Strolling nonchalantly onto the main stage without so much as a howdy-do, eighties synth superstars New Order start off their headline slot with slow 'Elegia' and an extraordinary amount of smoke blasted in front of them.
After more than a few years of their on again off again status, this is a rare treat for Bestivalites, despite the absence of original member Peter Hook, and the arena is full to the seams. As they reel through classics 'Crystal' and 'Age of Consent' the crowd get down to some serious new wave bopping. '5 8 6' is accompanied by geometric swirling visuals and yet another full covering from the smoke machine, whilst 'The Perfect Kiss' gains an appreciative roar from the crowd.
It's hard to be too enthusiastic about a band who are so obviously absorbed in their own music rather than attending to the audience, but a bit of Joy Division's 'Isolation' is the musical equivalent of frosting, it covers up the cracks in the cake, and everyone seems to be enjoying themselves as they power through 'Blue Monday' and 'Temptation'.
Closing with more Joy Division, 'Transmission' and 'Love Will Tear Us Apart', New Order leave the stage having satisfied fans and maybe gaining a few more along the way. It's not the full force performance many would have liked from a Bestival headliner, especially after the hyperactivity of some of the previous acts in the day (The Cuban Brothers, De La Soul) but they didn't exactly disappoint either.
The night is pitch black and clear, stars speckle the darkness and fringed silk flags ripple in the breeze as the main stage area fills with expectant faces.
Florence Welch strides gracefully on stage to a deafening scream from the thousands strong crowd, wearing a Poison Ivy-esque getup – a floaty green dress contrasting violently with her bright red hair which is bedecked with trailing ivy. 'Only If For A Night' warms up the crowd, whilst fan favourite 'The Drumming Song' does indeed get "louder and louder" as Florence belts it out in her distinctive vocal style.
New track 'What The Water Gave Me' is almost at anthem status as a chorus of terribly off key ladies and gentlemen around attempt to sing back up for lady Flo'. After encouraging the crowd to hop up onto each others shoulders, Florence gives a little parenting advice along the lines of "Raise Them Up" as 'Rabbit Heart' invites a lot of eyes-closed swaying from flower-garlanded girls. Candi Station cover 'You've Got The Love' sparks a swathe of fancy dress animals cuddling up to each other and 'Shake It Out' sees some fairly impressive ass wiggling (mostly of the male persuasion).
The last time Florence and co graced the Bestival main stage back in 2008 unfortunate sound problems plagued the whole set and it was a bit of a wash out, but this year sees the redhead's powerful voice triumphantly resonate across the site, mingling with the screams and cheers of a well and truly enthralled crowd. Closing with an epic, pogo-ing 'Dog Days' Florance flounces out with style.
As hot day turns into teeth-chatteringly cold night, Forty thousand thursday Bestivalites attempt to squish themselves sardine-like into the Big Top for Besti favourites Hot Chip, at midnight.
Opening with 'Shake a Fist', Hot Chip begin a musical journey through some of their lesser known tracks before giving the anthem craving crowd a taste of 'Over and Over' with an extended intro just to whet the whistle. Oldie 'The Warning' and 'One Life Stand' also see raucous applause, whilst new single 'How Do You Do' has the karaoke effect amongst the fans. For those that haven't seen the band before, the fact that pretty much all of them can play any instrument on any of their songs is rather amazing, and watching as they glide seamlessly between guitars, keyboards and drums can be quite confusing.
As a Tiger sails overhead towards the front barriers the heat and lack of breathing room becomes stifling, so we venture outside for a burrito only to be disappointed by the lack of decent sound past the pillars. 'On The Floor' seems to go down well with the sardine-can-clan but for those out of the fold it just isn't the same. A closing cover of Fleetwood Mac's 'Everywhere' is pretty special, but for all those who didn't make it into the tent, the magic is well and truly gone.
Festibelly. Sounds good, right? I fantasize about a mile long banquet out in the fields, the kind for medieval kings and queens, with all the mod cons and a soundtrack to boot. It’s day one, though, and I’m out of my depth – nobody mentioned a tightrope.
At a safe distance I watch as adults and kids queue, eager to play out their circus dreams. There’s hula too, and each attract a strong grownup contingent, age one of many barriers beautifully blurred over the weekend’s New Forest gathering.
Invention abounds. One young woman steps hurriedly on stilts as friends pass a hula-hoop around her hips, mimicking the feat. Even in this small field, I fancy I could make the weekend without seeing a single band. It’s part of Festibelly’s charm.
I follow a familiar tune to the Terrapin Station, where an impromptu singalong has broken out to Bohemian Rhapsody. A sudden downpour makes an excellent excuse to lie back in our tent and soak up the bourgeoning camp (oh, how we soak!). There are some brilliant exchanges. “Is cider a depressant?” starts one passerby, and I fight the urge to interject and give the game away.
As the carpark starts to fill, we skip out in wellies to explore Lymington town. The high street is lined with market stalls, and ambling vaguely toward the sea we’re among a handful of people not eating ice cream. Or walking our dogs. Or both. For me, though, it’s a decidedly Bakewell occasion, so we beeline to a nearby café.
Back at base the tunes have begun. Folky Rob Cowen & The Dissidents “love the neon” in City Lights, and a slow, stripped cover of 1970s hit Hotel California is fitting fodder on a bright afternoon. There’s welcome irreverence from The Operators, the lead singer shouting in mock admonishment by way of encouraging the crowd. Tongue firmly in cheek, he says Careless is “about going mental and being stupid, hence Careless.” We hear By My Side and Meet Me In The Morning, and there’s a slick nod to Rihanna (or is that Michael Jackson?) somewhere amid clapping and cowbells.
Parisian trio We Were Evergreen have as much fun as their fans, and why not? They sound like summer – in clubs, parks, beaches, and bars – and just when you think you’ve got a handle on their sound, the lead singer swaps ukulele for trumpet and the tent gets rightly jazzy. At one point there is a request for silence; “Let’s all go ‘shhhh!’” they smile, as if sharing a secret. If you’ve never had the pleasure, YouTube any version of Baby Blue (my favourite was filmed at St. Pancras International).
An aptly named Massive in China stage goes bananas for Crowns. The boys ask in earnest if their instruments are loud enough, and I suspect they want someone to up the volume. The Cornish group play some serious folk – there’ll be bruised knees around Festibelly tomorrow. Frontman Bill Jefferson breaks mid-set to sip a revellers drink, cunningly disguised as a protein shake. “I don’t want to tell you what to do,” he shouts, launching into the raucous Little Eyes, “but I think you’ll have more fun if you can-can!”
I cheer with the heaving tent when our MC mocks the masses waiting in line for silent disco, but as the next act starts up (an Indian marching band, of course) I steal away to join the spectacle. Headphones have sold out but we’re free to roam as the tent erupts in chorus to Eye Of The Tiger. The disco keeps on to the small hours, and we fall asleep to sounds of ‘silent’ fun.
It's high summer when I wake. Couples, families, and indeterminable larger groups sprawl sitting or lying, relishing the day. At the main stage people come and go, music secondary to conversation. The bank holiday makes Sunday the perfect time to party, and all-singing, all-dancing Man Like Me do just that. At the height of random are playful tracks Peculiar and Squeeze. London Town feels comparatively tame, but that's not a criticism. Frontman Johnny Langer isn't shy either; early in the piece he loses his shirt, and later hops off-stage to take a walk through the crowd.
Clock Opera aim to please with plenty of grandiose tracks like Once And For All. There's something unnerving about lead singer Guy Connelly's beard, so I focus instead on the Chris Martin lookalike manning keyboard and synth. Soon, they start to sound like Coldplay, but again that’s no critique.
I’m not fussed on Icarus, but when Bastille hit Overjoyed, Flaws, and fresh track Bad Blood, it’s bliss. Dan Smith and company sound even better live, and they use the stage well, switching places and instruments with ease. Popular cover What Would You Do has the whole site singing, their playful percussion impossible to ignore.
I’m sure I love Gold Panda's heavy bass, but it’s ambient noise this hour of night, and I’m fast distracted by talk of burgers. Punters gather by the roaring fire, a ceremonious end to our official Festibelly experience. Would I go back? Without a doubt, and next time I might even brave the hula.
Leeds and Reading festivals are probably two of the biggest music events in the UK, time and time again they bring in the biggest and brightest acts of the year as well as legendary performances from bands that have stood the test of time and this year was no exception.
Friday was by far the best day with Foo Fighters headlining the Main Stage, they gave an outstanding performance that lasted two and a half hours playing songs like Everlong, Best of You and Monkey Wrench. It felt like almost everyone at the festival turned up to watch them and though fireworks mark the end of the show they definitely didn't mark the end of the night.
The complete high that everyone felt after the first nights headlining act meant that Saturdays headliners were a bit of a disappointment. Though the day and was packed with quality bands such as; Bombay Bicycle Club, Hadouken!, Paramore, Proxies and The Hives, The Cure just seemed like a bit of a let down in comparison to the Foo Fighters, their set dragged on longer than it should have, half the crowd had left after the first hour to see what else was going on, and as they finished with that one song that everybody knew (Boys Don’t Cry) it was almost like the band was as glad as the people watching that their set had finished.
Sunday was yet another day with quality bands to enjoy, in particular we loved indie-pop band Los Campesinos!, Billy Talent, The Shins, and NME Stage Headliners, At the Drive In. On top of this there was tonnes of great comedy to chill out and watch, we really enjoyed Jason Byrne and Jimmy McGhie.
Highlights for us this year were, Anti Flag, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, the crowd surfing cereal boxes and Foo Fighters, but we couldn't help feeling like Leeds played second fiddle to Reading all weekend. Green Day played a surprise set at Reading on Friday, which much to our disappointment, was not repeated at Leeds and having the Foo Fighters play on the first night instead of the last like they did at Reading, meant the festival didn’t really end on a high, the way it would if they had been the ones to close the festival.
Nevertheless, the line-up was still great and the venues really work well together, the only thing we felt Leeds lacked was a bit of character, its all about the music at Leeds and we cant fault them for that but a few more quirky smaller venues definitely wouldn't hurt.
It’s another August Bank holiday weekend which means that it’s time for another installment of London’s infamous electronic music festival, South West Four, or as it is more commonly known as SW4.
Saturday boosted a huge lineup including headliners Chase & Status on the main stage as well as Knife Party, Erick Morillo, Paul Van Dyk and more! With a sold out 25,000 in attendance, this was bound to be another great festival for the Lock n Load crew. We were looking forward to a day of good tunes, a great crowd and sore feet.
As we enter the Clapham Common grounds, the sun was shining and the masses were coming in their droves. We headed to the main stage to catch Mark Knight who was providing a driving house set typical of the Toolroom Knights head honcho. Minutes into his set the loud clapping sound of thunder and flashes of lighting drew the crowds attention to the skies which turned dark. Moments later a torrential downpour followed, lasting around 30 minutes or so. Many were equipped with willies, brollies, jackets and ponchos to fight off the rain and those that were not braved the heavy downpour whilst the ground began to resemble something of a Glastonbury like mud-fest.
Be it rain or shine, over in the Evolution tent, no one seemed to care as John O Callaghan, Aly & Fila and Markus Schulz brought their typical melodic and driving trance to a packed out tent before headlining Paul Van Dyk arrived with a spectacular stage setup complete with fire and CO2 cannons. With trance making a massive come back this year it was great to see the Evolution arena packed right up till the end of PVD’s emphatic set.
Erick Morillo’s Subliminal label hosted the DJ Magazine Arena and brought along some of the biggest acts in the house scene including Roger Sanchez, Sympho Nympho (Morillo, Harry ‘Choo Choo’ Romero, & Jose Nunez), A-Trak, AN21 & Max Vangelli and Eva Simmons.
Headliners Chase & Status delivered another beat banging set with MC Rage controlling the crowd with the mic in hand. With all other arena’s closing at 9pm the main arena packed with thousands bopping their heads up and down as Saul (Chase) and Will (Status) brought their full production to London’s Clapham Common. Opening with ‘No Problem’, the lads kept the majority of the crowd around for the length of their set.
Apart from the weather, this year’s SW4 has lived up to expectations and resembled years of past. Sticking to the same tried and tested formula of bringing top notch electronic music artists to the grounds of the common has proved a winner. I may have ended up back at home with my shoes completely ruined by the mud but I didn't really care. The music, the crowd and the atmosphere was as good as any other year I have been to SW4. We look forward to seeing who will grace the stages at next years SW4.
Bloodstock has come back for another year to bring the best in Metal and its extreme natured brothers! The headliners range from the Blackened Death evil sounds of Behemoth, to the Groove/Thrash Metal giants Machine Head onto Metals most creative live show with Alice Cooper. This year the organisers had a fright with the PA system on the Sophie Lancaster and New Blood stage never arriving 48 hours before festival start so the Roadie crew had to pull out all the stops to get together the sound system being in use today! Bloodstock has also managed to pull off being the only sunny outdoor festival this year in the UK, it threw some band off who were expecting rain and cool.
Thursday opened up the festivities with a few bands playing on the Sophie Lancaster Stage, arriving there for Bloodshot Dawn, a techy minded Death Metal band plenty of brutal sounds and heaviness! They whipped up the crowd into circle pits, getting themselves plenty of cheers, horns and headbanging being thrown by the crowd on a consistent level. With the band playing at a fantastic level of proficiency as well as being able to have a good stage presence too, excellent! For today’s headliner, we have Doomy Heavy Metallers Viking Skull, local to the area their name is known by many of the metal fans awaiting them tonight. The band themselves have plenty of energy on stage, making for excellent watching! The bands main ethos is to sing about girls, drugs and booze, a sentiment shared by a lot of the crowd here as well. The crowd took to this and spent most of the night fist pumping, head banging and generally enjoying the music in the most metal way possible! This with added crowd surfing and mosh pits without the need of encouragement from the band showed how Metal should be done. The band topped all this off with excellent playing of riffs, solos and general big sounds from the band. All this kicked off the Thursday with a bang!
On Friday the continuation of hot sunny weather hadn’t put off even the kriegest off attenders, with the crowds already amassing for Death Metal/Metalcore band Malefice. These guys had a heavy focus on playing meaty breakdowns with faster Death Metal parts. With a small portion of the crowd getting into the mosh spirit to them it stayed a fairly calm affair, They did however get some horns thrown and managed to get the odd circle pit going which is a talent at 11am! With a fairly decent sound the set went down alright however lacked with minimum amount of movement from most of the bands. Following on from these are Freedom Call, whose main area of expertise is Power Metal with speed involved! These guys had come from sunny Germany to the UK expecting some cool weather and rain as break, unfortunately the Summer weather had followed them this time. Their style of Power metal was of the usual nature, soaring guitars with fast drums with songs ranging from wanting to be a rock star to having Anthem tracks about themselves. This went down well with the crowd leading to cheers and horns being thrown on a regular basis. With the heavy metal stylings being broken up from time to time with disco esque beats made for an all-around fun set. Next up were Grand Magus, doomy rockers with huge riffs to boot! Getting the crowd revved up very quickly with making them cheer on command, their huge riffs and bass sounds going down brilliantly with the crowd. For a first in a long time JB has gone for a full metal beard instead of his bald head and tach! The change seemed to be taken well as there was a huge cheer as he walked out with this look. JB also made some excellent quips to make everyone laugh, asking if there were any Vikings in the crowd, then preceding to tell them that he didn’t believe that! Grand Magus also played a new song today, which will be coming on their next album, so watch out for that in the works! The set went down brilliantly for those in attendance, and has given people something to look forward too as well. Going from the doom to the Folky Black Metallers Moosorrow, their progressive mix of sounding ranging from heavier beats to furious Black Metal blast beats makes for an interesting and diverse mixture of sounds. Their symphonic led backing track adds a rich texture to their set. Their vocals mixed between growls and clean singing giving a nice contract of tones. With the crowd flocking over in droves to watch them, the fans were clearly out in their masses today. Everyone was fist pumping along to their songs and the band encouraging the roars out of them the set seemed to go down with the crowd nicely. Iced Earth took the crowd up a notch with their tactic of starting as loud as possible. This inspired plenty of horns and roars throughout the set.
With the Stu Block giving plenty of stage banter to make the crowd laugh and get more involved. These were balanced well against such songs as Watching Over Me, a song about guitarist Jon’s friend dying. This set had an intense mixture of serious moments as well as some laughs, all topped off the ever amazing playing of the band with the exceptionable stage performances makes them one of the strongest sets today! Sepultura followed this their unrelenting mix of Death and Thrash Metal. The crowd exploded into headbanging, mosh pits and lots and lots of horns. The whole band filled the stage up with an amazing presence and playing. With some great playing and finishing on their most iconic songs Roots they stormed through into a belting cheer. Going from the heavy to as soft as this festival will get with Dave Mcphearson; playing acoustic renditions of InMe tracks as well as his own solo material. Using the sound checks from the main stage to make some quick jokes asking them to play in the same key or soundcheck slower made everyone in attendance have a good laugh. Mixing it up with some new songs in with the set as well a cover of Boom, Shake The room it was a funny set with great playing too. Back on Main Stage the sound checking band Dio Disciples had hit the stage. Opening with the most popular Dio track Holy Diver was met with a decent reaction, however the tracks were played quite slow so they dragged a bit. The playing of them was good but it felt like the set could have been a lot better than it was. With guest musicians and other popular Dio tracks from Rainbow like Kill The King being played meant the Dio fans would have lapped it up, but everyone else it came over a bit lacklustre. After being chopped and changed around on the bill with the above band, Watain finally get to go on and play their brand of evil Black Metal. Issuing statements such as “We have come to bring the Sun down” puts in the mentality of the band on stage. Bringing with them more fire, fire jets and pyrotechnics than all the bands playing today combined made for an impressive sight. The crowds flooded in to see this band play, bringing with them and want and need to headbang, horn throw and on the odd occasion cover themselves in animal blood! Dressing in full corpse paint with rusted nails attached to clothing made for a formidable sight to those watching. This all added in with an amazing stage presence, brilliant sound and excellent playing made it clear why people were here.
From the formidable to a land of dreams with Alcest, one of the most avant garde acts playing this festival it might make some people question their presence, but their packed out tent on the Sophie Lancaster stage said all that was needed. They played a sublime mix of Post Metal, Black Metal and shoegazing to give a set that was both beautiful and thoroughly intense. For the small bits of words said to the crowd only helped but reinforce the experience they were creating. The crowds reactions ranged from dancing, to crying, to headbanging showing how widely interpreted this band can be. Playing a cracking set of both old and new material gave for a brilliant mix between their different evolutions of their sound. The crowd without need of direction clapped and chanted to the music together, needing no encouragement to be fully engrossed on what they were hearing. Finishing off main stage today are Behemoth, the Blackened Death Metal giants from Poland who have finally been able to play after Nergal’s battle with leukaemia. Pulling out the stops for their pyro, stage props, performance and execution of the music all being at top form. Finishing with a glitter cannon to represent a swarm of locusts attacking the crowd was the cherry on top to this spectacular set and the end of the day!
After a full day already, people were already awaiting the evil from Benediction, who were surprised yet honoured to have people up and out this early to come and watch/mosh to them! Coming from the hometown of Heavy Metal and Grindcore it is no surprise that these have adopted something the very heavy Death metal for their sound. Vocalist Dave Hunt managed to command the stage spectacularly even without being able to move due to an injured leg! Mixing humour and talking to the crowd excellently to keep people entertained. With plenty of pits, horns and roars from the crowd they were an obvious favourite for most people down! Over on the Sophie Lancaster stage Savage Messiah drew themselves an impressive crowd for their Thrash sounds. The band laid down some of the tracks off their latest album Plague Of Conscience which went down well with the awaiting crowd. With an excellent presence and a crushing sound from excellent playing made for a great set. Back on main stage I Am I have taken to the stage to dish out their form of Power Metal, set up by former vocalist of DragonForce ZP Theart his new band is just setting itself up in their stride. This being their first festival appearance since forming its understandable the initial nerves of the set but once they had warmed into it they flourished in an explosion of presence, excellent playing and confidence. The crowd warmed into them over the set and by the final track Silent Genocide where ZP went and greeted the fans at the barrier whilst still playing! Following from the Power Metal to the Taiwanese powerhouse that is Chthonic, laying down complex layers of Black Metal mixed into traditional music from their home country made for an original sound. With vocalist Freddy Lim using his signature Erhu on stage cemented their sound in a very visual way. This set also had help from My Dying Bride in the way of their drummer, who was filling in for Chthonic’s laying down their beat for them. The set went down well with the awaiting crowd, getting plenty of cheers and horns. From the fast of above to the slow sludgey feedback of Crowbar; who made some crushing atmosphere with their heavy music. The crowd chanted for more during their great set, with many people taking to headbanging and horn throwing throughout. Back on the Black Metal with the ultra-bizarre Mayhem; Attila for this set taking a positively normal look compared to his usual dressing! Their sound pushed all forms of vocal styles to their max as well as their often complex and unusual use of time signatures. This garnered the cheers, horns and general approval of the crowd they played for. From the Trve Norwegian to the British interpretation of Black Metal with Winterfylleth, garnering a huge crowd who were changing both their name and their home town Manchester showed they were surrounded by fans! They played new track Parade of Light off the forthcoming Threnody of Triumph which went down well with the crowd. American Hardcore heavyweights Hatebreed tore up mainstage with their Metal influenced Hardcore. With the whole crowd joining in, from horns to screaming along they will have made an excellent impression with their brilliant playing and getting the crowd fully involved in their set, these guys will be a hard lot to beat! Next up on mainstage are Testament, bringing a furious mix of Death and Thrash Metal to the table to get everyone moshing to. With the sound and playing being excellent mix of riffs, speed and solos, as well as the band revving up the crowd wherever possible made for an excellent set that the crowd appreciated via headbanging, mosh, horns and chanting! Tonight’s headliner on the Sophie Lancaster stage Orange Goblin got a brilliant reception as they managed to pack the tent full to the brim! Their doomy, bluesy riffs filled the place with an amazing atmosphere of a crowd roaring and headbanging along to their sounds. This response was so unexpected that Ben Ward felt very humbled by it! This then added to amazingly executed music as well as a killer stage presence made this one of the best sets of the day! Finishing off main stage tonight are Machine Head, slowly heading up the ranks of metal legends they made sure tonight went off with a bang! With pyros a plenty and additional lights brought to the set they had an excellent atmosphere. Playing such favourites as Davidian and Locust as well as the return of the track Death Church the crowd went wild for them. This added to an excellently played set made for a good end to Saturday’s festivities.
The start of Sunday hails in Kobra & The Lotus, a Power Metal coming all the way over from Canada! Their songs sounded brilliant across the speakers here at Bloodstock, though only playing to a small crowd in comparison the big crowd drawn on other days. Still this didn’t put them off and they warmed the crowd up for the start of the last day. The crowd numbers picked up for Corrosion of Conformity, laying down some doomy/sludgey riffage this morning. With some excellent playing and a top notch stage presence they made for a good set, even with bass amp problems you could not stop them putting out their best! Over on the New Blood Stage Sa-Da-Ko hit the place up with a style of Groove Metal along the lines of Lamb Of God. Bouncing around the stage they seemed to enjoy what they played and stuck in their very metal cover of Boom, Shake The Room made for some interesting listening! From the small to the very high profile metal with Nile, Egyptian loving death metallers drew in a huge crowd for their mix of crushing speed and aggression! With a slight hold up bring an almost instant “we want Nile” chant it was not surprising the crowd went wild with mosh, crowd surfing, roaring and headbanging! All this packaged with great playing and a brilliant presence on stage made for one of the most memorable sets of the day! Following on with slightly less speed but still a fast band with Evile, the Huddersfield thrashers got bumped up to main stage fairly late on in the game. This turned out to be a good thing as they managed to draw a huge crowd! The boys played a brilliant set, full of energy and some of the best playing the have done so far. With some jokes made about the live stream and the swearing ban made for a fun and relaxed set to them! Going from the serious side of things to the very much fun side of metal with Anvil, Heavy Metal with the addition of comedy is a fairly popular thing to do, however Anvil do it best by also being absolutely fantastic musicians with a great slab of on stage presence. With the set ranging from all playing normal to what seemed like a 10 minute solo of what different sounds they could make on a guitar made for interesting and entertaining listening! Following on on main stage are the doomy goth vibes of Paradise Lost, lead vocalist Nick Holmes made lots of jokes during the set, keeping the light vibes of the previous set! The whole crowd got behind the set with lots of chanting, clapping and plenty of laughs from his jokes making for a musically excellent and a fun set to boot, winner! Featuring in today’s special guest set are one of the most prolific bands from the Norwegian Black metal scene Dimmu Borgir. Their outfits have incredible attention to detail, being a very rock n roll esque take on the corpse paint traditional of their scene. Shagrath got the crowd going with ease, creating plenty of roars, headbanging and lots of crowd surfers going. This packed up in a package of the evil Symphonic style Black Metal being executed brilliantly made for an incredible set. The final headliners of the Sophie LancasterStage are Brummie based Death Metallers Anaal Nathratk hit the stage with an incredibly ferious, brutal and evil sounding set. Featuring members from other Birmingham based bands like Benediction and Fukpig the set makes itself a promotion of the extreme metal from there. Vocalist Dave Hunt, even still suffering from leg injuries went mental on stage moshing about and commanding the highest amount of presence possible. The crowd went wild with intense moshing, wall of deaths, crowd surfing along with lots of fist pumping and headbanging. It was an intense and amazing way to end the events over on that stage. Now to close the live performances of this weekend is the man who has invested everything in performance; Alice Cooper. With stage props ahoy, more costumes for himself than most bands had for their entire line up and a precision led show where nothing was left to chance made for the most perfect performance of the festival! Such big hits as I’ll Bite Your Face Off, School’s Out and Poison all being played ensured everyone was singing along at least once. This enjded the festival perfectly with the best playing and showmanship yet!
Overall Bloodstock 2012 was an amazing experience, the top calibre of Metal acts both big and small made their way into the line-up to play their hearts out and every band seemed to go all out to make sure their set would be the most memorable, with next year is anything like this year, it’ll be another non-stop party and excellent music!
It’s hard not to end up gushing when talking about Alice Cooper, with a fully prepared and considered live show; he really brings theatrics fully into the realm of Rock and Heavy Metal. This show was the final show for the current tour he is on, though you will only have to wait 2 months before you get to hear and see his phenomenal live show as he will be back in October. Getting back to today, No introductions were needed for Alice, kicking straight into his set with Black Widow, and breaking out his spider suit for his first of many costumes of tonight. Almost instantly the crowd were cheering, clapping, headbanging and singing along. Whether you knew the songs before they started, everyone in the audience knew the choruses by the end!
The rest of the band were not going to let Alice take all the limelight, between 3 guitarists, 1 bassist and 1 drummer as well the limelight had plenty of people to shine on and that it did. With plenty of solos across all band members, as well as every one of them helping to rev up the crowd, play flawlessly and also to ooze style and confidence. This maybe a front man named band, but every member puts in as much effort to the performance and the music on that stage! Other songs played include I’m Eighteen, Hey Stoopid and No More Mr. Nice Guy. For the latter the crowd were almost as loud as the band themselves during the chorus, every single person was singing along to it.
Alice also brought his Boa to BOA (hey geddit?), which duly obliged to be wrapped around his neck during part of the set. This was only the start of his set antics, ranging from conducting the guitarists in turn to when to play, through to lots of costume changes to suit different songs. To the song Feed My Frankenstein and huge moving Frankenstein came on stage to harass the members of the band, though the top part of stage antics was at the end of Wicked Young Man where his Nazi persona in the song was beheaded for his wicked deeds! This led into him getting the crowd to chant “I Love The Dead” before developing into School’s Out coming out dressed in a leather top hat and spiked jacket with an enormous cane to boot! Other crowd favourites like I’ll Eat Your Face Off and Poison made their appearance during the set, which led to the loudest amount of singing yet!
Today’s set finished off with I Wanna Be Elected, with Alice bringing out a Union Jack teamed with a White Suit. Lyrics updated to fit in with the UK made for an excellently fitting ending. Firing out of canons white paper (probably the ballots of for everyone in attendance to vote him in!) just added yet more latyers to the already excellent Atmosphere.
As a way to end a festival, Alice Cooper is probably one of your best choices. A man who has managed to create a flawless live show, with everything perfectly planned and thought out, musicians who can all play better than almost any other band on the bill this weekend, perfectly executed aesthetics and everything else you could look for in a performance was there. This was the best to end Bloodstock by far, roll on 2013!
Machine Head managed to stir up the metal concentrated areas of the internet with their headlining slot tonight, with many naysayers claiming it to be the worst choice for Bloodstock. However these people would be proved very wrong by the set they put out today. They pulled out all the stops tonight with their pyrotechnics, lighting, playing and sound for this set; including the copious use of flame jets! The heavy meter was turned up to max on their amps turning most of the album material sound light in comparison. Opening today’s set with the first track off their latest album Unto The Locust with I am Hell (Sonata in C#) which led to the crowd singing along and chanting to their set. Rob Flynn dedicated the second track to one of his and other many metal fans favourite fallen legend Dimebag Darrell; Aesthetics Of Hate. This led to even more roars of appreciation than had already been issued from the first track.
The crowd in attendance were in full support and in full metal mode for their set, with loads of headbanging, horns being thrown, moshing, crowd surfing and the biggest circle pit at this year’s festival as well as screaming out the lyrics to most of the songs means they had the biggest crowd response yet so far too! Any doubts of whether Machine Head were material or wanted at this festival were dashed instantly, the popular vote was in and they wanted more!
One of the biggest crowd interactions from the band started well before the set tonight, with the crowd voting for their top 5 tracks they wanted off Burn My Eyes to be play tonight meant that a decent portion of their set were big favourites. The obvious tracks like Davidian and Old were part of the set, but Death Church made its first play in this country since the album tour in 1995, leading to cheers/roars of joy from the crowd! Blood For Blood and A Thousand Lies also came into the mix too to many happy cheers as well! Other tracks making an appearance tonight include title track from their latest album; The Locust as well such tracks Emperium as well.
Tonight’s set was an all-out effort from the Machine Head boys, they had brought out a brilliant mixture of lighting, pyro, playing, stage presence and good stage banter to an exceptional performance meant that for fans this will have been an absolutely incredible night for them to remember. This was quite possibly the single best performance by Machine Head and might take them a whole for them to top this, this set is going to go down in history for them!
“Oh yeah, yeah, we have a system in place in case our [monstrously drunk] mate gets lost,” one punter exclaims, waving a can of K cider (8.4%, mind) enthusiastically. “We’ve stuck a massive green flag pole in the back of his trousers.”
Six in the evening may seem early for these sorts of shenanigans, but at Y Not not being paralytic at this time is a cause for celebration. Problems with the main stage on Friday (meaning the first three acts are forced to be scattered around the other stages) might justify the need for this excess, yet by the time King Charles arrives all boredom should have evaporated. While the singer/songwriter’s glaringly gay vampire getup appears too contrived to be taken seriously, the Vampire Weekendesque indie beats are danceable enough. The Pigeon Detectives also give it a good old festival try, but can’t compete with new ‘uns Little Comets who (indie-ly, obviously) rock out second stage ‘The Quarry’. Yet really it’s Big Gin headliners The View who draw the biggest, though still placid, crowd with Dundee dripped drawls and old indie pop tunes. While closing with old favourite ‘Same Jeans’ gets a rip roaring reaction, the lads aren’t on best form as they putter through an un-energised set. Hence Naymedici on Y Not’s own local, introducing stage, aka The Allotment, is obviously the better choice; fast boisterous folk punk, the way it’s meant to be! It’s just a shame there aren’t enough folk enthusiasts to get a real jig going.
While the Friday may have naturally been a bit wobbly on the atmosphere side of things due to first day pitch up rules (congratulatory campfire cans after a successful tent is erected is a must for all goers) as even the chart topping acts are sparsely populated, Saturday isn’t much better. Early afternoon bands hoping to make it big on the main stage such as The Good Natured and Foe are largely ignored while even edging into 5pm, the grass is still fairly green when facing Big Gin. Even festival darlings Summer Camp with their eclectic synthy pop can’t tempt a worthwhile audience, despite managing to play the rain away. It is clear where Y Notters are whiling away their hours; Y Not has one of the best Beer and Cider festivals to grace a small music event in the U.K. This is no exaggeration; one bar boasts around 15 selections complete with comfortable sofas and chairs to relax on; another tent has a more modest selection with well needed tables; another, The Hog and Barrel, offers the widest variety of cider, ranging from 6.5-7.5%, along with hay bales and live music to boot. As for the products themselves, they’re all local, delicious, refreshingly new (a GREEN cider?!) and cost £3-£3.50. And for those not into their yeast, there’s a sandy cocktail bar, a ‘drive in’ complete with American beer, bourbon and cars and many places dispending spirits. This may seem like too complete a description of boozers within a review of a MUSIC festival but the fact is, these quaint, atmospheric bars are the centrepiece, the crème de la crème of Y Not, rather than the bands. This is a sentiment seemingly echoed by many, as it’s not until the evening when punters crawl out of the bars/tents, stretch, and decide to see the first band of the day. Being drawn to King Pleasure and the Biscuit Boys to provide this twilight entertainment is a no brainer; if their name doesn’t do it for you, their swinging jazzy blues will! The Y Not returners are definitely in the running for best band of the weekend as they nearly manage to fill the front half of the Quarry with dancing feet.
Pulled Apart By Horses have a hard job headlining the second stage after the grizzled biscuits and their King, but they pull it off with their hard hitting hardcore influenced ‘art punk’ and a certain amount of hair gel. Not long after, the biggest band of the weekend are to make their appearance on Big Gin. Despite their seemingly pallid indie pop, The Wombats do not fail to give the festival the biggest, bubbliest crowd of the weekend. “This song is about being young and not giving a fuck,” simpers vocalist Matthew Murphy, obviously knowing his audience, many of whom brandish ‘youth’ weekend wristbands before song ‘1996’. “We’ve got nothing left to play except some smooth instrumental jazz,” he jokes, playing a surprisingly good jazz interlude, to the crowd’s dismay. Lucky for them, the band launch into ‘Let’s Dance to Joy Division’ before bottles can be thrown.
The night doesn’t end when the main stage lights blare up; another way the festival seems to inadvertently promote the drinking rather than the gigging is the diversity of nightlife on offer. What with the Quarry offering indie, The Allotment offering rock and the Flamin’ Goat offering fantastic dub/drum and bass and much more, Y Not really outdoes itself in terms of after hours getting down. This may be why Sunday brings us, yet again, sparsely populated stages; Irish rockers The Young Aviators bring feel-good tunes to a sunny early afternoon and about ten people. It’s a good thing cider saviours the Hog and Barrel is booming, as there’s nothing better than the banter of the overly sweary compère, a sweet pint and the acoustic crooning of Antonia Bee. Despite the hippy feel of this beer tent, names in the arena such as ‘Octopus’s Garden’ and ‘Sergeant Pepper’s fields’ and not one but two shisha tents, Y Not can’t match the atmosphere of Bestival or Glastonbury, despite being described as a mini version of the latter. For one thing, in spite of the site’s assurance of vegetarian/vegan stalls and its message of ‘let’s go green!’ there is not one single stall catering to vegans or even vegetarians. This is rather a poor show, almost as much as Hadouken’s later set, something that coldly affirms that the ‘rave’ electronica scene outfit should have stayed under that rock they crawled under a few years ago. Slow Club over in the Quarry are similarly disappointing, a festival cliché with songs such as ‘Give It Up For Love’ and lazy and dull romantic interludes. Their best effort is a cover of Pulp’s ‘Disco 2000’, but is still not fast-paced enough. Luckily rapper Roots Manuva takes over the show next with a stellar headline set (despite being late), while We Are Scientistsattempt the same over on the main stage. “If you notice, there is breath mist…but it is not cold…” nods frontman Keith Murray in an attempt maybe to bemuse the drug addled many, as their well put together rock lacks the pizzazz needed to wow the masses in its lieu.
And that’s Y Not Festival summed up in one. If you fancy going for the bands, you’ll be disappointed. Yet as the line-up is often a mixture of those struggling for NME to notice them mixed with burnt out former Radio 1 playlist under achievers, this shouldn’t be a problem. While the surrounding atmosphere of indie fans may leave something to be desired, the bars and nightlife do get the party going.
