Monday 23rd August
A
record 11.1 million idiots tuned in to watch the new series
of The X Factor last weekend. There’s been a hullaballoo
over allegations that the programme uses Auto-tune software
to affect the alleged ‘vocals’ of certain contestants,
helping the moderately talented ones to punch above their weight
and the bad ’uns to sound worse than ever. Though I’m
guilty of watching a little reality TV, Bruce Dickinson’s
recent slating of American Idol was absolutely correct. “You
couldn't pay me enough to go on that show,” he said. “I
find it a bit sad that people enjoy it. There's another show
called Britain’s Got Talent which is clearly just an exercise
in laughing at people’s inability. I’ve never watched
[any of those shows] for longer than 30 seconds, which is sufficient
to go, ‘I can’t believe people sit and watch this
shit’.”
All
the more intriguing, then, that my current melodic rock faves
H.E.A.T. have recruited Erik Grönwall, the winner of last
year’s Swedish Idol, as replacement for Kenny Leckremo.
It’ll be interesting to see how that works out.
_
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday
22nd August
So
incensed by Palace’s home defeat to Ipswich, I went home
to change my shirt before making my way to Camden for a gig
by reunited UK pagan-thrashers Sabbat. Having had a skinful
of cider it wasn’t worth the risk of getting wound up
and either decking someone or, probably far more likely, getting
laid out myself. This proved fortuitous as the Underworld no
longer allows admission to those in football colours. Besides
cheering loudly as new signing Edgar Davids was welcomed on
the pitch at half time (oh, how I enjoyed writing that!), the
trip to SE25 was memorable for another good reason – a
new centrespread of the fanzine Five Year Plan is devoted to
a lovely colour shot of the recent
demonstrations at Selhurst in which yours truly is clearly
visible.
Save
for a short and unsatisfying support slot at the Astoria in
December ’06 for which Martin Walkyier had lost his voice,
my previous sighting of Sabbat was way back in the 1990s –
possibly supporting Manowar on their own final visit to Britain.
In fact, Walkyier announced from the stage that it had been
20 years since Sabbat last headlined a British tour. “It’s
like an old age pensioners’ outing in the back of our
bus,” he grinned devilishly. “Except we don’t
get tea and biscuits – we have beer and metal!!”
Despite the impairment of a haze of booze (that bottle of white
wine on train was a big mistake!), it was excellent to experience
them again. With Gizz Butt, once of the Prodigy, an unlikely
choice to double up Andy Sneap’s meaty riffing, the material
from both of their albums (1991’s Walkyier-less ‘Mourning
Has Broken’ now being all but disowned) has stood the
test of time way better than it had a right to. They even threw
in ‘Blood For The Blood God’, a song that had only
ever appeared on a flexidisc. Here’s the set-list: ‘A
Cautionary Tale’, ‘Behind The Crooked Cross’,
‘Hosanna In Excelsis’, ‘The Clerical Conspiracy’,
‘I For An Eye’, ‘Do Dark Horses Dream Of Nightmares?’,
‘Blood For The Blood God’, ‘The Best Of Enemies
(Wulf’s Tale)’ and ‘The Church Bizarre’,
plus encores of ‘Wildfire’ and ‘For Those
Who Died’.
_
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday
21st August
Yesterday
was just another humdrum day in SE25. Crystal Palace exited
administration. We signed Edgar Davids on a pay-as-you-play
deal, the former Holland international smiling as he held up
the fabled red and blue striped shirt at the club’s official
website. Oh, and two strikers arrived on loan; Jonathan Obika
from Spurs and Ipswich’s Pablo Counago. Am I dreaming?
We’ve got Edgar fucking Davids. Plus… two other
guys that know how to insert the ball into the onion bag, Onika
being highly rated and capped at England Youth level. Davids
is set to be introduced on the pitch at today’s game against
Ipswich. I repeat: AM I DREAMING??!!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday
20th August
Nearly
a month since my last indoor gig, I was champing at the bit
for last night's UK solo debut from former Emperor guitarist/vocalist
Ihsahn. Was a bit disappointed by the size of the turnout with
the Electric Ballroom's upstairs balcony closed off and plenty
of room to move about elsewhere, but the show was fantastic.
Since the seemingly final implosion of Emperor, Ihsahn has gone
down a more progressively inclined path, releasing three quite
superb solo records. The Norwegian musicians from his backing
band provided the night's support entertainment with their own
groups. Caught the end of Leprous, who sounded really good.
However, I was really impressed by Shining – not to be
confused with the self-mutilating Swedes of the same name –
whose mixture of experimental jazz and black metal was plain
bonkers.
With
a six-piece band onstage – seven including the occasional
blasts of saxophone from Shining’s Jørgen Munkeby
– it must’ve been hell behind the mixing console
for Ihsahn’s headline set. Sure enough, the sound at the
beginning was pants but as Ihsahn’s lead vocals –
a mixture of growls and clean singing – became more audible
and the guitars were allowed to breathe, things took shape.
With all but two exceptions the 80-minute show was culled from
Ihsahn’s solo catalogue, the Opeth-like ‘Invocation’
among its many highlights. Surprisingly, he also included two
songs by “the boy band I was with back in the 90s”,
namely ‘The Tongue Of Fire’ (from 2001’s ‘Prometheus:
The Discipline of Fire & Demise’) and ‘Thus
Spake The Nightspirit’ (a selection from ‘Anthems
to the Welkin at Dusk’ in ’97). Here’s the
full set-list: ‘The Barren Lands’, ‘A Grave
Inversed’, ‘Misanthrope’, ‘Invocation’,
‘Called By The Fire’, ‘Scarab’, ‘Emancipation’,
‘Unhealer’, ‘Frozen Lakes On Mars’,
‘Citizen’, ‘The Tongue Of Fire’, ‘On
The Shores’ and ‘Thus Spake The Nightspirit’.
_
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Thursday
19th August
What
a great pleasure it was to speak with Andrew Latimer…
a true English gentleman and guiding force of one of this nation’s
finest bands, Camel. Latimer has been through the wars this
past decade, a doctor having advised him that he had 20 months
to live after being diagnosed with myelofibrosis, but after
chemo and a bone marrow transplant the 61-year-old is firmly
on the mend, experiencing good days and bad (as do we all -
only more emphatically so in his case) whilst beginning the
process of making new music again with Camel. “Now that
I’m getting progressively better, I’m starting to
think about getting out there and doing some gigs again,”
he told me during yesterday’s interview. Latimer’s
tale is a triumph over adversity. My only trouble is that I
must deliver the story by tomorrow morning… ouch.
I
had no idea that Classic Rock’s label, Powerage
Records, was planning to re-release Bigelf’s pre-‘Cheat
The Gallows’ catalogue until a parcel flopped onto my
desk. The 1996 mini-album, ‘Closer To Doom’ now
comes with enough extras to be considered a full-length record
in its own right, 2000’s ‘Money Machine’ also
has an array of bolt-ons, with ‘Hex’ from ’03
available domestically for the first time in its original form.
The only negative? The sleeve booklets for ‘Money…’
and ‘Hex’ are bit too flimsy, a large band pic attempting
to compensate for lyrics. Nevertheless, these CDs are exceedingly
welcome additions to the collection.
_
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday
18th May
My
copy of the new Iron Maiden album, ‘The Final Frontier’,
has arrived. It’s the tin box-housed ‘mission edition’…
thanks a lot, EMI! Although I had found ‘El Dorado’
a bit wishy-washy – worrying, given that the previous
three albums since the return of Bruce Dickinson and Adrian
Smith were all previewed by quality tunes (viz ‘The Wicker
Man’, ‘Wildest Dreams’ and ‘The Reincarnation
Of Benjamin Breeg’) – I’m happy to say that
the reviews do not lie; ‘The Final Frontier’ is
blowing me away. Its final track, the almost 11-minute ‘When
The Wild Wind Blows’… sheeeeesh, that’s bloody
amazing stuff.
Meanwhile,
the craziest football story of 2010 – Crystal Palace’s
potential signing of Edgar Davids – refuses to go away.
One last pay-day is the last thing on Davids’ mind, it
seems (and thankfully so – the Eagles don’t have
a pot in which to urinate). He just wants to come to London,
where he has a second home, and play football again. Boss George
Burley is advising caution: “There is nothing definite
about [the deal]. This is to do with a friend of a mate who
knows Edgar and it was mentioned that he might like to start
playing again.” But the Daily Mail reports that the 37-year-old
has agreed in principle to a pay-as-you-play contract and is
expected at the training ground tomorrow. Holy f**k! If true,
that’ll sell a few replica shirts!
_
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday
17th August
Sweet
Jeeeezus, a very sexy rumour suggests that the Palace have approached
Edgar Davids, one of the biggest stars of the football world,
to sign a short term deal for this season. Now 37, the dreadlocked
former Ajax, Juventus, Milan and Barcelona midfielder has reportedly
discussed the audacious move with Eagles boss George Burley.
The bad news is that the former Dutch international hasn’t
played a competitive game for two years. However, far more positive
is that he loves London having represented Spurs between 2005–2007
and is said to be seriously considering the deal. This could
only happen in the crazy world of Crystal Palace FC; it’s
right up there with Puff Daddy’s now legendary attempt
to buy the club. I may have to go and have a lie down.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday
16th August
I’d
love to have spent this evening down at the Peel in Kingston–Upon-Thames
where Fish is set to perform what is, by his standards, a somewhat
low-key solo gig. Alas, although the Peel isn’t too far
from where I live, certainly as the fly crows – um…
that should probably be ‘crow flies’? – getting
there involves a lot of complex travel connections going to
plan, and work-wise my plate is far too stacked up with albums
reviews, interviews and tape transcriptions to consider such
a perilous journey. Most annoying, but that’s what happens
when the three magazines that employ me all go to press in the
exact same week that various sleeve notes are due for delivery.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday
15th August
Yesterday’s
game between Barnsley and Crystal Palace at Oakwell was a big
disappointment. Neither team performed especially well and the
points were settled by an own goal from CPFC’s Paddy McCarthy.
Despite having been lubricated by an inordinate amount of alcohol,
it felt like a long trip back to London.
Skin
guitarist Myke Gray was here at Ling Towers this afternoon,
filming yours truly and my eldest lad Eddie, both of us sporting
Skin T-shirts, rocking out to his group’s new single,
‘Born To Rock ‘N’ Roll’. The band have
been inviting friends, fans and those that supported their cause
to co-star with them in the song’s video. Myke has really
got his act together these days and grown into an extremely
pleasant bloke, having been something of a prima donna in his
days as a boy prodigy (I’m sure he’d admit that
– most of us have matured into far nicer people as the
years roll by). Gray dropped off a copy of Skin’s self-financed
farewell album, ‘Breaking The Silence’, which is
only available from the group’s website, www.skinfreak.co.uk.
Their final ever gig takes place at Nottingham Rock City on
December 18th, with Palace due to play Nottingham Florist at
the City Ground the same afternoon, so there’s every chance
I will nip up and kill two birds with one stone.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday
14th August
Much
of yesterday was spent travelling back and forth to rain-whipped
Grimsby in the north of England, where I was offered a sneak
preview of ‘Perfect World’, the new album from reunited
melodic hard rockers Strangeways. “You know the band’s
story,” said Ian J Stewart as he reached across to punch
the ‘Play’ button. “You’re going to
hear some stuff that sounds like [classic-era] Strangeways and
some that doesn’t.” The guitarist did not lie. Of
the record’s dozen songs, I counted four (‘Time’,
‘Crackin’ Up Baby’, ‘Too Far Gone’
and the record’s excellent closing cut, ‘Say What
You Want’) that were clearly comparable to the template
laid down by the group’s seminal ‘Native Sons’/‘Walk
In The Fire’, plus a couple more borderline examples with
question marks against their names in my notebook’s margin.
The album is very good, of that there is no doubt, and Terry
Brock still boasts one of the classiest voices in the genre,
though the sheer number of heavier tunes – particularly
a monster entitled ‘Bushfire’, the band’s
answer to ‘Kashmir’ which Stewart says is certain
to be blooded at the Firefest – is bound to set the cat
among the pigeons with the purists when it drops in October.
_
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Thursday
12th August
Though
my workload kept me chained to the PC, Mrs L and the Linglets
have gone away for a short camping break. Because of this, dog-sitting
duties scuppered hope of attending last night’s London
gig from Voivod and Nashville Pussy. Most annoying. Despite
vowing not to, I ended up watching the friendly between England
and Hungary. Was enjoying the game till the second half introduction
of alleged ‘striker’ Bo**y Za***a, a player with
Shiteon & Homo Albion roots. When I found myself yelling
vitriolic abuse at the television set in an otherwise empty
house I figured it might be time to change channels before the
neighbours summoned the men in the white coats (the game finished
2-1 to England, apparently).
Just
finished the sleeve notes for the re-issue of the two albums
by York-metalheads Maineeaxe (1984’s ‘Shout It Out’
and the following year’s ‘Going For Gold’).
Whilst interviewing singer Mick Adamson, I was intrigued to
find out that the band’s second line-up is considering
a reunion. Good on ’em, that’s what I say.
Today’s
postal haul was terrific; just what I needed with two long trips
ahead. The Rock Candy re-issues of the debut from The Godz –
no bonus cuts but Martin Popoff’s sleeve essay is superb!
– and the second album from 1994 (‘Please Stand
By…’), plus the first five Robin Trower albums edited
down onto three CDs (‘A Tale Untold: The Chrysalis Years:
1973-1976’). ‘Croweology’, a double album
of acoustic re-workings of the best Black Crowes songs is also
here, plus Eagle Vision’s latest ‘Classic Albums’
DVD, which turns the spotlight on Rush’s ‘2112’
and Moving Pictures’… seriously, does it get any
better than that?!
Well…
maybe it does, and here’s the icing on the cake: ‘Sir’
Steve Coppell, a true Palace legend has stunned football by
walking out on his new employers, Brizzle Shitty, after two
games (both defeats, ’natch). Fantastic news! Steve was
far too good for a horrible, pikey little club with such ill-founded
delusions of grandeur.
_
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday
11th August
Unable
to make the trip to the West Country, last nite was spent glued
to Sky Sports News’ coverage of Crystal Palace’s
Carling Cup tie with Yeovil Town. With the score locked at 0-0
extra time seemed inevitable until the 90th minute when Alan
Lee somehow slammed the ball home through a crowded penalty
box. Cue jubilant celebrations here in Catford.
P.S.
I’m praying that there’s no truth to the rumour
that last night was the final occasion that CPFC custodian Julian
Speroni will wear the shirt. :-(
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday
10th August
With
the Heavy Metal Kids having gone public regarding their line-up
changes it’s safe for me to reveal the identity of the
band’s new frontman. Joining them, in keeping with the
theatrical nature of original singer Gary Holton, is none other
than John Altman… AKA ‘Nasty’ Nick Cotton
from EastEnders! Bet you didn’t see that one coming, eh?
58-year-old Altman, apparently an old friend of Holton’s,
says: “People don’t know I sing but I’ve been
in bands for years.” No longer featuring keys-toting vocalist
Danny Peyronel, this revised grouping of the Kids also sees
the return of Cosmo, the guitarist who first joined in 1975,
exiting a couple of years later. There’s a new album to
be titled ‘Uncontrollable’ on its way, I’m
told.
Having
missed them at the High Voltage Festival due to an annoying
schedule conflict, I’m happy to say that the reunited
Argent have lined up a UK tour [see link].
With support coming from Martin Turner’s Wishbone Ash
and Curved Air, I’ll be at the Forum gig on December 11.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday
9th August
With
a footie-inspired hangover gradually subsiding yesterday afternoon
was spent in the company of my friend Steve Way and Kathy, his
rock chick ‘other half’, at the Cambridge Rock Festival.
It was my second year at this fine event. As we arrived, Keith
Airey’s band Aireya 51 were bringing
their set to a close with a guest appearance from Deep Purple’s
Don Airey – Keith’s brother – on keys. Despite
the awful pun of the group’s name, I liked what I heard
and will make a point of picking up the debut album, ‘Crimson
Tear’. Keith Airey has played guitar for Colin Blunstone,
The Zombies and Nik Kershaw among others and, fittingly, his
ensemble plays a rich and sturdy brand of hard rock that administers
a modern spin to the trail previously blazed by Pink Floyd,
Peter Green and Robin Trower.
An
annoyingly soupy sound and a premature ending that deprived
us of the definitive ‘Captured City’ and ‘Lovers
To The Grave’ ruined my usual appreciation of Praying
Mantis, though I spoke to several folks that were encountering
the band for the first and had no problems in savouring what
they’d seen and heard. You can call me Mr Picky, I guess.
For reasons that only the organisers will comprehend, 80s new
waver Hazel O’Connor was up next. Nothing
to say but what a feeble load of old bollocks. If only I’d
had a shotgun.
After
a wait of way too many years I’d been dying to see The
Enid, and by golly the orchestral-proggers didn’t
disappoint. Their 85-minute set comprised just three selections;
a chunk of ‘Aerie Faerie Nonsense,’ the main central
theme of the new album ‘Journey’s End’ and
most of ‘In The Region Of The Summer Stars’. Although
some of their members doubled up on multiple instruments, their
sometime bassist also utilising huge Tympani drums and wind-chimes
– I’m sure that, just like Neal Peart in the olden
days his percussive armoury must have included ‘crotales’,
whatever those might be – how on earth a five-piece band
could conjure up such an intoxicating wall of sound was truly
mystifying (and no, I’m not trying to imply that they
cheat by using tapes). That Robert John Godfrey and company
departed without an encore after such a colossus of a performance
was a major, major injustice.
The
crowd was thinning out a little by the time the headliners brought
the weekend to a close. Although I’m the first to acknowledge
a hugely differing viewpoint, for me the promotion of former
backing singer Olivia Sparnen to the role of lead vocalist has
dealt Mostly Autumn a huge kick up the ass.
The delightful Sparnen has both an excellent voice and a pleasing
stage presence – in her skin-tight Lycra mini-skirt and
knee-high leather boots she’s also pretty easy on the
eye! – and both times I’ve encountered them since
the transition, the group’s energy has both surprised
and delighted me. I await the group’s new album ‘Go
Well Diamond Heart’ with an unprecedented set of expectations.
_
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday
8th August
Yesterday’s
commencement of the new season was a near-perfect demonstration
of the good and bad of Crystal Palace. In a dazzling first half
display, against a side that made last year’s play-offs,
the Eagles raced into a 3-0 lead thanks to goals from 17-year-old
Wilfred Zaha, Darren Ambrose and Alan Lee. During the break,
I joined other supporters on the Holmesdale stand in bellowing
out: “We are top of the league!” Afterwards, though,
sticking to a tried ‘n’ trusted script, the team
did its darndest to throw away the points. As the full-time
whistle blew, the home side was clinging onto a 3-2 lead by
its metaphorical toenails. An exciting game, and three points
on the board, but sheesh… I’d almost forgotten the
toll that supporting Palace exacts upon the ol’ ticker.
_
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday
7th August
The
new football season starts today, with my beloved Crystal Palace
playing host to Leicester City. It cannot come soon enough,
especially for my eldest lad Eddie who has spent most of the
past few days on Sky Sports News awaiting last minute signings
and team news… aw, bless his little (red and blue) cotton
socks. A victory on the opening day would be most welcome, but
after the terrifying uncertainty of the past few months –
I know how you feel, Portsmouth fans… – a beach
ball-sized lump will be clogging my throat when Paddy McCarthy
leads the players onto the fabled Selhurst turf at 2.55pm (Eddie
informs me McCarthy is “expected to shake off an Achilles
problem”… LOL!). Right now, existence is just enough.
Come on you Eagles!!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday
6th August
Saraya
are no longer a part of this year’s Firefest, the diva-like
behaviour of their lead singer, Sandi Saraya, having scuppered
a planned reunion. It’s no great loss if you ask me; even
when they were here in the UK as FM’s support act all
those years ago I thought they were overrated. The story can
be viewed here.
Sandi’s ludicrous demands have infuriated even her band-mates.
She obviously had no concept of what the Firefest stands for,
nor apparently any passion for the purity of those self-same
principles. People like Sandi Saraya make my blood boil…
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Thursday 5th August
Well,
that’s more like it. A so-called Director’s Cut
video for Iron Maiden’s new single, ‘The Final Frontier’,
has been posted online… click here.
Lasting just five minutes and eight seconds it’s an edited
version of the record’s opening track, which glories in
the full title of ‘Satellite 15.....The Final Frontier’
and lasts for more than three minutes longer still, but the
video is great and the song knocks the iffy ‘El Dorado’
into the proverbial cocked hat. The album is out on August 16.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday
4th August
Last
nite I hopped onto a 185 bus for Crystal Palace’s final
pre-season game, against Isthmian League side Dulwich Hamlet
at Champion Hill. The Eagles fielded a very young team with
just Pinney, N’Diaye and Djilali boasting first team experience,
but had no problems registering a comfortable 2-0 win, even
missing a 90th minute penalty. A respectable workout, all said
and done.
P.S. Yay! My new Crystal Palace season ticket has arrived, and
the club has actually **bought** a new player – an undisclosed
fee bringing Ipswich’s Irish midfielder Owen Garvan to
Selhurst – for the first time in two years. Things are
looking up.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday
3rd August
Having
just closed an issue of Classic Rock there’s no time to
waste, it’s straight on with some sleeve notes work. I’ve
been playing a newly arrived finished copy of ‘The Philadelphia
Experiment’, an excellent triple-disc live release from
UK proggers Frost*. But the album that has really taken me by
surprise (in a good way) is the solo debut from Christopher
Amott. A mellow and rootsy though deceptively hook-laden collection
of tunes, ‘Follow Your Heart’ represents a huge
departure from the guitarist’s incendiary work with Arch
Enemy, its sometimes Robin Trower-esque strains exposing an
appreciation of the classic rock of the 1970s. I love it!
Speaking
of which, check out this month’s Playlist here.
The newest YouTube is also up.
_
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday
2nd August
Andy Beare’s car shot up the motorway towards
the final day of the Sonisphere festival like a bat out of hell,
due possibly to the fact that we’d both had extremely
hot curries 12 hours before (mine was a chicken tikka vindaloo
– lovely). I had to be on site to review my first band
at 1.35pm, but with the prevailing wind behind us – quite
literally – we arrived at Knebworth in good time to check
out Madina Lake on the Main Stage. The Chicagoans
were playing as a three-piece, their bassist Matthew Leone hospitalised
after attempting to save a woman from being beaten up. A lovely
sentiment in principle, though the gesture only reminded us
of the importance of a good bit of ‘bottom end’
to a group’s sound. I was intrigued to see a number or
two from Rise To Remain, who besides having
won Best New Band at the recent Metal Hammer awards also feature
Bruce Dickinson’s son Austin on vocals, so we wandered
over to a packed Bohemia tent. The Londoners were playing a
brand new Colin Richardson-produced song called ‘The Serpent’,
which really impressed me, but before too long it was time to
fulfil my editorial remit with a dose of Skindred’s
self-styled Ragga-metal. Though on this occasion he sported
a shiny silver suit that made him look like a middle-aged, Rastafarian
bingo caller, it was hard not to be sucked in by Benjii Webbe’s
rough-shod charisma, and before too long the fans were bouncing
all the way back to the sound tower to the sound of ‘Pressure’.
Tom Araya may still be regaining momentum after back surgery,
but Slayer remain an exercise in raw savagery.
Like the extreme metal world’s answer to Motörhead,
their conquering of a mid-afternoon festival is like feeding
rabbit to a snake. Allotted just 45 minutes at Sonisphere, ‘South
Of Heaven’, ‘Dead Skin Mask’, ‘War Ensemble’
and ‘Angel Of Death’ were jumbled in with more recent
offerings such as ‘World Painted Blood’ and ‘Jihad’,
but the effect was just the same. With the search for nosebag
becoming a priority, there was time to at least sample a tune
or two from Sheffield’s own Bring Me The Horizon,
whose incendiary display made me determined to check them out
at the earliest opportunity.
Exactly how good were Alice In Chains? Well,
let put it this way: they managed to fulfil William DuVall’s
promise to “rattle the motherfucking sky.” Serving
up all the old Layne Staley-voiced classics, their frontline
of DuVall, guitarist Jerry Cantrell and bassist Mike Inez conjured
up a vocal sound that was nothing less than spellbinding. With
its jarring, monster riff, ‘Check My Brain’ was
one of a smattering of tracks from ‘Black Gives Way To
Blue’ – one of this writer’s albums of 2009.
Departing with ‘Rooster’ was an electrifying, goosebumps
moment.
After a frantic dart across the field – Sonisphere has
proper running times that allow you to see just about anyone
you wish, which after High Voltage was a blessed relief…
– The Cult offered one of the surprises
of the day, pelting through 45 thunderous minutes of their best-known
songs, plus a new track called ‘Every Man And Woman Is
A Star’, with completely unforeseen fire and wit. Annoying,
we didn’t spot that Sweet Savage were
over on the Jägermiester Stage till the Irish metalheads
were very nearly done, though the offer of a few gratis Jäger
Bombs from Turbowolf’s ever-friendly publicist Nik Moore
was too good to turn down (even though we didn’t actually
see his band on the Jäger stage).
A short while later Iggy Pop had his shirt off halfway through
‘Raw Power’, the opening song of a riveting display
from The Stooges. Having followed it with ‘Search
And Destroy’, the 63-year-old Pop proposed a stage invasion,
resulting in a ludicrous tug of war between band and stage crew
and security staff. This is how a rock ‘n’ roll
show should be, though sadly the time to find a decent spot
for the headliners had arrived by ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’.
With
the event sold out for the third consecutive day, 55,000 fans
awaited the arrival of Iron Maiden. Although
a set-list had been tweaked slightly for the band’s arrival
in their homeland, by and large it remained culled from the
last ten years, crammed with thoroughly excellent material recorded
since Dickinson and guitarist Adrian Smith returned for ‘Brave
New World’. Just one song, ‘El Dorado’, was
aired from the forthcoming album ‘The Final Frontier,
Bruce pointing out that its uncharacteristically forgettable
strains are “in no way indicative of the rest of the album”.
Um… dare I say it: “Phew”?!
Kudos
to the crowd, though, whose enthusiasm was far from derailed
by the band’s refusal to play ‘The Trooper’,‘Run
To The Hills’ et al. Though you’d never have guessed
it, ‘The Ghost Of The Navigator’, ‘The Reincarnation
Of Benjamin Breeg’ and ‘Blood Brothers’ are
lengthy, demanding pieces, delivered by a group that was intent
on stretching out and retaining its own interest first and foremost.
All those that say musicians of Maiden’s age should retire,
do me a fucking favour. Go and watch them live before spouting
such drivel. Here’s the set-list: ‘The Wicker Man’,
‘The Ghost Of The Navigator’, ‘Wrathchild’,
‘El Dorado’, ‘Dance Of Death’, ‘The
Reincarnation Of Benjamin Breeg’, ‘These Colours
Don’t Run’, ‘Blood Brothers’, ‘Wildest
Dreams’, ‘No More Lies’, ‘Brave New
World’, ‘Fear Of The Dark’ and ‘Iron
Maiden’, plus ‘The Number Of The Beast’, ‘Hallowed
Be Thy Name’ and ‘Running Free’.
And
in conclusion? Sonisphere… yes, it gets the thumbs up
from me.
_
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday
1st August
Having
spent a big chunk of last nite trying to pay my tax bill online
– Grrrrr! – there’s just time for a slice
of toast, a check of the emails and it’s off to the Sonisphere
Festival at Knebworth Park, a chunk of land I’ve not revisited
since Deep Purple’s legendary comeback gig in June ’85.
What an incredible bill we saw that day; the Scorps, UFO, Mountain,
the much-missed Mama’s Boys, Blackfoot and Alaska, plus
special guest Fat Oaf. Primarily I am there to see headliners
Iron Maiden, of course, but I shall check out most of the bands
on the Main Stage for Metal Hammer. What a shame the rumours
of Manowar being the final’s day’s special guests
turned out bogus. But there ya go… so long as the mud
of ’85 doesn’t return, I‘ll have fun.
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