Easter Sunday Musings

Without one major theme for this blog today, I decided to call it Easter Sunday Musings. There is no discussion about Chocolate, Religion or even rabbits, so the title might be slightly dishonest. Small bits about a few things that are going on or have been going on.

Yesterday was an awesome day. I booked tickets a while ago for the St. Georges Day game of Rugby at Twickenham. The game was London Wasps v Bath Rugby. I decided to go to this for two reasons – the first being that the first game of rugby that I went to watch was Bath and secondly, I wanted to go watch another game at Twickenham. Travelling up to London on a nice day is always a bonus although when we got into London the climate (so to speak) changed from nice and warm to muggy. Getting to Twickenham is a piece of piss really from Waterloo. I haven’t gone to Twickenham via train since 2008 when I went to see Iron Maiden there. This was different however as the crowd arrived for the Maiden gig in drips and drabs (if memory serves – I don’t remember it being that busy) but yesterday there were massive crowds all walking with the same purpose – to enjoy a game of Rugby in the sun. One thing I love about Rugby is mixing fans. As we walked into the stadium, we engaged in a bit of banter with a Wasps fan, which was all fun. Try doing that at a football game and you’ll likely be picking your teeth off the floor – why is that? Anyway, the view from the seats was rather good (made even better somehow knowing that the tickets with booking fees cost about £17.50).



Reading the programme on the way home was quite entertaining as it made reference to last year’s St. Georges Day game where Bath won 35-19 and how that was a massive blow to the team. If that was a massive blow, then I hate to think what yesterday’s game will do to the London Wasps. Bath started off really well and got a try within the 4th minute. A conversion just after and Bath were 7-0 up really early. I’m not going to discuss all the points in detail (there are match reports for that) but at half time, Bath went in 29-3 up which is a commanding half time lead. There was a bit of controversy over one of the second half try’s for Bath (which required the use of the video ref). It was given as a try but I’m pretty certain that it was not, Dave was pretty certain that it wasn’t a try and the Wasps fans around us were in disbelief it was given. Another example of opposition fans just chatting about a decision in the game without reverting to calling the referee, or each other, wankers. Quite nice really. The final score was 43-10. As a side note, the try that London Wasps scored was immense (run from the half way line to score). Great game and Bath were the deserved winners I think. Really glad I decided to go to the game and I can’t wait to go back on the 28th May for the Aviva Premiership Final. With any luck, Bath will be there but I’m not that hopeful.

Speaking of rugby, I have been debating whether to try and go watch Bath one more time this season at their home ground. Every time I’ve looked, tickets have sold out really fast so I promised myself if I had the chance this season, I’d do all I could to go. Sure enough that chance arrived for the game on the 7th May. Now, I already have plans for the evening of the 7th May in Southampton (going to see Ginger, the front-man of The Wildhearts, do an acoustic set). So the day will involve a jaunt from home to Bath Spa station. I’m reliably informed the Recreation ground is pretty close to the station, and I hope that this is true. After the game I’m off to get a train from Bath to Romsey. Romsey is a grim place if memory serves. I seem to recall it’s like Petersfield. Anyway, change in Romsey to get to the Talking Heads, and then the gig. Trying to work out whether wearing a Bath Rugby shirt that day is a good idea or not – it’s quite a thick shirt and that could be a bad move for a gig. Anyway, I’m seeing two more games of rugby this season and I cannot wait. I honestly think I’ll probably go and watch Bath more next season than I will Pompey – unless Bath raises their prices as well and then I’ll just be pissed off!

It wouldn’t really be a blog on this website without some form of mention about live music. This Easter weekend of fun continues with a gig tonight at the Wedgewood Rooms to support the cause of Diabetes. I have friends who play in The Founders Of and Toxic Shock, both of whom are playing tonight. There is a headline band called Hairforce 5, but I know nothing of them. Tempted truthfully to give them a miss and just head home. Saves money that way and also will mean I won’t have a hangover on my bank holiday Monday. Speaking of gigs at the Wedgewood Rooms though, Skindred who were due to play the Pyramids in Portsmouth have had their gig moved to the Wedgewood Rooms. That does surprise me as I’d have thought they’d have no trouble selling out Pyramids but the fact they sold less than 400 (which it had to be for it to be moved to the Wedge) is quite surprising. However, I’m really happy about the move as in 2010, Skindred were awesome at the Wedge and I can’t wait to see them destroy the dancefloor there again.

Since my last blog, I have purchased Football Manager 2011. I never realised how much I missed playing a game of some description until I bought this game. My Xbox went down quite a long time ago and instead of getting it fixed – I accepted it was unlikely to survive much longer after getting fixed and so I gave up on it. Playing FM2011 has been fun and after a few shit starts to seasons, I’ve created a game where I am managing Tottenham and have lead them to two Premiership titles, an FA Cup, League Cup, Community Shield and Final/Semi-Final of the Champions League. It is a lot of fun to chop and change the squad, in preparation for another assault on the biggest European prize. In fact, once I have finished writing this, I will be heading back virtual sheepskin jacket and dugout. Although it is pre-season at the moment so probably not so much of the dugout.

Finally, is anyone else fucking sick of this debate over AV? I just wanted to express my apathy with both sides of the campaign. Yes to AV people are just attacking the Conservatives (and other supporters) and likening them to the BNP and Communist Party’s (strange how they can be like both of those parties) and the No to AV people are arguing about the cost. It is such a shit argument from both campaigns. The main argument for AV as far as I can see is the eventual winner of a vote must receive 50% of the votes in their constituency. The main argument for First Past The Post is that the candidate who wins the most votes in a constituency wins. Why people needed to resort to cheap arguments to get their point across is beyond me (although not uncommon in politics sadly). The advert for the No to AV campaign with the horse race was very simplistic but it worked. I think I am voting No to AV but that’s because I don’t see how changing the voting system will really benefit the country. If there are constituencies that are safe seats under FPTP, then chances are they probably still will be pretty safe under AV. It is only the swing voter seats that make things interesting under an AV system, but then they also can make things interesting under a FPTP system. I just don’t see how someone can claim they won 50% of the vote if they had to rely on 2nd choice votes to get past the 50% mark. I also think it is interesting that no-one has mentioned that regardless of the voting system, there are still about 30% of the voting population that don’t vote, sometimes more. No-one is talking about how to reach out to these people but how to make the layout of parliament ever so slightly more representative of the voting population. Just as a side note, I think it is hilarious that there are members of the Labour party strongly behind the Yes to AV campaign. In their 1997 manifesto, they promised proportional representation which obviously never materialised when they won the majority that they did. They then had 13 years to introduce a change to the voting system, yet somehow never found the time. Now they are out of power, FPTP is undemocratic and awful, and the Conservatives support of it just proves they are outdated as a party...really?! That’s just embarrassing, Labour.

Also, I just saw this picture about AV which made me chuckle:




That’s all I have for this one. Like I said at the top, bits and bobs. No real main topic but sometimes it’s hard to find a topic worth writing about (or a topic that I can write about well enough to do it justice). I will probably post a blog soon with reviews of tonight’s charity gig as well as Skindred. After that it will probably be after May 7th, with stories of the day of win and the election/referendum. It’s all over soon!

Sonisphere Equals Good

I always get a little excited about announcements for festivals I’m going to. While I do like the random announcements that Wacken seems to do – the hyped up announcements that the UK festivals seem to do always excites me. I found out over the last weekend that a Sonisphere announcement was coming this week and I was very happy about that as it had been a while since we had an announcement and the lineup is already looking awesome. The only thing which I wasn’t 100% about was when this week the announcement was coming. I had seen a couple of self confirmations pop up over the last week – both of which I liked as they were good bands. I saw another self confirmation this morning which I loved as it was a band I’ve not seen before. I figured the announcement was coming soon when this morning’s self confirmation happened – and sure enough it was revealed it was coming at 3pm. Before this announcement, I found out the sad news that Devildriver are no longer playing Wacken as they are planning to tour the US during this time. I can’t say I overly like this excuse but I did wonder why they had seemingly not booked any other euro festival spots (Trivium haven’t, but they are a Euro festival exclusive for Wacken – Devildriver didn’t seem to be a euro exclusive). A shame, but no matter – the chance to see them will come again I’m sure. Hopefully they’ll come to Portsmouth or Southampton on their next UK tour – we’ll see. Anyway, this is about Sonisphere and bands that are playing, not Wacken and bands that aren’t. 3pm rolled around, and I was amazed once again – not only at how good Sonisphere was, but how it managed to improve with each lineup. Anyway, the bands that were announced are:

Apollo Stage:

Bad Religion – Pretty good announcement. Don’t know much by them, but I like what I’ve heard.

Cavalera Conspiracy – Win! I’ve wanted to see these guys live as I liked their first album. I missed them at RaR08 so I could get a spot for RATM. I think that’s what happened anyway. Still, genius announcement.

Sylosis – Impressive to see these guys on the main stage having seen them be announced for smaller stages so far. Will definitely check them out if there is not a clash.

Saturn Stage:

Richard Cheese & Lounge Against the Machine – What an announcement! The last two years I’ve not really cared for the “novelty” announcement, but this is superb (I don’t know if this is considered the novelty announcement but for me it is). I really want to see Richard Cheese live so this will be a treat.

Bohemia Stage:

The Answer – Big announcement from Sonisphere. Surprised they aren’t on one of the open air stages but no problem. If there is no clash then I’ll be watching them.

Cancer Bats – Awesome announcement. Love this band and really want to see them live again. If the chance arises, I shall.

My Passion – They aren’t for me truthfully. But liking every band at a festival would be a nightmare!

Kylesa – They sound fairly decent. Don’t think I’ll get the chance to see them if the poster is right though as they’d be clashing with Volbeat. A shame, but no matter

Pulled Apart By Horses – These guys seem really quite good. Hopefully will be able to get to see these guys.

Hayseed Dixie – Fantastic announcement. I see they are playing on the Friday and I hope they are not clashing with Metallica as that would just suck. But I definitely want to see them again.

Paradise Lost – Were genius when they opened the Saturn stage on the Sunday of 2009. Really enjoyed their set and will strive to see them again this year if time allows.

Red bull Bedroom Jam Stage:

Rolo Tomassi – Not bad at all. Probably will give them a miss at the festival but if there is nothing on when they are on, then I’d go check them out.

Tek One – Nothing on Spotify so no comment!

TesseracT – They sound really good.

Arcane Roots – See Tek One!

Me Vs Hero – They seem pretty good. I’m sure they are supporting Skindred though so I’ll probably catch them there.

Jagermeister Stage:

Anterior – See Tek One!

Amplifier – They seem alright. Not all that bothered about seeing them though.

Demonic Ressurection – Seem pretty good. Will try to catch if the time allows.

Orange Goblin – Brilliant band who I’ve managed to miss live so many times. I must try to see them at least once. Maybe this’ll be my chance? Who knows!

Saint Jude – They seem pretty good. Wouldn’t mind checking them out if I had nothing to do.

Hounds – Don’t think they are on Spotify. On a side note, there are a lot of backing bands who use the name Hounds!

The Crave – They seem pretty good.

Jettblack – They seem pretty good.

The Virgin Marys – They don’t personally do a lot for me.

So out of that entire list, there are only 2 really who I wouldn’t bother going to see if time allowed. There are quite a few (at the smaller end) who I’ve never heard of who I’d go and see if time allows. Such is the way of a festival like Sonisphere – sometimes time will allow and sometimes it won’t. That isn’t always such a bad thing. Anyway, this announcement wasn’t all about the bands – it was also about some stage splits. By my estimations, the main stages look full now. Actually, if last year’s poster is anything to go by, there are a couple more bands on the main stage this year than last. I’m ok with that. Anyway, here is the new look poster.



Sonisphere looks awesome this year. Everyone has their own personal tastes when it comes to music and once again, Sonisphere has covered almost every area of my music tastes with this festival. I’m not sure how many more bands are to be announced but if someone who ran the festival turned round tomorrow and said “unless someone pulls out, this is it” then I’d be more than happy with the fact I have a ticket to this festival. What I am going to do now is look at the day splits and list the bands I would see or would like to see on each day.

Friday: Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax, Diamond Head. Killing Joke, Hayseed Dixie and Firewind.

Not many bands there but there aren’t that many playing on the Friday by the looks. And truthfully, I’m not that bothered about there being too many great bands on the Friday because I’d like to see all the Big Four. I do want to see Hayseed though, so if they clash with anyone other than Metallica, I have a tough choice to make.

Saturday: Biffy Clyro, Weezer, Bad Religion, Cavalera Conspiracy, Sylosis, All Time Low, Sum 41, Gallows, Richard Cheese, Paradise Lost, Gojira, One Minute Silence, Pulled Apart By Horses.

Might be quite surprising to see me put Biffy Clyro in that list considering I have openly said I’m not bothered about seeing them. Truthfully, I’m not – they are supporting Foo Fighters the week before Sonisphere and I will see them then. Anyway, if there is nothing else on which takes my fancy then I will see Biffy. I’m hoping I’ll be able to see all of these bands but realistically, I’m going to have to make some tough clash decisions.

Sunday: Slipknot, Limp Bizkit, Motorhead, Arch Enemy, Volbeat, Bill Bailey, Opeth, Airbourne, In Flames, House of Pain, Black Tide, The Answer, Four Year Strong, Cancer Bats, Alestorm, Fozzy.

Sunday is the band heavy day for me. There is a lot that I want to see and I’m hoping the stage times will work out so I can see all that I have to see. Really the main 3 bands for me on Sunday are Slipknot, Volbeat and Fozzy. I’m hoping that none of those 3 clash with each other (and obviously Volbeat and Slipknot won’t) otherwise I’ll be fuming!

Unknown day: Title Fight, Watain, Orange Goblin, Saint Jude, The Treatment.

Not a great lot of bands there but I’m expecting that list to get bigger with more bands being announced for the two smaller outdoor stages plus the addition (if it is here this year) of the Strongbow Bowtime Bar Stage. Plenty more to get excited about when it comes to Sonisphere 2011. I’m just really happy I have a ticket and cannot wait to go back to Knebworth for another weekend of awesomeness it would seem.

Roll on July 7th.

Booking Outside The Box

Hey it is another blog about one of the festivals I’m going to this summer. You probably could have guessed that if you’ve read anything else on this page (there is the odd occasional blog about other topics, see the last one for example). This time it is about Sonisphere and their latest announcement which is inspired! This announcement was of the comedians (some if not all). Last year they set the bar pretty high by booking Tim Minchin. Generally speaking, the comedian announcement is a bit filler for me if there are no bands on the outdoor stages that take my fancy. So I get excited but not as much as band announcements. Anyway, this is what the poster looks like now (I’ve split it into two for ease of posting)






WOW! How does Sonisphere keep doing this? The bookers of this festival are literally changing the way festivals get booked. Bill Bailey headlining the 2nd stage of Sonisphere before Slipknot headline the main stage is amazing. I had assumed based on logo positions that Motorhead would headline the second stage before Slipknot but this is so much better. It also means I shouldn’t have to miss any Motorhead to see Slipknot. I won’t miss any Bill Bailey either, but I’ll just stand near the back. I’ve seen him twice at Leicester Square Theatre so I don’t need to be up and close. However if he books more LST dates to warm up for Sonisphere, I’m all over them. He is that good live. As for the other comedians, I don’t think I’ll bother with Steve-O. I saw one of his videos back in the day and he was just hurting himself and laughing. It really wasn’t that funny (and I’m not against Jackass – some of that was funny but this video was not). Andrew O’Neil was good last time so I’d go see him again if the time worked out. I’ve heard of Jim Breuer but I can’t think why. The others I don’t know but I’ll be doing some research about them as time goes on. Congratulations Sonisphere on another solid booking.



In other news, I have got a job interview next week. I hope it goes well cause I could really do with a new job. I do want to get a new job. It would work out quite nicely with my work schedule actually if I got a new job now. I have two days left at work and then I go on leave for 2 weeks. April is a good month to be term time as it means I’m only working 7 days in the whole of April (8 if you include Friday, which I don’t as it is before my leave). I’m looking forward to doing nothing for two weeks.

Feed The Yak and He'll Get Fat

Yesterday marked the 2nd jaunt to somewhere else in the country to watch Pompey play away from Fratton Park. The very idea of going to watch Pompey on the road is awesome, but having seen Pompey lose to Brighton in my first away game – the dream was somewhat ruined. However, we had discussed for quite a while going to the Leicester game. This game sounded good to me as we dicked them earlier in this season (6-1!) and the game wouldn’t be too far away from where my brother lives, so possibly seeing him would be an added bonus. That didn’t pan out as such, but I was still looking forward to going to another away game, and I hoped that the result would be more favourable than the last away game I went to.

Leicester isn’t that far away, so we set off about 8 so we could get there within plenty of time and didn’t have to rush around to find things (such as pubs, bookies etc). The journey up was fairly painless aside from missing the right turn off and ending up having to enter Leicester from the north rather than the south (I was already feeling grim as it was!) and dealing with Leicester’s roads and one way system. Holy shit, I thought Portsmouth was bad (well, it is) but Leicester is much worse I think. Anyway, after a walk along a canal, we made it to the town centre but more importantly, a Wetherspoons! It was quite a nice pub actually although the staff seemed to think it was a serious issue that we needed ID. It is serious I accept, but we all had ID and were confused why they were so edgy about it. Maybe they picked up on the fact we weren’t local. Anyway, after some chat about the state of the world (always seems to be the way when drinking beer), we made a move to a Ladbrokes and Greggs and then made a move back to the ground.



I really like the Walkers stadium. It is a decent size for a football ground and the stands are still reasonably close to the pitch. We were up in one of the corners of the ground which to me appeared quite intimidating actually as it was almost like we were pinned in. Still, I thought from our seats we had a great view. The weather was really nice as well, but we were sat in the worst place for the dropping sun (note to self, invest in sunglasses). The game itself was pretty good although Pompey showed some of the same problems as ever (sitting back after scoring, not closing down players, balls to nowhere, Lawrence being Lawrence etc). We won 1-0 which was the main thing. However the thing was amazed me was the atmosphere. Now, I’m used to being in Fratton Park when it’s lively. The 6-1 game is a perfect example of that. Singing from whistle to whistle etc – it is generally a good atmosphere at FP and only a handful of times have I witnessed otherwise (Cardiff and Derby this year I’d say). However the home crowd for the most part barely looked alive. Hardly any singing, no clapping aside from when they came close to scoring and only pockets of them getting upset if decisions didn’t go their way. It was entertaining some of the chants coming from our fans. Nothing overly witty about them, I accept but entertaining all the same. Leicester had a fan with a drum, similar to one of our fans at home games. Main difference is when our drummer plays, fans clap along. At the Walkers, this didn’t happen so much. However our fans did clap along and chanted “If you can’t bang a woman, bang your drum”. Generally speaking the chants were aimed at their fans, such as “your support is fucking shit”, “we forgot you were here” “please be quiet, you’ll wake them up”. However I personally enjoyed “feed the Yak and he gets fat”.

Anyway, following the game (and the wait in the car park which apparently used to be the old stadium) we made the journey to Coventry. This was for Dave to see some family and also to visit a restaurant called Wing Wah. Similar sort of deal to Water Margin in Portsmouth in that it’s an all-you-can-eat and you go up to the middle and grab food. Quite a lot of the food was very nice and the desserts on offer were very impressive (including a chocolate fondue). I’d say on the whole it is as good as Water Margin, possibly slightly better. The only let down for me wasn’t being able to get a photo of the Buddha statue (the resemblance was uncanny!) Very thankful as well to Dave’s family as well for paying for the food. Very good of them. It was distinctly apparent to me however at this stage that the headache I got at the football wasn’t going away, and when we stopped at some services I was able to get headache pills. Can’t remember much of the journey home as I was drifting in and out of sleep, but overall a good day was had. I mentioned earlier we were talking about current affairs at the table, and that came back up on the journey home when we were discussing the fact that we (as a part of the UN) have taken (or are taking) military action against Libya. I would talk about this more however I don’t really feel there is much I can say about the matter. It is about time something was done to help the people of Libya, but I’m not sure if this is the right course of action. I would just like to share thoughts on the action from a friend of mine from University that he tweeted. So, via @OfficialSpudUK:

“Liam Fox, the easiest way to get more aircraft to Libya would be flying them of an aircraft carrier...oh wait yea”
“We could be much more effective in enforcing the #libya #noflyzone by basing a carrier in the Med to launch missions, never mind huh!”

He speaks a lot of sense. Anyway, that is all I have for now. 2 blogs in one day, lucky people! (In some respects). I will be back soon with another blog about something

Soundtrack of the blog. Spotify for iPhone playlist:
http://open.spotify.com/user/mikeytrrp/playlist/4sA5TBy3QjhWGuwo8fjStK

Sonisphere Summaries

So, Sonisphere have announced a new batch of bands since I last posted an audioboo talking about the festival. I will talk about the shape of the festival now following this announcement with an opinion on how the day splits look, and concerns over the conclusion to the Saturday. The announcement was a mixed bag for me this time, but that is not a bad thing. Some people expect to like every band that is announced for a festival but for me that is a foolish viewpoint. When I go to a festival, I want to see as many bands (or comics in Soni's case) as possible. The last thing I want is to miss bands I like because they are clashing with other bands I like. Now, thinking back to Sonisphere 2010 – there were only two clashes for me which really annoyed me – Evile/Lacuna Coil and Motley Crue/Earthtone9. Thinking forward to Wacken 2011, I am really not looking forward to the times coming out because I’d quite happily watch at least 75-80% of the bands announced. Seeing as that won’t be possible, I’ve got decisions to make. Anyway, slight side track there – the Sonisphere announcement is:

Mars Volta – “What’s this? A doorknob? Good show!” That’s my way of saying going to a door knob museum would likely be more interesting than seeing Mars Volta live. I’ll hopefully wander off and see another band in Bohemia or something when they are playing. Shame they are headlining the 2nd stage by the looks on the Saturday. I’ll speak more about that later.

Opeth – Pretty strong announcement for Sonisphere I feel. I truthfully didn’t think much of them at Rock Am Ring and it was raining and miserable when they played at Wacken which soured my mood somewhat. But their set supporting Dream Theater at Wembley was awesome, so I’m hoping we get another great performance like that this time around. Excellent stuff

Black Tide – I’m not sure what to think of this announcement. They released a pretty good debut album and destroyed the tent at Rock AM Ring (I remember giving them a 10/10 rating at the time) and then they played Reading and dear god, they were wank. Maybe it was the fact we were actually outside the tent, but it still didn’t sound good. Anyway, if no-one else is on then I’ll give them a listen.

Killing Joke – Reasonable announcement. They played the main stage in 2009 to a criminally small crowd (I’m informed, I listened more than watched). They are playing the Bohemia stage this time at midnight, after the Big Four have finished. That could be a squeeze getting into the tent (especially as I intend to be near the front for Metallica). But if I can get into the tent and watch them, I will.

The Black Dahlia Murder – Oh god no. Sounded like my ears were getting raped at RaR when they were on and I wasn’t even in the tent when they were on. Urgh, moving on...

Alestorm – Pretty decent announcement. Will endeavour to watch if there isn’t a clash with someone else. I’ve not seen them since they released their last album either so seeing some of the stuff from the 2nd album should be good.

Firewind – Same as Alestorm really. Will watch if there is no clash although I’ve not seen them before and I’ve always thought I’d like to.

Watain – Black Metal at Sonisphere, well now isn’t that a thing? Also, they are pretty good. Will watch if there is not a clash with anyone else.

Rise To Remain – I still don’t care for this band, and they’ve been at Sonisphere every year now! (I’m choosing to ignore the fact that Anthrax have as well, don’t judge me!)

Six Hour Sundown – No idea! Can’t find music on Spotify and I try to avoid MySpace if humanely possible.

The Treatment – Their first EP made me think “wait what?” but their 2nd release was pretty damn good. In fact, it could well be a different band as the logos are very different. Whatever, they sound good and if there is no clash again, then they will get a watch.

So a reasonable announcement with Opeth being the highlight for me. The lineup is starting to take shape now and the days have split a little bit so I’m going to have a look at where bands are playing and if that works for me.



Friday – Well, not a great deal to say about what we know about the Friday at the moment. We have the Big 4 + Diamond Head playing the main stage, with Killing Joke playing the Bohemia stage afterwards. Looking at other bands on the lineup, I wish they’d make Friday a full day and put Volbeat on the main stage after Diamond Head, but you can’t have everything. That Friday will be awesome. Sorry Bohemia, but you’ll have to pull out something amazing for me to miss any of the 5 bands on main stage this day.

Saturday – Again, I’ll talk more about the conclusion of the Saturday later. There isn’t a great deal of bands on the two main stages on Saturday that I’ll be watching. So far it will be All Time Low, Sum 41, Gallows and perhaps Architects. Now, I know more bands will be announced for the stages for Saturday, but I’m ok with not hanging out by the main stages because it’ll give me a perfect chance to check out the comedy (if there is any) and some of the Bohemia/other stage bands announced. To be perfectly honest, of those bands I just listed, I’m only definitely wanting to see Sum 41 and Gallows – I haven’t seen them and I really want to.

Sunday – Please let Fozzy clash with Mastodon! Ahem, not surprised with most of the bands that are playing this day. Black Tide looking like they might be on one of the big stages surprises me but them playing this day doesn’t shock me. Volbeat fit in here nicely but them being so low saddens me. Hope they get 45mins or so on stage. House of Pain I am surprised to see here. I thought they’d have played the Saturday. There are no other shocks here. There are a few I’m prepared to miss in favour of seeing Fozzy but Volbeat and Slipknot are the only two that would win the clash. Seen Limp Bizkit, Opeth, Airbourne and Arch Enemy before. Would like to see House of Pain and I don’t overly care for In Flames and Mastodon. The top of the day looks pretty immense, and the only time in my Sonisphere attending history that I’ll see a main stage sub-headliner, then the 2nd stage headliner, then the main stage headliner. But Limp Bizkit (Sub), Motorhead (2nd Head) and Slipknot (Main Head) is a dominating close to a festival and I cannot wait. If I have to miss Motorhead though, I will because they are playing Wacken, so I’ll endeavour to see them there. Superb day by the looks.

Other bands playing – I’d guess based on poster positions (although at this stage that doesn’t really mean a lot) that Sisters of Mercy have a major spot in Bohemia, possibly the headliner. I’d like to see the other 3 main bands there, Killing Joke, One Minute Silence and Four Year Strong. Other than that, there are 4/5 bands who I’d consider must see at this stage. But as times are released and we know more about the festival, this might change. I am excited for future announcements and further news on what is quickly becoming the best rock festival in the UK (in my humble opinion).

I fear I am about to be accused of being “metulz” or something of the like for this opinion, but I can’t help but have concerns at this stage for the conclusion of the Saturday. I’ve discussed the Biffy Clyro headline situation and I still maintain they are probably headlining the wrong festival. If they were to be announced to headline one of the days of Reading/Leeds/TITP then fair enough. I would have thought that would suit them more, which is why I was surprised to see them be announced as Sonisphere headliners. Even more surprised because the week before they play Sonisphere, they are supporting Foo Fighters. I am of the view now though that a festival promoter has one of the worst jobs in the world because with every booking, you will piss off someone. Almost like a comedian with jokes in some respects (it will always offend someone). Anyway, the promoter of Sonisphere has been very brave in my opinion by booking Biffy to headline – but at least he has taken steps in creating another main stage headliner for UK festivals. Download have tried (and in some respects, failed) to do this which proves that it is a risky move. I could list bands like Feeder, Lostprophets, and Offspring as examples of this. Bands like this headline and people scream and shout that they aren’t headliner material. But then a festival takes a safe route and books someone like Linkin Park to headline (a headliner in everyone’s eyes I’d have thought) and the promoter gets screamed at for not giving new bands a chance. You cannot win!

However, while I respect the decision of the Sonisphere booker to try and create another headliner-material band by booking Biffy Clyro to that position, I can’t claim to be overly enamoured with the conclusion on the main stages to be The Mars Volta on the 2nd Stage and then Biffy Clyro on the Main Stage. Now, my reasoning for this is simple – I’m seeing Biffy the week before in a support slot when the Foo Fighters play and I don’t like Mars Volta. I am not attacking the festival for these bookings; it just isn’t to my taste. However at this early stage where we don’t know what else is going on, I find myself concerned that for the first time since going to a festival, I will end up in the campsite without seeing a band who I consider my headliner for the day (no disrespect to Weezer, but they don’t fit the headliner slot in my mind). Now, if One Minute Silence plays after Biffy then I might watch half that set then head to the tent for OMS. I guess this view is formed due to a lack of knowledge of the rest of the lineup and stage times, which I will have to wait for. I just hope there is a good alternative on one of the various little stages. I guess this is the first time since going to Sonisphere that there hasn’t been something I’ve wanted to watch to close the day on one of the main stages – so in many respects my music tastes have definitely been spoiled in the past and are this year with the Friday and Sunday. Shall see what happens with future announcements and such, but I am still super excited about this festival and can’t wait to go back to Knebworth for the 3rd year in a row!

Respect

One of the best moments for me as a Pompey fan was watching the team walk out at Wembley. I may have only gone to watch the Community Shield, but even so it was a thrill to see my team walking out on the pitch at Wembley. I could talk a small amount about the game (because to be honest, the actual match was fairly unremarkable) but what I actually want to talk about is the memory of the pre-game activities. This game was used as a platform to launch the FA’s “Respect” agenda. In a nutshell, I believe this was implemented so that football referees at all levels (from Sunday pub leagues to the Premiership) got more respect for the job they were doing. It was essentially an appeal from the FA to players to be more respectful (Hence the name, I see what they did there). So, I was there when the “Respect” agenda was launched and I remember thinking that it wasn’t such a bad idea. For too long, footballers (and managers to be fair) have been able to abuse and bully referees on the pitch if decisions didn’t go their way so I thought that this changing could only improve the game. What should have occurred at this time was the introduction of harsher penalties if the referee reported that he/she didn’t like the conduct of a player so that the FA’s message was clear – “we don’t want footballers abusing our refs, if they do then they will receive significant punishment”. This never occurred, so the agenda was somewhat of a joke really (I assume, I have no idea of its impact on the lower leagues). Generally speaking though, I do believe referees are deserving of more respect for the job they do – it is a thankless task really and it is always difficult. You can’t be 100% all the time and when you aren’t, you not only get footballers giving you grief, but possibly tens of thousands (depending where you are of course) calling you incompetent and a wanker. Just as a side point, it is amazing how this doesn’t happen in Rugby at all. The players there respect the referee (I’m not sure what the punishment system in Rugby is, but they are clearly doing something right). The purpose of this blog though isn’t about promoting referees all that much. I’ve done all the positive speaking I intend to do about them, but I feel the need to ask – should referees just be given respect?

I’ve seen two games as of late which have made me wonder about whether referees deserve respect just because they are referees. One incident occurred in a game between Manchester United and Wigan and the other incident was actually the entire game of Portsmouth v Sheffield United (which I was at). I want to talk about Man Utd first though, but specifically, Wayne Rooney and Mark Clattenburg. In a nutshell, Rooney elbowed James McCarthy in an off the ball incident which should have resulted in a red card.





However, there is some debate over whether the referee saw this incident. It appeared from the highlights it was only when he saw James McCarthy fall over that he stopped the match. Now, if he genuinely didn’t see Rooney elbow McCarthy then there isn’t a great deal he can do at the exact moment. In fact, I’m pretty sure that even if he went back to his dressing room and watched a tape of it, he couldn’t send off Rooney at the start of the 2nd half (I’m not sure what the letter of the law states here, but to be honest if he went back at half time and saw the tape, and then saw the incident – he should be allowed to send Rooney off). Anyway, following the match everyone was waiting for the post-match referee report, expecting that Clattenburg would put something in the report which would allow the FA to charge Rooney for violent conduct – which should have happened. However, in a surprising moment, he didn’t. Perhaps he didn’t want to ruin the touching moment pictured above, but that is a shocking decision from Clattenburg. Man Utd are my premiership team when Portsmouth isn’t in it, but there is no doubt in my mind that Clattenburg in this instance boobed. Granted, the FA should be able to step in anyway and charge him, what with all the video evidence (Uhoh, dirty words in football) at their disposal, but the fact that Clattenburg didn’t write anything in his report which allows the FA to charge Rooney is appalling. In my eyes, Mark Clattenburg doesn’t deserve the respect which the FA claims he should get for being a referee. If anything, he should be removed from his position. I somehow doubt that’ll happen though.

The second match I want to talk about is one from the weekend which I was at – Pompey v Sheffield United. Now, before I talk about the refereeing in this one, I would just like to say despite some shocking play, I am happy Pompey registered 6 wins and 6 clean sheets in a row. It is a shame that streak has now ended (for those not in the know, we lost 2-1 to Bristol City last night). Anyway, back to the game at hand. I noticed early on that Sheff Utd had players kicking the ball away after decisions had gone against them. This was from very early into the game and despite this being a bookable offence, I figured that the ref was saying to them that they should calm down or else they would get booked. However this continued throughout the entire game, which made me think that the ref was either incompetent or far too committed to letting the game flow. I approve of a referee that isn’t constantly stop-starting a game but there are rules to uphold and if needs be, cards to issue. This was one pet peeve. Another was the fact that whenever Portsmouth put balls forward, the Utd defenders would latch onto the arms/shirts/torsos of our front players constantly. Again, if this happens once and a ref misses it, then fair enough. But this happened so many times (including one incident RIGHT IN FRONT of the referee with Kanu, where Kanu actually had to wrestle himself free! no foul though...) that you have to question the referee. Constant mistakes are not acceptable in any job, why should it be acceptable for a referee and if it is why should I respect a referee who is making all these mistakes? It has been bought to my attention by Dave (you can read his blog – it’s up in the blogs list) that there hasn’t been one good referee this season in games he has seen. How can this be? Maybe it is something which can’t be changed – but the FA can’t expect me as a fan to respect the referee if there are no real standards for the referee’s to live up to, and if the players I am supporting are still free to abuse the referee with no fear of repercussion. Footballers shouldn’t be allowed to act this way, but as long as they are, referees will never be respected in this game. Furthermore, if a referee’s performance, no matter how poor, can’t be questioned, then I don’t see how these people deserve respect.

Moving away from this somewhat –

I was at Wembley Arena for Foo Fighters the other week. It was an awesome gig (I won’t go too much into it – there is a whole blog reviewing the gig. Go read it) Anyway, I want to talk about one aspect of this gig which shocked me a little. When I went to Wembley Arena in 2009 for Dream Theater, I recall people with beer rucksacks walking around the arena, selling pints of Fosters (or possibly Carling) for £3.60 or something like that. I remember thinking then that the price was daylight robbery and purely taking advantage of a captive audience. I went for Foo Fighters, and the beer had changed to Becks (a very bad call) and the price had increased to £4.30 a pint! I’m not someone that advocates trying to sneak booze into a gig (cause if you get searched, you look like a right dick) but having seen this price increase for, in my opinion, a much shittier beer – I’d be tempted to just sit outside the venue with cans of beer and drink before heading in. This plan only works if you don’t care for the support bands and you actually drink at gigs (I’ll have the odd one, but don’t ever get drunk really). I refuse to pay £4.30 for 1 pint anywhere, and I would much rather go without than be forced to pay that. But then again, I think I am alone in this one, as people were buying these £4.30 pints, drinking half then hurling the other half, cup and all, into the crowd. I wish I had money like that to burn (or throw as it were...)

My next gig was due to be Biohazard supported by Panic Cell at the Wedgewood rooms. I was really looking forward to this as Biohazard are pretty win and I love Panic Cell. However the gig has been cancelled for reasons best known to Biohazard so I now don’t have a gig until the beginning of April, when I will be making a journey to the capital of this country to watch Children of Bodom and Amon Amarth. Should be a good night and I’ve never been to the venue before (HMV Forum) so that should be good. I like going to new venues.

That’s all folks! (Don’t sue me WB!)

(Both images ripped shamelessly from Google Image Search, apparently they are both from The Guardian!)

Review: NME Big Gig 2011

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



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

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



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

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

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



Band Ratings:

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

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