Download 2013 - Almost There

Last week, the organisers of the Download Festival announced a further 49 bands to really pack the line-up. There were a lot of smaller bands added but the main stage is now full, and there are very few spots left on the 2^nd and 3^rd stage as well. In the past, I have gone through every band and given my thoughts on them, but this blog would be extremely long if I did that for 49 bands. These are the 49 bands:

Architects; After The Burial; The Algorithm; Asteroid Boys; Blacklist Royals; Blitz Kids; Bleed From Within; Broken; Brutality Will Prevail; Buckcherry; Bury Tomorrow; Crowns; Cytota; Dir En Grey; Escape The Fate; Emperor Chung; Empress; Europe; The First; The Ghost Inside; Glamour Of The Kill; Gogol Bordello; Graveyard; Hang The Bastard; Heart Of A Coward; Hill Valley High; I Divide; Karnivool; Katatonia; Lit; Modestep; Mordecai; Naked Flame; Nekrogoblickon; Newsted; Papa Roach; P.O.D; Rat Attack; Red Fang; Rise To Remain; Sacred Mother Tongue; Skin; Silent Screams; Sonic Boom Six; States of Panic; Turisas; Uncle Acid And The Dead Beats; Uriah Heap and Verses.

From that list, there are a few names there that really interest me. Architects I saw on the main stage at Sonisphere and they were ok – I’ll likely give them another chance. Buckcherry were really good at The Wedgewood Rooms last year so they’d be good to see again. Gogol Bordello are a very fun band live and I may have to watch them over Bullet For My Valentine. That would mean choosing to see a band I’ve seen over one I’ve not (which I’m trying my best not to do too much) but oh well! Karnivool are a band who in my head I confused with In Extremo, but having had a quick listen, they seem decent. The announcement of Lit is a fun one for me (if only for the song My Own Worst Enemy) and I will do my absolute best to see them. Newsted is an interesting one for me. I am intrigued to see what the former Metallica man is up to these days. I’m really happy with the Sacred Mother Tongue announcement. I enjoyed them when they opened up the second stage at Download 2011 on the Saturday and will likely watch them again. Turisas is another one I am really happy to see be announced as they are great fun live, although I haven’t seen them since their line-up changes and they ditched the accordion live so, they might not be as fun live anymore – who knows. All in all, this announcement makes the line-up much stronger.

With the 2013 line up nearly full (which is astonishing to say seeing as it is not even March yet), it is about that time that I guess the stage times. The times tend not to change that much on a year to year basis so my guess I don’t think will be too far off, especially for the top 2 stages. The positions for stages 3 and 4 are complete guesswork though. I’ll do this day by day starting with (appropriately) Friday.

Friday 14^th June

Main Stage

21:00 - 22:45 Slipknot
19:20 - 20:20 Bullet For My Valentine   
18:00 - 18:55 Korn
16:50 - 17:35 Down
15:40 - 16:25 Papa Roach 
14:40 - 15:15 Asking Alexandria    
13:45 - 14:15 Architects    
13:00 - 13:25 Rise To Remain

Zippo Encore Stage

21:00 - 22:10            
19:30 - 20:30 Gogol Bordello         
18:20 - 19:05 3 Doors Down          
17:15 - 17:55 Volbeat  
16:10 - 16:50 Europe
15:20 - 15:50 Uriah Heap
14:30 - 15:00 Skin   
13:45 - 14:10 Dir En Grey   
13:00 - 13:25    

Pepsi Max Stage

21:00 - 22:00 HIM    
19:55 - 20:35 Converge
18:50 - 19:30 Motionless In White
17:55 - 18:25 Turisas
17:05 - 17:35 In This Moment
16:15 - 16:45 Hang The Bastard
15.25 - 15.55 Crowns
14:35 - 15:05 Emperor Chung
13:45 - 14:15 States of Panic
13:00 - 13:25 Tuborg Band

Red Bull Bedroom Jam Stage

21.10 – 21.55
20.15 – 20.45
19.30 – 19.55
18.45 – 19.10  
18.00 – 18.25
17.15 – 17.40
16.30 – 16.55
15.45 – 16.10 The Algorithm
15.00 – 15.25 Verses
14.15 – 14.40 The First

Main stage is full and has the same number of bands that the main stage on the Friday last year should have had (weather cancelled two of the sets). I see no reason to change the times at all from 2012. Second stage has two noticeable gaps on it, the headliner and the opener. The opener could well be Six Hour Sundown (as it should have been last year). The headliner is the interesting one and is one I’m keeping a close eye on. I like Slipknot and would see them again but if the headliner on the second stage is good, I’ll go see their set and the end of Slipknots. The potential 3 way clash between Korn, 3 Doors Down and Turisas is absolutely gutting as is the clash between Down and Volbeat. Korn and Volbeat win those clashes for me but they are not nice! As for the third stage, it looks as though there will only be one more band to be added and I guess that band will be the one, like in 2012, that wins the Tuborg competition to open the third stage. The Red Bull stage has only 3 bands announced for it and I guessed where they’ll be. I really don’t know though. I’ll do my potential full schedule at the end, so let’s move on to Saturday

 Saturday June 15th

Main Stage
20.45 – 22.45 Iron Maiden
18.30 – 19.45 Queens Of The Stone Age
16.55 – 17.55 Motorhead
15.35 – 16.25 Alice In Chains
14.20 – 15.05 Mastodon
13.10 – 13.50 Buckcherry
12.00 – 12.40 Young Guns
11.00 – 11.30 UFO

Zippo Encore Stage

19.25 – 20.35 Enter Shikari
17.55 – 18.55 Jimmy Eat World
16.40 – 17.25 Lit
15.35 – 16.15 Karnivool
14.30 – 15.10 Katatonia
13.35 – 14.05 Escape The Fate
12.40 – 13.10 Hardcore Superstar
11.45 – 12.15 Heaven’s Basement
11.00 – 11.25 I Divide
 
Pepsi Max Stage
21.30 – 22.30 The Hives
20.20 – 21.05 Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats
19.10 – 19.55 Bury Tomorrow
18.15 – 18.45 Walking Papers
17.20 – 17.50 The Sword
16.30 – 17.00 Heart Of A Coward
15.40 – 16.10 Empress
14.50 – 15.20 Nekrogobikon
14.00 – 14.30 Earthtone9
13.15 – 13.40 Hill Valley High
12.30 – 12.55 Broken
11.45 – 12.10
11.00 – 11.25

Red Bull Bedroom Jam Stage
20.50 – 21.35
19.50 – 20.20 After The Burial
18.50 – 19.20 Last Witness
17.50 – 18.20 Rat Attack
16.50 – 17.20 Silent Screams
15.55 – 16.20 Blacklist Royals
15.05 – 15.30 Asteroid Boys
14.15 – 14.40 Cytota
13.25 – 13.50
12.35 – 13.00
11.45 – 12.10
11.00 – 11.20

While changes are still being made, the top two stages are full and I can’t imagine they are wrong. I’ve read that Enter Shikari, who are headlining the second stage, finish 10mins before Iron Maiden start their headline set on the main stage, which is why there are less bands and different times from 2011/12. I said originally when this line-up was announced that it would take an awful lot for me to move from main stage during the run of Alice In Chains, Motorhead, QOTSA and Iron Maiden. However, it would seem that has been achieved! The third stage times and positions are again a guess but I really hope I have them right as I’d really like to see Earthtone9. Chances are if I’m wrong I’ll find a way to see them anyway, but still, if I am right then that would be just perfect.

Sunday June 10

Main Stage
21.00 – 22.45 Rammstein
19.00 – 20.15 30 Seconds To Mars
17.30 – 18.30 Gaslight Anthem
16.15 – 17.00 Stone Sour
15.00 – 15.45 Parkway Drive
13.50 – 14.30 Five Finger Death Punch
12.45 – 13.25 Coal Chamber
11.50 – 12.20 Cancer Bats
11.00 – 11.25 Sacred Mother Tongue

Zippo Encore Stage
20.30 – 21.30 Limp Bizkit
19.15 – 20.05 A Day To Remember
18.05 – 18.50 Airbourne
17.00 – 17.40
16.05 – 16.35 Amon Amarth
15.10 – 15.40 Graveyard
14.15 – 14.45 The Ghost Inside
13.20 – 13.50 HellYeah
12.30 – 12.55
11.45 – 12.10 Blitz Kids
11.00 – 11.25

Pepsi Max Stage
20.30 – 21.30
19.20 – 20.05 Modestep
18.15 – 18.55 P.O.D
17.20 – 17.50 Newsted
16.30 – 17.00 Red Fang
15.40 – 16.10 Vision of Disorder
14.50 – 15.20 Bleed From Within
14.00 – 14.30 Hacktivist
13.15 – 13.40 Brutality Will Prevail
12.30 – 13.40
11.45 – 12.10
11.00 – 11.25

Red Bull Bedroom Jam Stage
20.50 – 21.35 Sonic Boom Six
19.50 – 20.20 Glamour Of The Kill
18.50 – 20.20 I Am I
17.50 – 18.20 Buffalo Summer
16.50 – 17.20  Huntress
15.55 – 16.20 Black Dogs
15.05 – 15.30 Mordecai
14.15 – 14.40 Naked Flame
13.25 – 13.50
12.35 – 13.00
11.45 – 12.10
11.00 – 11.25

There are quite a few spots left open here so every stage aside from main is me guessing the slots. Not that it matters much anyway. I don’t see me moving far from main stage while the first 4 bands are on. I’ve left a nice big spot available on the second stage as I hope there will be one of three bands announced for that slot. I really think as well it is an appropriate slot for the 3 bands I have in mind as well. I have no idea if the slot even exists so this is pure speculation. The three bands I have in mind are The Wildhearts, Kreator and Bad Religion. The Wildhearts are doing 2 dates in New York 2 weeks before Download and as it stands, those dates are the last confirmed Wildhearts dates for the foreseeable. However, I think playing Download in a pretty decent slot would be a great way to round off that lot of dates. It would also be a great place to announce their Xmess 2013 tour that could go on sale a couple of weeks after Download (I might be in the land of dreaming right now!) Kreator and Bad Religion are possible as they are both playing festivals around the time and have both never played Download.

As I’ve said a few times throughout all of this, there is a lot of guesswork here. However, assuming in a perfect world that I am right (or close enough), then this is how my Download festival would look:

Friday 14^th

13.00 – 13.25 – Rise To Remain (Main)
13.45 – 14.15 – Architects (Main)
14.30 – 15.00 – Skin (2^nd)
15.20 – 15.50 – Uriah Heap (2^nd)
16.10 – 16.50 – Europe (2^nd)
17.15 – 17.55 – Volbeat (2^nd)
18.00 – 18.55 – Korn (Main)
19.20 – 20.20 – Bullet For My Valentine (Main)
or
19.30 – 20.30 – Gogol Bordello (2^nd)
21.00 – 22.45 – Slipknot (Main)
or
21.00 – 22.10 – Second Stage Headliner (2^nd)

Saturday 15^th

11.00 – 11.30 – UFO (Main)
11.45 – 12.15 – Heaven’s Basement (2^nd)
12.40 – 13.10 – Hardcore Superstar (2^nd)
13.10 – 13.50 – Buckcherry (Main)
14.00 – 14.30 – Earthtone9 (3^rd)
14.30 – 15.10 – Katatonia (2^nd)
15.35 – 16.25 – Alice In Chains (Main)
16.40 – 17.25 – Lit (2^nd)
17.55 – 18.55 – Jimmy Eat World (2^nd)
18.30 – 19.45 – Queens of the Stone Age (Main)
20.45 – 22.45 – Iron Maiden (Main)

Sunday 16^th

11.00 – 11.25 – Sacred Mother Tongue (Main)
11.45 – 12.15 – Cancer Bats (Main)
12.45 – 13.25 – Coal Chamber (Main)
13.50 – 14.30 – Five Finger Death Punch (Main)
15.10 – 15.40 – Graveyard (2^nd)
16.15 – 17.00 – Stone Sour (Main)
17.00 – 17.40 – Second Stage Gap TBC (2^nd)
or
17.20 – 17.50 – Newsted (3^rd)
18.05 – 18.50 – Airbourne (2^nd)
19.15 – 20.05 – A Day To Remember (2^nd)
20.30 – 21.00 – Limp Bizkit (2^nd)
21.00 – 22.45 – Rammstein (Main)

If my festival ends up even being close to that plan, I will consider that money well spent.

More Bands For Download 2013

Back in 2006, the year I first went to a music festival, it was around this time of year that the first band announcements were made for the Download Festival. The batches were small but they contained names which were very interesting. If memory serves, Metallica were in one of the first announcements along with The Prodigy and Trivium. Why did I raise this point? Well, in 2006 it would be January before any bands were announced for the festival, and they would be announced in small batches on an almost weekly basis (if not weekly than fortnightly). Roll forward to the announcements for 2013 and by January, all the headliners were announced as well as some of the bigger names from the undercard. In December, 5 names were confirmed for the festival either by tweets from the festival organiser or the band themselves officially announced it on stage. We were told in mid-December that by mid-January, there would be a big band announcement of over 20 bands. That was made today and it was an announcement of 37 bands (32 new names and the official announcement of the 5 announced in December).  As I’ve not written an announcement blog since the last main announcement, I will include the bands announced today and via tweets (excluding Volbeat as they were announced just in time for the last blog) along with my opinions of them. In alphabetical order then:

3 Doors Down – 3 Doors Down are an excellent live band. I saw them in Manchester in 2012 and they were, well as I said earlier, excellent. Somehow they were missed off the honourable mentions list for my gigs of the year blog - definitely an oversight there. Anyway, they are a pretty strong booking for Download I think. They’ve never played the festival before and it’s always good to see a first time booking on the line-up – especially when it is a band as good as 3 Doors Down.

Airbourne – Last time I caught Airbourne was the beginning of their set at Wacken 2011 (would have stayed for the whole thing but I was pretty damn tired). They are a great live band and they work really well at festivals. 2013 will be the 3^rd time they play Download but it will be the first time I see them there, so I’m ok with this.

Amon Amarth – Amon Amarth is another good booking for Download as far as I am concerned. First time they’ve played the festival since 2008. I enjoyed them when I saw them at Wacken last year. If they don’t clash with anyone I’d prefer to see at Download, I suspect I will watch them again.

Asking Alexandria – This is a band that I just cannot get into. I’ve tried a couple of times and I have to say they are just not for me. I could piss and moan about the fact that there is a band playing Download that I don’t like – or I could just...not. The only thing I will say which is mildly annoying is that between them and another announcement from today is a band I want to see.  Again, it’s mildly annoying; it is not the end of the world.

Black Dogs – I haven’t heard much of Black Dogs but what I have heard, I like. While typing this short paragraph, I am listening to a song called “Savages” which is ace. Also, their bio on their band camp page made me smile: “Black Dogs: an unstoppable pack of northern bastards”.

Buffalo Summer – Can’t find much stuff by this band (one song so far) but that one song is pretty good so I am ok with this booking.  

Bullet For My Valentine – One of the bigger announcements from this batch. I have yet to see Bullet For My Valentine. It has only been recently I have actually got into them. As I haven’t seen them, I’m alright with them having been announced for the festival but I can fully understand why people are getting annoyed with how many times this band has played. They have played in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011 and now 2013. Assuming nothing goes wrong before the 2013 festival, they will have played 7 out of 11 festivals. That is a lot.

Cancer Bats – At the moment, I cannot get enough of Cancer Bats, so I am delighted they have been booked again for Download 2013. I’m also really pleased to see them on main stage after the weather cancelled their main stage slot at the 2012 festival. I wonder, considering BFMV and Cancer Bats are at the same festival, if we will see an AxeWound set at some point over the weekend. We shall see...

Coal Chamber – I don’t know a massive amount about Coal Chamber other than they are doing reunion shows and their front man is the Devildriver front man, Dez Fafara. I like what I’ve heard of them though so they could be worth watching.

Converge – This is another band that is not for me. I’ve always meant to listen to them but never had until this announcement. Having now listened, I almost wish I hadn’t. I don’t hate them, but I can’t claim to like them.

Down – Down is very hit and miss for me. Some of their stuff I really like but some of it, I really don’t. However, I’ve seen them live twice now and they are excellent live. They were one of my favourite bands when I went to Download for the day in 2011. I imagine I will watch them again, although they find themselves sandwiched in-between two bands I won’t be watching.

Earthtone9 – This is a band I first became aware of in 2010 (late to the party as ever) and really liked what I heard. They were announced for Sonisphere and as I was headed there, I planned to watch them. Then the stage times came out and they clashed with Motley Crue. Based on how Motley Crue was that day. I really wish I’d gone to see Earthtone9. Again, if there is not a clash I will go and see Earthtone9. The song Evil Crawling I is a beast of a tune.

Enter Shikari – I’ve added some of their music to my Download Festival 2013 Spotify playlist because I don’t mind some of their stuff. However, on the whole, I cannot get into Enter Shikari, and I doubt I’ll be watching them. Maybe watching them will help me get into them? Who knows? If they clash with no-one else I want to see, I might give them a chance.

Five Finger Death Punch – This is a band that I wouldn’t mind watching live. I haven’t seen them before (although the opportunity hasn’t come up). They were booked for 2012 but had to cancel. I’m not a massive fan of their music but I like what I’ve heard so they could be worth watching.

Goldsboro – There once was a pop group called Orson. They had a bit of success in the UK with their debut album but the second album wasn’t so successful and they split up. The reaction to all of this is Goldsboro – a rock band that Classic Rock magazine suggested were “a power trio pitched somewhere between Judas Priest, Thin Lizzy and Black Sabbath”. Having listened to some of their music, I can agree that it is very good. They could be well worth watching.

Hacktivist – I can’t make my mind up about Hacktivist. I’ve listened to them a few times now and I go between liking them and not. I guess this is what is known as the struggle to get into a band. I recognise they are a decent band but I can’t decide if they are to my tastes or not.

Hardcore Superstar – I quite like what I’ve heard from this band (which admittedly isn’t much) but they could be well worth a watch. It won’t be the end of the world if I don’t watch them at Download as they are also playing Wacken Open Air. It’ll be a bit annoying if I miss them at both now I’ve mentioned it...

Heaven’s Basement – I last saw this band supporting Halestorm and they were very enjoyable. They’ve played quite a few of the UK festivals I’ve been to I think, and I’ve never managed to watch them at a festival. They tend to clash with other bands I’d prefer to see. I might watch them at Download, might not – we shall see.

HellYeah – I saw this band at Download 2007 and remember thinking they were quite dull. It was cool for me to see Vinnie Paul behind the drum kit (after the death of Dimebag Darrel, I never thought I would see that) but that didn’t help me through the whole set. Since 2007, they have released 2 albums and I’ve listened to some of the music from them and I am tempted to give them another chance.

Huntress – After their announcement, I thought “I’ve heard of that name before”. Turns out the reason I had heard of it as it is a recruitment agency. I found the band shortly after that realisation and came to another one – Huntress are ace! I’ll definitely be trying to see them. Only heard a handful of songs but from what I’ve heard, they sound excellent.

I AM I – In 2010, ZP Theart left Dragonforce in what I seem to recall was quite a shocking move. I AM I is the band he formed following his departure from Dragonforce. It reminds me of a power metal vibe but in a very different way to Dragonforce. They are a fairly decent band though and a good booking for Download. I more I listen to them; the more I am reminded of Edguy actually (without Tobi doing the vocals).

In This Moment – I’ve seen In This Moment before when they supported Devildriver on their pre-Download 2007 gig. That was a good night actually. I remember that I really enjoyed In This Moment and have wanted to see them again. The chance has not come up sadly. If they aren’t clashing with anyone then I hope to see them at Download.

Jimmy Eat World – I saw Jimmy Eat World twice in 2011 and thought they were good both times. I preferred them when they supported Foo Fighters as they played the songs I knew mixed throughout the set, as opposed to playing them right at the end of the set like they did at Reading. Anyway, I am really happy about this booking as I do like what I’ve heard of them. If I end up planning to watch them though, I’ll do a little more research first.  

Korn – Korn is probably the band I am happiest about seeing in this announcement. I was really looking forward to seeing them at Download 2006 but Jonathan Davis had to be rushed to hospital. The band played a fairly memorable set with guest vocalists (including a superb version of Freak on a Leash with Corey Taylor). However since then, I have not had the chance to see them (or truthfully been all that interested in spending £30+ on seeing them on UK tours). They are being rejoined for this tour by Head, one of the founding members of Korn I believe so I’m hoping it will be a classics/best of set and leave the dubstep album alone (although if they want to throw a quick version of Narcissistic Cannibal in the set, I’d be ok with that)

Last Witness – I listened to some of Last Witness earlier when prepping for this writing and they didn’t do a great deal for me. That’s pretty much it. I don’t hate them, or even dislike them. I just don’t care for them really.

Limp Bizkit – What can I say? Limp Bizkit, along with Linkin Park got me into rock and metal music. For that, they will always have a special place in my heart (a place which Linkin Park are doing their best to leave but that is a sentiment for another blog, maybe). I saw them at Sonisphere 2009 and thought they were alright. I remember thinking that they could have been better. I didn’t see them at Sonisphere 2011 as they clashed with a couple of smaller bands I wanted to see. However, I think I would like to see them again. The thing about their positioning is interesting as it appears they are headlining the second stage on the Saturday. This means, due to an agreement between the festival organisers that they will clash with the end of Queens of the Stone Age’s set, and the changeover gap before Iron Maiden. I am tempted to go and watch them and when they are finished, try and get as far forward as possible for Iron Maiden. That sounds like a good plan – I shall see what happens when stage times are released.

Mastodon – Mastodon have released one song that I like. I’ve tried so many times to get into them and every time it ends in failure. I guess it’s just not meant to be.

Motionless In White – I haven’t listened to much Motionless in White but what I have heard, I have quite liked. A fairly good booking I would say.

Parkway Drive – Pretty sure these guys have played Sonisphere before when I’ve been there and I’ve missed them. Listening back to their music now, I can see why I missed them. I like what I am hearing but I am not in love with it. In terms of them being a festival band, they definitely fall into the category of “if there’s nothing else on I fancy watching, then I’ll watch them”.

Stone Sour – Stone Sour are one of my favourite bands so I am of course delighted to see them on the Download line up. I wish they were higher up but no matter! I suspect I’ll be watching them.

The Hives – This is a very surprising booking for the festival I would say but I am really happy with it personally. I love the song “Hate To Say I Told You So” and I’ve been told they are a superb live band. I imagine I will be watching them as long as they don’t clash with one of my must-sees of the festival.

The Sword – I saw them live in Portsmouth off the back of the song they had on Guitar Hero and I ended up leaving quite early. They were pretty boring that night. Some people love them; I am not one of those people.

UFO – Nothing wrong with a bit of classic rock early in the day to get things started. I bet some of the music would be good for a sing-along. It would be outstanding if they performed Doctor Doctor live before Iron Maiden came out on stage, but I suspect that is unlikely. Their set should be fun though, and it saves me spending £25 to see them in Portsmouth!

Vision Of Disorder – I really like what I’ve heard of this band, which admittedly isn’t much (seems to be a theme of these blogs). I would like to see this band at Download if I get the chance.

Walking Papers – One more blues rock band on the line up is no bad thing. I like some of the music I have heard from this band. I was surprised to learn that it is Duff McKagan on bass. I wonder if he is a live member as well. Anyway, they are another band that I will see if I get the chance to.

Young Guns – I like some of this bands stuff. I also don’t like some of it. Will I watch them? Who knows? Only me, and I don’t at this stage. If there is nothing else on, then I probably will give Young Guns a watch.

Overall I would say that this has been a very good announcement for Download (in terms of my personal tastes anyway). One thing which does slightly concern me about this line-up however is the lack of a “wow-factor”. Last year had Metallica playing the Black Album in full and the only European date of Black Sabbath. The year before had the only UK date on the reunion tour of System of a Down. 2010 had AC/DC headlining. I am happy with the line-up this year but there is definitely no “wow-factor” present. Still, as it stands, I would be happy seeing 37 bands that have been announced. While that does include bands I’ve already seen, I think that is quite a good return at this stage. This is the updated line-up poster:

All in all, that looks pretty good. At the end of my last announcement blog, I posted a list of bands I suspected would be announced. Of the 10 I listed, 6 were announced. If you look at the poster, it is fairly clear that there are still 2 second stager headliner slots to fill. I think they will be filled by Paramore and The Scorpions. There is no science behind that guess. Scorpions have been rumoured on various websites for a short while now, and Paramore are playing other European festivals at around the same time as Download. As for other bands, I would like to see The Wildhearts get announced although I suspect at this stage they might not be. I would still like to see Bad Religion get announced as I was really looking forward to seeing them at Sonisphere, and then they clashed with Panic Cell’s last ever show. I think I’d like to see Within Temptation get announced but aside from that, I can’t really think of any other realistic names I’d like to see added to the bill. That’s an odd way to be with about 5 months to go before the festival, but the current line-up in my opinion is pretty strong.

EDIT - Late in the day but it would seem that poster is quite misleading. Enter Shikari are headlining the second stage on the Saturday and Limp Bizkit are headlining the second stage on the Sunday. Bizkit against Rammstein? Only one winner there sadly

EDIT 2 - It would seem that The Hives are clashing with Iron Maiden. That is really not friendly. I said I would watch them as long as they are not clashing with one of my "must see" bands. Iron Maiden are a must see band. Bah!

HMV

Late last night, the news came out that HMV was going into administration. This year has seen a couple of high profile casualties in terms of retail business closures in the form of Comet and Jessops. These businesses were in administration for less than a day before closing. The situation is slightly different for HMV as they are going to continue trading while the administrators search for a buyer. This is of course bad news for the employees (some if not all) as all discussions of a possible “save” for HMV have included the closure of a large number of stores so there will be job losses. I think this move into administration and possible closure has been inevitable for some time unfortunately. As soon as they became the last big high street retailer of music and film, I have wondered how long they will last. I’ll be honest, they have lasted longer than I imagined, especially in the current economic climate. If HMV closes, it will be big news and it will have a dramatic effect on the future of the high street (in my opinion).

The high street will not just disappear when the HMV stores go but I do think the other businesses will suffer as a result. There are several different retail markets in an average high street which attracts different customer bases. When looking at it that way, the high street should do just fine without HMV. However, I can’t help but feel that with no major high street retailer selling music and DVDs, there will be fewer customers in the high street and the businesses there will suffer from a reduced footfall and as a likely result, reduced takings. Thinking about my own local high street, which already is in competition with Gunwharf Quays in terms of shopping and entertainment, without HMV, it is reduced to mobile phone shops, a book shop, fashion retail and places to get food (the market, places like McDonalds and shops like Tesco). Aside from that there are functional businesses there such as banks and opticians, but I cannot think of anything else there (I have excluded the gym I use from this list as I can’t imagine many people use the gym then go for a stroll round the high street). Taking this into account, I suspect the bulk of people that go into a high street will visit for one purpose and then when they have achieved that purpose, they will likely leave. There is no science behind this thought process other than opinion, but I believe that other businesses will suffer from a reduction in the number of people in the high street. It would be nice to see independent businesses open up in the high street to take over from HMV if it does cease to trade locally but I can’t imagine it happening. What I can imagine happening though is that people will shop more online. Online shopping has been growing year on year and I can’t see that slowing down. If HMV closes, it will significantly increase putting even more pressure on the high street. Fashion retail will likely survive this happening, but other forms of high street retail could lose out. The reason why I believe this is that people will always need to try clothes on before they buy.

Is it possible that this could have been avoided? In a word, yes. It is very easy to look back with hindsight at everything HMV has done and think “how did they not see this coming?” but that would be much too simplistic. One thing they should have done is something which this country should have done when the economy was growing and booming. HMV should have fixed their roof while the sun was still shining. What I mean by this was instead of investing money into HMV Live and buying Waterstones, they could have invested more into their online market, or reduced the price of their goods to the customers (it is all well and good running fairly regular offers like 2 items for £10 on older items, but for newer releases, it is important to be competitive). Instead of dedicating large areas to their shops to electronic items such as iPods and headphones, they could have made those items online exclusives and focused their high street operations completely on music and film. Consider this, if they advertised with their music in-store that they had great deals on MP3 players, CD players, headphones etc on their website, people would go there. When people visit the website, they find these great deals on items you cannot purchase at HMV stores, and they are indeed good competitive prices. With these items, you can even further the incentive by offering money off in-store when you make a purchase over a certain amount. For example if you buy an iPod from HMV as opposed to Apple, HMV will give you a £10 off your next purchase voucher. That may not seem much, but that could then encourage customers to go back to the shop and possibly spend more money. Doing that, you link the online business with the high street business and you create a happy customer base that may consider HMV as the go-to place for their music and film needs, as well as their music/film hardware needs. This is a hypothetical example which may not work in real life as well as it is works in my head, but I think rewarding customers instead of ripping off customers may be of benefit. I addressed the removal of headphones (amongst other things) from their shops. That to me has been a fairly big failure. Only once have I been in a HMV store and been able to try out more than 2 pairs of headphones as the others are broken. To me, that is a metaphor for HMV – broken.

HMV never really challenged the online retailers when they had the chance and they have suffered as a result. Their website I’d say has only really been good for a few years now. They never were a business I considered when it came to online shopping (for music and film, it was always CDWow, Play and Amazon). Today, I have gone on to the HMV website and pulled 5 examples of items and prices for comparison. The bulk of my comparisons will be between HMV and Amazon. Starting with a favourite artist of mine, Ginger Wildheart released a triple album via PledgeMusic earlier this year and then released a commercial release of 12 songs from that triple album, voted for by the people who had pledged. The 12 song disc, called 100% entered the midweek charts at number 9. The album dropped to 23 by the weekend charts due to the numbers available for physical purchase, and I think dropped out the chart completely not long after. The 100% album is available for purchase directly from Ginger for £10. However, people may not be aware of this and would go straight to one of the major music retailers to buy it. HMV is selling the album for £15 (and it has been seen in their stores for £18.99). Amazon is selling it for £11.47. The second example I have is from a much smaller band called Eureka Machines. Their first album, Do or Die is available from both HMV and Amazon as well as from themselves. HMV is selling Do or Die for £13 while Amazon is selling it for £9.26. Around £3.50 is not a massive amount of money by any stretch of the imagination, but why would you pay more for something when you could pay less? As a side note, Eureka Machines are selling both of their albums in a package for £13! That is the same price as HMV is selling just one of the albums for (you can get both albums from HMV for £25). I appreciate they are trying to make a profit, but that will lose you customers, especially where the cheaper option could be just a few clicks away.

Moving on to DVDs (I’m looking at TV DVDs here); HMV is again more expensive than their competitors. I quite like Louis Theroux documentaries and actually recently considered buying some of the box sets. Looking around, I found that one of the ones I was considering buying, The Odd, The Bad and the Godly, was on sale from HMV for £15. Amazon is selling the same box set for £8.49. Why on earth would you shop with HMV when you look at how much they charge over their competitors? The BBC Official Shop is also significantly cheaper than HMV for the same products. Just last year, a new series of Red Dwarf aired on the TV Channel Dave. It has since been released on DVD. HMV is selling the DVD for £15.99 and the Blu-Ray for £20. Amazon is selling the DVD for £13.49 and the Blu-Ray for £16.49. I ask again, why would you shop at HMV? Finally, I want to look at the bigger box sets, where you can buy every episode of the TV show in one box. For this example, I will look at Only Fools and Horses. A new episode of this show has not been on TV in some time (and I do hope there never will be new ones, but that is a different blog for a different day). HMV is selling the 26 disc box set for £49. Considering how much TV you are getting from this box set, without shopping around, I would say that is a fair price. A couple of clicks later and I have the same item up on Amazon...for £32. I’m sorry, but it cannot just be a case that HMV is paying that much more for their stock than Amazon is, it just can’t be.

There is one other factor which could be the cause for the demise of HMV. It is all well and good me pointing the finger at them and saying they are in the wrong just because of their pricing, but there is more to it than that. The world has changed since HMV launched. The major way people get their music now isn’t via going to the local shop and buying the CD, but by downloading or streaming the music. Downloading, both legally and illegally, really hit HMV along with other music retailers I’m sure. I am aware as a consumer that if I want to legally download music, I can visit the iTunes store or visit the Amazon MP3 store and pay roughly about the same amount of money for the music I want to buy (assuming I don’t want the CD). I am aware of other companies but they are the main two that I am aware of. I honestly didn’t know if I could do that from HMV. After a quick visit to their website, it turns out you can. But I think it speaks volumes that I genuinely didn’t know whether you could or couldn’t buy MP3s from HMV. Downloading music illegally has obviously had an impact on the amount of business HMV and other retailers have. But, while it is obviously illegal, it is easy to see why it is done. It is very easy to do it, and it is obviously cheaper (assuming you don’t get caught and fined!) Streaming music is an entirely different beast all together. I pay £5 a month for Spotify and stream music from them. That is £5 per month that HMV will never see because I may be able to buy one old album from them, but if I want to download 1 song, I’m probably not going via HMV to do so. In fact, if it is a song that I don’t actually want to own, just listen to, then chances are I will just play it on Spotify. I guess what I am saying here is that I have options for listening and buying music which don’t involve HMV. Could they have entered the world of music streaming? I don’t see why not.

What was the point of all of this? Well, to be honest, I’m off sick from work and I was bored. HMV going into administration and potentially collapsing is the major news story in the UK today so I figured I’d write something about it as my first blog for 2013. A lot of what I have written in this blog is my own opinion, and I have no idea if in the real world it would actually work. It astounds me though looking back with hindsight that more wasn’t done to steady the HMV ship when they had the chance. It amazes me that they seemingly didn’t consider online shopping a threat to their business model. It amazes me further that they didn’t worry about people downloading and streaming music. It worries me what impact their closing will have on the high street. I feel sorry for the 4000 odd people who could lose their jobs. They have been let down by a company that failed to change when they needed to most. 

Best of 2012

At the end of 2011, I said to myself I really should start to cut down on the amount of gigs I go to. I love live music but there’s only so much a man of my means can afford. In 2010, I went to 11 gigs (and a festival). In 2011, I went to 16 gigs (and 3 weekend festivals and one day at Download). In 2012, I went to 35 gigs (and 2 weekend festivals). So much for cutting back! I’ve made the same objective for 2013, I suspect it’ll be a lot easier to cut back from 35 but we shall see I guess. Previous “best gig” lists that have appeared on this blog have appeared in different forms. The 2011 post was top 5 gigs and top 5 festival slots. This post will be more extensive as it will be top 10 gigs from 2012 and in a separate list, the top 10 bands from their festival slots from this year as well.

Top 10 Gigs 2012

Going to 35 gigs and narrowing it down to 10 is really quite tough. There are a number of gigs that almost made it in the top 10. The following list is in chronological order – the honourable mentions.

·         Edguy – O2 Islington Academy, London 04/02/2012

·         Skindred/Therapy? – O2 Brixton Academy, London 13/04/2012

·         Cancer Bats – Relentless Garage (Upstairs), London 21/04/2012

·         Ginger Wildheart – Club Academy, Manchester 02/06/2012

·         Halestorm – Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth 30/09/2012

·         Alice Cooper – Bournemouth International Centre, Bournemouth 27/10/2012

·         Billy Talent – Pyramids Centre, Portsmouth 16/11/2012

·         Therapy? – Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth 06/12/2012

All of those gigs were really good, but the top 10 gigs of 2012 for me were really quite special. In reverse order, this is my top 10. If I have written a review about them, I will copy and paste from the review. If I haven’t, I will write a short blurb on my memories from the gig. I’ve been a bit lax this year writing reviews so I suspect a lot of my words will be new.

10.          Black Stone Cherry – Concorde 2, Brighton 12/07/2012

In preparation for a couple of festival slots, Black Stone Cherry played a handful of small gigs in the UK and one of them was in Brighton at the Concorde 2. They played their festival set with a few extras thrown in as it was a headline show. I first saw BSC in 2007 at the Wedgewood Rooms and they were superb that night, and they are just getting better and better as a live band and this was evident when watching them in the Concorde 2. The atmosphere was electric throughout the entire show (aside from maybe when they played “Things My Father Said” but considering the song, that does make sense). The set closed out on a cover of Muddy Waters “Hoochie Coochie Man”, “Blame It On The Boom Boom” and “Lonely Train” which was an excellent end to a superb gig. I’d be very surprised to see Black Stone Cherry in that size venue again, and I’m sure the intimate nature of this gig is one of the reasons I have included it in the top 10.

9.             Judas Priest – Hammersmith Apollo, London 26/05/2012

This gig was the second time I had caught Judas Priest on the Epitaph tour. The first time was at Wacken 2011 where I thought they started off quite slow but improved vastly after I returned to watching them (took a break to see Sirenia). I had concerns that it would be same this time that they would start slow. Before Judas Priest though, it was Saxon. Saxon had about an hour set which I thought was quite generous for a support slot but I was pleased with it. I was even more pleased with the fact that Saxon’s set was stunning. I’d seen them previously but never were they as good as they were on this day (they somehow managed to top this set at Wacken 2012). Judas Priest had to do something quite special in order to better Saxon, and put simply, they managed it without struggling. I wondered at the time whether being indoors suits Judas Priest better than being at a festival as there was no slow start this time. This set was essentially a best of Judas Priest set and it was outstanding. One thing which irked me at Wacken happened again at Hammersmith though. The crowd taking over vocal duties on “Breaking The Law”. I like that song, I’d quite like to hear Rob Halford sing it! Despite having to leave early, what I saw of this gig earned it a spot in the top 10. A superb Saxon and even better Judas Priest? Excellent night of live rock!

8.             Pulp – Royal Albert Hall, London 31/03/2012

I think from a personal perspective, Pulp had an awful lot to do in order to save this gig. Cat’s Eyes were the support and I think I drifted off to sleep (impressive considering I was standing). Pulp, however, were superb. Seeing Pulp indoors made for a better environment than seeing them at Reading (even though that set was also superb). It was also cool to hear them play some different songs than they did at Reading. One thing I remember very well from this gig was a moment of crowd participation. As everyone entered the Royal Albert Hall, we were handed key rings in the shape of a guitar with the Teenage Cancer Trust logo on. These key rings were also torches. I thought nothing of it at the time but during one of the songs, all the lights in the Hall were switched off and everyone with a key ring switched on their torches, making it look like there were stars all over the venue. It was a really cool moment. The gig finished on Disco 2000 which is my favourite Pulp song, so I was happy with that.

7.             Guns N’Roses – Manchester Arena, Manchester 29/05/2012

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

6.             Rammstein – O2 Arena, London 24/02/2012

This gig was nothing short of outstanding. From the opening entrance through the crowd to the very end it was stunning. The stage show I have done my best to describe but my words alone cannot do it justice. Rammstein's show blows anything else on the live circuit out of the water. Performance wise they were tight as ever. Overall, tonight shows why Rammstein are selling out the O2 Arena. I am beyond happy to have seen this show and this setlist. I will close with some well chosen words from The Quietus, who also discussed the week where the O2 hosted both The Brits and Rammstein (I hope their prediction is correct).

“Above all though, tonight - and indeed Rammstein’s very existence - proves ultimately that if you show people innovation, not contrived homogenised crap, if you show people dedication and talent, not auto-tuned flash-in-the-pans, you can make something of both commercial and artistic value. We won’t be staring at Ed Sheeran’s hair in 12 months time, but we’ll certainly be staring at Til Lindemann’s fake ejaculating penis for at least the next 10 to 15 years.”

5.             Refused – The Forum, London 12/08/2012

Before 2012 started, I knew very little of Refused. I knew the song “New Noise” and the song “Liberation Frequency”. They were announced as second stage headliners for Sonisphere 2012 before it got cancelled and because they were playing a festival I wasn’t going to, I didn’t look into them much. However, Sonisphere got cancelled and they got added on to the Download 2012 line up. I then researched them more and realised how much I liked their stuff. I watched them at Download ahead of seeing Megadeth and before the first song had ended, I knew I made the right decision. I actually remember saying to a friend after seeing the advert for this gig “I probably won’t go” and then saw them at Download and that instantly changed to “ok I’m going to see them in London”. That decision was a good one. The set contained a few more songs than their festival sets but it was still so good. I am hoping they do another reunion tour because even without new material, it would be so worth seeing.

4.             The Wildhearts – The Forum, London 17/12/2012

Before I went in to this gig, I felt it was going to be one of my gigs of the year. I was very late to The Wildhearts party, getting into them early 2008. I saw them on their Chutzpah tour in 2009 and I remember leaving that gig in such a good mood and telling every friend I saw that evening (who hadn’t gone) just how good it was. I remember being gutted that I couldn’t make the Xmess tour in 2009 and then even more so when the band went on hiatus after that. However in 2010, I saw Ginger solo for the first time and that gig was almost as good as my first Wildhearts experience, if not better. Since then, I’ve seen Ginger solo as often as I can afford (including full band and acoustic shows) and at festivals. I’ve never left a Ginger gig disappointed. The only thing I’d not done was attended a birthday show. From what I’ve heard of previous birthday shows, they have long set lists and have varying special guests coming up to do some of their own songs or different ways of doing Ginger/Wildhearts songs. This gig was a birthday show, but a bit different from previous birthday shows. This one had Ginger’s solo band as the support band, and The Wildhearts headlining.

Ginger’s set started with him alone on stage playing the beginning to “Just Another Song About Someone” and band members were coming out one by one to join him and play along with the song. After this opening came the first of two new songs (most of the set was comprised of songs released in 2012, but what I mean is really new songs) from the Ginger/Victoria Liedtke project Hey! Hello! The song was “How I Survived The Punk Wars” which I thought was great anyway but live it is excellent. After this song was a crowd favourite in the form of “Girls Are Better Than Boys”. A triple pack of 555% was up next with “Taste Aversion”, “Forget About It” and “Confusion” and another song from Hey! Hello! – “Swimwear” The set finished up with a cover of Cheap Trick’s “surrender” and a Silver Ginger 5 song – “Sonic Shake”. For these last two songs, the band were joined on stage by Clam Abuse band mate Alex Kane. This was an excellent set. It was great to hear some Hey! Hello! live.

A big black curtain was draped over the stage, and after a short while. The house lights went off and you could hear the opening notes of “Nothing Changes But The Shoes” which was an ace opener. One funny moment did happen when the black curtain came down and took out the microphone stands. It would have been perfectly excusable if the set list was a “best of” from this point onwards but there were a few songs thrown in that I can only assume were unexpected (another song from the first EP was played and a couple of B Sides were played). The absolute highlight of the set for me was the trio of Mazel Tov Cocktail, Caffeine Bomb and Suckerpunch.  The main set closed with “29x The Pain” and “Love U Till I Don’t” which was a superb pair of closing songs before the encore.

The encore kicked off with “Nita Nitro” which was very well received (not that the rest of the set hadn’t been, but the introduction of this song got a very loud roar from the crowd). At the conclusion of this song, Ginger introduced his son Jake on stage and he came out with Ginger’s manager Gav and other people to sing Happy Birthday. After the birthday wishes, The Wildhearts + Jake played “Vanilla Radio” which was awesome. We started to get some more guests on stage at this point. Ginger took over on drums as Kavus Torabi, Chris Catalyst and Dom Lawson came out to play a Cardiacs song (“Is This The Life”) with Jon Poole on vocals. After that, the band covered a Jason & The Scorchers song – “White Lies” with Warner E Hodges from the band joining them on stage. He stayed on stage and was joined by former Wildhearts guitarist Jef Streatfield for a rendition of “My Baby Is A Headfuck”. The solo responsibilities for this song were handed by Warner E Hodges, with Ginger bowing in front of him. For the final song, Warner and Jef stayed on stage and were joined Jake, Rich Jones, Alex Kane, Hot Steve and Victoria Liedtke. The last song was “I Wanna Go Where The People Go” and it was such a superb way to finish what had been a fantastic gig.

3.             Faith No More – Hammersmith Apollo, London 08/07/2012

I remember being really gutted when Faith No More got announced for Sonisphere 2012. I wanted to see them at Download 2009 but couldn’t get the funds together to go. Now they were back on their second leg of their reunion and as they were headlining the Sunday, I wouldn’t be able to go for the day due to work. Also, just thinking about this now, but Refused and FNM close to a festival? My word.  Anyway, Sonisphere 2012 got cancelled and bands that were playing made alternative arrangements. Faith No More announced 2 London gigs including one at Hammersmith Apollo. I arrived at the venue slightly before the support had finished and saw Mike Patton singing with them, so that was kinda cool. The next hour was waiting. I’m not sure if there were technical problems or they waited an hour to build up tension. If it was the latter, it worked because as they came out on stage, the atmosphere was incredible. They worked a snippet of Tom Jones’ “Delilah” into the opening song “Woodpeckers From Mars” which was great and then played “Midlife Crisis”. I had to leave early to make sure I got my train. This gig would have been Number One on the list had I been able to stay until the end and hear them play “We Care A Lot”. Alas.

2.             Green Day – O2 Shepherds Bush Empire, London 23/08/2012

On the 10^th August, I had a ticket to see Less Than Jake in a small club in London on the 23^rd August. Sometimes announcements are made which make you think twice. Green Day announced they were playing London on the same night. This would have been my first time seeing Green Day so I had to go. I’ve heard nothing but good things about Green Day live so I was excited, despite not knowing what they were going to play (aside from testing some of their new material out). They did test some new material out and it was very good live. Aside from the new material, the rest of the setlist was essentially a best of Green Day set, which I was very happy about. Early on, the set had “Welcome To Paradise”, “Burnout” and “Know Your Enemy” in a row which was ace. I could talk about all the highlights from this gig but I’d probably be here for a very long time. I will mention towards the end they did a jam/melody in which they played “Teenage Kicks”, “Stand By Me” and “Hey Jude” by The Undertones, Ben E King and The Beatles respectively which was ace. Closing out on “American Idiot” and “99 Revolutions” , Green Day signed off triumphantly and it was an outstanding gig. I’m going to see them again next year doing a stadium show, which I’m sure will be superb, but they’ll will have to do something really special to top the intimacy of this show (strange thing to say that a gig held in a 2000 cap venue as intimate, but it was!)

1.             Metallica – Stade De France, Paris 12/05/2012

No words I type can sum up the level of excitement which runs through me as soon as The Ecstasy of Gold starts. 9th time be damned, in that environment, it gives me Goosebumps every time! The famous video finished and the song died down and out on stage were Metallica! I could go now and talk through each song but I will talk about some personal highlights. I love the opening combo of Hit the Lights and Master of Puppets. They are songs you wouldn’t expect to open the set with but it just works. It was the same opening to Sonisphere last year and it’s excellent. On the other European dates before this one, the 3rd song was due to be The Shortest Straw (same as Sonisphere again) which I was fine with. However, as the final notes of Puppets finished, Hetfield came to the microphone again and said “Paris....NO REMORSE!” which was immense as I hadn’t seen that song live since 2008. For Whom the Bell Tolls is always awesome live. The 5th song had been changing up throughout the tour but it seemed to be one of Blackened, Battery or Fight Fire with Fire. I was hoping for Battery but we got something completely unexpected. “From Beyond Magnetic...this is Hell and Back!” I was blown away as I didn’t think I’d ever see a Beyond Magnetic song live but also because I love Hell and Back!

There was a video introducing The Black Album with some facts about the album and some old clips. The whole performance of it was solid. Sandman, as always was superb. It was great hearing stuff off the album I’d never heard live before like The God That Failed, The Struggle Within and Through the Never (specifically). It was great hearing The Unforgiven and Wherever I May Roam as I’d not heard those live in over 5 years. All in all, the Black Album live was stunning. The direct result of going to this gig is that I have a lot more love for the Black Album than I did beforehand. Now, The God That Failed is one of my go-to Metallica songs, when previously it wasn’t.

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

I went to a lot of good gigs and that list was tough. It may not come as a surprise to anyone that has read any gig lists or anything of mine previously that Metallica topped that list. But, here is a list they didn’t top, and that is my top 10 festival sets of 2012. No honourable mentions this time. Just the top 10 with the words copied from the relevant festival reviews.

10.          Anti-Nowhere League – Download 2012

Really didn’t know what to expect from this set and truthfully, only went to see them so I didn’t have to watch all of Steel Panthers set. I’d only heard one song by them and that was the original version of So What. Before they got to So What, which closed the set, they played an absolutely stunning set. They played songs called Streets of London, Woman, I Hate People and We’re The League – all of which were superb. They were a real surprise package for me but I’m so glad to have seen them.

9.             Testament - Wacken 2012

Testament owned the stage. Blasting through several tracks from their brand new album while still playing other newer material and classic songs, this made for a stunning set. Testament is a great live band on their worst day, and this seemed to be one of their best days. Towards the end of their set, they paid tribute to Randy Blythe, lead singer of Lamb of God who has recently been incarcerated in the Czech Republic on charges of manslaughter. By far and away, Testament’s set was the best on Saturday.

8.             Dropkick Murphys – Download 2012

This set was awesome. The sun was starting to drop as they played and it was just a party atmosphere. They are a really fun band to see and I am glad I chose to see them over Soundgarden, who I’ve heard nothing but bad things about. Their cover of AC/DCs TNT was excellent as well

7.             Edguy – Download 2012

This band are just outstanding. This set was only 30mins and they were one of the best bands of the weekend. The atmosphere in the tent was immense. Tobi is another superb front man although his jokes and talking were scaled down a bit (there was a penalties joke and he admitted to being a Bayern Munich fan). All I can really say is they were stunning – come back soon Edguy!

6.             Refused – Download 2012

Absolutely superb. I’ve got nothing bad to say about this set whatsoever. I had listened to some Refused before the set and really liked what I heard but live it is so much better. New Noise was actually stunning.

5.             Dimmu Borgir – Wacken 2012

The main reason for coming back into the arena though was to see something really quite special, as Dimmu Borgir (10) were the main act of the day and they were performing with an orchestra (Czech national if memory serves) and a choir. I saw Dimmu barely fit on a little stage in a 450 capacity room in Manchester, so to see them on such a grand scale was quite something for me. Their music really sounded good when they played with the orchestra and choir. The orchestra/choir also played Dimmu songs without the band which sounded superb as well. All in all, this was a really unique and fantastic set, making symphonic black metal bigger and bolder than it had ever been before.

4.             Saxon – Wacken 2012

Saxon signalled their intentions early on to rock the shit out of Wacken by kicking off with Heavy Metal Thunder. It must be a real challenge for Saxon to put together a setlist for a 90 minute show considering how much material they actually have, and Biff Byford actually said when putting the draft setlist together, they did not include Crusader (which they then played). The set consisted of songs from throughout their legendary career and I often found myself wondering “how is this band not huge in the UK?” It is something I still do not know the answer to. Their 40^th anniversary is coming up in 2016. I wouldn’t be shocked to see them back at Wacken for an anniversary show then, if that isn’t the final one. That would also be really cool to be at. 

3.             Metallica – Download 2012

Another superb set from Metallica. They really were outstanding. The setlist was the same structure of the one I saw in Paris (which makes sense as it’s on the same tour) but much like Paris, there was a surprise thrown in there. Song 3 over the tour has been Shortest Straw or Fuel but in Paris we got No Remorse. At Download, we got the tour debut of The Four Horsemen which was immense for me as I hadn’t seen it since Wembley in 2007. The atmosphere in the crowd was electric throughout the entire set which certainly aided the enjoyment of the night. During Nothing Else Matters I joined a circle of random people swaying and signing the song. It was a great moment. I should say at this stage I was using an umbrella as a walking stick, which was in the middle of the circle. A random female used it as a stripper pole and a random man used it as an air guitar – both uses were very funny. I opted to depart at the beginning of One and listened to the rest of the set list on the walk back to the campsite – not because it was bad but because I was in pain. Metallica were on top form at Download and long may they continue coming back to the UK. 

2.             Volbeat – Wacken 2012

I had already booked a ticket for Wacken 2012 long before Volbeat were announced (now I’m thinking about it, long before I’d actually been to their London headline show) so when they were announced in a major slot, I was delighted. Their set consisted of the very best of their material, a new song and some awesome special guests. During 7 Shots, the band were joined by Michael Denner (Mercyful Fate guitarist) and Mille Petrozza which was cool (first time seeing Mille on stage without a guitar!) and for Evelyn, much like when I saw them in London, they were joined on stage by Barney Greenway from Napalm Death. Volbeat are a top quality live band and proved it once again with this set. Michael Poulsen announced that Volbeat had just received a Platinum record for their sales in Germany, which was a cool moment. The set closed on their cover of Dusty Springfield’s I Only Wanna Be With You, Pool of Booze, Booze, Booza and Still Counting. After a quick blast through the intro to Raining Blood, they left the stage triumphantly. It really was an outstanding set from Volbeat

1.             Black Sabbath – Download 2012

I believe the only words I could say during the set were “wow” and “...Black Sabbath!” It was outstanding. Ozzy’s voice sounded better than it was at Wacken, which impressed me as I thought it was good there. The band was just in superb form. There was something so special about seeing Ozzy, Tony and Geezer playing these iconic songs. It could be that I never thought I would see them performed live by Black Sabbath (I’m sure someone will read this and say “Bill Ward wasn’t there!” which is true, he wasn’t. However, he wasn’t missed. At least not by me). When Ozzy first introduced Tony Iommi, the ovation he got was deafening. Throughout the show the band all seem genuinely moved by the reaction they were receiving which is understandable as the crowd from front to back were just on. I am just throwing superlatives and praise at this set but that is what it deserves – it was a superb closing to the festival and I walked away so happy that I had seen them. Their set and the festival concluded with a pretty awesome fireworks display.

2012 has been a fantastic year for me in terms of live music. I got to see my all time favouyrite band another two times, I got to tick another band off the bucket list in Green Day, and saw a band I never thought I would see live in Black Sabbath. Will 2013 be as good? I don't think it will, but we shall see. It is impossible to know at this stage what is going to happen, and I quite like that

Knock Knock...

Who’s there?

The FA....

Once again, the FA is the punch line of the joke. The FA has managed to cover themselves in glory this week with their ruling about Marouane Fellaini. To quickly recap for those who didn’t see the incident, or even know about it, in the game between Everton and Stoke, on top of other incidents, Fellaini head butted Ryan Shawcross. The head butt was not seen by the officials and Fellaini did not receive punishment during the game for this. Following the match, David Moyes did the absolute right thing and said that there was no excuse that kind of action on the pitch and that Fellaini deserved to be banned. To be fair, if anyone came to Fellaini’s defence after seeing this, they would seriously need their head examined (and no, not with a head butt!)

Violent conduct on the pitch, depending on the nature of the conduct, carries a wide variety of punishments. Now, I figured Fellaini would be hit with a huge fine and a lengthy ban for this head butt. In my mind, that’s the very least he deserved. What actually happened though is he accepted the charge and received a 3 game suspension. Yeah, that is pathetic. A 3 game suspension for attacking Shawcross in a way that could have left him seriously injured or dead is just ridiculous. What a terrible message to send to football supporters. The reason given for why he received a 3 game ban is that had the officials seen the attack, he would have been red carded. The other alleged offences (I say alleged because I haven’t seen them) were not deemed worthy of punishment and therefore ignored.

It is instances like this which turn me off from the sport of football, a sport I once adored. I struggle to put up with this sort of rubbish. Personally, I would have gone above the referee’s head and looked at the other instances. After all, the officials had already said they didn’t see the main issue in this disciplinary – what’s to say they clearly saw the others? I would have then given him an indefinite ban and passed the case over to the Crown Prosecution Service and suggested they start criminal proceedings. Look, why should Fellaini not face prosecution for that sort of behaviour when if a person on a busy street did that, they would. I also would have given him a large fine. Fining a footballer £25-50k is utterly pointless when most Premier League footballers earn that in a week. I’d guess Fellaini is on a similar amount, if not more. Fine him about £500k. That would show him that sort of behaviour is unacceptable and it might cause him to think twice before he “loses his head” again.

The FA will never get properly tough with footballers though, and that is why I’m falling out of love with football. But this whole post isn’t about a negative outlook on sport. This weekend, BBC Sports Personality of the Year (SPOTY) was crowned. I blogged about it before and guessed the 10 people who would make the shortlist. Then the BBC announced that the shortlist would contain 12 names. Those 12 were:

·         Nicola Adams

·         Ben Ainslie

·         Jessica Ennis

·         Mo Farah

·         Katherine Grainger

·         Sir Chris Hoy

·         Rory McIllroy

·         Andy Murray

·         Ellie Simmonds

·         Sarah Storey

·         David Weir

·         Bradley Wiggins

That is quite a short list. I said in my blog I thought Andy Murray might win, and I voted for him on the night (more than once). He in fact finished third with 14.17% of the vote. Jessica Ennis finished 2^nd with 22.92% of the vote but in first place with nearly a third of all votes cast (30.25%) was Bradley Wiggins.  Wiggins is a very deserving SPOTY who according to reports out today, will be knighted in the New Year. Again, he is completely deserving of this honour. One thing that BBC SPOTY reminded us all is that 2012 has been such a superb year of sport. 2013 won’t be as good for the simple fact there is no Olympics or Rugby World Cup, but still, it can still be good!