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.

Finishing the Friday of Bloodstock this year are one of the most renowned Blackened Death Metal bands around; Behemoth. With their Vocalist Nergal having only recently recovered from Leukaemia this set is one of their first major festival appearances and their chance to show the world that they fit and ready to play again. Following on from such acts today as Watain, Sepultura, Iced Earth and Grand Magus they had a challenge against them to pull out the best show of the day!

Behemoth rose to this challenge soared showed everyone here and all those watching on the live stream why they were headlining. The whole set had an excellent light show, as well as plenty of fire jets to add to the atmosphere too! Their set props included their trademark custom made microphone stands depicting their symbols. The band all had excellent stage presence, especially Nergal who made sure the crowd kept revved up and wanting more. With horns being thrown, lots of roars, crowd surfers and even a Polish flag nearing half the length of the stage being held aloft by the crowd it was obvious who everyone was out to see tonight. As well as getting the crowd revved up via a great stage presence, Nergal also broke up the set to talk to the crowd, acknowledging the great honour it was to play here, with last time they were booked to be at Bloodstock having to be cancelled due to his illness this set obviously meant a lot to the newly recovered frontman. Part  way through the set the band set alight to 2 inverted crosses on the side of the stage, adding more to the already thick and intense atmosphere they had created on stage with their pyrotechnics and lighting. As a band with a huge discography they had plenty of songs to draw from, including such tracks as Demi God, The Left Hand Of God, Slaves Shall Serve and Conquer All.

The set finished with a culmination of all their stage tools, with the lights blazing, fog machines working at full capacity and jets of fire shooting up the stage, the ending of this set was signified by the firing of huge amounts of glitter across the crowd  which span across the smoke filled and impenetrable sight of the stage. As the music drew to a close so did the light as the fog slowly creeped back to show their amazing set had come to the end.

This Friday night has set a high bench mark for the following headliners Machine Head and Alice Cooper of this festival to try and outdo, Hail Satan for the triumphant return of Behemoth!

It’s difficult to tell if it was the festival theme and fancy dress, the smaller size of the festival, the setting, the mix of music, or a combination of all of these factors, but Standon Calling 2012 had an amazing atmosphere! It was certainly easy to feel right at home at this really friendly festival.

Well the theme was ‘Journey to the Ends of the Earth’ and organisers had created a great setting at Standon Lordship which was amplified even more on the Saturday when everyone donned their fancy dress outfits. There were costumes of all kinds to be seen including traditional explorers, Wizard of Oz characters, characters from Up, native Indians and much more, some of which words cannot begin to describe!

Although this festival is smaller than many, this helps contribute to the friendly atmosphere as you encounter the same people multiple times throughout the weekend. The setting and multiple stages of Standon Calling are certainly at the level of much larger festivals though – and how many festivals do you go to where there’s a swimming pool?!

The music at Standon Calling 2012 was definitely a key factor in generating its amazing atmosphere. The 3 days of the festival were packed days with live music which catered for everyone as there was practically every type of music you can think of – rock, dance, drum and bass, folk, reggae, ska – a complete mix. From small unknown bands to Standon Calling regulars right through to Beardyman – there was a lot to take in.

Overall Standon Calling 2012 was a great festival with an amazing, super friendly atmosphere with a lot of music and fun for your money!

Click here to see photos from Friday at Standon Calling
Click here to see photos from Saturday at Standon Calling
Click here to see photos from Sunday at Standon Calling

Hyde Park was heaving as the sun shone down on what turned out to be ‘Super Saturday’.

Musical entertainment was provided by Rusty Shackle and The Asps on the Bandstand stage and pop sensations McFly and electronic stars Saint Etienne on the Main Stage amongst others.

Alongside the music, the giant screens televising various live Olympic sports kept the crowds entertained.  There were also guest appearances from Team GB Olympic medal winning stars Bradley Wiggins, Gemma Gibbons and Karina Bryant.

To kick off the live music on the Main Stage, Tenors of Rock entertained the crowd with covers of popular chart songs ‘Price Tag’ by Jessie J, ‘Walk This Way’ by Aerosmith and ‘Grenade’ by Bruno Mars, adding their own quirky rock twist.

Up next were McFly.  They opened their set with ‘Nowhere left to Run’, the boys also played some of their greatest hits including ‘Obviously’, ‘Star Girl’, ‘5 Colours In Her Hair’ and ‘All About You’.  The crowd danced and cheered as they covered two well known British hits, ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ by Queen and The Beetles hit song ‘Twist and Shout’.  They also performed a cover medley consisting of Bon Jovi’s ‘Livin’ On A Prayer’, One Direction’s ‘What Makes you Beautiful’ and Whitney Houston’s ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’.  To round off their performance, they congratulated Team GB and all the athletes on their success and dedicated their single ‘Shine A Light’ to them.   McFly certainly enhanced the ‘Olympic Super Saturday’ atmosphere and left the crowd psyched for the upcoming athletics medals finals.

Between acts the crowd gathered round the Main Stage’s big screen, to witness some of Britain’s proudest Olympic moments so far.  The atmosphere was electric, second only to being at the stadium itself, when Jessica Ennis, Mo Farah and Greg Rutherford all won gold medals within the space of three-quarters of an hour!

To round off the evening, headlining act, British electronica trio, Saint Etienne took to the stage.  The audience enjoyed a late night boogie to a mix of their greatest hits ‘He’s On the Phone’ and ‘Only Love Can Break Your Heart’ along with a selection of material from their latest album ‘Words and Music’, with hits including ‘Tonight’ and ‘I’ve Got Your Music’.  Saint Etienne certainly didn’t disappoint and kept the party atmosphere going right through to the end of the night.

However, a word of warning… there is airport style security on the gates with no food or liquids permitted through the barriers, so you have no choice but to buy in the venue, which can turn out to be very expensive.  Also seating is limited so make sure you take a picnic blanket at the very least.

Click here to view more photos from BT London Live – 4th August