Review: NME Big Gig 2011

Yesterday I went up to London for the NME Big Gig 2011. Now, despite the fact this is the name of the gig – for me it was all about the fact that Foo Fighters were playing. The other bands were Cee Lo Green, Band of Horses and No Age. I decided before the gig that I definitely wanted to see Cee Lo, as I liked the song Forget/Fuck You (both versions are good). I knew nothing about the other two bands but after a quick Spotify, I realised they were not for me. But truth be told, it could be a homeless man playing a washboard while running around a cat (actually that might have been more entertaining than Band of Horses); this gig for me was all about Foo Fighters. This gig came with a slight bit of confusion regarding the ticket orders I made but at this point I would just like to say, I got awesome customer service from Seetickets and would recommend them to anyone (though contact them via Twitter – it gets shit done!) Got a lift up to London with someone from work which I am very grateful for. I am now also aware of a little car park in Wembley which is pretty good!



So got to the venue and already there was a difference between this visit to Wembley Arena and the last visit – the amount of people smoking. Last time I was at Wembley was for Dream Theater in 2009 and when I went out for a smoke, there were maybe 20 people outside. This time there were a couple hundred at least. Wembley had their floor fountain on as well which was pretty cool to watch but what was more entertaining was watching kids run through the fountain, come out the other side wet and be surprised by this fact. Would they be surprised getting wet in the shower? This is going down a tangent. Anyway! I didn’t want to head onto the floor too early but there is a lack of things to do at Wembley Arena without spending a large amount of money unless you smoke. I feel like I’ve cleaned my lungs with a cheese grater this morning.

Ok so I heard the last Band of Horses song before they went off stage and I really made the right call by not going in. Studio wise they aren’t for me – live they aren’t for me and louder! I actually think if it was a group of horses playing instruments I would have preferred it. I heard pretty loud music still playing though and wondered if they actually went off stage. I went down on to the floor to find out and it was Zane Lowe DJing! (Note – I didn’t know right away it was Zane Lowe and a follower on Twitter helped me out with that one). He was great at keeping the crowd warmed up between bands and created a real party atmosphere. Cee Lo Green came out and was slightly rockier than I imagined he would be. Granted, I have only ever heard Forget/Fuck You so that might be why I thought that. Still, he was really good. I feel somewhat embarrassed to admit I thought he did a great cover of Gnarls Barkley – Crazy. Now, it’s not embarrassing to think that. What is embarrassing is that he was part of the duo that made up Gnarls Barkley. So, he did Crazy well and hey, I’ve now seen one half of Gnarls Barkley! (That a thing?) After some more DJing from Zane Lowe, it was time for the Foo Fighters.



Wow! They are an immense live band. Everything about this gig was almost perfect. The setlist was:

1. Bridge Burning
2. All My Life
3. Times Like These
4. White Limo
5. Learn to Fly
6. My Hero
7. Rope
8. Generator
9. The Pretender
10. Up in Arms
11. Long Road to Ruin
12. Cold Day in the Sun
13. Stacked Actors
14. These Days
15. Breakout
16. Monkey Wrench
17. Hey, Johnny Park!
18. Everlong
-------------------------------
19. Young Man Blues (The Who cover)
20. Skin and Bones
21. This is a Call
22. Best of You

That is essentially a perfect Foo Fighters setlist for me and we got some new material thrown in which is very good. Dave Grohl is definitely one of the best front men I’ve ever seen live and Foo Fighters are now one of the best bands I’ve seen live. I would love to sit down and work out what is the best gig I’ve been to but it would take ages and I know I’d second guess myself over the final choice.



Band Ratings:

No Age – N/A
Band of Horses – N/A (be thankful it’s that high)
Cee Lo Green – 8/10
Foo Fighters – 10/10

I will be blogging again soon talking about inflated prices at gig venues. Things I saw yesterday were incredible in a bad way when it came to prices.

The Gates Are Open, Again

On the Wacken post I made not that long ago, I said I would likely post updates as new bands get announced assuming that I wanted to see them. Well there have been a few announcements which have pleased me. In alphabetical order they are:

Bullet – This band seem very much like Airbourne but there is some definite hair metal influences here. Anyway, they’re pretty good.

Hämatom – German thrash metal. Ok so there are other thrash metal bands at this festival but one more won’t hurt. I really like what I hear with this band.

Kataklysm – I don’t know why I haven’t seen this band live before. I know there have been many chances for me to (can’t remember if shows were cancelled or what) but I’ve wanted to see them live for quite some time so seeing them announced for Wacken is good times|

Shining – Ok, not the French rapper. I must admit I was somewhat confused when I clicked play on Spotify and RnB started. Anyway, they are billed as a Norwegian Black Metal Jazz band. I don’t think I really need to say much else than that to be honest!

Torture Squad – These guys are a bit thrashy and a bit of death metal. So in many respects, they are a good band. They have a number of good songs on Spotify so that is always good times.

I’ve just signed up to the Wacken newsletter, and apparently according to the last one (I didn’t get that) there is still a “big highlight” to be announced in the middle of this month. I’ve read suggestions that it could be Helloween which would be alright, albeit a touch cheesy. However I have a small hope that it will be someone else. I’m hoping as they are doing a reunion tour again this summer that it will be At The Gates. Now, last time they came to Wacken, I was there to witness the set and it was mindblowingly awesome. What also happened was this.



If you click here, you might just be able to listen. Ain't technology great?

Anyway, this is a fantastic live album and while their slot might be almost exactly the same as last time, if it is that good then it won’t be a problem as far as I am concerned. I originally thought that seeing as they played Wacken before, there is no chance they’ll do it again but then they were announced for Bloodstock (a festival they also played on their 2008 reunion tour) which gave me hope. These hopes have all but been dashed as I notice they are playing another festival in Germany the weekend after Wacken. Stranger things have occurred but I don’t think I’ll be seeing ATG this summer unless I scrape together the funds to go to Bloodstock, and truthfully, that’s unlikely! If that occurs though, I’m sure it’ll make it somewhere on this page, probably.

One decision which needed to be made when deciding whether to do Wacken or not was whether or not to see Iron Maiden. They are doing a UK Arena tour over the summer and the London dates (at least) clash with Wacken. As you might have guessed, I decided to do Wacken which meant I wouldn’t be seeing Iron Maiden live this year. That might not seem like a big deal but since 2006 this will only be the 2nd year I haven’t seen them live (including 2 times on their most recent hits tour). I read a lot of disappointment from certain groups of Iron Maiden fans that this setlist had few classics. Some people I saw even asked people to imagine what an entire setlist of classics would be like. I don’t need to imagine it, they toured it in 2008. Anyway, Maiden tend to not change their setlist so they play the same songs every night for the whole tour. They aren’t alone in doing that but I find that a little disappointing that they can’t mix it up at all. The setlist that I saw at Sonisphere 2010 was (courtesy of setlist.fm for the list):

1. The Wicker Man
2. Ghost of the Navigator
3. Wrathchild
4. El Dorado
5. Dance of Death
6. The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg
7. These Colours Don't Run
8. Blood Brothers
(Dedicated to Ronnie James Dio)
9. Wildest Dreams
10. No More Lies
11. Brave New World
12. Fear of the Dark
13. Iron Maiden
Encore:
14. The Number of the Beast
15. Hallowed Be Thy Name
16. Running Free

For all intents and purposes, a nice mixed playlist of newer material and classics. Granted it is only the last 5 that are classics (and track 3) in the sense they came from the earlier Iron Maiden era. The setlist for the upcoming tour has been released and it looks something like this:

1. Satellite 15...The Final Frontier
2. El Dorado
3. Two Minutes to Midnight
4. Coming Home
5. Dance of Death
6. The Trooper
7. The Wicker Man
8. Blood Brothers
9. When The Wild Wind Blows
10. The Evil That Men Do
11. The Talisman
12. Fear of the Dark
13. Iron Maiden
Encore
14. The Number of the Beast
15. Hallowed Be Thy Name
16. Running Free

Now, based on classics, I’d say the 2nd setlist there is better, but truthfully having seen the list, I’m glad I’m not going to see Iron Maiden this summer now. There is nothing on that setlist aside from a couple of the songs from The Final Frontier which make me think “I have to see this band again”. They are awesome live, and I know if I had a ticket then I would be excited and would love the gig, but as I’m not I feel I can talk about this setlist unbiased. It is a good setlist but I feel it is a touch lazy having the same ending to two tours. I’m also a touch disappointed with the first 2 songs in this new setlist. The “Final Frontier” part of the first song is awesome, but it comes with 4mins of pointlessness before it, which hopefully won’t come across as boring live but it does on the record. El Dorado I’m going to presume is the lead single from Final Frontier, but considering it was played at the last set of dates, why not consider dropping it for say Mother of Mercy? Oh well, not my problem I guess, I just found it quite interesting.

50 Word Review: Taking Dawn were awesome not that long ago. As a live force they have influences from Airbourne-style rock music but also from Kill’Em All Metallica era – some of their stuff was very fast and very thrashy – I liked what I heard. Shout out to the support Dendera, who were brilliant.

That is all I’ve got for this time. I would just like to say that I am very happy and shocked that Portsmouth beat Doncaster. Considering we got turned over at home I was fairly concerned about the away game, but according to people I know who were at the game, we played well and deserved all 3 points. Apparently it’s the first clean sheet we’ve kept in a long time, and it was without Carl Dickinson, Ibrahima Sonko and Aaron Mokoena – I wonder if anyone will make a connection out of this......

Quote of the week – On hearing the news Ireland have chosen Jedward to represent them at the Eurovision song contest, a user from the Download Festival Forums makes a valid point:

“Ireland would have more of a chance of winning if they had the IRA representing them....”

Pompey got 101 Problems...

Note - I previously have called a blog "Pompey got 99 Problems". It seemed apt

Yesterday was a tough day for anyone at Fratton Park. It was tough for Portsmouth fans because quite frankly, Portsmouth played shit. I went to the game courtesy of The Sun’s football ticket offer and I felt ripped off paying a tenner for my ticket. I really do feel bad for the people that paid £23 to watch that shower of shit. It was a tough day for Derby fans as well. I mean, they played pretty shit themselves but they looked a lot more like a unit going forward than we did – and to lose all three points at the end must be heartbreaking. Especially considering Portsmouth did not deserve any points (I’m not sure if the FA can take points away for a poor performance, but we were nearing that stage). One thing which was proven yesterday is that Portsmouth FC is in deep trouble. News came out last week that the players are going to be paid late again which brings back old worries of administration and liquidation and we have a paper thin squad – some of whom seem to be under the impression that they deserve better than playing for Portsmouth. The purpose of this blog is to ask several questions about Portsmouth, and then discuss something which most fans probably won’t consider and will think I am wrong about. That is discussing whether relegation to League One would be such a bad thing.

1. The goalkeeper question. I’m not anti-Jamie Ashdown at all. I used to be but I recognise he has done alright this season but has been let down by a poor defence quite a lot (yesterday being a prime example). However, on a month to month basis, we hear that Darryl Flahavan has signed a new one month contract. Why is he not being given a chance? I don’t think he should be our no.1 goalkeeper, but giving him a chance every now and then so we can see how good he is might be useful considering he is our only other option at the moment.

2. Why if Tal Ben-Haim is under contract with us, why can’t he play? I accept there is a contract dispute with West Ham about him at the moment, but he is our player and is being paid by us. Surely this means that if he is fit, he can play. I hear that Ben-Haim’s agent came out and said “he will never play another game for Portsmouth”. Well, I’m pretty sure if he’s being paid, that’s a breach of contract. You never know what goes on behind the scenes, but if that isn’t breach of contract, what is?!

3. Ibrahima Sonko – discuss?

4. Aaron Mokoena, I know you are the captain but it might help if you displayed some form of leadership. Furthermore, I know a football can be a beautiful thing but if you could stop just looking at it, and hit it occasionally, we might stand a better chance of not conceding goals! I think we need a new captain.

5. Can someone just clear up this debacle surrounding the contracts of Richard Hughes and Michael Brown? It would seem they can’t play again without automatically having to be offered a new contract (I assume at the same value as their current ones). Now, I can’t speak for Michael Brown as he has been pretty quiet on the issue, but Richard Hughes has said “I just want to play football”. Well if that’s true, waive the clause and sign a new contract which allows you to play! You can’t want to play that much if you are prepared to do fuck all about agreeing a new deal! Furthermore, if you wait it out until the end of the season, earning premiership wages (this goes for Brown and Hughes), guess what will happen to you, you will end up on the free agent list. How can anyone scout a player who doesn’t play?! It seems so obvious to me, but then again, I don’t know what goes on behind the scenes. I wish the club would just be open and say “we offered them both £10k a week, and they said no, so we withdrew the offers” or something!

6. Speaking of the free agent list, we have a tiny squad. Come on Lampitt, at least have a look at it! We could sign players to fill holes and back up positions we are low on and give our tired players a break every now and then. I wouldn’t have thought they would want that much per week either as they aren’t playing!

7. Liam Lawrence is a natural leader, and a good candidate for being club captain (I mentioned above we need a new one). But I have just one important question, why is he such a twat?! I can’t bemoan the fact he was angry about the QPR sending off (I don’t think it was handball and as such shouldn’t have been a penalty). But since that game I’ve seen Pompey twice, Brighton and Derby. Both times things haven’t gone his way with regards to officials decisions and instead of being a human and getting on with the game, he feels the need to give his two cents, Every. Fucking. Time. He also gets easily frustrated with his own play and when that happens, his head seems to drop and he might as well get sent off as there is no point in him being on the pitch. He tries too much to be fancy when what he really needs to do is concentrate on pumping balls to the other midfielders and strikers rather than trying to do too much alone. Now, yesterday it is unfair to criticise him that much (although he did do all the above things) but he received very little help at times when he needed it. But he needs to realise that if he keeps his head up and his mouth shut, then he’ll be a much better player. I accept its pretty rich of me, someone who couldn’t be further away from being a professional footballer to criticise a pretty reasonable player, but he is so frustrating!

8. What happened to Dave Kitson? He was pretty good when he first came here but now he just seems to be aggressive and apathetic to the team going forward. He just flicks his leg out at balls without any thought as to where it is going. It was embarrassing watching him yesterday at times. He made very few good passes, the flicks pretty much all went wayward – and with one he almost assisted a 2nd Derby goal! Any chance of getting back to scoring goals and not spoiling chances before they can even be made, maybe?

9. This season has made me realise that I really like Dave Nugent, but he really isn’t good enough for the premiership. What seems to be his main problem from where I am sitting is that he tries far too hard to get running before he has learned to walk. There was a chance in the first half where he was one on one with the keeper, and he scuffed the shot and was easily tipped wide. In the 89th minute, he scored an awesome goal from outside the box. I’d rather he scored 15 of the first chances per season than 5 of the awesome goals. But it appears that’s how he plays and I’m not sure it is an overly good thing.

10. Just what exactly is the point of Ibrahima Sonko?!


Ok, just from reading the above, you might have gathered that from where I’m sitting, there needs to be some serious changes to this team. We should have a good enough first team for mid-table championship action but honestly, who wants that for their club (excluding teams in lower leagues than us) but frankly the way we are playing at the moment doesn’t even deserve a mid table finish right now. It left me wondering whether us being relegated down to League One would be a terrible idea. Financially speaking, it wouldn’t be a benefit really as we would lose what little TV revenue we get at the moment but from another perspective, it might be very beneficial and very necessary. Here’s why

We would lose a lot of our best players at the moment. How is this positive you ask? Well, our wage bill would shrink and we would get to sign players and rebuild a team instead of having a patchwork one. Speaking of positions, GK wise, I wouldn’t see Ashdown going anywhere. Flahavan would likely sign a long term deal and we could sign a 3rd keeper. Defender wise, Mokoena would probably go, as would Ben-Haim, Hreidarsson and Rocha. We would obviously lose our loaned defenders as well. In their place, we sign talented youngsters and loan experienced defenders who would make a formidable back-line. Furthermore, getting Ben-Haim to fuck off will be a blessing for the wage bill! I’d try to keep Ritchie De Laet for another season if Man Utd would let us along with Joel Ward and Peter Gregory. Midfield wise, well we’d lose all out current midfielders. We’d get some form of money for Lawrence though so that would help matters. Plus with all 4 of them off the books, we could probably sign ten players and still have left over money from their wages. £36k per week Michael Brown...piss off! Striker wise, well Nuge would go as his contract expires in the summer. Kanu might hang around but I doubt it. Kitson would go so more transfer money and a smaller wage bill. I would make a real effort to keep Danny Webber and Nadir Ciftci. Despite the fact Ciftci has already said he’s going in the summer, he’d play a vital role in a League One Portsmouth side. TL;DR – We’d reduce our wage bill, remove players who don’t care about the club and sign a new squad of youngsters and experience. Loan players from Premiership/Championship and develop youngsters!

Another plus would be ticket prices. Now, I believe tickets cost too much anyway. If they reduced them to £18, you’d have a full house every week, rather than 14000 people coming through the door when its £23 a ticket (and most of them I’d imagine are season ticket holders). But, if we went down, they could reduce the amount to £15 a ticket. Now, that would get the real supporters through the door and return to the times where a family day out at FP wouldn’t be a ridiculous price. By doing this, you are creating a whole new generation of Pompey fans, who will assist in bankrolling the club for years to come. Plus one good thing which would come of it is playing new teams and visiting new grounds. I’d go and watch Pompey away at Bournemouth and Brighton (assuming they are still League One at the end of the season). I’m sure I’d go to others as well and that’s just me.

One thing which is possibly a major detriment to the club going down is its long term security. However, I feel that if the club went down, it would significantly reduce the asking price of the club, thus enabling a local business man to come in and buy the club and give sufficient resources allowing us to build slowly but positively.

Of course, this is all hypothetical, and I don’t know if it would all work out. But right now, I do not see the benefit of surviving this season and going forward with a tiny squad who are shit. Whatever happens, I will remain a Portsmouth supporter – I just want and hope for better things for the football team I love. Maybe a fresh start is what we need. PTID

Early Preview - Wacken 2011

The post before the last one, I posted a Wacken banner. This was meant as an indicator that I had taken the plunge and booked a Wacken ticket. This makes me very happy as the lineup is looking really very strong. What I am going to do here will be very brief, but I will go through each of the bands that I plan at this stage to see and say why basically. It is quite handy this time around to have Spotify at my disposal so investigating bands is an awful lot easier than it was in 2008. Well, there was MySpace music, but really who wants to admit they had anything to do with that website? This does mean that the bands that aren’t on there do get left behind, but that is their own fault for not embracing technology. Anyway, I also discussed the possibility of going alone. This is still a possibility but things are looking as though they might change. We shall see what occurs there but it will be nice to have someone to come with me. One thing which will be very different about this jaunt to Wacken is there will be no night in Hamburg first. I’m not sure if this is wise but hey, live and learn and all that. I think that decision was made because I didn’t feel like spending the first day in Hamburg alone.

Accuser – Seeing these because I had a quick listen on Spotify and they are awesome.

Airbourne – I shall never tire of seeing these live.

Apocalyptica – I had to miss seeing these guys live at Sonisphere so I could see someone else. Granted if they clash with anyone this time around, then I will likely miss them again. But they are a strong name on the lineup and should the chance arise, then I will see them.

As I Lay Dying – These played in 2008, but I don’t remember seeing them. According to the review I have on Facebook though, I did and I gave them an 8. So, that’ll be why I’m seeing them again!

Avantasia – This band is awesome, and I was dead during their set last time. I want to see them and be awake this time!

Blaas of Glory – What is there not to like about a heavy metal marching band?!

Blind Guardian – These guys haven’t visited these fair lands that often, but they are one that while I don’t know a great deal about them, I’ve wanted to see. They’ve played a handful of London dates which have been inconvenient for me and they co-headlined Bloodstock with Cradle of Filth not so long ago. To see them at a festival I'm going to is almost perfect really.

Blowsight – They sound rifftastic (I know that’s not a word!) – cheers Spotify! (I hope they don’t play their Lady Gaga cover live, that might be quite upsetting)

Children of Bodom – Seen them twice before, once at Wacken 08. Will have seen them 3 times when Wacken 11 rolls around. Genius live band.

Cradle of Filth – They played Download 06 and I didn’t see them because I went off to douche (I actually don’t remember why I didn’t see them). I shall endear to see them this time.

Devildriver – Awesome live band who I’ve somehow managed to avoid seeing live since 2007. Saw them 5 times in about 18months and then not since. They should be good, and they’ll have released 2 albums since I saw them last.

Exodus – Saw them at Wacken 2008 and they were genius (just seen they released a live album of that set so will endeavour to check that out). I also saw them in London early 2009 and truth be told they were a touch boring. I actually now cant remember if it was the fact they were boring or they had poor sound, ah well. So, I want to see them again just to see what occurs basically.

Hayseed Dixie – This seems somewhat a strange announcement for Wacken but I’m very ok with it on the grounds that I love Hayseed Dixie! Seen them live 4 times and they’ve been brilliant each time. Since I last saw them they released a great album with a bluegrass version of Prodigy – Omen on. How can that not be a winner?

Heaven Shall Burn – They are one of those bands that I listened to sporadically and always liked when I listened to them but never got round to seeing them live. Well, they are at Wacken and I have every intention of being there also, so I think I’ll watch them!

Hellsaw – Another Spotify recommendation really. They have their album which is pretty good. Truthfully, if a better band clash with them then I won’t be too sad to miss them, but hey! If I’ve got nothing else to do, then it would be foolish to miss a good band!

Iced Earth – I have somehow managed to avoid seeing Iced Earth live. They opened for Heaven and Hell when I went to that and I arrived late (cheers southern rail) and missed them. I’ve always enjoyed whatever music of theirs I’ve heard and since that missed opportunity to see them, they have their original vocalist back – so it should be a good set.

In Solitude – Spotify and MySpace helped me with this band. They seem like a decent rock band that is well worth checking out. BTW – when did MySpace become so fucking awful? Either that or the powers that be (Tom?) at MySpace didn’t want me to listen to In Solitude without glitches.

Judas Priest – Oh my shit! I bought a ticket for Wacken based on a number of bands that had been announced and somehow overlooked Judas Priest. So imagine my happiness when I saw them on the lineup. Apparently this is the first leg of their last ever world tour so it’s good that I managed to catch them on it. Don’t think I’ll get the chance to when they come to London the week before Wacken. Ah well.

Khold – Cheers Spotify! They seem quite good and worth checking out should the stage times allow

Knorkator – I’ll be honest, I was drawn to this band because of their ridiculous name. It might not even be that ridiculous, but it is certainly fun to say. Anyway, the music seems alright and much like some of the other bands should the stage times allow for it, I will check them out!

Kreator – Oh my days! This is one of the main bands for me. They’re so good live and I can’t wait to see them again. Especially as since I last saw them (which was Wacken 2008) they’ve released Hordes of Chaos and Endorama. HoC is a solid album and from what I’ve heard of Endorama, it seems good. Very different vocal style, but I like it!

Mayhem – At first I wasn’t going to include this band. But what the hell, they’ve grown on me. I can see myself getting bored watching them just like Morbid Angel but studio wise, they seem alright

Morbid Angel – I saw these get announced for a number of festivals and thought I’d check them out. They seem alright – pretty sludgy death metal. I think their set could get a touch dull but that opinion is based on their studio stuff, I’ve no idea what they are like live.

Motorhead – This is an awesome announcement as far as I am concerned. Saw Motorhead at the tail end of last year and they were awesome. I imagine at Wacken we will get the same set that we will have got at Sonisphere (though I imagine their set will be longer at Wacken). Some might find that annoying, but it’s Motorhead! As long as they turn up and play the rock and roll, I’m sure I’ll be happy!

Onslaught – The latest band to be announced that has made me very happy. Onslaught is a genius British thrash band. I saw them in a tiny room in Oxford supporting Testament. They were fantastic live then. I hear that their Live Damnation album is superb. I haven’t heard it yet, but if it’s even a patch on the Oxford set, then it’ll be great.

Ozzy Osbourne – Well, Ozzy isn’t a massive draw for me on his own but when he is headlining such an awesome bill, how can you not be excited! His latest solo album is genius from what I’ve heard, and it’ll be a treat to hear a selection from the Black Sabbath collection that I haven’t heard played live yet. He will be great to see (I hope).

Primal Fear – A band who I originally confused with Primal Scream. Both good bands though and I’m looking forward to seeing them.

Russkaja – They seem like a fun band. Spotify, my regards once more

Saltatio Mortis – This band give off very different vibes between songs. While typing this blurb, I can hear influences of folk metal mixed with Rammstein-like industrial. However some of their other stuff is more like folk metal mixed with Sonata Arctica. It’s quite a mix, but I’m interested in seeing them. They played very early in the morning (00.45 if memory serves) in 2008 when I was dying of the tireds

Sepultura – This one is very interesting to me. I’ve seen Soulfly live and heard music from Cavalera Conspiracy. When seeing Soulfly, they cover some of the Sepultura material which is very good. However Max hasn’t been their front man for some time now and until buying a ticket for Wacken, I never listened to any of their post-Max material. It seems they are still really good and I am looking forward to seeing them.

Sirenia – Thanks Spotify! They strike me as very similar to Lacuna Coil if the male vocalist was heavier. Genius band though and hoping I get the chance to see them

Skalmold – Spotify, once again! These guys seem similar in ways to Amon Amarth. I quite like what I’ve heard and am looking forward to seeing them

Ski-King – Well, this was unexpected. It appears this guy pays tribute to Johnny Cash, but also to other artists in the style of Johnny Cash. If there is the chance to see him then I will.

Sodom – Haven’t heard much but they seem like a genius thrash band. A weird part of me is hoping they cover Surfin’ Bird live. But at the same time, I hope they don’t. Anyway, should be good

Subway To Sally – Really like what I hear when I listen to this band. I’ve seen them regularly announced for Wacken but they didn’t play 2008. I’m looking forward to seeing this band.

Suicidal Tendencies – Heard of this band for a number of reasons. 1) I used to use their song lyrics as msn names when I was much younger and I felt like shit. 2) Rob Trujillo, current bassist for Metallica, used to be the bassist for them and 3) Guitar Hero – Institutionalised was a cunt! Anyway, they seem quite cool and I’ll check them out given the chance.

The Haunted – Oh motherfucker yes! I loved this band when they played Wacken 2008 and I haven’t had the chance to see them live since (well, I could have gone to see them support Slayer...but anyway!) Can’t wait!

Tokyo Blade – Spotify, you know the score. Anyway, Tokyo Blade seems like a fairly inoffensive rock band that is quite catchy. I like them!

Trivium – Aside from a blip at the Black Crusade, Trivium have never failed to impress me live. I can’t claim to like Shogun, but they were awfully good the last time I saw them, which would have been on the Shogun tour – so I’m looking forward to seeing them on a huge stage again.

Tsjuder – Black Metal which doesn’t rape my ears. That seems to be the way with Black Metal, I either like it or it rapes my ears and I dislike its presence. Anyhoo, they’re good.

Victims of Madness – Again, fairly inoffensive metal band. Will catch if the chance arises

Visions of Atlantis – Very similar to Nightwish in many respects, which is a very good thing. This band is good so I hope to catch them. Cheers Spotify!

Vried – Death/Black Metal. Anyways, they don’t rape my ears either so I like them for that.

Well, that so far are all the bands at Wacken that range from “Wouldn’t mind seeing” to “Oh my fuck I have to see these!” If anymore get added, note that I will discuss them. The thing about this list is the size of it. If I manage to see all of these bands then that’ll be a new record for the amount of bands I’ve seen at a festival. I fear with liking this many bands that there are going to be clashes and plenty of them. Tough decisions ahead, but good tough decisions.

I'll also do an early preview of Sonisphere 2011 (when they announce more bands) and Foo Fighters at MK. Speaking of which, I'm going to see Foo Fighters next month with Cee Lo Green, Band of Horses and someone else. Should be good!

Falling into fountains

It’s a Sunday night and I have nothing to do so I will write for the nice people that read this shit. There is not a great deal of current affairs stuff going on but I’ll talk about some of it anyhow. I did want to move into the region of talking about sillier stories like me and Dave did on the RRP because that’s always fun.

There appears to be some trouble politically in Ireland at the moment. By this, I mean the country is screwed anyway. We all saw the public collapse of its economy and the subsequent bail-out. Just as a side point, it was quite entertaining but frustrating to see the response to that and the fact that the UK would be helping them out. Generally speaking it was “how can we afford to bail out another country when we are making cuts at home?” which is a good point to a certain degree. However one element which clearly had been forgotten about is that if the UK stood by and watched Ireland and its economy crumble then the economy here would have suffered as a result. I’d imagine that there are a few economic partnerships between the UK and Ireland which would have been too valuable to lose, so spending the money to bail them out in the short term would have made the money back in the long term. Anyway, the Irish coalition government has received a bucket-load of shit hurled at them over the state of the economy and in the last week, the PM there has won a vote of confidence and then resigned. That was a bit strange, especially as he hasn’t resigned as PM but he has resigned as the leader of his party, which FYI is called “Fianna Fail” (well if you are going to be pessimistic from the off...). I don’t understand how a politician can resign as the governing party’s leader but remain Prime Minister in a republic country. Now, if he had said he intends to resign as both straight away then fair enough – but he didn’t and that is a bit strange. Also, if you are going to resign, why hold on to power until an election where the result will be you losing power, even if Fianna Fail wins. I don’t understand it myself.

One issue which appears to be dominating our front pages is relating to a phone hacking scandal. It would appear that a former editor of a Sunday tabloid isn’t always honest and acts in ways which might label him as a scrotum. Actually before I go and get myself sued, he has claimed that he knew nothing of the accusations but a captain must go down with his ship and all. Anyway, he resigned as editor at the time it was first in the press and he has been forced to resign from his position as communications director at Downing Street for the current government as more stuff about this scandal has made it in the papers – some three years later. Now, don’t get me wrong, he could have done nothing legally wrong and I would have still thought he was a scrotum (working for a tabloid in a senior position isn’t in my eyes a good job). However there are two things which I wanted to say about this. The first is that he was accused of something which went down in 2007. Now, he wasn’t actually accused of doing anything other than not stopping the phone hacking going on if memory serves. More importantly than that, he resigned in 2007. He took a bullet for something which he claimed he didn’t do or didn’t know about. Now, ignorance is not a valid argument when it comes to law but he took his punishment by resigning from what I can only assume is a fairly well paid job. Why this has cost him another job I do not know. I’m sure David Cameron was well aware of his past when hiring him so this is very peculiar. The second thing is that Ed Milliband has proven himself over this issue to be both 1) a fantastic leader of the opposition but someone who’d likely be a very poor PM and 2) a scrotum. “Labour leader Ed Milliband said the row raised ‘real questions about David Cameron's judgement that he hung on to Andy Coulson for so long’.” – Oh do fuck off! If any employer hires someone with a criminal record or a firing on their record, they will think harder about that decision than most others when it comes to hiring so to suggest that it smacks of something which lacks judgment is ridiculous. I really am growing to dislike Ed Milliband but then I guess I would, considering his political persuasion and the fact that I don’t know him.

I mentioned earlier that I wanted to talk about a silly story. Now, the way this worked on the show for anyone who didn’t listen to the RRP or has forgotten is that the story was read, and then we would comment on it. Now, this would either be with jokes or with a rant – generally speaking. As this format is a written format then there really is no reason for the story summary as you people all have eyes and therefore you can read the story yourselves. In fact for this in particular story, if you were to say CLICK THIS BIT OF TEXT RIGHT HERE WHERE THE TEXT IS RANDOMLY LARGER, then you might find yourself on the page where the story is. I’ll give you a moment to read and then we’ll carry on.

I presume you wouldn’t have reached this stage without having read the story so let us press on. I accept that as a Brit, I will never understand the suing culture in America fully. It seems to be the way work-shy/stupid Americans get their money. In this case though, I don’t see how on earth she can sue. The security guard in question probably shouldn’t have put the footage online and he suffered for doing so by losing his job. He did something he shouldn’t have done at work and as a result, lost his job. He has been punished, so I don’t see the scope for her to sue. Yes, he did make her look like a tit online but I imagine she did that all by herself - by not looking where she was walking while texting and falling face first INTO A FOUNTAIN! Furthermore, what is the sodding point of suing someone who’s just lost their job and, without wishing to be offensive, probably wasn’t in a wonderfully paying job in the first place?! Is she going to sue the security firm? They’ve done all they can by getting rid of the guy who upset her. This is just ridiculous. I hope she sues and gets into court and the judge turns round to her and says “You get nothing, you lose, good day sir!”

50 Word Review: Whole Lotta Led were good earlier this month. The “best of” set at the beginning could have been better but they could also play for 5 hours. Led Zeppelin 4 was performed awesomely and the encore after was just win. Go see them (assuming you like Led Zeppelin of course!)

Well anyway that’s all I’ve got for this one. As an update to the 2011 blog, I have made moves on changing jobs to start a career by applying for other jobs within Portsmouth University. Well, applying for one but that will become plural by the end of the week. I am excited and hopeful that I will hear news relating to one of these jobs soon. I did notice that the one I’ve applied for has entered the public domain as well. We shall see what happens there. One last thing before calling it quits, I have just downloaded an app called Audio Boo for the iPhone. When the chance arises, I might record an audio boo to accompany the blog. That is something to look forward to...well, maybe. The next post will be an in-depth preview of Wacken, which will likely be the first one of many before actually departing. You stay classy and don’t fall into fountains.

Wacken

Getting a touch excited already. The lineup is already immense

Away Day Blues

First post of the New Year, I suppose I should start it off with a customary new year’s greeting. I hope that everyone who celebrated the changing of times had a good one. I myself had a relaxed one but I can’t be doing with going too far from home on NYE. The sheer cost of getting home is enough to put me off but the fact that you need to pay to get into places which are usually free is somewhat of an annoyance. Perhaps it is just me, but it seems somewhat exploitative. Anyway, the eve was spent with friends playing FIFA, a game which made me realise that I do miss having an Xbox. I must confess I am tempted to buy a cheaper older console and buy a football game for it – it is a pretty good way of killing time. I posted in my last blog about plans for this year. Two of the major plans were to quit smoking and to lose weight. The former has been met with some successes. I went 7 days without touching a cigarette. However a tough craving got the better of me after a nights drinking and then an early start on the alcohol the next day while in Brighton. I aim to get back on track with quitting as soon as possible (I still have 2 cigarettes left in the packet that I bought, so when they are gone would be as good as a time as any to restart quitting smoking). As for losing weight, I haven’t actually weighed myself since the last time I did so I can’t really comment. However I can say with some certainty that changes have already been made to my lifestyle which surely has to be beneficial. We shall see. One of the other desires I mentioned for 2011 would be to see System of a Down live. I’m not entirely sure if this will be possible but I am toying with the idea of going to Wacken. The lineup (for me anyway) is pretty awesome and I would feel like I’ve missed an awesome opportunity if I didn’t go. I have reservations about going to Germany for the first time but going to a foreign festival alone is something I’ve discussed frequently, perhaps this is my chance.

I spoke earlier about being in Brighton. This would be fulfilling a desire of mine to watch Portsmouth F.C away from home. This seemed to be a good choice of an away game for a number of reasons. First being that the game, while being away, is geographically close. 50 or so miles down the road isn’t a bad distance to travel for an away game. Second being the team we were playing being a league lower than us in the football league standings. While cup shocks do happen and Pompey haven’t been playing so well recently, I couldn’t help but feel that a result for us would happen. Third and finally, it was £19 for a ticket. I’m not opposed to paying £23 for a ticket but it is always nice when it is cheaper! Their ground, the Withdean Stadium is to put it nicely, a toilet. I accept that it is a converted athletics stadium but it is just in poor shape. I don’t wish to dwell on this for too long but I can’t start talking about this trip without reviewing the purpose of going. The game was painful. I assumed Pompey would dominate the game and win comprehensively. Indeed, it looked like this would happen in the first 5 or so minutes. Then Brighton had a goal disallowed for an offside. Whether the player was offside or not is irrelevant, what matters is that Brighton sliced Pompey open. Following this was the stupid dismissal of Dave Kitson which left Pompey a man down. What followed was put simply, a football lesson...from a team A LEAGUE LOWER THAN US! First away game not such a good one but I hope the next one, which I think will be Leicester, will be better.

One thing that comes with a new year is the possibility of doing a 365 project. I’ve seen rumblings of a 365 project, which honestly I’d never heard of until this year. I’m not entirely sure what that says about me but there we are. For those who like me, were in the dark on this entire matter – a 365 project is basically a photo from every day and as there are 365 days in the year...to not take advantage of that name would be foolish. This seemed like a cool project to do and I like photography so I thought “this could be for me!”...And then I forgot - Day 1 of 2011 I forgot to take a photo. I saw people posting photos the next day and thought that I’d missed the boat. I then thought that to be funny and different, I’d do a 364 project. Well on reflection – thinking that was a funny idea probably says more about me than having never heard of a 365 project. Long story short, I took a photo on day 2 and didn’t take one on day three. I took one which could be day 4 but I’m not sure whether it is suitable for use. It is now day 12 and I haven’t done anything towards it. Perhaps next year

That’s all I’ve got for this one. Next one, amongst other things, will contain a review of Whole Lotta Led from their Wedgewood Rooms gig on Friday. This post was going to contain a passage which would have been inspired by a former co-worker relating to metal band clothing. However, for fear of coming across as having over-thought the issue or coming from a place of something that’s personally hurt by the issue, I decided the best thing to do would just be to delete her from Facebook and not mention it again. Thinking about it, that doesn’t help my argument that I wasn’t offended by it. Ach well, not a great deal that can be done about it now.

Soundtrack of the Blog – The Wildhearts – Earth Vs.