Nothing To See Here

This is one of those posts that doesn't really have an overriding theme as such, but is more a number of things I want to talk about smashed together to form one decent sized blog. Starting with the strongest foot first, I'm going to talk about Bath.

"Strongest foot first" is not something I ever thought I would be able to say about Bath Rugby this season but January was a relatively good month for Bath. It started off with a New Years Day win over London Irish 30-3 but from all reports that result came with a cracking performance - something which has been lacking this season. The next two results were disappointments, losing 26-19 to Saracens and losing 24-22 to Montpellier. Losing away to Saracens is nothing to be ashamed about (they are, after all, Premiership champions) and from what I read, Bath played well. On top of everything else, a losing bonus point was earned as well - so at least the game wasn't completely fruitless. The Montpellier defeat was a tough one to take as it was another last move/kick defeat. That's now happened 3/4 times this season, and Bath have lost after taking the lead more than that. That result pretty much ended all hopes of further European Rugby action but it was nice in the next game (and my first one of 2012) to sign off the Heineken Cup campaign with a 23-18 win. I thought when Glasgow went 18-17 ahead that it would be yet another game that Bath had started strong but eventually lost. Thankfully this was not the case. The final game of the month (which I was at again) was in the LV= Cup against Northampton. That tournament is one area where Bath have been doing very well this season with 2 games played and 10 points on the board. I had little hope Bath would beat Northampton, but was astonished to not only see Bath win, but to crush the Saints 46-14. The final pool game is Sunday away to Exeter. We beat them earlier in the season at home and I am hopeful the same result will be achieved in this meeting. The next two games for Bath after that are fairly crucial league meetings against Newcastle Falcons and Gloucester. Both games are vital to push further away from relegation and closer towards the top 6. I will be at both and will likely report back on them another day. At the moment though, with back to back home victories, it is not all doom and gloom coming from Bath for the first time in a while, which is nice.

Moving from positivity to Portsmouth, it has been another dull week for Portsmouth. So much so, that there's nothing to say...



Oh, aside from the fact that it really doesn't look good for the future of the club. I know that has been said a lot on here by me, as well as other people (I believe there are posts about Pompey's 99 problems, 101 problems and even more problems which weren't assigned a code number). What we knew was that the parent company had gone into administration, the chairman of the club arrested and cash flow for PFC coming to a grinding halt. Now, the executive officer, David Lampitt said we had enough money to keep the club running in the short term, but for long term survival to be assured, more investment would be needed. All sounds wonderful as ever. Recently news came out that the club had failed to pay its tax bill for 2 months, owing the HMRC £1.6m. Now, one can only assume that bill will continue to increase month on month which is why the club have been issued a winding up order. We had this before so obviously a second one being issued is of course a massive worry.

On the pitch at the weekend, we were away to Peterborough. A team who we should be beating but who beat us at Fratton Park. Taking into account performances generally this season haven't been wonderful and now the added off-field pressures, I think it would have been a fair move to write off Pompey in this one. However, according to friends who were there, the performance from Pompey matched the score line as we won the game 3-0. Swept up in the victory, Pompey fans such as me may have just forgotten the off-field issues temporarily to enjoy the victory and how much it meant to the club. And then the clubs bank accounts got frozen, which meant that cash flow has come to a complete halt. It also means the players and staff of Portsmouth will not receive their January wages. This appears to be a vital blow right before we go back to court against the HMRC and I honestly don't know what will happen. If the worst happens, I'll be sure to dedicate a post to it then, but I hope I don't have to. This week during Prime Ministers Questions, our local MP for Portsmouth North, Penny Mordaunt, raised the issue and asked the Prime Minister to back her in getting the HMRC to meet with the club, rather than just go straight to court, which he said he would. This is promising stuff but it is hard to get overly excited about it. After all, you know it’s a shit situation when it gets talked about in the House of Commons!

Anyway, I recently got invited to a St Patrick’s event on Facebook, which I declined as I’m not Irish. Why does England embrace St Patrick’s Day so much?

Perhaps I am missing out of some real enjoyment in life but I really don’t understand the need to celebrate Ireland’s patron saint to the degree that we do. Almost every bar becomes Irish for the day and a lot of people drink Guinness. It could be because I don’t like Guinness which is my whole reason behind me not celebrating St Patrick’s Day. The seemingly obvious answer is that it is an excuse to get completely and utterly shit-faced and write off this country-wide session of binge-drinking to celebrating St Patrick. Now, I enjoy the occasional drink these days (nowhere near as much as I used to) and even on the occasions when I have too many and I get drunk – I don’t feel the need to write it off to anything other than “I got drunk”. Someone actually said to me last year “Oh come on man, you have to celebrate St Paddy’s day” and had no answer when I asked why. Perhaps I am just being a killjoy but I don’t see why England celebrates St Patrick’s Day.

Thinking of Festivals

When a festival I am going to announces bands, I get excited about the upcoming announcement. I always want to know who the latest names to be confirmed are, regardless of who they are. I’ll make my mind up after. The latest announcement is from the Download festival where before this announcement; I was planning to go to the festival for the Saturday only. Now, the booker announced on twitter that 14 bands were due to be announced including all the main stage sub headliners. This was big news for me as it would probably be the deciding factor for me if I was going for the day or going for the whole weekend. Anyway, following the announcement, this is what the line-up looks like.



Now that is certainly interesting. I will talk band by band and then talk about what it means to me in terms of attendance.

Anthrax – Quality band for Download to announce and if memory serves they haven’t played Download for a long time (hey, the internet helped me learn things – it was 2005). For me though, I’m not overly fussed about seeing them for a while as I have seen them at the last two Sonisphere’s (watch them get announced for Wacken now and watch me say how awesome the announcement is!) As it transpires, they are on the Sunday at Download.

August Burns Red – They don’t do a great deal for me but I would probably watch them in absence of anything else on that I wanted to see.

Biffy Clyro – The slap in the face to Sonisphere – having one of their 2011 headliners sub-headline to another one of their 2011 headliners - excellent booking though. Putting them under Metallica makes the most sense considering the headliners I think although I am seeing a lot of people that think it is an odd choice. I think it will work and if nothing else and they don’t draw a big crowd, I’ll be able to get near the front for Metallica – how self serving of me!

Chase and Status – Now this is the booking which has really split the opinions of the Download Festival’s faithful pundits. For me, the band don’t do a whole lot so as a booking, I’m not fussed. However, I cannot deny their size as a band. They played Warriors Dance festival with Prodigy and have played a number of high profile slots at UK festivals. Addressing the two main questions about their booking – are they big enough to sub-headline and are they the right booking for Download? The simple answer to both is yes. I don’t know what size rooms they would sell out on a UK tour, but I’d wager they would sell out decent sized rooms (2k+), possibly bigger. If they can do that, then they are suitable sub-headline material (I base this on The Darkness, who did a big UK tour in 2k+ rooms after sub-headlining Download 2011). I also think they are a suitable band to play Download. If anyone from the “Download is a metal festival” brigade reads this then they will disagree with me but here’s the thing – Download isn’t a metal festival. Furthermore, with Prodigy headlining (again, a good decision by Mr Copping), then they are a perfectly suitable choice to sub-headline. They aren’t for me, but that doesn’t impact my view on the fact this is a good booking for Download.

Devildriver – A strong booking for Download as far as I am concerned. They have played a fair bit (06 twice, 07 and 09 I think). I really like this band and was gutted when they pulled out of Wacken 2011. I remain gutted as they are playing the Sunday at Download and as of this writing, have not been confirmed for Wacken.

Devin Townsend Project – First appearance for Devin at Download since he played in 2006 with Strapping Young Lad and I think this is a quality booking. He is headlining the 3rd stage on the Friday so that’ll be a packed tent without doubt.

Lamb of God – Amazing announcement. They tend to rotate between UK festivals (09 Soni, 2010 DL recently) so this isn’t a shocking booking as such. Again, like Devildriver they are playing the Sunday and as of this writing are not playing Wacken. If I may say so....humph!

Little Angels - ....who? All I’ve got on that one really.

Machine Head – A cracking booking for Download and if memory serves, this is their first appearance since 2007 (when I saw them completely own the main stage). They are much higher on the bill now as they are 3rd from top on the main stage...on the Friday. I would have thought either putting them with LoG and Devildriver or having them headline 2nd stage on the Friday while Prodigy are on would have made more sense but ah well. A good announcement but one I am not bothered about missing at Download as I will see them perform a longer set at Wacken.

Soundgarden – People have been going ape shit over this announcement. It is the 2nd big reformation happening in the UK at Download (after Black Sabbath). I’m not a fan of them though and am not bothered about seeing them. They bore me truth be told.

Tenacious D – What a booking! They were superb sub-headlining to Metallica at Reading 2008 and I think they will be just as good, if not better at Download 2012.

Trivium – They were one of the best bands I saw at Wacken and indeed over last year’s summer so if they can replicate a set just as good as that Wacken one, then I look forward to seeing them again.

Ugly Kid Joe – I don’t know much by this band but a quick research tells me they are pretty good. I believe they are also a reformed band but I don’t know for sure. They are playing the Sunday so meh!

You Me At Six – Their biggest festival spot ever as they are headlining the second stage while Metallica play. So it goes without saying I won’t be seeing them.

So that is the Download announcement in a nutshell (the size of a house). All in all it is a very mixed bag for me in terms of bands playing and taking up major spots. What the announcement did confirm for me is that I will not be getting a weekend ticket. A festival needs more than 3 good headliners (unless one of them is NIN – take note Sonisphere). The sub-headliners need to be of good calibre as well and for my tastes, Download doesn’t have 3 good sub-headliners this year, and they have 1. I am going to go on the Saturday, where based on information from the booker, Andy Copping’s twitter account, it appears we have this confirmed for main stage – Metallica, Biffy Clyro, Tenacious D, Trivium. What a day that’ll be. Well played Download for a cracking Saturday.

I just said about NIN for Sonisphere. It is usually Sonisphere who lead the way in terms of announcements for their festival. However in an odd move this year, they are yet to announce anyone. I am writing this part of the blog on Friday 20th January and I have seen that there is due to be an announcement of sorts before Wednesday as Kerrang are due to talk about it in their new magazine. This blog will be posted before that announcement but expect another post shortly to discuss what has been announced and whether or not I will be going to my 4th Sonisphere, in some form or another.

One festival though which has made a great deal of announcements is Wacken. They announced acts almost every day in December and have announced a handful since. As we’re talking about it, let’s have a look what has been confirmed for the 23rd instalment of the festival yes?

Amaranthe – Female fronted gothic/power metal band by the sounds of things. Well, I am in favour of this! Definitely want to watch them.

Broilers – German punk band who seem quite good. There is very little material on the Spotify, and it’s not the best quality anyway. Could be worth a watch

Chthonic – Announced today for Wacken. They are one of those bands I’ve wanted to see for a little while but never actively tried. They played Download when I went last year and I went and watched something else. They also supported Turisas when their latest UK tour came nearby and I didn’t go. They sound pretty good though and baring a major clash, I will be watching them.

Circle II Circle – You know, I was convinced I wrote about these but can’t find it so oh well. Anyway, they seem like a decent band although they are covering an album released by the lead singer’s old band, Savatage. I don’t fully understand why but it will be worth seeing.

Crimes of Passion – I’ve got nothing, sorry.

D.A.D – They seem like a lot of fun from what I’ve heard and actually quite decent. All I have read is people being negative about it though. I will watch and make my mind up for myself.

Darkest Hour – They seem quite similar in some respects to Heaven Shall Burn which is by no means a bad thing. Quite like what I’ve heard of them so as far as I am concerned – good booking.

Dead By April – They are fairly similar to BFMV in some respects which is by no means a bad thing. If there is no clash then I shall definitely have to try and check these guys out.

Decapitated – These guys where the main reason why I wanted to go to Damnation festival in 2011. I didn’t go and just a few days before they pulled out. I will watch these I think.

Delain – Caught some of their set at Sonisphere 2010 (and just noticed actually on my blog, the photo of Delain is the thumbnail for my Soni 2010 review) and really liked it. I will see all their set this time and I imagine I will love it.

Dirty Rotten Imbeciles – They are a punk band with very short songs. Those short songs aren’t doing a lot for me so I don’t imagine I’ll go out of my way to see them.

Dodheimsgard – They only had one song on Spotify when I first listened to them and I liked it. They now have their 2011 album in full on there and my word, it is really good. They may have to be watched. Black Metal meets Industrial/Dance music – a mix which shouldn’t work but does.

Electric Wizard – I’m told they are Britain’s finest sludge/stoner rock band. I personally don’t like them, so won’t be watching them.

Eisenherz – They are a German hard rock band who have some industrial elements from what I’ve heard but not a great deal (I’m not going to say they are a Rammstein rip off cause that would be a lie). I like them though.

Eschenbach – I’ve got nothing on these.

Gehenna – Ah, back to the standard when it comes to black metal. I must admit some of their stuff is ok so I might be tempted to see them if there isn’t a clash

Ghost Brigade – They are very similar to Paradise Lost and Opeth as far as I am concerned. Taking this into account, I will be watching them I imagine.

Graveyard – IT has to be said, I am stumped. I see music on Spotify on albums which are not attributed to the Graveyard that are playing Wacken. With that in mind, I have nothing, I think.

In Flames – I missed them at Sonisphere 2011 in favour of some comedy I believe. Because of that, I will likely check them out although I find it so hard to get into their stuff. Ach

Insomnium – See Ghost Brigade – very similar.

Kamelot – Without doubt, one of the better bands from Wacken 2008 so their announcement was met with joy. I have since learned that the vocalist had to retire for health reasons. I hope they hire someone just as good for the job.

Kylesa – They seem reasonable. A band who fall definitely into the category of “if there is no clash, then why not” I feel.

Leningrad Cowboys – They seem alright. They appear to be a joke band that took on a life of their own. Their cover of My Sharona is acceptable.

Manticora – A little bit of thrash and a lot of power metal equals a good band. They will probably be on a little stage somewhere but they are definitely worth watching I think.

Nasum – Nothing wrong with a little bit of grindcore!

Oomph! – Oh man! The band I discovered by accident at Rock Am Ring 08 are finally playing where I can see them again. They were great at RaR and I fully intend to watch again!

Overkill – The final band to be announced today that I have to talk about and what a band they are. Saw most of their set in London (I want to say it was at a Hellfire Festival) and they were quite good. I reckon seeing them at Wacken will top that gig as they have a new album out since then. They are a very good thrash band with some slight Maiden-esque moments.

Red Fang – Now this is stoner rock that I can get behind. I quite like this band.

Riotgod – They are a very catchy band who I hope to be able to watch while there.

Sacred Reich – I almost jumped around with joy when these got announced. I first considered going to Graspop in 2008 and Sacred Reich were there (I think it was 08) and I remember looking them up and loving them. I’ve wanted to see them ever since and finally the chance is here.

Sanctuary – A bit of thrash and a lot of power metal again. The vocalist gets slightly annoying on record at times but that aside they are good band and again, they are one I will try to see.

Saor Patrol – A rock band that utilises the bagpipes – as a Scot, I am completely in favour of this.

Saxon – If you’ve been to quite a lot of Wacken festivals, I could see why you might be annoyed with this booking. I however have only been to two previously and Saxon have been at neither so I think this is a superb announcement. I haven’t seen them since Sonisphere in 2009 (I think) so I am really pleased to get to see them again. They are also supporting Judas Priest in London which is very good news.

Schandmaul – Very similar in style to Subway To Sally which is by no means a bad thing. Might catch them if there is no clash.

Suicide Silence – I can’t claim to be much of a fan of these. They give me serious Job For A Cowboy vibes.

Sylosis – Another band who I’ve been meaning to see live and yet somehow have always managed to miss. Hopefully this time around I will see them!

Testament – Superb announcement. I will definitely be seeing these; they are a great live band.

The Black Dahlia Murder – I do not like this band. Let’s move on.

The BossHoss – A country and western covers band? Oh why not this’ll be a big ole stack of fun!

Unearth – Sat outside the tent for them at Download 2007 and only caught the end of their set at Wacken 08 so I will endeavour to see them this time around.

Vogelfrey – They have some awesome riffs. I really like what I hear with them. They for sure fall into the “if there’s not a clash” list but they are good.

Volbeat – Oh wait I already talked about Volbeat. Ah fuck it; I am still so happy they are playing!

Warbringer – Another great announcement. They have supported Evile a couple of times and I have always missed the tours which they supported on. I really like what I’ve heard from them and hope to catch them.

Warrior Soul – Another very good band. I really like what I’ve heard of theirs on Spotify and will do all I can to see them.

Wolli & Die Band Des Jahres – I got nothing on these.

So all in all, 2012 is another great line-up from Wacken, which isn’t even complete yet. I am hoping for Devildriver and Exodus as they were scheduled for last year’s festival but pulled out. I am also hoping for some Lamb of God and Korpiklaani. The line-up already has some fantastic acts though and choosing between some of them is going to be a tough call. I think what is actually quite helpful about this line-up is there are very few massive hitters in it that will be seen regardless. I would say at the moment the bands that definitely won’t be missed are Amon Amarth, Delain, Dimmu Borgir, Kamelot, Machine Head, Ministry, Oomph!, Sacred Reich, Saxon, Scorpions, Sick Of It All, Testament and Volbeat are the ones I definitely don’t want to miss (if any of those clash with each other, I’ll be a very sad boy). But as long as that lot don’t clash with each other, and the gaps can all be filled with some great music, Wacken 2012 is shaping up to be another excellent jaunt to Germany. Roll on August!

Cancer Bats

This is the first post of 2012 and I will start it off much like I did the first post of 2011 and give a customary new year’s greeting. I hope anyone that opted to celebrate the changing of the year had a good time doing so. I did what I did last time around with the addition of a Jim Jefferies DVD – all in all it was a nice relaxed evening. I opted not to set any fixed new year’s resolutions as I feel that is just setting me up for a fall. There a number of things I would like to achieve and little by little but I’m not setting resolutions to do them. The overall aim is to be in a better life place by the end of the year. There are a number of ways that can be achieved which is good. At the beginning of last year, I was introduced to the 365 project (1 photo for every day of the week) and dropped the ball with it and thought “maybe next year” – well that time is now and I’m not doing it. Oh well.

Almost every post to this blog is about live music as of late and that will be something which no doubt will continue. The only live music discussion for this post will be about Cancer Bats and their planned UK Tour of London. Traditionally, when a band plays a gig, they play one show in the evening. Every now and then, a band will do a matinee show and do a gig early in the afternoon as well as one in the evening (one such example that springs to mind is Fozzy in 2010 on FA Cup Final day). It has to be said though that this is a rare occurrence. I heard mumblings about a Cancer Bats tour and hoped that a date nearby me would happen. I saw them in 2009 at the Wedgewood Rooms and they were superb. The mumblings then changed from UK tour to London residency. Now, I thought that was a shame but going to London is do-able. When I heard this rumour, I assumed they might do a number of evening shows over the space of a week/fortnight in one venue. About a week before this announcement, a gig in the little venue upstairs at The Garage got put on sale and taken down quite quickly. What got announced I think caught everyone by surprise...



They are going to play 6 shows in one day?! That is unbelievable - 6 gigs in 5 really small venues. I mentioned the upstairs room of the Garage – that holds 125 people. That is just smaller than the Joiners in Southampton (which I am struggling to comprehend). I booked tickets for the Garage gig, as well as the ones taking place at The Old Blue Last (11.30am – 100 capacity) and the Notting Hill Arts Club (2.30pm – 220 capacity). Seeing a band like this in an intimate venue is a chance which should not be missed. The fact that I will be seeing them in very intimate surroundings 3 times on that day, well that’s just awesome! The travelling in between the gigs won’t be too much fun, but I’m sure if the band can do it, I’ll cope somehow.

Right, subject change! Over the Christmas period, I went to Twickenham to watch the LV Big Game, which was Harlequins v Saracens. I didn’t realise this was being treated as a Harlequins home game, but looking back on it now, it makes sense as they play their home games at the Twickenham Stoop. Anyway, there were 82000 people there for what was going to be a superb game between these two rival teams. Quins were undefeated in the Aviva Premiership all season and only had one team left to beat in order to have beaten every team this season and that was Saracens. On this occasion they did not get the job done. They were clearly 2nd best in the first half, and didn’t quite do enough in the 2nd to overturn the Saracens dominance. The return game is taking place at Wembley Stadium in March and due to an early bird ticket offer, I have a fantastic seat for the game which cost me £19. If the return game is even a patch on the first contest, then me, and everyone else going to Wembley will be in for a really good day. At Twickenham, they had X Factor finalists, a Queen Tribute band and an opera singer for the pre match/half time entertainment. I saw the opera singer. I was not interested in the slightest in the X Factor stuff and the Queen Tribute band were on before the X Factor girls, so I ended up missing them. It is slightly more high profile for the Wembley match as it is McFly. I’m not a fan of theirs but I can guarantee it will be 69.7x better than the X Factor tripe! The return game is on the 31st March. In between now and then, I will be going to 5 Bath games at The Rec. The next one is a week on Saturday against Glasgow. I’m fairly certain that we are out of Europe this season but I am hoping for a strong showing regardless. After that, it is Northampton Saints in the LV Cup. On Xmas Eve, Bath got torn apart by Northampton at their ground so I am nervous about this one, but a win should see us into the semi finals of the LV Cup which would be excellent. After that it is Newcastle Falcons, Gloucester and Worcester Warriors. With any luck, I will see Bath win at least twice, but hopefully more. Winning all 5 would be very nice indeed! Including the Aviva Premiership final, I will be at 7 more games of rugby before the season ends and that is good news.

That is all I have for this post. Happy New Year again, and I hope that even though it is early doors, you are having a good one.

The Best Gigs: 2011

If you have read this blog over the time that I have been writing it, you will know I do occasionally talk about live music. IT is has been a strange year for gigs in that by October (excluding festivals), I had only been to 5 gigs (and of those 5, 2 of them were Foo Fighters!) Between October and now, I’ve been to 11 gigs. What this blog will do is choose the best of them. This list excludes festival sets as they had a list of their own earlier in the year. Just a reminder of that list (excluding the only gig from the list) the top 5 were:

1) Avantasia – Wacken 2011
2) Muse – Reading 2011
3) Metallica – Sonisphere 2011
4) System Of A Down – Download 2011
5) Slipknot – Sonisphere 2011

How did Pulp not make that top 5? Damn I saw some good music in the summer. Anyway, you can read the whole summer list right by clicking the word that is underlined at the end of this sentence. The following is a list of gigs that are honourable mentions in date order of gigs that did not make the cut with a blurb from how I reviewed them, assuming that I did.

Foo Fighters (NME Big Gig) – Wembley Arena 25/02/2011 – “Wow! They are an immense live band. Everything about this gig was almost perfect. 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 should stress this is only here because the other time I saw Foo Fighters maybe in the top 5. Maybe.
Skindred – Wedgewood Rooms 27/04/2011 – “The room exploded as Skindred took to the stage. Seeing the way Benji Webbe can hold a crowd of any size in his hands is phenomenal. During a song towards the end of the set, the band paused with Benji just stood at the front. Without gesture, the crowd went nuts, chanting Skindred until the song kicked back in. I was left in no doubt though that Skindred are an amazing live band, regardless of setting (be it main stage at Sonisphere or in the 400 capacity Wedgewood Rooms). They are a band that, if you like their music, you need to see them live.”
Ginger Wildheart (Acoustic) – Talking Heads 07/05/2011 – “I really did not know what to expect from this Ginger gig. All I knew was it would be a mix of Wildhearts, solo material and some surprises. The opening song was Geordie in Wonderland which was superb. In a world without The Wildhearts on the touring circuit, it is good to see Ginger still touring and performing gigs as good as this one was.”
Evile – Talking Heads 13/10/2011 – “The gig was superb. Evile were on top form and the new album sounds really good live. They said on stage they were very proud of it and from what I heard, they have every right to be. I hope as they do more shows and more headline tours, they play longer sets. They played 11 songs in Southampton and I’m sure they could have played more. Other than that, and them not playing Armoured Assault (again!), I have no complaints.” – As a side note, they would have been in the top 5 if they played Armoured Assault!
Fozzy – Talking Heads 03/11/2011 – “From the off, Fozzy were superb and this remained the case until the last note of Enemy at the end of the gig. It truly was a superb setlist from Fozzy. A superb performance from the band which was met with a superb crowd. At the end of every song, there were loud and prolonged Fozzy chants. Chris Jericho early on in the gig asked if we could come in the trailer with them and come to every gig. Considering how good this gig was, I’d be in favour of that.”
Alter Bridge – M.E.N Arena 24/11/2011 – “Opening with Slip To The Void, they proceeded to play a very strong set list. The band seemed to be genuinely blown away by the response they were getting from the crowd...it was a cracking gig. Alter Bridge will headline and sell out arenas in their own right soon I think, and they certainly have the ability to perform on the big arena stage.” – When making decisions about the gigs which make the top 5, I try to focus on the headline band. Including Black Stone Cherry would have made this gig scrape in at no.5. As it wasn’t a package tour I can’t include them and thus this gig does not make the top 5.

I would have included Rise Against in that list but for some reason, I didn’t review them. This might have been because I left early in order to get the train home. Anyway, they didn’t make the top 5 but definitely deserve an honourable mention. Honourable mentions get previous words placed next to them. Top 5 bands get new words written as sort of an end of year reflection on why they were the best. Counting down then, Number 5...

5 - An Evening With Dimmu Borgir – Manchester Academy 3 – 25/11/2011



I really didn’t know what to expect from this gig. Not only was it the first black metal headline show I was going to, it was also the first visit I was making to Manchester Academy 3. I’d heard from people that had been there that the room was tiny. It was also interesting as it was just going to be Dimmu Borgir, no support band. I knew Dimmu were a powerhouse live, having seen them twice before at festivals but neither of those two sets came even close to being as good as this gig was. They were splitting the gig into two sets; the first honouring a classic album and the second being a best of. The album that was voted by the fans was “Enthrone Darkness Triumphant”. In my review, I wrote that I hoped “Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia” would win the vote. It has since been drawn to my attention that it wasn’t an option in the vote. Both sets were immense. I had forgotten how good of an album “Enthrone Darkness Triumphant” really is. I sometimes find myself getting bored when a band play an album in its entirety (the first time I saw Iron Maiden truth be told) but this did not happen this time. Shagrath declared the evening was a celebration to the 14 year old album, and it was a spectacular one. The second set was immense as it had all the best of the new material with the very best of their back catalogue chosen as well (I guess that’s why they call it a best of huh?) They didn’t play Sympozium but I am coming to the realisation that it’s one of those rare ones a fan would be lucky to hear live. Maybe one day I will be one of the lucky ones. Anyway, their set concluded on The Serpentine Offering and Progenies of the Great Apocalypse which was a stunning way to close a superb gig. The best way to sum up why this gig was so good is that on the way back to the hotel, regardless of the conversation; the gig would be discussed using words like “wow”, “so good”, “immense” and many other superlatives. The question which pops up occasionally in my mind is how can Dimmu Borgir top that on an open-air stage at Wacken? With a full orchestra, they stand a good chance but it will be very tough.

4 – Manic Street Preachers – O2 Arena – 17/12/2011



Manic Street Preachers were just amazing on this wet night in London. Looking back on it, I am still so impressed that not only did they manage to play all 38 of their singles, but not once did the gig become boring. With this being a gig where they played all their singles, it was the perfect one for me to be at as they played everything of theirs I wanted to hear. The stage show was fairly understated in that it had some Christmassy stuff on stage. The video screen behind the band though was very impressive. It played video throughout the entire gig, either showing the band as they played or showing retro clips of music videos or previous performances. The atmosphere out in the crowd was something special. Aside from one person in front of me who looked bored and fell in and out of sleep, everyone seemed to be having a great time. Almost every song was met with a large cheer and there was a lot of bouncing, dancing, singing etc. The good vibe from the crowd was matched by the band. The onstage chemistry between them all is superb, but at times James Dean Bradfield and Nicky Wire appear to be a comedy double act. Hey, they’d be successful if that’s what they chose to do with their 2 years away from being the Manics. Performance wise they were outstanding. I was told they were a good live act and that is the case. I’m always impressed when a band is able to get an entire venue singing along to a song, even more so when the venue is as big as the O2 Arena is. The final song of the night was “A Design For Life” and that is exactly what happened. It wasn’t unexpected as that song is their biggest song, but it was still immense to be part of that 18k sing along. Manics were fantastic; the crowd was superb and the fact they played all 38 singles in one night is why this gig is in the top 5. They said “see you in 2 years” and I imagine they will see me then.


3 – Ginger Wildheart – Relentless Garage – 18/12/2011



I saw Ginger the week before this gig in Southampton and I thought it was awesome. I only originally went to this gig because I was in London and it seemed foolish to miss another good Ginger gig. Not only was this a good Ginger gig, it was immense. Before the shows I was going to see, I had misgivings about the set list I was seeing posted online as there were songs I wasn’t overly familiar with in favour of songs that I love. After Southampton I listened more and more to these songs and they became favourites. Going into the London gig, I was a lot more familiar with the songs that would be played and loved most of them. I still have my favourite Wildhearts songs but there is no crime in having lots of favourites...right? Anyway, everything about the London gig was better than Southampton if I’m perfectly honest. Other than the sound quality, the most noticeable difference was the crowd. That could be because it was bigger to be fair, I’ll never be sure. In all fairness, it could just have been “this is the last night of the tour, let’s go out with a bang” which made it better. One thing which certainly helped to make it better was the encore. The main set had already been incredible. Ginger came out on his own to join in with “Don’t Worry ‘Bout Me” and invited CJ on stage with him. In a previous review (which I quoted above), I said without The Wildhearts on the touring circuit, seeing Ginger perform awesome gigs makes up for it. So to see a member two members of the last Wildhearts line-up on stage together was a special moment for me. In Southampton, we got Vernix in the encore. Due to this song being on Chutzpah Jnr, and me not being able to find that album anywhere, I wasn’t able to familiarise myself with that one. It didn’t matter as Ginger/CJ et al didn’t play it. In its place they did play TV Tan and My Baby Is A Headfuck. Headfuck is without doubt one of my favourite Wildhearts songs so on top of a set list containing lots of songs I now love, one of my all time favourites was played, with another Wildheart on stage! For fear of repeating my original review, I’ll call this bit quits but this was the last gig Ginger is doing until probably the birthday bash next year (unless plans change) and what a gig to go out on.

2 – Volbeat – HMV Forum – 29/10/2011



They were the second best band for me on the Sunday of Sonisphere 2011. The headline show got announced and even though it wouldn’t be at the Wedgewood Rooms in Portsmouth, it was happening and that was the main thing. I know I said earlier that I wasn’t taking support into account for a gig making the top 5, but Black Spiders were such a good choice to support Volbeat. This gig was already in the top 5 regardless of the support, but Black Spiders certainly helped nudge it towards the head of the pile. If Black Spiders nudged it towards the top, Volbeat grabbed it and threw it towards the top by being such a fantastic live band. It was so much better than Sonisphere which before the gig I would have said would be damn near impossible. The set list was almost perfect with it being another one of those situations where I didn’t want anything to be cut, but rather they just add more stuff. One thing which was really cool was that we got Barney Greenway from Napalm Death guest on Evelyn. It was cool because it was the first time the song had been performed live with Barney, who did it in studio with Volbeat. Other vocalists had sung it with Volbeat, but we got the guy who did it originally. Honestly I think the set list for London was the best set list of the tour which really helped make this a superb gig. Much like Dimmu Borgir, they are playing Wacken next year in a major slot. It could well be that both bands appear again in best bands of the summer 2012 list, if such a list exists. Wacken is Volbeat’s only 2012 show in Europe, which means it could top this London gig. Whether it will or not is yet to be seen, but it will certainly be a tough task. This would have been the best gig of the year, if it hadn’t been for one band that before this year started, I hadn’t seen once. Now I’ve seen them twice.

1 – Foo Fighters – MK National Bowl – 03/07/2011



How was this the best gig of the year? It had everything and more. You can’t truly believe anyone when they say how good a band is live until you see them yourself. In Feb, I saw Foo Fighters and was blown away by how good they are live. They rocketed close to the top of my list of best live bands that day (FYI, I never intend to list my favourite live bands in order as it changes all the time). This gig was always going to be different to the Wembley gig though. Wembley Arena holds 13000 people whereas MK National Bowl holds 65000. I didn’t think this would be possible but Foos just upped their game and were incredible all over again. It isn’t just the fact that they are a tight live act which makes them so good; it’s the fact they can change songs live and it become even better, or even more impressive (the extended outro to Stacked Actors comes to mind). So, the band was stunning. That coupled with an awesome stage show made for one excellent gig. Moving screens on the stage showing different things to suit different songs, sometimes just flashing lights. A run way that ran through the middle of the crowd so Dave Grohl could move about The run way led up to the sound/light desk where there was another little stage so that Dave could play to the people further back. They also played for nearly 2.5 hours, which is commitment to putting on a great gig. The set list was just unbelievably good. A personal highlight for me was the Seasick Steve cover, performed with Seasick Steve and John Paul Jones from Led Zeppelin. To see an original member of Led Zeppelin on stage really was the cherry on the cake for me. All of this added together completely outweighs all the negative stuff which occurred that day (the early start, the nightmare getting out etc) to the point where it’s a footnote which often gets ignored when people ask “how were the Foo Fighters in Milton Keynes?” In most years, they would be the best live band I’d have seen live. Unfortunately, it is not the case for 2011 but they certainly were the best headline gig of 2011. The fireworks at the end of the gig proved to be symbolic, as my best gig of 2011 came to an end.

Review: Ginger Wildheart @ The Garage, London 18/12/11

I went to London for the weekend just gone and was at two gigs, Manic Street Preachers and Ginger Wildheart. This is a review of the Ginger Wildheart gig which took place Sunday 18th December at the Relentless Garage in London.

Well, the bar was set high for this gig. Not only had I been to a gig of the year contender at the O2 Arena the previous evening but I had also seen Ginger in Southampton the previous week (hey, you could read about that here!) I saw the set list before heading to this gig of the birthday show (which took place the night before) which looked immense. I knew full well that we would be getting the standard tour set list for this gig but I couldn’t help but hope for a bit of the magic of the Birthday gig to show up for the last night of the tour. One aspect of the birthday show which made me insanely jealous of anyone who was there was that CJ from The Wildhearts was on stage for a selection of songs. During the gig, I was asked by a friend if someone standing near me was CJ. I then turned and looked and said “nah I don’t think so”. I was looking at the wrong person! Turns out that was CJ standing less than 5ft from me for most of the gig!

The gig was at the Relentless Garage which I had never been to before. I have to say that as a venue I really like it. Not overly enamoured with the drink prices but then I didn’t drink so I can’t be that annoyed. Within seconds of Exit_International taking to the stage, I could tell that this venue had much better sound than the Talking Heads. As a result of this (and me not sitting round the corner by the bar) I could hear them properly and they seem like a really good band. I said last time they were full of riffs and this is still the case. I really enjoyed them. For their last song (I think), they were joined on stage by Ginger. It has to be said that the presence of Ginger on stage made them better. I noticed they came on stage late so I worried what affect this would have on the night’s proceedings. It turned out that actually it had no effect. Hawk Eyes were on not long after them and they were also pretty good. I preferred them in Southampton if I were to be honest. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing considering they had better sound in London but oh well! Ginger joined them for a song as well which was cool to see. Both support bands played with Ginger at the birthday show which sounds like it was pretty cool.

It was at this point of the gig, in-between Hawk Eyes and Ginger that my friend pointed out CJ was no longer in the crowd. I wondered at the time if he had left. My answer would come soon enough! Anyway, this image is the tour set list which had been played at pretty much every gig on this tour. We didn’t get Something Weird (Going On In My Head) in Southampton, but aside from that this is the set list we did get (I Wanna Go and 29x were swapped around as well). As the London date I was at was a date on this tour (rather than the Birthday show), I expected something similar to this.



The tour set list is what we got for the most part and it was excellent. The superior sound quality of the Garage really added to how good Ginger and his band were anyway. Credit needs to be given to Victoria Liedtke for how much energy she bought to the stage throughout the entire gig. I didn’t see her stop jumping or dancing once! Much like in Southampton, Ginger and the guys paid tribute to a very funny internet video during ‘This Revolution Will Be Televised’ by changing the lyrics slightly to incorporate “Fenton” and “Jesus Christ” – very funny! Personal highlights of the main set for me would have to be ‘Suckerpunch’, ‘Mazel Tov Cocktail’ and ‘Cheers’ (since hearing the studio version of The Wildhearts cover of that, I’ve listened to it a lot!) ‘Cheers’ was the last song before the encore and I thought that a noticeable absence from the set list was Vanilla Radio. I assumed at the time this was due to the late running of the gig but this didn’t take anything away from the gig for me as it had been really good.





As the band went off for the encore, the crowd sang ‘Don’t Worry ‘Bout Me’ and Ginger came back out on his own to join in. After thanking everyone that needed to be thanked, Ginger introduced CJ to come out on stage! This was really cool that I was getting to see this, having missed the birthday show. Random Jon Poole and Denzel came back out to join them as well giving us 3/4s of a Wildhearts reunion! The first song they played together was ‘TV Tan’. Quickly following that was ‘My Baby Is A Headfuck’ which was immense. Ginger played this at Sonisphere but it was so much better hearing it in London. Then there was a cool moment as joining Ginger and CJ on stage was Ginger’s son, Jake. They played Vanilla Radio together which made a cool moment even cooler. The final song of the night for me (damn you Sunday trains) was ‘I Wanna Go Where The People Go’ with the touring band and CJ. It was a fantastic rendition of the song with a brief medley of “massive cock and balls” in the middle. I’m not going to claim I know what that was about but it was certainly funny.



This was another excellent gig and capped off a great weekend. Ginger is taking a break from touring next year. As a fan this will be sad, but there could not have been a better way to conclude touring than this evening in London. I will definitely be in the crowd when Ginger tours again and I recommend that if you like Ginger and/or The Wildhearts, you get yourself there as well. This gig makes the decision for gigs of the year harder again. Not that I mind this decision being a hard one as it means reliving some great memories!

Review: Manic Street Preachers @ The O2 Arena

I went to London for the weekend just gone and was at two gigs, Manic Street Preachers and Ginger Wildheart. This is the review of Manic Street Preachers Unique ‘National Treasures’ Christmas Party at the O2 Arena.

Before this gig was announced, I had not seen Manic Street Preachers live. I guess I have had plenty of chances to and just missed them. I guess it only occurred to me earlier this year how much of their material I liked. I remember when their ‘Postcards From A Young Man’ album came out; I was blown away by how good the lead singles off it were. Anyway, over the summer they made appearances at a number of UK festivals (the V Festivals, Isle of Wight and iTunes Festival if memory serves me correctly) and I really wanted to go and see them but financially it was not sensible (I could have made the Saturday at one of the V festival’s when they played but they didn’t realise any additional day tickets for that day). As the summer drew to a close, they were promoted to the list of bands I had to see before I stop going to gigs. I’m pretty sure just after I had promoted them in my mind, they announced this gig.

It was going to be a mammoth task without doubt. Quite a lot of headline bands will play 90 minute sets with some playing 2 hours. Rarely does a band play longer than 2 hours (I’ve seen Paul McCartney, Dream Theater and Bon Jovi play longer but it is still not a frequent occurrence). Now, as I’ve never seen Manics before, I don’t know how long they usually play but I feel fairly safe in saying this gig – playing all 38 of their singles - was a gargantuan and ambitious task. With that in mind, it was impossible to not get more and more excited about this gig coming up as the 17th of December got closer. This not only being the first time I would be seeing Manic Street Preachers, but to see them play all their singles was something I couldn’t wait for. If anything, this has the potential to be the perfect Manic Street Preachers gig to go to as they wouldn’t leave out singles they (or others) don’t like and I wouldn’t be able to say “I loved it but it would have been better if they played...” etc.

The show was due to start at 7.30pm so I went to take my seat around 7. I figured if I waited until later, there could be a rush and I might miss something. I didn’t take into account the band would be late on stage but they were (only by 20 minutes mind so nothing crazy). They took to the stage and kicked off by apologising for being late and played ‘You Stole The Sun From My Heart’ which set the tone for this gig as it was excellent. The strong start to the set continued with ‘Love’s Sweet Exile’, ‘Motorcycle Emptiness’ and ‘(It’s Not War) Just The End Of Love’. The stage show was very impressive as well. It was made up of Christmassy articles on stage with a big screen behind them, showing either the band performing on stage, classic Manic Street Preachers footage or clips from music videos. From early on in the set and throughout the whole gig, James Dean Bradfield and Nicky Wire just showed how much chemistry they have – not just by being in a band together but with the in-between song banter. During the first set, the band introduced special guest Gruff Rhys who sang with the band on ‘Let Robeson Sing’. Concluding the first set with ‘Indian Summer’, ‘Stay Beautiful’ and ‘If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next’, the band left the stage. The first set was great but what made it all the more better was knowing that there was another 19 songs left to be played. It was at this stage that I noticed the young-ish girl in front of me had fallen to sleep. Quite how is beyond me but there we are!

After a short break, it was time for the second set. Starting with ‘Australia’, the first half of the second set contained ‘Found That Soul’, ‘Some Kind Of Nothingness’, ‘You Love Us’ and the Theme from MASH – ‘Suicide Is Painless’. Before introducing the next song, Revol, the band reminisced about Richey Edwards and talked about how he came up with the lyrics for the song:

"We were in Portugal at this festival until about 2am in the morning and Richey peaked too early. He was f**king smashed eating a kiwi fruit and he goes: 'I've got an amazing lyric; it's about group sex in the Kremlin'. I said: 'Sounds like a winner to me', so here we go."

A funny moment followed ‘Roses In The Hospital’. Bradfield was introducing the next song and talked about the next song by saying “I don’t think that anyone here really liked this song!” Bradfield’s view was proved correct on this matter when the reaction to the song was lukewarm. From there though, it was a 6 song salvo of immense songs with ‘Postcards From A Young Man’, ‘Your Love Alone Is Not Enough’ (with special guest Nina Persson), ‘Slash ‘n’ Burn’, ‘Tsunami’, the very first single ‘Motown Junk’ and finally ‘A Design For Life’. As the set came to a conclusion there was confetti and fake snow firing all over the place. A strong end to an amazing set which to the bands credit did not flag or get boring at all. A mammoth task completed by one of the best bands to come from Wales, if not the very best. This was the last show Manic Street Preachers are doing in this country for at least two years they said, so what a way for them to go out. They were on superb form throughout the entire 3 hour + gig. The press release from the band before the gig promised us this:

"To celebrate the release of 'National Treasures', the band will play a unique, once in a lifetime Christmas party at the O2 in London on 17th December. The band promise “Glitter, glamour, special guests and a ticker-tape celebration. A never to be repeated one-off visual experience encompassing 21 years of MSP with 38 songs – from 1990’s ‘Motown Junk’ to (but not in order!) 2011’s ‘The Is The Day’. There will be an interval in order to top up on refreshments and like all the best parties, you’ll talk about it for years to come and your friends will wish they’d been there"

It goes without saying, they succeeded. This was truly an unforgettable gig.

Review: Ginger Wildheart @ The Talking Heads, Southampton

The last two times I’ve been to The Talking Heads, I have been very happy with certain drink deals they have been running. For a pub to sell bottles of Fosters Gold and Budweiser for cheap would be impressive. For a gig venue to do it, well that’s just outstanding. I saw no such offers this time but figured I took full advantage of the offers last time (as the hangovers the next day will attest to) so I wasn’t that bothered. Besides, it is not like The Talking Heads charges more than most gig venues charge anyway. Some I’ve been to do charge more but you are paying a premium for drinking in a gig venue. There are only certain times when I will be unhappy with a venues drink prices and that is when they are overly extortionate for no real reason. One example of this was at a club night where it was £4.40 for a bottle of Budweiser. Now, it was my own fault for not choosing to drink the rats piss that is Becks or Stella out of a clubs pump. But I never anticipated that anywhere (outside of London) would charge that. I had one pint at £3.30 which I thought was perfectly reasonable. I then saw a 500ml bottle of Pedigree behind the bar. Pilling pound coins into my hand, I asked how much the drink would cost and was delighted to be told it would be £2.50. Assuming that I go back to the Talking Heads (I’ll address this later); I have found a new drink. Furthermore, it is another reason to support the unofficial study that I am doing that Ale is better than Lager. Lots of field research involved in this study as I’m sure you can appreciate. This really is a major detour to have gone on when discussing a gig. I don’t often give much mention to the venue, especially not the first 300 words. I can’t say anything else about the venue as such (until the end) as nothing has really changed about it. Oddly for Ginger’s gigs, the ticket desk is right at the front door (it was also there in 2010) whereas for every other gig it is by the actual venue entrance. Can’t explain that one, but I don’t think it needs to be explained. Anyway, I think a gig happened so let’s talk about that, eh?

On twitter and formspring, long before the tour started, Ginger was hyping up the support for the tour. The support was made up of two bands; Exit_International and Hawk Eyes. Usually when a support band or bands are announced, I will go out my way to research them (to see whether or not it is worth going in early for). I remember researching both of these bands, and I remember enjoying them. Come gig day though, I couldn’t remember a single note, riff, song - nothing. I was quite annoyed at myself for this but decided I would take a chance and head down early enough to see them both. After all, they wouldn’t be receiving as much praise as they are from Ginger and from other sources if they were both shite. First on was Exit_international. Within the first couple of songs of their set I knew I liked them. I was sat at the bar during their set admittedly, but what I heard I enjoyed. A set packed full of riffs. Remaining at the bar, Hawk Eyes were next on and they were just as good as Exit_International, if not slightly better. Another band packed with riffs. This truly was going to be a good gig. Two support bands opening for Ginger Wildheart, both of whom have a new fan in me. I am going again on Sunday to see Ginger so I will make sure of two things. 1) I will reacquaint myself with both bands before leaving for London on Saturday; and 2) I will not be at the bar while they are playing. After walking through a path which leads to the front of the stage (helpfully), I got near-ish to the front for Ginger.



There are a number of songs from The Wildhearts and Ginger’s solo back catalogue which I absolutely love. I had seen on formspring that there would be songs in the set which had rarely been played live or never played live. As a fan of Ginger’s, I was both happy to see this while being slightly disappointed almost because that surely meant some of my favourite songs would not be played. I saw most of my favourite songs played when The Wildhearts came to Portsmouth in 2009 so it is not something which would have ruined the gig for me. What actually happened was a number of songs which I had rarely listened to became favourites. Inglorious opened the set and it was a superb way to kick off the gig. Other songs that were played included The Hard Way, Splattermania, Can’t Do Right For Doing Wrong, Slaughtered Authors and The Wildhearts cover of the Cheers theme. All of these songs have become favourites along with my favourite songs from the set; Vanilla Radio, Suckerpunch, 29x The Pain and I Wanna Go Where The People Go. All in all, it was a superb set performed by an outstandingly tight live machine that makes up Ginger Wildheart & Friends. During one song, and it is to my shame that I can’t remember, Random Jon Poole got the entire crowd to sit down. Having seen Slipknot a couple of times, I figured there would be some “jumpdafuckup” moment, but unless I missed it – there wasn’t one. Oh well. A fantastic set list is one story of this evening. Another story is how surreal certain things were. Ginger tweeted during the day that the crew had found Dragon Soop for sale and had bought some. This was test driven by Ginger on stage (who didn’t approve of the taste). It gets hot in the Talking Heads, especially down by the stage. One person passed out in front of the stage which put a halt on proceedings while the girl, Rebecca, who passed out was attended to. An impromptu song was written on the spot about Rebecca, wishing she was ok. Across the room, someone else then passed out. He was quickly revived and the show went on, until he passed out again! He was taken to sit outside (there is a fire door quite near the stage and helpfully near where this person was). Ginger asked for this door to stay open, and the security guard slammed it shut. I accept there are health and safety rules for venues to adhere to but that seemed a bit of an over-reaction. Another top quality night out courtesy of Ginger.



Another top quality night out in the Talking Heads, but I’m wondering if it will be my last. I had booked two tickets for gigs at the Talking Heads, Alestorm and InMe. I received emails from Ticketweb saying that both gigs had been cancelled and that I was getting a refund. Now, for one to be cancelled, fair enough; that happens and I’m not going to lose sleep over it. For both to be cancelled though; that was peculiar. I did some digging and found out that the tours were going on as normal. Ticketweb had the rest of the tours listed but the Soton dates were nowhere to be found. That made things even stranger so I visited a number of other ticket agencies and found both Soton gigs, not cancelled but moved. So, Ticketweb were refunding me for a cancelled gig which wasn’t cancelled at all. The dates were relisted on Ticketweb with the new venue being The Cellar. After a little more digging, I’ve seen that 5 or 6 other gigs have been moved from the Talking Heads to The Cellar (or in one case, the Joiners). Why have these gigs all been moved from the Talking Heads, I found myself wondering. Is it about to be announced that it is closing? I really hope this is not the case as I quite like it. I would be gutted to see it go, but at least I can say all 5 gigs I saw there were excellent, and were capped off by a fantastic Ginger Wildheart gig.