Reviews

For the first time ever we decided to go to Reading. I should start this review with a note - I'm a heavy rock/metal/punk fan and I live close enough that we didn't need to camp.

Ultimately, we only saw Saturday... read more in 'The Ugly'

So Saturday review - kick arse amazing f*ing sets to start and end the day...

THE GOOD

We opened the day with The Blackout.
These post-hardcore Welsh boys are always a load of fun and opening the main stage on 'indie day' was never going to be easy. But their brand of self depricating and demanding humour got the crowd interested and geared up the fans into circle pits, jumping and sing alongs.

In the middle of our day we had Attack! Attack!
Another Welsh band, they played the Introducing Stage and by the size of the crowd that formed easily could have played a larger one.
Solid sounds and slick banter I can see this band becoming very popular with the heavy rock crowd over the next few months.

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Download 2008

Day 1

With hangovers still in evidence from the previous night's celebration of the simple fact that we were going to Download, we headed off from Rich's for the local pub to have some breakfast.

Then we went back to get the tickets that I'd forgotten.

Then we went back for the CDs I'd forgotten.

Then... then... we headed for Donington!!!

...What would this years festival hold in store for us?



Stone Gods
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So our first stop on the festival tour was the Stone Gods, which for those that don't know are one half (some would say the 'good' half) of The Darkness. No pretensions, just good honest rock, with Dan Hawkins' familiar guitar sound and without Justin Hawkins' camp vocals. They rocked... and it made me wonder whether the Darkness might have had more of a shelf life if they hadn't had Justin Hawkins to start with.

8/10


Firewind
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They may have been Greek, and the name of their band might have sounded like the after effects of a vindaloo…

Fri 13 Jun – Download
Was only there on Sunday so can't really write a full review. We started off with the Gibson Stage were we saw Sons of Albion who were pretty awesome for an up and coming band. Too bad their set was so short. 8/10
I reckon they will be big soon. Black Stone Cherry had an excellent gig on the main stage which really pleased me I was pleasantly surprised as this was the firt time I saw them live. 8/10 for them. We then headed over to the Tuborg stage to see Rose Tattoo and thought "god these guys suck!" They really were amazingly shit! 5/10 for trying to be AC/DC wanabees. Walked back to the main stage slowly catching a couple of pints on the way and caught Coheed and Cambria who were not bad. They never seem to get the crowd going though and I've been to two of their gigs so far. It's a race to get it all done with their set so 7/10 for them and no real banter with the crowd. It was a quick jog to the Tuborg Stage next to see The Wildhearts. Bloody hell they were good. …

Fri 13 Jun – Download


FRIDAY
zebrahead
Beat Union
Seether
Disturbed
Motorhead
Judas Priest
Kiss

SATURDAY
Amon Amarth
Ace Frehley
Pendulum
Incubus
Offspring
Pendulumagain

SUNDAY
Municipal Waste
Black Stone Cherry
Apocalyptica
Within Temptation
In Flames
Children of Bodom
Cavalera Conspiracy

9/10 because of that goddamned walk.

Ah Download. The only summer festival i ever go to.
I can only afford one, and download is literally 20 minutes up the road for me.

So on Wednesday 11th June, directly after my GCSE science exam, i rush home with my mate, only to find that my sister and her boyfriend (who were giving me a lift) have gone off already, as there was too much stuff for one load. This means my other friends will get there first, so I ring them to make them save space.

About an hour later, we arrive on site. Thankfully my friends have saved plenty of space, and we set our tents up in black 3. Then all my friends but one go home. I party till about 2 and then go to bed.

Wake up on thursday, have breakfast, and wait for the guys to turn up. They arrive about midday, and we start drinking, and don't stop until 4 in the morning. We meet the guys we're camping near properly, theres a couple of welsh guys, and some people from (i think) the north. They look after our campsite,whilst we're out ripping it up. …

Download 2008


Highlights:
No question on these, and written in order of greatness

* Lostprophets, I love them so was happy for them to headline. Ian Watkins touched on the controversy of them headlining during the set with a bit of humour, (quote as remembered, not word for word) when he said - so, closing Download, controversial!! Some people are happy, some people said 'nooooooo fucking way' but we're all here so you might as well enjoy yourselves.
There was fireworks, fire, lasers and DAMN good music. These guys are great live, we saw their warm up set at Astoria so knew what to expect song wise - the crowd at Astoria ruined that gig, but the crowd at Download ROCKED IT.

* Bullet For My Valentine, another band that just owned the crowd. They were an early evening set, they made the huge stage seem small, playing a lot of their well known tracks. The crowd were right into it, singing along and absorbing the music. The band were on form and you wouldn't have know that they'd only flown in that morning.
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Từ trước đến nay, khi nhắc đến các band nhạc punk rock, người ta thường liên tưởng ngay tới những anh chàng ngổ ngáo chuyên thể hiện các bài hát ồn ào, sôi động và quậy phá. Thậm chí, “punk” trong tiếng Anh còn có nghĩa là thanh thiếu niên hư hỏng” hay “người cục mịch thô lỗ”. Do đó, nếu nói có một nhóm nhạc gồm toàn những thành viên được đào tạo nhạc cổ điển bài bản lại đâm đầu chơi punk thì có lẽ chuyện đó chỉ xảy ra trong các bộ phim âm nhạc dành cho teen của Hollywood. Vậy mà có năm chàng trai trẻ măng đến từ xứ York đã khiến mọi người sửng sốt khi album đầu tay của họ vừa tung ra vào ngày 14/4 là một sự kết hợp hoàn hảo giữa pop punk và nhạc cổ điển khiến cả nước Anh lên cơn sốt. Họ chính là Elliot Minor.

Elliot Minor (tiền thân là nhóm The Academy) được thành lập vào tháng 10 năm 2005 với 3 thành viên ban đầu là Alex Davies (vocal), Ed Minton (guitar) và Dan Hetherton (drummer). Sau đó họ tiếp tục kết nạp thêm Ali Paul (keyboard) và Ed Hetherton (bass, anh trai của Dan) và ký hợp đồng với Repossession Records. …

Of all the people that have 30, 60, 120 gigabyte mp3 players, how many have heard every single track on there?

I have a 30gb iPod full of music, with some tracks I have never heard and some just forgotten about, so in an attempt to (re)discover some of the bands in my iTunes I am going to single out three artists a week to dedicate my time to and basic remind me why I got into these bands in the first place.

So:

Week 1 - April 21st - 27th:

In Flames, 36 Crazyfists, Everytime I Die

Week 2 - April 28th - May 4th:

Megadeth, Iron Maiden, Pantera

Week 3 - May 5th - May 11th

Tool, At The Gates, Chimaira

Week 4 - May 12th - May 18th

Exodus, Dream Theater, Nine Inch Nails

Week 5 - May 19th - May 25th

Protest The Hero, As I Lay Dying, Evergreen Terrace

Week 6 - May 26th - June 1st

Darkest Hour, Opeth, Lamb of God

Week 7 - June 2nd - June 8th

Devildriver, System of a Down, SHADOWS FALL

After all that, it will be time to play the tunes for the build up to
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