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SATURDAY
It took me about twenty minutes to actually find the first stage, and even then the band still hadn’t started, so I had a feeling this was going to set the tone for the weekend, unfortunately it did. It took me half the day to find the 2nd stage, and no idea what was happening for the main stage till later on, and there was no designated press area. Turns out 2 pieces of A4 paper with printed text were the stage signs! Another thing missing, an audience!
SCAR MY EYES finally kicked things off. They have good ideas but I believe they could do with some guidance in putting them together. But they do have skill, a good direction and potential to carry on of years to come.
G.M.T. were a surprise as I hadn’t looked at the Music Live schedule before hand. First time for me in seeing the legendary Hard Rock n Roll Blues band and they didn’t disappoint, Robin Guy was awesome, such a joy to watch and the band to listen to. I watched with TotalRock DJ, Joel, and we both had a god laugh with the band.
TED MAUL – Death Metal with a great bassist, i liked it! Although the band had a solid wall of drums and guitar pounding out to you, the sound at this stage was quite dire and I didn’t really hear the vocals. Oh, and at this point the stage time is now running a band behind schedule.
THE ROTTED proved to this small crowd why they are at the top of British metal with their brutal punchy riffs and shredding. Again, vocals unclear.
IMICUS open the same stage under a new name with Heavy Rock melodies. The vocal melodies were a bit repetitive but has potential with such a strong powerful voice and a great scream.
Xander
Photos by ©2009 Kristell Gathoye
This one needs no explaining for fans of SikTh:
Twitter It!The Launch Pad radio show are to host their own awards this year featuring 15 awards, and two winners per award!
The UK show has put up each award for public voting, but will also choose a winner themselves, nominated and voted internally by staff and sponsors! Whilst celebrating mainstream success, there are also awards dedicated purely to unsigned acts, these include; Best Live Band, Best Unsigned Single and Best Unsigned release, to go alongside their support to unsigned music.
The Awards are open to all, so go here and vote!
Florida quartet Fake Problems delivered their set of bouncy-indie-rock-with a twinge of country with full on energy and enthusiasm. My initial comparison was a more pop-punk Matchbox Twenty. They were fantastic in getting the crowd pumped up ready for the man himself with their sheer liveliness and upbeat, catchy music.
This was my second time of seeing Frank Turner live and once again he did not disappoint. His shows are not about the fancy lighting, decorative backdrops or glamorous costume changes but simply about having fun. From the moment Frank Turner graces the stage, his pride in playing his biggest headline show to date (which sold-out on the night!) is evident. This is a man who indubitably loves what he does. His passion shines through and he is rewarded with a just as passionate and loyal crowd who faithfully sing back practically every word of every song. His set-list included a superb mix of old songs and several from his latest album offering ‘Poetry of the Deed’ as well as an ambrosial cover of Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Thunder Road’, which was a particular highlight for me. I find it impossible to leave a Frank Turner gig and not be in a distinctly positive mood. You just can’t help but get caught up in the unmitigated fervor and comradery ever present at his shows.
Ok, so it’s taken me over a week time to jot this report down and the memory of this gig ain’t as fresh anymore, but here it goes.
When I recieved a mail about this bill I was somewhat awestruck, Onslaught, UK thrash-metallers of old in my town? YEAH! The other names on the poster I couldn’t imagine anything about except that I’ve heard of them. Nevertheless I’d happily pay the 15 € entrance fee and see as much possible, you never know…
Location, location, location, oh how do I not like the venue t’velokot where the gig was moved to instead of it’s original Hangaar 1 location in Ostend, Belgium. The place was packed and I’m sure some even had to watch from in the hallway. Location beeing the only bad thing I’ve got to say about this event.
I arrived half-way through Trouble Agency’s set, having checked their myspace page the day before I was pleasantly suprised it sounded a good bit better life. Straightforward Thrashmetal no die-hard thrash fan should skip when they come around your way.
Always Fallen were supporting a freshly released demo album that day and from their sound-check I could tell this wouldn’t be a repetition of the straightforward thrash of the previous band. In fact they were obviously influenced by metalcore bands such as Killswitch Engage (two members sporting KsE merch was a bit of a give-away) and melodic metal the likes of the Belgian Spoil Engine. But it was definately thrash as every other band that day. Melodic riffing combined with fast rhythmic strumming that defines Thrash fronted by a vocalist that had a varieted array of styles in his arsenal. It reminded me of the pseudo-rap of bands as Suicidal Tendencies and Anthrax combined with the more raw thrash vocals and again metalcore grunts. Though he didn’t excel in any of those, the combination is fresh and works well.
On to the main course the mighty Onslaught, hardly any soundcheck done and the band blasted the crowd away with hard and tight thrash the way we love it. The sound-quality was excellent and I might even say better than I expected. I can hardly say anything other than how awesome that set was, this is how thrash is done! The fans of moshing and circle-pits had trouble finding the time to catch some breath as Onslaught was an unstoppable freight-train of Metal capital M!
There was another band for desert (not Paradox) which I couldn’t hand around for.
Anyway, best time headbanging I ever had in these parts of Belgium.
Twitter It!I still don’t get why this band never got any bigger… now reformed they’re still largely unknown.
PS: Did you notice the triple axe attack?
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