So here are my reports for you.
Thursday 28th Pontygoglegogchthchhh
Drove up to Taunton on my bike and then had a lift to the venue with my mate his wife and a few of there friends. The venue itself (The Muni Arts Centre) was a superb place. It’s like church that has been converted into a temple of rock!
Once I was inside I made my way to the front and saw the first band. They were called Sal and had a very impressive female singer who had a fine pair of lungs on her, arf arf arf. I actually thought that they were pretty damn good.
The next band up were Panacea, who looked like a bunch of roadies and had a guitarist with the finest permed mullet I’ve seen for years. Imagine Ralph the piano player from the Muppets with a mullet, that was him. They were pretty crap.
I then started to talk to a rather attractive blonde lady on the front row and her mate. It turned out to be Blonde Becca from the board who appears to have a bit of a fixation with Biff, and what he has in the front of his trousers! Nice to meet you Becca, never did find out how you got on afterwards!
After a while Saxon came on a kicked off with Heavy Metal Thunder. They played a brilliant set to the first sold out crowd at a Saxon gig I’ve been in since 1990. They played (in no particular order)
Backs to the Wall
Wheels of Steel
Motorcycle Man
747
Denim and Leather
Princess of the Night
Heavy Metal Thunder
20,000 ft
Dallas 1pm
Strong Arm of the Law
The Eagle Has Landed
Battle Cry/Warrior/Drum Solo
Crusader
Broken Heroes (great to hear this one again!)
Solid Ball of Rock
Dogs of War
Cut out the Desiese
Metalhead
Court of the Crimson King
Killing Ground
As always in South Wales they had a great response, with loads of bouncing and full on pissed up Welshies getting right into it. Biff even forgot the words in 20,000ft and ended up singing something on the lines of “I’ve forgot the words you twat!”. All in all another fantastic Saxon gig.
After the gig I got a lift back to Taunton, and then did the 80 odd mile back from there to my place in just under an hour (160mph on a straight bit racing a BMW!) and got into bed at 03:00.
Friday 29th Bloodstock
The next day my alarm went off at 08:00 and by 09:30 I was back heading off to Derby with my brother for Bloodstock, feeling fooked!
We got to the Camp-site at about 15:30 and after getting a bit to eat, putting up our tent and necking a few quick beers, we got a mini bus (thanks to the brilliant organisation of Stuart and Steve of the Blaze BB), to the venue. Instead of getting straight in a few of us went to a pub across the road for a few pints (Hello Sandra and Tony), and then we went to the venue.
After a look around the market and a few more beers we went into the main hall to see Blaze, who as normal delivered the goods, even if they did suffer from poor sound and look slightly under-rehearsed.
I then went back to the bar and then to the Saxon signing session. I got my DVD signed and also my box for the Metalhead album. It was worth attending just to see the original artwork for some of the Saxon albums, like Eagle Part 2 and Metalhead etc. They look brilliant on canvas in there full original size. Makes you appreciate them a whole lot more
Then after a few more beers I heard the Killing Ground intro and Saxon came on. They got a brilliant response and played a cracking set, which was slightly different from the night before. However I was totally spangled by this time so can’t really remember the whole set! I know they played And the Bands Played On, which they didn’t the night before, and there was no Broken Heroes or Dallas 1pm due to time restrictions.
I got my beach ball out for Solid Ball of Rock, which Biff kicked back into the crowd, and also participated in a bit of crowd surfing. I also got my first ever view of the Eagle, which looked fantastic and really made the night special for me as I’ve always wanted to see it.
There was a great mosh pit at the end for Motorcycle Man which featured a few blokes with inflatable guitars in the middle of it soloing away like crazy with the rest of us.
All in all it was better than the previous night as the crowd was even more up for it and I was more spangled than a set of fairy lights!
The next day at Bloodstock was also really good, as I saw some cracking bands (Bates Motel, Masterplan and Paradise Lost were among my favs), and I bumped into Nibbs who was around for the whole day. He joined us for a beer for Paradise Lost and commented on the fact that It looked as if I was enjoying the Saxon gig the night before!
So I had a brilliant long weekend, drank far too much, and saw Saxon seriously kick arse two nights in a row. What more can you ask for?!
Thursday 28th Pontygoglegogchthchhh
Drove up to Taunton on my bike and then had a lift to the venue with my mate his wife and a few of there friends. The venue itself (The Muni Arts Centre) was a superb place. It’s like church that has been converted into a temple of rock!
Once I was inside I made my way to the front and saw the first band. They were called Sal and had a very impressive female singer who had a fine pair of lungs on her, arf arf arf. I actually thought that they were pretty damn good.
The next band up were Panacea, who looked like a bunch of roadies and had a guitarist with the finest permed mullet I’ve seen for years. Imagine Ralph the piano player from the Muppets with a mullet, that was him. They were pretty crap.
I then started to talk to a rather attractive blonde lady on the front row and her mate. It turned out to be Blonde Becca from the board who appears to have a bit of a fixation with Biff, and what he has in the front of his trousers! Nice to meet you Becca, never did find out how you got on afterwards!
After a while Saxon came on a kicked off with Heavy Metal Thunder. They played a brilliant set to the first sold out crowd at a Saxon gig I’ve been in since 1990. They played (in no particular order)
Backs to the Wall
Wheels of Steel
Motorcycle Man
747
Denim and Leather
Princess of the Night
Heavy Metal Thunder
20,000 ft
Dallas 1pm
Strong Arm of the Law
The Eagle Has Landed
Battle Cry/Warrior/Drum Solo
Crusader
Broken Heroes (great to hear this one again!)
Solid Ball of Rock
Dogs of War
Cut out the Desiese
Metalhead
Court of the Crimson King
Killing Ground
As always in South Wales they had a great response, with loads of bouncing and full on pissed up Welshies getting right into it. Biff even forgot the words in 20,000ft and ended up singing something on the lines of “I’ve forgot the words you twat!”. All in all another fantastic Saxon gig.
After the gig I got a lift back to Taunton, and then did the 80 odd mile back from there to my place in just under an hour (160mph on a straight bit racing a BMW!) and got into bed at 03:00.
Friday 29th Bloodstock
The next day my alarm went off at 08:00 and by 09:30 I was back heading off to Derby with my brother for Bloodstock, feeling fooked!
We got to the Camp-site at about 15:30 and after getting a bit to eat, putting up our tent and necking a few quick beers, we got a mini bus (thanks to the brilliant organisation of Stuart and Steve of the Blaze BB), to the venue. Instead of getting straight in a few of us went to a pub across the road for a few pints (Hello Sandra and Tony), and then we went to the venue.
After a look around the market and a few more beers we went into the main hall to see Blaze, who as normal delivered the goods, even if they did suffer from poor sound and look slightly under-rehearsed.
I then went back to the bar and then to the Saxon signing session. I got my DVD signed and also my box for the Metalhead album. It was worth attending just to see the original artwork for some of the Saxon albums, like Eagle Part 2 and Metalhead etc. They look brilliant on canvas in there full original size. Makes you appreciate them a whole lot more
Then after a few more beers I heard the Killing Ground intro and Saxon came on. They got a brilliant response and played a cracking set, which was slightly different from the night before. However I was totally spangled by this time so can’t really remember the whole set! I know they played And the Bands Played On, which they didn’t the night before, and there was no Broken Heroes or Dallas 1pm due to time restrictions.
I got my beach ball out for Solid Ball of Rock, which Biff kicked back into the crowd, and also participated in a bit of crowd surfing. I also got my first ever view of the Eagle, which looked fantastic and really made the night special for me as I’ve always wanted to see it.
There was a great mosh pit at the end for Motorcycle Man which featured a few blokes with inflatable guitars in the middle of it soloing away like crazy with the rest of us.
All in all it was better than the previous night as the crowd was even more up for it and I was more spangled than a set of fairy lights!
The next day at Bloodstock was also really good, as I saw some cracking bands (Bates Motel, Masterplan and Paradise Lost were among my favs), and I bumped into Nibbs who was around for the whole day. He joined us for a beer for Paradise Lost and commented on the fact that It looked as if I was enjoying the Saxon gig the night before!
So I had a brilliant long weekend, drank far too much, and saw Saxon seriously kick arse two nights in a row. What more can you ask for?!
