I return from Donington; Dirty, burnt, bruised, exhausted, and loving every minute of it.
Well, I'm home.
Took five hours in the car, due to a pretty hellish traffic jam which lasted for about three hours just outside Donington. Apparently in that time we only got two miles. At some point during that I fell asleep, drooled all over Dave's shoulder, apparently shouted "I DON'T WANT ANY OF THE FUCKING SULTANAS!" and otherwise made a fool of myself. Sleeping in public is possibly the most undignified thing in the world. Especially when in any kind of vehicle, because the movement flings the drool around. Urgh.
But, despite the rather awful journey home, this festival has raised the benchmark for "Cool as fuck," in my life. It Officially Roxxored My Soxxors (tm).
So, a quick breakdown;
DAY ONE: Arrival. [no bands today]
DAY TWO:
Queen Adreena - Excellent main-stage performance, though not as good as their gig at Newcastle. A lot more energetic than the last time I saw them.
Fozzy - Bloody awful, despite involving Chris Jericho of WWE fame.
Lordi - Brilliant, very theatrical.
Megadeth - Really good, but not the mind-blowing quasi-orgasmic experience that I had been told they would be.
Garbage - Beautiful. When I Grow Up makes me cry like a fragile little baby every time. They've matured so much since v2.0, and they're all the better for it. Must get their comparatively new album.
Napalm Death - Don't really know. Only stayed for about two songs, then ran into Richi in the crowd, got a bit of random grief from him, so left and went to bed. Bit of a shame that.
DAY THREE:
The Dwarves - Utterly shite. really terrible beyond belief. Constantly repeating "You love us!", "You're in the prescence of rock legends!" and "We fucked your mothers," whilst having no musical ability to back this up with is never ever going to endear yourself to anyone. Plus, they wouldn't get off stage at the end of their set. Idiots.
Mad Capsule Markets - Brilliant. Not as strange as I had expected, but a lot better.
A - Really good, even though I'm not really much of a fan. definitely got the crowd going. Stage prescence was excellent. Might buy, or at least limewire, their album.
Bowling For Soup - Ahh, I'm biased due to being a bit of a fan, but they really did an excellent job. Played the same set as at Newcastle, which I at first thought meant that I would be bored, but they really played the crowd. Helped by the strange naked guy on somebody's shoulders. They even did In Between Song Surfing. And, of course, Come Back To Texas, which is strangely addictive.
Meshuggah - Surprisingly bad. And I'd been looking forward to them.
Anthrax - Not as incredible as people portray them to be, but at least I can say that I've seen them live now. Plus, it was their last ever show. At least I got to hear Safe Home.
Bullet For My Valentine - Surprising. I hadn't planned on seeing these, but they were recommended to me, so I gave them the benefit of the doubt and went. They were actually really good.
Velvet Revolver - A bit on the crap side, but possibly because the sound system was fucking up. Might have to see them again to get the record straight.
Black Sabbath - Good, but once again not as mindblowing or captivating as people reckoned that they would be. Nice finisher for the night though, and sort of proved that Ozzy is still metal, not just a shambling wreck of a reality TV star.
DAY FOUR:
Henry Rollins - Very random spoken word.
DV8 - Didn't really make an impression, so I assume that they were awful.
Society 1 - Musically good enough, but the suspension really pushed them into greatness for me. Fucking intense, dude. I really have to suspend one of these days. Bravo!
Mudvayne - Big disappointment. I couldn't even tell that it was them until they played Dig. Pity about that, they could have been good.
Papa Roach - Great beyond their perceived ability, with an especially stunning Getting Away With Murder. I knew that I liked the music, but didn't imagine that they'd be any good live. Well, they were.
Killswitch Engage - Good, but not earth shatteringly so. At least they managed a full set this time.
Nightwish - Blew me away. Tragically got onstage late, so could only play a short set (Four songs!) but what they did play was so hauntingly gorgeous that it was still worth it. Definitely going to see them again as soon as possible.
Lacuna Coil - Awful, foul-mouthed little Italian tart, but nonetheless pretty good music. Sounded too much like the recording to really count as a good live performance.
Slayer - Raining Blood made me cake my pants, once again. I think they must be an acquired taste, because I used to really hate them.
Slipknot - Fucking awesome as ever.
Team Sleep - Didn't see much of them, but I'm going to download their stuff because they did sound rather good. Couldn't see the stage though.
System Of A Down - Made my weekend worthwhile. They were amazing. Started off with Bring Your Own Bombs, then just got better. Chop Suey once again nearly made me soil myself with joy. Might go and see them in Glasgow in a few weeks, if I can get a ticket.
Added to this was the Aftershock Arena, which was nowhere near the den of depravity that I was hoping for, a few festival markets selling some good stuff, some bad stuff, and some useful stuff like extra blankets, and the Snickers Bowl, which was ok for a quick diversion. Sleeping in a tent again was cold, uncomfortable and best avoided, but was rather worth it for the awesome few days.
Rock on, people.
Took five hours in the car, due to a pretty hellish traffic jam which lasted for about three hours just outside Donington. Apparently in that time we only got two miles. At some point during that I fell asleep, drooled all over Dave's shoulder, apparently shouted "I DON'T WANT ANY OF THE FUCKING SULTANAS!" and otherwise made a fool of myself. Sleeping in public is possibly the most undignified thing in the world. Especially when in any kind of vehicle, because the movement flings the drool around. Urgh.
But, despite the rather awful journey home, this festival has raised the benchmark for "Cool as fuck," in my life. It Officially Roxxored My Soxxors (tm).
So, a quick breakdown;
DAY ONE: Arrival. [no bands today]
DAY TWO:
Queen Adreena - Excellent main-stage performance, though not as good as their gig at Newcastle. A lot more energetic than the last time I saw them.
Fozzy - Bloody awful, despite involving Chris Jericho of WWE fame.
Lordi - Brilliant, very theatrical.
Megadeth - Really good, but not the mind-blowing quasi-orgasmic experience that I had been told they would be.
Garbage - Beautiful. When I Grow Up makes me cry like a fragile little baby every time. They've matured so much since v2.0, and they're all the better for it. Must get their comparatively new album.
Napalm Death - Don't really know. Only stayed for about two songs, then ran into Richi in the crowd, got a bit of random grief from him, so left and went to bed. Bit of a shame that.
DAY THREE:
The Dwarves - Utterly shite. really terrible beyond belief. Constantly repeating "You love us!", "You're in the prescence of rock legends!" and "We fucked your mothers," whilst having no musical ability to back this up with is never ever going to endear yourself to anyone. Plus, they wouldn't get off stage at the end of their set. Idiots.
Mad Capsule Markets - Brilliant. Not as strange as I had expected, but a lot better.
A - Really good, even though I'm not really much of a fan. definitely got the crowd going. Stage prescence was excellent. Might buy, or at least limewire, their album.
Bowling For Soup - Ahh, I'm biased due to being a bit of a fan, but they really did an excellent job. Played the same set as at Newcastle, which I at first thought meant that I would be bored, but they really played the crowd. Helped by the strange naked guy on somebody's shoulders. They even did In Between Song Surfing. And, of course, Come Back To Texas, which is strangely addictive.
Meshuggah - Surprisingly bad. And I'd been looking forward to them.
Anthrax - Not as incredible as people portray them to be, but at least I can say that I've seen them live now. Plus, it was their last ever show. At least I got to hear Safe Home.
Bullet For My Valentine - Surprising. I hadn't planned on seeing these, but they were recommended to me, so I gave them the benefit of the doubt and went. They were actually really good.
Velvet Revolver - A bit on the crap side, but possibly because the sound system was fucking up. Might have to see them again to get the record straight.
Black Sabbath - Good, but once again not as mindblowing or captivating as people reckoned that they would be. Nice finisher for the night though, and sort of proved that Ozzy is still metal, not just a shambling wreck of a reality TV star.
DAY FOUR:
Henry Rollins - Very random spoken word.
DV8 - Didn't really make an impression, so I assume that they were awful.
Society 1 - Musically good enough, but the suspension really pushed them into greatness for me. Fucking intense, dude. I really have to suspend one of these days. Bravo!
Mudvayne - Big disappointment. I couldn't even tell that it was them until they played Dig. Pity about that, they could have been good.
Papa Roach - Great beyond their perceived ability, with an especially stunning Getting Away With Murder. I knew that I liked the music, but didn't imagine that they'd be any good live. Well, they were.
Killswitch Engage - Good, but not earth shatteringly so. At least they managed a full set this time.
Nightwish - Blew me away. Tragically got onstage late, so could only play a short set (Four songs!) but what they did play was so hauntingly gorgeous that it was still worth it. Definitely going to see them again as soon as possible.
Lacuna Coil - Awful, foul-mouthed little Italian tart, but nonetheless pretty good music. Sounded too much like the recording to really count as a good live performance.
Slayer - Raining Blood made me cake my pants, once again. I think they must be an acquired taste, because I used to really hate them.
Slipknot - Fucking awesome as ever.
Team Sleep - Didn't see much of them, but I'm going to download their stuff because they did sound rather good. Couldn't see the stage though.
System Of A Down - Made my weekend worthwhile. They were amazing. Started off with Bring Your Own Bombs, then just got better. Chop Suey once again nearly made me soil myself with joy. Might go and see them in Glasgow in a few weeks, if I can get a ticket.
Added to this was the Aftershock Arena, which was nowhere near the den of depravity that I was hoping for, a few festival markets selling some good stuff, some bad stuff, and some useful stuff like extra blankets, and the Snickers Bowl, which was ok for a quick diversion. Sleeping in a tent again was cold, uncomfortable and best avoided, but was rather worth it for the awesome few days.
Rock on, people.