Much like I have done for the last few years, I am going to
post what will likely be my last blog of the year talking about live music and
the gigs and festivals that I have been to over the last twelve months. For
anyone that has read one of these blogs before, I tend to split up festival
sets and gigs for the simple reason that it makes my life easier. It does make
me smile that I have a list of best festival sets after being so adamant that I
wouldn’t be going to a festival in 2014, and then ending up at 3 one day
festivals and 3 weekend ones (although only for 2 days of one of them). Clearly
will power when it came to booking festivals was nonexistent (especially
considering the first one for 2014 was booked in the summer of 2013!) Anyway,
normally what I would do is copy and paste what I wrote from the various
reviews I have done on this page but I have decided against that for this blog –
I will just write fresh words.
For last year’s blog, I had 15 festival sets to try and turn
into a top 10. I decided instead of plucking 5 out as “honourable mentions” I
would just do a top 15. This time things are a little bit easier as I have a
definitive top 10, but a lot of great sets that are worth talking about.
Honourable Mentions (in chronological order):
Camden Rocks – The Hype Theory, Ginger Wildheart, The
Subways. Camden Rocks was an ace day. The chance to see Ginger and The Subways sold
me a ticket but everything else I saw that day made it a great day. The Hype
Theory were a band I checked out before going to the festival briefly and
decided I wanted to see, and they were excellent. It is something I will
definitely consider going to most years now (although annoyingly, it does seem
to clash with the Premiership Rugby Final – so if I go in 2015, I’ll be making
the decision about going nearer the time).
Download – Skindred, Flogging Molly, Bad Religion, Ginger Wildheart,
Linkin Park. Download 2014 was the fourth year in a row I had been at Download
in some form or another and it was a great one. Skindred were their usual ace
selves, Flogging Molly were ace, Bad Religion were so much better than I
thought they would be (not that I thought they’d be bad mind!), Ginger’s
acoustic set after The Wildhearts played was a great sing along. Finally,
Linkin Park make this list and not the top 10 purely because I only stayed to watch
them play Hybrid Theory. I’m not a fan of their albums following Meteora (aside
from the latest one, Hunting Party) and decided to leave knowing what I had
seen was immense.
British Summer Time – Faith No More, Gallows. This was my first
visit to Hyde Park and actually going inside the arena (as opposed to sitting
outside and listening for free) since 2008. When this line up was announced, I
knew I had to buy a ticket. There were a lot of great bands that day, but Faith
No More on the main stage smashed it (despite some sound issues) and over on
one of the seemingly many little stages, Gallows were immense. The organisers
had replicated a small club venue at their festival and to see Gallows in that
environment was superb. However, a light bulb or two inside might have made it
a bit better!
Sonisphere – Calling All Cars, Eureka Machines, Iron Maiden,
Sweet Savage. I only went to the Saturday and Sunday of Sonisphere (due to the
BST line up on the Friday). Calling All Cars were the alternative to Babymetal and
I thought they were great. What probably made them better was the fact they had
a small crowd and they still smashed their set. Eureka Machines are great live,
always (you will see their name pop up a few times in this post) and it was
cool to see them at one of the countries “major” festivals. Iron Maiden were
great as ever and the Maiden England setlist for 2014 was great. They are an
honourable mention as I wasn’t feeling too grand during their set and couldn’t
enjoy it as much as I normally would have done. The only honourable mention
from the Sunday is Sweet Savage. I saw them at Wacken in 2008 and I’m not sure
what happened between 2008 and 2014 but they were far better in 2014. I suspect
it could be the fact I was seeing them in a small tent as opposed to seeing
them on a massive main stage (when I expected them to be Exodus). Whatever the
reason, they were really good and deserve their place on this list.
Wacken – John Diva & The Rockets Of Love, The Vintage
Caravan, Hell, Megadeth, Amon Amarth. John Diva and his band played famous
songs that John Diva had a hand in writing, or just songs he liked. It was a
cracking covers set. The Vintage Caravan and Hell were back to back in the
Bullhead City Circus tent and I am really pleased that I enjoyed them enough to
include them here as I missed Slayer and Carcass to watch them (along with
others). Megadeth were the best I’ve ever seen them on this day and Amon Amarth
were just great as well.
Top 10:
10. Eureka Machines – Camden Rocks. This was the second time
for me seeing Eureka Machines in 2014 (the first you’ll read more about later)
and it was excellent – they were the best band of Camden Rocks for me. One
thing which I thought was cool was that they played the Electric Ballroom, the
festivals biggest stage and had a decent size crowd. This was cool because when
they normally play London, they tend to play in rooms 1/6th of the
size of the Ballroom. As I said for their Sonisphere performance, they just
seem incapable of having a bad set from what I can tell. This day was no exception
to that.
9. Against Me! – Download. My first introduction to Against
Me! was on the WWE DVD about CM Punk. I really enjoyed the song (which if
memory serves was I Was A Teenage Anarchist) but didn’t bother to check them
out properly. A shame really as I did when they were announced for Download and
discovered a great band that had just released a belter of a new album. Their
set though was something else; they had 30 minutes in the tent and just smashed
through song after song only pausing towards the end to thank the crowd and
express their hope they will be back soon. It was one of the best sets from the
weekend and that is no exaggeration.
8. The Wildhearts – Download. Last time The Wildhearts
played Download, they had their power cut after encouraging the crowd to
bombard the stage with anything they could find. One memorable moment from this
set was Ginger catching an egg that was thrown. This year’s set was slightly
calmer in that hardly anything was thrown. That was the only thing calm about
this affair though. I found myself front and almost centre right by the barrier
and for 40 minutes, everyone was dancing, jumping, singing and having a great
time. The set was packed with as many hits as they could play which made for an
even more fun atmosphere.
7. The Offspring – Download. I have made no secret of the
fact that the only time I had seen them live previously, I thought they were
disappointing. This time, around, they were doing an anniversary tour for their
album Smash (which would take up most of the set) and follow it up with a short
“best of the rest” set. I’m not sure if it was because they headlined the stage
this time (as opposed to being a part of the undercard when I saw them last)
but they were excellent. It was really
cool to hear them play Smash in full with the slightest of changes to the
running order in moving Self-Esteem to the end of the play-through. A smart
choice as it got everyone dancing just before they launched into their second
set. The Offspring were a great end to the first day at Download for me.
6. Twisted Sister – Download. Whoever decided that Twisted
Sister and Fall Out Boy would clash directly at Download is a cruel person.
However, I was not missing Twisted Sister again (having opted in 2011 to see Avenged
Sevenfold and stay towards the front of the stage for SOAD). Not missing
Twisted Sister was an excellent move as they were just fantastic. Performance
wise they were just spot on. The main thing I remember from this set, which
still makes me smile, was during the song “Burn In Hell”, a plane came into
landing at the nearby DHL airstrip. Not expecting this, Dee Snider, the Twisted
Sister front man stopped the song as seeing a plane that close shocked him and
suggested bands should be warned about that sort of thing and then said “I just
had 9/11 flashbacks” and then said “how can I carry on singing a song called
Burn In Hell now?!” which made everyone around laugh. Closing on a cover of
Motorhead – Born To Raise Hell, I left that stage chuffed to say I had seen
Twisted Sister live, and they were every bit as good as I hoped they be, and
then some.
5. Frank Turner and The Sleeping Souls – Sonisphere. After seeing
Frank Turner for the first time in 2011 at Reading, and realising just how good
he is, I was interested to know why it only seemed to be Reading/Leeds of the
major festivals that would give him a significant spot on the main stage
(Download had booked him to headline the 3rd stage against Linkin
Park in 2011). So, when Sonisphere did this year, it didn’t matter who was
playing at the same time, I was going to be there watching. It was a good
decision as predictably, Frank Turner was ace. The setlist was a condensed
version of the arena tour setlist from earlier in the year but that was hardly
an issue as that setlist was damn near perfect (I reckon my opinion of that
tour might be mentioned later...maybe).
In the various drafting of the lists that appear in this
blog, all 4 of the next bands have all been number 1 at some point. What is
being posted is my current opinion of how I’d rank them, knowing full well that
if I thought about this again, it could well change.
4. Black Sabbath – British Summer Time. In the past, just
before seeing Ozzy live either solo, or with Sabbath, I have expressed my hope
that his voice holds out. I’ve seen a number of live reports where it didn’t
and at Wacken 2011, he was off stage for quite a while in the middle of the
set. I am pleased to report that his voice held up and Black Sabbath were once
again excellent. A shorter version of their Download 2012 set with some new
material thrown in as well was the setlist for the day and this was no bad
thing. This show ended their tour and ended with a bang. At one point, it
seemed as though this might be their last gig. If it transpires that it was, it
was one hell of a way to go out.
3. Avantasia – Wacken. I said after seeing them at Wacken
2011 that I would definitely consider flying to mainland Europe to see them
again as they don’t play the UK. Sadly, when they did play the UK in 2013, I
didn’t discover until afterwards just how do-able it was, so when they were
announced for Wacken 2014, I wanted to go. I don’t know if it was as good as
their set in 2011, but what I do know is that it was epic. Given that they were
the main draw for me going, they made going worthwhile, which is all I can ask
for really. Admittedly, the next day when I was getting harassed by a cleaner
at Hamburg Airport (who spoke German and Spanish but not English) while taking
a shower, I did wonder if it was all worth it, but that is another story for
another day.
2. Metallica – Sonisphere. There have been four Sonisphere
festivals at Knebworth, and Metallica have headlined 3 of them. Now, if any
other festival with any other band did this, I would likely be critical.
However, it is Metallica and I am more than prepared to be accused of having an
inconsistent train of thought by being fine with this. This time around, they were
doing Metallica: By Request which meant the fans could vote for the set. I had
hoped for a set full of rarities but it was not to be (who would have guessed
that the songs people like the most would be voted for?). I did get to hear
them play their cover of Whiskey In the Jar though, which made me exceedingly
happy. This was the 11th time I’ve seen Metallica and I’ve never
walked away disappointed. They’ve been announced for Reading and Leeds. There
is a chance one of those shows might be number 12. Maybe
1. Aerosmith – Download/Calling Festival. Am I cheating by
including both of their sets here? Probably. After they headlined Download in
2010, I didn’t know if I’d get the chance to see them live, let alone twice.
Aerosmith are one of those bands that have a very distinctive sound, and a
major part of that sound comes from Steven Tyler’s vocals. I would go so far as
to say he would be irreplaceable if he left Aerosmith. I knew for me there were
a couple of songs which would judge how good his voice still is. One of those
was I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing – and he completely nailed it. For both sets,
the band were just phenomenal. One final thing to mention about the sets is
that in both of them, they covered The Beatles song Come Together. That was not
something I expected (the first time at least) but something I loved. I walked
away from their set at Download saying they could well be the best headliner I’ve
seen play at Donington. They would be up against some stiff competition for
sure, but they would definitely be in the top 5, if not top 3.
Even when writing that list, I added more honourable
mentions to it. The top 10 was pretty much sorted straight away (in terms of
what was in it, the order changed significantly as I was writing it up). There
were a lot of bands I could have mentioned though. I saw a lot of good festival
sets this year. I also went to a lot of good gigs. Much like the last list, I
will do honourable mentions first with some words and then count down a top 10.
The honourable mentions I will list in chronological order.
Honourable Mentions (in chronological order):
Less Than Jake/Reel Big Fish/Zebrahead – Guildhall,
Portsmouth. Originally scheduled for the Pyramids but moved after the Pyramids
got damaged during a storm which battered the south coast. This gig was ace. I
think the only downside to it for me was that Reel Big Fish didn’t end the
night as I preferred them to Less Than Jake, who were still great mind.
Black Stone Cherry – KOKO, London. The Southern Hospitality
tour was a special short run in the UK in smaller rooms before they came back
and hit arenas. It made me smile that the 1,400 capacity KOKO was now
considered a smaller room, as when I first saw them, they were playing the
Wedgewood Rooms in Portsmouth (400 capacity). It was a great gig although the
Q&A portion of the gig certainly seemed odd.
Amaranthe – o2 Academy Islington, London. After discovering
Amaranthe at Wacken 2012, I really wanted to see them live again. I seem to
recall them playing pretty much everything I wanted to hear them play, which
was great. One thing I do remember is the gig ending and stepping outside the
venue to see it was 9.30pm. I knew there was an early curfew but not that
early!
The Wildhearts – Electric Ballroom, London. The Wildhearts,
The Von Hertzen Brothers and Hey! Hello! – what’s not to like?! This was the
last date of the tour and the second night of the tour I went to. I wish I had
been able to go to one of the first few nights as they had some songs in that
set I’d have loved to hear live (Nexus Icon being the main one). That aside, I loved
this set. One of the highlights for me was the first time I had heard something
from the album Endless Nameless performed live, which was ace.
Edguy – o2 Academy Islington, London. The previous times that
I had seen Edguy, they had been superb. This was no exception. They released an
album this year called Space Police which was great and their set contained the
best off of that album + some other material. I was chuffed that they played
their cover of Falco – Rock Me Amadeus alongside the bonus track England. Makes
sense after all, it was in England (and we do have Steve Harris).
Black Stone Cherry – Wembley Arena, London. I mentioned
earlier about the first time I saw BSC was in a small club in Portsmouth that
held 400 people. There was something very cool about seeing them in a room with
8000+ people, all there to see them. They proved through their performance that
they deserved to be headlining Wembley Arena.
Skindred – Talking Heads, Southampton. Skindred played in a
pub in Southampton. Do I need to say much more? This band is far too big to be
playing pubs and yet, here they were. It was immense seeing them in this
environment. They also introduced me to a band called MakingMonsters, who are a
good band.
Eureka Machines – Barfly, London. I made a snap call at
about 6am the morning of this gig to jump on a train after work and head to
London for this gig. I made the right decision as it were excellent. They
played a couple of songs off of their new album which is due for release next
year (which after this gig I am even more excited about hearing). They also
played a cover from their newly released 80s covers EP “Remain in Eighties”. Very
happy I decided to go. Eureka Machines just don’t do bad gigs.
A Day To Remember – Guildhall, Portsmouth. This would have
been in the top 5 had the band played their full set. Just over half way
through, someone jumped off the balcony. That balcony is probably 20 foot high.
It didn’t well for the guy who jumped who apparently ended up with a fractured
skull. The gig was ended early which (now the information is all out) was a
damn shame as A Day To Remember were sounding fantastic.
Epica – The Forum, London. After much contemplation I
decided to grab a ticket for this gig. This was a good call as Epica were
really good. It was technically a co-headliner with Dragonforce (a decision
which still baffles me) who were better than I thought they would be, but that
wasn’t hard as I wasn’t overly looking forward to seeing them. So in the end,
it all worked out nicely.
Machine Head – Guildhall, Portsmouth. I entered the venue as
Machine Head were playing their first song which was decent timing. It was the
first time I’d seen them play a full set on their own headline tour and it has
to be said, they were excellent. I’ve never seen them be subpar, but when they
are headlining and on stage for 2+ hours, even better.
Kreator – The Forum, London. This was the same venue I saw
them in last year. Normally I wouldn’t have bothered with this gig but the
support was Arch Enemy, who I missed at Wacken in favour of seeing Prong so I
wanted to see them. Both bands were excellent and I’d say this gig was the best
Kreator show I’d been to.
That was a lot of honourable mentions! However, for me, the
next ten gigs were just that little bit special (or in some cases, a lot
special).
Top Ten:
10. Nine Inch Nails – LG Arena, Birmingham. This tour
falling at the same time as the Heineken Cup final was a ball ache! I was in
Cardiff the night they played London so I headed to Birmingham the weekend
before to make sure I caught a night on this tour. I wasn’t disappointed as NIN
delivered in a big way. The one thing which surprised me was how empty the
arena was. That didn’t detract from how good the gig was mind. I really liked Hesitation
Marks and we got a lot of it played on this night, which was ace.
9. The Ginger Wildheart “Oh F**K I’m 50” Birthday Bash – The
Forum, London. Ginger said something to the effect early on in this gig after
belting out two songs from G.A.S.S that this wasn’t really a gig, it was more
of a party. He wasn’t wrong. Each section of the gig had a standing band with
special guests coming on at different times. Some of the highlights from this
show include having the guys from Exit_International join in on bass for Body
Parts (that song with 3 bassists is cool), a Mutation song, Rats, being played
with Ginger on drums followed by a cover of Howling Willie Cunt’s Country Boy,
a number of Wildhearts songs with two drummers, and for Suckerpunch, two
drummer and two bassists (as predicted by Ginger, it did sound seismic). Some
of the guest vocalists for Wildhearts stuff was pretty special as well – the stand
out one for my money was Yolanda Quartey on vocal duties – immense! The gig
concluded with 29x the Pain and with everyone coming back out on stage for I
Wanna Go Where The People Go. One hell of a party indeed.
8. Against Me! – Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth. This tour was
announced a few weeks after Download if memory serves and with their set fresh
in my mind, I bought a ticket as soon as I could. I was also really pleased to
hear that the support was Billy the Kid, who I had wanted to see live for a
while. She was great. I had wondered though if Against Me! could better their
Download Festival set where they crammed in 10 songs in 30mins. They were on
stage for about 75 minutes and aside for when they went off stage for a brief
period before coming back out for their encore, they smashed through their set.
It was better than the Download set and then some.
7. Eureka Machines – The Borderline, London. I had a golden
ticket for this gig, which meant that I was among a small crowd of 50 who got
an acoustic set, a signed poster and a cup of tea. The acoustic set was ace, in
which they played a song I really wanted them to play live called Scream
Eureka. I’m not sure how many times I can get away with typing the same
sentence but I’ll do it again. I don’t think it is possible for Eureka Machines
to play a bad set. A personal highlight for me was hearing them play Do or Die,
a song I liked but didn’t listen to very often at all. Following this gig, this
song has become one of my favourites. I’m hoping that following the release of
their new album (tentatively titled Brainwaves), there will be another tour. If
so, count me in!
6. Volbeat – Pyramids, Portsmouth. Volbeat are one of my
favourite live bands. I was gutted when they cancelled their planned show at
the Wedgewood Rooms in 2010. They said when that tour was cancelled that they
would make up for it, and so with this tour, it came to Portsmouth but in a bigger
room. That was the only thing wrong with this tour is that it was in the
Pyramids as opposed to the wedge but you can’t win them all. The support for
this show was Hatebreed which was different but excellent at the same time.
Since I’ve started seeing Volbeat live, they tend to play more from their later
albums live and very little from the early albums apart from a few staples,
which is fine by me (although I do cast an envious eye at the one and only Euro
show in 2015 in Denmark which will have a setlist based around the first
album). The big surprise of the night was Barney from Napalm Death coming out
to do Evelyn with Volbeat. That, like the previous times I’ve seen it happen,
was just immense.
5. Mongol Horde – Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth. Frank Turner,
Matt Nasir (from the Sleeping Souls) and Ben Dawson (from Million Dead) make up
Mongol Horde and their album is very different to any Frank Turner release
since he was in Million Dead, The album is superb. Live however? It was
something else. They played their whole album with a few covers as well
(including Weenie Beenie by Foo Fighters and Refuse/Resist by Sepultura). I now
can’t listen to their album without thinking about just how good that gig was,
which is why they are on this list.
4. Pearl Jam – National Bowl, Milton Keynes. I fell to sleep
during the main support act, which probably says all I need to say about them.
Pearl Jam though were magnificent. They were on stage for nearly 3 hours. I had
given thought to trying to get near the front but decided instead to sit on the
hill instead and watch from a distance. I’m glad I did that as it was an ace
experience. The only downside to this gig was of my own doing which was
choosing the worst time to go to the toilet. As I entered the urinals, I could
hear Pearl Jam start playing Even Flow. Poor call on my part, but then the
whole thing was just immense so it was alright in the end.
3. Foo Fighters – Islington Assembly Hall, London. The Foo
Fighters playing a venue that holds 800 people, what is not to love! Billed as
The Holy Shits, they played 3 UK shows in the week they were in the country for
the Invictus Games closing ceremony. I was lucky enough to be able to snag a
ticket to the last one. There was the odd rarity thrown in but this was a set
of Foo Fighters playing their more well known songs to a very appreciative
crowd. I still can’t quite believe I saw Foo Fighters in that size room and
also that I forgot just how good they are live. Anyone going to see them in
2015 is in for a treat.
2. Reel Big Fish – Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth. I think this
gig certainly takes the title of most fun I’ve had a gig in a long time (that
is a shit title though, that is under referral). This gig was immense. As soon
as they came on stage, the room started dancing and the venue got hot. The centre
of the room just turned into a really happy mosh pit – one where people were
occasionally bumping into each other but were generally just happy to be there.
There is very little more I can say about this gig without stressing again just
how fun it was, so there, it was fun!
1. Frank Turner and The Sleeping Souls – Guildhall,
Portsmouth. Before talking about how good Frank Turner was, I want to just give
a quick tip of the cap in the direction of Flogging Molly, who were the main
support for the evening. Had they headlined, I’d have left more than happy and
that gig probably would have made this list (perhaps not number 1 but still).
They were outstanding and set the bar really quite high. I guess the thing
about having supports that set the bar quite high is that it means you really
have to do something to be better, and Frank Turner managed it with ease.
Picking a setlist covering all of his albums, while still leaning heavily on
his latest release Tape Deck Heart, he pretty much played the perfect setlist
as far as I’m concerned. For some of these entries, I’ve picked highlights but
really, this was all just superb. So good in fact I was actually a little bit
gutted when I couldn’t make the September tour which took in towns he doesn’t
normally play (at one point, I was pricing up a hotel in Bristol for 2 nights
so I could go to the gig in Bath on the Friday then go to see Bath Rugby play
Leicester Tigers the next day – Bath won that game 45-0!) When I think back
over all these gigs, this one was definitely my favourite.
And that is my top 10 gigs for 2014. That was a tough old
list to compile which is by no means a bad thing. I said for 2014 that I wouldn’t
be doing a weekend festival and I did. As it stands, I won’t be doing a weekend
in 2015 and actually sticking to my promise, no matter how much I eye up
Download at the moment! As far as live music goes, I’ve got some great gigs
already booked already. First up is the rearranged Royal Blood gig at the
Pyramids. After that it is Queen and Adam Lambert in London, Slipknot in
London, Amon Amarth in Southampton, Fozzy in Southampton, System of a Down in
London, Cancer Bats and While Sleeps in London and the mighty AC/DC in London.
There are others on my radar as well, so 2015 could be another great one as far
as live music is concerned. Aside from what I’ve got booked, I’m hoping that
Rancid announce a UK tour following the release of their album, and I’ve heard
rumblings that there will be a Wildhearts tour as the anniversary of P.H.U.Q is
next year. They would both be great I am sure.
See you in 2015!
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