Review: Sonisphere 2014

I went to Knebworth for the first time since 2011 to go to two days of the Sonisphere festival. I didn’t go for the full weekend as I opted to see Black Sabbath in London over The Prodigy. I had two day tickets and didn’t camp, so I shouldn’t be able to talk about the campsites, but am able to. Basically they were the same as they ever were. I thought it was odd that after getting my ticket checked, I could walk through the campsite. Surely that just increases the risk of thefts at the festival? I don’t know for sure, but I would have thought it would have done. Upon arriving at the festival, I noticed aside from some minor changes, the layout was much the same as it was in 2011. I was very okay with this as I think for a festival the size of Sonisphere; they have a great festival layout. I would prefer the main stage to be at the bottom of a larger gradual decline rather than a small decline and then hilly ground so that some people don’t have a clear view of the stage further back but aside from that, I have no complaints. I had forgotten how much of a hill the second stage was proved quite useful at times. The main problem I had with the organisation of the festival was that afterwards, coaches were used as shuttle buses. Now, while there isn’t much of a distance between Knebworth House and Stevenage Railway Station, I do think double-decker buses would clear any queues quicker than using coaches.

SATURDAY

Sonisphere is a music festival (despite the person who runs the official twitter saying today that bands aren’t the most important part of a weekend festival such as Sonisphere...) and it seems appropriate to review the bands. This day was about seeing several of my favourite bands but also witnessing a recreation of a World War One Dogfight in the skies with replica planes from the era. Opening the Apollo stage this year was a band called Tesseract (6), who were a good way to kick off the day. I think I’m right in saying this was the first show following the news that the original vocalist had rejoined the band. I liked what I heard from Tesseract in their short opening set on main stage this day. How Sonisphere works is that no band clashes on their two open air stages (and their two smaller tented stages) so it was time to head over to the Saturn stage for a band who I love to see live. Alestorm (8) once again did not disappoint. Other than a few minor sound problems, they were really quite good. They played their new song Drink during this set which sounded excellent (if the rest of their upcoming album is as good as this song, then there is real reason to be excited about it). They only had a 30 minute set but they did as well as could be done in that slot. Hopefully their UK tour and new album will see them on the rise in this country – with live performances like that, they deserve it.

After Alestorm, had finished, I headed over to the Bohemia tent. Walking in that direction was like walking into a tidal wave of people walking the other way. It seems as though people were interested to see how the band on main stage would go down. I personally have no interest in Babymetal though and therefore didn’t want to watch them. Instead, I went to the Bohemia stage and watched a band I’ve never heard of before called Calling All Cars (9). They had a fairly small crowd as a direct result of clashing with Babymetal but this didn’t bother them in the slightest (or if it did, they didn’t make it obvious). Small crowd or not, they played a stunning set. As I said, I’d never heard of them before seeing them and I thought they were fantastic. The tent got progressively busier as the set went on which I thought was cool as the performance this band put out deserved to be heard by a packed out tent rather than a half full one. After they finished, it was back to the open air stages. It seems Sonisphere booked the novelty acts for the festival back to back on the open air stages this time around. Following Babymetal was Chas and Dave (7). I was expecting to go along to this set and have a bit of a laugh as well as a few cringes but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I’m not sure I could watch a full 90 minute headline show but for the 35 minutes they were on stage, they were great! Talking of gimmicks, I headed back to main stage after Chas and Dave to watch Ghost (7). I’d never seen them before and to be honest, never really listened to them. I liked what I heard them play, which is always a bonus. I couldn’t work out though when looking at the screen if the singer was actually moving his mouth (when singing or talking for that matter). Still, it was a decent set. After they finished I headed back to the second stage to watch The Winery Dogs (5), or at least that was the plan. What actually transpired was I sat down quite far back and was talking about the rugby world cup coming to England next year and not really paying the band much attention after the first couple of songs. I thought what I heard was alright, mind!

If anyone has read my musings on the Wacken festival announcements, you will know my feelings on them constantly booking the same “house” bands. Sonisphere Knebworth does the same thing with certain bands. 2014 was the 4^th Sonisphere festival to take place at Knebworth House, and over these four festivals, Anthrax (8) have played 5 times (including twice this year). I was a bit gutted to miss their Friday night show where they played Among The Living in full, but I was elsewhere (you can read where I was by clicking here). Anthrax put on a really good set although at this stage, once you’ve seen one Anthrax festival set, you’ve seen them all (just checked to see if that statement was accurate and yes, all 7 of the songs they played at Soni this year were in the set they played at Wacken last year). I’d like to see a full headline show from Anthrax to see if they would mix up the setlist a bit. After them was something a bit heavier in the form of Carcass (7). They were one of my highlights from Wacken 2008 and I was really looking forward to seeing them on an open air stage again. They didn’t quite capture the magic of that day but they were still really good. The set was mostly made up of songs from their latest album Surgical Steel which isn’t a bad thing as the album is really good. It was also cool to see them bring out Ken Owen to say hello. I’m not sure if he goes on the road with them full time but it is really cool they haven’t just forgotten about him after he suffered a brain haemorrhage. After Carcass had finished, I headed to the front of the main stage for one of the main reasons why I had decided to buy a Saturday ticket – Frank Turner and The Sleeping Souls (10). You will note the double figure next to the name there - that is completely justified for what was one of the best sets of the weekend. Frank and his band played a set which had the crowd dancing, singing, smiling and generally just enjoying themselves for 45 minutes. The length of the set being the only negative to take away from his set as it should have been longer. I do believe that headlining major festivals is not too far away for Frank Turner and The Sleeping Souls. Given his relationship with the festivals, I would imagine he’ll headline Reading and Leeds festivals first but I can easily see him headlining a Download or Sonisphere festival one day (quite possibly Isle of Wight as well). The Jagermeister stage was my next destination and the plan was to catch a bit of Stampin’ Ground (6) before getting a bite to eat. I have given them a 6 which to me indicates their set was alright. I’m sure that number would have been higher if I could have got in the tent (I later learned there were other entrances). However, after the dancing that occurred during Frank Turner’s set, it was nice to be sat down. This feeling of sitting down was replicated and improved upon after Stampin’ Ground had finished because I sat watching Hundred Reasons (6) on the Saturn stage for a brief moment (2 or 3 songs I think but I can’t remember – was good though) whilst eating GBK. I don’t know who said “let’s bring GBK to festivals”, but that person deserves a sturdy handshake (at the very least, possibly even a pat on the back as well).

Post-GBK, it was time to move again (sadly). However the cause was good, as the next destination was the Satellite stage for an excellent live band. Got there really too early though and saw that The Lounge Kittens were still on stage and playing their cover of Limp Bizkit’s Rollin’. I would like to stay I stuck around for more than a verse and a chorus but the World War One Dogfight had started and I wanted to watch that more. Being by the Satellite stage for this seemed to be a great position to be in as most of the action appeared to take place right by us. It was a short display but it was really cool all the same. After this had finished, all the cool kids headed into the Satellite stage to watch Eureka Machines (10). I saw this band for the first time last year supporting The Wildhearts and this was my 8^th time seeing them. They have never disappointed me with their live show. Much like when they played Camden Rocks festival at the end of May, they smashed through their short set with songs that covered all 3 of their albums. They played a blinding set on this day and are deserving of a 10/10 rating – it would be cool to see them play more festivals and getting more fans. I left that tent with a huge grin and took a spot on the hill in preparation for the next band on. Deftones did their level best to remove that smile from my face but they didn’t succeed (I’m not a fan so I didn’t go and watch them – I made the right call). Next up for me was Slayer (8) who have a reputation for being hit or miss at festivals. This was the 4^th time I’d be seeing them at a festival and I thankfully have seen them be good more times than not. This was another one of those occasions where they were good. I liked the setlist and the performance was good. Oddly enough, it was good enough to convince me to not see them next month at Wacken (they clash with another band I really want to see) – strange how that works really. At the end of their set, they played Angel of Death and paid tribute to Jeff Hanneman, the former Slayer guitarist who passed away last year. That was a really classy move by them to pay tribute to him (I’m sure they have done it at all their gigs since, but it was cool to see).

After Slayer had finished, I headed off to the main stage to watch the Saturday headliner which in this case was Iron Maiden (9). What can be said about Iron Maiden that hasn’t already been said? They were closing out the second European leg of the Maiden England tour (in fact, this was the final date of the whole tour). UFO – Doctor Doctor played and the overall excitement level in the crowd was noticeably higher. After the introduction video, the band launched into Moonchild and showed from the off that they were in top form on this night. This level of performance continued throughout the entire set, matching if not bettering their headline set from last year at Download. The setlist was altered from the first leg of the tour and was one song shorter, but it was still excellent. Taking that into account, you might be wondering if you had read that review (and previous reviews) why I have only scored them a 9/10? It has absolutely nothing to do with the performance of the band. I give these scores based on my own enjoyment and unfortunately, I was unable to enjoy this set as much as I’d hoped to due to an earlier digestion issue requiring me to leave main stage (I’m pretty sure no-one wants the details of that, so I won’t go into specifics, but it did mean needing to listen to several songs from the inside of a toilet). Anyway, when I came back they were still on top form. They closed out the tour with style. I’m not sure what is next for them but I hope it involves releasing another album. Iron Maiden, with performances like that, will continue to headline festivals all round the world until they decide to call it a day - which hopefully won’t be for a while yet.

Band Ratings:

Tesseract – 6
Alestorm – 8
Calling All Cars – 9
Chas and Dave – 7
Ghost – 7
The Winery Dogs – 5
Anthrax – 8
Carcass – 7
Frank Turner and The Sleeping Souls – 10
Stampin’ Ground – 6
Hundred Reasons – 6
The Lounge Kittens - NR
Eureka Machines  -10
Slayer – 8
Iron Maiden – 9

SUNDAY

Walked to the arena through the campsite (this shouldn’t be able to happen!) and waited at the main stage for the opening act. I noted that we were getting closer and closer to the start time and it didn’t look as though the day would be starting on time (this is one major issue with the way Sonisphere structures their festival - if one of the main stages is running late, it has a real impact on the rest of the day). Anyway, when Gojira (6) did eventually take to the stage, they were good. I didn’t stick around for much of their set as I wanted a bite to eat before watching anything else but what I did see was good. The late running of the main stage and my desire to head to the Satellite stage after food meant missing out on seeing Protest the Hero, which was a shame. However, over on the Satellite stage was a band I discovered at Camden Rocks festival, The Hype Theory (8). They had a really good set which seemed a tad more energetic than the Camden Rocks performance (this could be due to playing on a stage rather than the floor of a pub, I dunno though). The set ended with beach balls and other inflatable’s being battered around the tent which was cool. One minor clash had already happened as watching The Hype Theory meant missing a big chunk of the Devin Townsend Project’s (7) set. However, because things were running late, I got to see more of it than I had planned, which was cool. Devin is an excellent front man – this was proven when I saw him perform at Download 2006 and again on this day – he just has a gift for it. I think there is a chance that he is as mad as a box of frogs, but that is just a part of his genius. I’ve never really listened to much of DTP’s music but I now want to listen to more after this set. He announced on stage he will be bringing a show “involving puppets” to the Royal Albert Hall in April. How can that not be amazing?

A lot of this day would be spent in the smaller stages of Sonisphere, and after Devin had finished, I headed back to the Satellite stage to watch The Bots (4). I would like to be able to tell you more about them other than they make some good noise for a two-piece band. However I can’t because I sat down to watch them and fell to sleep, waking up and realising I’d missed at least one song. It is always awkward when that happens. After they finished I rocked over to the Jagermeister stage to watch Krokodil (6). Before they came on stage, the front man of Mastodon walked in front of me to head to the mixing desk of the Jager stage. I’m not a fan of Mastodon, but it was cool to see him just walking around the site. Anyway, Krokodil were really quite good. I didn’t know anything by them before they came on (other than a few clips that I heard on Spotify) but I liked what I heard. There was one moment where the lead singer squealed almost like a pig and it gave me Job For A Cowboy flashbacks, but the least said about them the better. The guitarist from Krokodil said he had 10 minutes to get across the site to play with his other band, Gallows (7), on the Bohemia stage. That was exactly my plan for when Krokodil finished. I was really looking forward to Gallows considering how good they were at BST, but on this day there was something missing. I didn’t think they had as good sound at Sonisphere as they did at BST (although that could well have been due to my standing position). They were once again really good but I just think they were better at BST. Watching Gallows meant missing the beginning of Reel Big Fish (8), which was a shame but I decided this was okay as RBF were playing a headline show in Portsmouth just after Sonisphere so it wasn’t the end of the world missing some of their set. For the record, their headline show in Portsmouth was one of the most fun gigs I’ve been to in a long time. Anyway, what I saw on stage at Sonisphere was excellent! I had no desire to watch Mastodon on main stage and so I was left with a choice between two bands I’d seen before. I decided to go with the one I saw at Wacken in 2011 and see Sweet Savage (9). This was a great decision as they were pretty damn good. Most of their set was newer material but they did play a couple of classic tracks (including the song Metallica covered on their Garage Inc album, Killing Time) and closed out with a song they said Metallica would be playing later, Whiskey In The Jar. I was chuffed they played it as I like the song and was already looking forward to hearing Metallica play it later on in the night. The lead singer of Sweet Savage thanked Metallica for inviting them to play the festival. I had no idea they had done that, so that was cool.

I headed out to one of the main stages to catch Dropkick Murphys (8) who were really good. I think in all honesty, the only way I could have enjoyed that set more was if they played Worker’s Song (which I’ve just seen didn’t feature in their short UK tour setlists either). I need to see these guys at one of their headline shows though; I imagine that would be a great gig. After Dropkicks finished, it was time for me to head to the Bohemia stage for the last time of this festival to watch The Bronx (8) who the Sonisphere bookers rather cruelly clashed with both Alice in Chains and Anti-Nowhere League. The Bronx had a really good set I thought but then that should hardly come as a surprise as they are a really good band. I’m pretty sure they over-ran so I left during what now turns out to have been their last song and pay a visit to the GBK truck. Seriously, whoever came up with that idea, great bunch of lads/lasses. The powers that be putting the price of the food up on the last day was sneaky, but I’ll live with it. I then strolled back over to the Jagermeister stage after some debate as to who to make the festival sub-headliner to watch Raging Speedhorn (7). I learned two things by making this decision. Firstly, I had no idea that they had two lead vocalists and secondly, they are very heavy live. I really enjoyed the set. I cut it short so I could go and take a spot at main stage but I really enjoyed what I heard of them.

After deciding on a spot in front of the main stage, and then changing my mind, I took a spot slightly further back with a better view. There were people all around in a partying sort of mood (including two guys who seemed a tad drunk constantly doing football chants). After a slight wait, it was time for Metallica (10): By Request. I love Metallica and I love watching them live. This set was the 11^th time I’d seen them live and it was one of the best. I seem to say that almost every time after seeing them play but it is the truth. I knew we were in for a setlist of greatest hits, plus Whiskey in the Jar and a new song but that didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the set in the slightest. They were fantastic on this day and the absolute highlight of my festival. I did a blog previewing the By Request setlist and I was slightly off in my setlist prediction but not by much. The opening of Battery into Master of Puppets opened up a mosh pit directly in front of me which made the gig a bit livelier. As happy as I was to hear old favourites performed live (as well as the new song, Lords of Summer, which I thought was great), I was really looking forward to one moment in the set and that came as the first song of the encore when Metallica played their cover of Whiskey In The Jar. I absolutely love their version of the song and live, it did not disappoint. After Whiskey, it was time for the Vote of the Day song, and the song I voted for, And Justice For All, won. I was chuffed with that as it is an excellent song (not that The Four Horseman and Wherever I May Roam aren’t excellent mind). Whiskey into And Justice, oh my! They concluded the set with Seek and Destroy (as per) and I left Sonisphere a happy man. Metallica made all the agro worthwhile, and I hope they come back to the UK soon. I thought they sounded good on the Glastonbury stream, but getting to experience it in person is a different animal entirely.

Band Ratings:

Gojira – 6
The Hype Theory – 8
Devin Townsend Project – 7
The Bots – 4
Krokodil – 6
Gallows – 7
Reel Big Fish – 8
Sweet Savage – 9
Dropkick Murphys – 8
The Bronx – 8
Raging Speedhorn – 7
Metallica - 10

And that in a nutshell (sort of) was my Sonisphere festival. It was a good one. I’m not planning on doing a weekend festival again next year, but I’d certainly consider coming to Sonisphere again for the day (especially if they run late trains back to London again!)

Review: British Summer Time Festival - Black Sabbath

Over the next few weekends, AEG are putting on their festival in a day type events called British Summer Time and covering a variety of musical genres in their bills. I was at one of these events recently to watch Black Sabbath and others. Before talking about the bands and giving them ratings, I wanted to make a comment on the event itself. Firstly, they probably need to review their bar prices (I don’t tend to drink at these events, but there is no way I will be tempted to by charging £5+ a pint). That being said, the bars were busy all day so maybe people are okay with being ripped off. I also think they need to sort out their food stalls. It seemed as though everything had a big queue, which isn’t good. They also had a few stalls I’ve never seen at a festival before, which was kinda cool (Old El Paso food van is the one that sticks out in my mind). My final comment on the event would be to change the position of the stage. The stage seemed to be facing off-centre, which was odd. Move it back and don’t have it be off centre. I have no idea why there was such a large area behind the stage, but it seemed unnecessary. Anyway, that is all I have to say about the event for now. I’m considering a blog where I discuss the future of the weekend festival and the decline of the giant festival headliner and these series of events would feature heavily as a potential future model.

This is a live music event, so I should probably discuss that now. When this line up was announced, I knew I would be spending most of the day in front of the main stage as I wanted to watch all of the bands that had been announced for it. I had hoped to make it in for Soulfly but due to me not wanting to pay more money for the room, I checked in at 2pm and I had 45mins to get out the room and get across London. I made an effort to do it (I think they were just finishing their set as I arrived at Hyde Park, which was a shame). I wasn’t overly heartbroken about missing them as I’d seen them before a few times and I think they are better indoors than on a big open air stage. The first band I did see was Motorhead (6) and while I enjoyed them, I couldn’t help but wonder how much longer Lemmy has left of being able to perform. The set was a standard Motorhead set full of their biggest hits (aside from the inclusion of Lost Woman Blues from their latest album which surprised me). It seemed from the off that Lemmy was struggling with the singing portion of the set and after just 4 complete songs, Mikkey Dee did a lengthy drum solo. While this is generally impressive to watch, it was concerning that it happened so early on in the set. I couldn’t help but think maybe it is time for Lemmy to wind down performing. I’m sure if he announced one off shows in the UK, US etc, he could sell out big rooms and say goodbye from the stage. Huge Motorhead shows with a ton of guests? That would be a great way for Lemmy to sign off what has been a long and legendary career. On this day, it was great to see Lemmy back on the stage after what happened at Wacken 2013, but maybe the health problems of 2013/early 2014 and that Wacken set should have made Lemmy think about calling it a day. I would prefer that I think rather than watch Lemmy struggle on through for years to come.

Next up on stage was the band I was most looking forward to (if I’m honest) and that was Faith No More (10). They had questionable sound at times but I wrote that off to it being an open air gig and that happens from time to time. The band was just excellent and Mike Patton was on top form vocally. The set was packed with great songs including a new one they performed. Does this mean a new album is on the way? I sure hope so! During FNM, someone tapped me on the shoulder and told me I had dropped a tampon that was on the floor by my foot. He and his friends found this hilarious. I can only assume these people are the same kind of twat that finds it funny to shout “ALAN!” and “BUTTSCRATCHER!” at a festival – these people are just awful people. I no-sold the “joke” and returned my attention to main stage. Writing what I have here has given this incident way more attention than it actually deserves, but sometimes, people need to be told when they are being twats. Anyway, Faith No More were incredible and played everything I wanted to hear (Ricochet aside) including We Care A Lot which made me very happy as I had to leave their 2011 Hammersmith gig early and missed them performing that song. After Faith No More, I went to get a bite to eat (which is when I discovered all the big queues). After eventually finding something I considered worth queuing for (I was wrong), I headed back to main stage. While I was queuing though, there was a small open air stage nearby where Blitz Kids (7) were on stage. Never really checked them out (despite having plenty of opportunities) but after what I heard on this day, I am definitely interested in hearing more about them. I notice they are coming to my home town as a support band on a Reading festival warm up show – can’t justify that ticket just to see them which is a shame.

Back on the main stage was a band I was really looking forward to seeing (perhaps not as much as Black Sabbath and Faith No More). Soundgarden (8) are one of those bands who I had never really listened to much of their stuff. Of the stuff I had heard, I was 50/50 on whether I liked it or not. They do have some absolute belters though and I was hoping to hear some of them live before having to depart for a side stage. They came on stage and announced that probably for the final time, they would be playing their album, Superunknown in full. This got a huge cheer from the crowd but unfortunately the magnitude of this announcement was somewhat lost on me. A quick Google later and I found out some of my favourite Soundgarden material was on this album and I would get to hear it, so I was very happy with that. I genuinely think if I’d known Superunknown was going to be played before they announced it on stage, I would have been able to research more and then enjoy the set more as I’d be more familiar with the material. That aside, they were excellent on this day and only don’t get a higher mark because I was sat down enjoying them and had to leave early to go and catch a band playing on the Village Hall stage. I think though on the back of this performance, I’d be tempted to go to a Soundgarden headline show if a tour was announced.

I will make one comment about the Village Hall stage – it is fucking dark in there! I have no idea why but that was just stupid. Aside from the lighting issue, I thought it was cool they essentially had a pop-up gig venue essentially as a side stage (as opposed to tents like you see at most other festivals). I was at this stage to see the headlining band, Gallows (9) for the first time since Wade MacNeil took over vocal duties. Gallows ripped the Village Hall a new one with this set – they were just fantastic. I was intrigued to see how well older Gallows material would be handled. The answer to that is very well as they belted out In The Belly of a Shark and Orchestra of Wolves. I had decided to give them a miss at Sonisphere as I was seeing them at this festival, but they were so good I decided to see them again 2 days later. I’m hoping when their new album comes out, they do a full tour of the UK as I’d love to see them again. After leaving the Village Hall (carefully I might add – did I mention it was dark in there?), I headed back to main stage to take a spot for the day’s headliner. However before doing this, I noticed Turbowolf (7) were finishing their headline spot on the Summer Stage. I haven’t heard much Turbowolf but what I heard here was great. I didn’t get to hear much but I was left wanting to hear more after this brief introduction to them. Walking back round to main stage, on another little stage (I guess, there had been a DJ there most of the day) was now an act called The Cuban Brothers. They did an almost Samba version of Ace Of Spades as I was there which was kinda cool. One of the band members being a tight morph suit was a tad disturbing mind. No rating as I didn’t stay for the whole of the song but it sounded interesting. If they had a full band playing the music rather than a DJ, I can see one of their gigs being a lot of fun.

The headliner for the day was Black Sabbath (10) and I was excited but nervous at the same time. I remember seeing them at Download 2012 and they were immense that day. I hoped they wouldn’t put in a poor show (in all honesty, my main concern was Ozzy’s voice, after seeing him put in a not-so stellar headline set at Wacken 2011). Those concerns were dashed within a few songs as the band was on top form. War Pigs was a good choice as a set opener and got the crowd singing along. Ozzy did his usual “I can’t hear you” antics after and during most of the songs which did get irritating after a while. I have no real complaints about the set though if pushed to make a decision, I would say they were better at Download. Ozzy’s voice was spot on at Hyde Park and the band were on top form. However they did do a shorter headline set and we were treated to a long drum solo after/during the song Rat Salad (much like when Ozzy headlined Wacken 2011). The major difference between this set and the one from Download is that this one contained two songs from their latest album, 13. Both songs were well received and reminded me how much I did like the album. All in all, I was very happy with the headline set and even a late rain shower didn’t put a dampener on what had been an excellent day.   

Band Ratings:

Motorhead – 6
Faith No More – 10
Blitz Kids – 7
Soundgarden – 8
Gallows – 9
Turbowolf - 7
The Cuban Brothers – NR
Black Sabbath - 10

Metallica By Request

June 19^th has been and gone. That day might not mean much to some people (in fact I’d wager there are a fair few football fans in England who might want to pretend that nothing ever happened on this day) but to Sonisphere ticket holders, this day meant something. This was the day that voting closed on the Metallica By Request set list voting. When I bought my day tickets, I voted for the 17 of 18 songs I wanted to hear them play (the 18^th being a new song called Lords of Summer). Only one of the 17 songs I voted for ended up in the top 17, which was a shame. Across the board, there have been very few “rarer” songs that have been voted for. While there has been the odd occasional surprise in some of Metallica’s set lists this year, most of the songs that have been played you would expect to be played at any Metallica show. One of the big surprises has been the very first live performance of The Frayed Ends Of Sanity being voted for in Helsinki (I may have priced up flights). I’m not complaining about the lack of surprises in these set lists. I had hoped there would be more, but bands have most popular songs, and these songs are the ones which got the most votes. I’m going to see Metallica at Sonisphere Knebworth, and this is what has been chosen (in order of the % of votes they received). At the end, there will be 3 songs which will have VOTD next to them – I’ll explain that later.

1. Master of Puppets (65%)

2. For Whom The Bell Tolls (58%)

3. One (56%)

4. Fade To Black (49%)

5. Battery (49%)

6. Seek And Destroy (49%)

7. Enter Sandman (47%)

8. Nothing Else Matters (44%)

9. Welcome Home (Sanitarium) (43%)

10. Creeping Death (40%)

11. Sad But True (39%)

12. Ride The Lightning (38%)

13. Whiskey In The Jar (38%)

14. The Unforgiven (38%)

15. Blackened (36%)

16. Fuel (35%)

17. The Four Horsemen (32%) VOTD

18. Wherever I May Roam (32%) VOTD

19. ...And Justice For All (31%) VOTD

VOTD means Vote Of The Day. I’m not 100% certain how it is going to work other than the songs that finished 17^th, 18^th and 19^th go into a separate vote on the day of the gig and whichever song wins is played as the 17^th song that day. Like I said, I’ve no idea how it works, it could be by texting I guess which might explain why at a festival of over 100,000 people, less than 3,000 votes were cast at Rock AM Ring – they are the only people who could get phone signal! If I had to make a choice regarding the Vote Of The Day song for Knebworth, I would vote for ...And Justice For All. I like all 3 songs that are available so I don’t mind which way it goes, but I’ve only seen that song live twice before (just realised as I looked it up, I’ve only seen Four Horseman twice before as well, oh well). The question on nobody’s lips at this point is which the 1 song is that I voted for that made it to the top 17. Well, I can reveal that the song I voted for that made it is Metallica’s cover of Whiskey In The Jar. I am stoked that I will be seeing this song live – I was prepared to fly to Dublin to see Metallica live just to I could hear this song performed. I am quite glad I don’t have to do that now (as that really wouldn’t have been cheap). One thing I have observed is that aside from one song from the 17 we voted for, Knebworth and Rock AM Ring will have identical set lists. For that reason, I believe on the day, Metallica’s set list will look something like this

Battery
Master of Puppets
Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
Ride The Lightning
The Unforgiven
Creeping Death
Lords Of Summer
Sad But True
Fade To Black
Fuel
One
For Whom The Bell Tolls
Whiskey In The Jar
Nothing Else Matters
Enter Sandman
-----------------------------------------------
Blackened
Vote Of The Day
Seek And Destroy


Metallica play Sonisphere Knebworth in 2 weeks from today, and I can’t bloody wait! 

Download Festival 2014 - A Review

It seems almost wrong to be writing a festival review after swearing off festivals for 2014. In previous posts to this very page, it has been well established that me saying I won’t be doing festivals this year is just nonsense. It has to be the case for 2015 because of the Rugby World Cup coming to this country and I want to be at as many games as I can be. Anyway, Download 2014 has been and gone and it was a great weekend. Usually I start a review of a festival with the arrival day but there isn’t much to say. I worked during the day, went up to Derby after work and checked into the hotel. As the checking in process was taking place, we got a warning about being drunk and rowdy, which I guess is fair enough considering they had guests who weren’t attending Download and didn’t want drunken festival goers pissing off the guests who just wanted a decent night’s sleep. After checking in and getting settled, went for a stroll around the area to discover a nearby Sainsburys and McDonalds which would prove useful and returned to drink a few cans of Lech before going to bed.

Friday
 
Band Ratings:

Tax The Heat - 7/10 
Crossfaith - 7/10 
Powerman 5000 - 5/10 
Skindred - 10/10 
The Temperance Movement - 7/10 
Within Temptation - 9/10 
Flogging Molly - 9/10 
Bad Religion - 10/10 
The Offspring - 10/10 

The first day of Download kicked off with a visit to the previously mentioned McDonalds for breakfast and Sainsburys for some hotel room supplies. After that it was off to the shuttle bus (but not before wading through what seemed like an endless sea of midges) and off to Download. The drive there was unremarkable other than a few cars driving in front of the bus really slow. The walk from the shuttle bus drop off to the festival arena is fairly long but actually not as long as I remember. The entrance to the arena was done up with old instruments and car parts which looked really cool. The first band of the day was Tax The Heat, who were a really good start to the day. After them, it was off to the main stage to watch the next 3 bands on there. I caught the very end of Miss May I’s set which was cool to see them play but it wasn’t enough to give them a band rating. Crossfaith were next on and I was interested to see how they would do on a big open air stage. I had previously seen them in a small tent at Reading Festival and with questionable sound quality in Southampton. I wondered if their sound (a fusion of dance and metal) would work open air. I can confirm that it did – they were very good and didn’t look out of place up there. They had excellent stage presence. The next band on, Powerman 5000, did not fare so well on the main stage. I enjoyed their set to a degree but found myself bored at times during their set. I also felt their set would have been more enjoyable had it taken place in a tent. Skindred followed them on main stage and they proved once again they are a big stage band. They were outstanding. They picked a great setlist to play and along with some great banter and some very memorable moments (including getting the crowd involved in what must be one of the first heavy metal Harlem Shake’s and the Newport Helicopter), Skindred were on top form. With a couple more albums under their belt, they would make a great stage headliner – they already have the great live show element sorted – if they released an album which was universally accepted, they could be huge. I hope it happens as I really like them and love seeing them live.

The Temperance Movement were next band I saw over on the second stage. Before them though, I managed to see the last few minutes of The Answer which was cool. Back to Temperance Movement though, I didn’t so much watch them as lie down off to the side of the crowd and listen to them. They were ace and it was a really chilled out set. After they finished I popped back round to the main stage to watch Within Temptation. They were really very good and had an ace stage show. Their set made me regret not going to see them when they played Wembley Arena earlier this year. Closing their set with Ice Queen, it was by far the most enjoyable of the times I have seen them live. The second stage is where I would close out the day and before the festival, this was one of the runs of bands I was most looking forward to. Flogging Molly was first on in this run and they were predictably excellent. They were just a great live band. After they finished I headed down the front for Bad Religion. I missed them at Sonisphere 2011 and haven’t had the chance to see them since. Their set was just a ridiculous amount of fun. No theatrics needed – just the band coming out and playing their brand of punk rock. They easily could have headlined the stage but that responsibility was given to The Offspring this year. They were celebrating the anniversary of their album Smash by playing it in full. I had given it a listen through before the festival and enjoyed it but live it was so much better. Ending their Smash run through by playing Self Esteem last, they then played a short best of set which was excellent. All of the songs had everyone around singing and dancing along and just made for a great atmosphere.


Saturday

Band Ratings:  

Dying Fetus - 7/10 
Fozzy - 7/10 
Bury Tomorrow - 8/10 
Colt 45 - 7/10 
While She Sleeps - 7/10
Enemo-J – 5/10
Bowling For Soup - 9/10 
Killswitch Engage - 8/10 
Monster Magnet - 6/10 
The Wildhearts - 10/10 
Twisted Sister - 10/10
Malevolence – 6/10
Ginger Wildheart - 9/10 
The Howling - 7/10 
Linkin Park (for Hybrid Theory) - 10/10


Saturday started off for me with a visit to Delikate for a bacon sandwich with eggy bread. My word that was some good eating. Music wise Saturday kicked off with one of the surprise packages of the festival for me. I’m not a big fan of death metal. There has been some I’ve liked and some I haven’t. When I first listened to Dying Fetus, they fell into the category of a band I didn’t like. However, I made the decision to see them as I wasn’t really into the band who opened the second stage either and figured both of the tents would be packed for a glimpse of whatever Iceman Thesis turned out to be. Their set was short but really quite good. The band mentioned the #whynotdyingfetus campaign that got them booked, which was cool. One downside of their set for me was not knowing the lyrics so couldn’t partake in any sing-along’s (heh...) I can’t say I’ll be rushing out to buy their discography, but I did enjoy their set. Speaking of enjoyable sets, I thought the next band up on main stage, Fozzy, also had a good set. Kicking off with two songs from their forthcoming new album, they looked comfortable up on the big stage. I will say I thought their set list choice overall was very good (although closing on a cover song I did think was a bit odd – nowt wrong with playing it but still). After Fozzy was Bury Tomorrow – a band whose name I’ve seen on a number of festival line ups but have never got round to seeing. Despite originally planning to catch some of Chevelle and then the end of Bury Tomorrow, I decided instead to watch all of Bury Tomorrow and it was a decision I did not regret. I suspect the security weren’t best impressed when they asked for about a 1000 people to crowdsurf over the barrier during their final song, Lionheart. I however left their set very impressed with them.

I managed to catch the last two songs of Colt 45 after Bury Tomorrow, which I was quite pleased about for two reasons. I missed them at Camden Rocks a couple of weeks earlier which was annoying (I can’t remember who they clashed with now). However, the main reason I was pleased with this is that they sounded great! I was back at main stage for While She Sleeps, who also had a good set. I had to walk off during their set (nature called) and I ended up watching a bit of Enemo-J on the acoustic side stage. I’m not sure they work as an acoustic band, but their cover of OPM (remember them?) Heaven Is A Halfpipe was cool. I headed back to the main stage for the remainder of While She Sleeps, who were remarkably better when I wasn’t considering whether I needed to visit a toilet or not. When they finished I moved much closer to the main stage to watch a band that until this point, I had not seen live for reasons I can’t quite explain. Bowling For Soup have a bit of a reputation for having a really fun live show and on this day they did not disappoint. Coupled with a really good setlist were several antics that were quite memorable including a knight coming on stage to sacrifice their 9ft inflatable sheep and the Bowling For Soup photo opportunity (which made me think back to the classic Edge and Christian 5 second poses). This set made me regret not going to one of their headline shows when they have toured the UK but no matter, I have seen them live now. I dropped further back in the crowd for Killswitch Engage as I knew I was changing stages once they had finished. I was intrigued to see how much I would enjoy them with their original vocalist (having missed the February tour through illness and only seeing them once before when Howard was the vocalist). It has to be said that they were great and had I been closer, I’m sure I would have enjoyed the set even more than I did (that being said, I saw them from quite a distance last time but that was at night and they had a pretty cool light show with them). The new material sounds great live and the older stuff just as good. I was pleasantly surprised to hear them play This Fire Burns (I have no idea if they play that all the time or not). The song is one I became aware of thanks to WWE (two wrestling references in a row) and is a belter of a tune.

After Killswitch, I headed round to the second stage for another short run of bands but one I was seriously looking forward to before the festival. Monster Magnet was on first of this run and they were certainly enjoyable, although I was lying down during their set and may have drifted off to sleep at one point (not because they were boring I should stress). One of my favourite bands was on next and I was able to get 3 rows from the front for them, which was cool. It was time for The Wildhearts and I knew this set wouldn’t be bad. One thing I did wonder about would be the size of the crowd they would get, as they were clashing with Bring Me The Horizon. I was right that the set was superb, packed with absolute belters from start to finish. I was pleased to see as well from one of the crowd shots that it seemed like they had a big crowd watching them. It would have been cool to see them get the same length spot on main stage but no matter, maybe another time! Following The Wildhearts was one of the main bands that convinced me to get a weekend ticket as opposed to just going up on the Sunday. I missed Twisted Sister in 2011 because I wanted a good spot for System Of A Down. With the benefit of hindsight, I do wish I could go back in time and slap the taste out of my mouth as I now know I could have watched them in 2011 and still got a decent spot. Regardless of all that, I was dead excited about seeing them and they turned out to be one of the best bands of the weekend. Ginger, during The Wildhearts set encouraged people to stick around and watch Twisted Sister and said Dee Snider was the best front-man out there. He may well have had a point. The whole band was just phenomenally good. A packed set made for some memorable sing-along’s including for We’re Not Gonna Take It and of course for I Wanna Rock. One of the best moments of the festival happened during their set. As they were playing Burn In Hell, a DHL plane was coming in to land at their nearby airstrip and Dee Snider stopped the song asking if that was normal and thought it should be mentioned to bands that the festival was right by an airport. During this, he said something to the effect of “I just had 9/11 flashbacks” and then realised he had to then continue singing a song called Burn In Hell. After a fair amount of laughter both on and off stage, the set continued but it was a great moment. I strolled off after they played I Wanna Rock, not knowing they would do an encore of Born To Raise Hell (a Motorhead cover). I could hear it as I was walking away which was a shame. I guess I could have stuck around but I was really quite far away from the stage at this point.

After seeing Twisted Sister, I popped over to the Acoustic side stage to watch a set by Ginger. Before he came on though, there was a band finishing up their set on the nearby tent stage called Malevolence who sounded interesting. I liked what I heard which was some of the 2^nd to last song and all of the last song. I reckon I’d have enjoyed them more if I’d been there for the whole set. Ginger’s second set of the day was a slightly more relaxed affair with him being accompanied by Chris Catalyst (of Eureka Machines) and Jon Poole who had also been on stage with The Wildhearts. Ginger claimed the set was unrehearsed and I do believe that to be true but these guys are so good that the set was brilliant anyway. The atmosphere was great and really made me want to see Ginger in that sort of environment again (but ideally with a longer set). Before heading back to the main stage for the day’s headliner, I caught the beginning of The Howling, who sounded much better than they did supporting Volbeat at Brixton. They actually sounded really good. I decided not to stop and watch the whole thing as I didn’t want to miss the beginning of Linkin Park. LP’s set began with a video of the band talking about Hybrid Theory and how cool it would be to play it, and how the album launched them etc. It was a cool video, although for some reason they played the intro to Papercut (the first song) in the video and that wasn’t the way the gig started. It really would have been cool if it had started that way. They did start with Hybrid Theory though which made me happy. That run through of Hybrid Theory was spectacular. The band looked and sounded really up for it which was cool and everything about that part of the performance was damn near flawless. I made the decision before the festival that if they opened with Hybrid Theory, I would leave after that. Linkin Park has done 5 albums, and are about to release a 6^th. I’m not a fan of three of those albums and I anticipated that had I stuck around, I wouldn’t have enjoyed the set anywhere as much as I did. I walked away at that point of the set with a huge grin on my face, dead happy with seeing one of the first albums that got me into metal music performed in full live.


Sunday

Band Ratings:

Red Dragon Cartel - 7/10 
Kill Devil Hill - 6/10 
Winger - 4/10 
The Graveltones - 7/10 
Buckcherry - 6/10 
Thy Art Is Murder - 3/10 
Feed The Rhino - 8/10
Richie Sambora – 7/10
The Treatment - 10/10 
Sepultura - 7/10 
Sabaton - 7/10 
Volbeat - 9/10 
Memphis May Fire - 5/10 
Against Me! - 10/10
Steel Panther – 5/10
Seether - 8/10 
The Pretty Reckless - 4/10 
The Used - 8/10 
Aerosmith - 10/10 

Sunday began much like the day before with another visit to Delikate for a bacon sandwich however this time sans eggy bread. However they packed this sandwich with bacon – it was good eating. Sunday was the day for me where I would be spending a lot of time walking between stages and catching parts of sets as well as some full ones. The first set of the day was Red Dragon Cartel who were pretty decent. It was cool to hear them cover Bark At The Moon (the band has Jake E Lee in it, who wrote the song). Instead of sticking round for all of Winger, I popped off to catch some of Kill Devil Hill who were also decent. I didn’t know a lot of their material but I liked what I heard. I left before the end of their set which I have since learned was an error as Phil Anselmo came out and sang a Pantera song with them  (they have Rex Brown on bass). I left to catch the end of Winger who I was sure would play Seventeen as their last song. This was not the case (as they didn’t play it at all) and I didn’t much care for what I heard while I was there. After they finished, I popped off to watch most of The Graveltones set while the changeover for the next main stage band took place. The Graveltones were really quite good and make a remarkable racket for a 2 piece band. The next band on main stage was Buckcherry. I’d seen them once before in a small club venue but didn’t have reservations about how they would be on a big open air stage. They were pretty good so I was glad I went to watch them (although the band has since admitted it was not their best set – I still enjoyed it though). I headed back to the third stage to watch some of the bands that were on there. Thy Art Is Murder were on when I got round there and I have to be honest, I didn’t like them. Feed The Rhino followed them and they had a great set. I’d be intrigued to see how they would be received if they had a spot on one of the open air stages. I left the tent after Feed The Rhino to fill my water bottle back up and caught Richie Sambora playing the Bon Jovi song Wanted Dead Or Alive, which was ace to hear live. Not quite the same without Jon Bon on vocals, but still pretty good. I caught the next band in the tent, who was The Treatment. They absolutely smashed it in my opinion. They had a fantastic set. They are another band who I would like to see given a shot on one of the bigger stages.

Over on second stage after The Treatment was Sepultura. I enjoyed their set but would have made some setlist changes personally. I was hoping to hear them play Refuse/Resist as it is ace, and I would have liked to see them play Convicted In Life as that is my favourite song of theirs post-Max. I was then faced with one of the worst clashes of the weekend for me. It was pretty much announced at this point that Black Stone Cherry were doing a 30min set on the third stage, which would have been great to be at. The second stage had Sabaton, who were one of my favourite bands from Wacken 2013 on. The main stage had Volbeat, who are one of my favourite bands. I decided to watch Sabaton and catch the end of Volbeat as they are playing Portsmouth on their November UK tour. What actually happened though was Volbeat started just before Sabaton and I could hear them starting their set. Because of this, I decided to head to main stage earlier than I had planned to. I stayed for two songs of Sabaton who sounded like they were on form – not quite as good as Wacken in 2013 but still good. Volbeat however were fantastic as ever. In my band ratings I have given them a 9/10 but I am sure if I was able (or indeed, tried) to get down the front, it would have been a 10. I walked off to the third stage so I could watch Against Me! but I also caught most of Memphis May Fire. I tried to have a lie down and relax while they were on but Memphis May Fire aren’t lying down music (or at least, not for me). To be perfectly honest, I didn’t think much of them. I had originally planned to sit outside the tent for Against Me! but when I saw the size of their crowd, I decided to head in the tent as there really weren’t many people there to begin with. People did turn up just before the set began though which was good, as it meant more people got to see one of the best sets of the weekend (in my opinion). They smashed though as many songs as they could fit in 30 minutes which was cool and they are just an excellent live band. They mentioned wanting to come back over for a UK tour, which is something that I hope does happen.

On my walk over to second stage, I was able to listen to Steel Panther talk and play Death To All But Metal. When I ranked them last time I saw them play this song, I gave them a 6. This time I gave them a 5 because they didn’t have Corey Taylor with them. I can’t claim to be a fan of them which is why I didn’t watch them. I do like Seether though and I was able to see them play their last two songs and they were ace. I’m sure I would have ranked them higher if I had been there for the whole set. I had headed over for The Pretty Reckless. I chose them over a band O actually like in Alter Bridge as I hadn’t seen them live and liked some of their material that I had listened to before the festival. I have to say though I didn’t enjoy them. I liked one song they played and thought they were remarkably boring the rest of the time. As I walked from second stage to the third stage, I heard Alter Bridge play some of Isolation and I knew I had made a mistake. I decided not to stick around for them though and head over to the tent to watch The Used. Not long after they started, I knew I had made the right decision as they were ace. I thought they had a really good set and they packed that tent out which was cool to see. However, towards the end of the set and after they finished, my mind was only on one thing and that was the final band on main stage. It was time for Aerosmith. I was so very jealous of a friend of mine for going to Download 2010 and seeing Aerosmith play (I still am as he got to see AC/DC but that’s a different story for another day). I had high expectations of Aerosmith and really hoped they wouldn’t be disappointing. I am very happy to be able to write that they were superb. Aside from the lack of Rag Doll and Back In The Saddle, the setlist was pretty damn good. One indicator to me that Aerosmith were excellent was just how good Steven Tyler still is at singing. As far as I could tell, he hit every note he needed to – an excellent performance by him. It was one of those great festival moments when they started playing I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing and nearly everyone in the crowd sang along with the song. I had buyer’s remorse about buying a ticket to see them again later this month but that has now completely disappeared after that set – it was just superb. Aerosmith are arguably one of the best bands I’ve ever seen headline at Donington Park.

And that, was my Download 2014. It was an excellent weekend. The festival seemed quieter than it has done in previous years but that didn’t take away from the atmosphere at all. The festival seemed to be better organised than it has done in previous years which really helped matters. One thing which really helped the weekend be ace was the fact the weather was, for the most part, excellent. It was warm and sunny for the first two days pretty much. The Sunday there was some drizzle but it wasn’t too bad. All in all, I would say Download 2014 was pretty damn good. I won’t be going in 2015, but just know, that is not a reflection on the festival bookers or organisers who all did a sterling job this year of making the festival the best they absolutely could do for the punters.

Download Festival 2014 - Secret Segment

As the dust has settled on yesterday’s disappointment regarding to the Wacken announcement, something very interesting has come out today regarding this year’s Download Festival. I think it is fair to say that Download 2014 is shaping up to be another excellent festival. At first, I didn’t think it would be but I’ll be the first to say that I was wrong about that one. Looking at the line up right now, there is plenty for me to watch every day and more than enough to have justified my ticket purchase. Since the ticket has been purchased, there has been more that has been announced which has made me happy (anyone that knows me knows that I am a big fan of The Wildhearts so that announcement was great). I had assumed that the line up was near enough complete now and apart from a few bands that are left to be announced for the main three stages, the last few announcements will be bands to pack out the Red Bull Studios stage and acts that will appear on the Jagermeister (assuming they sponsor it again) Acoustic stage. Today, a story appeared on the Loughborough Echo’s website regarding a secret/unannounced band playing Download this year.

A surprise in store for Download fans 

A SURPRISE act will be gracing the Pepsi Max stage of Download this year to add extra thrills to one of the UK’s biggest rock festivals.Festival organiser Andy Copping says he is remaining tight-lipped about the secret rock act that will be performing on the Sunday.He told the Echo that it is not Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd, but added: “It is not within their touring cycle and they just wanted to do something as a little treat for fans and play a small stage.”He said it was quite a big act but would not divulge any more detail. Link

Andy Copping has since confirmed on Twitter that the band who are playing in this slot are a band that play arenas. That is an interesting clue to give and will get people talking. That is exactly the purpose of this blog. I will look at possibilities and say whether or not they are likely. I have listed them in alphabetical order. I have seen on the Download Festival forums, I have seen people suggesting bands and I have taken some of those bands to make this list and added my own to it.

30 Seconds To Mars – Last two UK tours have been arena tours in the UK. However, this slot at Download is sandwiched in between two South Africa dates that the band are playing. I would say this rules them out.

Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath are playing Nova Rock on the same day as this slot. That definitely rules them out.

Black Stone Cherry – Black Stone Cherry are doing some dates on the European festival circuit (notably not playing the UK). They are doing their first arena headline tour of the UK later this year so tick all the boxes of the clues we know so far. I do wonder if them doing this slot though would be detrimental to ticket sales for this tour in November. People could see them here and say “well, don’t need to buy a ticket now” – I’m not sure if it is a good idea.

Bullet For My Valentine – Last time they toured the UK, they played arenas although according to some live reports, the tour sold really badly (a surprise considering the undercard I would have thought would have sold a few thousand tickets on their own). They played their first slot at Download in 2004 so this would be 10 years since their first slot. It could be a celebration of that I guess. They are not on tour at the time of Download and because of this; I would say they are the firm favourites to be the secret band. This would be their 8^th appearance in 12 Download festivals – that is too many!

Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls – One of the outsiders for me to be playing this slot. Frank and his band have just finished a UK arena tour 2 months ago. They are playing Sonisphere UK in a major slot and are headlining a number of smaller festivals (and one new one which seems to be a fairly large one on the outskirts of London). Frank Turner and his band played the main stage at Reading in 2011 and then played the small Lock Up tent the same day. This to me suggests they would have no objection taking up this slot. Furthermore, the only time (I think) that Frank Turner has played Download was in 2011, headlining the third stage. I imagine due to contractual arrangements with Sonisphere, he would have to remain a secret until Download had started, but this to me is a real possibility (especially as he is in Europe at the time). If the band that are playing are doing this show as a European one-off, this rules out Frank Turner.

Foo Fighters – An outsider given they could easily do a fully fledged stadium tour next time they tour the UK but they are coming back off a hiatus and are known to play random shows. This could well be one of them. I doubt it, but it would be cool.

Green Day – Pretty much the same as Foo Fighters but with the added fact that they recently (in 2012) played a small show at Reading festival. Granted, the stage they played was bigger than the Pepsi Max Stage at Download, but it could still potentially happen. Again, I would suggest this is another unlikely one.

KISS – I would imagine this is really quite unlikely but then they have done things previously that were quite surprising - playing a club show at Islington Academy being one of the recent examples. They are starting their US 40^th anniversary tour at the end of June – this slot would be one hell of a way to warm up for that tour!

Machine Head – Machine Head have just announced (and subsequently sold out) an intimate club tour in the UK for July/August. They are clearly not opposed to playing small shows and this would be their smallest slot at Download. I don’t know if they are likely or not but this is the sort of band I would expect to see take this slot.

Marilyn Manson – Doing some European dates at the end of June through to August. He co-headlined an arena tour with Rob Zombie (already playing Download this year). Andy Copping has said he would not book Marilyn Manson again until his live performances improved for fear of being lynched. This could be one way around it I guess.

Metallica – Last time they did a UK tour, they did play arenas so I guess they could be a possibility. They are in Europe at the time and they have also done a secret set at Download before (albeit in 2003). I guess they are possible but I would suggest it is unlikely.

Motley Crue – Starting their final ever world tour in June, what a way to kick it off than by playing a random festival show in the UK, proving they are still unpredictable. I feel as though this is possibly one of the more unlikely suggestions I’ve made here though as I’d guess they want every date on thie farewell tour to have as much fanfare as possible.

Nine Inch Nails – NIN are doing their first full-fledged arena tour of the UK in May this year. They will still be touring Europe at this time and as it stands, have no plans to play a festival in the UK. Last year they announced a tiny club show in London. I guess that somehow makes it more possible in my NIN-loving mind. This would actually be amazing. Have them play a 30min slot on the third stage and announce them to headline the 2015 festival not long after – that would be cool.

Queens Of The Stone Age – Co-headlining Reading and Leeds festival this year. They toured arenas last year on the back of their latest album. They are in Denmark on the day of this slot, so they are not playing Download.

The Who – Possibly the most ridiculous of my suggestions. They toured the UK last year (in arenas) and this year are celebrating their 50^th anniversary. This suggestion is more just me being silly but you know what, it is a secret slot – anything could happen.

So, those are all the suggestions I can think of. I know there are some quite silly ones there but also some realistic ones. If you were to ask me to pick one now, I would say it will be Bullet For My Valentine – but I hope it isn’t them.

WOA 2014 - What Is Going On?

December 24^th. Christmas Eve. The last day of the advent calendar announcements for Wacken 2014 and the band that was announced was Megadeth. The general mood on social media directed at Wacken was that this announcement was underwhelming. Most people (myself included) had hoped this final day would announce the main festival headliner. The person who operates the social media account for Wacken made it clear (without putting out an official statement) that Megadeth were not the main headliner and the main headliner and more bands were coming soon. That news seemed to make people (who had seen rival Euro summer festivals announce blockbuster headliners) happy. After all, for the 25^th anniversary of Wacken, you’d expect they would announce a few blockbuster acts of their own, even though it sold out after only two days of being on sale. And so the December announcements concluded and Wacken ticket holders were left to wait for more news on when this announcement was coming. Who would be the headliner? Who else would be announced etc? It was time to play the waiting game...

January – no announcement. No news of an announcement.

February – no announcement. No news of an announcement other than the person who runs the Facebook page apologising in comments for the lack of announcements and promising that one was coming soon.

March – a band announcement!!! One of the Metal Battle Finalists was revealed. Earth Divide had won the final in the Faroe Islands and would represent their country at the grand final which takes place at Wacken. No news of any other announcements and more apologising from the person that runs the Facebook page. These apologies again came in comments lamenting the lack of announcements and attacking the Wacken organisers.

April – On the 14^th April, a news story was posted to the website and to all of Wacken’s social media accounts saying, amongst other things, that a band announcement and a provisional running order would be coming on Sunday. This is the news that everyone was waiting for! Every summer festival other than Wacken had either announced their whole line up or all of their major acts. On a personal level, since Wacken’s last announcement I committed to go to Download festival for the weekend, Sonisphere Festival for the day (to see Metallica amongst others) and to see Black Sabbath in Hyde Park as a part of British Summertime Festival (renamed for their day Black Sabbath Time). Regardless, it didn’t matter. Wacken were making a band announcement. I think it is fair to say that even though they didn’t stress what was being announced, it was widely assumed this elusive headliner who “couldn’t be announced yet” (posted by Wacken on their Facebook page in September 2013) would form a part of this announcement.

Today is Easter Sunday. Today is the day of the announcement and to be perfectly honest, it is extremely disappointing. The provisional running order has been delayed and will be announced “ASAP”. The person who runs Wacken’s Facebook has liked using the word “soon” a lot over the last four months. The definition of it in this context is “it will be announced but we haven’t got a clue when”. I don’t understand why they don’t just say that. At least that would be them being honest. Anyway, the lack of a running order coming out is quite possibly the most disappointing thing to come out of today as we have no idea what slots are left to be filled. That would have given some indication how many bands are on the main stages and in the tents etc. It would have also given a clue as to whether or not the headliners had been booked already and someone was giving out some false information when they said they hadn’t been announced. So no running order - that was the first sign there was a problem. The way I saw the news was the post on Wacken’s Facebook page which said “As announced before, we have a full load of information for you. Sadly, the Running Order must be postponed. We will catch up with it ASAP!” Disappointed we weren’t getting a running order I clicked the link for the news in English and oh my, I thought I was disappointed about the lack of a running order – opening the link to the news created a whole new level of disappointment. I shall go through the announcement band by band.

Collibus – I know this band because they are opening the third stage at Download. Given they are from the UK, I can only assume that means they will be in the Bullhead City tent at Wacken. Decent enough band though.

Russkaja – One of the Wacken “house” bands almost. This is the 4^th year in a row they will be playing. They’ll likely do a couple of sets in the Bullhead City tent and maybe one in the main arena. I enjoyed them last year but this is hardly the sort of announcement that is going to excite me. If there is nothing on when they are on, I will watch. If there is, I will not. End of really. Who knows, maybe Russkaja are slowly making their way up the line up and in 3-4 years time will be the Night To Remember band (assuming of course, they aren’t in that slot for this year’s festival.....)

Letz-Zep – A Led Zeppelin covers band. Oh good. I like Led Zeppelin but I don’t quite understand why a full blown tribute act has been booked for Wacken. I guess it isn’t the first time but still...bit odd.

Demonic Resurrection – This band are alright. I’ve listened to some of their stuff on Spotify and kinda liked what I heard. They don’t seem to have had that many listens though on Spotify so I can only assume they, like Collibus, will be in the Bullhead City tent.

Fiddler’s Green – This band leaked earlier today they were playing Wacken. They sound a bit like Flogging Molly, only more folk and less punk. Again, they are alright. I can only imagine they’ll be playing in the Wackinger Village. I have spoken before about the necessity for folk music at a metal festival – in short it is something that I don’t see the need for. If you like folk music, go to a folk festival. Really, this post would have been a whole lot more positive if Wacken had booked Flogging Molly.

Axe n’ Sex – Who? Oh. They played 3 of the first 4 Wacken festivals and are back again reuniting for this show. Any music online? No. So, I have no idea. That’s helpful.

5^th Avenue – This band played 4 of the first 5 Wacken festivals (they do like their repeat bookings...) and last played in 2009 (the 20^th anniversary of Wacken). Like the band above, they have no music online so I cannot give an actual opinion on them.

There were also 4 Metal Battle bands announced. Convivium from Sweden (who are alright), In Mute (who I don’t really like) and Kin Beneath Chorus & Roadwolf (both of whom aren’t on Spotify). Exciting stuff there. And that’s it. It is quite easy to see from that list why people are disappointed with this announcement. At the end of my advent calendar announcement blog, I worked out there are another 30 or so bands that aren’t Metal Battle or “house” bands to be announced. That number I guess is now reduced down to 24 and still includes the main headliner (assuming at this stage there is one) if there is to be the same number of bands as they had at the 2013 festival. At the end of this post about the new bands, there is no clue given as to when the next announcement is due. Somewhat unsurprisingly, the fans on Wacken’s social media accounts are not happy. I could copy and paste a lot of responses to the announcement including my own but I will just copy and paste one which made me laugh. “Oh and by the way it took me 3 weeks to hire a decent Led Zeppelin band for a friend's wedding.... not 4 months”. Other comments are posting about rival festivals including most notably, Hellfest. I do feel as though I made a big mistake not getting a ticket for that when I had the chance + the holiday available from work to use but there we are.

I have two areas of discussion I would like to speak about. The first is the headliners. It is quite obvious to me that Avantasia are one of the headliners (just like they have been the last 2 times they have played). Looking at the line up, there are several acts who could step into the role of headliner for this year’s festival including Apocalyptica + Orchestra, Carcass, Children of Bodom, Emperor, Kreator, Megadeth, Motorhead and Saxon. However, at the end of September, it was posted by the Wacken account that the main headliner has been booked but had not been announced yet and they would be announced soon. The same message was posted at the end of the advent calendar announcements. So my question here is who is this phantom headliner? Bands I have to rule out include Metallica, Iron Maiden, Kiss, Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, Motley Crue, Alice Cooper, Volbeat and Avenged Sevenfold. I said in my last festival thoughts blog that the only band I could see it being was AC/DC and they’ve just been in the press denying retirement rumours and announcing that Malcolm Young is sitting out of the band for a while as he is ill. One part of that story is that they are going to be in a studio in Vancouver in July to see about recording a new album. I would say that rules them out. Really, there is only one band I can see headlining now who hasn’t been announced and that is Manowar after their exclusive 2014 German show got cancelled. The only thing which leads me to believe it will not be them is that they were booked for something else when Wacken were saying they had their big headliner locked in. So my big question here is who is this phantom headliner that has been booked for some time? Are they still playing WOA 2014 or have they pulled out? If they are still playing, why haven’t they been announced yet? Why did it take 4 months to announce some of the undercard?

I have all of these questions which I feel are perfectly valid to ask and to get a full answer to. Wacken has not put out a single official statement regarding band announcements this year. If there was still a headliner to be announced, why couldn’t that have been an official news story or main Facebook post? Really, the communication between bookers and fans this year has been shocking. Maybe in previous years it has been just as bad but because announcements have been a regular occurrence, I’ve just never noticed. One thing which is interesting to note is that since the announcement, the person who runs the Wacken FB page has been silent. No comments, no news, no attempts to slow down the online shit-storm - nothing. 

Basically, things need to improve. I’m not going to Wacken n 2015 regardless of how good the line up is because I am going to the Rugby World Cup (hopefully!) and that is my main plan for 2015. After this mess, it will need to take something really special to ever get me back after this year. In fact, I am now only going this year because I have already booked my flights. If I hadn’t, I would probably have sold my ticket and tried to go elsewhere.