attending any full weekend festivals in 2015.
Many thanks for reading; I’m sorry you can’t get that time back.

Download 2013 Review - Knots, Iron and Fire.

2013-06-20T19:14:00.003+01:00

After last years festival I doubted that Download could pull off a lineup that would be anywhere near as good as 2012. I was wrong. Although it wasn't as star studded as I would have liked, there was more than enough to keep me entertained. Including some bands that moved my music taste in a more alternative direction.

This year myself and friends decided to stay in a hotel. The weather at Download and Wacken last year really put me off camping again.
So on Thursday morning I left Portsmouth via coach to London and then got the train onto Derby. Only one issue with the travel was when going to board the train. Myself and a friend had booked through Megabus. His ticket said he had to check in 15 minutes prior to departure, mine didn't. He asked the steward on the gate who said not to worry about it and just head to the platform. As I went to go through the guy said 'You need to join that queue and get your ticket stamped'. This confused the hell out of me but as I only had to wait for a few minutes it didn't make much difference.
Now, most people will print out instructions and the like when they travel somewhere new. Me, being a smart man, decided not to print out directions to the hotel. And apparently my phone decided to agree with my idiocy by not allowing maps to load whilst outside the station. I knew it was in the general direction of Pride Park stadium and then opposite in the middle of an industrial estate looking area. As we kept getting closer to the stadium I couldn't see a road to take me parallel to it and ended up on the corner of the stadium. Now, research prior to leaving told me it was around a 26 minute walk from station to hotel and it had only taken us about 7 minutes to get this far, so I assumed it was still a fair distance from here. As I looked down the road the Travelodge sign was in sight. Slightly shocked but by no means disappointed by this, we walked the last couple of minutes and checked in.
The remainder of Thursday was spent drinking beer and watching TV (more entertaining than people shouting butt-scratcher). Now, I was happy with the decision to stay in a hotel however there were two issues with this
1) I couldn't attend the Download Forums Boardie BBQ, which was a shame that I couldn't meet some awesome people.
2) I really wasn't excited at this time, normally you pitch your tent and you're at the festival and buzzing. Sat in a hotel doesn't quite have the same feeling. But, it would soon be festival times and all would be well.

Key: Bands will be set out as Band - Stage - Rating. All ratings are out of 10.

Friday
The shuttle bus drop off area is nowhere near where I was expecting it to be and so a fair walk is needed to reach the arena entrance. I had hoped to be getting a wristband even though I wasn't camping. So I was a little disappointed when there was no ticket booths in which to exchange my ticket. We queued in the weekend line and got to the front very quickly, only to be told that we need to get a wristband. I asked where from and was told back at the main entrance. So after trudging all the way back and once again seeing nowhere in which to do this I asked a steward, who told me and I quote 'for fucks sake, I wish they'd stop doing this. Go back and tell them you're not camping. If they still won't sort you out ask to see a supervisor'. Pretty straight up directions there so after walking back to the arena entrance and going to a different gate we got told that arena only wristbands were from a queue around the corner. As annoyed as I was that I was now going to have to go somewhere else again, at least this time I was told the correct location. Finally getting the wristband and getting into the festival I could relax.
The weather hadn't been too bad. However, there was some heavy rain before the first band and this already put a slight dampener (sorry) on my mood. But it was time for music so here we go.

Monster Truck - Zippo - 7 - A very enjoyable band to kick off the festival. They were a late addition after another band had to pull out and I'm glad I checked them out. It was their first time playing in the UK and they weren't phased by it at all. They are an out and out rock band and played a decent 20 minute set to open the music for me.

On the way to the next band I walked past Rise To Remain, they sounded pretty good and added another band to the list that I have seen.

Free Fall - Red Bull - 6 - These guys were good at what they do and their score may have been higher if I knew much of their music. This was the first time I had been in the Red Bull tent and I like the atmosphere in there.

Strolling past the Jagermeister Acoustic stage I heard Avosetta playing. My thoughts on them were 'they play good music to walk to'. Other than that I can't say much about them
Continuing the walk back to second stage I unfortunately, caught some of the Architects. So I started singing in my head to try and block it out.

Uriah Heep - Zippo - 6 - Same rating as Free Fall for pretty much the same reason. They are a decent old school rock band but not knowing much about them didn't help.

Papa Roach - Main - 9 - The first time I have seen a band that gave my tastes a push towards this genre of music and they really didn't disappoint. I was expecting them to be a bit flat and for the crowd only to respond to the major songs but I was so wrong. The energy they had was unbelievable and every song was belted out furiously. One thing I found this weekend, which started during this set, was I seem to forget that certain songs were done by a band. This happened during To Be Loved and Lifeline. I am glad I can now say I've seen them and the fact they are playing Portsmouth later in the year may cause me to part with some money.

Europe - Zippo - 8 - First major clash of the weekend was Europe v Down. I planned on seeing Down all the way up until the Wednesday before Download, reason being I hadn't seen them before. That was until my brain reminded me that I hadn't seen Europe either, so they won. And I'm glad they did. Europe were awesome. Hearing the classics Rock the Night and Final Countdown was superb. Joey Tempest said exactly what was on everyone's mind 'We're here finally! Last year sucked but we're so glad to see you all here with us now'. These guys had released 3 albums by the time I was born and yet still had the energy and charisma to deliver a blinding set.

Volbeat - Zippo - 10 - Excuse me whilst I put myself through a table for ever having the notion to miss this band. Second clash of the festival and one that will live in infamy, Volbeat v Korn. I know this clash really did split most of the Download goers in half. Volbeat were simply amazing. This was the third time I've seen them and the third time I haven't stopped singing and nodding my head throughout the entire set. I've already decided to get a ticket for their tour later this year and I really must recommend you do the same. Pure rock'n'roll blasting from the stage from start to finish. Including a cover of Breaking the Law and Raining Blood (in tribute to the late, great Jeff Hanneman) which I didn't expect them to play during this short set. I was a little disappointed not to hear Cape Of Our Hero from the new album but as i will see them on their tour I'm sure it will happen then. These guys know how to rock and smile from ear to ear whilst doing it. This is the first time I have seen them with new guitarist Rob Caggiano and he fits in perfectly. I cannot wait to see Volbeat again and can only see them rising up the Download bill in the future.

I did take a quick stroll over to Main stage to catch some Korn as I haven't seen them before and as with Papa Roach, they were a pioneer into my changing music taste. I managed to catch set closer Freak on a Leash and the band sounded brilliant. Hopefully I can see them again and spend more time listening to them but I will never regret the decision to see Volbeat instead.

3 Doors Down - Zippo - 6 - After seeing these guys in Manchester I decided to check them out again during the gap before BFMV on main. What a disappointment. They just really didn't deliver for me, hearing the classics again was nice but I just couldn't get into them. They threw in a cover of Megadeths Symphony of Destruction which was cool, but I'm still not sure why they did it. Seeing as I'd had that song in my head for the previous week maybe it was a premonition! One strange thing I noticed this weekend is bands were cutting their sets short for some reason. 3DD did this and it's another reason they score low.

Bullet For My Valentine - Main - 6 - So I moved over to see these guys earlier than planned but stayed at the top of the hill as I was going straight back to 2nd. This is one reason that I didn't give BFMV a high rating. The other reason is I have tried to get into them, I really have but I just can't. They are good at what they do and if they can release a couple more good records then they could develop into a headliner but not for me thanks. They did have some awesome pyrotechnics though.

Gogol Bordello - Zippo - 6 - After a decent mid afternoon card the ratings have dropped off. Again, this score isn't against the performance but more for the fact that I was stood way off to the side and my mind kept wandering from the music. It also didn't help that every song sounded the same. I'm sure if I'd been more central and in the crowd I would've enjoyed it more.

Black Stone Cherry - Zippo - 10 - I first saw BSC in 2007 at a local venue, The Wedgewood Rooms (capacity 500). To now be seeing them headline the 2nd stage at arguably the biggest rock festival in the UK was simply stunning. These guys were so humble with this spot, their only UK show this year. They said that Download were going to take the slot away from then because they weren't touring or plugging a new album but they wanted to do it. And then to see a huge crowd singing with them in the rain justified their decision to come over. They played a new song from their new record which sounded awesome. When it came to 'Things My Father Said', lead singer Chris Robertson asked the crowd to sing it because not long ago a friend's father had died and that this was the longest he'd been away from his newborn son. Cue the band starting to play, the crowd singing and Chris having to wipe away the tears. I don't think he realises how many fans BSC really have. This was an awesome show and I'm glad they were my main headliner for the first day of the festival.

Slipknot - Main - 9 - Managed to catch the first 3 songs before heading over to BSC, and the final 3 songs afterwards. They sounded really tight and friends that were a lot closer than I was said they were very good. The only reason I haven't given a 10 is because I didn't see the whole set and I was far back both times I watched. You know a band are getting a mental reaction when the barrier breaks....twice. The energy these guys have is tremendous, all the way until they powered through finisher Surfacing.

So, Friday was a fairly decent day for music. It was a shame that the early evening bands weren't as high scoring as I would've hoped but never mind.

Saturday
A couple of friends had day tickets for the Saturday and as luck would have it, appeared on the shuttle bus I was on in the morning. So it was cool to have a catch up with them. I showed them where the day tickets queue was and then went into the arena for the next day of music.

UFO - Main - 7 - Great start to the day with some old rock. Another case of knowing more songs than you realise and are able to sing along to. I was hoping that they would cut Doctor Doctor from their set and then play it live later to open Maidens set. This wasn't to be but it was still an enjoyable opening set.

Heaven's Basement - Zippo - 8 - I have finally managed to see Heaven's Basement! And they were really good, playing some heavy rock to make sure everyone was awake. They play such catchy tunes as well, thoroughly enjoyable band. The type of music you can just nod along to and hopefully I'll manage to catch them again soon.

Hardcore Superstar - Zippo - 7 - I was really looking forward to seeing these guys and although I wasn't disappointed, I felt something was missing. Maybe it's because I don't know a lot of their material or maybe it's that they don't work on an outside stage. Either way their score dropped slightly.

As I left second stage the rain decided that it wasn't heavy enough and so proceeded to hammer down. Anyone who has been to Download will know that it takes roughly 5 minutes to get over to 3rd stage and the safety of a tent. This was where I was headed for my next band, now slightly worried that everyone will have sought protection from the rain and I wouldn't be able to get in. However, by the time I had reached my destination, there wasn't a cloud in the sky and I was already starting to sweat in the sun! This year, Downloads weather really did epitomise the British summer.

Earthtone9 - Pepsi Max - 6 - I stood outside the tent for this set because a) there was no room inside and b) the sun was helping to dry out my trousers that were soaked through. I enjoyed what I heard and think that, had I been inside, they would have scored higher. I'd like to see them again so that I could have a better opinion.

Black Star Riders - Main - 9 - Who better to rock out on main stage than the new form of Thin Lizzy? Their own stuff is sounding really good and a lot more hard rock than the previous stuff released under the Lizzy name. It was great to hear the classic songs Boys Are Back In Town and Jailbreak. But they stole the show by playing Whiskey In The Jar, a song that I absolutely love and had such a fanboy moment when the opening bars erupted from the stage.

Katatonia - Zippo - 6 - I had a similar situation to Gogol Bordello during this band, my mind just kept wandering into space. I think this is due to the fact that I'm not a huge fan of Doom Metal. Saying that, I was impressed with their sound and will give them some more air time when listening to music. I did think that the lead singer was Cousin It from the Addams family until he moved the his hair from in front of his face. Plus, anything is better than Mastadon!

Karnivool - Zippo - 6 - I haven't listened to Prog Rock for a while now and I need to rectify that. Karnivool were really enjoyable . They got a much bigger crowd than I expected and I think more than the band expected as well. It was a nice set to just chill out with and let the feet have a bit of a rest.

Alice In Chains - Main - 8 - Again, I was stood quite far back for this set. But, I really enjoyed AIC more than I thought I would. It looks like William DuVall has really stepped up to the frontman role and is doing a fine job with it. They are another band that play songs that made me think, 'oh, didn't know this was by them'.

Managed to get back to 2nd stage in time to catch Lit's set closer My Own Worst Enemy, so I was happy about that.

Thunder - Zippo - 8 - How come all the great bands are from back in the day? A superb set from these guys. They just looked so happy to be playing and I'm glad I managed to see them. After the festival I was chatting to someone who's daughter used to fancy frontman Danny Bowes. And when seeing that he now has short cut grey hair asked, 'what happened to him?', the trials of getting old eh?

I then took a stroll across to 3rd stage and managed to catch Motorhead playing Ace of Spades and Overkill. This was cool as they are 2 of my favourite Motorhead songs.

Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats - Pepsi Max - 7 - Before entering the tent, I proposed having a smoke. We then moved back from the tent, and then a little further back and then a little bit more. The sound guys had obviously got pissed off with the rides blaring out music next to them and so turned the volume up. I ended up standing outside for the set and really enjoyed it. UA&TD sounded really tight and drew a fairly large crowd by the end of the set. They play psychedelic doom which is a pretty cool genre, truth be told!

Queens Of The Stone Age - Main - 9 - I saw QOTSA at Rock am Ring in 2008 and didn't overly enjoy it. Mainly due to it being 1am and being very tired. This time I was delighted at how great they were. Josh Homme is a fantastic frontman and looked much happier in himself. They ripped into their set with a ferocious tenacity that didn't let up until they left the stage. Classics No One Knows and Feel Good Hit Of The Summer mixed in well with stuff from the new album. I wouldn't be surprised to see them headlining festivals in the not too distant future.

Kvelertak - Pepsi Max - 8 - Again, this set was observed from outside the tent. And they didn't disappoint. It's the second time I've seen Kvelertak and the second time I have been left with my ears ringing. These Norwegian rockers really know what they are doing and if you haven't yet, go see them.

Iron Maiden - Main - 10 - Well, what do I say about Maiden? A lot of people have said they had sound problems, I only thought it was at the beginning with Bruce Dickinson's mic and once he had asked for it to be turned up everything was right with the set. To have a Spitfire flyover before you take to the stage was something truly incredible to see. And then for Maiden to rip through the Maiden England setlist was just truly special. They had headlined Donington back in 1988 and they played the Maiden England set back then too with the addition of Sanctuary and Wrathchild. Bruce acknowledged this the first time he addressed the crowd with, 'Hello Monsters of Rock 1988'. I really cannot fault Maiden from Saturday night, for me they were perfect. And that's without mentioning the stage show with Eddie and the interactive backdrops. Iron Maiden won't be able to go on forever but, based on this performance, the old rockers still have some life left in them yet.

Sunday
After a 20 minute delay opening the gates, with no explanation as to why, the final day of Download 2013 was to begin.

Sacred Mother Tongue - Main - 9 - And to kick it off with a huge score, SMT really shook out the cobwebs from the crowd. Such heavy riffs complimented with clean vocals. This was an incredible beginning to the day. I wish I had seen them before as the half-hour set didn't really do them justice.

Cancer Bats - Main - 10 - How I haven't seen CB before I have no idea. However, they did not disappoint. Frontman Liam Cromier looked extremely pleased to be up there after they had to be cancelled last year and they really ripped into their set. Solid anthems Bricks & Mortar and Sorceress were sent screaming from the stage. Add in a cover of Beastie Boys 'Sabotage' and finish the set in the crowd singing Hail Destroyer, and I don't think anyone there was standing still. These guys will only get bigger and I for one, can't wait.

Coal Chamber - Main - 9 - I think this was the most surprising set of the weekend. They were incredible. 40 minutes of searing riffs and screaming vocals. I have seen DevilDriver (frontman Dez Fafara's other band) a few times and so seeing him rap was quite odd indeed; however, he did it without falter. They really didn't look like a band that had only reformed less than 2 years ago. This is nu-metal at its best and they really know what they're doing. Hits Loco and Sway went down really well with the crowd and, after announcing a tour for later this year, I think a lot of new fans have been created.

Graveyard - Zippo - 6 - I was a little disappointed with this band, but that was probably due to the first three sets of the day being that damn good! It was a decent showing of blues-infused rock and I found it to be more easy listening after the heavier sounds of Coal Chamber & Cancer Bats. But they are still a relatively new band so I will keep an eye on how things develop with them.

Masters Of Reality - Zippo - 8 - I really don't know how to categorise this band: they seem to be influenced by all sorts. That being said, they were a great band to see and listen to. They didn't get too much reaction from the small crowd they drew, due to clashing with Five Finger Death Punch. But, I think they were the perfect type of band to spend the early afternoon bobbing along too. A comical moment happened with lead singer Chris Goss saying 'we've got to fit 20 years of music into a half hour, guess you'll have to come to our show to hear the rest'.

Amon Amarth - Zippo - 7 - These guys had sound issues to begin with, they also came on late due to dragging the Viking ship stage with them. However, for the 4 songs they did manage to play, they were very good. Including a song that will be coming on their next album and that sounded awesome, so I'm really looking forward to that release. I saw them do a longer set at Wacken last year and they were brilliant then. They definitely seem like a band that will need a decent length set to play more of their material. But who can't love Viking Metal!!

Stone Sour - Main - 10 - Corey Taylor's second appearance at this year's Download was an absolute stormer. I really like this band and their mix of heavy and softer music. I was shocked that they played 4 songs from the new album House of Gold & Bones parts 1 and 2, but as that included Gone Sovereign and Absolute Zero, they can be forgiven. Corey got extremely emotional during Bother, the fans really have made this guy their God and even he seems to find it hard to accept this status. They've played a cover of Black Sabbaths 'Children of the Grave' at some of their shows but the fact they included it in this set was amazing. Giving tribute to bands, whom without there probably wouldn't be a metal scene today, is one thing that I really like to see bands do. And the fact that they really to pound this tune out well is just phenomenal. Set closer '30/30-150' was almost earth shaking! I'd like to see these guys bounce back from the underwhelming HoG&B albums and really throw all of their old sound back into the studio and return with records like Come What(ever) May again.

Red Fang - Pepsi Max - 7 - The volume in the tent still seemed to be at 15 so I took a seat on the grass and listened in the sun. This was some pure rock during the early evening. Although I think the weekend had caught up with me and I just felt wiped out. I'd like to catch them again to give a true reflection of them.

Newsted - Pepsi Max - 10 - What happens after you leave arguably one of the greatest metal bands on the planet? Answer: Start your own band who are pretty damn good! I was expecting a decent thrash band to keep me entertained, instead I heard one of the best sets of the weekend. And this was from a band formed just last December! The few songs they have written so far, with an album due out later this year, have some very catchy tunes with a superb blend of melody and percussion involved. And hearing Whiplash live was something special to add to it. Jason Newsted was overjoyed at the reaction the crowd gave him and if they keep this sort of level up then they could be returning on one of the bigger stages quite easily.

P.O.D. - Pepsi Max - 5 - I have never been more disappointed in seeing a band that I was so looking forward to. I thought the bass was way too high and distorted the vocals, nor were vocals as fresh as I was expecting. P.O.D were one of the bands that got me into alternative music and I can't say I have ever walked away from a performance as deflated with a band than I did on Sunday. I managed to stay until Youth of a Nation was played, and being just as disappointed with that I left the tent to catch a longer portion of the next band.
I have just heard on TeamRock Radio that they've had reports that P.O.D were a roaring success, shame I wasn't listening to the same thing they were!

On the way to 2nd stage I had to endure 30 Seconds To Mars. Now, I dislike them on record but it's bearable. Live.....well, they sounded truly and completely awful. I'm so glad I wasn't staying there as I really would've done myself an injury just to get away!

A Day To Remember - Zippo - 9 - I'm going to say it straight off the bat, these guys will headline festivals. They really are that good. They have been described as a fusion of emo, hardcore and metal, and I can't disagree with that. They were a lot heavier than I expected but the huge crowd they drew loved every minute of it. Throwing inflatable balls and toilet paper into the crowd was such an awesome sight. The only part of the set I disagreed with was asking for crowd surfer surfers, crowd surfing is pretty dangerous on it's own without then asking someone else to stand on them. As expected the crowd obliged and I saw a lot of people at least attempting it and most people falling and disappearing into the crowd. Mild concussions and bruises aside, ADTR were truly awesome. And, with a headline tour coming up this year, the step up the festival lineups could happen quite soon.

LimpBizkit - Zippo - 9 - I guarantee this rating would be a 10 had I stayed for the entire set. They weren't even part of my Download plan until I watched the live stream from Rock am Ring. Limp really have turned a corner with their live performances and are now not a disappointment but rather a huge nu-metal force again (if you disregard the album Gold Cobra). Great entertainers playing what can now/soon will be called rock anthems. Stayed to hear Rollin', Nookie and Hot Dog, 3of my favourite Bizkit songs so I was incredibly happy. Also, Fred Durst is currently sporting a cracking beard.

Rammstein - Main - 10 - I'd like to start by saying that Rammstein outside loses something from their indoor show. Now that's out of the way, wow Rammstein were absolutely incredible! The setlist was mostly as to be expected with a shock addition of Wiener Blut, but using the majority of their back catalogue and using it well. The response to Du Hast was stunning, even to the band! I maintain that there will never be a better stage show than that of Rammstein. Everything they do fits in to the music and is just a sight to see. I enjoyed the piano version of Mein Herz Brennt, it was something different to the furious pace at which the band tear through their songs. At the end of the set, Till Lindemann thanked the crowd with 'we love you', this seemed 100% more emotional than previous times I have seen them. I doubt they will forget this date for a long time. There are huge rumours that the band will be calling it a day soon and if this is how they've signed off in the UK then no-one present will have bad memories from their time witnessing the Gods of fire and metal doing what only they do best.

And that concluded my Download Festival 2013. Bringing with it some awesome sets, some not so awesome sets and so much fire that Hell is probably empty right now.

I highly doubt I will do any festivals next year, bar a ridiculously unbelievable lineup. But for those who don't know, Download 2014 will take place on the weekend 13-15 June.

Many thanks for reading.

Summers - 364 Album Review

2013-04-07T22:39:00.003+01:00

Summers are a rock band from Southampton, Hampshire, England.
They comprise of: Crash Summers - Lead Vocals, Ricky Summers - Bass & Vocals, Jason Sepala - Guitar & Vocals, Joedy Rose - Guitar & Vocals, Andy Pope - Drums & Vocals.
The band are influenced by the likes of Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Thin Lizzy and Aerosmith, among others.
And have just released their début album '364'. Which is the reason I am writing this blog. So without further ado, here is my review of 364.

Shot In The Dark - A strong opening riff kicks off the album with a sense of things to come. Clean vocals take hold over melodic guitars and a dramatic drum track. The echoing vocals of 'Catch Me' certainly represent this catchy tune and it is a very positive opening song. The band have laid out their intentions to entertain and captivate their audience.

Superhero - After the first few seconds luring you into thinking this is going to be a slow ballad-esque song, the guitars rip open and the drums belt out. It's only the second song of the album and the band have a settled sound that is very pleasing to the ears. The lyrics are clean and have you singing along before you know it. Plus, any song that eludes that Batman is a whore has to be a winner! I really enjoy this style of rock; clean-cut, strong riffs and a fantastic blend of bridging from strong to soft.

Girls - No messing with the opening of this song, blasting straight out the speakers and not slowing down. It is foot tapping, head nodding, pure rock. The lyrics are well written and are greatly complimented by the melodic riffs from the guitars and an unrelenting drum beat.

And after a 5 minute break to try and get that chorus out of my head we can move on. Damn, that is a catchy song.

Too Late - A slower paced ballad breaks into the rapidness that this album has held during the first 3 songs. It shows the depth of change this band have already cultivated for themselves. A great sounding song that holds the attention and keeps that foot moving. Again the lyrics are so well penned they have you singing along in no time. My only gripe is that it seems to end abruptly. This is no bad thing but I was still singing along when the next song jumped in!

Sometimes - And jump in it certainly does. After the slowness of Too Late, this song fires straight up with belting drums and melodic guitars. The track bounces along nicely and with the style that this band has shown to enslave the ear from the offset. The ending sees the lyrics trailing off into a blend of riffing from the guitarists and the unrelenting drum beat which has worked so well throughout the album.

Steal Away - These guys really like to play with the listeners. Another song that opens with a relaxed tune, soon scares the pants off you when the amps are cranked up. This song is a salute to the masters of rock with a real fun rocking vibe. Once again, the lyrics are decidedly catchy and, soon enough, there is nothing you can do to stop yourself singing along.

Let's Make Love - Another song that showcases a differing sound the band have in their repertoire. Resonating guitar sounds blend over the top of the drums before the vocals drift into the melody. The song then picks up and rolls over the chorus with a brutal power. This is a superb contrast with the smoothness of the verses and the band have clearly worked the tempo change to perfection.

Billy - Speaking of changing tempo. Wow! 'Billy' shoots from the starting blocks and doesn't stop. This song flies along with fast paced guitars, quick lyrics and a drum track which makes me wonder if Andy Pope has more than 2 arms! This song is just 3 and a half minutes of pure energy flowing from the speakers. Summers seem to have picked up every rock sound available and nailed it as their own.

Let's Go Round - This could be re-titled 'Ode to Motley Crue'. Another great track which picks you up and ensures your head is nodding until its conclusion. This is a really enjoyable song that allows the guitarists to have some fun throwing solos around. I can't think of a time I sung so much during the first listen of an album! Some inspired lyric writing has taken place on this album and the audible entrapment of each song is amazing.

Told You So - A change of sound on this track shows the influence Bon Jovi has had on the band. Softer vocals on top of a hard rocking track. A fantastic guitar riff carries the flow and creates a melody bouncing off the hard hitting drums. Another bout of continuous foot tapping plays out through this high-spirited and playful tune.

Terminator - This song begins with a futuristic electronic sound before the ever present riffage and exuberant drums of this band kick in. The pace fastens into another energy fuelled track filled with guitar solos abound. I feel this song would be the perfect opener for a live set, with it's audio track building up whilst the band enter the stage and then they kick in as the lights go up. But that's just my opinion.

Rock Machine - And so we reach the final song of the album. Another audio track introduces the song and then the guys jump in feet first with a hard rocking tune. It's a really animated song that makes great use of the backing vocals to join it together. This is a real lively and energetic song to finish the album with. And it seems the guys may be looking to put a message across as to their future intentions with the lyrics 'Can't stop the rock machine'.

Summers could have just jumped straight out of the 80s music scene to bring a fresh new sound to the current rock fans. This is a superb album and I can see Summers becoming a huge hit with the fans of this music. Each song has a lot of energy and are well crafted. The lyrics have been well written and are unbelievably catchy.
I apologise if this review has sounded bias towards the band but I have never enjoyed a first listen to a début album as I have with 364.
The album is available on iTunes, and I'm sure from other music selling places.

Many thanks for reading.

Wacken 2012 Review - 23 Years Harder : Faster : Louder

2012-08-09T17:16:00.002+01:00

On Wednesday 1st August 2012, myself and Mike once again boarded a plane to take us to Germany. We left from Heathrow's Terminal 5, which is very nice although apparently it can take over 30 minutes to get to your gate if it is located in C section. But ours was in A, so that didn't bother us.

One helpful thing about returning to a foreign festival is that travel in that country is so much easier. So, we took the underground from the airport to the central station of Hamburg and then boarded the train to take us to Itzehoe. Once there we bought our shuttle bus tickets and were directed straight onto a waiting bus. This was turning out a lot easier than normal.

One small sidenote to make is that, before the festival we had kept an eye on weather forecasts and it wasn't looking too good. The reason for telling you this will become apparent later on.

The first difference to previous visits to Wacken happened once we were queueing to exchange our tickets. Normally, they would tear the barcode off and give you your wristband. This time, however, they scan your ticket and returned it to you. Then you walked to the side of the stall to exchange for the wristband. I don't know why they have added this ticket scanning but it didn't add more than 2 minutes to our waiting time so it didn't overly matter. Once we had our wristbands and gift bags, we went to look for a spot to set up our tents. We went back to the area we had used the past two times we had been to Wacken and set up. By the time we'd got the tents up, we were sweating in the bright sunshine and temperatures that must have been pushing the high 20s.
So after a little chilling out time we ventured into the Village to grab our festival shirts, watch the football tournament and just have a general look around. We then headed to where the new tent and 3rd stage was located just to test how long it would take to walk from the arena to the tent and found it would be roughly 5 minutes to re-locate. Deciding against going into the tent we strolled back to watch the conclusion of the football tournament. After a stop at the local supermarket for water, orange juice and a sandwich, we spent the evening chatting and chilling out in the tents. A very calm and quiet start to the festival.

Stage Key: True Metal = TM, Black = B, Party = P, WET = W, Headbangers = H. (WET & Headbangers were both situated in the Bullhead City Circus Tent). All ratings out of 10, 10 being the best score a band can receive.
MB = Metal Battle (Battle of the bands) winner from that country.

Thursday

Awoke Thursday to some more glorious Wacken sunshine. We strolled to the Bullhead tent to watch the first bands of the festival. We planned to see the end of Russkajas' set but ended up getting there a little too late, wasn't the end of the world since neither of us were bothered about seeing them. We both knew that it was the biggest tent in Europe but the closer I got to it, it really wasn't that impressive. That was until we walked inside. Just wow! It was gigantic! With two decent sized bars, two Relentless bars and the two stages side by side.

Danko Jones (Spoken Word) - H - 7 - Lead singer of the band, Danko Jones, had an hour slot in which he spoke about KISS. Danko is a huge KISS fan and every year sends in a new character idea for the band. This was a very funny segment and the pictures of himself dressed as each character was very good. The only nag I had with this part was when he stated that he had never had a reply from the band. OK, so we now know you haven't had a reply, he then told us that after every one of the 20 times he has done it. That got on my nerves a bit. However, then he spoke about a cover up he has found, that drummer, The Cat, Peter Criss died in 1978. This was quite funny as he had amassed a lot of "evidence" on future albums and tours that the drummer had passed away and KISS were trying to cover it up. I found this to be a very enjoyable start to my festival, although maybe an hour was a bit too long to be talked at, still, a solid 7 for Danko as it was very funny and entertaining.

FaaneFjell - MB Norway - W - 5 - The first music of the festival was delivered courtesy of some viking metal. Never a bad way to start. They were good and very entertaining.

Dead By April - H - 8 - I was quite confused for this band, as they drew a fairly large crowd. I asked Mike where they were battle winners from to discover that they are an actual band and that the MB winners were only on the WET stage that day. Any band that can get a bunch of metallers to make hearts in the air with their hands is doing something right! They were a very good band, with 1 screamer and 1 singer. I really like acts that use both vocal styles and will definitely be keeping an eye out for these guys again.

Exuviated - MB Belgium - W - 5 - These death metallers were great at what they do. I just didn't overly enjoy it.

Wolli & Die Band Des Jahres - H - 6 - A German festival has German speaking and singing bands, who knew?! A great cover of Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire helped their cause as I understood what was happening during this song.

Hone Your Sense - MB Japan - W - 6 - Some melodic death metal followed and they were the first ever winners from Japan to play at Wacken. They were fairly enjoyable and looked very happy to be playing at the festival.

Skyline - B - 8 - This band played at last year's festival and were enjoyable then. I found them even better this time. Mainly because they played a cover of Rammstein's Engel. They were joined by Doro Pesch when they covered 2 of her songs, We are the Metalheads and Raise your Fists, these songs I find are like the anthems of Wacken.

Jim Breuer - TM - 7 - Didn't catch all of this comedian/singer's set, but what I did hear made me laugh a lot. He turned the children's song BINGO into a metal tune for the next generation of metalheads. He had help doing this from Ozzy Osborne (Black Sabbath), James Hetfield (Metallica), Angus Young (AC/DC) and Rob Halford (Judas Priest). Obviously these metal icons didn't join him on stage, instead he did fantastic impressions of each. This set was perfect for the Thursday afternoon after some fairly intense metal to begin the festival.

Sepultura & Les Tambours Du Bronx - B - 8 - We had made the decision to leave this set early as we saw them here last year and they were overlapping with a band that I really wanted to see. However, what we did see was fantastic as this year there was a difference...... 16 extra drummers on the stage, hitting metal drums and it fits in with Sepultura's sound perfectly. The songs they have written together are sounding very good and it would be great to see this combination again.

Winterstorm - W - 5 - Got into the tent a little bit early and caught the end of this band's set. They are the Metal Master winners for this years festival and sounded pretty good. The mid-range score reflects the fact that I only heard one song.

Amaranthe - H - 10 - 3 vocalists sounds very overkill on the small headbangers' stage but it works beautifully. 1 screamer, 1 male singer and a female singer. There were some sound issues at the start of the set but these were quickly sorted out and one of the main bands I was looking forward to seeing at the festival played an incredible set. They only have one album so were able to play a fair amount of them and it was just brilliant. I hope they release a new album soon and tour the UK.

U.D.O - TM - 9 - Got back into the arena to see this set. And I'm really glad I didn't miss it. Although not knowing many UDO or Accept (lead singer Udo Dirkschneider's first band) songs, the entire set was very enjoyable and it was great to see Doro out on stage again. An appearance by Mr Lordi, in full monster gear, was .......interesting.

Saxon - B - 10 - Just WOW! Saw them in May and they were amazing then. This set blew that clear from my mind. Saxon were simply, totally and completely on form. Most metal bands really enjoy playing at Wacken and for Saxon it just seems to be home for them. From the opening storm of Heavy Metal Thunder, all the way through to a medley of 747 and Princess of the Night (as they ran out of time to play them both in full), they were stunning. Biff Byford announced that when they retire, they will play their final show at Wacken. I need to be there for that! A drum solo saw Nigel Glockler's stage lifted into the air before the band came back out. At the beginning of the encore, the bassist, Nibbs Carter played along the crowd barrier on someone's shoulders. The whole set was awesome and it was obvious that the band thoroughly enjoyed themselves too.

Volbeat - TM - 10 - Michael Poulsen kept asking the crowd to 'bring the noise', but I think that is a more apt thing to help describe Volbeat's headlining set, they were phenomenal! I was so happy when these guys were announced to play on a Night To Remember, even though a lot of people didn't think they were the right choice. Personally, I think they proved those doubters wrong. They had special guests in the form of Barney from Napalm Death, Mille Petrova from Kreator & Michael Denner from Mercyful Fate. Showing that genre doesn't matter in metal, as long as you have a good time and enjoy the show. Volbeat blasted through a 20-song set and it would've been great to see them carry on for longer. For me, this was the perfect way to end the first full day of Wacken 2012.

Friday

Some more sunshine and high temperatures on Friday morning made the decision simple: shorts and trainers. We made our way into the arena slightly later than planned as the first band on that day weren't a major draw and so we decided to just catch some of it.

Betontod - P - 7 - They were a very enjoyable band to start the day with. Again, speaking very limited German, I didn't really know what was going on. However, seeing as they were quiet at times I could hear what was happening on the Black stage. The main reason we went to see Betontod, was so that we didn't have to see Endstille. I stick by that decision.

Sacred Reich - TM - 8 - This was a very enjoyable band and set. They haven't released a studio album since 1996 and yet all their old stuff was played as if they had just written it. They had a huge mosh pit and told everyone not to do a wall of death but instead a circle of life, before starting to sing the Lion King. And then a moment of unexpected genius, a cover of Black Sabbath's War Pigs. They have been playing a few live shows since they reformed in 2007 but it doesn't look likely that there will be a new album, which is a shame based on what I saw.

Oomph! - P - 10 - I saw these German Industrialist metallers at Rock AM Ring in 2008 and they were good then. This time, they all came out on stage dressed as sailors with the lead singer also plastered in Dark Knight-inspired Joker makeup. And blew away the sizeable crowd they had received. A lot of clapping and jumping throughout the set and Oomph! clearly enjoy what they do. The set ended with a mass singalong to Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life - that was very unexpected!

Kamelot - TM - 9 - Saw them at Wacken 08 with their previous vocalist. This time, the new singer seemed just as good. He was able to carry all the notes of the old songs and it was a great show. Some awesome pyro was used and they played my favourite Kamelot song, When The Lights Are Down. An awesome set from an awesome band.

However, during this set it began to rain. And continued to rain. And then the lightning (& thunder, I presume - the band was LOUD) started. And then the rain got ridiculously heavy. We found out after the festival that in half an hour, 50 litres per square metre had fallen! So, as you can understand, we were soaked to the bone. This made the decision quite easy, go back to the tent and dry off. Annoyingly it stopped raining the second we got to the tents. This was when I found that my tent wasn't as waterproof as I had hoped.
After drying out my tent and putting duct tape along every seam, we decided to chill out for a couple of hours. It was a shame to miss bands, who were: Overkill - Seen before; The BossHoss - No Idea; Coroner - Just to miss Opeth. So nothing too bad. Obviously it's always annoying to miss bands but after that amount of rain I was in a bad mood and wouldn't have enjoyed anything.

Hammerfall - TM - 8 - Went back into the arena in clean, dry clothes in time to see Hammerfall. The Swedish power metallers blasted through their 1 hour set in glorious sunshine and were a great band to see.
It was great to see that the Wacken crew were already starting to pump some of the standing water out of the arena but the mud had already claimed the ground and people had already started to wrestle in it. Why? I hear you ask. That is a good question! The Holy Ground of Wacken is a farm throughout the year when it isn't a festival site. So I wouldn't want to know what was in the under soil. Not only that, at festivals, people aren't the cleanest either. So rolling around/walking barefoot in this mud is clearly not a good idea!!

Dimmu Borgir & the Czech National Symphonic Orchestra - B - 10 - This was one of the main draws for Wacken 2012. Dimmu always put on incredible shows, including when I saw them in a 450 capacity room in November. But this was something else! This was truly superb! I know that metal can be fused with classical but surely Norwegian black metal would be a step too far? Not at all. The sounds blended perfectly and Dimmu seemed very grateful to the orchetra and choir for doing it with them. Even some of the orchestra had corpse paint on! This really was an incredible set and I'm glad the weather cleared up so that I could enjoy it.
We planned on seeing In Flames and Kobra & The Lotus after Dimmus set. But with the earlier weather, the facts we'd seen K&TL two months previous and that I am not a massive fan of In Flames, we decided to call it a night.

So, on day 3, some awesome bands and some awful weather! Here's hoping that the final day of bands would be truly special.

Saturday

I was awoken at 7am on Saturday morning by idiots riding round on quad bikes. After I had stuck my head outside of my tent I saw that it was the police that were making so much noise. And were, in fact, flattening the mud with their wheels and there was also a tractor following them to help compact the mud down. This was, in principle, a great idea. However, on Saturday morning it continued to rain on and off and by the time we went into the arena it was coming down fairly heavily. This meant that the Wacken staff were delaying letting people into the arena, presumably as they were laying hay and pumping the ground. So the first band we were seeing started 10 minutes late, this wasn't the end of the world, I'm just glad I didn't miss them.

Delain - B - 7 - I think it's safe to say that symphonic metal is my favourite of the genres. And Delain did not disappoint. A great set to start the final day even though we cut it short to see the next act we wanted to. One of the reasons they got a lower rating than I would usually have scored them was the fact it was still raining and I was in a fairly bad mood due to this.

Walking through the Wackinger village we walked past the small Wackinger stage and caught a little bit of Santiano's set. They seemed pretty good and made use of a digeridoo, which was cool to see.

Manticora - W - 6 - As we walked into the Bullhead tent we caught the last song from these Danish metallers. They sounded really good and if it hadn't been for Delain in the arena, I would probably have caught more of their set.

Henry Rollins - H - 10 - Saw this guy doing spoken word at Reading festival 2008 and he was extremely funny then. This time he was even better. He spoke about his childhood, emails he receives and his work for National Geographic. This was the perfect way to cheer me up and I haven't laughed so much in a long time. If you get the chance to see this guy, please do. He is fantastic at what he does and I hope I get the chance to see him again.

Napalm Death - B - 8 - After seeing Barney sing with Volbeat on Thursday I was really looking forward to this band and they didn't disappoint. Extreme metal in the sunshine really does blow away the cobwebs on the final day of a festival. I was glad they played their Dead Kennedy's cover of Nazi Punks Fuck Off, Wacken have a very firm metalheads against racism policy and it was a great song to send that message across.

Axel Rudi Pell - TM - 8 - I thought this band were German, they're not. I thought it was a random name, it's actually the name of their guitarist. Anyway, this was a good set and a very enjoyable melodic metal band to see. I did find myself becoming bored during some songs, however the solos were nigh on perfect and so they keep a high score.

Sick Of It All - P - 9 - The hardcore punkers from New York delivered a fantastic set and made the Party stage their own. An hour of their best songs and a great way to spend an evening. I think their own headline shows would be fantastic and hopefully they will tour with their new album later this year.

Testament - TM - 10 - I had opted to give Testament a rating of 9. But the more I think about their set, the more I think it was one of the best of the festival. They had a giant pit for the entirety of their time and blasted out all the songs I wanted them to play. Including Into The Pit, Practice What You Preach and Over The Wall all back to back. Testament ended their set in brutal fashion. They have been going since 1983 and they don't look like stopping anytime soon.
During their set they pulled down banners emblazoned with 'Free Randy', in association with the Lamb of God frontman's incarceration in a Czech jail with charges of manslaughter against him. When lead singer, Chuck Billy, returned to the stage he announced, "Randy is free", eliciting a giant cheer from the crowd. Turns out that on Friday August 2nd, a second appeal to bail Randy was granted and he is now back in his hometown in America.

Cradle Of Filth - B - 4 - A very generous 4 at that. The band are good at what they do and very entertaining. The growling vocals of Dani Filth and Caroline Campbell are very good. And then, unfortunately, there is the other thing that Dani Filth does that makes Cradle of Filth one of the worst bands I have ever had to endure. He produces a sound that would make dogs run for cover. This high pitched screeching sound that makes you wonder what has happened to his testicles that makes him want to torture everyone listening. Even just remembering it is giving me earache. And it's not like it would totally ruin the songs if it was the odd one dotted around the set, it's just that it's at the beginning, middle and end of every fucking song! So, for that, fuck you Dani Filth!

I really needed something epic and fun to repair the damage that awfulness had bestowed on me. And what better way than with Viking metal!

Amon Amarth - TM - 9 - One of the original announcements for this year's festival and one of the reasons for purchasing a ticket so early on. And they did not disappoint. The band looked really happy on stage and played a strong set. I really enjoy this band's music and am glad I have had the opportunity to see them.

Scorpions - B - 8 - It was great to see these guys on their farewell tour. But I felt there was something missing. I don't know what I expected from them but they just didn't seem to 'bring it'. However, what I saw was enjoyable and the instrumental with all the band members simply rocking out was awesome to see. They had some incredible pyro and a tv screen instead of a back drop that always makes live shows look more spectacular.
Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a cloud sandwich, in the middle of these two clouds there was a fairly constant flashing. I came up with 3 options to what this could be: 1) The lights from the Black and Party stage were being reflected between the two clouds; 2) The clouds were over the Trash of the Titans field which hosted fire and electricity shows, so this could be reflections from that; or 3) There was a massive thunderstorm on the way. Sure enough, four spotlights were directed skywards as one of the clouds slowly planted itself over the top of the arena and then began to throw sheets of rain down onto us festival goers. It wasn't even a light sprinkle that grew, it was literally as if someone had knocked over a bucket. We had decided not to see Ministry or Edguy in favour of a little extra sleep before travelling home the next day. But this change of weather made up my mind to not bother hanging around for Machine Head who I had seen just two months before. So we headed back to the tents when, rather annoyingly, it decided to stop raining. No matter though, I was able to hear the last three bands of the festival in between bouts of sleep. They sounded very good.

It was a shame to finish the festival like this but I still had a great time and saw some amazing bands.

Sunday

Awoke to warm sunshine once again, which was slightly annoying after the previous night's ending. But we packed up our stuff and made our way to the shuttle buses. The journey back to the airport seemed much easier and less busy this year. We had a 45 minute wait at Elmshorn which seemed unnecessary but still got to Hamburg airport six hours before our flight.
Something Mike took advantage of last year was the showers at the airport so I decided to copy that idea this time. Anyone who has been to a festival before will know how incredible the post festival shower is. And having it before you travel home is just completely glorious!
We then spent our time wandering the airport, using the internet room and buying a few presents. The flight home was simple enough (with a spectacular aerial view down onto the Olympic Park and the Shard) and then we had to get a bus from the plane to Heathrow's terminal 5. This isn't a problem but I was surprised that we weren't able to dock at the gate. After collecting our bags and meeting Mike's parents we set off for home.

That was when I discovered the awful and shocking news that there had been a death at this year's festival. It appears to have been a tragic accident but nonetheless upsetting. My thoughts and condolences go to the victim's family and friends.

The first band's announced for next year's festival are: Deep Purple, Anthrax, Nightwish, Sabaton, Arch Enemy, Doro - 30th anniversary show, Lingua Mortis feat. Rage, Amorphis & a special acoustic show and Subway To Sally.

And so that was my take on Wacken 2012. Thank you very much for reading.

DOWN10AD 2012 Review

2012-06-14T20:20:00.001+01:00

This year I made the decision to head to Donington Park for my first ever Download festival. This decision came very late as I had previously planned to only go for the day on Saturday to see Metallica play the Black Album in full. However, the Download organisers built such an incredible lineup I had no choice but to attend for the full festival.
This was the 10th anniversary of Download and they pulled out all the stops to make it a special occasion. Unfortunately, the weather hadn't got the memo. But more on that later.

So on Thursday 7th June, we packed up my little car and headed north. The drive up was uneventful and extremely easy. We had a laugh following an Audi who didn't know that indicators existed and then we noticed that the weather was getting progressively worse. We had heard that the camp sites were already like mudbaths from a friend who had travelled up on the Wednesday, but were hoping that we could get there, find a spot and pitch the tents before it started to rain, alas. We arrived at the entrance and saw that the South car park entrance was blocked off and cars were being directed down the road. So we ended up in West car park on a lovely tarmac surface, this was the first win of the weekend. That win feeling lasted until we got off the shuttle bus outside the entrance to the site and ended up in ankle deep mud. Fortunately, we had put on our wellies after getting out of the car.

We got through the wristband exchange and then struggled through the village and camp sites until we found a patch to set up. After setting up, we were soaking wet and muddy so decided to chill in our tents for a couple of hours. Then we strolled to the village to buy blankets and towels as these were definitely needed during a typical British summer. The boardie takeover was happening Thursday night but with the weather and lack of energy after trudging through ankle deep mud we decided that we wouldn't go and just try to get some sleep before the festival truly began.

Key: Stages - Jim Marshall (Main Stage) - JM. Zippo Encore (2nd Stage) - Z. Pepsi Max (3rd Stage) - P. All ratings are out of 10.

Friday:

The arena opened at 12 with the first bands due on at 1pm. We were going to visit the Zippo stage first to catch Six Hour Sundown. However, once we got to the entrance there was an announcement that they were still tidying inside and that gates were delayed. This was contradicted by an electronic message board that said the arena would be shut until 2 as the ground conditions were unsafe. This prompted a lot of booing in the waiting crowd as the state of the camp sites must have been worse. A few people got on others shoulders and wrestled and asked for things to be thrown at them which helped provide some entertainment in the freezing cold wind and rain. We were finally let into the arena at 2 and I can't see what they had done as the ground was awful, a few grass patches amid the many bogs of mud. And there was no information regarding stage times or if bands had just been cancelled or moved to other times. This was quite poor of Download in my opinion as there were plenty of big screens that could just have stated that the early bands would not be performing. We headed to second stage to see if Six Hour Sundown were playing and to use the toilets after waiting around with no facilities nearby.

Red, White & Blues - Z - 6 -    We hadn't planned on seeing this band and didn't stand around to see them. But as we walked pass to go to the toilets and again as we went back towards main stage we caught a fair bit of their set. I really enjoyed them, they seemed to have a lot of energy for a band that were thrust into opening the festival and their rocky-blues sound was a great start to the festival.

Fear Factory - JM - 7 -    These guys won the Icon award at last nights Golden Gods and I can see why. They powered through their set and included classics such as Linchpin and Edgecrusher. If I get the chance to see them again I definitely will, they were a good band to really open my Download experience with. And it was great to see Dino Cazares back on the guitar with them.

After Fear Factory we wandered off in search of some warming food and ended up near second stage. As we queued we listened to the band that were playing and said we recognised them but couldn't think who it was. Until the backdrop was shown on the screen and it all fell into place.

Terrorvision - Z - 6 -    These served as great background music as I waited to get some food. They seemed to be very happy onstage and had drawn a fairly large crowd who were all bouncing around to the music. It was nice to see Terrorvision as I was happy that they got announced and didn't think I would get to see them. I was very impressed with the sound quality on second stage as the wind had picked up but it was still very audible from a distance away from the stage.

NOFX - JM - 6 -    I stood at the top of the hill for most of their set and was impressed at how good they still are. They played a great set and included some ummm "interesting" jokes in the middle. I'm glad I can now say I've seen NOFX as they were one of the bands that got me into punk.

We headed over to second stage a little early as I had seen the crowd for the next band there was, unsurprisingly, huge. Europe are a classic rock band that everyone wants to see as they can say they have seen The Final Countdown live. This, however, was not the case on Friday. Their set was due to start at 16.10 and last 40 minutes. By half 4 there was still no sign of the band and the crowd were beginning to get restless. This was followed by an announcement that they wouldn't be playing at all. Apparently a few people at the front were singing The Final Letdown at this point and rumours began as to why they hadn't shown up. The band released a statement on Facebook on Saturday which read like this:

"We're so gutted!
Not making the gig at Download 2012 happen.
A sincerely heartfelt apology to the people that came to see us at Download and ended up waiting in vain. We tried everything we could to get there in time but in the end it was beyond our control. We have now learned that there were perhaps up to 20000 people waiting in front of our stage at Download to check us out and that there was a massive reaction when the organisers announced Europe couldn't make it!!!! That makes this whole thing even harder to take! We had so been looking forward to this gig!

It started already early in the morning at the airport. Three band members were two hours late flying into Heathrow due to bad weather and backlog at Heathrow. Then we battled up towards Donington in the tourbus. More bad weather and severe traffic prevented us from making up the time necessary. We spent another two hours stuck in traffic. We asked for police escort or smaller cars to transport us the last bit, but they simply couldn't get to us.

In a last desperate effort as we we were getting close to the venue we sent our crew (running) by foot to the venue so they could start setting the gear up! as the tourbus couldn't move through the traffic close to the gig.

In the end we just couldn't make it. We were so close, that's why the organisers announced things so late from stage. However, the organisers at Download were cool and invited us to next years Download.

What a truly surreal and disappointing experience. But I guess shit happens and life goes on!"

So that explains why they didn't turn up. I am disappointed not to have seen them but as Joey said, shit happens.

We left the Zippo stage and went to get a decent spot at main for the next band who I was really looking forward to seeing, as I haven't done since 2006.

Billy Talent - JM - 8 -    I really like Billy Talent and this set was no exception. They played all my favourite songs and seemed really happy to be at Download. We found a spot of semi-grass to stand on to the left of the stage and had a great view and sound for the show. Halfway through their set, following Rusted from the Rain, Benjamin Kowalewicz said he was disappointed that their friends in Cancer Bats had been cancelled earlier due to the crap British weather and so were going to allow them to play during their set. So Cancer Bats walked on and played Hail Destroyer. I was very happy when this happened as I have never seen Cancer Bats before and have wanted to for a long time. I thought it was a magnificent gesture from Billy Talent and shows that music is family and not just entertainment.
Liam Cormier, lead singer of Cancer Bats said that they had been given a slot on 3rd stage to close out Friday night after missing the first slot that day. This was great news, although we weren't sure what time they'd play. But I'm not sure why Download couldn't have announced that so that people knew what was going on.
Billy Talent closed their set with Red Flag and then we went to go and see Skindred play an acoustic set on the small Jagermeister stage.

Well, that was the plan. But we couldn't get near the stage so had to abandon that plan. Then I saw one of those things that you can never unsee, also bringing back bad memories of Wacken 2008. And that is a girl squatting and doing her business. I know guys piss wherever just because they can but a girl doing it was very strange. Especially in broad daylight! Anyway, we hurried past that scene and took up a similar position to that we'd had for Billy Talent.

Machine Head - JM - 8 -    Fantastic live band that did not disappoint. I'm still surprised they didn't play Davidian but the set was still very enjoyable. And it was great to hear some songs off the new album, Unto The Locust. It was announced over the weekend that Machine Head will be headlining Bloodstock later this year. If they take the energy and stage presence of Friday to that, they will destroy it.

Opeth - Z - 5 -    We got to second stage a little earlier than planned and caught the end of these guys set, the final song to be exact. Now, the low rating for Opeth is by no means a bad thing against them musically. It's just that this is the 5th time I have seen them and I just cannot get into them. They still get a mid range rating seeing as they can play well and Mikael Åkerfeldt does have a good voice. But they just aren't for me I'm afraid. I used them more for filler music before the next band and so that I didn't have to watch the bloody 30 second Zippo video that played on a loop whilst no bands were on.

Nightwish - Z - 9 -    A Top 5 Band - Nightwish were amazing! The only reason they didn't get a full 10 rating was that they seemed to have some sound problems and it just felt like something was missing. That small gripe aside, they truly were brilliant. I wanted to catch their set at Download to decide if seeing them at their own show again is a good idea. Simply, yes, yes it is. Anettes voice was really on form. As were the entire band on their instrument of choice, especially during the long instrumentals they played. This included an impressive organ on the small stage. It was fantastic to hear some songs off of Imaginaerum, where Storytime is becoming a favourite of mine. They also paid tribute to the late, great Gary Moore by playing Over The Hills And Far Away. I got very annoyed at the guy in front of me as he spent the whole set moaning that Anette is too much like the old singer (that would be Tarja, buddy). And laughing when her sentence structure was a little off, perhaps because she's Swedish? Anyway, that guy was a dick. Nightwish were amazing and it has been announced that they will be playing in the UK later this year. That may just have to be attended.

We were going to pop into the Red Bull tent to see Gallows but decided against it as we knew it would be busy and getting back out to mainstage would be rather difficult. So, we found a decent spot at mainstage and awaited the first headliner of the festival.

The Prodigy - JM - 6 -    And waited we did. Turns out we could've seen Gallows as Prodigy decided that 9pm was too early for them to play. And made the crowd wait for a full half hour before taking to the stage. This was irritating as I wasn't overly fussed about seeing them and it was seriously cold just standing around watching an empty stage. We had already decided to leave at 10, which meant we only saw 5 songs but they did include Omen and Poison so that's OK with me. I was amazed that security didn't seem to react when a flare was lit and a smoke grenade was thrown but who am I to worry about crowd safety.
Now, there are a few exits out of the arena, all highlighted by big electronic boards. What you're not told is that, apart from the main entrance/exit, these extra ones don't open until after the final band. It would make more sense if the boards read: 'Exit for camp site. Open at 22:45'. But after a not so fun trudge back through the mud we arrived back at our tents to enjoy a 5 minute beer in the cold before retiring to bed. I thoroughly enjoyed my first day of Download festival, minus the weather.

Saturday:

Woke up to a dry start to the day which is always nice. Unfortunately, our friend Paul had to go home as he was in a serious amount of pain and it would've been a lot worse if he has stayed. We struggled through the mud and into the village where we were met with an interesting sight, hay. And a fair amount of it. Now, whilst waiting for the arena to open on the Friday, Mike had mentioned using hay or wood chips to combat the mud. Whether someone heard him I don't know but it was sure as hell easier to walk on.
No problems getting into the arena this time and so day 2 of mega loud live music was due to begin.

As I Lay Dying - JM - 8 -    After seeing AILD last year at Wacken, I knew they would put on a great show. And they really did. Tim Lambesis said that usually they don't go to sleep until late morning and so were still awake. There was definitely no tiredness as they powered through their set. This was a great way to start the day with a band who just seem to keep getting better.

Fozzy - Z - 8 -    I saw Chris Jerichos band at last years Soni and they were, once again, epic. If there's one thing you need to do in life, it's watch Chris Jericho headbang, it's amazing how he doesn't throw his back out everytime! That said he is a genius frontman and got everyone going on a chilly morning. Plus his vocals were spot on for the all too short set. I need to see Fozzy indoors as apparently it is an even greater show. Near the end of the set Jericho asked God for a personal favour for no more rain. And I think everyone in the audience prayed too!

Halestorm - Z - 8 - Didn't know a thing about this band when they were announced but after having a listen on Spotify the decision was made to check them out. And what a great decision that was. I'll definitely be buying a ticket for their show in Portsmouth later this year. A fantastic hard rock 'n' roll set for Saturday morning. 'Lzzy' Hales vocals were clean and strong and the guitars were superb. Arejay Hale, drummer, kept everyone entertained by smashing the crap out of his kit. Standing on the snare, kicking over the hi-hat and just generally rocking out! Halestorm are a great live band who need to be seen if you get the chance.

Ginger Wildheart - Z - 8 -   I've wanted to see Ginger/The Wildhearts for a while now, so this set was a must see for me. I was hoping for a mix of old Wildheart songs and some from Gingers new 555% album, and that's what he played. I was so happy to hear Very, Very Slow and Inglorious. It was a great set and he got a decent crowd. the only problem was when Ginger was singing through a megaphone to start the set and the mic didn't pick it up. But nevertheless, a great set and I'm happy to have seen Ginger. Now just to await my signed copy of the new album.

Trivium - JM - 10 -    A Top 5 Band - Absolutely superb set from the Floridian metallers. Matt Heafys voice is still going strong on the screaming and singing parts. They're a band that admit that the UK really made them a force in music and thanked the crowd on more than one occasion. It's nice to know that bands appreciate the fans and play a set that makes you know you're getting what you paid for. During The Deceived, Matt said that in 2005 they had 7 circle pits and he wanted to equal that. He was rather astonished that he had lost count after seeing 10. At Wacken last year, I said that Trivium were amazing, this year was no different. This set was definitely one of the highlights of the weekend.

Gun - P - 8 -    We headed over to the 3rd stage for the first time of the weekend and waited outside for Gun to finish their set. What I heard from them impressed me a lot. And the reason their rating is so high is simply because their cover of Word Up was fantastic. That's all I have to say on those guys but it would be cool to see them at their own show one day.

Anti-Nowhere League - P - 9 -    We popped in the tent to see these punk rockers as a means to stay the hell away from Steel Panther on main stage. They were amazing! Punk is such a great genre of music and it was fantastic to hear So What by the original writers. It was strange as I didn't think I knew much by them but, as the set went on, I picked up on songs that I have heard and enjoyed in the past which made the set really enjoyable. For guys that have been doing this for 30+ years they showed they still had the energy and pleasure of playing for their fans.

A quick mention to Steel Panther who we heard the end of as we made our way from the tent to main stage. They played Death To All But Metal, that was cool. Right, back to the real music.

Tenacious D - JM - 7 -    When I saw them in 2008 they were brilliant. On Saturday, not so much. I don't know if it was because we were further back than I would've liked. Or if the sound quality wasn't great. But something was really lacking. The set was mainly made up of songs from the new album which was good as I hadn't heard any off it yet. And to see the giant 'Fenix' as the backdrop was.....a sight to behold. There was an odd moment when a guy in a green monster suit came onstage during Deth Starr and Kyle shot him with a Nerf gun. Still, it was a good set that was a little disappointing for me.

Kids In Glass Houses - Z - 6 -    We caught most of their set whilst waiting for the next band on. They weren't bad, they just weren't good either. I understand why they were booked for Download but it just didn't fit in with my music tastes. It was cool to see the lead singer, Aled Phillips, climbed into the crowd to sing the final song. As with Opeth, it was cool to add another band to list for the weekend but they were definitely only time fillers for me.

Skindred - Z - 10 - A Top 5 Band - This time last year I had not seen Skindred, I have now seen them 3 times! And each time has been as good, if not better, than the last. They played all the classics and got everyone doing the Newport Helicopter, which is definitely a sight when the sun is shining on loads of people. Benji is an awesome frontman, getting the crowd involved the entire way through the set and it is great to see this band flying up the ranks in metal music. After seeing this set and some videos on Youtube, I am really gutted to have missed their acoustic set on the Friday. A brilliant live band who will be reggae rocking for many years to come.

Biffy Clyro - JM - 6 -   Only saw one song as we got a spot for Saturdays headliner. They were pretty good and the song we saw was a favourite of mine, The Captain, so that was cool.

Metallica - JM - 10 -    A Top 5 Band - Saturdays headliner were those guys from Metallica, playing the Black Album in full. And owning Donington Park. Myself and Mike went to Paris in May to see this show and if it was un-fucking-believable then, it was absolutely sensational this time. Seeing 80K+ metalheads going mental is such an incredible scene and Metallica will keep making it happen. The Ecstasy Of Gold sent that, all to familiar, shiver up my spine and then 'Tallica exploded on stage with Hit The Lights. And the third song was a tour debut and made me smile from ear to ear, The Four Horsemen was belted out and it seemed like the entire crowd was taken aback at this choice. In a good way, of course. Hell And Back was played out fantastically just as it was in Paris. The band played through The Black Album and then returned for their encore of Battery and One. This took them upto 22:58 with Download having a strict curfew of 23:00. I presumed that this would be one of the most memorable Metallica sets with them being unable to finish with Seek & Destroy. This was not the case as James Hetfield announced that they would play one more song, to the pure delight of the metal fans still cheering. And to the horror of noise pollution officers for miles around. Once again Metallica proved that they are still a tremendous force in live music and will always put on incredible shows.

We spent the Saturday night and early Sunday morning chatting and drinking with our camp site neighbours. And Mike provided plenty of entertainment when he put his wellie boots on the wrong feet and trotted to the toilet and back. It's no wonder he's still in pain now!

Sunday:

And so the final day of music at Download 2012 was upon us. And on waking up, the heat was unbelievable! I thought it was just in the tent but when going outside there was this yellow globe in the sky in a sea of blue. Everyone around the camp seemed very confused at this event. However, it did mean that the mud had dried slightly and was easier under foot. So we made the final stroll into the arena, sweating but not from the struggle of the walk for once. The main entrance from the village to arena was shut so we had to walk out and around the site. This meant us passing the Queue for the shuttle bus to West car park. And yes Queue was meant to be capitalised! It was huge, so that wasn't going to be fun when we had to leave on the Monday morning. But oh well, there was a day of music ahead.

Kobra & The Lotus - Z - 7 -   I really enjoyed Kobras set. A good rock 'n' roll start to the morning and they will become much more mainstream with more coverage. They supported Judas Priest a couple of weeks ago and I am a bit gutted to have missed them based on this set. However, I have now seen them and enjoyed what they played.

Black Spiders - Z - 9 -    These guys are a fantastic live band. They like to get the audience involved whilst kicking the hangovers and tiredness to dust. It would have been nice to see them have a longer set, but seeing the brilliant KISS Tried To Kill Me is always a fun time. There were a lot of foam hands in the crowd with the middle finger raised which is fast becoming synonymous with this band. Black Spiders are another band who will keep going from strength to strength and I, for one, am very pleased about this.

We Are The Ocean - Z - 5 -    I was really looking forward to seeing this band and have done for a while. And I was extremely disappointed with what I saw. They have recently lost a band member but they just didn't seem good at all. Maybe they don't suit the outside stage but I hope it was just an off-day for them. We only stayed for three songs before moving off to get a spot at mainstage.

Kyuss Lives - JM - 8 -    Meant to see them at Wacken 2011 but ended up being too tired to walk across the arena to the stage they were playing on. I am really glad I made the decision to see them this time though. They played a fantastic set and had a large crowd moving along with their solid riffs and deafening beats. The new bassist Billy Cordell slid in easily to replace Nick Oliveri, who has once again left the band. A thoroughly enjoyable set and Kyuss really do Live(s).....Sorry.

Reckless Love - P - 6 -    Caught the end of their set from outside the tent as we waited for the next band. They seemed pretty good, a bit too Steel Panther-y for me. But still, a bit of fun on a sunny afternoon. Their song Hot is very catchy and if they weren't going for the schtick of 70s Glam Rock I think I would have been more favourable of them.

Edguy - P - 10 -    A Top 5 Band -    I remember when Edguy were announced for Download and how much I ran around the house in pure happiness! And they really didn't disappoint. I only have one problem with their set and that's that it was only 30 minutes. Tobias said that, as it was a short set he wouldn't talk too much. Especially about Germany v England penalties, as he is a Bayern Munich fan (cue huge cheer from the crowd, most of whom probably weren't Chelsea fans but oh well). Hearing Superheroes again was brilliant. Edguy are an incredible band and I hope they tour here again.

Shadows Fall - P - 7 -    I sat outside the tent for this set and I'm pretty glad I did. It sounded insane! I don't remember Shadows Fall being that heavy but they did sound really good. The tent was fully packed for them and there were also a lot of people outside singing along. Shadows Fall are a massive force in metal music and, with a new album this year, they will be for a long time yet.

Black Label Society - JM - 6 -    It took us at least 5 minutes to walk from the Pepsi Max stage across to mainstage. That time was fully filled with a solo from Zakk Wylde. Don't get me wrong, a guitar being shredded to fuck is an awesome sight/listen. But BLS do it for too long and too often. I've never been a massive fan of this band and that opinion really didn't change after this set. Musically though I can't fault them so they get a run of the mill 6 rating.

Lamb Of God - JM - 9 -    Such a great band. I never get bored of seeing or hearing them. And apparently neither do any of the thousands who also saw them. The size of the circle pits scared me even though I was a good distance away! LoG played a strong set including all my favourite songs. They had so much energy from beginning to end. DevilDrivers drummer, John Boecklin joined them onstage to play guitar on the final song, Black Label.

Shinedown - Z - 8 -    This was a brilliant set from a brilliant band. They drew a huge crowd which was quite surprising as they clashed with Megadeth. But it didn't phase the Floridian rockers. They played a decent set and lead singer Brent Smith climbed into the crowd during Bully and let the crowd sing parts of the chorus. I always enjoy seeing this band live and will hope to do so again in the near future.

Refused - Z - 9 -    WOW! What a return! I really like Punk bands and Refused are one of the best, but this set was just incredible. From start to finish, the energy and furiousity they played with was unbelievable. Frontman Dennis Lyxzen said that he often looks at their lyrics and wonders if they can still sing them today. then decided that today they are more meaningful than ever. Anarchy reigned supreme for this set and Refused can certainly still pack a punch after saying they would never reform. They closed their set with New Noise which is such a fantastic song. Long live Punk.

Dropkick Murphys - Z - 9 -    Irish punk-folk-rock at it's very best. this was just such a fun set to be involved with. People were headbanging, skanking, singing, bouncing. Just anything you wanted to do was OK with Dropkicks. They played all their classic songs and even threw in a cover of AC/DCs TNT, which was particularly brilliant. If you haven't seen this band yet, you really need to.

I heard some of Soundgardens set as I waited for the others to get a spot for the main event of the weekend and I didn't understand what was happening. There seemed to be a guy meditating with shit guitars playing around him. I'm sure if you're a Soundgarden fan then it was great but I just didn't get it.

Anyway, the next and final band of the festival is what life is all about. They would be a top 5 band but that wouldn't be doing them justice.
A black curtain came down over the front of the stage and the crowd started to go nuts. And then from behind the curtain a familiar voice bellowed out "Hello Download, I can't hear you", this sent the noise to the heavens! A video played on the screen showing promo vids and shots from gigs throughout the bands history and riffs from the bands songs played.

Black Sabbath - JM - 10 -    They were unbelievable. Everything was spot on from the very beginning to the firework finale. Ozzys voice was near on perfect, which was great as I was a little worried after his performance at Wacken last year. Tony Iommis shredding seemed to come to him as easy as breathing. Geezer Butler shook the floor with every pluck of the bass. And Tommy Clufetos, in place of the missing Bill Ward, hit the skins as if he was a founding member of the band. Every single thing about the band and the set was incredible. Ozzy showed he still had skills when he pulled out the harmonica to play on The Wizard. Tony, Geezer & Tommy owned Donington whilst playing the instrumental Symptom Of The Universe. There was simply nothing at fault with Black Sabbath on Sunday and I can honestly say I feel privileged and still overwhelmed that I have seen them. Tony got such an incredible reaction and Ozzy made the show about him, even though Mr Iommi just took it in his stride as if chemotherapy is just a walk in the park! The set closed with Paranoid and the stage exploded in fireworks and lights. The band seemed so happy being back together and the new album is eagerly anticipated.

On the walk back to the tents I was pretty speechless. I seriously couldn't believe that I had just seen Sabbath! We decided to get an early night as we had the fun of packing/leaving and travelling to look forward to the next day.

Monday:

There was no more rain on Sunday night or early Monday morning so the ground had solidified even more. Unfortunately not evenly, so the walk with bags still wasn't the greatest of fun. However, we got out of the village and made our way to the shuttle bus queue. Which was much shorter than it had been the previous morning so that was handy. We got back to the car, loaded up and left the car park... By way of major fluke seeing as there were no signs or stewards, but nevermind. The drive home was marred by traffic and the awful weather that seemed to envelope us as soon as we were onto the motorway. But none of that mattered as I was focused on the post-festival shower!!

So that concluded my first Download festival experience. And what an experience it was! Apart from the mud! I never want to see mud again! But that can't be helped. The Download organisers put together a fantastic lineup and I am happy with the bands I saw. I have memories that will last a lifetime and some bands to keep an eye on in the future.

Rugby & British Steel

2012-05-27T11:39:00.000+01:00

Yesterday, myself and Mike ventured to London for an action packed day. This consisted of the Aviva Premiership Final at Twickenham, involving the leagues top 2 teams Harlequins & Leicester Tigers, and then a trip to Hammersmith Apollo to see Judas Priest.

The journey from Portsmouth to Twickenham was pain free (apart from the soaring temperature) and we decided to visit the local Wetherspoons before going to the stadium. I understand we were in London and that we were in an area where a major event was happening. But, over £2.50 for a pint of coke?! (I'm detoxing until Download) That is an absurd amount for a soft drink at a chain pub. Anyway, we had our drinks and then strolled to the stadium. As soon as the trees part near the bottom of Rugby road and I see the round turret in the South East corner of Twickenham I get goosebumps. It is a beautiful stadium and you know that the rugby on show will be awesome.

And, without question, an awesome game of rugby occurred. Both teams went hammer and tong into the match and we saw some fantastic tries. Nick Evans hit the post in the pre-match warm up and I said to Mike 'bet he couldn't do that again'. I was wrong. During the game he lined up a penalty on the left side and it struck the outside of the near post. Then, after a try, he set up the conversion kick in an almost identical spot. And the same thing happened! Leicester looked to be taking the lead into half time but a penalty meant the teams went in at 14-13 in Quins favour. By the 65th minute Harlequins had extended that lead to 30-13, and I think most spectators knew the game was over. However, Leicester didn't get that memo. So after a flurry of activity by the Tigers we entered the final 10 minutes at 30-23. The Tigers, as with last year as the clocked ticked to 00:00, pushed for the line to get the converted try they would have needed to tie the game. Mike and I were a bit nervous at this happening as we needed to get to Hammersmith soon after the game. However, Harlequins received a penalty which meant they were the champions of the 2011/12 season. I believe this is a fair reflection on a season that Harlequins have held top spot for much of. A truly amazing game to cap off the season and many congratulations to Quins for the clubs first ever league title.
We watched the trophy presentation and then headed off to get the train. Along with 81,000 other people is always a fun experience. But the police are highly trained and the fans always oblige to any request to wait until the crowd have cleared from further ahead. Also, if you go to Twickenham with an oyster card, there is a touch point right next to the platform rather than in the queue.

At Hammersmith we decided to grab a drink as it was still in the high 20s and heading into a gig with a dry throat is never a good idea. We also grabbed some lunch and waited outside the venue for the queue to die down. Seeing as the queue was around the corner it cleared extremely quickly so we decided to head in and hope that there was some high standard air conditioning (not overly is the answer). I heard a few bars from Kobra & the Lotus, but being outside the auditorium it wasn't very clear as to how good they were. We wandered in as they were setting up for Saxon. Saxon came out and Oh My God! They were simply stunning! I was hoping they would be good but I really wasn't expecting them to be so tight and energetic at this point in their careers. I wasn't going to see them at Download but they have built a very strong case now. However, they are at Wacken with a longer set and are followed by Volbeat. That is going to be special! Anyway, they played my favourite songs, 20,000 feet and 747 so I was very happy.

Judas Priest came out behind a curtain with the Epitaph logo on (as pictured), this dropped as they broke into Rapid Fire and a huge cheer from the crowd. Now, Mike & I saw Priest at last years Wacken festival and as I wrote in that review, after the first few songs I was very disappoint. This was not the case last night. They were unbelievable! Every song was played with ferocious tenacity and Rob Halfords voice was definitely on form. Halford introduced most of the songs with a little background of the album it featured on, which was nice as most were released years before I was born. They had an amazing laser show, giant screen and pyro to go with their set. A bit to much pyro if you ask me, the temperature inside the venue was a lot higher than outside and it was as close to a sell out as I have seen there. I had the beginnings of a headache during Judas Rising which was annoying, add to that the heat and the sloping floor, my body wasn't overly happy. I love the idea of a sloping floor as it gives an advantageous view to all, but it does put a lot of strain on the ankles after standing for a while. We decided to leave after Electric Eye as we have seen this show before and it would only leave stalwarts such as Hell Bent For Leather and Got Another Thing Coming, which we have seen twice before. Unfortunately, after Painkiller we made the decision to get out into the fresh air and get a drink. This ended up being a great idea as we managed to get an earlier train back to Portsmouth after a long and exhausting day. Priest were truly amazing last night and I'm glad I've had another chance to see these metallers doing what they do best. British metal is continuing to grow but it is fantastic to see the founders still enjoying what they do and putting on awesome shows for their fans.

It was a great day out, but one that I don't want to repeat for a while! I hope you have enjoyed reading this and I think the next time I write it will be about Download 2012. So I'll leave you waiting with eager anticipation for that.

Live Fast, Stay Young - TFO Album Review

2012-05-06T12:12:00.000+01:00

TFO (or The Founders Of) have released their debut album, Live Fast, Stay Young.

I checked out their album launch party at the Edge of the Wedge last night and it's safe to say, these guys love what they do.

The band consists of : Tom Soane - Vocals
                                    Dudley Stagpool - Guitar & Vocals
                                    Matt Gudgeon - Bass
                                    Mike Hartley - Drums
                                    Jonny Hoskins - Guitar

The music is described as “an energetic mix of rock, punk and indie with a hint of ska for good measure”.

The album consists of 11 tracks, all written by the band themselves.

1. Ransom - A slow & steady start to this song and the album, showcasing the bands ability with their instruments and musical talents. The speed of the chorus is a nice change in tempo without speeding up too much to drop back into the verses slower rhythm section. The end is a great mash up of fast guitars and speedy drumming. A good start to the album and already gives off a vibe that this band are creating a music style of their very own.

2. Alright Now - This is my favourite TFO song and a lot of that is because of the bouncy intro/riff that lets you know that this song is going to be a lot of fun. It definitely helps give TFO the title of 'pioneers of Jump Rock'. The lyric 'TFO on a journey now, we ain't never gonna let you down', is a solid pledge that these guys want to do this for a long time to come.

3. Take It Slow - This song jumps straight into the 'TFO sound'. A fast paced, energetic song that doesn't even slow to take a breath. It once again showcases each member of the bands talents and their ability to get the tempo of a song exactly as it should sound. A good song on the to help keep the album jumping along at a great pace.

4. Search And Destroy - Not to be confused with a certain Metallica song. This is TFOs own brand and they are stamping authority on everything they play. A calm riff carries through the verse and then a crescendo of guitars and drums take over to punch the chorus. The song slows through the middle and then builds to an emphatic, punchy finish. This album is throwing everything at you and every second is a joy to listen to.

5. Live Fast, Stay Young - The title track from this debut album has a cool beginning with the guitars climbing through the chords before the vocals start. the amount of slow downs and speed ups used by the band are very evident in this song. And it shows how talented the guys are with their timing and musical awareness as when to include build ups and pauses. An enjoyable song that keeps the feel-good vibe of the album running nicely.

6. Worlds Apart - This track starts with a slow acoustic guitar and adds the drums and electric guitar before the vocals begin. As usual, the ballad style is replaced with a heavy musical reprieve during the chorus. Immediately slowing to back to the 2nd verse. The guys then settle into their speedy bouncy groove and close out the song in a very soft setting. Halfway through the album and TFO are showing some great talent at keeping their audience captivated.

7. Give It Time - Another song that the guys start slowly with the vocals taking a more ballad style. Soft guitar and drums gliding along in the background until a familiar, jumpy, reggae style kicks in and makes you start to move around. This is a strong song and is a tribute to the bands talents that no songs are acting as filler to the album.

8. Start This Show - This song kicks straight into a riff of fast guitars and drums before Tom brings in the vocals. After the chorus, the music slows to allow the guitarists some playing time and then the drums build up and it's straight back into a rocking, bouncy tune. A great tune as the album moves into its latter stages.

9. I'm Alive - The vocals make the standout point to this song, with the guitars as an accompaniment. The musical bridge builds slowly and then drops off to a slow stream of lyrics before building to a crescendo and allowing the instruments to do the talking once again. A truly rocking song that makes you nod your head along.
10. Save The Tears - And now time for a nice, slow ballad as the album draws to its closing stage. However, at the 60 second mark it turns from ballad into the usual TFO jumping, happy, rocking sound. It's good to see the band infusing different sounds into their songs and TFO are able to do it with ease.

11. Another World - A strong guitar solo opens this song and Toms vocals prevail to stay strong with this ballad/rock mash up. The guys each have a time to solo their talents and it helps this song to speed up throughout, until Toms vocals slow the finish into a slightly heavier ballad finish. This song is a good, solid finish to a very decent album.

This is a sublime first album from a local Portsmouth band. Their song writing and musical talent is second to none and they have produced a great platform to help propel themselves further into the music world. Every song on the album makes you nod your head/jump around/bob along without even trying. They have created a genuine fast paced music style that works in the studio and on stage.
Tom can change his vocals at the click of his fingers and Dudley on backing sound gives the entire vocal section a rawness that would otherwise be lacking. Every member of the band seem comfortable with their instrument and can perform very well. The solos are well placed and executed perfectly. TFO are a great band who will continue to grow on the back of this offering.

More info on the band can be found at:

TFO Official Site

TFO Facebook

TFO Twitter

and their music is on iTunes

Entertaining Edguy

2012-02-06T21:19:00.000+00:00

So I haven't posted in a while, my apologies.

Today's blog will be about the recent trip to London to see Edguy at the o2 Academy Islington.

The journey up to the capital was slightly hampered due to a gas leak in the Baffins area on Friday night. This meant no trains were entering the city and so myself and Mike had to take a short trip to Havant in which to board the train. Once in London, we flew around on the underground so that Mike could find a couple of venues for the Cancer Bats gigs he is attending soon. We then settled in Islington to watch the Scotland v England 6 nations game and then headed into the venue.

Due to the timing of the ruggers match we thought we would miss the 1st support act, Primitai. In fact we managed to catch their last 2 songs. Mike had said beforehand that they were good. I agree with this statement. It would have been nice to catch a little more of their set and if I get a chance to see them again, I will.

The 2nd support were a band called Voodoo Six. They were extremely good, their riffs were incredibly catchy and the vocals were very clean. They kept the audience captivated through their half hour set and certainly warmed the incoming crowd from the snowy conditions outside. In the same instance as Primitai, given the opportunity I would definitely see V6 again.

In the summer I went to Wacken festival and saw a show by Avantasia, this is Tobias Sammets side project. His band however are Edguy. We were shown the video to their latest single 'Robin Hood' whilst awaiting Avantasia to come on stage and it was an awesome song. Myself and Mike both said that Edguy were a band that had to be seen. So when they announced their Age of the Joker tour was coming to England, we jumped at the chance to get tickets.
They showed their intent for the evening by blasting through Nobody's Hero to begin the set. Tobias greeted Lon-Don as he pronounced it and quickly had the crowd cheering and laughing.

I will say it right now, Tobi is the greatest frontman of our time! He was funny and kept the crowd engaged and participating in songs. He quickly realised Londoners dislike for the North and Midlands. When he spoke about their previous 2 shows in Manchester and Birmingham there was a chorus of boos. Adding later that a song could be sung by donkeys, it could even be sung by people from Manchester.

The second song of the night was another off of the new album. The Arcane Guild, I really enjoy this song and it is fast becoming a personal favourite of mine. They then moved to an older album and played Tears of a Mandrake. This song really got the crowd involved and it was inescapable not to move during the song or indeed the entire set. You could see the whole band were really happy to be back in the UK which they had promised on their previous visit. Tobias got another laugh when he said that they had promised to go back to Leeds, which got booed as did Glasgow. And then a cheer went up when he said that they weren't going back there.

Another boo echoed around the crowd when Tobi was introducing the next song which was written about Ireland. He calmed the crowd by asking them to like the island for just 5 minutes. Rock the Cashel is a fantastic song and certainly reminded me of Ireland with some incredible guitar playing resembling a jig. They then played one of my favourite Edguy songs, Lavatory Love Machine. It is one of the craziest songs ever and I'd hate to think what Tobi was on when he wrote it. It features a lot of innuendos and is about Tobias sitting in an aeroplane headed for Brazil that is going to crash and him having sex in the toilet with the stewardess......Yeah, exactly! Nevertheless it is an absolutely incredicle song and showcases the range of sounds this German metal band can produce.
They then played Robin Hood and it was just as good live as it was the first time I saw it in the premiere of the video during Wacken. Next up was supposed to be a drum solo that Mike had told me was apparently incredible to see and hear. However, Tobi had other ideas, because the Islington Academy has a strict 10PM curfew they had to cut out the solo in favour of "a real song, you know, one with vocals", greeted with more laughs. Therefore, Ministry of Saints ripped through the venue with its extremely heavy riff getting every head nodding from the opening bars to the closing notes.
He then told the crowd they were going to slow things down and play a ballad, this was met with a few lighthearted boos until he said the title of the track, Save Me. This was greeted with massive cheers and a few lighters were held in the air, which Tobi encouraged anything light or reflective to be held up. This song is a fantastic, emotional, hard hitting song and proves that Tobias is probably one of the best vocalists ever, but certainly of my era.
After the slow pace of the ballad, Edguy decided to fly directly to the other end of the scale and showcase their amazing talent as a power metal band with Babylon. This is a fast paced song that can only be described as absolute power metal. With a short break in the middle to get the crowd chanting and doing the usual "splitting the crowd for a shout off." Tobias makes this slightly more different by telling each side to shut up when it's not their turn.
This was followed with Superheroes, which I'd have to say is my all time favourite Edguy song. I was starting to get a little sad at this point though as I knew there would only be a few more songs. This, however, didn't stop myself or the crowd or, from the looks of it, the band enjoying every secong and note that was passing.
The band then left the stage and the chants of 'Edguy' began, Mike and I moved to the back and passed a couple of idiots. I call them idiots as instead of chanting the bands name, they were chanting 'one more song'. This really irritates me, as nowadays, bands always play an encore. Not only is it practically an unwritten rule. The house lights are still off with only a couple of coloured spotlights centred on the stage. That means the band will be back!
Anyway, rant over and shockingly Edguy re-emerged onto the stage and flew in Vain Glory Opera, I thought this song would be saved until the last song of the evening but instead it opened their encore and had everyone moving, clapping and singing again. Unfortunately, the next song was the last one of the set, introduced with Tobias promising that Edguy will return to England and more importantly they will return to London. The final song was King of Fools, a very dark and strongly riffed song. Including the opening lyric, "What do you think when you piss in my face." It's a really strong song to finish on and I left the extremely happy that I had seen as awesome a band as Edguy.
Unfortunately, Tobias is not doing anymore with Avantasia. But as long as Edguy are still making new material and touring then he will be entertaining people worldwide for years to come.
I will definately see this band again, someday somehow.

We left the venue to find that the snow was still coming down quite heavily and was beginning to settle. This was slightly concerning as British public transport are never prepared for, well, anything. But we had no trouble jumping on the next train back to rainy Portsmouth and that concluded an extremely enjoyable day in London and the viewing of an incredible band.

Manchester End-of-Weeker I

2011-11-28T09:51:00.000+00:00

Thursday marked the start of another trip to the city of Manchester to view some musical people doing their thing. This time the bands involved were Theory of a Dead Man, Black Stone Cherry, Alter Bridge and Dimmu Borgir.

The MEN Arena do not have a separate standing entrance on the floor like most venues, so you have to walk through the lower tier seating to show your standing ticket and be let onto the floor. This idea is fine, however there is opportunity for fail. This occurred on Thursday, as myself and Mikey got to the top of the stairs the house lights went out to signal ToaDM taking the stage. This made walking down an unknown number of stairs in pitch darkness incredibly dangerous. This could be easily rectified with a luminous or lit strip at the edge of each step. The perilous walk was made happier as South Parks 'Blame Canada' was ToaDM's choice of entrance song.

ToaDM headlined this tour over in the States, I presume they are popular over there. Over here, not so much. It could be because they were the first band on rather than the fifth (the American tour had another 2 bands opening). But they were just boring to be honest. Musically they seemed OK, but for me they seemed to be an opening band doing an opening set and not bothering to start a fan base over here. They did cover Eric Claptons Cocaine, that was cool. Overall, enjoyable to listen to, but I won't be in a hurry to see them again.

Next up were Black Stone Cherry, a band I have seen previously and always enjoy their sets. This one did not disappoint either and I'm coming to the conclusion that they simply get better and better each time. From the moment they set foot onstage until they left, BSC poured out pure Rock'n'Roll energy. The crowd really responded to this and sang along with every song. Lonely Train ended their set and the crowd matched the noise coming from the stage with their singing. BSC are playing in the UK again next year, I will likely be writing a review about them then too.

The headline band for Thursdays gig was Alter Bridge. I have seen AB once before at a festival and enjoyed what I heard. Since then I have listened to the band a fair amount and have to say, I'm a huge fan. I had seen the setlist for this tour previous to the gig and was incredibly excited about what was to come. And AB didn't disappoint from the opening bars of Slip to the Void until the final notes of Rise Today. I really enjoyed the songs I Know It Hurts and Metalingus. Myles Kennedy announced it was the biggest headlining gig ever and was completely in awe of the crowd reaction. I thought they had been loud for BSC, but that was nothing compared to their reaction to AB. Constant singing, cheering, clapping and in general, a real party atmosphere. My only gripe with the band was what they did in their encore. After coming back out to a rapturous applause they played Open Your Eyes, then Myles paid tribute to Freddie Mercury and what I can only describe as a guitar duel broke out between himself and Mark Tremonti. This was cool to watch, however it went on too long and the fact that most songs include a guitar solo, it seemed to be unnecessary showing off. I felt the time could have been better used by playing another song. Or if they wanted to pay tribute to Freddie, why not play a Queen cover or just a guitar medley of their songs? Just a suggestion. No matter though, AB were superb and I won't be surprised to see them back here in the not to distant future.

Friday it was the turn of Black Metal in the form of Dimmu Borgir. This gig was at a new venue for me and Mike to visit, Manchester Academy 3. The 3 Academy venues are all in the same area as each other on the Manchester University campus. Academy 1 is a seperate building and I will be going there in the new year to see Seether & 3 Doors Down. Next door to this is the Manchester Uni Student Union, this building is huge, and on the second floor is Academy 2 and on the 3rd floor is Academy 3.
We walked into Academy 3 and my first thoughts were that it reminded me of the size of the Wedgewood Rooms here in Portsmouth, possibly even a little bit smaller. This was a little worrying as I feared for my hearing, turns out the volume levels were perfectly set.

The gig was named An evening with Dimmu Borgir and it involved them playing 2 sets with no support act, I am very much in favour of this sort of gig as, although you don't see new bands perform in support slots, you see more of the band that you paid the ticket price to see.
The first set was an album played through in full, voted for by the fans before the tour. The album that won was Enthrone Darkness Triumphant. From the time Dimmu took to the stage the crowd were electric, throwing horns and cheers towards the stage for the entirety of the gig, including times that Dimmu were off stage. The first set was played with fierce energy and the band looked very happy to be playing to such an engaged crowd.
The second half of the gig had Dimmu playing songs from their entire collection. They came back onstage following a drum solo, this was cool and didn't annoy me as Alter Bridges guitar duel did because a) it didn't last longer than 5 minutes and b) drummers don't get to highlight their talents as much during songs, so it's awesome to see them go all out on their kit. The 2nd set was awesome and included 2 of my favourite Dimmu songs with Puritania and Serpentine Offering. It was an amazing gig and definately worth the extra nights stay in Manchester.

I will be seeing Dimmu again next year at Wacken. Where they will be playing with a full orchestra, I cannot wait to see this great band again. Black Metal Lives!

Volbeat Review

2011-11-06T12:09:00.001+00:00

Last Saturday myself and Mikey T headed to London to see Volbeat.
I have commented in this blog before about how excited I was to be going to this gig, especially after they cancelled last year and I saw them open the main stage at Soni earlier this year.

The train up was uneventful, as was the tube to the venue. Which is much easier than previously thought. In fact, once at Waterloo, you jump on the Northern line and 9 stops later you're in Kentish Town and there is the HMV Forum!

We grabbed a light dinner at Sainsburys and then joined the queue to get in, which was very long but moved quickly even which everyone being searched on entry.
Inside, the venue resembles the HMV Apollo in Hammersmith, although instead of a sloping floor it is tiered. We headed down to the lowest tier and found a spot very close to the stage at the left hand side and against a staircase which supplied some nice leaning comfort.

The support band were Black Spiders, I was certain I had seen them before but wasn't sure until they opened their set with Stay Down. Black Spiders were awesome and a great choice of band to open for Volbeat. They belted out their songs and the crowd really responded to them. Me and Mike both commented on the fact that the drums seemed to overpower the other musicians, this could be due to our locality near to the stage or the aesthetics of the venue. Either way, it didn't disrupt the enjoyment of an awesome band who I would gladly see again.

After the interval, Volbeat took to the stage and all I can say is 'Holy Hell!', they were amazing! The crowd were bouncing, singing, cheering and clapping throughout the whole set. I had seen the setlist from other gigs on this tour and I don't think I would've changed a thing. The band were clearly happy to be in London and continually involved the crowd. During one of the inter song chats, Michael Poulsen (lead singer) asked what the crowd wanted to hear, cue unintelligible shouting from the crowd. So Volbeat played some bars of 'Tallica & Motorhead, before Poulsen said that one of his favourite bands are Napalm Death. This lead to them playing a ND song and then saying something which I didn't hear. What he said became clear when they began playing Evelyn and Mark “Barney” Greenway from ND walked onto the stage to provide the screaming vocals for the song. They played out the rest of their set, with time to play a tribute to Queen, with the same ferociousness that had been the theme throughout the night.

Favourite songs from the set - All of them! I cant even pick the best one, they were just that superb.

This is easily one of the best gigs I have ever been to and I really hope to see Volbeat again, either in a main festival slot or on their own headline tour.

Update much?

2011-09-18T12:43:00.001+01:00

I haven't posted in a while as I haven't had much to say.

Pompey playing shit again, work's still shit and nothing else has changed.

There are, however, a couple of new developments that have taken place within the last week.

1. I am now the proud owner of an iPhone 4. This makes me incredibly happy as I have wanted one since they were introduced. The other reason for this new phone is to help with my second situation change.

2. I am going to quit smoking. The main reason for this is financial as I'm in a low paying job and basically can't afford to keep the habit up. I also want to stop for health reasons. I am an asthmatic which means being a smoker is a ridiculous thing to be. However, my asthma is in extreme remission now I have grown older and after a recent medical, was told that being an asthmatic smoker my lungs are exceptional. Even so, I want to quit. And apparently prove to some friends that I can do so.

Mike is also currently in this circumstance and he is writing a blog about his daily feelings and the like on quitting. He has added me as an author to this blog which can be accessed here I'm done with smoking

So those are the 2 major things going on in my life at the moment.

I am really looking forward to the gigs I have coming up soon, same list as posted on an earlier blog. Added to the fact that 3 Doors Down and Seether have announced a tour, which will mean another Manchester trip, very excited about that!

Also the Rugby World Cup is currently taking place in New Zealand. I have watched as many of the games as I have been able to and will continue to do so until the end of the tournament. England have had a very slow start but ended very strongly against Georgia this morning. I just wish whoever decided to make time differences was shot! Going out at night, getting home at half midnight and then setting your alarm for 6.30am is not a fun thing to do on a Sunday!

But never mind, That was just a quick insight into what is happening in my life at these current times.

I'm sure I will be back soon and will also be posting into the non smoking blog.

That's all for now, byes.

All for one, All for METAL

2011-08-12T23:22:00.001+01:00

A Wacken 2011 festival review

So last Wednesday myself and Mike headed to Germany to watch some heavy metal. This was the second time we had been to this festival and by the time we left for the airport I was incredibly excited. After a great breakfast at the airport and a not so good one on the plane we arrived at Hamburg airport and ventured outside to make our way to the central train station. Then came the small problem that after 3 years neither of us remembered what the next step was. In the end we decided to go for the S-Bahn (underground) and found it was incredibly simple and cheaper than the bus! We then got a direct train from Hamburg to Itzehoe, albeit with a small delay for some reason, only known to those who spoke German. Which was nicer than having to change at a small station called Elmshorn as it means less moving with baggage. Had a small wait for the bus to the festival but once there, the ticket exchange and camping spot finding were both relatively quick and simple. We set up our tents and then began our Wacken festival.

We decided to watch the football tournament as it gave plenty of laughs last time. It was enjoyable but we decided to have a stroll around the village to see what else was going on. We ventured into the part of the arena that was open to have a look in the tent and found that they had more of the side open so it would be much easier to get in and out, this put smiles on our faces after the last time when we only saw 1 band in there and vowed never to go back. So we walked over to the newly extended part of the festival site Bullhead City. There was a huge crowd outside the tent so we walked to a nearby screen which showed what was on stage at that time, the answer on this occasion was boobies! It appeared to be a group of strippers who ripped off their clothes before the water even touched them and then made out with each other. After that entertainment we strolled back to the football pitches to watch the conclusion of the tournament and saw some great football and fantastic goals. Once the final had concluded we went back to the Bullhead and were able to get into the tent. It was a very good size with a wrestling ring in the middle and a walkway linking that to the stage. We were there to witness the football trophies being awarded but were there a little early and so caught the act before. Big mistake. It could be that we didn't speak German but whatever was happening on stage was not cool. It was the Masters of Comedy, which included a guy dressed as a dog, an invisible motorcycle rider and an invisible pilot, mixed with "stand up". It was extremely awful! But that finished and we managed to move ringside to applaud the triumphant footballers and then to watch some wrestling. I enjoyed the wrestling as much as you can enjoy amateur wrestling, along with the earlier strippers dancing around and showing off their boobs once again. There was an English wrestler there called Robbie Brookside and it would be cool to see him here one time. After this the second Miss Wet T-shirt began, this time it appeared the strippers were replaced by members of the crowd. All of whom seemed happy to lose their clothes to huge cheers from a mainly male crowd. We then left the tent and walked across to the Beergarden stage for the first bit of live music of the festival.

(Stages key: Bullhead City Tent - BC, Beergarden - BG, Headbangers Ballroom/W.E.T Tent - WET, Party - P, Black - B, True Metal - TM)

Mambo Kurt - BG - 4 - We were looking forward to seeing Mambo Kurt as the stuff we had heard before the festival, unfortunately it transpires to not be so fantastic live. We stayed for a couple of songs and then headed back to the tent after an interesting first day.

Thursday

We woke up and decided to grab our festival merch before the music began. This decision was made due to the massive queues that were at the stand the day before. So surely they'll be a lot smaller this time? Not so much! However, after a 90min wait, I had my shirt and was very happy with it. We dropped the merch back at the tent and decided to chill for a little bit. This meant missing Ski's Country Trash but nevermind.

We then headed to the arena to start the festival day with some bands from around the world.

Sacramental - WET - 6 - These were the Metal Battle (MB) winners from Latvia. They were very enjoyable and it was easy to see why they won the chance to play at Wacken.

Seven Stitches - WET - 6 - MB winners from Portugal were also very enjoyable.

Achren - WET - 6 - The MB winners from here in the UK were very good and can quite easily become a major force in British metal. However, they need to work on their crowd interactions as all I heard was growling and therefore couldn't tell you any of the songs we heard.

Exquisite Pus - WET - 2 - MB winners of Spain, um yes, that's it.

Kvelertak - BC - 8 - We strolled into the Bullhead a little earlier than we planned seeing as Exquisite Pus were really that bad. We heard a small band outside so went to investigate. Blaas of Glory, a metal marching band were playing outside the supermarket and we heard Highway to Hell, very funny and enjoyable. Then we couldn't get into the tent so went to watch on the screen. Kvelertak were incredible to listen to and I reckon had we been in the tent the score would've been higher.

Skyline - B - 8 - Since we were outside the tent we decided to stroll back into the arena and watch Skyline & Guests. These included Doro who I now want to see at her own show. They played what I assume were a couple of the Wacken hymns. U.D.O's and GraveDiggers lead singers also performed with the band.

Severenth - BC - 7 - We then headed back to the Bullhead to see this band who turned out to be English, so helpful when you understand the band! They were very good and I hope they tour near Pompey at some point in the future. Preferably coming to Portsmouth. It was a shame they had a small crowd but those that were there seemed to enjoy what they saw/heard. I know I did.

Onkel Tom - BC - 7 - This band were very good and a lot of fun. They tapped a beer barrel and 2 very good looking girls were handing out cups of beer to the crowd. They got a great reaction from a crowd that had grown massively. German bands are popular in Germany, who knew?! Mike made a new friend in the form of an extremely drunk dude who was falling asleep when trying to take a swig of beer. I say beer, Wacken is sponsored by Becks, probably the only bad thing about the festival.

Hayseed Dixie - BG - 10 - What can I say? Once again Hayseed were incredible. I always enjoy their set and the banter. The first 10 rating of the festival was well deserved and I can't wait to see them again.

Helloween- TM - 6 - We caught a little of their set as we made our way to get a spot for the next band. They sounded pretty good. I don't know much of their stuff but would probably check them out if the chance arose again.

Blind Guardian - B - 9 - I have wanted to see this band for ages, and I was not disappointed when I finally did. They were fantastic and I would happily see them headline their own tour. They were the perfect band to have on before the headliner of 2011's Night To Remember.

Ozzy Osbourne - TM - 9 - The king of heavy metal. And performance wise he was, I was expecting his voice to be frail and not as strong as in his Sabbath days. However, he was very surprising and I enjoyed his set list which included all the classics I wanted to hear. Unfortunately, I have a couple of gripes about this set. One, your Ozzy Osbourne, you're going to get a crowd reaction. You don't need to constantly ask for one after every song. Two, if you're given a 90min slot, don't disappear for 20mins in the middle of it leaving your band to jam. To then come back on, sing a couple of songs and then go off ready for your encore. If you can't manage a full headline set, take a lower less time slot. Other than that, Ozzy was brilliant and I'm so happy to say I have seen him live.

Friday

Everyone should start their day with Power Metal!

Primal Fear - P - 8 - What a wake up. Another band I have wanted to see for ages and another band who did not disappoint. They were brilliant and had a decent sized crowd for an opening band.

Suicidal Tendencies - TM - 7 - A band I didn't know too much about and now I have seen them, well still don't. They're kind of like a better LimpBizkit. And they did play one of the two songs I know of theirs, Subliminal. They were good at what they did and kept me entertained throughout their set. Although, they continued every song after the crowd had clapped and cheered. I'm not sure if this was to fill time or to get a bigger reaction but it was a little annoying.

Morbid Angel - B - 7 - We split this set with another band that we wanted to see. What I saw of MA I really liked.

Van Canto - P - 7 - 4guys, 1girl, 1drumset. How will this work I hear you ask. Very bloody amazingly well is the answer. Watching guys beatbox the bass and guitar to Master of Puppets and Fear of the Dark are memories I will have forever thanks to this band. It was thoroughly enjoyable.

Sodom - TM - 8 - I sat though this set as my left ankle was trying to give out. They were a very good band and I enjoyed chilling out and listening to them. Apparently this is Tom Angelrippers (Onkol Tom) other band. That guy has a great voice!

As I Lay Dying - B - 9 - According to Mikes 2008 review and photos we saw this band at that festival too, not that either of us remembered that. However, they were brilliant. I really enjoyed watching them and found myself entertained throughout.

Trivium - TM - 10 - A thoroughly deserved 10 rating. The previous times I have seen Trivium I have really liked them but this was something special. They were so together and tight on every song. It was the first time I have heard them with their new drummer but he may well have been there since the creation of Trivium! They played a few songs off the new album, all of which sounded brilliant. I'd quite like to see them at their own headline gig again soon.

Heaven Shall Burn - B - 9 - HSB were awesome. A very energetic front man in Marcus Bischoff, a lot of pyro and a strange video show as their backdrop. I really liked their set and would be happy to see them again. Great band.

Judas Priest - TM - 10 - We saw the first 3 songs of Priests set before shooting off to see another band for half an hour. To be honest after the first 3 songs I was happy to disappear. Frankly they were boring and just didn't seem to be on form at all. However, after we came back to see them they pulled a 10 performance out of the bag! I don't know what happened whilst we were gone but I enjoyed every song after that break. They were miles better than when I saw them at Wembley and I was singing and bouncing along a lot by the end of their set which included 2 encores. So much so, I ended the set by sitting on the floor so that my left foot didn't itself snap off. Quite why the crowd sang the whole of Breaking the Law I don't know. Maybe Halford swallowed a fly.

Sirenia - WET - 10 - WOW! During Priests set we wandered into the tent to catch Sirenias half hour set. And I'm so glad we did. They were fantastic! Symphonic/Operatic metal is definitely my favourite genre of music and I am glad to have found another band to add to that collection. Absolutely brilliant. Well worth getting away from the beginning of JP.

Accuser - WET - 8 - We were going to wander to the Party stage to see Kyuss Lives but with the amount of people and distance of walking we decided to just duck back into the tent as that's where we would be ending up later. Accuser were very good, one of those bands that you can enjoy as background music without getting bored.

Skindred - WET - 10 - Finally I have seen Skindred!! A band who I have wanted to see for years and every time the opportunity arises I have either money issues or can't get time off or whatever. But, now I have seen them and they certainly didn't disappoint! I asked my left ankle to give me a couple of hours standing time, however you cant stand at a Skindred gig. From the first beat to the last you are moving and loving it! I will definitely be seeing this band again and hopefully they will be back at Wacken in a bigger slot one day.

Airbourne - TM - 10 - We were going to stand at the back for their set but as we left the tent we pretty much got carried out of the arena. So we stood outside the entrance and watched on the big screen. They sounded brilliant as Airbourne usually are. We saw Joel climb to the top of the stage and continue playing as is his gimmick. And then our feet were killing so we strolled back to the campsite listening to these guys. They got a 10 based on their sound as they seemed phenomenal.

Saturday

Visions of Atlantis - P - 9 - As I said for Sirenia I love this genre of music and Visions certainly didn't disappoint. A great set and a great band. It was a brilliant way to start the day and I'm happy to have found another band to enjoy. They are more of a Evanescence/Lacuna Coil style with the harsher male lyricist and that is another reason I enjoy this genre, soft vs harsh vocals are win.

Crash Diet - TM - 4 - Instead of trekking across the festival site just to come back again we decided to stop at the True metal stage to watch Crash Diet who are a sort of Glam Rock band. Well, I guess that's what they are. I just call them shit. The only reason they got a 4 was that they used a harmonica. I'm probably being unfair but the guitars drowned out the singing and if your on the big stage you get time to sound check and erase those problems. It was so bad that I didn't realise there were backing vocals until I noticed the guitarists leaning into their mics. Very poor showing but awesome pyro.

The Haunted - P - 9 - We saw these guys back in 08 and they were awesome then, they were awesome this time too. A great set and some good banter including the colour of shirts being changed from black to lavender.

Torture Squad - WET - 7 - These guys are pretty damn good. I think they will become quite a force in the metal world with more gigs like this. Only managed to catch a few songs but they had a lot of energy and a great reaction from the crowd. It also meant missing Dir en grey which makes them heroes.

Stormzone - WET - 8 - You know when you just sit down and listen to a band you've never heard of? That's what we did here and I'm so glad we did. Stormzone were brilliant! Mike likened them to Maiden and I agree with him. I hope they tour in the UK as they would be a great headline act in a small venue.

Mayhem - B - 3 - And that's a very generous 3! I enjoy black metal but not this. I can't say anything about this set other than there were guitars, drums and a guy screaming or groaning or something. At times on screen it looked like he was screaming but nothing was coming over the speakers. I was extremely bored with this band and won't be seeing them ever again. EVER!

Iced Earth - TM - 10 - Brilliant, fantastic, awesome. I really like Iced Earth and glad I have seen them, especially as it was front man Matt Barlows last day with the band. It was actually quite emotional watching him say goodbye to his friends and band members but what a great atmosphere to be caught up in. And it did not disrupt an awesome show by a brilliant band.

Sepultura - B - 8 - I liked this set. I like their music and Derrick Green is a good front man, keeping the crowd entertained and playing drums when he feels like it.

Then as we were waiting for the next band the screens showed an advert for next years festival, including announcing 7 bands. Myself and Mike had been toying with the idea of Wacken again but decided it would be line up dependant. This first announcement made us decide there and then, Wacken 2012 will be happening for us.

Avantasia - TM - 10++++ A*** - Fuck music genre. Fuck pop. Fuck hip hop. Fuck rap. Fuck metal. This was a celebration of music and one of the best live shows I have ever witnessed. This was absolutely stunning. Tobias Sammet is an incredible front man and I am gutted that this was the last ever Avantasia show. Although I feel honoured and privileged to have seen it. Tobias looked so astounded at the reaction he got from the crowd that I can't see why he would want to stop. However, I didn't know he was the lead singer in Edguy, who have a new album out and a European tour happening. That is a lot to balance but I do hope he pulls Avantasia out of the wardrobe again one day as it is so incredible to see. Every song was awesome live especially The Story Ain't Over and Lost in Space. I keep watching the video taken of this set and think I will be for a long time yet.. Here it is . Unfortunately it cuts off the very beginning where they played the opening bars to Twisted Mind behind a curtain. And the end of the set but those songs are spread out across youtube.

Kreator - B - 10 - Kreator were amazing when we saw them in 08. This time, they were better. I really enjoy watching them live and it was a fantastic way to close the festival. What with still being on a major high from Avantasia. I enjoyed Violent Revolution and Enemy of God and am sure I will see Kreator again in the future.

Motorhead - TM - 10 - We decided that sleep was needed before the day of travel that was to follow so we left after Kreator and just listened to Motorhead on the way back to the tents. They sounded amazing! Much better than when we saw them at Sonisphere earlier this year and so we awarded them a 10 rating. As I tried to sleep I could still hear them belting out songs so just lay back and listened until they finished, although falling asleep during their last song Overkill.

Sunday

I awoke to some epic rainfall on Sunday morning, this is the last thing I wanted as having to pack away a tent and trudge along with a bag in the rain is by no means fun. However, when my alarm went off the rain had stopped and in fact the sun was trying to come out. Packing went smoothly enough and after some fighting with the tent, we were ready to leave Wacken 2011. We got to the bus stop after negotiating some gloop and jumped straight onto a bus waiting there.
At Itzehoe station the conductor sorted us with a ticket although I'm sure it wasn't what we wanted as a) it was cheaper than going and b) it didn't say Hauptbahnhof (central station) but no matter. This time we did have to change at Elmshorn. So after having a nice 4 seat section of a train we ended up being crushed into the door section of the train into Hamburg. Not much fun for me but I was fairly grounded on top of my bag, Mike had a little trouble with peoples bags and his meat & veg region but you can ask him about that. At Hamburg we decided to just get to the airport so that we knew we were there in plenty of time and wouldn't be rushed at all.
Once there we checked in, Mike had a shower and we flew home. Mikes parents met us at the airport and the final leg of the weekend began back to Portsmouth.

I am so happy that I went to Wacken 2011 and now cannot wait until the 2012 festival for which not only do we have tickets but they will likely arrive on Mikes doorstep within the next week!! Now that's efficiency.

The, now 9, bands announced for 2012 are; Scorpions, Ministry, Forbidden, Axel Rudi Pell, Hammerfall, U.D.O., Cradle of Filth, Amon Amarth & GammaRay.

I seriously cannot wait to see who else they book. I know plenty that I would like to see but I know that whatever happens, Wacken 2012 will be incredible.

Thanks for reading.