Best Gigs you have been to in 2002

[Wooks]

We've had best albums of 2002, now what about the best gigs you've been to in 2002?
My favs have been:-
Rage in Bochum supporting Primal Fear...they blew them off the stage.
Starone in Bochum
Threshold in Essen
Alice Cooper in Essen and Cologne
Rhapsody/Angeldust/At Vance....4 TIMES!!!
Bang Your Head Festival
All the others that I have been to throughout theyear

 

[Weapon X]

Down - One of the best gig's been to in such a long time
Soulfly/Slayer - Pretty good, Soulfly played 1/4 Sepultura songs so they were good. Slayer played mostly old songs, so it rocked as well. This concert I got hurt the worst as well.

 

[heavenly]

Heavenly - pratteln metal dayz Switzerland
Gamma Ray - pratteln metal dayz Switzerland
Rhapsody - Lyon France
Kamelot - Montpellier France
Freedom call / Manigance - Montpellier France
Savatage - pratteln metal dayz Switzerland

 

[Ayeka]

Ah yes, an easy one for me

Top of the list for me would have to be BLAZE in Plymouth. Fucking unbelievable, man. The songs are, of course, amazing, and the band played top form that night. The man of the night was easily Blaze Bayley himself, though. He is an incredible frontman. He introduced practically every song, made some tremendous speeches, and had the crowd involved in something for practically all the time he wasn't singing. They played Born As A Stranger for their last song, and I lost a shoe in the mosh. I threw it onstage so not to loose it forever, and John Slater promptly picked it up and put it on the neck of his guitar! afterwards I got my limited edition copy of Tenth Dimension signed by the band. Probably one of the best nights of my life

The other highs were:

Deep Purple - Plymouth Pavillions. It was a seated gig, and they opened with Fireball which is naturally a song you can't sit down to. A guy ran to the front and started headbanging, promptly got dragged away by security and got cheered by the front few rows. During the solo Ian Gillan jumped offstage to bollock one of the guards, and had a bit of a talk to us after the song about "what happened to rock'n'roll?". Truly fantastic! 'bout halfway through the set half the front section left their seats anyway. Fucking brilliant night.

Iron Maiden - Brixton Academy. What can I say, really?

Seqouyah - Plymouth. Bloody pity they split up now

 

[Eagle]

I loved Bloodstock02, Gamma Ray, Blind Guardian and Freedom Call being the highlights. I loved Savatage and Blaze at the Garage. Annihilator, Seven Witches and Debase at Bradford Rios was tremendous. I also really enjoyed Deep Purple at Grimsby Auditorium and Perfect Strangers was magnificent. But for me the highlight of the year was seeing Gamma Ray and Paragon in Bochum!

 

[Wooks]

Ohhh....I forgot about Savatage...doh I saw them in Bochum at the pre Wacken warm up gig....AWESOME!!

 

[JayKeeley]

Easy....

ProgPower USA III, Atlanta USA - check out the line up:
Blind Guardian
Angra
Pain of Salvation
Gamma Ray
Edguy
Devin Townsend
Silent Force
Threshold
Reading Zero
Zero Hour

And then the following weekend I saw Blind Guardian and Symphony X in NYC. Phew!

Another good gig was seeing Kreator and Destruction double headline on their US tour. If any of you are into thrash, you must check out Violent Revolution by Kreator - could be one of the best thrash albums ever.

And this Friday....Dio/Kings X/Hammerfall in NYC...to be determined

 

[Symphony]

No doubt about this one

Threshold in London (October 2002)

The most fun I've had at a gig in ages!

I haven't checked out any new Kreator stuff since "Renewal" I think. I still play "Coma of Souls" quite abit.....that album rules!

 

[Wooks]

Yeah but your a bit biased there Symphony...seeing as though you are friends with Karl Groom But I have to agree when I saw them in Essen they were AWESOME and I met up with Russell Allen of Symphony X there too
If anybody wants to see some of the pics I have taken throughout the year at the various gigs I've been too then go to http://wooksatlarge.fateback.com/Main.htm and check them out. If you do please sign my guestmap...thanks

 

[Symphony]

Guilty as charged my friend!

 

[dragonmaiden]

For me it has to be Gamma Ray at Bloodstock followed closely by Blind Guardian & Freedom Call. besides that other most memorable gig was Annihilator, Seven Witches and Debase at Bradford Rios.

 

[Tet]

In my opinion, 2002 hasn't been a great year for either new CDs or for concerts (at least, compared to how awesome 2001 was). That said, there have still been some memorable ones:

- Freedom Call / Blind Guardian / Gamma Ray (at Bloodstock, naturally)
- Rage (supporting Primal Fear at the Scala)
- Pretty Boy Floyd (don't laugh -- they were great, and blew headliners Faster Pussycat away)
- Magnum (last week -- a very welcome return to form)
- Rammstein (not as good as their Brixton show last year, but still excellent)
- Seven Deadly Sins (supporting Deeds -- most underrated band of the year)
- The Faces Of Sarah (supporting Incubus Sukkubus)

Oh, and the gig I'm most pissed off that I missed:

- Annihlator at the Underworld :-(

 

[Tet]

Originally posted by Ayeka
Iron Maiden - Brixton Academy. What can I say, really?

The best I can say about this is that it wasn't as bad as some of their other recent shows! I'm afraid Maiden haven't been a worthwhile live experience for me for a long time now. Blaze is for me a far better proposition these days. Curiously enough, the last decent Maiden show I saw was with Blaze on the Virtual XI tour. But don't think that I'm just a Blaze fan. Maiden were great live in the pre-Blaze era. But since the reunion with Bruce, the magic just doesn't seem to be there any more. Just MHO...

 

[dragonmaiden]

Have to agree with you here Tet. I saw Maiden at Brixton and at the NEC the year before. I was disappointed with both shows to be truthful. I thought the set lists were boring. (I seem to recall that they were practically identical for both shows). There was no magic there for me.....especially in comparison to the Maiden gigs I'd been to the Eighties. I know I can't recapture my youth but I expected alot more.
Eagle and I went to see an excellent Maiden tribute band last Saturday called Ironically Maiden and I enjoyed that miles better than the last two times I saw Miaden for sure! Set list was miles better
Actually it's really refeshing to find that you have the same opinion as I do re Maiden live with Bruce BNW era. I was getting paranoid! Thought I'd lost the plot!

 

[Eagle]

I'd like to see Maiden play some smaller venues and alter their setlist.

originally posted by tet
Seven Deadly Sins (supporting Deeds -- most underrated band of the year)

Totally agree! Sadly I think there was only 5 of us (including the bar staff) who saw them at Rios!

 

[Ayeka]

Man...it's a pity for you guys that Maiden ain't worked out. Figures it's just a personal thing, cos like I says, I've had a fucking mental time every time I've gone see 'em. The fact that I never saw 'em before Metal 2000 might well have something to do with it - this feels like my era of Maiden, and my live experience of them has started here. Either way, it's been ace and I can't wait til the next tour!

 

[Tet]

Originally posted by Eagle
Totally agree! Sadly I think there was only 5 of us (including the bar staff) who saw them at Rios!

That's really harsh. I was hoping The Underworld would be the exception and they'd get a better turnout at the other venues. At The Underworld, there were 4 of us watching (the only time I've been in an audience that was outnumbered by the band -- there are 5 of them!)

 

[Tet]

Originally posted by dragonmaiden
Eagle and I went to see an excellent Maiden tribute band last Saturday called Ironically Maiden and I enjoyed that miles better than the last two times I saw Miaden for sure!

If you get the chance, go and see "Hi-On Maiden". Their gig at The Carlisle in Hastings was the best "Maiden" gig I've ever been to (and yes, that includes classic Bruce era!) The last time I saw them, they even had Paul Dianno on to do guest vocals for a couple of tracks. Awesome stuff.

 

[Kalmakoff]

Off of the very few I went to, I must say the best one is: Sentenced here in Oulu, Finland in July.

 

[Tet]

Originally posted by Kalmakoff
Off of the very few I went to, I must say the best one is: Sentenced here in Oulu, Finland in July.

Yep, there were pretty good when I saw them with Lacuna Coil (who coincidentally, I'm listening to as I type this). Better than I was expecting. I thought "The cold white light" was a bit lacklustre, but live they were very good.