Post by Nik on Jun 12, 2005 8:44:18 GMT -5
Arrived on the site about 9.45 and prepared for the always welcome expreince of queueing, people are being far too polite and have arranged them selves into a double file queue, so i managed to jump most of the queue by simply walking past it. Gates opened at 10.15 and was at the main stage before 11, not bad going really.
First on the main stage were Trivium, their kerrangs! hype band of the moment and as such have a large crowd with plenty of circle pit action. I thought they were good, perhaps not deserving of the hype but certianly worth seeing, and the circle pits were awesome!
After Trivium finish there is a mass exodus which allows me to wander foward to being 1 person from the barrior (damn that person.) Inbetween sets 2 guys from Trivium , the frontman and someother band member, go down and say hi to the people at the front, which was kinda cool, may actually have a good photo off that, unlike the rest of my camera which will be full with bad band photos... will i never learn? (no)
Next on are the dwarves, and they do not go down well with the crowd who show their displeasure with mass botteling, booing and raised middle fingers. But fuck them because the dwarves were 'kin amazing, easier pulling of one of the best sets of the day. Totally unsuited to the main stage, or indeed playing outdoors, but somehow (for me) they pulled it off and put in a great performance. In the end they got the power pulled, perhaps because they were overruning and still not leaving stage, puting to the end (just to hammer the point home) an awesome set.
Wander off to see if the stages are where i think they are, don't wanna get lost later on. Secuirty keep shouting at me, to walk on the left! Seriously, they have it all worked out, everythings one way only and its a major pain in the arse to get anywhere! Very safe though i'm sure...
Next saw crucified barbara on the napster stage. They are from Sweden, hence i don't understand a word they said- apart from 'sweden', but they were surprisingly great, playing a half hour set of old school metal numbers.
Back to the main stage to watch 'A', saw them locally a while back and realsied thay only have about 5 good songs and a lot of filler, which means they manage a good festival set as they play all the good stuff. Its also the warmest it gets all day making for a decent atmosohere too.
Grab some overpriced food them wander over to the napster tent once more, catch the last 30 seconds of panic cell. They were going down well, the tent was packed so it was difficult to get in! Almost everybody left after them, allowing me to walk to the barrior with ease. Before the next band ( deja vu?) their frontman coems down the front to say hi. Seems a nice bloke, a few people leave with him to get a drink in the napster tent. Pity i missed the set really...
Waiting in the napster tent the next band are the answer who look they are gonna be shit but surpised me by being far from that...they were good! They reminded me quite a bit of led zep, went down well to a dramtically reduced crowd.
The Ga Gas are on next (and are one of the reasons i'm waiting around) and put in a good, though not great set. They have loads of stage presence and put on a good show and they clearly mean a lot to their fans, of whome loads have suddenly shown up. Its just the songs really, they are good and occasionaly are brillaint but they're not consistant enough and theres way too much filler, ones to watch though as really for a band who have just got out their 1st album they are doing great.
Johnny truant fill another gap with their thrash metal stylings. I had thought beforehand that these were another band (who i ahve now found are ore johnny panic) who play pop punk, so was a nice surpise!
Towers of London are the reason i've stuck in this stage for this long and holy shit was it worth the wait as they pull of a set which is quetsionably the best i see all day (better than sabbath...dunno.) This is punk, and i don't mean blink 182 shite pop punk i mean proper 70s punk, its updated a little here and there but theres really no mistaking it. On stage they are mental, jumping round and looking the crowd right in the eyes. Theres a sense of danger (be it put on or not i'm not sure) that certainly adds to the atmosphere as the singer repeatadly threatends a crowd memebr who is endlessly throwing bottles at him that he is 'only safe for half an hour, (rest of the set)' and eventually jumped of the stage and made a swing for him, being ultimatly pulled back by secuirty. They too got the power turned off on them, because they were doing a bit of damage to the stage set (knocking over microphone stands et al) whicht hey don't take too well, properly destroying a stand as a result. Yeah this kicked arse.
Wandered around a while, tryed to see lamb of god but failed to get in the tent, on the way back to main stage i got stoped by a bleeding pole barrior (you know the ones they can rise and drop, like in carparks?), evidently to keep us all safe our movements around the site must be stagered. Begining to take the piss here...
Velvet Revover are on next. Honestly didn't think much of 'em, they played 3 great songs throughout the whole set, and 2 of them were GnR covers. Says it all when covers are better than your own material. The truth is that if they were a new band without the famouse faces, the crowd seems more interested in 'oh my god slash!!!!!' than the actual music, then they would not be nearly as popular. They do play well, it is slash , but really this wasn't that great.
Black Sabbath close the main stage. I thought they would be alrite, i'm not a huge sabbath fan to be honets and i didn't think i knew mnay of their songs. Shocked then by the outcome that i knew ever song they played and was 'kin blown away by them. Ozzys vocals, while not stuning in the 1st place, sound extreemly close to the record and iomis (spelt wrong?) guitar playing (soloing!) is stuning. A genuinly amazing set and a greta end to the day.
Got lost trying to find my way out...
First on the main stage were Trivium, their kerrangs! hype band of the moment and as such have a large crowd with plenty of circle pit action. I thought they were good, perhaps not deserving of the hype but certianly worth seeing, and the circle pits were awesome!
After Trivium finish there is a mass exodus which allows me to wander foward to being 1 person from the barrior (damn that person.) Inbetween sets 2 guys from Trivium , the frontman and someother band member, go down and say hi to the people at the front, which was kinda cool, may actually have a good photo off that, unlike the rest of my camera which will be full with bad band photos... will i never learn? (no)
Next on are the dwarves, and they do not go down well with the crowd who show their displeasure with mass botteling, booing and raised middle fingers. But fuck them because the dwarves were 'kin amazing, easier pulling of one of the best sets of the day. Totally unsuited to the main stage, or indeed playing outdoors, but somehow (for me) they pulled it off and put in a great performance. In the end they got the power pulled, perhaps because they were overruning and still not leaving stage, puting to the end (just to hammer the point home) an awesome set.
Wander off to see if the stages are where i think they are, don't wanna get lost later on. Secuirty keep shouting at me, to walk on the left! Seriously, they have it all worked out, everythings one way only and its a major pain in the arse to get anywhere! Very safe though i'm sure...
Next saw crucified barbara on the napster stage. They are from Sweden, hence i don't understand a word they said- apart from 'sweden', but they were surprisingly great, playing a half hour set of old school metal numbers.
Back to the main stage to watch 'A', saw them locally a while back and realsied thay only have about 5 good songs and a lot of filler, which means they manage a good festival set as they play all the good stuff. Its also the warmest it gets all day making for a decent atmosohere too.
Grab some overpriced food them wander over to the napster tent once more, catch the last 30 seconds of panic cell. They were going down well, the tent was packed so it was difficult to get in! Almost everybody left after them, allowing me to walk to the barrior with ease. Before the next band ( deja vu?) their frontman coems down the front to say hi. Seems a nice bloke, a few people leave with him to get a drink in the napster tent. Pity i missed the set really...
Waiting in the napster tent the next band are the answer who look they are gonna be shit but surpised me by being far from that...they were good! They reminded me quite a bit of led zep, went down well to a dramtically reduced crowd.
The Ga Gas are on next (and are one of the reasons i'm waiting around) and put in a good, though not great set. They have loads of stage presence and put on a good show and they clearly mean a lot to their fans, of whome loads have suddenly shown up. Its just the songs really, they are good and occasionaly are brillaint but they're not consistant enough and theres way too much filler, ones to watch though as really for a band who have just got out their 1st album they are doing great.
Johnny truant fill another gap with their thrash metal stylings. I had thought beforehand that these were another band (who i ahve now found are ore johnny panic) who play pop punk, so was a nice surpise!
Towers of London are the reason i've stuck in this stage for this long and holy shit was it worth the wait as they pull of a set which is quetsionably the best i see all day (better than sabbath...dunno.) This is punk, and i don't mean blink 182 shite pop punk i mean proper 70s punk, its updated a little here and there but theres really no mistaking it. On stage they are mental, jumping round and looking the crowd right in the eyes. Theres a sense of danger (be it put on or not i'm not sure) that certainly adds to the atmosphere as the singer repeatadly threatends a crowd memebr who is endlessly throwing bottles at him that he is 'only safe for half an hour, (rest of the set)' and eventually jumped of the stage and made a swing for him, being ultimatly pulled back by secuirty. They too got the power turned off on them, because they were doing a bit of damage to the stage set (knocking over microphone stands et al) whicht hey don't take too well, properly destroying a stand as a result. Yeah this kicked arse.
Wandered around a while, tryed to see lamb of god but failed to get in the tent, on the way back to main stage i got stoped by a bleeding pole barrior (you know the ones they can rise and drop, like in carparks?), evidently to keep us all safe our movements around the site must be stagered. Begining to take the piss here...
Velvet Revover are on next. Honestly didn't think much of 'em, they played 3 great songs throughout the whole set, and 2 of them were GnR covers. Says it all when covers are better than your own material. The truth is that if they were a new band without the famouse faces, the crowd seems more interested in 'oh my god slash!!!!!' than the actual music, then they would not be nearly as popular. They do play well, it is slash , but really this wasn't that great.
Black Sabbath close the main stage. I thought they would be alrite, i'm not a huge sabbath fan to be honets and i didn't think i knew mnay of their songs. Shocked then by the outcome that i knew ever song they played and was 'kin blown away by them. Ozzys vocals, while not stuning in the 1st place, sound extreemly close to the record and iomis (spelt wrong?) guitar playing (soloing!) is stuning. A genuinly amazing set and a greta end to the day.
Got lost trying to find my way out...