Concerts I've seen

Saturday saw Rise To Addiction given the daunting task of opening up the day's proceedings on the main stage, and they proved themselves to be more than up to the task. New vocalist Leigh Oates (formerly of Ninedenine, who played Bloodstock in 2003) is a huge improvement, and with the current lineup, the band have all the ingredients necessary to make a big impact. They took the rather brave step of avoiding playing any Blaze songs, choosing instead to concentrate on their own material. Such is the quality of the band that it didn't matter, and even the new material that was unfamiliar to the audience went down well. The highlight was "Falling as one", and I'm expecting big things from this band in the future. Osmium were a decent trad/power metal band. Despite the vocalist wearing a backwards cap on stage, and looking somewhat out of place, he turned out to have a decent voice, which combined with some strong guitar work and good songwriting made for an enjoyable set. Season's End are one of my favourite bands at the moment. They're gathering themselves quite a reasonable fanbase, and based on this performance, it's not hard to see why. Today we were treated not only to new arrangements of "Nothing after all" and "Touch", but also a couple of new tracks. We even got some pyrotechnics. My only negative comment would be that Becki's headbanging looked forced, as if she'd been told she ought to do it to fit in with the image of the band, but wasn't really comfortable doing so. This was probably exaggerated by being next to Dave Stanton on guitar, who looks every inch the natural born rock god on stage. The standout track was once again "A ghost in my emotion", but once again, the whole set was very impressive. Pro-jekt were always going to struggle at Bloodstock, being somewhat different from the mainstream metal that most of the crowd were looking for. This wasn't helped by a terrible drum machine. Where the samples should have been crisp and clear, they sounded horribly muted. As one reviewer said, it sounded like it was wrapped in cotton wool. In addition, the bass was all but inaudible. That aside, they've made a decent image for themselves, with the chain link mic stand, and the cobweb effects on the monitors, and they certainly have the songwriting talent to do well. But this wasn't their day, and although I think they were let down by the sound, it was still a decent performance. Suidakra were a fairly generic thrash band. Nothing to write home about, and nothing particularly memorable, either, save the need for some clean vocals here and there. Mfkzt. Oh dear. Yes, a festival has to cater to all tastes, and they're obviously not mine, but I struggle to see the value in bands like this. It's just mindless noise, without any apparent redeeming features, in that respect much like Bumsnogger from 2003's festival.

Iron Savior are one of those bands that I've been aware of for a while, but don't own any of their studio output. On the evidence of this performance, that will soon be remedied. The band are extremely accomplished, and with a selection of decent songs to call upon, they put on a great performance, better than would be suggested by the few tracks I've heard before. Highlights were "Crimson red" and "Battering ram". It's hard to believe that the band were nervous about performing here in front of a native English speaking audience. They needn't have worried. Dreadnought were a so so thrash band. Like Suidakra, they were a bit bland, and not very memorable. Kyrb Grinder were something of a surprise. Kingsize Blues were apparently stuck in traffic and late getting to the venue, so despite not being listed on the bill, Kyrb Grinder were given a brief slot to take up the slack. A three peice, featuring the drummer from Threshold, who was also the singer, and notable for being black, a fact he joked about on stage "A strange thing happened to me at Bloodstock today -- I saw a black dude!". It's true that it's somewhat of a rarity in the metal world. All three turned out to be very accomplished musicians, and although their music wasn't exactly to my tastes, it was interesting enough. Kind of a high speed blues. Kingsize Blues, when they finally turned up, proved to be a bit of a let down. Although they were heavy enough, there was little trace of blues anywhere, and the vocalist was crap. I'd have preferred a full length set by Kyrb Grinder, to be honest. Raven were this year's NWOBHM band. What can I say? They're utterly mad. I've rarely seen a band with as much energy on stage, let alone one that's 25 years into their career. This isn't a reunion gig, either. Unlike some of their contemporaries, Raven trudged on through the lean years of the 1990s, and here they are at Bloodstock, still with a sound that's recognisable as stemming from the NWOBHM, yet still fresh and modern sounding. A welcome surprise. Jesus Fix, like Pro-jekt, were always going to find a performance at Bloodstock tricky. A goth metal three peice, with the emphasis tending a bit more to the goth than the metal, they have the virtue of hailing from Whitstable, a town where I used to live. But that aside, I felt they did well here, and I enjoyed their set quite a bit. They also win this year's best on stage quote award. When the drummer screwed up one of the songs, the vocalist quipped that he knew he should have just brought the drum machine instead. Jesus Fix were sufficiently good that I stayed in the Darwin Suite to catch the end of their set, and thus only got to catch the end of Bob Catley's acoustic set. There was decent musicianship, and of course Bob's great voice, but nothing to set the world on fire.

Balance Of Silence were the only band I missed on the Saturday, due to scheduling conflicts between the two stages. After Forever put on a good performance. Floor obviously has a great voice, which she put to good effect tonight. However, as with their studio output, I just feel that the band are somewhat lacking in the songwriting department, particularly since Mark Jansen's departure. They're obviously very accomplished and experienced live performers, though, and put on a good show including the festival's second cover of Maiden's "The evil that men do". Like Osmium, Soliloquy were another of the festival's surprise hits. I'd heard nothing from either band before this weekend, and both managed to impress me greatly. They played a fairly straightforward trad/prog metal set, featuring some good songwriting, and strong vocals. Amon Amarth played a viking metal set, and obviously have a lot of fans. I'm not really one of them, though. The music's reasonable enough, but the vocals really need to be more intelligible, and I wasn't overly impressed. They were, however, significantly better than Cathedral, who were headlining the Darwin stage. Quite how the band have garnered such a large following is a mystery, as their performance here really doesn't justify it. Just plain dull. The headliners, then, were Within Temptation. They'd put on a good showing at The Scala last year, although if I had one complaint it was that they didn't rock enough. That seemed to have been remedied tonight, and they put on another good performance. They obviously relish the large venues, and made full use of it with a large stage set. The set was heavily biased towards their latest album, "The silent force", particularly for the first 45 minutes or so, and I feel they'd have done better by mixing the tracks in a bit better. The video projections were also out of sync with what the band were playing, which didn't help. Highlights were "Stand my ground", "Running up that hill", and "Jillian". For the encore, we were treated to excellent renditions of "Deceiver of fools" and "Ice queen".

Another great festival from the Bloodstock organisers, then. Bands of the weekend were Hammerfall on the Friday and Season's End on the Saturday. Strong showings too from Rise To Addiction and the big name European bands, and also from Osmium and Soliloquy, two bands that I'll be looking out for in the future.

I'd missed both opening bands at Bloodstock last year, and I'd missed the opener in 2002, as well. This year I was quite determined to make it in time. But as is wont to happen in such circumstances, a series of unfortunate events resulted in me not making it, and thus I missed Zillah's set. On the main stage, Reckless Tide were the first band up. I'd seen them at Camdenstock earlier in the year, and had been reasonably impressed. Tonight was a similar, but perhaps slightly better performance. Highlights were a brief snippet of the Imperial death march during "Lebende organverpflanzung", and a great rendition of "Death train". I'd heard good things about Deliverance, but if this performance is representative, it's hard to see why. Fiarly generic thrash, with a whiny vocalist, and a variable speed drummer who appeared to be struggling to keep time. A poor showing. Next up were Metalium, playing their second ever UK gig (the first having been a warm up show the previous evening). I'd only got their first album, and wasn't sure what to expect. As it turned out, they were rather good. Henning has a great voice, and uses it well, and the whole band were obviously enjoying themselves. Highlights were "Metalium" and "Fight", Sadly their best song in my opinion, "Free forever" was let down by a poor mix, and the guitar melody was drowned out which ruined the song somewhat. They finished with their obligatory cover of "Smoke on the water" and even a brief snatch of "Balls to the wall" before leaving the stage. A good performance, then, and I hope to see them again should they return to the UK.

Fortunately Warchild were blessed with better sound than they'd had at Camdenstock, and they made good use of it. The vocals were still mixed a bit low, but a decent enough performance anyway, including a cover of Maiden's "The evil that men do". Stormwarrior were sadly lacking. Although in theory they had all the right ingredients, somehow it just didn't hang together, and they were quite dull. They were rescued by a guest appearance by Kai Hansen, performing songs from Helloween's back catalogue. An excellent "Ride the sky" and a decent enough "Judas" followed. Sadly there were no tracks from the "Keeper" era albums, and even worse, their set had to be cut short due to timing constraints, and so they didn't get to perform the set closer, "Heavy metal is the law". Conquest Of Steel were a big disappointment. After their show at The Peel last year, I'd been looking forward to seeing them at Bloodstock. But tonight's performance just wasn't there, and just didn't have the intensity of their previous show. Very disappointing, as I know they're capable of better. Tonight's headliners, Hammerfall, had been due to play in 2003, but were forced to cancel due to Oscar breaking his arm in a motorcycle accident. Their only previous performance in the UK had been a mediocre affair, and although I love the band on CD, I wasn't expecting this to be a great show. To my great surprise, they proved me completely wrong, and just as Sonata Arctica had done at Thirteenth Day, Hammerfall put on a performance that far exceeded my expectations. The band were very competent musically, and looked to be completely at ease on stage. Highlights were "Hammerfall", a cover of "Enter sandman", "Glory to the brave", "Fury of the wild", and strangely enough, "Hearts on fire", which isn't one of their stronger studio tracks. Despite the absence of the promised pyrotechnics, the band put on a great show, and hardly put a foot wrong all evening.

I'd been in two minds about going to this show, with only Season's End holding any real pulling power for me. But then Epica were added to the bill, and that swung the balance. It was somewhat of a disappointment, then, when heavy traffic on the M1 up from London resulted in a late arrival at the venue, and me missing Season's End's set entirely. They were half of my reason for coming, but all I could do was enjoy the rest of the evening. Sean from Intense had complained that I always slated his vocals in my reviews. It's true that I don't think his voice has necessarily been a match for the music, so I was wondering what to write about this show. Fortunately, the decision was made for me by the band. They were significantly better than when I last saw them, and Sean's vocals seemed to fit the music much better. This is the first time I've seen the band and been impressed with their set. A very pleasant surprise. I'd never heard any Dragonland before this evening, and hence didn't know what to expect. They turned out to be a fairly generic power metal band. Normally that would be my sort of thing, but there was just nothing to grab my interest. They were just too bland and nondescript, and failed to make any kind of impact whatsoever. The sole exception to that was a track they introduced as "Starfall", which was head and shoulders above anything else they played. But it wasn't enough, and they left me cold. Next up were Epica. The last time I saw them, they were absolutely amazing. I was hoping for a similar perfomance tonight, and I wasn't disappointed. The only downside was that I felt their second album to be somewhat weaker than the first, and the inclusion of tracks from that album lowered the overall average, but still a great show. Highlights for me were "Sensorium" and "Façade of reality".

Finntroll were much the same as the last time I'd seen them. Musically they put on a decent show, but they're let down by the vocals, which work well enough in the studio, but don't really cut it in a live environment. The best track by far was the excellent "Trollhammaren", but as with Dragonland, a single good track wasn't enough to rescue the performance. Norther were a bit of an improvement over Finntroll, but only just, and the band were mostly just noise. Petri seems to be much more at home in Ensiferum than he does in his main band, Norther, which is a shame. So on to the headliners, Sonata Arctica. I'd seen them a couple of times before and had been disappointed both times. So it was that my expectations were low for this show. The band had so much promise in the form of their studio output, but had failed to realise it in a live environment. Until now, that is. This was the first time I'd seen them with decent sound, and they were absolutely amazing. From the very beginning, I could tell it was going to be a great show, and with strong performances of "Victoria's secret", "Broken", "8th commandment", "Replica" and "My land", there was little room for improvement. I only hope they can continue with the high standards they set tonight.

Wembley suck. This is not the first time they've advertised a door time, and then put the support bands on before that time. I have no idea whether The Black Velvets were any good, as they'd been and gone by the time I'd got there. Similarly, Killing Joke were already part way through their set when I arrived. Sadly, they were very poor, and just resorted to shouting and chanting, rather than singing. Their material sounded nothing like the one track of theirs that I was familiar with, "Love like blood", their only real chart hit, and they didn't even play that. I'd last seen Mötley Crüe 14 years earlier, at the peak of their commercial success. Since then they'd lost Vince Neil and Tommy Lee, made some passable records, but nothing great. This was the big reunion tour with the original lineup. Would it work? Oh yes. They were absolutely outstanding. Mick Mars is obviously struggling, and his spine is twisted and affecting his ability to move on stage, and there was some concern over whether he'd be physcially up to a full world tour. But it doesn't seem to have affected his playing ability, and he appeared to cope OK. The set list was very obviously a crowd pleaser, with a selection of tracks that could only be described as a greatest hits list. Highlights for me were "Shout at the devil", "Ten seconds to love", "Live wire" and "Red hot". Then came a brief interlude, presumably to let Mars recover a bit, during which an animated video was shown on a projection screen. After that, the band returned to the stage for the second half of the set, which saw notable performances of "Girls, girls, girls", "Kickstart my heart" and "Primal scream". The set didn't feature any material from the post-breakup era, aside from one track they've just recorded called "Sick love song". There was an ongoing circus theme throughout the show, encompassing not just set design and stage props, but also midgets, acrobatic fire eaters, and plenty of pyrotechnics. The encore saw "Helter skelter" and "Anarchy in the USA" round off an excellent evening. Had I not seen Rammstein at Brixton, this would easily have been my gig of the year. As it stands, the two are very evenly matched, and both bands know how to put on a stunning rock show.