My Gig Reviews

Well, it seems I've been promising gig reviews for various gigs from the last 6 weeks or so. I've posted little bits of them here and there, and I'd imagine no one's that bothered about reading them, but I'm gonna stick them all here anyway in case anyone fancies having a read, seeing as I've stuck them up all over MySpace/LiveJournal/Facebook already:

Download Festival - Donington Park - June 2007 - Day 1

Bands:
Zico Chain - Well, listened to them while queuing for drinks tokens and caught them on the screens occasionally … they seemed pretty good, all punky / grungey / alternative / indie rock. Probably worth downloading a couple of songs from. Seeing as I wasn't paying complete attention though, can't really rate them.

Buckcherry – Cool, fun sleazy rock n' roll, with the strutting energy being just what's needed to shake off the hangovers most of the crowd probably had (including, to an extent, yours truly). Highlight of their set was an extended version of Crazy Bitch with a bit of a jam breakdown in the middle. I'll award them a 4/5

Hinder – I didn't see their whole set, but they were pretty much as I expected them to be: Emotive modern rock combined with a hard rock edge is all well and good (albeit it's unlikely to ever be truly outstanding), but mostly they played too many ballads to get a festival crowd going. Get Stoned remains a really good song though. 3/5 ish

Megadeth – Kinda disappointing live … I mean, they have some great songs, and are obviously great musicians, but there was no spark … it was all a bit workmanlike, and, well … boring. Even Holy Wars, which I consider to be one of the best metal songs ever lacked any real fire. Can't really give them any more than … 3/5

Dragonforce – Sheer awesomeness! Ludicrously long and fast solos may not seem the way to keep a festival crowd entertained, but when the rhythm is that relentless, the band members such good showmen (especially the frontman … now he has the Jack Sparrow style facial hair thing going on and was dressed all in black I actually want his babies … coolest man I've ever seen), and the songs that anthemic; entertainment is guaranteed! Probably my favourite band of the day … go on, have a 5/5.

Wolfmother – Since I've seen them before I missed the beginning of their set to tend to more pressing matters … they haven't changed too much from last year … they still rock like the bastard child of Zeppelin and Sabbath, and stepbrother of the White Stripes, they're still a little bit unginged … the bassist / keyboardist jumping onto his keyboard and playing it tilted or completely vertical; the frontman looking and sounding a bit deranged, like he's under the influence of something (and I reckon he was). They did a new song too. They definetly rock live, but it's sometimes a case of "seen it before", and you can tell they're not really used to a big stage, they never really moved off the spot and utilised the space properly. They can have a 3+/5

Velvet Revolver – Well, it's Slash and Duff innit? That's always a good starting point And Scott Weiland, with his camp stage movements and sneering punk vocals is an exciting frontman. OK, so they're no GnR, but they've got that same mixture of sleaziness and rock fury which is really engaging live … somewhat like not being able to take your eyes off a car crash. Decent setlist: most of the best rockers off their first album, as well as the ballad Fall To Pieces; the obligatory (but still very cool to see) STP and GnR covers, and a few songs from their new album, which sounded interesting. Great performance, but I think Dragonforce just about beat them for sheer entertainment value. 4+/5

Korn – Hung about for very little of their set, the tent was absolutely rammed … not only was there no chance of getting in, I was finding it difficult to find a place outside where I could even see the screens. Think I heard their the drum solo intro and the first song, then got pissed off and went to watch MCR. Did return for a bit later, and was pleased that I caught Freak On A Leash … which was a very straight performance of it … but still couldn't see, so buggered off again soon after. Tis a shame, I was looking forward to seeing them with Joey Jordison drumming, and I later heard a rumour that Clown from Slipknot was also there playing percussion for them … can anyone confirm or deny this? Yeah, can't really give them a rating either.

My Chemical Romance – Probably saw about half their set at various different points. I still don't think they're much better than alright live. Not only is Gerard Way's voice incredibly inadequate live, he doesn't even seem to perform much, the rest of the band seem far more into it than he is … his wiseass act when talking to the crowd suits him though. Despite the fact that they said in Kerrang that they'd be bringing their stage show across, there were no theatrics or interesting props or scenery in the bits I saw. On the plus side I did manage to catch Welcome To The Black Parade, but on the minus side even that was kinda disappointing. Yeah, mainly just made me wish I could have got into see Korn. Can't be bothered to rate them … somewhere between a high 2 and a low 3 I guess.

Download Festival - Donington Park - June 2007 - Day 2

Bands:

Turisas - They sounded really cool, all symphonic power metal with painted faces and warrior get up; but I wanted to wander round so only caught like two of their songs ... I'm going to check them out based on what I saw though.

Malpractice - Had never heard of them before, will def. be checking them out now though … apparently the lead guy is a world class drum n' bass DJ, and although this was fairly ordinary alternative rock, it was done so well that I curtailed my wanderings to watch the rest of their set. Therefore I'll give them 3+/5

HellYeah – Straight up metal's always good of course, and it was cool seeing Vinnie Paul, but it was just basically very generic Pantera / Machine Head style metal but without any of the distinctive riffs that those bands came up with. "Can I get a Hell yeah?!" did become one of the quotes of the festival though, so I have to give them that. 3+/5 sounds about right.

Eliot Minor – Well, their last song at any rate. Which happened to be Parallel Worlds, the only song of theirs I know. Which is cool. Sorta hard to describe them, like a pop punk / alternative rock hybrid with some classical music, choir-style harmonies, and what sounds like a bit of an Iron Maiden influence thrown in for good measure.

Damone – Pretty cool female-fronted sleaze rock, good but nothing spectacular … their guitarist was cool though from what I remember. 3/5 will do the trick.

Bring Me The Horizon – Probably saw about half a song before I got pissed off and left

Aiden - Yeah, so they're just really a very watered down AFI, but they've got some alright songs, good energy, and watching the frontman kick and punch the cups being thrown their way out of mid air was entertaining. I'd much rather see AFI … for a start Davey Havok probably wouldn't advocate punching the person next to you in the face … but it was an OK way to kill half an hour. 3/5

Beyond All Reason – Like two and a half songs, although again one of these was the one I know, Love Crossed Pistols … they were pretty good, dunno quite why Kerrang was comparing them to Bullet For My Valentine, they're more of a modern hard rock band, and the singer has quite a falsetto on him. Don't think I saw enough to really rate.

30 Seconds To Mars – Yeah, they were good. As I texted various people, Jared Leto's hair is now too long for him to look like Dan (explanatory note: my friend Dan looks almost exactly like Jared Leto does in the videos for The Kill and From Yesterday). Apart from that, they gave a good performance of most of the main songs from their new album (although From Yesterday was conspicuous by it's absence), and I don't have a lot more to say than that! 3+/5

Bowling For Soup – Actually a lot better, and funnier, than I thought they'd be! Funny onstage banter, fun songs played well, and even a bit of a punk classics medley at the end. I thought they'd be lame … I'll admit, I was wrong! 3+/5

Machine Head - I'm not even familiar with much of their material (I only actually know Davidian, Imperium, and Aesthetics of Hate … must listen to more), but they were IMMENSE. Even watching from a bit of a distance, I felt as though they were tearing the place apart. Not much in the way of visual performance perhaps, but still utterly massive. 4/5, would probably be higher if I'd known more of the songs.

My Dying Bride – Only caught the very end of their set, and knew nothing of them … they seem to be a rather cool doom/goth band though, doesn't seem appropriate for a summer festival but it kind of worked in the tent. Should check out some of their stuff

Slayer - Only saw a few songs ... think they're a bit disappointing live actually. From what I could tell the setlist was near identical to their Reading one last year (including not playing Angel Of Death), and I dunno, it just felt as though it could have been exactly the same show. Not much of a sense of occasion then. Didn't really see enough to rate them properly, but needless to say Machine Head won the metal battle today.

Marilyn Manson – Actually seemed a bit subdued, lots of costume changes and lots of props, but beyond stalking the stage singing into a knife-shaped microphone, not much in the way of performance. Setlist featured a surprising amount of songs from his new album (about 6, some of which worked, some not so much), mixed in with pretty much the same setlist from Reading two years ago. Plus, the circle pit right next to me was distracting. Good performance, but Reading '05 was better, and I'd imagine 5 to 10 years ago might have been a lot better. He can have 4/5 anyway

Motley Crue – Again the tent was jam – packed, but by wandering around it I managed to get several different, marginally OK views (although none of these views let me see Tommy Lee until he came forward to get the crowd to pass back a bottle of Jagermeister each taking a shot from it). Now Motley Crue are obviously more sleazy and "cool" than their obvious peers in Bon Jovi and Def Leppard, and are more of a 'band' than what GnR has become, but they don't seem to have aged nearly as well, and their back catalogue is far less consistent IMO. So what we got here was a mixture of good rock songs, good ballads, not so good rock songs, and not so good ballads; with Vince Neil running out of breath too frequently to do the songs proper justice; Mick Mars barely moving, and for the most part the only non-drumming hint of Tommy Lee being him trying to sound gangsta … oh, and only one song played that actually came out in the last 15 years. So although the Crue are still pretty cool in their own way, they've become too much of a nostalgia band; which is part of why I prefer those other bands I mentioned. I guess they can have a 4/5 though.

Linkin Park – Saw their very last song, Faint. Sounded pretty good, I'm impressed Chester Bennington can recreate that screaming live. Also, the fact it was their last song means they must have also finished earlier than billed. Lame. That was about it.

Download Festival- Donington Park - June 2007 - Day 3

Reuben – Not too familiar with them at all, but they seemed decent, the guy was charismatic enough and had some good stage banter … plus their alternative indie type thing seemed to suit the grey skies. Can't really give them a rating, but I might check out some of their stuff

Papa Roach – They were slick, they rocked, they have songs it feels like you've known forever … Jacoby Shaddix's voice is great, although his stage manner is so astonishingly arrogant and overconfident that it begins to grate very quickly. But overall a good performance from a band who deserve to have survived the death of nu-metal. 4/5

Within Temptation – Intimate acoustic set in the Nokia Tent … the tent was virtually empty, and consequently I was only like a metre from the stage … they only played 3 songs, but it was still one of the coolest damn moments of the weekend, looked like they were having a blast. And even better, they were followed by an air guitar contest … why did I not discover the daytime joys of this tent earlier?! 4/5, even for just 3 songs

Stone Sour – Cool stuff. Corey Taylor does have a beast of a voice, and although the alternative rock / metal hybrid is a fairly well trodden path now, they managed to lift above it with some great songs, including Through Glass which has been one of my favourite songs since the end of last year and was great to see live. 4/5

Killswitch Engage – As much as I do love them, I wasn't really feeling this performance … there was something lacking since I saw them at Reading last year. Quite possibly it was Adam D, and definitely seeing them with him spouting filth left right and centre may have spoiled this performance without him, but I felt there was something else lacking too … may have been that they played so many songs I didn't know or wasn't as familiar with in the first part of their set. So I saw a few songs, then went to see Within Temptation, then came back for their last few songs. Which meant I got to see My Curse, The End Of Heartache and My Last Serenade, but (assuming they played it) missed Rose Of Sharyn. Grrrrrrr. I'll give a 3+/5 for what I saw

Within Temptation – Apparently they were having sound issues, which really showed … although they did manage to pull it off, it seemed in danger of falling apart at any second, and Sharon Den Adel just seemed completely confused during her between-song banter. Only saw a couple of songs so can't really rate them, but I enjoyed their acoustic performance earlier in the day more.

Lauren Harris – OK, admittedly I mainly went to see her cos she's hot … but she's also the daughter of Steve Harris from Maiden, and actually quite good, in a sort of "she is to classic rock what Avril Lavigne is to pop punk" sort of way. But it's OK, cos she seems to be the reason leather trousers were invented She can have a 3/5

Evanescence – Was only really half watching them from the top of the hill, so I couldn't see too much, but IMO they did a pretty good job of winning the crowd over … some fairly gutsy moves including not singing My Immortal (and telling the crowd they were pissed off with that song), doing Bring Me To Life without any of the male vocal parts, telling the crowd to "keep on throwing bottles, cos as far as we're concerned, we ****ing belong here" … I'd actually imagine they did win the respect of some of the crowd. I'll give them a 3+/5 …. Better than I expected, even though I did enjoy it when I saw them live a few years back.

Iron Maiden – Well what do you expect?! Third time seeing them, still one of the best live bands I've seen. And c'mon, does it get more legendary that seeing Maiden at Donington? 5 songs from A Matter Of Life And Death, some songs from Number Of The Beast (including the two big singles which they didn't play when I saw them last year), and some other classics (although the same classics that they played last year. The setlist was the only disappointing thing, only saw one song that I've never seen them do before (Children Of The Damned, and that's not even that amazing a song … in Kerrang, Bruce said they were going to do 22 Accacia Avenue! But they didn't). Bruce was the master showman he always is, cracking a (perhaps obvious, but still cool) Sharon Osbourne joke (I can't quite remember what it was though …), and confirming they'll be touring again next year (and he mentioned pyramids, so it seems quite possible they'll be touring their 5th to 8th albums, or at least resurrecting Powerslave in some way). And of course, I'll probably go see them again next year too. 5/5, no other score can be given. Oh yeah, and apparently it was being filmed for a DVD

Pearl Jam - Wembley Arena - June 2007

Idlewild – Bleh. Didn't really interest me in the slightest. The only point to note was that they were heavier than I thought they'd be. Apart from that, I was bored, and left to go get some food They don't get a rating

Pearl Jam – As close to perfect as it's possible to be without them playing Black! Despite me being seated I honestly think it was one of the best gigs I've ever seen. Great punk energy and spirit, mixed with classic rock showmanship, and Eddie Vedder still sounds as good now as he did on record 16 years ago. What was especially cool was the final two songs, where the houselights were turned on ... felt like it was all just one big party!

The setlist was almost perfect too .... some unexpected greats like Immortality, Present Tense, State Of Love And Trust, and Inside Job ... in fact, the only thing stopping it being perfect was the lack of Black! Goddammit ... one of my favourite songs ever, and according to their website their third most played song, and after seeing them live twice I still haven't seen them play it! Grrrrrrrr! Ah well, maybe next time, whenever that'll be. Still reckon they should have taken out Parachutes and Bu$hleaguer (never liked that song) and replaced them with Black though!

Higlights of the show:

Severed Hand – Just a kick ass song with an awesome riff

Given To Fly – again an awesome song

Green Disease – cool song that I haven't seen them do live before

Immortality – Incredible song, and completely unexpected!

Present Tense – As above!

State Of Love And Trust – And ditto again!

Porch – One of the songs from Ten I hadn't heard live, utterly explosive

Inside Job – Probably the song I wanted them to play most, apart from Black of course!

Crazy Mary – A cover song that I'd never heard before, but it was awesome

Alive – 'Nuff said!

No More – Eddie gave a poignant speech before about how this song came about from his discussions with a soldier who came back from the war in a paralysed condition; and got the crowd to sing along with the "No more war" chorus part

Rockin' In The Free World and Indifference – All the house lights were up, so RITFW was like a party, and Indifference was a beautifully atmospheric closing song.

So to conclude … absolutely stunning! And you have to admire how they change their setlist so much from night to night. Seriously Pearl Jam fans, combine the setlists of the two times I've seen them, add Black, and you've got almost all their best songs right there ...

Reading 2006:
Set 1: Interstellar Overdrive, Corduroy, Do The Evolution, Animal, World Wide Suicide, Severed Hand, Dissident, Even Flow, Sad, I Am Mine, Jeremy, Grievance, Wasted Reprise, Better Man, Save You, Blood, Rearviewmirror

Encore 1: Soon Forget, Given To Fly, Once, Crown Of Thorns, Comatose, Alive

Encore 2: Why Go, Baba O'Riley, Yellow Ledbetter

Wembley Arena 2007:
Set 1: Long Road, Severed Hand, Grievance, Comatose, Given To Fly, Low Light, I Got Id, Faithfull, Green Disease, Marker In The Sand, Immortality, Down, Present Tense, State Of Love And Trust, Why Go, Save You, Porch

Encore 1: Inside Job, Parachutes, Crazy Mary, Do The Evolution, Alive

Encore 2: No More, Bu$hleaguer, World Wide Suicide, Rockin' In The Free World, Indifference

Most definitely 5/5 worthy!

Hyde Park Calling - Hyde Park - June 2007

The Answer - Only knew a few of their songs beforehand (Under The Sky, Never Too Late, and the Sweet Emotion cover). They were pretty good, the lead guy has an impressive voice (although he can't quite recreate how high he goes on record), and they seemed to be quite comfortable on such a big stage ... but I dunno, in terms of the new breed of Zeppelin and Sabbath aping 70s retro rock bands, I think I prefer the slight unpredictability of Wolfmother, The Answer got kind of repetitive very quickly ... there's only so much you can watch of the singer walking around the stage shaking his hair. 3/5

Jet – Didn't see too much of them, so can't really comment … they just don't really interest me all that much. Did get to see Are You Gonna Be My Girl though, when I thought they were going to save that for last, but that's about all of note.

Chris Cornell – It first needs to be said how incredible it was to be hearing some of those songs live … some of my favourite songs ever, including classics from Soundgarden (Spoonman, Outshined, Rusty Cage, Let Me Drown, Black Hole Sun, Jesus Christ Pose), Audioslave (Show Me How To Live, Cochise, Like A Stone, Be Yourself, Doesn't Remind Me), Chris solo (You Know My Name with a cameo keyboard performance by David Arnold, Arms Around You Love), and even Temple Of The Dog (Hunger Strike .. which is the point where I said "I can't believe I'm seeing this live!"). He still has an amazing voice on him too. The only problem was, there wasn't much in the way of physical energy … or, arguably, of showmanship. Chris's act did seem to be mainly to just hang off his mic stand, or walk around the stage, occasionally using his arms for emphasis, and sometimes making use of the platforms at the sides of the stage and catwalk into the audience centre stage. The band was somewhat more energetic, but when you consider who Chris is, and compare him to a) Eddie Vedder, the other surviving frontman of the grunge big 4, and b) Steve Tyler, who's 16 years older, the lack of energy is pretty noticeable. Still worth a 4/5 in my opinion, but not up to the standard of Pearl Jam.

Aerosmith – Pretty much ass kicking. At 90 minutes (a time limit strictly enforced by the police apparently) the set was way too short, but it was packed with hit after hit after hit … Love In An Elevator, Same Old Song and Dance, Cryin', Dream On, Don't Wanna Miss A Thing, Seasons Of Wither, an electrifying Baby Please Don't Go, Jaded, Eat The Rich, Living On The Edge, and a closing Walk This Way with DMC of Run DMC. The band, despite all being around 60, remain the very definition of pure sleazy, electric, energetic rock n' roll … the Toxic Twins of Perry and Tyler are especially still a joy to watch and listen to. With Perry's psychotic blues guitar, and Tyler's still incredible screaming, they're one of the ultimate rock partnerships. 5/5 without a doubt.

Metallica - Wembley Stadium - July 2007

First up, some thoughts about Wembley Stadium – I'm not sure quite what I thought of it! When I first walked up that ramp to get in, and then walked into the standing pit, I thought it was utterly awesome, although I did note it would probably be awful to be sitting right at the back. I dunno though, it takes a lot of getting used to: an open air stadium where all the walls and floors are white, subsequently there's no grass, and it's only sort of open air by the fact that there's a big rectangular square in the roof … all seems a bit artificial really, when other open air shows I've seen have been festivals, Hyde Park, and Milton Keynes Bowl. And it also annoyed me greatly that there was a Gold Circle that was only about ¾ full and could have fit at least another 200 people in. Ah well, I'll reserve proper judgement until I see Bon Jovi there

Bands:

Machine Head – Not as good as when I saw them at Download really. I'm not sure what it was, perhaps the venue, perhaps the atmosphere, perhaps the performance, perhaps the setlist (only two songs I knew this time, Imperium and Davidian), perhaps just me being tired and not completely paying attention … I dunno. But it seemed to drag a bit, even though it was only a short support slot. Rob Flynn's 'slight' overuse of the word "Cheers" was pretty amusing though. And they were still sounding pretty immense and crushingly heavy, just that this time that wasn't quite enough. 3/5

HIM – Now I do kinda like HIM … but live they really weren't that great. Ville Valo's voice was pretty weak, the crowd were being twats (no matter how bad a support band are, heckling them isn't really fair), the music was so out of place between Machine Head and Metallica, they didn't seem able to reach such a big crowd, they didn't have much in the way of showmanship … and to cap it all, from what I could see Valo seems to have shaved off the facial hair he grew recently. Lame. At least I know that it's possibly not worth going to see them headline a show. They can have a 2+/5.

Metallica – Put simply, it was rather awesome. Now I'll admit, although I do really like Metallica they're not one of my absolute favourite bands, and I'll also admit that I was only familiar with two thirds of their setlist. But I decided to go see them cos I thought that seeing them at Wembley would be a fitting spectacle, an event to remember, and I definitely was not mistaken.

They're a really good live band: their sound was able to not only fill the stadium but practically assault everyone in it; each of them has their own completely individual but equally mesmerising stage presence (Hetfield's mighty roar and command of the audience; Hammet's pure coolness that only a lead guitarist in an arena/stadium rock/metal band seems capable of; Ulrich's relentless drumming and hyperactive inability to stay in his seat; and Trujillo's funky-as-**** bass and stage moves [and yes, the fact he looks rather like a monkey]); the way that despite the complexity and speed of their music they are a fantastically tight band; the pyro used during One which really added to the atmosphere, and so on and so forth. Gotta love as well how their scheduled setlist clearly finished at Enter Sandman, but they had 10 minutes left so came back out to do Whiplash and Seek And Destroy.

Couple of negative points … first, as I've said, there was about 6 or so songs that I wasn't familiar with, and as they tended to mostly be the long ones, and as I was quite tired my attention wandered somewhat at times. Secondly, it might have just been the angle I was at, but it really did look like they were set up to the right of centre stage, meaning they were further away from us over on the left, making it kinda tough to see them a lot of the time.

Right, enough negative! Highlights for me were:

For Whom The Bell Tolls – First song I knew, so hearing that riff was extra cool!

Disposable Heroes – As relevant today as ever, and fittingly played as angrily as ever.

The Unforgiven – For some reason didn't expect them to play this, but they did and it was awesome.

The Memory Remains – One of my favourite 'Tallica songs, and the crowd singalong at the end is a complete and total goosebump moment.

Master Of Puppets – 'Nuff said

Battery – As above!

No Leaf Clover – It was completely unexpected, and if you'd asked me before the show I would definitely not have said I was hoping for it, but it really worked opening the first encore.

Nothing Else Matters – I think Abi (my friend that I went with) put it best here: "the atmosphere as everyone sang along to Nothing Else Matters was the kind that certainly gives you that eerie sense of connection with an obscene amount of people".

One – The explosive pyrotechnics, the buildup, the atmosphere, the emotion, the bitter anger … the absolute majesty.

Enter Sandman – As with Nothing Else Matters, but in a much more rocking-out-headbanging-fist-in-the-air style!

Whiplash – Was wondering what they'd play after they said they still had 10 minutes, and this didn't disappoint.

So overall, a great show from a band that possessed the power to totally slay Wembley while still owning it. From a personal point of view, I have to say I still prefer Iron Maiden live, but think that Metallica crush the likes of Slayer into the ground. I think very few bands could have pulled Wembley off as well as Metallica did that night.

I'll give them a final rating of 4+/5

Setlist:

01. Creeping Death
02. For Whom The Bell Tolls
03. Sad But True
04. Disposable Heroes
05. The Unforgiven
06. ...And Justice For All
07. The Memory Remains
08. The Four Horsemen
09. Orion
10. Fade To Black
11. Master of Puppets
12. Battery
- - - -
13. No Leaf Clover
14. Nothing Else Matters
15. One
16. Enter Sandman
- - - -
17. Whiplash
18. Seek and Destroy

Really nice reviews Walrus. I saw Bowling For Soup a few weeks ago at Star Jam 2007.

Cool reviews, Paul - thanks for posting.

Too bad HIM was such a let down, though I'm not surprised. Ville's voice often comes across quite weak during live performances.

I've missed Dragonforce on the Fields of Rock festival, but I've heard they pulled off quite a good show there too.

And My Dying Bride is pretty cool! Check out 'Turn Loose The Swans', if you're gonna check them out.

Man - you've seen some kickass shows lately - I'm jealous

Good reviews too,

Kathleen

cool reviews there, forgot metallica were playing this month... good set by them though!