So, as you’ve seen in previous instalments, 2010 was a pretty busy year gig-wise for me. I think I saw more bands last year than any other year! It was all good fun, but crippled me for cash!
The plan for this year has already been scuppered. It was ‘one festival only’, and as we always go to Download, we were going to Download. To be fair, the line-up isn’t that much to get excited about so far, but it usually gets better as time goes on – a fact that pisses me off royally!! Just announce the majority of the bands straight away so I can decide if your festival is shit! Don’t just feed me drips and drabs for six months ‘til it’s too late to buy a fucking ticket!!! I digress…
So the initial line-up as it stands is System of a Down and Linkin Park headlining. I loved SOAD, but they’ve kinda gone off the boil a bit for me, and Linkin Park just went shit! Others announced were Avenged Sevenfold (who I’ve already said I’m not a big fan of) and Rob Zombie. I know Rob Zombie’ll be cool though, but it’s not the most appealing opening announcement for a festival, is it? let’s see what they come up with on Monday with their next announcement!
So then Sonisphere piped up with their initial announcement. Biffy Clyro and Slipknot to headline. Excellent. A much better start for me! Top that up with some more heavy bands and we have a winner! Then they dropped the bombshell! On the Friday… The Big Four. Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax. Looks like we’re off to Sonisphere then!
Other gigs coming up are Rob Zombie’s UK Headline tour which should be mint! Loved White Zombie when they were around and his first few solo efforts were pretty good too! Skindred supporting, so that’s a bonus. Also got tickets for heavyweights Whitechapel. Yeah, saw ’em not so long back, but it’ll be brutal so worth another view!
Debating whether to bother watching Bring Me The Horizon (because I like the new album, remember) in the Apollo. It looks like a good line-up of bands, including Parkway Drive, which is a pretty good selling point. Might go see A Day to Remember at the end of Jan, but we’ll see how the cash is!
First gig of the year’s already under the belt too. Terror, First Blood, Lionheart and Backtrack at Moho Live in Manchester. Some of the songs Backtrack played took me back a few years. The style of it reminded me of when I used to go watch the underground UK hardcore shows back in the late 90’s. Lionheart, First Blood and Terror were all equally heavy hitting. Was a cool show, and a good chance to see some friends I don’t see very often. Glad I stayed clear of the pit though, as there was a rather big chap in there knocking the shit out of everyone, and one of my mates got spin kicked in the face. Which you can see here….
Got some new music over the festive period that I need to get listening to. Now I can finally play MP3 files in the car again, I can get back into making compilations and letting it all sink in as I drive. I’ve picked up new albums by A Day to Remember, Terror, Murderdolls, Fleshwrought and more to check out. One band that’s standing out is Symphony in Peril which came in a batch of new recommendations from Jim (ta la!). It’s heavy, meaty, hardcore/metalcore type stuff so check ’em out if you haven’t already!
While Googling them, I came across a note on wikipedia, saying Symphony in Peril where part of a youtube sensation. Their track ‘Stiletto’ has an epic beatdown that a gang of kids in the States were using as part of their ‘Drive-By Hardcore Dancing’ videos. In which they’d drive up to unsuspecting people and ask if they could help them with directions for somewhere to go for some good music..”like this…”, then they’d blast the song and a gang of them would all jump out and start moshing like fuck to the stiletto beatdown! Made me chuckle! Have a look.
It may be old, but new to me and t’s funny! Anyways, I’ll have some more to report soon! So keep checking back.
Stories & Views From Inside The Pit 