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

One of the great weekends of the year is Hard Rock Hell so the 4 hour journey to Prestatyn positively flew by - we even had to stop in a pub down the road for an hour or so because we were too early to check-in. The format has changed with an extra night - Thursday as a bit of a warm up for the main event. Still Attica Rage and GMT were both every entertaining - the crowd was all a bit scary as so many people were in viking related fancy dress. All very funny. Highlights of the weekend - in no particular order - were:

WASP - Blackie Lawless still kicks ass and was clearly having a good time - great at taking the piss out of himself by doing his hair in some saw blades on his forearms .

New York Dolls - primarily for Trash and Jet Boy which had me bouncing around like a mad thing. Much near everything else was a bit forgettable.

Tigertailz - again thoroughly enjoyed their set and again did the best cover version of the whole weekend with Ace of Spades.

Girlschool - Great set and all in all a great show - loved it - they always give 100%

Terrorvision - enjoyed this lot a lot more than I expected having seen them previously where I though they were shite.

Dumpy's Rusty Nuts - Still a lot of fun even if I wouldn't bother seeing them outside a festival

Ratt - better than I remember them from back in the day

Monster Magnet - very professional and thoroughly enjoyable - again seen before but they were much better than I remember

Die Apokal... Reiter (sic) - Music was fine but the show was bizarre in the extreme with the keyboard player dressed as a gimp with his own swing at the back of the stage - German humour you gotta love it.

Spit Like This - very enjoyable and the bass player could make me leave home.

A group of Welsh lads/lasses we met who were a great laugh - can't recall all names and certainly not how they are spelt but Dollan (85), Dewi, Abi, James, John and Nikki.

Disappointing bits: Queensryche who should have done a lot more off Mindcrime, mates leaving early for avoidable reasons , a few twats moshing where there was no pit, no Guiness, running out of Murphy's on the Saturday and the weather - it basically pissed down for most of the weekend.

KILBURNFLYER

The 2nd instalment of the Hard Rock Hell festival was as enjoyable as the first. The line-up wasn’t quite as much to my taste but was good nonetheless. After a 4 hour drive from London picking up two mates on the way we arrived to be greeted by a very dull and overcast Prestatyn – the camp itself has clearly seen better days but you spend so little time in the rooms that it doesn’t matter. Check in was well organised and everything was ready and waiting for our arrival. Room right near the main venues which was good and all as clean and basic as you would expect. No complaints. Missed the first half of Big Linda which was a pain as especially wanted to see them but Heavens Basement and Attica Rage were both good – latter band fronted by a guy we met last year. Budgie and Lizzy on the main stage were also both superb and the raised VIP viewing area was great – worth the extra by itself. A few technical hitches spoilt the start for Budgie but they recovered well – opening with Panzer Division Destroyed and finishing with Breadfan was great. Lizzy stormed through a very familiar set list – Jailbreak to start and through most of live and dangerous (Rosalie and Rocker both sadly dropped) and closing with Black Rose - by themselves made the whole day’s travelling worthwhile. Organisation of venues was a bit chaotic – it was pontins first time with a proper rock festival – so nowhere near enough bar staff and lack of a decent smoking area late on were irritating. The end of the day (somewhere around 3am) saw Tigertailz do an absolutely storming version of Creeping Death – the song of the weekend.

Day two started early – Spit Like This on stage at mid-day – but worth dragging myself our of bed. Stage 2 saw most of the during the day action – Waysted and a very impressive band called Pride Tiger were the highlights. Met Pete Way in the Bar (where else) before the show and what a nice bloke he was – always had time for his fans and very chatty with everyone. His other band members a bit nervous about how much Vodka was going down his throat before the show but they performed well – Pete Way is one of the few people who could get on stage in a Spice Girls T Shirt and not look a complete dick – the man is a legend. Pride Tiger were superb – bought their album last night and a second listen confirmed my view that they are a very tight band. Met the drummer/singer – also very nice chap – who told me they are playing the Barfly in Camden on Friday – also with Big Linda so am definitely on for that. Orange Goblin and Clutch were both decent but Black Label Society were a bit disappointing – far too much dicking around on the guitar and not enough getting on with playing more songs. Highlight of the whole weekend were the Wildhearts who were just fucking brilliant. For some insane reason I have not seen them before in spite of a mate telling me I should go every time they have played over the last 6 or so years. Completely blew everyone else off stage. The whole thing rounded off by Viking Skull good solid set and Blitzkreig who covered 4 priest songs in a long medley and were a fitting end to a great weekend.

Roll on Hammerfest in April.

KILBURNFLYER

Am still feeling a bit shagged out from the weekend and a very late night at work on Monday and very early start yesterday but I know I am recovering as I am already whistling "Bomber" in anticipation of Motorhead on saturday. I know they are playing second fiddle to Alice Cooper but I have not seen them for nearly a year so really looking forward to it. Understand they are the most likely headliners (i.e already booked) for next years Hard Rock Hell which would be just fantastic. Only way to feel the noise is when it's good and loud......................