KILBURNFLYER

Sandwiched between Wishbone Ash and Metallica I went to see "The Damned United" the biopic about Brian Clough's stupidly short reign as Leeds United manager in 1974. It felt like a bit of a guilty secret with about 200 people in the audience and from what I could tell only 2 were women. A really enjoyable film superbly well acted and it broight back so many memories of that era. The dreadful pitches, the crunching tackles and just what a bloody dirty team Leeds were in those days. I grew up calling them dirty Leeds - still do - but they were the superstars of their age but sadly underachieved with a team including the likes of Harvery, Cherry, Madeley, Bremner, McQueen, Clarke, Jones, Lorimer, Hunter, Giles they should have won more than they did. Strange I was never a Leeds fan but I just rattled those names off in the cafe with a mate before we even went in - shows just how famous they were.

Michael Sheen has rightly taken a lot of plaudits for his portrayal of Brian Clough but Colm Meaney as Don Revie, Timothy Spall as Peter Taylor and Jim Broadbent as the chairman of Derby were extremely good. A really enjoyable couple of hours - I really hope they continue the story - taking Forest to two European Cups, his never resolved bust up with Taylor and his gradual descent into alcoholism. A great story still to be told.

KILBURNFLYER

Metallica at the O2 - again magnificent with the highlight being a storming version of Overkill. They just come on stage and own the whole arena. So good and a very different set list from the previous show. Superb evening but what a nightmare with the travel arrangements - how the fuck TfL could close the Jubilee Line for the whole day is frankly beyond me. Machine Head - a decent version of "Hallowed be thy Name" but the rest, well I am sorry but I just don't get them and got very bored.

Metallica set list: That Was Just Your Life, The End Of The Line, Harvester Of Sorrow, …And Justice for All, One, Broken Beat And Scarred, My Apocalypse, Sad But True, The Outlaw Torn, The Judas Kiss, The Day That Never Comes, Master Of Puppets, Fight Fire With Fire, Nothing Else Matters, Enter Sandman (encore) Overkill, Hit The Lights, Seek and Destroy

Friday was Martin Turner's Wishbone Ash at the 100 Club. Great sound and really good set list - the whole of Argus for the 2nd half !!

The set-list (again ripped from Dave Ling's excellent diary): ‘Why Don’t We’, ‘Blind Eye’, ‘Rest In Peace’, ‘Lady Jay’, ‘The Pilgrim’, ‘Persephone’, ‘You See Red’, ‘Time Was’, ‘Sometime World’, ‘Blowin’ Free’, ‘The King Will Come’, ‘Leaf And Stream’, ‘Warrior’, ‘Throw Down the Sword’ and encores of ‘Living Proof’ and ‘Jail Bait’.

KILBURNFLYER

Testament and Sylosis at the O2 Academy Islington. A really good gig - Testament were superb doing a set comprisong their first two albums and a couple of rippers thrown in for good measure. Sylosis decent effort - first time I have seen them having bought their album in advance of Hammerfest appearance nexy month.

testament set list (ripped from Dave Ling's excellent diary) ‘Over The Wall’, ‘The Haunting’, ‘Burnt Offerings’, ‘Curse Of The Legions Of Death’, ‘Raging Waters’, ‘First Strike Is Deadly’, ‘Do Or Die’, ‘Alone In The Dark’, ‘Apocalyptic City’, ‘Musical Death (A Dirge)’, ‘Eerie Inhabitants’, ‘The New Order’, ‘Hypnosis’/‘Trial By Fire’, ‘Into The Pit’, ‘The Preacher’, ‘A Day Of Reckoning’, ‘Reign Of Terror’ and ‘Disciples Of The Watch’, with encores of ‘Rapid Fire’ (Excerpt), ‘More Than Meets The Eye’ and ‘The Formation Of Damnation’.

Wishbone Ash on Friday at the 100 Club and Metallica again at the O2 on Saturday - a good couple of days ahead.

KILBURNFLYER

Metallica at the O2. Where do you start? Fucking awesome gig. Excellent set list - lots off death Magnetic (sounds better live than on my Ipod) but Creeping Death, One, Enter Sandman, Sad but True, Master of Puppets and a fantastic cover of Motorhead's Too late, Too Late. Great sound, great energy, and support band Machine Head - missed Sword as still in the pub (sorry lads) and wish I had missed machine Head - about the 5th time I have seen them and they are just not that good - only minor gripe is that when they play "in the round" the stage needs to be slightly higher to help those standing get a slightly better view. This is a magnificent band at the very peak of their powers - I will be a very lucky chap if I see a better gig this year. Roll on the 28th so they can prove me wrong.