Review: Guns N' Roses @ Manchester Arena 29/05/12

In 2006, I went to my first festival which was the Download festival. I didn't know much about festivals then and I now look back at that line-up and kick myself over the stuff I missed. The main draw of the festival for me was the chance to see Metallica for the first time. There were other bands I wanted to see but Metallica was the main draw. The other headliners for that weekend were Tool (on the Friday) and Guns N' Roses (on the Sunday). I'd never heard of Tool at this point but GnR were well known. It was well known that it was only Axl Rose left in the band of the classic line up. What wasn't known was what the performance would be like. Everyone expected Axl Rose to be late but he was actually early. The performance was not good. Axl stomped off stage a number of times and we were left with extended solos and it was just awkward. It might have been better than I remember but I have heard barely anyone say they enjoyed GnR that night. I remember seeing a GnR fan, who said before the set he had waited his whole life to see GnR live, crying and telling his friend how disappointed he was. I walked away from Download that night with a bit of a bad taste in my mouth about how the festival had ended for me. After that night, I vowed that I would not pay to see GnR again.

Fast forward 6 years later and I have gone back on my word. Since 2006, the only bad reviews I've read were of the headline sets at Reading & Leeds, and that was due to the festival organisers not buying into Axl Rose and his tardiness. There was a UK tour in 2010 and every date had really positive reviews. The 2012 tour was announced and I said to myself that if I could get a cheap train and a cheap hotel, I would go. Both of those things happened and so I bought a ticket. The reviews before Manchester have all been favourable (other than from people who have had to leave early - and while I don't agree with its acceptability, if you don't know before going it’s going to be a really late one...well where have you been?!) The gigs have all been starting at random times but they have all been finishing late. Arenas don't have to cut off a band as they have 24 hour licences but they might enforce their own curfews. Manchester Arena has on their website their curfew is 11pm. The above words have been written before the gig and I believe that they have wasted their time saying there is a curfew.

Turns out I was right (it was a safe bet) but I'll talk about GnR in a bit. I intended to arrive at the beginning of Thin Lizzy and I'd heard they were starting their sets at 8.30 and finishing at 9.45pm. That should have been a red flag to those unsure if it would be a late one. I wanted to see Thin Lizzy as I had a ticket for their headline show in Guildford earlier this month but had to leave before they played one song due to a headache. I was fairly tired when I got to Manchester and fell to sleep on the bed of the hotel. Woke up at 8.30 and was like "oh shi...!" Long story boring, I rushed to get ready and bombed to the venue. I arrived as Thin Lizzy was in the middle of playing Whiskey in the Jar. I didn't get to see their whole set (WitJ was probably 1/3rd of the way through) but what I saw I really enjoyed. The set closed with The Boys Are Back in Town", which got a huge reaction. I wondered if they would be good live, especially as there aren't many original members of the band left (probably most notably the lead singer), but they really were. That annoyed me slightly due to having to leave early at Guildford, but at least I saw them.

As the house lights went up, I observed that the gig had not sold out. It was probably as busy, if not slightly quieter, than Alter Bridge who played there last November. The whole upper tier wasn't open and there was enough standing area towards the back to walk around comfortably. There is of course a good chance that people, who knew of the lateness, decided not to come in until later so they weren't waiting as long (and not paying arena prices for drinks etc). It is worth noting as well that there were more than enough people to justify this gig being at the MCR arena as opposed to a smaller venue. Thin Lizzy went off stage at 10pm and the crew have the stage sorted by 10.30pm, ready for GnR's arrival. I tweeted at this point that I predicted a 11.15pm start (although I hoped for an earlier start). I wondered about a bit (including doing vital festival prep by spending £2 on a bottle of water). At 11.10pm, I was in the middle of tweeting something about being wrong about the start time when the house lights just dropped and the Massive Attack song Splitting the Atom started. 

The stage show was fairly cool, with 5 different video screens and raised platforms. 4 of the screens started showing artwork relating to the latest album and the middle screen showed a rotating GnR logo. Behind the drummer popped out of one of the guitarists and took over from the intro tape and the set kicked off with Chinese Democracy. From the off, it was clear the band were in top form and Axl Rose sounded immense. During the song, Rose disappeared off stage and I honestly wondered what had happened. I didn't see anything going wrong. However, he was back as soon as it was time to sing again so then it occurred to me him leaving was not walking off annoyed, but more like how James LaBrie does during long Dream Theater solos. There was pyro and fireworks used (which made appearances at different points throughout the show). The next song was Welcome To The Jungle and the crowd exploded. It was outstanding. There wasn't much in the way of crowd interaction at this point but the performances of the songs were superb. The next songs were It's So Easy, Mr Brownstone, Sorry, Rocket Queen, Estranged and Better. It became apparent during this run of songs that this gig was going to be beyond great. I have absolutely no negative comments to make at this point, which is the complete reverse of where I was at in 2006 watching them. After Better, it was time for the first guitar solo from Richard Fortus. I used this as an excuse to visit the facilities. Now I have a negative comment, Manchester Arena. Your toilets are vile. There is one set of toilets accessible to the standing area, and they were beyond nasty. There's no excuse for that. 3 cubicles and one was flooded and one had a missing door. Just, urgh!

I came back to the standing area just as the solo was ending and Live and Let Die started. This was excellent as was This I Love. Axl then introduced his bassist, Tommy Stinson, and the band played one of his songs with him on vocals. This happened later on in the set but with a Bumblefoot song (with him on vocals). The set was broken up now with a few solos and jams, which I didn't really care for (although Another Brick In The Wall was cool). In-between the solos we got Street of Dreams, You Could Be Mine (which was the only song Axl really made an error on) and Sweet Child of Mine (which was superb). A grand piano emerged and Axl did a piano solo/jam before kicking into November Rain, arguably my favourite GnR song. I was anxious to hear how good or not this would be, as this was one of my main disappointments at Download 2006. It was absolutely superb. The lights went up at the end of this song and wow, a lot of people had left. I can't claim to be surprised now in the cold light of day, but at the time I really was. 

Following November Rain, we got Don't Cry and Civil War before Axl said "the band want to play this song". Expecting to get Knocking on Heaven's Door, we got Shackler's Revenge. This for me was a very good surprise as that is my 2nd favourite song from the Chinese Democracy album. We then got Knocking on Heaven's Door and Nightrain and the main set finished. There was another exodus of people at this point. The encore break didn't last long and the band were back, doing another instrumental jam before Axl came back out and the band kicked into Madagascar and a cover of AC/DC's Whole Lotta Rosie. This was outstanding. There were another couple of jams at this point which again, I could have done without. In-between the jams, we got Patience and to close out the set, we had Paradise City. During the closer, there was a ton of pyro, fireworks and streamers which was really cool. At 2.10am, Frank Sinatra's My Way was playing over the PA and the band said goodbye. 

Download 2006 has not been wiped from my memory as it was my first festival and Guns N' Roses were not good. Last night however, GnR were superb. I am so glad that they were as good as they were. I really like GnR and I hated the fact the only things I could say about the one time that I’d seen them live were bad. I can now turn around to people and say that GnR are well worth your money and time, which they are. I've seen people ask why fans still support Axl Rose and buy into his self-perceived idea of how a "rock star" should behave. I was one of those people. Now I get it. Last night’s show was outstanding. Axl Rose was near 100% in terms of his voice and how good he sounded which was a main concern of mine. Within 2 songs that concern was gone.  I think I mentioned it earlier but there was only one song where I thought his vocals didn’t hold up, and that was during the quick part of You Could Be Mine. One small part of one song from a 3 hour set – oh well. I am now really looking forward to their headline set at Hellfest. All in, it was a superb gig. I still don't like the need for the extended solos (I've no problem with the band members solo songs with them on vocals). I also still don't think starting a gig at 11.10pm is a good thing. I really enjoyed the gig and would pay to go see them again (but again, the clouds would have to align in order for me to be able to do it). I felt like I was gambling on seeing GnR after Download 2006, and I now feel like that gamble paid off. Now, I know that seeing them at their own show is a safe bet for a great night/early morning.

Download Guesswork

It is now just over a week until festival season kicks off. I find myself feeling varying levels of excitement and nerves. I feel them every year but this year it is more noticeable. I guess it is because I am doing a new foreign festival by myself this year. I’m sure I’ll be fine, but you never know! Anyway, first up on the festival calendar is Download and I have nerves about this festival because it is the first time going for the weekend since 2007. The festival has changed a lot since then. I am sure I will be fine but because it is essentially a new experience, it is causing me some concern. Doing Wacken in the past has spoiled me as I want running times up earlier than a week before the festival, accepting that they could change at any point. I find myself getting impatient, which is exactly why I am writing this blog. I’m not attacking the festival or its organisers at all; this is just to satisfy my own impatience. This is my latest guess at stage times for Download 2012. These are somewhat based around the times for 2011 with some changes where changes have needed to be made. I have no idea if these are right, but whatever. Kept me entertained for a few hours!

Friday 8^th June

Main Stage
21.00 – 22.50 The Prodigy
19.25 – 20.25 Chase and Status
18.00 – 18.50 Machine Head
16.50 – 17.35 Billy Talent
15.40 – 16.25 NoFX
14.40 – 15.15 Fear Factory
13.50 – 14.20 Cancer Bats
13.00 – 13.30 Rise To Remain

Second Stage
21.05 – 22.20 Slash
19.40 – 20.35 Nightwish
18.20 – 19.10 Opeth
17.15 – 17.55 Little Angels
16.10 – 16.50 Europe
15.20 – 15.50 Terrorvision
14.30 – 15.00 The Quireboys
13.45 – 14.10 Red White and Blues
13.00 – 13.25 Six Hour Sundown

Pepsi Max Stage
21.00 – 22.00 Devin Townsend Project
19.55 – 20.35 Axewound
18.50 – 19.30 Soil
17.55 – 18.25 While She Sleeps
17.05 – 17.35 The Defiled
16.15 – 16.45 Lawnmower Deth
15.25 – 15.55 Hounds
14.35 – 15.05 Absolute Power
13.45 – 14.10 Silent Descent
13.00 – 13.25 Impaled Existence

Red Bull Bedroom Jam Stage
20.45 – 21.30 Gallows
19.50 – 20.20 The Safety Fire
18.55 – 19.25 Porter Robinson
18.00 – 18.30 Marmozets
17.10 – 17.35 Upon A Burning Body
16.20 – 16.45 Dive Bella Dive
15.30 – 15.55 Reachback
14.40 – 15.05 Dead Harts
13.50 – 14.15 The Jellycats
13.00 – 13.25 Broken

Jägermeister Stage
18.25 – 19.00 Yashin
17.25 – 17.55 Skindred
16.30 – 16.55 Breed 77
15.40 – 16.05 Million Dollar Reload
14.50 – 15.15 Neonfly
14.00 – 14.25 With One Last Breath

Saturday 9^th June

Main Stage
20.30 – 22.30 Metallica
18.30 – 19.45 Biffy Clyro
17.00 – 18.00 Tenacious D
15.40 – 16.30 Steel Panther
14.25 – 15.10 Trivium
13.10 – 13.55 Black Veil Brides
12.00 – 12.40 Saxon
11.00 – 11.30 As I Lay Dying

Second Stage
21.00 – 22.15 You Me At Six
19.40 – 20.30 Killswitch Engage
18.35 – 19.15 Skindred
17.30 – 18.10 Kids In Glass Houses
16.35 – 17.05 Theory of a Deadman
15.45 – 16.15 Four Year Strong
14.55 – 15.25 Lower Than Atlantis
14.05 – 14.35 Turbonegro
13.15 – 13.45 Ginger Wildheart
12.30 – 12.55 Halestorm
11.45 – 12.10 Fozzy
11.00 – 11.25 Page 44

Pepsi Max Stage
21.10 – 22.10 The Mission
20.05 – 20.45 The Union
19.00 – 19.40 Corey Taylor
18.05 – 18.35 Sylosis
17.15 – 17.45 My Passion
16.25 – 16.55 The Treatment
15.35 – 16.05 Anti-Nowhere League
14.45 – 15.15 Gun
14.00 – 14.25 The Yoyos
13.15 – 13.40 Turbowolf
12.30 – 12.50 Don Broco
11.45 – 12.10 Avosetta
11.00 – 11.20 No Americana

Red Bull Bedroom Jam Stage
20.45 – 21.15 Cockney Rejects
19.45 – 20.15 Fearless Vampire Killers
18.45 – 19.15 Lostalone
17.45 – 18.15 Mallory Knox
16.45 – 17.15 Butcher Babies
15.55 – 16.20 Acoda
15.05 – 15.30 Never Means Maybe
14.15 – 14.40 I Divide
13.25 – 13.50 Golden Tanks
12.35 – 13.00 4Arm
11.45 – 12.10 Freebase
11.00 – 11.20 Royal Cartel

Jägermeister Stage
18.15 – 18.45 Tyla            
17.15 – 17.40 The Quireboys
16.20 – 16.45 Heavens Basement
15.30 – 15.55 Red White & Blues
14.40 – 15.05 Soil
13.50 – 14.15 Gun
13.00 – 13.25 Six Hour Sundown

Sunday 10^th June

Main Stage
21.00 – 22.30 Black Sabbath
19.05 – 20.20 Soundgarden
17.40 – 18.35 Megadeth
16.20 – 17.10 Lamb of God
15.10 – 15.50 Black Label Society
14.00 – 14.40 Anthrax
13.00 – 13.30 Kyuss Lives
12.00 – 12.30 Devildriver
11.00 – 11.30 Stellar Revival

Second Stage
21.00 – 22.15 Rise Against
19.40 – 20.30 Dropkick Murphys
18.30 – 19.10 Refused
17.20 – 18.00 Shinedown
16.20 – 16.50 Ugly Kid Joe
15.20 – 15.50 Sebastian Bach
14.20 – 14.50 Rival Sons
13.30 – 14.00 August Burns Red
12.40 – 13.10 We Are The Ocean
11.50 – 12.20 Black Spiders
11.00 – 11.30 Kobra and the Lotus

Pepsi Max Stage

21.00 – 22.00 Periphery
19.50 – 20.30 Ghost
18.40 – 19.20 Firewind
17.40 – 18.10 Emmure
16.40 – 17.10 La Dispute
15.50 – 16.20 James Cleaver Quintet
15.00 – 15.30 Shadows Fall
14.10 – 14.40 Edguy
13.20 – 13.50 Reckless Love
12.40 – 13.10 Heaven’s Basement
11.50 – 12.20 Feed The Rhino
11.00 – 11.30 Skarlett Riot

Red Bull Bedroom Jam Stage
20.45 – 21.15 William Control
19.45 – 20.15 Hawkeyes
18.45 – 19.15 The Dirty Youth
17.45 – 18.15 The Minutes
16.45 – 17.15 With One Last Breath
15.55 – 16.20 Kopek
15.05 – 15.30 You And What Army?
14.15 – 14.40 Strangle Kojak
13.25 – 13.50 Adelaide
12.35 – 13.00 Mechanical Smile
11.45 – 12.10 Pitch Black
11.00 – 11.20 Kamchatka

Jägermeister Stage
18.15 – 18.45 Saint Jude
17.15 – 17.40 Fearless Vampire Killers
16.20 – 16.45 Mordecai
15.30 – 15.55 Daken
14.40 – 15.05 Voodoo Johnson
13.50 – 14.15 Sanguine
13.00 – 13.25 White Powder Gold

Assuming that these times are correct, or close to correct, my Download Festival 2012 on paper looks something like this.

Friday

13.00 – 13.25 – Six Hour Sundown (2^nd Stage)
13.50 – 14.20 – Cancer Bats (Main Stage)
14.40 – 15.15 – Fear Factory (Main Stage)
15.40 – 16.25 – NoFX (Main Stage)
16.30 – 16.50 – Europe (2^nd Stage)
16.55 – 17.35 – Billy Talent (Main Stage)
18.00 – 19.00 – Machine Head (Main Stage)
19.40 – 20.35 – Nightwish (2^nd Stage)
21.00 – 23.00 – Prodigy (Main Stage)

Nice opening day to a festival I’d say. Gutted about missing Axewound but I reckon they’ll be back at some point. Would have liked to be able to see Gallows on Red Bull Stage as well as an acoustic set from Skindred. This is where I hope my times are wrong somewhat.

Saturday

11.00 – 11.30 – As I Lay Dying (Main)
11.45 – 12.10 – Fozzy (2^nd)
*Depending on how tired I am at this point – I may wonder over and listen to a bit of Saxon)
12.30 – 12.55 – Halestorm (2^nd)
13.15 – 13.45 – Ginger Wildheart (2^nd)
14.25 – 15.10 – Trivium (Main)
15.45 – 16.15 – Four Year Strong (2^nd)
16.25 – 16.55 – The Treatment (3^rd)
17.00 – 18.00 – Tenacious D (Main)
18.35 – 19.15 – Skindred (2^nd)
19.20 – 19.45 – Biffy Clyro (Main)
20.30 – 22.30 – Metallica (Main)

Not really missing anyone here I am really gutted about missing. Wouldn’t have minded seeing Black Veil Brides but they lose to Ginger. I am really quite pleased about possibly getting to see The Treatment again.

Sunday

11.00 – 11.30 – Kobra & The Lotus (2^nd)
11.50 – 12.00 – Black Spiders (2^nd)
12.00 – 12.30 – Devildriver (Main)
12.40 – 12.55 – Heaven’s Basement (3^rd)
13.00 – 13.30 – Kyuss Lives (Main)
13.35 – 13.50 – Reckless Love (3^rd)
14.10 – 14.40 – Edguy (3^rd)
15.00 – 15.15 – Shadows Fall (3^rd)
15.20 – 15.50 – Sebastian Bach (2^nd)
16.20 – 17.10 – Lamb of God (Main)
17.20 – 18.00 – Shinedown (2^nd)
18.30 – 19.10 – Refused (2^nd)
19.15 – 20.20 – Soundgarden (Main)
21.00 – 22.30 – Black Sabbath (Main)

I’m not too sad about missing Megadeth over the course of the weekend as I’ll see them headlining Hellfest the week after. Much the same with Dropkick Murphys I think. However that one is still up in the air. If I can’t be bothered to see Soundgarden for whatever reason, then I’ll see Dropkicks (or Hawkeyes). As for Black Spiders and Devildriver clash, I’m leaning as of this writing towards Devildriver but I fully suspect to see all of Spiders. Mostly because Devildriver are at Hellfest but if I have the energy after Download then I’ll go see them headline in Soton.

Anyway that is all I have on the Download front for now. I will likely post my actual running order when the times are released Friday (and try and do a comparison between my guess and the reality). As for future blogs? Well there will be a GnR review up sometime after Wednesday (might even type it on the way home) and a Ginger Wildheart review as well. Download and Hellfest reviews will likely be towards the end of June.

Review: Metallica @ Stade De France. 12/05/12

Nearly two weeks ago, I nipped over the channel to go and see Metallica play the Stade De France. This was the 9th time of me seeing Metallica and the first time I’ll see them on this tour which is celebrating the Black Album by playing it in its entirety. I am also due to see them again in just over two weeks at Download. I’ve mentioned it occasionally on this blog. I went to this gig with Dave. I don’t know if he’s written a review but if so, it’ll appear on the blog linked on the side of this one. This review will cover the gig, and all the things which happened before and after.

This trip marked the first time I was going to use the Eurostar to get across to Paris. I’ve heard mixed things about it as a mode of travel but my experience of it was fine. We weren’t delayed at all. The only gripe with it I would have is there are a lot of little tunnels. Obviously, the Channel Tunnel excluded, the little tunnels were a nuisance because they were loud and played havoc with my ears (they popped, a lot). That aside, the journey was smooth. I did almost crack my ribs when using the toilet but that’s a risk anyone takes using a train toilet when the train is moving right? Right? Anyway...

The original plan was to stay in the Gare Du Nord train station over night after the gig and just wait and get the train home in the morning. Logic won out though and a hotel was booked. The hotel was literally across the road from the station which made life so much easier. The hotel was booked via a 3rd party website so I was a bit concerned about the whole thing but it turned out fine and we checked in without an issue. Before going to the hotel though, we went to the metro lines and bought a ticket which would get us to one of the stations near the Stade De France. The machine gave us one option for a ticket which seemed somewhat odd, but it was a metro ticket machine so the assumption was made at the time we would be fine. As it transpires, we weren’t. We got to one of the stations and were faced with barriers that were rejecting the ticket. Looking perplexed, we continued to try to no avail. Eventually, a member of staff came over to us and started speaking really quite fast in French (in France...who knew!) to which we looked confused and said “sorry, English?” The member of staff then said “aah....English!” and carried on speaking French. That was not helpful in the slightest. I believe there is a Blackadder joke about the most pointless book in the world being “How to Learn French” after it was translated into French. That’s how I felt in that moment. We got beeped through the gate after I’m guessing the member of staff either got bored of us or realised we didn’t intentionally defraud the country of France.

The station we went to was a fair step from the stadium and I couldn’t help but feel like we were walking to Rock AM Ring when we ended up walking along the motorway. I would say the walk from the station we ended up at was about the same, if not slightly longer than the walk from Twickenham station to the stadium (if you’ve never done that walk, then that analogy was redundant). Anyway, the stadium was really easy to find. Granted, the crowd of people all heading in the same direction helped quite a bit. One thing which had me panicked on the walk to the stadium was the number of touts who were selling tickets which did not look like the ones I had. I came to the conclusion that either they had fakes, or I did. I used the website Metallica linked to though, so in hindsight, that was a stupid thing to be worried about, but I was somewhat out of my comfort zone. I confidently predicted we would have to walk halfway round the stadium to enter the gig and I was 100% right. Being right sucks sometimes kids! As we walked up to the stadium, we could hear the end of Gojira’s set. It was a real shame missing them. I had it in my head that they would be main support as we were in France but as it transpires, I was wrong. We kicked around, outside the actual bowl as neither of us had any interest at all in seeing The Kills play. That was a long support slot, or it certainly felt like it. Granted we were outside the stadium but they sounded bad. They got a huge cheer at the end so what do I know? As soon as they went off stage, we had what we thought would be a final smoke and headed into the bowl. It turned out not to be the final smoke as France’s rules on smoking in public places differs from the UK’s and smoking inside the stadium was permitted. If I’d know that ahead of time...I still would have stood outside smoking while The Kills were on! One thing which was really entertaining was all the Mexican waves which took place around the stadium. Superb.

After what seemed like Disturbed’s entire back catalogue over the PA (without their cover of Land of Confusion, may I add), we got some build up songs indicating it was Metallica time soon. As the final beats of “It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Want To Rock and Roll)” faded, the familiar roar of the crowd occurred. No words I type can sum up the level of excitement which runs through me as soon as The Ecstasy of Gold starts. 9th time be damned, in that environment, it gives me Goosebumps every time! The famous video finished and the song died down and out on stage were Metallica! I could go now and talk through each song but I will talk about some personal highlights. I love the opening combo of Hit the Lights and Master of Puppets. They are songs you wouldn’t expect to open the set with but it just works. It was the same opening to Sonisphere last year and it’s excellent. On the other European dates before this one, the 3rd song was due to be The Shortest Straw (same as Sonisphere again) which I was fine with. Dave isn’t a fan of the song (but that’s because he is a bad person). However, as the final notes of Puppets finished, Hetfield came to the microphone again and said “Paris....NO REMORSE!” which was immense as I hadn’t seen that song live since 2008. For Whom the Bell Tolls is always awesome live. The 5th song had been changing up throughout the tour but it seemed to be one of Blackened, Battery or Fight Fire with Fire. I was hoping for Battery but we got something completely unexpected. “From Beyond Magnetic...this is Hell and Back!” I was blown away as I didn’t think I’d ever see a Beyond Magnetic song live but also because I love Hell and Back!

There was a video introducing The Black Album with some facts about the album and some old clips. The whole performance of it was solid. Sandman, as always was superb. It was great hearing stuff off the album I’d never heard live before like The God That Failed, The Struggle Within and Through the Never (specifically). It was great hearing The Unforgiven and Wherever I May Roam as I’d not heard those live in over 5 years. All in all, the Black Album live was stunning.

It was then time for the “encore” which was a minute before a very familiar backing tape started up. After a lot of looks around the crowd to see if everyone could hear what I was hearing, it turned out I wasn’t going mad, and Metallica were about to kick off the encore with Battery! It was absolutely....yeah! I have no words for just how good it was. The band then disappeared and the trademark fireworks went off to signify that One was about to be played. What happened while One played though will stay with me for a long time. There was an absolutely stunning laser show. No, I mean absolutely stunning. I can’t find a good video of it from Paris, so here is one from Belgrade. Just mind-blowing. The set finished with the old favourite Seek and Destroy and we all went home a happy bunch of people. See, I said earlier I wasn’t going to talk about every song and I didn’t. I just talked about my highlights. There were a lot of them.

Following the gig, we walked back to a different train station to the one we arrived at and bought the right ticket! The queue to get on the platform was crazy but well managed. We got onto a train fairly quickly and got back to the Gare Du Nord within minutes. One thing which was entertaining was a lot of people were discussing the gig in French (again, this is normal as we were in Paris) and me and Dave were discussing it in English. We then just started saying random things and talking shit. I declared that it was ok as “no-one understood a word I was saying” and it would seem that no-one did. Result! We got back to the station fine and ventured over to McDonalds for late night dinner. After messing about with a faulty fast order machine, we went up to the counter. I was dreading placing my order as I was going to be the typical Johnny Foreigner who couldn’t speak French. What made matters worse is my throat was sore and voice was going following the gig. I asked for what I wanted and to my complete surprise, the server was fluent in English. Now, if only that could be criteria for the McDonalds staff in this country. Anyway, went back to the hotel and after some TV, crashed out for a few precious hours of sleep.

After what felt like 35mins of awful sleep (I continually woke up), it was time to get ready to leave the hotel. With the station being as close as it was, we still decided to get there relatively early just to be on the safe side. With some loose coins rattling round my pocket, I decided to grab a couple of beverages for the journey back. I noticed a 1 euro waffle in the vending machine which was also purchased. Along with a croissant, that was a quality makeshift breakfast! Got through check in fine and got to the platform whereby we boarded the Eurostar and left France. The trip was so worth it and I would probably do it again for the right band (although I can’t see me doing it for anyone other than Metallica, honestly). The 9th time I saw Metallica was outstanding. They never fail to bore me live. Roll on Download for number 10 (and possibly the first time I will see them play a setlist completely comprised of songs I’ve seen them play before. Prove me wrong Metallica and play Frantic or King Nothing!)

8 Weeks and Counting

With each passing announcement, we get closer to a complete Download bill. In fact, looking at the latest poster (see below), I can only imagine that there are more acts to be added to the tent stages and the Jagermeister truck. Anyway, there was another announcement today which comprised of the following bands:

Breed 77 - They are a decent band. Don’t foresee me getting to see them however.

Saint Jude - Here’s the thing. There are two bands by this name on Spotify. One is more likely than the other. I prefer the unlikely option for Download personally. Little bit like Sheryl Crow. So what, I like some Sheryl Crow. Big whoop, want to fight about it?! (Enough with the Family Guy! – Ed)

With One Last Breath - Not really my thing to be honest.

Royal Cartel – From what I’ve heard, this band have a few really catchy songs. I like what I hear.

Tyla – Seems alright.
Ghost – Pretty awesome band. Really got into them since last year’s Download festival. I say really got into them, I listen to them occasionally.
La Dispute - I’m not entirely sure what I just listened to. I’m sure someone would say its art. Oh well

Shadows Fall – I quite like this band. Had exposure to them through being a Guitar Hero player and through WWE. They were due to play Portsmouth a few years back and cancelled. Would still like to see them.

Feed The Rhino – Really quite like what I’ve heard thus far. There’s a chance I might be able to catch their set as well, which is helpful.

The Dirty Youth – Initial response is a very positive one. They sound pretty damn good actually.

Pitch Black – Ok I heard a rap band, and an arse load of dance music. I don’t think the band that is playing Download is on Spotify. I guess it could be one of those...

Yashin - They seem alright but they aren’t amazing. I won’t be going out of my way to see them.

Voodoo Johnson – Really like what I am hearing with this band.

Sanguine – Not really my thing. The vocals are really off-putting.



So all in all, one of those announcements that made me think “It wasn’t awful, but it didn’t cause me any further clash headaches” and so as a result, I am in favour! As I said earlier, I think the top two stages are done in terms of announcements and positioning. Because there is more to be added on the bottom 3 stages, I won’t be guessing those but the following is my guess at stage times for the Jim Marshall stage and the Zippo Encore stage.

FRIDAY

The Jim Marshall Stage

21.15 – 23.00 The Prodigy
19.20 – 20.30 Chase & Status
18.00 – 18.50 Machine Head
16.50 – 17.35 Billy Talent
15.40 – 16.25 NoFX
14.40 – 15.15 Fear Factory
13.50 – 14.20 Cancer Bats
13.00 – 13.30 Rise To Remain

Zippo Encore Stage

21.10 – 22.30 Slash
19.30 – 20.25 Nightwish
18.20 – 19.00 Opeth
17.15 – 17.55 Little Angels
16.10 – 16.50 Europe
15.20 – 15.50 Terrorvision
14.30 – 15.00 The Quireboys
13.45 – 14.10 Red White & Blues
13.00 – 13.25 Six Hour Sundown

SATURDAY

The Jim Marshall Stage

20.45 – 22.45 Metallica
18.40 – 20.00 Biffy Clyro
17.10 - 18.10 Tenacious D
15.50 - 16.40 Steel Panther
14.40 - 15.20 Trivium
13.30 - 14.10 Black Veil Brides
12.30 – 13.00 Saxon
11.30 – 12.00 As I Lay Dying

Zippo Encore Stage

21.00 – 22.15 You Me At Six
19.40 – 20.35 Killswitch Engage
18.35 – 19.15 Skindred
17.30 – 18.10 Kids In Glass Houses
15.40 – 16.10 Theory Of A Deadman
14.50 – 15.20 Four Year Strong
14.00 – 14.30 Lower Than Atlantis
13.15 – 13.40 Turbonegro
12.30 – 12.55 Ginger Wildheart
11.45 – 12.10 Halestorm
11.00 – 11.25 Fozzy

SUNDAY

The Jim Marshall Stage

21.15 – 22.45 Black Sabbath
19.15 – 20.30 Soundgarden
17.40 – 18.40 Megadeth
16.20 – 17.10 Lamb of God
15.10 – 15.50 Black Label Society
14.00 – 14.40 Anthrax
13.00 – 13.30 Kyuss Lives
12.00 – 12.30 Devildriver
11.00 – 11.30 Stellar Revival

The Zippo Encore Stage

20.50 – 22.05 Rise Against
19.25 – 20.20 Dropkick Murphy’s
18.15 – 18.55 Refused
17.10 – 17.50 Shinedown
16.15 – 16.45 Ugly Kid Joe
15.20 – 15.50 Sebastian Bach
14.25 – 14.55 Rival Sons
13.30 – 14.00 August Burns Red
12.40 – 13.05 We Are The Ocean
11.50 – 12.15 Black Spiders
11.00 – 11.25 Kobra And The Lotus

This would mean that my Download 2012 festival looks as follows (stage in brackets):

FRIDAY

13.00 – 13.25 Six Hour Sundown (ZE)
13.50 – 14.20 Cancer Bats (JM)
14.40 – 15.15 Fear Factory (JM)
15.40 – 16.25 NoFX (JM)
16.30 – 16.50 Europe (ZE)
16.50 – 17.35 Billy Talent (JM)
18.00 – 18.50 Machine Head (JM)
19.30 – 20.25 Nightwish (ZE)
21.15 – 23.00 The Prodigy (JM)

Possible clashes from lower stages – Gallows (Red Bull Stage)

SATURDAY

11.00 – 11.25 Fozzy (ZE)
11.30 – 12.00 As I Lay Dying (JM)
12.30 – 12.55 Ginger Wildheart (ZE)
13.15 – 13.30 Turbonegro (ZE)
13.30 – 14.10 Black Veil Brides (JM)
14.40 – 15.20 Trivium (JM)
15.40 – 16.10 Theory Of A Deadman (ZE)
16.10 - 16.40 Steel Panther (JM)
17.10 – 18.10 Tenacious D (JM)
18.35 – 19.15 Skindred (ZE)
19.15 – 20.00 Biffy Clyro (JM)
20.45 – 22.45 Metallica (JM)

Possible clashes from lower stages – The Treatment, Anti-Nowhere League & Gun (Pepsi Max Stage)

SUNDAY

11.00 – 11.25 Kobra & The Lotus (ZE)
11.45 – 12.15 Black Spiders (ZE)
12.15 – 12.30 Devildriver (JM)
12.40 – 13.05 We Are The Ocean (ZE)
13.05 – 13.30 Kyuss Lives (JM)
14.00 – 14.40 Anthrax (JM)
15.20 – 15.50 Sebastian Bach (ZE)
16.20 – 17.10 Lamb of God (JM)
17.10 – 17.50 Shinedown (ZE)
18.15 – 18.55 Refused (ZE)
19.15 – 20.30 Soundgarden (JM)
21.15 – 22.45 Black Sabbath (JM)

Possible clashes from lower stages – Feed The Rhino, Firewind, Shadows Fall and Edguy (Pepsi Max Stage)

It has been said that the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry, but if I can pull off something even close to this, then I am going to have an amazing Download festival. Wait for the official times to come out now and give me a ton of clash headaches to deal with!

It’s going to be great.

God Damn Download

Just recently, I have written about Sonisphere and Hellfest. It occurred to me while writing about Sonisphere that I didn’t write a blog about the last Download announcement. I then left the writing to go out and be sociable and by the time I had returned, there was another band announcement! So I’m just going to go over the announcements briefly and give my thoughts. I did post about the leak of Europe and Symphony X and what that would mean for 2nd stage Friday. Below is the new poster and these are the bands that have been announced in the last two batches. Doing them in batch order



Europe – Quality announcement as far as I’m concerned. People are happy about them because they’ll get to hear one classic song of Europe’s but I thought their whole set at Sonisphere was really good.
Halestorm – Quite like the stuff I have heard from this band. I’ve heard varying reports of what they are like live though from superb to awful, but in studio the stuff sounds good.
Firewind – Widdly power metal at its best! I quite like what I’ve heard of this band and yet somehow have managed to never see them live. A real shame
Turbonegro – Don’t mind what I’ve heard from this band but wouldn’t be sad if I didn’t get to see them.
Theory of a Deadman – They weren’t bad when supporting Alter Bridge so this could be kinda cool. I’d watch them depending on who they clash with.
Stellar Revival – I’m afraid I have nothing for you on this one!
Anti-Nowhere League – One of the bands that inspired Metallica. I’m a little bit favourable to them because of this. I actually wouldn’t be shocked (considering they are playing the same day) for them to get up with Metallica during the encore and play “So What” – now that would be cool.
Turbowolf – They sound alright and could be worth a watch, clash depending of course.
Mallory Knox – They seem alright but I’m not massively into what I’m hearing. They’re ok – that’s all.
The Safety Fire – File this along with Stellar Revival...
Emmure – They sound quite good, although the vocals seem a little off-putting at times (coming from someone that may see Cannibal Corpse this summer, that doesn’t make a great deal of sense I’m sure).
Broken – See the file marked Stellar Revival and The Safety Fire. However, when searching for them on Spotify I did stumble across an Avantasia song which I don’t know if I’ve ever listened to called Blizzard of a Broken Mirror. Cheers Broken!

So all in all, this batch of bands isn’t that bad at all. Europe obviously being the big hitters from the group is a superb announcement. Think all of it falls under the banner of “clash permitting” as to whether I go to see the bands or not. This really makes the festival look stronger as a whole. Now, the newest announcement from last night read like follows:

Refused – The first band that was booked for Sonisphere which has now been booked for Download following the cancellation of Sonisphere. Cracking announcement though – I remain interested as to where they will play. I hope to see them at Hellfest but seeing as they are headlining a little tent by the looks, it may not happen.
Gallows – This is a really cool announcement for me as I saw them at one of their last UK dates with Frank Carter handling vocal duties and that has now gone to Wade MacNeil (formerly of Alexisonfire). I’ve heard since he took over, Gallows have stepped up a level in terms of live performance. I would like to see if this is the case. Excellent booking though.
Kids In Glass Houses – They don’t do a great deal for me personally.
Lower Than Atlantis – Neither do they.
Four Year Strong – Leaked by Andy Copping on Twitter. A pretty good announcement. I got them and All Time Low mixed up though. So I thought when I saw them “oh man, Lost In Stereo is an awesome song” – it still is, but is completely irrelevant to FYS. I do like FYS though so given the chance I will see them.
Don Broco – They aren’t a bad band as such, but they seem a tad dull based on what I’m hearing. Probably won’t be seeing them.
Porter Robinson – A very different band to that you would usually get at Download but I actually quite like what I’m hearing. Would expect to hear this in the dance tent at Reading/Leeds rather than Download but oh well!
T. Mills – Yeah this really isn’t for me.
Fearless Vampire Killers – They certainly aren’t an awful band, by any means. Don’t foresee me seeing them though.
Kobra & The Lotus – Leaked by Andy Copping. They aren’t bad from the one song they have online.
Rival Sons – Another leak by Andy Copping. They’re pretty good. Caught the end of their set supporting Black Stone Cherry. I don’t think I’ll be seeing them, but they aren’t bad.
My Passion – Leaked today. Not bad at all!
Black Spiders – The first leak from Andy Copping. Excellent, excellent announcement. Can’t wait to see these guys at Download. So good.
Edguy – BEST. ANNOUNCEMENT. EVER!!! Ok perhaps not the best but still, this is so so good. They were one of the main Hellfest draws for me, so that’s a tad annoying, but aww hell yeah! 2 times for Edguy in 2 weeks? Superb sir!

This second batch has a lot more in it for me, not least Edguy. I have real concerns over clashes and just how many times I’m going to have to cut sets in half to go see someone else. It isn’t like Sonisphere in that respect as if you are at 3rd stage and need to walk to the 2nd stage; it is a fair old hike. Anyway – these concerns weren’t helped at all by Andy Copping announcing more bands for Download while I was writing this review of the announcements. Let’s have a look at this next batch then!

Lawnmower Deth – I’ve heard a lot of good things about this band live. Apparently they are a lot of fun. Anyway, I like what I am hearing. Not entirely convinced the cover of Kim Wilde – Kids In America was a good call mind!
No Americana – Not bad at all. A little bit pop-punky which is never a bad thing (actually it can be bad. This seems somewhat irrelevant to this announcement as they aren’t bad. Moving on).
Silent Descent – Not bad at all.
Six Hour Sundown – Oh hai Lauren Harris! I really quite like the song on Spotify. Hell, I didn’t mind the previous incarnation under the moniker “Lauren Harris”.
Skindred – I love Skindred. They have been excellent every time I have seen them live so I am not complaining about this announcement. Especially as their set is allegedly starting as soon as The D finish. Excellent stuff
The Union – They are quite enjoyable. Very classic rock sort of vibe from this band. If they were early on an open air stage then it is certainly possible that I would could lie down towards the back of the stage and listen to these, no problem!

So another 6 bands added to what is turning into possibly the best Download festival line-up ever (a strong statement considering they’ve had AC/DC, Aerosmith, Iron Maiden etc headline). It could easily be the best festival I’ve ever been to. I was going to have a stab at stage times but truth be told, I wouldn’t know where to start now. I could guess Friday’s but Saturday and Sunday have significant differences to the previous years. That coupled with the latest news that Five Finger Death Punch have had to pull out means I would be in a tailspin trying to figure it out.

Not looking at the inevitable number of clashes there will be - I want to see 49 bands. There are also others I wouldn’t mind seeing. Download looks amazing – end of.

The Cancellation of Sonisphere

7 days ago, the rumour mill kicked into full effect. eFestivals tweeted that a major UK festival would announce in the morning that it was being cancelled. On the eFestivals forums, the most likely suspect was Sonisphere @ Knebworth was the one that would be cancelled. I couldn’t believe what I was reading. Sonisphere has events all around Europe – surely someone had been given duff information. Bands and agents started putting out cryptic information when the rumours started which pointed towards the fact that it was Sonisphere that was cancelled until finally, Queen’s website posted an update saying their scheduled performance had been cancelled. While that was not confirmation that the whole festival was off – it was now beyond doubt in my mind that Sonisphere UK was doomed. There were all sorts of rumours going around as to why Sonisphere was cancelling its UK festival but of course, nothing was official. That morning...

“It is with very heavy hearts and much regret that we announce the cancellation of Sonisphere Knebworth 2012.
Putting the festival together in what is proving to be a very challenging year was more difficult than we anticipated and we have spent the last few months fighting hard to keep Sonisphere in the calendar. Unfortunately circumstances have dictated that we would be unable to run the festival to a standard that both the artists and that Sonisphere’s audience would rightly expect.
We want to express our deepest regrets to the artists and to thank all the staff, suppliers and contractors who worked so hard with us to try and pull off what has proven to be an impossible task and we know how much they share in our disappointment. We also want to send a huge thanks to the Sonisphere fans who stuck by us and we are so sorry that we can’t fulfil what we set out to do.
Ticket holders will automatically receive a full refund direct from their ticket agents.
Team Sonisphere.”

While not addressing any of the specific rumours as to why the festival was being cancelled, Team Sonisphere confirmed that they could not put on a successful festival this year at Knebworth. What I am going to do is address some of the rumours as to why it has been cancelled. This was the line-up for the festival as it got cancelled.



For me personally, it is not a bad line-up but it is far from amazing. I have long said that Kiss is a band I would like to see, but the circumstances have to be right. I am unlikely to go to a headline tour as it costs too much money (the rumoured tour of Kiss and Motley Crue may change this). As a festival headliner, if they are alongside two other great headliners then I would be drawn to that festival. Faith No More are a great headliner and that was one half of what I needed. Queen with Adam Lambert is alright but wasn’t enough to draw me to the festival. Faith No More being on the Sunday was an odd call for me. Of the headliners in terms of band size, I really would think they were the smallest (in drawing power) so to have them closing the festival...not sure about that. As for the rest of the line-up, there were two special guest slots to fill which I can’t really comment on with any degree of authority as I only heard rumours. I heard Motley Crue for the Friday and Primus for the Saturday. In terms of drawing power, they would have been big announcements. There is very little else I can point to and say “wow” at (based on my own tastes). Evanescence is a fairly big name and they sold out some fairly big dates last year. The Darkness is a fairly big announcement as they have their own forest gig this year, but maybe that’s detrimental to Sonisphere. Their fans are more likely to have gone to that, and seen them headline rather than go to Sonisphere (I’d guess). They had 3 bands doing full album shows but if you don’t like those bands (I don’t), that isn’t a draw - especially when one played the festival the year before. I said from the off I don’t think Tim Minchin should be in that spot. I don’t think he’d go over as well as Bill Bailey did, and I hear the sound for Bill Bailey was awful anyway. There is nothing else from the undercard which stands out to me really. I guess I could mention Andrew WK and Cypress Hill. Both strong bookings I would say. Andrew WK did just sell a fair few tickets though for headline shows so would this have stopped people buying a Sonisphere ticket? Who knows? The last band I want to mention is Marilyn Manson. I’m informed his 2009 set at Download was atrocious. Before that set there were question marks over his live performance at festivals and for me, this was a weak booking in a big spot on the main stage. Yes, he can put on a show but that’s not an adequate excuse for a shocking live performance.

It seems appropriate when looking at the line-up to address this rumour – Low Ticket Sales

Sonisphere announced their first bands for their first Knebworth festival in February. This wasn’t seen as a problem because this was fairly standard for most festivals to start announcing around this time. It also wasn’t a problem as in 2009; it was the same weekend as the Wacken festival in Germany, i.e. the first weekend in August. In 2010 it was also towards the end of July/beginning of August but they announced the first bands in 2009. They announced before Christmas that Rammstein and Iron Maiden were headlining, sending a clear message to competitors. For the 2011 festival, we knew all the headliners before Christmas, as well as some of the undercard as well. Aside from its first year, Sonisphere announced its bands early. So when Christmas 2011 rolled around and there were no bands announced for Sonisphere 2012 – something didn’t seem right. Not only was there no announcement but there was no announcement about an announcement (say announcement again!).

As the days and weeks went on, there were rumours an announcement was due but nothing came. . Even Kerrang published an advert saying that the announcement would be in their next magazine. It wasn’t. People were getting annoyed and saying that they had to make arrangements. People defending the festival said that this wasn’t as wide spread as it seemed, but almost every other festival was announcing bands or had rumours floating. Eventually however, at the end of February – the first announcement was made. Since then I believe there has only been one other announcement but it got us to the line-up that I posted above.

Low ticket sales – well looking at that line-up, there is some good stuff on there. There is also some bad stuff on there – to the extent that I was only discussing getting a weekend ticket if I got a new job (and still ended up opting for Hellfest). So, I completely find it believable that the line-up just wasn’t good enough to convince people to part with £200 at this stage. Sonisphere has booked some epic festivals, and I do believe had it not been cancelled that the line-up for the 2012 festival would have got much stronger as the undercard filled out. However, if they needed a good number of ticket sales up front, this was not the way to go about it. Even though they had some serious exclusives announced – well you either like them or you don’t. Some for me I didn’t mind but there was not one exclusive which really made me want to go (other than Faith No More...more on that later). Looking at low ticket sales though, I have to go back to the lateness of the announcement and the lack of communication from the festival to its potential punters. It would have been so easy to send out a public tweet or Facebook update saying “announcement is coming on 20th Feb...apologies for the lateness of it” or something like that. TL;DR – I can completely believe with how long it took them to announce this line-up, and actually what they announced, that they didn’t sell many tickets. I am hearing figures quoted between 5-10k tickets. That is shocking considering some of the acts on this line-up.

Financial Backing – There were rumours floating around that the festivals financial backers pulled out. Now, this could be linked to low ticket sales (investor see’s figures for sales and in a panic, pulls out). It could be linked to the global financial crisis which is still going on somewhat. That wouldn’t make a great deal of sense though as it ran when the crisis was worse. I guess the crisis could be to blame if you consider the financial backers performance as a company worsening. It is something I don’t really know about but I think if the financial backer has pulled out, it is more likely to be linked to low ticket sales.

Facilities – There was a rumour circulating that the whole festival was cancelled as they couldn’t get enough security to cover the event and they couldn’t get enough toilets. These two things were linked to the fact that 3 weeks after Sonisphere, the Olympics come to London. This one seemed slightly odd to me, to the point that I don’t think it’s true. Security could be issue I guess if the security companies have all been contracted by the Olympic organisers and have to receive special training beforehand. But even that sounds quite excessive. The toilets one sounds even more ridiculous on reflection. I’m sure if you weighed up the cost of cancelling bands; it would cost a hell of a lot less to ship portaloo’s in from another part of Europe/the world. I’m not sure about this one, but if this is the case then someone has seriously boobed. The Olympics were announced as coming to this country in July 2005. It is not like they snuck up on anyone. Glastonbury took this into account and extended the time in which they are “on” so that they would be “off” during the Olympics. Granted, Sonisphere announcing they were going to take a year off after 3 years would have been odd, but it would have been better than announcing a lot of stuff and then cancelling it.

The question on a lot of people’s lips now is this – can Sonisphere come back from this? Personally, I think it is going to be tough. I’ve touched on it already but the communication from the festival this year has been shocking and you just cannot get away with that in the 21st century and the age of social media. If they are going to come back, this needs to change. They will need to keep people as informed as they possibly can. The brand has not completely died across Europe, so there is a chance that the brand has a future in this country but I just don’t know if people will trust them. By people, I don’t just mean punters – I mean bands and agents. The fact it had to be cancelled in its fourth year is not a good thing. The best way for them to resolve the trust issue in my view is to re-launch Sonisphere UK in 2013 as a one day festival with 2 day camping. What they then need to do is book a very safe act that will sell tickets to not only play, but to curate the festival. Co-brand the festival with this big ticket selling band and rebuild trust. In my mind, I picture Iron Maiden on their Made in England tour being a perfect choice for this. Getting Maiden for this slot will sell tickets as it will be their only UK date on this new “history of” tour. They came very close to selling out Twickenham, which I heard was quoted at 65k people for a gig. That is what I also hear the crowd for gigs at Knebworth are. Book Iron Maiden for this slot and Sonisphere is back. If they go full out again, people might not trust them and they may be forced to cancel again. If it happens again – they are completely finished (assuming they aren’t already).

As a final point, I would be gutted if Sonisphere UK died because of this. Their booking choices really made people sit up a take notice (first comedian headlining an open air stage, booking Richard Cheese etc). The layout of the festival is almost perfect as well (I am a big fan of alternating stages). It was also nice to have two festivals competing for my money that was completely to my tastes (or really close) in this country. I have no problem going abroad but if it is in this country then why not hope for the best. I hope it can come back, but truthfully I don’t think it will. As a finally final point, I really hope that Faith No More announce a replacement date so they can visit these shores.

Petrol Is Flammable...

Don'tcha know?

Just wanted to post a quick blog about the petrol crisis that has been developing in this country over the last few days. The whole situation started a few days ago when it seemed like a petrol tanker drivers strike was inevitable. Cabinet minister Francis Maude publicly advised people to “fill up a jerry can” of fuel as a back up and the result of this is that people have gone nuts, causing a fuel shortage in certain areas.

This was a particularly silly thing for Maude to say in retrospect. I want that to be made clear before people say that I am unable to bash a member of the government. He made a mistake – there is no two ways about it. However, I feel in this case it is quite possible if he said nothing, then if there was a crisis later on as a result of a strike – he and the government would have been heavily bashed then. It is a case of “damned if you do, damned if you don’t”. I personally feel a more sensible idea would have been for the government to say that there is a possibility of a strike but there is no need to panic. Granted, in this day and age of sensationalist politics, such a statement may not have been possible (or may have been altered by the media to fit their agenda) but overall I think that would have been better.

Petrol stations have now been rammed pretty solidly for the last 2/3 days of people panicking. This is a slight over-reaction but it was bound to happen. A member of the New Labour government, last time there was discussions of a fuel tanker driver strike, not to panic buy and people still did. Collectively, people are going to panic about something like this. A person as an individual may be clever but collectively people are stupid. Anyway, I’ve witnessed a number of areas where it has been unsafe to drive because people have been joining queues. This is a direct result of what Maude said and for that, he should take some blame. In fact I will not retract what I have said to people when I have previously discussed this – I am quite surprised that Maude did not get sacked. However, the row over Maude and his future as a minister intensified after a news story broke today.

“A woman accidentally set fire to herself attempting to store petrol in her home amid fears of a national fuel shortage because of threatened strikes.
The woman, named locally as Diane Hill, 46, suffered 40% burns after the petrol caught fire in the kitchen of her home in York last night, fire-fighters said.
She was attempting to decant the fuel from one container to another using a jug.” (Sky News)

When I heard this story this morning I thought “oh dear” and wondered how it happened. I also wondered why she was doing it in the kitchen and wondered how smart of a move that was. A Labour Peer has come out and said as a direct result of this, Maude should resign/get sacked as he is to blame for this woman getting burned. It is a fairly weak, bordering on pathetic suggestion. Yes, Francis Maude suggested you get extra fuel if you can. He said to get a jerry can and keep it in the boot of the car. As I understand it, most people carry a little tank (metal or plastic) of petrol in the boot of their car anyway in case of an emergency. A government spokesman has since said that Maude may not have realised how big a jerry can was (I now understand a jerry can to be 20l, whereas some people may keep 1/2/5l in the back of their car). Maude sparked people rushing to petrol stations in my view which is bad. I don’t think he can be blamed however for someone choosing to decant petrol in their own home. But hold on a second. Petrol doesn’t just set on fire by itself. So, how did this fire start?

Sky's North of England correspondent Gerard Tubb, in York, said: "Ms Hill was tipping petrol from a plastic petrol container for which she did not have a spout into the jug because her daughter, in her late teens or early 20s, needed petrol for her car.
"The vapour from the petrol in the open-topped jug was ignited by the gas cooker which was on.”

....she had a naked flame in her kitchen while she was decanting fuel from a plastic petrol container into an open jug. How is this Francis Maude’s fault? The woman in question, Ms Hill, is entirely to blame here. I will be blunt with this, but she is a fucking moron.

1. Why was she decanting petrol in her kitchen?
2. Why was she decanting petrol into an open top jug (rather than a more suitable container)
3. Why did her daughter, who she was giving the petrol to, need the petrol that badly?
4. WHY DID SHE DECANT PETROL INTO AN OPEN CONTAINER WHEN THERE WAS A NAKED FLAME IN THE SAME ROOM?!

These are all things which place the blame squarely at the feet of Ms Hill in this scenario. Yes, the fact she suffered 40% burns is a sad story. But this story would fit in perfectly as an honourable mention in the Darwin Awards (which if you don’t know what they are...look them up!) People who are blaming Francis Maude for this woman not knowing that petroleum is flammable are simply anti-Tory, or against this coalition government. The suggestion that Maude should resign because this woman is a moron is laughable.

By the way, the potential petrol tanker drivers strike has been delayed. Return to your homes people, there is no crisis!