Was a buzz, I spent 4 days binge drinking and doing things I shouldn't!
The drugs, drinking, shouting, general insanity, looting and 871 were all awesome.
But I saw some bands too, RUNDOWN!
(I'll go in order I saw em).
FRIDAY
Mastodon: Friggin incredible, massive massive massive sound, the bass made my ribcage rattle, dirty riffage and a drummer like you never heard. 9/10
Killswitch Engage: Fairly decent metalness, a lot of the songs sounded the same and after about half an hour it got a little dull. Some of the stuff the guitarist was coming out with was fairly funny and some of the riffage was sweet, but generally just a bit alright. 6/10
Bullet For My Valentine: Dog****, dull repetitive music, bland to watch and not an original buzz in their whole body. 1/10
SLAYER \m/: BAM, as soon as Slayer play their first note, the heavens open and everybody is soaked within seconds, must be a sign. Well you get exactly what it says on the tin with slayer, kerry king is a scary man to look at, the music is intense and their banter is classic live cheese, good stuff, but my only gripe was that even though they were one-louder (thanks to all the massive amp stacks onstage no other bands had) after a few songs, it was just difficult to hear the slayerishness, it all started to sound like a fuzzy noise that wasn't even too heavy, barring War Ensemble and Raining Blood, it was a little bit of a letdown, still though, for what you get. 7/10
Maximo Park: Nay, dullness to the highest degree, those obnoxious jagged riffs, dull beats and miserable singing, all those new age indie emos absolutely drink it up but all I could do was try and work out any sort of difference between Maximo Park and The Futureheads. 3/10
Pearl Jam: A two hour set for a band with lots of dull songs and 'meh' albums, they were better than I expected, still though, not the best thing i've seen. Bonus points for Eddie Vedder being absolutely wasted. 6/10
SATURDAY
King Blues: Acoustic Punk/Reggae stuff, a nice easy start to the day, surely less intense than Mastodon were they day before. Lots of songs that kinda felt like one, and generally repetitive, good crowd interaction and they had a good sound but mostly a bit dull. 6/10
Send More Paramedics: Heh, cheeky music "Zombie Thrash Metal" as they called themselves. The singer said some comical stuff, his voice sounded like a cartoon characters. Highlight must have been a song about a scene from Zombie Flesh Eaters, a song called 'Zombie vs Shark'. 7/10
Guillemots: Some good songs, some bad, some bland strummy whiney indie, some huge epic buzzmonkey indie, sweet stage show, not all that though. 6/10.
Gogol Bordello: Wow. Never have I seen such a fun band (or a band have as much fun, actually). The songs were awesome, their stage presence was incredible and were probablys the most fun band i've ever seen, sweet stuff. 8.5/10
Bodycount: Ice T mother****er! Fun band, Ice T was great and their songs were pretty funky, kinda punky stuff, some of it was dirty, some of it was just swish, and in the end, you get Ice T, its a complete package. 7/10
Dizzee Rascal: Wow, absolutely incredible, I was dancing my **** off, most massive bass you'll ever hear. His rapping is absolutely spot on, the DJ knew exactly how to make the buzz happen and there was even an appearance by General Levy! 9/10
SUNDAY
Wolfmother: A lot more proggish than expected, enjoyed them manylots. Never really into them before I saw em, just heard a few tunes. Definately gonna give em a better listen now, mind bending tunes and I think the singer stole the soul of Robert Plant. 8/10
Coheed & Cambria: Way better than last time I saw em, more epicness, better sound and a better crowd, tighter set too, played more of their proggy stuff compared to their earlier stuff that I don't really like too much. 8.5/10
However I had to miss the end of Coheed for a good reason:
Muse: Second time i've seen them, and what an improvement over their 2002 show. Jesus, absolutely mindblowing stuff. They played a selection of songs from all of their albums (although I would have liked a little more Showbiz stuff). The new material sounded absolutely incredible. (Knights of Cydonia, Supermassive Black Hole, Invincible, Starlight, Take a Bow<which they closed with, and jesus christ, what an awesome song to finish on>). I can't think of a single thing to be picky about, even the torrential rain during their set made them sound better. The only problem was that they didn't play every single damn song in their catalog. By the time they finished I was on a crazy high, so I went and stole some stuff. 10/10
The drugs, drinking, shouting, general insanity, looting and 871 were all awesome.
But I saw some bands too, RUNDOWN!
(I'll go in order I saw em).
FRIDAY
Mastodon: Friggin incredible, massive massive massive sound, the bass made my ribcage rattle, dirty riffage and a drummer like you never heard. 9/10
Killswitch Engage: Fairly decent metalness, a lot of the songs sounded the same and after about half an hour it got a little dull. Some of the stuff the guitarist was coming out with was fairly funny and some of the riffage was sweet, but generally just a bit alright. 6/10
Bullet For My Valentine: Dog****, dull repetitive music, bland to watch and not an original buzz in their whole body. 1/10
SLAYER \m/: BAM, as soon as Slayer play their first note, the heavens open and everybody is soaked within seconds, must be a sign. Well you get exactly what it says on the tin with slayer, kerry king is a scary man to look at, the music is intense and their banter is classic live cheese, good stuff, but my only gripe was that even though they were one-louder (thanks to all the massive amp stacks onstage no other bands had) after a few songs, it was just difficult to hear the slayerishness, it all started to sound like a fuzzy noise that wasn't even too heavy, barring War Ensemble and Raining Blood, it was a little bit of a letdown, still though, for what you get. 7/10
Maximo Park: Nay, dullness to the highest degree, those obnoxious jagged riffs, dull beats and miserable singing, all those new age indie emos absolutely drink it up but all I could do was try and work out any sort of difference between Maximo Park and The Futureheads. 3/10
Pearl Jam: A two hour set for a band with lots of dull songs and 'meh' albums, they were better than I expected, still though, not the best thing i've seen. Bonus points for Eddie Vedder being absolutely wasted. 6/10
SATURDAY
King Blues: Acoustic Punk/Reggae stuff, a nice easy start to the day, surely less intense than Mastodon were they day before. Lots of songs that kinda felt like one, and generally repetitive, good crowd interaction and they had a good sound but mostly a bit dull. 6/10
Send More Paramedics: Heh, cheeky music "Zombie Thrash Metal" as they called themselves. The singer said some comical stuff, his voice sounded like a cartoon characters. Highlight must have been a song about a scene from Zombie Flesh Eaters, a song called 'Zombie vs Shark'. 7/10
Guillemots: Some good songs, some bad, some bland strummy whiney indie, some huge epic buzzmonkey indie, sweet stage show, not all that though. 6/10.
Gogol Bordello: Wow. Never have I seen such a fun band (or a band have as much fun, actually). The songs were awesome, their stage presence was incredible and were probablys the most fun band i've ever seen, sweet stuff. 8.5/10
Bodycount: Ice T mother****er! Fun band, Ice T was great and their songs were pretty funky, kinda punky stuff, some of it was dirty, some of it was just swish, and in the end, you get Ice T, its a complete package. 7/10
Dizzee Rascal: Wow, absolutely incredible, I was dancing my **** off, most massive bass you'll ever hear. His rapping is absolutely spot on, the DJ knew exactly how to make the buzz happen and there was even an appearance by General Levy! 9/10
SUNDAY
Wolfmother: A lot more proggish than expected, enjoyed them manylots. Never really into them before I saw em, just heard a few tunes. Definately gonna give em a better listen now, mind bending tunes and I think the singer stole the soul of Robert Plant. 8/10
Coheed & Cambria: Way better than last time I saw em, more epicness, better sound and a better crowd, tighter set too, played more of their proggy stuff compared to their earlier stuff that I don't really like too much. 8.5/10
However I had to miss the end of Coheed for a good reason:
Muse: Second time i've seen them, and what an improvement over their 2002 show. Jesus, absolutely mindblowing stuff. They played a selection of songs from all of their albums (although I would have liked a little more Showbiz stuff). The new material sounded absolutely incredible. (Knights of Cydonia, Supermassive Black Hole, Invincible, Starlight, Take a Bow<which they closed with, and jesus christ, what an awesome song to finish on>). I can't think of a single thing to be picky about, even the torrential rain during their set made them sound better. The only problem was that they didn't play every single damn song in their catalog. By the time they finished I was on a crazy high, so I went and stole some stuff. 10/10
