Chase HQ Allstars

Just realised I have another gig to blog before I forget. Last weekend was supposed to be gig-filled but due to extenuating circumstances, we only got to one. We always get lost in Warrington, to the point that all of it looks familiar as we've been past it at some point. Luckily I had the gps in my bag, so we made it to WA1 in the end. It smells of rubber gym mats, but don't let that put you off. The picnic tables aren't a good idea either as I really wanted some cheese sandwiches, a bag of crisps and a drink with a straw in it. Anyway, I digress. The purpose of our tour round Warrington was to see our friends' band, Chase HQ Allstars. We haven't seen them for a while and they have grown further - there is more brass, but I am ok with that, honest! Anyway, they are friends so I'm not inclined to tell them where to shove their trumpet mutes.
I think last time I explained that I'm not a fan of dub or ska so I won't go into that again. What I will say though is that I was really surprised at how much better they have got since the last time we saw them. Singer Dave seems a lot more confident on stage and his voice has more range. The songs are more varied and more complex too and any band who can randomly pull out the Countdown music have my respect. The last song they played (again, I am awful at setlists and song names) had shouting in it, which is always a good thing, and sounded really good. More shouting please, boys and girl!
The brass parts seem to fit in better now, probably a reflection that songs are starting to be written incorparating them, rather than adding brass parts later and I'm always impressed if someone can get straight off a train from London and start playing, like one of the bass players, Matty.
I might even have to change my mind about my ska-dub-phobia, but keep those Reel Big Fish albums out of my face or there will be trouble.
Oh yes - and I got a chip naan on the way home, which adds a point onto the total score: 7/10.

Jimmy Eat World

I'm a bit late with this blog as I've had a hectic few days since then. I have a day off today to catch up on stuff but am getting a stinking cold thanks to meetings in small rooms with germy people, so better do it now before I retreat with the Lemsips. Went to see Jimmy Eat World on 20th February at Manchester Academy. I've seen them a few times before (head's too fuzzy to work it out right now) and based on the fact that they are always great and the new album is a good 'un, I persuaded the other half to get us some tickets, which he duly did (good boy!). First off, the Academy is still not finished, the loos are still outside and cold and the sound still bounces off the walls. The sound was a little bit better than when we were there the other week to see Coheed & Cambria, but it's still a long way from good. There were some technical hitches too with some sound cutting out. I couldn't make up my mind whether Jim looked really annoyed or not but the sound was back on after not too long and, as my friend pointed out, at least she will know she has the right show when her CD shows up. One last aside - I had my new owl shows on, so that helped cheer me up and there were no vomiting incidents near them this week.
Anyway, it's all about the music isn't it? Opening song 'Big Casino' is my favourite on the new album, so that was going to be a good start. Jimmy Eat World get some criticism for not being the most edgy of bands and it's fair to say that a fair amount of their repertoire these days could quite happily be blasting out on commercial radio. However, they have tons of energy and sincerity, which is so often lacking in bands that have made it to the level of success that they have. They threw us a curveball and messed up my encore predictions when 'Sweetness' was the second song. It's possibly one of the best sings ever written in my opinion, so I am never going to complain when I hear it.
As I said, the sound wasn't great, which meant it wasn't the best Jimmy Eat World show I've seen, but the setlist was a fairly good mix of old and new, though as with a lot of bands, I prefer their older stuff to the newer songs. None of it sounded dull though and I got to point my elbows a lot at Salt Sweat Sugar and Pain. I've been a bit rubbish at remembering the setlist - I just keep remembering the ones they didn't play. I was glad to hear 'Hear you me' and have a sway about - reminds us they're not a one-trick pony and can do poppy and infectious and quiet and brooding all in one evening.
Jim introduced Dizzy as his favourite song on the new album (we'll have to agree to disagree there) and they ended the night with 'The Middle', which was hardly surprising, but got a lot of the crowd singing along.
They're a great band, but until the Academy gets sorted out, I don't think any band are going to sound truly amazing in there. Hopefully by the next time someone plays there that I want to see, it'll be OK!
8/10

February giddy gig-ness

I am hoping that the rest of the year is as good as the first week in February has been with regard to gigs. It was always going to be good seeing as it involved seeing Coheed and Cambria twice in a weekend and they're one of my favourite bands. Added in was the fact that Spy Versus Spy have sort-of-reformed and were playing in Leeds on Saturday. Dodgy weather forecasts, a very busy week at work and other things going on and stressing me out made me question whether it'd all come off but 2 days later and I am still a bit hyper.
First off was Friday night at the Academy for the Kerrang! Tour, or, put better, Coheed and Cambria show 1/2. If anyone reads this from the Academy - GET IT FINISHED! It's a mess and it's cold going to those toilets outside! The sound was pretty bad too - noisy because there's nothing to absorb the noise. And it snowed. And someone was sick very near to my shoe which made me think about the first time I ever went there and my mother had read something about the streets being paved with vomit near the Academy. Well, about 15 years later I have finally seen some proof of that. Whingeing aside, we got there during Fightstar who were just like Fightstar always are - good at what they do and to see live but not quite good enough to make me actually listen to their album.
Madina Lake on Friday were, frankly, awful. More screaming girls again which made me bristle but they just sounded bad. They redeemed themselves a little on Sunday. Sort of.
I was there for one reason only anyway - the mighty Coheed and Cambria. OK so they're not everyone's idea of fun but there's just something massive about their music that makes everything OK for the hour or so they were on for. The setlist focussed on a lot of the new album, which sounded great. No World For Tomorrow is a big, big song and gave us time to get used to the female backing singers. Tried to push images of Bill and Ted and 'The Babes' out of my head for that. A Favor House Atlantic got the crowd going and I was more than pleased to hear Devil in Jersey City after The Trooper. My current favourite song on the new album is Feathers and seeing as I've been living under a stone for a while, I hadn't realised it is the next single so was rather chuffed they played it. The only 2 songs you can finish off a Coheed show with are In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth and Welcome Home. Epic songs for an epic band and lots of swaying and 'woh'-ing. Fantastic. Made me very excited for Sunday.
Saturday and a lot of the snow had gone so off we went on the M62, including a little song as we passed the farm in the middle, and turned up in Leeds. Checked into the hotel and went to find the pub where SVS were playing. Didn't look too hopeful in the food line so found a bizarre little Italian restaurant, stuffed our faces, then back to the Fenton for a quarrel with the bar staff over the quiz machine eating £1.60 of my hard-earned cash and refusing me even a simple geography question. First band on in the tiny room upstairs (glad no one was sick up there!) were Cocean, who I think said they were from Barnsley, though I may have dreamt that. I was surprised as when I'd seen a female singer with a keyboard, I had started to worry. Their post-rock sounds went down well though and I will probably get round to looking them up one day.
Had a bit of a sit down after that - it had been a long day - and have forgotten the name of the next band we saw, though I think it may have been 'Upon Me' or 'Above Me'. They were growly and Yorkshire and unfeasibly young but again surprisingly good.
Spy Versus Spy! We tried to figure how long since we saw them but gave up because it was too hard and we felt old. They opened with a new song, which to be honest, I didn't really get. I'm also clueless when it comes to the names of the band or the songs - more Danny's thing than mine. Anyway, the really shouty man has left and been replaced by a man who appeared to be a clone of Mark Arm in about 1991. When they played songs that I know (but not the titles I'm afraid) they were really very very good, but it just wasn't quite like it used to be. They still play it like they mean it though and the drummer is incredible, especially in his unexpected and prolonged drum solo - not de rigeur in this type of music (which I will allow you to tag as emo as this is what the term means to me - none of this poppy crap. Rant over.) Anyway, t'other half had a beaming grin, we had a chat with the drummer and then went back to the hotel with chip naans. Result.
Sunday started how all good days should i.e. with a breakfast buffet. Note of caution to anyone staying in the Holiday Inn Express - the air-con is stupidly noisy. We attempted to go in the Henry Moore Institute but most of it is closed whilst the latest exhibition is installed. The Art Gallery didn't open for a couple of hours so we had a mooch round the shops and I got the last 2 Amory Wars comics. Claudio from Coheed & Cambria was due to do a signing at Forbidden Planet but I'd not been able to get tickets as there were only 100 and I don't live in Leeds. Undeterred we popped off to the shop on the off-chance there were some returned. There weren't but the guys in the shop were helpful and I got to hold a massive Domo Kun for a couple of minutes.
The Art Gallery was great so we spent ages in there, leaving time for some pub grub and another wander to Forbidden Planet on the off chance. Got there and they nearly had all the ticket holders through so lucky us managed to tag on the back of the queue and get in! Got a bit giddy and got all my comics out but Claudio seemed a nice guy and signed all my comics and let me take a picture. I don't think I got too starstruck - honest - and went off to the gig with a stupid grin (see photo!)
As for the gig - same setlists etc really as Friday. Managed to see Circa Survive this time but couldn't make up my mind whether I liked them or not. Fightstar were the same as Friday. Madina Lake couldn't have been worse than Friday and seemed to benefit from the much better acoustics in Leeds Refectory. There were still screaming girls and they did a cover of 'March of the Pigs' (NIN) but I was still less offended by them than I was on Friday. Maybe I was in a better mood. Plus we'd wangled space on the balcony and had a good view and no one near who looked nauseous.
Coheed again! Much better than on Friday as the sound was better. Claudio seems much more talkative than on previous tours and we had some proper metal stances and playing of guitar behind the head etc. The setlist was (I think) the same as Friday so I grinned in all the same places and we had lots more woh-ing. New drummer, Chris Pennie, fits in well with the dynamic and Claudio's voice seems strong as ever. I was going to try to describe the band for any of you who don't know them, but it's hard apart from they have a lot of prog-rock elements but catchy hooks. Best just look them up! The setlist seemed more weighted towards what I refer to as the epic songs but the crowd lapped it all up. An hour is nowhere near enough to see what they have to offer, but it'll have to do till next time. Hope they come back with a 'proper' tour soon - can't wait!

Paramore/New Found Glory

29-01-08
Those of you who know me will know that Paramore aren't my most favourite band, but being the lovely wife that I am, I agreed to go and see them with t'other half the other night. It was indeed full of kids but this had the added bonus that it wasn't too crowded for us oldies at the back. New Found Glory are one of those bands I can take or leave and the sound was, frankly, awful when they were on. I will be generous and assume it was first-night-of-tour troubles. Still, had a bit of a singalong with some of their cover versions of songs that people don't like to admit they know.
Paramore are a lot better than they should be and despite being the bendiest band I have seen in a while, can hold their own even in a place like the Apollo. Biggest cheers were for single 'Emergency' and encore-finale 'Misery Business' but the highlight of the night for me was their bass player doing a somersault (a fair height too) whilst still playing. Lowlight was a misjudged cover of 'Sweetness' by Jimmy Eat World though there was amusement in seeing our 'world's biggest J.E.W. fan' in tow going purple. Only joking, Sara!
Still got more exciting gigs to go to yet but it was an ok sort of night - 7/10.

2008 gigs so far

It's a new year and I appear to be incapable of remembering what gigs I saw last year, as I found out when trying to post a belated Top 5 on a website. So, to avoid this happening again, I'm going to write a small blog when I have been out and about. That way I won't forget! I'll adopt the good old marks out of 10 system I think.
I think I have only been to two gigs this year, but I could be wrong. That's why I need the blog.
First off was one of the Academy Unsigned gigs on 11th January. We went because our friend, Steve's band, The Allure, was playing. We caught the end of the first band, though not their name, who were more like Placebo than Placebo are nowadays. I'll admit that I was concerned when I was told I would be watching an indie band with no drummer, but The Allure were actually ok - which coming from someone who is not a fan of that sort of music is about as good as it will get. The singer has one of those voices that is a millimetre away from sounding off-key but doesn't and sounds better for it. Reminded me a little of Joy Division. Their guitarist was, of course, excellent and it's good to see bands who are enjoying being up on stage so much. I would say 6 out of 10 as it's not my bag but they were good.

Gig 2 as far as I recall was 22nd January - Dashboard Confessional. I must admit again that it wasn't my top-ranked must-see gigs of the year. I like Swiss Army Romance but was put off a little bit by the stadium rock that seemed to pour out when we saw Chris with full band at Leeds last year. Luckily he's back on his own and acoustic. He sounded good and played all the songs I like, well almost, but I was irked by the screaming girls and over-enthusiastic whooping. I think I am getting old or something but rather than adding to the atmosphere, it just made me feel cross! Still, it was a reasonable way to spend a Tuesday night and the support, Tournaments, were also surprisingly good in a sort of Wonderstuff kind of way. 7 out of 10.

I will probably write more enthusiastic reviews when I am less tired and after Feb 3rd when I will have seen 3 gigs that weekend that are making me very excited!

A long weekend in Thessaloniki

I am not doing so well at this regular blogging lark. Maybe I should increase my intake of internet bran.
Anyway, we spent a long weekend in Thessaloniki (hence the snappy title) last weekend and rather than keep repeating myself and enthusing at people over and over, I decided to blog it.
Firstly, this is a note to myself and others to remind that connecting flights and ungodly check-in times might seem like a good idea at the time of booking and indeed often afford a more cost-effective mode of travel, but they are grim. Having said that, we had chance to potter round Zürich for a few hours on the way out there, which was actually really nice. They have the world's largest clock face there, would you believe? (see photo to left).
Also, I must explain why the photos are not the best quality. It is also a misconception that you can buy whatever you like in duty free. We thought we would bag ourselves a tax-free digital SLR in the land of cow bells and cheese, but didn't count on there being exactly two cameras in the shop, neither of which were suitable. You live and learn. We found some pear-flavoured vodka though, which will take me 10 years to drink at my light-weight drinking pace.
We finally arrived in Thessaloniki at some point in the middle of the night. It was still warm though and we were met by our Greek friend, the Niki in Thessaloniki, which was all boding well for a nice and sunny four days.
We awoke on our first day not particularly early. Actually, that is a lie. We got up not particularly early but we were awoken at some undetermined time by a noise that sounded like hell itself opening. Turns out that Greek bin men have some really hefty machinery and visit every day. It also turns out that the Greek equivalent of the rag and bone man visits daily; we were in two minds as to whether to wake up our host to check it wasn't the 4-minute warning or something similar! The watermelon seller is much more melodious though and gives us no cause for concern. After a tasty breakfast involving spanokopita (I've just finished the last piece we brought home, but remembered that I have some spinach in the fridge - get in!) on Niki's balcony (see right), we set off into Thessaloniki to meet up with our friends from Holland.
Thessaloniki is Greece's second city and it's pretty large. We walked all along the harbourfront to the so-called White Tower. It was a prison at one point and it isn't very white, but we had to see it. 28 degrees, sunny weather and a nice blue sea gave us an appetite so we paid our first visit to Zythos - a bar/restaurant with very tasty food. We stayed there for ours, learning how to pronounce 'courgette fritters' in Greek and catching up on the last few months since we had all met up. Greek food rules and I'd forgotten how good Mythos beer tastes. There was a Greek musical luminary there, whose name I have forgotten, getting rather ticked off at people with cameras, and a dog asleep in a hedge, which convinced us that Zythos is the place to be.
It still wasn't cold, but it was time for bed and to see if the bin men would be coming again. They did but it didn't deter us from sleeping! After some more breakfast spanokopita we started Saturday with some wandering about. Our base is about 10 minutes on the bus from the centre of town but the buses are pretty good and we didn't encounter any traffic. We saw some older parts of the town, which was quite tourist-free apart from all the knock-off handbags (Paul Frnak anyone?). A visit to a chocolate cafe to rival Slattery's ensued, followed by a lot of sitting around. We had a birthday in our midst so felt it necessary to head to taverna-ville. Of course it isn't called that, but there is an area of town filled with tavernas and men trying to get you to visit their own taverna. Having a Greek guide, we were ushered to a much less touristy-looking one near a cobbler's manned by 2 elderly gentlemen who showed no sign of having done any work until about 9pm when the machines started to whirr. We ate the compulsory halloumi and fried courgette amongst many tasty treats and had our first experience of dakos salad (see rather poor picture to the left!) Dakos is a fried bread from Crete with all the salad and dressings on top. A large crouton I suppose. It was very tasty in any case, as was everything we ate. Not being particularly well up on Greek customs (we were advised not to start lobbing our plates around), we were amazed by the free desert and peculiar drink that emerged at the end of the meal and headed off to a rock bar to try to digest. This took a while! After some discussions about Welsh road signs, we got word that we were to meet some more Greeks in a Caribbean cocktail bar in an old house. Well, it's not often you get an invitation like that is it? Habanero was certainly an interesting place and Niki's friends were all very friendly. Due to the lack of measures in Greek drinks, and my penchant for not really drinking very much, I cautiously approached a caparainha as I have never actually had one and didn't fancy a mojito after the time when I broke 2 glasses trying to make one at home. It was like lighter fuel so I sipped at it and left most of it behind. I felt quite rock n roll to still be up past 2am so we went to a very peculiar bar called Augustus for a squash in a corner and a glass of swimming pool. Finally hit the sack at some ungodly hour and awaited the dustbinmen.
Day 3 of our Greek Odyssey didn't really get going till quite late on as we may be very rock 'n' roll staying up so late but still need our sleep. I am sure the bin men came twice. It's a Sunday, it's baking hot, what do you do? Answer: Head to the local sailing club for a very tasty lemon slush and to point and giggle at the Greek equivalents of Sienna Miller and Kate Moss. My sunglasses were far too small and I was wearing sensible shoes so I sat quietly out of the spotlight. We sat there for ages, putting the world to rights and watching some massive blue jellyfish bob past. We'd not had any haloumi for about 16 hours so we decanted to a sea-side taverna where we offended the owner with our vegetarianism, prompting him to ask if we wanted any broccoli shakes. More tasty food again and some Greek wine which didn't taste of bins. Very nice! We headed back to 'our' appartment for some chatting and a fairly night in preparation for us going out on our own for our last day in Thessaloniki.
We did it! We got on the right bus and got off it at the right stop to meet our friends from the Netherlands at the archaeological museum. It was all very interesting but we were having halloumi withdrawal and had to go to Zythos to have another go at making the waiters giggle at us ordering the kolokothekeftades. We finally found some postcards on the way though and a cart that was the nearest to a souvenir shop. Result! We met our Greek hostess with the mostess for a trip to the other of Thessaloniki's sea-side restaurants, the Kitchen Bar and I ate a big, fat, Greek salad. It was our last night there and with the prospect of a 4:45 am flight to Zürich looming, we bought some Greek chocolates and headed 'home'. Niki's mum came by for a while to see us, which was nice, and kindly brought us some souvenir spinach pie to bring home. It has all gone now as I mentioned before. We also had a ferret round some local shops for an amusingly named product to bring home but had to make do with some chocolates called Derby and some Greek top trumps about commercial shipping. Our short break was at an end, my sinuses were wonderfully clear due to the absence of British weather, and we left before the bin men had even been. Hopefully it won't be too long before we're back there and sampling the delights again but in the mean time we are reminiscing on a newly created Facebook group. We may be more technologically advanced since the last time I went there (1996) but we're all the same deep down.

Leeds Festival 07

OK so I haven't blogged for a while. It's because I have been asleep, waiting for summer to start, which it finally did on Friday when I trooped off to Leeds Festival (or the Carling Weekend, not that anyone ever calls it that) to pick up the smell of chemical toilets in my nostrils for the foreseeable future. The bill didn't look tremendous but there is always enough to keep us amused for a weekend there and we were trialling 'festival-lite' i.e. cheating and coming home to use our own toilet and have a nice sleep each night. Yeah, well, I'm nearly 30 so it's fine.
The first thing that was different about this year was that it was actually hot when we arrived. Those of you who were there would have been treated to a glimpse of my milk-bottle-white calves. That hot it was. Anyway, Friday was generally a good day from the outset, or, more accurately, once we had largely ignored Gym Class Heroes and turned my nose up at Hellogoodbye (the lovechild of Cher and Daft Punk...).
The second thing that was different was it was much easier to find people this year thanks to The Duck. Honestly -take a bright yellow duck-shaped umbrella that's been stuck down the side of a wardrobe for 5 years to a festival and people can find you! It's the way forward.
Anyway, back to the music. Billy Talent were pretty good. Seeing as they have such a rubbish name, I wasn't expecting much but they were surprising. I missed 'that song I know about leaves' to skulk off to watch Ignite on my own, leaving my less-hardcore posse with The Duck. Ignite were shouty, though seem to have started singing, like all hardcore bands do eventually. Still, it was good to see them at last.
The Used... Bert McCracken does my head in, to use an eloquent turn of phrase. I like a couple of songs, but anyone that full of themselves and actually uses the word 'spa*tic' in a song does not get my vote. Next!
Funeral For A Friend are never bad, so that was good for a bit of a singalong and I felt a bit of an idiot for not even knowing they had a new album out or more to the point that it's been out for ages. Whoops.
I ran as fast as my milky legs would carry me to get away from seeing Fall Out Boy. It would only have resulted in me swearing at the Wentz, which would not have been ladylike would it? Anyway, the mighty From Autumn To Ashes were playing and they're just great. And they were. Great. Shouty and singy in that way only they can be. Plus I got a sit down on a relatively comfy chair. Rock'n'roll excess all the way! Next was Against Me! though I needed a wee and missed the song I know. Still, not to worry. They did sound like a weird cross between Queen and any number of west cost punk bands. Good though.
NIN were on at the same time as CSS and even though I was curious to see what Brazilians do when they come to festivals and aren't Sepultura, I couldn't not watch Nine Inch Nails. Plus, they had the worst rendering on the cheap t-shirts sold by the not-so-official types on the camp site that I have seen in a while. No longer NIN, they are 9INs. Trent must be so proud. To cut a long story short, they were amazing and possibly one of the most energetic performances I've seen them do. There was some laptop-rock, cool lights and proper guitar smashing and they didn't play 'Closer' - Yesssss! Still wish they had played 'Dead Souls' though like they did at Reading. We got Trent in his fetching gloves so I suppose it's only fair. They're definitely in contention for band of the weekend, despite there being surprisingly few people there (probably because of said Brazilians).
Smashing Pumpkins were one of the bands we were most looking forward to seeing. Dreamy scuzz mixed with angsty grungy wonderment. 12 years ago that was the case but now it's all shiny lights, massive drums and fast guitars. They weren't awful but I just don't get their new stuff at all and the older stuff lacked the weight and sincerity that it used to. I'm sure Billy had a cold or something too. We couldn't help feeling a bit disappointed so we left a bit early, watched a bit of New Found Glory and went home for a really nice cuppa and possibly the best night's sleep I have had in weeks.

Saturday started off with the Pipettes who were great fun! Not your typical rock festival band but lots of fun and I'm still humming the tunes. We went to the lock-up tent and saw Riverboat Gamblers who I'd not heard of but were really energetic and lots of fun again but in a very non-Pipettes way, then went to see Sparta whose newer stuff seems less angular and more rounded. I made a mental note to dig out the cds again and listen to them because they were spectacular. I tried to make that into a pun using the words 'spectacular' and 'Sparta' but it won't work. A bit like Gogol Bordello. Ukrainian gypsy punk is certainly different but it isn't my thing really so I wandered off to see The Draft, which is basically Hot Water Music with a different singer. I think I'll try to get hold of their album though, although I kept promising myself I would get lots of Hot Water Music stuff and I never did. We met up with Phil and her pirate friends to see Gossip, Jimmy Eat World and Maximo Park and enjoy sitting in a field with some friends in the sun. Gossip were pretty much how I expected except Beth Ditto has a really delicate voice when she speaks. One hell of a pair of lungs when she sings though. Jimmy Eat World played lots of the hits and reminded me why they are so good. They have exactly the right amount of energy, melodies and 'Woh's that befits a band. Plus we were getting to see them again later. Maximo Park were good but to be honest I was distracted by pirates.
We made the journey back over to the smaller stages and saw a bit of The Subways and were very surprised to see Enter Shikari pack out the Radio One tent then saw The Bronx, who I think are great. That might have been the other way round - I can't remember. The Bronx make me chuckle because they are from California but are also a proper shouty band and there don't seem to be that many with much character around these days. Their singer still reminds me of Wayne Rooney though.
Danny got very excited next when we went to see Brand New who were, I must admit, outstanding! They're a different band live than on record and have a knack for creating an atmosphere. Then we saw Jimmy Eat World for the second time in a day and Sara nearly burst with excitement (they were ace, but they always are!) then I went home smiling and singing along with 'Sweetness' all the way back to the car. Had another nice, hot beverage, some chips and a less restful night's sleep but still got to be better than getting no sleep!

Sunday there wasn't much on that we really wanted to see so we wandered about a fair bit. We saw Paramore on the main stage and they were much better than I expected from what I have seen on videos I've seen. Hayley might be young but doesn't come across so much like Avril Lavigne live. Kids in Glass Houses were good, if very similar to Lostprophets, then there were a couple of main stage bands on that I didn't take much notice of. Angels and Airwaves were the worst band of the weekend - they sounded messy and Tom Delonge is so full of himself it's scary. I may possibly have sworn. After the abysmal performance Blink 182 put on a few years ago, I shouldn't have been surprised. Panic! At the Disco were OK: I think they are becoming less offensive to me and the guitarist appeared to be free of ridiculous face paints. Which brings me on to the subject of festival fashion. I learnt something: Retro is good, so long as you don't remember it the first time round. I remember glow sticks and t-shirts with big letters on last time so I'm not joining in with the face-painted masses in ridiculously unsuitable footwear thank you. New rave? Hmph.
To counteract that, we went to see Dinosaur Jr who played 'Feel the Pain' which made my day :) J Mascis has officially turned into Gandalf the Grey and Danny saw him in the VIP area but was too polite to accost him. We squeezed into a packed Radio 1 tent to watch some of Biffy Clyro, who seemed to play most of their songs that you can listen to without thinking too hard. I was impressed that such an unusual sounding band can get that much attention, then they played 'Folding Stars' and I remembered why. That was apparently the last time they will play it though. We went for a final mooch round and a final go at trying not to see what people have been depositing in the portaloos and attempted to watch the Chili Peppers. We gave them about an hour before I was outvoted and we had to go home. They sounded OK but without some riotous anthems, they were failing to set the crowd alight and Anthony Kiedis has cut his hair again. Ah well.
So me, Danny, Sara and The Duck trooped off home and set about eating vegetables and fruit again and I bought next year's ticket.
Hope that makes up for the lack of posts. Next gig is Chris Cornell next Tuesday. Yesssss!