Bloodstock 2011

Whenever I told people that I was going to Bloodstock, they thought that it was a clever combination of Woodstock and , err, blood(Heavy Metal)

My preference is to believe that Bloodstock is more linked to the farming concept of Bloodstock-your herd that you hope will become champions.

Bloodstock’s basic setup is that there are around 12,000 fans, 4 stages, and bands that only the most ardent of Metallers would have heard of(With a couple of notable exceptions, such as Motorhead)

It really is a place to hear music that you can’t hear elsewhere, check out some new bands, like them, love them, hate them.

The reason that I thought of going was that I had followed Primitai through a battle of the bands, and they had won a slot on the new blood stage. Given that they were the main reason that I was there, I didn’t slavishly go from act to act, instead, it was more a time to chat, drink beer and chill.

On Friday I went to see Beholder, a band who I hadn’t heard before, but knew because the lead singer was the judge of the Battle of the Bands competition that Primitai had won. They were good! The judge has a right to be a judge simply because he knows his craft-great singer, great stage presence-the fans loved him.

After Beholder, beers with Primitai, and to bed.

Saturday was a more full on day, I went to see Primitai on the new blood stage. They did their usual storming show…

I then wandered off to the main stage and saw Tarot. Good band, the singer was barking, however! Each track was introduced by a long rambling paragraph that didn’t make any sense, and bore very little relevance to the song. Well, I suppose it caused me to remember them…

Now, there are certain things that just don’t work, perfectly. They are possible, but they use the wrong tool for the job

• Ploughing a field with a Ferrari
• Building a motorway using a teaspoon
• Flying by strapping bird feathers on your arms
• Primitai playing an acoustic set!!

Yep, due to a booking cock-up, they were also playing on the Jaegermeister acoustic stage. It kinda worked, but only kinda.

After, Primitai, I watched the Devin Townsend Project, that guy is really really good, great vocalist and guitarist, very tight band.

After that to the Saturday headline act, Immortal. They were good, very tight, great stage show.

There were the usual collection of oddities and weirdness's at the festival on Saturday!

And, I was amazed to find out that out of 12000 people, over 300 were media gatherers-Photographers, video guys, reporters etc.

High Voltage-Sunday

I’d bought a couple of tickets, for Sunday, so Billie came along.

The first band that we saw was Curved Air, a band that both of us remember from our youth. What a bloody disaster, they were just shit! Big style! Self indulgent, old-fashioned up-their-own-arse bollox-no I didn’t like them!

This crap performance was soon forgotten as we watched a “Border Morris” dance.

Morris dancing is quintessentially English, and has traditions that go back to at least the 16th century and probably before.
Most people who have seen Morris Dancers have seen the "Cotswold" type-typified by white shirts and trousers and flowers in their hats
These are "Border Morris" dancers. The border in question being the one between England and Wales.
They wear black and always disguise their faces with masks or makeup. According to the troupe leader, this was so that employers couldn't tell if their staff were making a few extra pennies in a part time job
Originally, the face paint was similar to the "Black and White Minstrel" look, but this has now been changed, as people misinterpreted the makeup as being racist-which it wasn't
Of course at a festival where everyone wears black t-shirts, this style is much more in keeping with the environment.

However the next band, Thunder were just stunning! I didn’t know that they had made so many good songs!(i.e. I knew lots of the tracks, but didn’t know that they were by Thunder.

Now, there was a large Ferris Wheel quite close to the stage, so I took the opportunity to see them and many other things from on high…

Thunder from the Ferris wheel

 

And , of course after a few beers, you need to go to the loo!

But the highlight was, of course Jo Bonamassa-my guitar hero!

He was playing in Black Country Communion, a band with Glenn Hughes, Jason Bonham, Derek Sherinian, joining him.

They are really good, and whilst I have to say that I prefer Joe when he is doing his solo, more bluesy stuff more, they are very, very good!

Even in the slightly upmarket, safe environment of High Voltage folk like to strut their funky stuff. Rockers/metalheads-call 'em what you will, may look fearsome, but they aren't.Fights rarely break out at Rock Festivals.One of the reasons for this is that they are all broadly into the same music, so there is a point of commonality that instantly breaks down barriers.
It's really common to start up a conversation with a complete stranger because you notice that they are wearing a t-shirt from an event that you went to, or that, they like the same band.
So, in this case DO judge a book by it's cover, it's there to be read!

It was a really hot day and whilst Billie and I enjoyed every minute(almost), we thought that we would leave early, but it was a really good day.

High Voltage-Saturday afternoon

After a quick bite it was time to see the afternoon’s band’s

The first was Thin Lizzie. What was amazing was that even though most of the band were not originals(Gary Moore and Phil Linott obviously couldn’t make the gig!) they sounded absolutely, exactly, note for note, phrase for phrase the same as the Thin Lizzie of my youth.

Here is Scott Gorham, the only remaining original member, and the rest of the band, who are all somewhat younger!

Straight after Thin Lizzie was Slash!

With his amazing singer Myles Kennedy

 

By this point I was a bit worried about getting back home as the tubes still weren’t running so I missed out on Judas Priest, who I’m not a great fan of anyway.

Back tomorrow for day 2, this time with Billie.

High Voltage-Saturday and Primitai

Well, I did say that this is the festival season, so off to another festival we go. This time it’s High Voltage.

High Voltage is a London based(Victoria Park) Rock festival for those who don’t really do festivals. No camping, no mud, and even the toilets smell nice.

I went on Saturday as a VIP guest of Primitai, and on Sunday under my own steam.

This is the story of Saturday.

Primitai were playing at quarter past 3. so I decided to get there more or less as the festival opened at Mid-day. The journey there was a bit problematic as the Circle/District and Hammersmith and City lines were all down for maintenance, so the remaining tube lines were as bad as a Monday Morning, but a quick blast down the Bakerloo and Central lines dropped me off, a little hotter and more crushed than I would have hoped for, but hey, so what

A short walk got me to Victoria Park, where I picked up my VIP wristband from the box office. Into the site itself-quite small (Around 30,000) people and a nice atmosphere.

One of the band members Dad’s, Bob Chilcott was there and I’d got his telephone number from his son. I thought I would give him a call to see if he fancied a pre-gig beer. What happened next was pure male logic..

When I phoned him he was listening to one of the bands so couldn’t quite hear me. But he got that some random guy was asking him for a beer, to which, of course, he said “Yes”, it wasn’t until he’d walked away from the stage and could properly hear, that he found out that it was me. Male logic-always say yes to a beer, then work out who it is after!

Primitai were the first band that I went to see. I think that the sound guys really hadn’t got their act together as Primitai were doing their usual good stuff, but, the mix really wasn’t good, you could hear it was metal, but it sounded more like metal shavings being dropped on a rusty can!

Even with the sound problems they did a great job, really got the audience of around 1500 people going

Primitai having wowed the crowd it was time to see some other acts…

More on that tomorrow…

Sonisphere-Sunday

Sunday was a great day!

The sun was shining, the bands were great, my iPad hadn’t suffered any more beer damage overnight.

My day started with Arch Enemy, a band that James had been following for years. He kept on talking about the lead singer’s voice. Well, I had to find out for myself…

Her voice is amazing! She’s tiny, and yet can outgrowl 20 stone guys!. Really good

Straight afterArch Enemy were Airbourne.

Airbourne are an Oz band that have taken on the groove that AC/DC are famous for, and taken it to the next level.
They are known for their dangerous stage antics.
Here their guitarist, Joel, suddenly left the stage, climbed up a speaker stack, then onto the scaffolding holding up the stage.
No ropes, no safety net.
The slice on the right is a close up.

Well, any festival just aint right unless Motorhead are playing, so of course Lemme and the boys were there doing “Ace of Spades” and all the good stuff.

The music just came coming straight after Lemme, another great favourite of mine-Bill Bailey.

I'm not sure how famous Bill is outside of the UK, so for those of you who don't know him, Bill is both a great comedian, and a very talented musician.
His humour revolves around complex word use and seeing things from a completely different viewpoint
Here he is playing the Metallica hit "Enter Sandman" on car horns-well, someone has to do it!

Time for a quick beer and then off to see Slipknot! Again, Slipknot are a band that James introduced to me 3 or 4 years ago , but having seen them at Download (In 2009?) they were a must see act

 

Slipknot were truly outstanding! Such great stage presence, such great showmanship and technical ability!

After that great show it just remained to get some more beer, and wander round the funfair

Yep, there were some days when it pissed down, but it was still a really good weekend

Sonisphere-Saturday

I drove back after my very pleasant interlude with Apple support, and got back at 2, having missed a few of the bands that I really wanted to see-but with a functioning iPad.

I met up with James and his posse. And we tried out some bands in the smaller tents before hitting the main stage.

By this time is was absolutely pissing down!!! and the tents were full of people who weren’t necessarily into the music but just wanted to stay dry

This is Gojira a French band into eco stuff, particularly saving wales, hence the inflatable that the fans had brought with them.

The rain carried on right through the day, and I was wet and cold, so, as I really wasn’t into the headline acts, went back to the tent early, did some image editing and posting and went to bed early with a hot soup and cup of tea-not very rock and roll.

Sonisphere-I love Apple support

So, on Friday night, I went to bed with my iPhone and iPad next to me…..and a can of beer.

Overnight the gremlins had struck, and the iPad and the can of beer had consummated a marriage. I now have a very shiny, wet,bricked iPad. I’m not happy.

I then hatched a plan.

If I can get back to the Apple store, and put on my best sad-dog look, perhaps those very nice Apple people could help me.

I drive back to Reading, go to the store, and proffer my dead vision of loveliness.

Now, in case you don’t know, if you want to talk to a tech, you have to make an appointment. Clearly I hadn’t decided to brick my iPad ahead of time, so didn’t have an appointment.

So, whilst practising my hang-dog “My world is about to collapse” look, I waited. After only 20 minutes or so, the shop manager took pity on me, and got me to talk to a tech.

In case you don’t know, the one thing that Apple don’t cover is water damage. They check this by putting thing that looks like the thing that the doctor uses to look into your ear into the headphone socket. If a little blob of something has changed colour, you have water damage-sorry-warranty voided.

So I held my breath as this surgical operation took place

“No, it looks fine” said the lady

Then disaster

She suddenly noticed that her t-shirt was wet-yep, the iPad was dripping beer on her

But, the magic indicator was still showing dry, and my Bafta winning performance was winning her over.

I think, to be honest, she knew what had happened, but took pity on me. Anyway, a few minutes later, a replacement was found, and I went off very happy.

Apple PR people, if you ever read this, I just wanna say that “I love Apple support”-and you can quote me on that!