KILBURNFLYER

Have been badly neglecting the Fleyer - it is the only way I can keep track of gig activity.

Since the summer festivals have seen:

Echo and the Bunneymey at the Palladium - absolutely first class gig - the whole of Ocean rain with an orchestra and a greatest hits set. What's not to love.

Pop Will Eat Itself at O2 Academy Islington - great fun as usual but with Clint poppy no longer with them felt a bit odd.

Volbeat at the Forum - absolutely magnificent - really got the bug for them over the summer and bought their entire back catalogue. First time I have seen them when I knew all the songs they played - Evelyn was a particular highlight - not one ofmy favourite songs but what I didn't know was that the 2nd vocalist is Mark "Barney" Greenaway from Napalm Death - he came on for that song - brilliant.

Motorhead, UK Subs and Anti Nowhere League at Hammersmith - Subs were great - indeed much better than back in the day - basically Charlie Harper and a half decent young metal band supporting him. ANL - all good but a bit going through the motions. Motorhead were back on form - they were poor at Sonisphere - and did a great set.

Hard Rock Hell V at Prestatyn - the greatest weekend of the year as usual but that down to the people not the bands - most of whom were a bit average except Girlschool, Reckless Love, Ginger Wildheart and the magnificent SSS.

Def Leppard, Motley Crue at Wembley Arena - sadly got there late and missed Steel Panther but great sets from both as usual.

GingerWildheart at the Garage Islington - exactly the same as Prestatyn - good but not great.

Saxon at Koko - fucking brilliant show. Full of energy, great setlist - well done chaps you really try hard and it shows.

KILBURNFLYER

The inaugural High Voltage Festival was great fun. Good layout and some great bands A few minor niggles - a few mates complained that the prog and metal stages were too close together and the metal interfered with the purity of the prog sound. Didn't matter to me as I was usually at the metal stage anyway. A few notables:

Saturday

Focus - only saw a few songs but a quite gentle remnder of former greatness

The Answer - great show as usual and a fantastic cover of an old Rose Tattoo song Rock n Roll Outlaw

Saxon - a relatively short but well delivered set - 747, Motorcycle Man, Pricess of the night and Wheels of Steel all got in there - not loud enough but you can's have it all.

Gary Moore - frankly a bit pants (dull set delivered in a half hearted way) and fuck me has he piled on the pounds. Line of the weekend delivered by a lovely lady we met at the Ibiza festival called Rebecca (can't rememebr surname but her boyfriend Graham and his mate Tony the T-Shirt fiend were all very nice) when Moore said "this song is empty rooms" "empty fridge more like" came Rebecca's retort. I almost choked on my beer.

Heaven and Hell tribute - a bit sad a R J-D was one of my favourite singers. Glenn Hughes and another guy who's name I cant remember were decent. The Younger guy being more powerful and would be a very good long term replacement if they wanted to carry on. Die Young, Heaven and Hell, Mob Rules and Neon Knights were all great.

ZZ Top - awesome set, awesome performance. These guys are just a magnificent live band. First saw the over 30 years ago and they still excite me. Jesus Just Left Chicago always a fave of mine.

Sunday

Wishbone Ash - only saw a few but nice to see the Turners back together

Lethargy - fucking superb - first saw these at HRH 2 and then at Camden Barfly and met them in Ibiza. Great bunch of lads and did extremely well - they attracted quite a lot of interest in spite of the fact they were up against Wishbone Ash and the Quireboys

UFO - terrible slow song to start with and it just got worse when the guitar kept cutting out. Best forgotten.

Joe Elliott - sorry bored the arse off me - fell asleep

Down - absolutely fucking superb in spite of the fact that I didn't know any of their songs. Very energetic and engaged with the audience - will be buying some of their material.

ELP - better not say what I really think or Nigel will not speak to me - just say not my thing.

KILBURNFLYER

Two festivals on successive weekends.

The first was the Hard Rock Hell Road Trip. A relatively small affair where HRH stalwarts - both bands and fans - made a trip to Ibiza. Highlights were excellent sets by GMT, DAR, Lethargy and Attica rage. I had to return to work so missed Skindred, Quireboys and a few others. Shows started at 11pm and went on til the wee small hours - a marathon.

Download was just magnificent.

Friday - AC/DC played basically the same set they have been chugging out for the last 18 months but were really great. Possibly because it is a year since I saw them last and absence does make the heart grow fonder. I was a bit annoyed at Wembley last year with this show as I had seen them 3 times in the previous six months. Them Crooked Vultures were a bit dull - trotted out the album but all a bit lifeless. Only odd thing was the total absence of the name AC/DC from any Download merchandise - must be some financial row over the "brand" - even the programme did not mention that they were on at 8.30. Bizarre that a great rock band has decended into a marketing vehicle - not very rock and roll.

Saturday - wasn't expecting this to be a great day but it was. Caught a great set by 80s retro band Reckless Love - was like seeing Dave Lee Roth in his hey day - great show. Bizarre band Rock Sugar were very entertaining (mixture of rock classics i.e Enter Sandman merged with a bit of 80s pop Don't Stop Believing) but not sure I would shell out to see them. Megadeth and Five Finger death Punch were both excellent. Had to miss Y&T and the Deftones to catch the England game (wish I hadn't bothered) and saw most of Rage Against the Machine who were much better than I remembered.

Sunday - best day by far (apart from the weather) - Saxon, Motorhead, Airbourne and Suicidal Tendencies were all as good as ever. Billy Idol was great in flashes but the show was completely stolen by Slash who's new band seem much better than anything he has got sorted before. Great GNR covers as crowd pleasers. Due to Suicidal clash saw the end of Aerosmith only - Sweet Emotion was the highlight.

KILBURNFLYER

Sonisphere was a great laugh. Paid extra to have VIP camping - right behind the stage, park car next to the tent that they put up for you and furnish with an inflatable mattress - which was well worth it -very very convenient, we got away in record time straight after Metallica and never worried about stuff getting nicked as it was in the boot of my car. Got drenched on Saturday but didn't spoil the fun, Didn't use the showers they laid on in VIP - queue in the morning was too long - but the toilets were as bad as ever. Anyway we went to see some bands so here are my thoughts:

Saturday -Band of the day - Wildhearts - last on and only got 45 minutes but fantastic even if they had a few technical issues. Had to follow Thunder which was a big ask as they made up for a poor Hammersmith show with a great final set in a jam packed tent for their final UK show.

Heaven and Hell were superb as were Airbourne, Anthrax, Skindred and BFMV also very enjoyable. Bizarre sight of the day was Bjorn Again doing a very decent version of Enter Sandman. Alien Ant Farm only had one song. Also caught glimpses of Sylosis and Exit 10 both of whom played at Hammerfest. Linkin Park were very professional but just not my thing. Everyone else just not very memorable.

Sunday - Band of the day - Metallica - extremely good powerful set from a band that a so confident in themselves and their material. From Blackened, creeping death, fuel, of wolf and man to start all they way to hit the lights and seek and destroy at the end they were absolutely superb. Roll on November when I get to see them do two nights at MSG.

Limp Bizkit extremely impressive and made the most of their time. Wes Borland dressed is a bizarre outfit mad eit all the more visual. Saxon played a good set but were plagued by terrible sound. Enjoyed Killing Joke especially "Eighties". Lamb of God/Machine Head decent in flashes - both a bit samey and nothing to set them apart from so many similar bands. Avenged Sevenfold clearly very impressive but surprisingly found Alice in Chains a bit dull. Buckcherry did a good opener. Corey Taylor acoustic half hour was forgettable.

KILBURNFLYER

Saxon at the Forum last Thursday (St Georges Day) was great. Doro in support was great - especially her cover of Breakingthe Law. Saxon did ‘Battalions Of Steel’, ‘Heavy Metal Thunder’, ‘Demon Sweeney Todd’, ‘Ride Like The Wind’, ‘Requiem (We Will Remember)’, ‘Strong Arm Of The Law’, ‘Valley Of The Kings’, ‘And Te Bands Played On’, ‘Hellcat’, ‘The Eagle Has Landed’, ‘Come Rock Of Ages (The Circle Is Complete)’, ‘Machine Gun’, ‘Never Surrender’ and ‘Wheels Of Steel’, with encores of ‘Live To Rock’, ‘Motorcycle Man’, ‘Crusader’, ‘You’ve Got Another Thing Coming’, ‘747 (Strangers In The Night)’, ‘Denim And Leather’ and ‘Princess Of The Night’ (hat tip to Mr Ling who always writes this shit down as it his job).

Then up early for the 4 hour drive to Hammerfest.

Now the line up was a big disappointment - especially after the last two Hard Rock Hell festivals had so many name bands on the bill - but that didn't make the weekend any less enjoyable. I was introduced to a number of new bands the most notable (good and bad) of which were:

Alestorm - I thought the pirate metal thing would irritate me after a few songs but it didn't. They were really good and I have now bought everything they have produced ready for the next time I get to see them.

Skindred - a really fantastic live act with a brilliantly enthusiastic front man. Some great songs and all in all great fun.

Sepultura - just a load of shit

Attica Rage - met these guys before and had already bought their album but they were much richer live than they are on record.

KILBURNFLYER

Motorhead and Saxon at Sheffield Academy - great show in a great venue - a long drive there and back in a day - was originally planning to stay over but has to get back for my flight to NYC to see AC/DC at Madison Square Garden. A fucking long way to go for a gig but well worth the effort - rock n roll train a good intro song and then into hell ain't a bad place to be. Off we went with a 90 minute show (could have been longer but they are getting on a bit now) back in black, thunderstruck, hells bells, let there be rock all included with highway to hell and for those about to rock as an encore. A solid performance and good clean sound with the new songs doing better than I expected - big jack was well received. Splendid in so many ways - looking forward to tonight. All in all very professional but not quite what they were. The Answer who supported were seriously good - at points they reminded me of the black crowes or zeppelin - have to go see them again.

Update: Thursday's gig was exactly the same - saw an east coast AC/DC tribute band (Overdose) at BB Kings who were great fun as an aftershow piss up.

KILBURNFLYER

Saxon at Shepherds Bush was very disappointing - have probably seen them at least 30 times in the last 30 years and this was a bit of a yawn - no let me correct that - it was the worst gig I have seen them play. Sound was crap - clear but nowhere near enough volume. Had a tiny PA that would not have looked out of place at the Underworld. What was really bad was the set list. Biff came up with some crap that they were playing a set list that some geezer had won in a competition - bollocks as it was a fucking shit set and most people left disappointed. A real shame as Saxon at the empire on St Georges day should have been a great gig - it could have if they turned it up and played a decent set. They have got to be so much better than this when the support motorhead later this year - at least I can be assured it will be loud enough. I appreciate they have got to mix it up a bit to retain interest but come on guys this was really poor.

KILBURNFLYER

A very busy few days. The Pistols were far better than I had feared they might be - they are clearly a bit of a parody and doing it simply for the money but what's wrong with that. I think people can take music a bit too seriously sometimes with a few overheard comments of "not what they were" "this not what they stood for" - they stood for nothing and as a band they were as tight as two coats of paint and simply reeled off never mind .... with stepping stone thrown in for good measure. Not a classic but a very enjoyable show.

The weekender at Minehead was just such great fun. Got about 6 hopurs sleep over 2 days. Met lots of interesting people, had many pissed conversations and did not see any evidence of any trouble whatsoever. The whole thing was well organised and most bands gave it their all. A few highlights for me were Twisted Sister who were billed as headliners and didn't disappoint - last time I saw them was at the Marquee when I was about 15. Zodiac Mindwarp were great - I may have a blindspot here as when I suggested this to Dave Ling in one of my pissed conversations he said they did ok for a band who only have one song - bit of a shame he has that view as I have always loved them and think they havbbe a good number of good songs. Saxon were very good. I loved UFO - me and a mate spent the whole gig bouncing around down the front in stupid shaped cheap sunglasses (I looked like Elton John's fat brother) screaming out the lyrics. Everyone else I spoke to thought they were a bit crap because they were clearly somewhat pissed - Phil Mogg could barely stand but still sung beautifully if bizarrely he could barely speak. Tesla and Diamond Head were very professional even though they had to contend with graveyard slots. Missed Turismas (sic) and Raven which was a bit irritating cos I was dealing with a work issue and there was a unanimous view that they were both very good. The last band on were Beyond the Grave who I had never heard of but was very impressed by - think they will become well known shortly as they have a good sound. All in all a fantastic event.

Heaven and Hell rounded off the weekend nicely at the Brighton Centre - very crisp, very professional but only managed an hour and a half.