This will be a long post.
Thanks to a mix up with the trains, we arrived just in time to see Arch Enemy.Very,very powerful live band and tight as hell, pity their set was over so quickly.Silent Wars,We Will Rise,Dead Eyes and Ravenous were all great.Plenty of air guitar action unsurprisingly.
Watched some of Trivium- pretty monotonous Metalcore for mine and weren't very exciting.Black Dahlia Murder fucking ruled though- their mix for the first track was shite but it improved, pity they only had time for half a dozen tracks.Energetic as hell, and the vocalist veers between the Death growls and Hardcore shouts very effectively.The pit was great for em' as well.
The Haunted were up next, and much like AE they ruled, but it was over far too quickly.The opened with Dark Intentions/Bury Your Dead, and played some stuff from rEVOLVEr, including 99,No Compromise,All Against All,etc. Good energy but their set (25 minutes) was over before they could get into full swing.
After The Haunted we had a look at the booths,etc, and went to the singing tent and met Black Dahlia Murder and The Haunted in the space of about ten minutes, and got Miasma and rEVOLVEr signed.BDM guys were great, said they're planning to head Down Under, most likely in December after their proposed Japanese visit.The Haunted were cool as well and said they were supposed to be here about four months ago but it didn't work out, and while they're keen for a return visit nothing is set yet anyway.
The signing tent was positioned close to the second stage, so I had a look at A Dozen Furies, who were average but seemed excited to be there.Bury Your Dead are huge here but I don't see the huge deal- there was little to seperate em' from the other Metalcore bands on the bill.My cousin met ADF and was stoked 'cause he adores em' for some reason.
Mastodon- All I can say is I want to see these guys play a headlining show ASAP.They were on for 35-40 minutes but it went by in a flash.Tight, enthuastic and damn heavy.Played mostly stuff from Leviathan (Megaladon,etc) and closed with the mighty Blood And Thunder.
As I Lay Dying REALLY had the crowd going- huge circle pits, these guys look like they're going to explode with their new record.Opened with Meaning In Tragedy, played a few ones from the new album as well as 94 Hours, Elegy and Forever.
KSE had one of the most brutal pits of the day. Howard Jones was a lot more energetic then when I saw em' last year and Adam D did his usual schtick.Opened with A Bid Farewell and played loads of stuff from TEOH (but surprisingly no When Darkness Falls), as well as My Last Serenade (huge sing-a-long),Numbered Days and Fixation.
Rob Zombie was entertaining if only for the two White Zombie covers they played (More Human Than Human and Supercharger Heaven), as well as a Thunderkiss/Sweet Home Alabama medley.Entertaining enough, but Rob's voice was very, very ordinary.Set included Dragula and Living Dead Girl anyway.
We left Zombie during the last song and grabbed some merch.I picked up a 'Fest tour T-Shirt,a Maiden tour one, as well as The Haunted, Mastodon and The Black Dahlia Murder ones.Merch was suprisingly reasonable, unlike the food prices, which were completely ridiculous.
We then headed over to the main stage in time to see In Flames.They didn't fuck around too much seeing as they only had 25 minutes, as Anders pointed out.Setlist included Cloud Connected,Trigger,The Quiet Place,Pinball Map,Touch Of Red and My Sweet Shadow.
BLS were up next and they fucking owned.Opened with loads of feedback before crunching in to Stoned And Drunk.Zakk's stage banter was entertaining, but not as entertaining as when he handed his guitar to the audience to hold while he leaped into the front row to play a solo during Destruction Overdrive, when some guy grabbed it and tried to run off with it. Seeing as he was surrounded by seats and loads of people (the pit area is behind all the seating on the main stage) he didn't get too far) It was hilarious, though. It didn't stop Zakk successfully doing it a few songs later, though- excellent audience interaction.Setlist also included Suicide Messiah,Fire It Up and a few others before closing with an excellent rendition of Stillborn.
Shadows Fall surprisingly worked really well on the main stage, aided by the fact that they're hometown boys.Whereas IF looked a little lost on the main stage, SF engaged the crowd effectively and received a very strong reaction with their excellent stage presence.Brian Fair's dreads are always a strangely impressive sight and his stage banter was solid without being pandering.They played mostly new stuff (but no The Power Of I And I), as well as Thoughts Without Words and Destroyer Of Senses.
Mudvayne were better than I expected, particularly due to my memories of their average BDO performance.They played the intro to f#*!ing Determined behind a curtain, whipping the crowd up. Hour-long set included Death Blooms,Nothing To Gein and a few others, before closing with Happy?, Not Falling and Dig. They definitely got a massive reception, despite the vocalist's cringe-worthy stage banter (Fuck was used literally every second word for absolutely no reason).Also, I thought they'd ditched the makeup,etc? The bass player had good presence despite his stupid stage get-up anyway.
Even though Mudvayne were better than expected, Iron Maiden immediately proved that they were leagues ahead of the younger bands that preceded their set.They opened with Ides Of March as the intro, before revealing one of their 80's stage sets, with platforms on each side for Bruce, a huge drum riser and a video screen at the back. There was TNOTB-style artwork all over the set and it looked great. Thankfully Bruce spent the majority of the set at the front of the stage, unlike the set up of recent tours.
So they wasted little time in ripping into Wrathchild- good opener but the reception for The Trooper after it was fantastic.HUGE sing-a-long, with Bruce even dressing up in a military uniform and waving a British flag at the back of the stage.While I would rathered have heard something like Where Eagles Dare, Revelations worked well, with Bruce proving himself to be a master performer and a genius at working the crowd. It was followed with Phantom Of The Opera, which was brilliant, and Bruce's intro story was hilarious. He and the rest of the band are ridiculously energetic- they put on the perfect show in all aspects.
The next three songs in order? Run To The Hills, The Number Of The Beast and Hallowed Be Thy Name.Incredible.The crowd went ballistic, except my cousin who demonstrated that he has little taste by going to get something to eat during TNOTB (during which the large screen blazed 666 during every chorus).Bah.Awesome crowd interaction and reception, even the Mduvayne kiddies behind me were having a blast.Infectious.SCREAM FOR ME BOSTON! Someone threw a bottle at Adrian Smith and he was noticeably pissed off. Steve Harris is also the man.
This was followed by a great rant from Bruce about bands milking their legacies by touring constantly without any new releases (didn't mention any names, but use your imagination), after which he said they would have a new album out next year. This eventually led to a killer version of Iron Maiden and an apperarance from Eddie, before leaving the stage. The encore was Running Free (great fun and a massive sing-a-long) and Sanctuary, and I'm left with probably the best hour of live music I've ever witnessed.Stunned.
To say that wasn't easy to get over is an understatement.But the chance to see Black Sabbath was a once-in-a-lifetime thing. After Ozzy baited the crowd from behind a huge curtain for about ten minutes, they launched into N.I.B- my favourite Sabbath song as the opener.
Ozzy is hilarious to watch- every few songs he'd throw a bucket of water on himself (or even in to the crowd), running around like a kid, jumping up and down, clapping his hands, mooning the crowd. It must be said that their light show was awesome- perfectly suited for tracks like Fairies Wear Boots, Black Sabbath, Into The Void and War Pigs- which sounded perfect. Ozzy's voice is average these days, but fuck me can Iommi still play! The man is a god.
Setlist also included Paranoid (obviously), After Forever, Children Of The Grave and a few others in a fantastic 90-minute set. Ozzy may go a little overboard with the "I LOVE YOU!" routine, but they were amazing.Simple as that.
Thanks to a mix up with the trains, we arrived just in time to see Arch Enemy.Very,very powerful live band and tight as hell, pity their set was over so quickly.Silent Wars,We Will Rise,Dead Eyes and Ravenous were all great.Plenty of air guitar action unsurprisingly.
Watched some of Trivium- pretty monotonous Metalcore for mine and weren't very exciting.Black Dahlia Murder fucking ruled though- their mix for the first track was shite but it improved, pity they only had time for half a dozen tracks.Energetic as hell, and the vocalist veers between the Death growls and Hardcore shouts very effectively.The pit was great for em' as well.
The Haunted were up next, and much like AE they ruled, but it was over far too quickly.The opened with Dark Intentions/Bury Your Dead, and played some stuff from rEVOLVEr, including 99,No Compromise,All Against All,etc. Good energy but their set (25 minutes) was over before they could get into full swing.
After The Haunted we had a look at the booths,etc, and went to the singing tent and met Black Dahlia Murder and The Haunted in the space of about ten minutes, and got Miasma and rEVOLVEr signed.BDM guys were great, said they're planning to head Down Under, most likely in December after their proposed Japanese visit.The Haunted were cool as well and said they were supposed to be here about four months ago but it didn't work out, and while they're keen for a return visit nothing is set yet anyway.
The signing tent was positioned close to the second stage, so I had a look at A Dozen Furies, who were average but seemed excited to be there.Bury Your Dead are huge here but I don't see the huge deal- there was little to seperate em' from the other Metalcore bands on the bill.My cousin met ADF and was stoked 'cause he adores em' for some reason.
Mastodon- All I can say is I want to see these guys play a headlining show ASAP.They were on for 35-40 minutes but it went by in a flash.Tight, enthuastic and damn heavy.Played mostly stuff from Leviathan (Megaladon,etc) and closed with the mighty Blood And Thunder.
As I Lay Dying REALLY had the crowd going- huge circle pits, these guys look like they're going to explode with their new record.Opened with Meaning In Tragedy, played a few ones from the new album as well as 94 Hours, Elegy and Forever.
KSE had one of the most brutal pits of the day. Howard Jones was a lot more energetic then when I saw em' last year and Adam D did his usual schtick.Opened with A Bid Farewell and played loads of stuff from TEOH (but surprisingly no When Darkness Falls), as well as My Last Serenade (huge sing-a-long),Numbered Days and Fixation.
Rob Zombie was entertaining if only for the two White Zombie covers they played (More Human Than Human and Supercharger Heaven), as well as a Thunderkiss/Sweet Home Alabama medley.Entertaining enough, but Rob's voice was very, very ordinary.Set included Dragula and Living Dead Girl anyway.
We left Zombie during the last song and grabbed some merch.I picked up a 'Fest tour T-Shirt,a Maiden tour one, as well as The Haunted, Mastodon and The Black Dahlia Murder ones.Merch was suprisingly reasonable, unlike the food prices, which were completely ridiculous.
We then headed over to the main stage in time to see In Flames.They didn't fuck around too much seeing as they only had 25 minutes, as Anders pointed out.Setlist included Cloud Connected,Trigger,The Quiet Place,Pinball Map,Touch Of Red and My Sweet Shadow.
BLS were up next and they fucking owned.Opened with loads of feedback before crunching in to Stoned And Drunk.Zakk's stage banter was entertaining, but not as entertaining as when he handed his guitar to the audience to hold while he leaped into the front row to play a solo during Destruction Overdrive, when some guy grabbed it and tried to run off with it. Seeing as he was surrounded by seats and loads of people (the pit area is behind all the seating on the main stage) he didn't get too far) It was hilarious, though. It didn't stop Zakk successfully doing it a few songs later, though- excellent audience interaction.Setlist also included Suicide Messiah,Fire It Up and a few others before closing with an excellent rendition of Stillborn.
Shadows Fall surprisingly worked really well on the main stage, aided by the fact that they're hometown boys.Whereas IF looked a little lost on the main stage, SF engaged the crowd effectively and received a very strong reaction with their excellent stage presence.Brian Fair's dreads are always a strangely impressive sight and his stage banter was solid without being pandering.They played mostly new stuff (but no The Power Of I And I), as well as Thoughts Without Words and Destroyer Of Senses.
Mudvayne were better than I expected, particularly due to my memories of their average BDO performance.They played the intro to f#*!ing Determined behind a curtain, whipping the crowd up. Hour-long set included Death Blooms,Nothing To Gein and a few others, before closing with Happy?, Not Falling and Dig. They definitely got a massive reception, despite the vocalist's cringe-worthy stage banter (Fuck was used literally every second word for absolutely no reason).Also, I thought they'd ditched the makeup,etc? The bass player had good presence despite his stupid stage get-up anyway.
Even though Mudvayne were better than expected, Iron Maiden immediately proved that they were leagues ahead of the younger bands that preceded their set.They opened with Ides Of March as the intro, before revealing one of their 80's stage sets, with platforms on each side for Bruce, a huge drum riser and a video screen at the back. There was TNOTB-style artwork all over the set and it looked great. Thankfully Bruce spent the majority of the set at the front of the stage, unlike the set up of recent tours.
So they wasted little time in ripping into Wrathchild- good opener but the reception for The Trooper after it was fantastic.HUGE sing-a-long, with Bruce even dressing up in a military uniform and waving a British flag at the back of the stage.While I would rathered have heard something like Where Eagles Dare, Revelations worked well, with Bruce proving himself to be a master performer and a genius at working the crowd. It was followed with Phantom Of The Opera, which was brilliant, and Bruce's intro story was hilarious. He and the rest of the band are ridiculously energetic- they put on the perfect show in all aspects.
The next three songs in order? Run To The Hills, The Number Of The Beast and Hallowed Be Thy Name.Incredible.The crowd went ballistic, except my cousin who demonstrated that he has little taste by going to get something to eat during TNOTB (during which the large screen blazed 666 during every chorus).Bah.Awesome crowd interaction and reception, even the Mduvayne kiddies behind me were having a blast.Infectious.SCREAM FOR ME BOSTON! Someone threw a bottle at Adrian Smith and he was noticeably pissed off. Steve Harris is also the man.
This was followed by a great rant from Bruce about bands milking their legacies by touring constantly without any new releases (didn't mention any names, but use your imagination), after which he said they would have a new album out next year. This eventually led to a killer version of Iron Maiden and an apperarance from Eddie, before leaving the stage. The encore was Running Free (great fun and a massive sing-a-long) and Sanctuary, and I'm left with probably the best hour of live music I've ever witnessed.Stunned.
To say that wasn't easy to get over is an understatement.But the chance to see Black Sabbath was a once-in-a-lifetime thing. After Ozzy baited the crowd from behind a huge curtain for about ten minutes, they launched into N.I.B- my favourite Sabbath song as the opener.
Ozzy is hilarious to watch- every few songs he'd throw a bucket of water on himself (or even in to the crowd), running around like a kid, jumping up and down, clapping his hands, mooning the crowd. It must be said that their light show was awesome- perfectly suited for tracks like Fairies Wear Boots, Black Sabbath, Into The Void and War Pigs- which sounded perfect. Ozzy's voice is average these days, but fuck me can Iommi still play! The man is a god.
Setlist also included Paranoid (obviously), After Forever, Children Of The Grave and a few others in a fantastic 90-minute set. Ozzy may go a little overboard with the "I LOVE YOU!" routine, but they were amazing.Simple as that.
