Festival Magic!

I remember my first festival back in 1999, where my mate and I went on a road trip to Athens from north Greece, on a coach along with 30 more metalheads from Wizard rock bar. Sodom, Immortal, Mercyful Fate (King Diamond) and Manowar, along with Greeks Nightfall were the bands that formed a decent first experience. The best festivals though were the 2004, 2005 and 2006 Downloads in Donnington, here in the UK. The bands were way better (Black Sabbath, System of a Down, Slipknot, Korn just to name the few) but the company and incidents were what made the experience even better- thanks you guys. Latest fest was at Novarock in Austria with Rage Against the Machine, Sex Pistols and Cavalera Conspiracy.

I remember five-six years ago driving up from Wolverhampton to Birmingham, picking up friends, then off to Donnington for the long 4-day weekends! Where to start? The long walk to find space for setting up our tents? Carrying heavy supplies whilst doing that? The fact that every single year there was a goddamn heatwave during Download fest? Hay fever? Difficulties setting up the tents? Personal hygiene gone missing for days? IT WAS ALL WORTH IT!

I will never forget:

•  Metallica performing songs only from the first 5 albums in 2004 with Joey Jordison and Dave Lombardo on drums due to Lars Ulrich’s sickness. Needless to say, the drumming was 5 times heavier and everybody was standing in awe.
• Same year – seeing Dimebag Darrell playing with Damageplan a few months before a jackass shot him with a riffle in Ohio. Rest in peace man :(
• Black Sabbath in 2005. It has been always a dream seeing Black Sabbath with their 70s line up: Tony, Ozzy, Bill and Terry. Their performance was really something! Really
• Korn (original line-up right after Take A Look In The Mirror album), Slipknot (first year all 9 members, second year in Download without the Clown), System of a Down (performing on Persian carpets), Prodigy on the second (smaller) stage with people hanging from the ceiling, Guns’N’Roses starting earlier than they were supposed to (I think this must be the only time this has happened...ever!), Trivium playing at 13:00 during their first year ending up headlining the fest some years later (many admit their 2005 performance kickstarted their career), Tool, Alice in Chains, Slayer, Bowling For Soup, HIM, Lacuna Coil, In Flames, Cradle of Filth, Paradise Lost, and many many more bands performing their best.

PS. Dedicated to (in alphabetical order): Angeliki, Eugenio, Isabell, James, Mark, Panos, Tina, Vasilios, Walter + Sakis & son, guy from Rhodes whose name I can’t remember. If I’ve forgotten something important/interesting please add your thoughts here if you want.

Experiment (?)

Last night I went to bed thinking about creating a short story solely from  song titles...man, it's difficult! I gave up after managing to do this short one below:

Judith/Look at me now/I’m broken /I did my time

Jeremy/Right Now/I am/Here to Stay

You Are/Blind

Every Day Is Exactly The Same

It’s Gonna Go Away

Spit it out/Girl

The last time/I gave you all

In the end/I can’t wait/4 U

Who Are You? /Get out

Please feel free to comment with song ideas to continue the story...

The perfect soundtrack to a morning 5K run...

...at least for me J

Well, first of all it depends on the pace so I’m talking about a quick 20 to 25-minute 5K run...and you need decent headphones otherwise you will be trying to fix them back on every other minute. And when I say “quick” it’s all relative in the end – just check (listen to) the tracks I have in mind.

To start with I choose “Links 2 3 4” from Rammstein. It will give you a good rhythm and rapid pace, and it will wake you up on those early cold mornings (you can count on that). Once you pick up the pace (remember to inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth), I continue with “Push it” from Static X, to keep you on your toes while enjoying the screams of the weirdest looking frontman in music. Then carry on (not with “..my wayward son” :P) with “BYOB” from System of A Down and "Surfacing" from Slipknot, to go through the first 10-12 minutes of your run faster than you would have expected.

Just imagine you are half way through so the next tracks must keep you both interested, excited and also retain your good rhythm. The next choice on the playlist must be from Pantera and it is “Fuc%ing Hostile” followed quickly by “Sanctuary” of Cavalera Conspiracy, and concluding with the classic “Angel of Death” from Slayer...if you haven’t finished your run by now I could add something closer to your pace, but still decent for a run, so “Run to the hills” from Bruce Maiden it is J

Now...breeeeeeeeeathe :P

Now watch this drive

Yesterday I  promised today’s reference of an inspiring opening act would be heavier, and when mentioning that I had in my mind Esoterica, a band from Croydon opening for Marilyn Manson in Brixton Academy, back in November 2009.

The singer sounds a lot like Maynard from APC/Tool and the music is really catchy, atmospheric and decently heavy. They didn’t steal the show in the Manson gig (MM is a god when it comes to live performances) but their playing was so decent that earned them a higher place in last summer’s Download Fest in Donnington. They performed mainly songs from their second album, The Riddle, including personal favourites (subsequently) Tomorrow I Won’t Remember, Silence, Scream and Watch This Drive; including also tracks from The Fool (1^st release) like Don’t Rely On Anyone and Life Is Lonely.

I instantly adored this band, appearing in perfect timing for me (Tool and APC were neither touring nor recording at the time) and producing decent albums. I checked both of their albums and I still listen to them with the same excitement as in the first time; however I will always judge a band based on their live shows. Now watch this drive...literally

PS. Tomorrow, the perfect soundtrack to a morning 5K run

                                

You're not the law

Isn't it strange...

...when the opening act excites you so much, you don’t even wanna bother about the main band? It happened before and it will happen again, oh yes. This time I am referring to The Dead 60s opening for Kasabian back in 2004 (Birmingham Carling Academy, December) when they blew me away...far away (tomorrow I will refer to something heavier and more recent), so this short piece is dedicated to this band from Liverpool.

I was really looking forward to see Kasabian performing their first album which I was listening to non-stop since its release that year. I arrived at the Academy without a ticket but we all know what you can get in the black market outside venues...and I was really lucky as I paid only a 10er extra. Time passes, lights briefly go down and the Scousers are hitting the stage with “Riot on the Radio”. Nobody knew The Dead 60s in Birmingham back then but that upbeat ska/punk/rock reggae mix they were playing was really catchy for the difficult Brum crowd (I remember all the bottles thrown at another opening act for NIN in the same year). We all loved them (!) and jumped around during all songs of their set. I ended up not having any energy left for Kasabian...Jokiiiiiiing! There’s always something left for the great Kasabian. Favourite moment of the night: “You’re not the law” with its groovy rhythm and hypnotic Hammond riff...Top notch!

Following the gig, I got the album and thought it was really amazing, reliving the amazing concert I experienced every time I listened to it – the album produces almost the same energy as the band showed during their live show. Second album in 2007 though and...Disappointment (Kasabian on the other hand went massive). No upbeat rhythm, no imagination, singer sounds like he’s bored to death...”disaster” in one word. But then again, some people like it so...what can I do? I’m “not the law”, right?

PS. The band called it off a year later...was I right when I felt they sounded bored on their 2^nd and last album?

WE MADE GOD

Tonight I wanna pay my respects to Icelandic heavy music. The reason for this is the latest addition to my beloved list of Icelandic favourite artists such as BANG GANG, SIGUR ROS and Bjork (it doesn’t have to heavy to be cool); the band known as WE MADE GOD.

When I first listened to Gizmo, I just couldn’t believe my ears! What an atmospheric feeling? Simple music yet so fulfilling, experimental and brilliant! I must have heard the song three times in a row. Then after listening to the whole album “As We Sleep” my expectations of a decent band were confirmed. But wait, there’s another album, 2011’s  “It’s getting colder”. I think it will be a while until I get bored of WE MADE GOD. Iceland, once again “hats off”!

PS. Thanks to GS for introducing WE MADE GOD to me. Cheers mate \m/ \m/

Jose Gonzalez and the Gothenburg String Theory + Little Scream, live at The Barbican 11/04/11

Last night I ended up going to a concert that was something really...different – compared to my usual rock gigs that is – and unique as I saw Jose Gonzalez performing alongside a Swedish orchestra.  I have listened to Metallica and Scorpions attempting this in the past but JG is a different case as he is a classical guitar player, a tranquil performer. Aaaaanyway, to the point now; I would do it again if I had the chance.

First things first though,  Little Scream’s Laurel opened for Jose and she wasn’t bad at all – considering Little Scream released their first album yesterday, and the fact she was severely jetlagged travelling from Chicago a few hours before the gig. Her voice was something between PJ Harvey and Bat For Lashes however her innovative way of performing was what earned her a warm applause at the end of her 30-minute playlist.

Anticipating Jose Gonzalez’s performance you can’t fail to notice what a great venue The Barbican is. I wish I could see Moby doing his acoustic set there a couple of years ago instead of the horrible Shaftesbury theatre. Perfect acoustic settings and a great view of the stage from everywhere in the venue. Cosmic!

Jose Gonzalez appeared a few minutes past 21:00 and performed the first couple of songs alone (In our nature & Crosses...or so) but nobody expected what was about to come. Twenty orchestra members joined him on stage and enhanced his songs, giving them a soundtrack sound – imagine now Teardrops and Heartbeats with a whole set of strings, cymbals and the whole “works”...just wow) – without overpowering the gentle sound of his classical guitar.

You also couldn’t fail to notice The Gothenburg String Theory’s conductor, PC/Nackt, long-haired and bearded, dressed in a bright red t-shirt, head banging frequently like a hippie on acid, attracting all the attention from the crowd \m/ :P. The only downside of this collaboration was the length of the songs. Adding long orchestral intros and outros to Gonzalez’s usually 3 to 5-minute songs, ended up shortening severely the playlist. I don’t know about the rest of the crowd but I really wanted to hear more songs.

It was a really nice gig in overall and I’m really looking forward to the next – could be a cover band at The Horn in a couple of weeks - until then:

“One night to be confused...”

Thank you very much Emma for the tickets, I know you really wanted to be there so I hope you’ll get the chance next time.