As bands didnt start untill Friday and i arrived on the Wednesday i feel it best to start with camping. camps Bret and the village. I was honoured to be a part of Camp Bret, a camp made up of about 15 people, everyone conected in some way or another (ie friend of a friend). The camp had a great atmosphere that was aided by fun conversations and copious amounts of alcohol! This plus the general atmosphere of the campsite (Camp Bret was situated in Blue Camp) which was one of excitement for the weekend and full of like minded people making for great exchanges with countless random festival goers. So the two days before bands began were spent in and around the campsite and the village (a large area full of shops, stalls, food vans, fairground rides and entertainment tents) providing a very enjoyable, albeit expensive, time.
On to Friday then and the discovery of the weekend! Me and my friend Will discovered a small band on third stage called Year Long Disaster, these proved to be a very talented band with a unique sound that is deffinately going onto my Spotify playlist and i fully recommend you all check out. The rest of Friday was spent on main stage, watching a decent set from 36 Crazyfists. This was followed by Killswitch Engage who made up for a slightly distortion-heavy sound with a decent control of the crowd and a blinding tribute to the late legend Ronnie James Dio with Holy Diver. This finished their set with a bang and made way for supergroup Them Crooked Vultures who performed a faltless set, Dave Grohl a bundle of energy on the drums, John Paul Jones' stupendous bass and fronted brilliently by Josh Homme. All of these acts were blown out of the water however with Fridays headliners and my weekends highlight. ACDC. Their performance was quite simply the best i have ever seen live, a mix of classic hits such as Back in Black, Thunderstruck, For those about to Rock and many more; mixed in with tracks from Black Ice alongside pyrotechnics, giant inflatables, rising platforms and stellar solos.
Now Sturday had a lot to live up to. But boy did it deliver. The first bands i saw were Atreyu and Flyleaf, both performed quality sets flyleaf where a little weak due to the lead singer being slightly drunk. Five Finger Death Punch then took to the stage, they are not really my cup of tea but they performed well and really got the corwd going. At the end of the set Ivan Moody exclamed he wanted to shake every member of the audience's hand which evoked this reaction...
Next up was another steller set, this time from Lamb of God; again getting great crowd support. The experience seemed to touch the band quite deeply, leaving them very emotional as they left the stage after their largest ever crowd. Following this was a dissapointing Megadeth performance and a passable effeort from Him. However, for the second night in a row, the headliners took to the stage with force. Rage Against The Machine went off with their simple set but brillient stagecraft. Everything that was expected wad delivered and exceeded including the inevitable political opinions from Zach de la Rocha. They even dedicated a song to Simon Cowell :)
Then along came Sunday. Saxon took the crowd back in time by playing Wheels of Steel in full as well as a couple of classics. The next act i saw was the legend of guitar himself. Slash. I managed to get very close to the stage for this one and was greeted with a blinder of a gig from Slash and his touring frontman Myles Kennedy with a guest arrival in the form of Motorhead's Lemmy. The set included a mix from Slash's new solo album as well as Velvet Revolver classic Slither and Guns 'n' Roses timeles songs Sweet Child of Mine and Paradise City. Unfortunately as Slash left the glorious weather changed to rain. Despite the newly horrendous conditions the rest of the bands played on seemingly oblivious to the heavy rain. Billy Idol belted out classic after classic finishing off with Rebel Yell. I then went off to second stage to catch Porcupine Tree's present in the form of a perfectly played gig. Steel Panther where next on who provided laughs all around and a set that made you forget all about the rain. It was back to main stage for the final two peformances. Stone Temple Pilots played very well, it was just dissapointing that their crowd was so small. Then to finish it all of Aerosmith kicked out a belter of a finale to finish off the weekend in style. If i had to, i would say Aerosmith were the weakest headliner but that would be picking at straws.
On a related note i was able to be one of only 25 people who were allowed to see the world public premiere of the New Medal of Honour game at the EA hub that had been set up in the main arena. A section from one level of the single player campaign was shown and was very impressive on the 70inch HD TV. The visuals were incredible from the rocky, Afghanistan terrain, to a random goat to your teammates faces. The sound was top notch with very realistic sounding weapons and even ruffles of fabric and boots on rock. There were a few issues with players walking through others and the odd judders but this is still very early code so is to be forgiven. This is truly looking to be a quality title and a realy rival for Modern Warfare 2.
All in all then the weekend has been one of the best of my life. I inted to write another blog either this week or next with my opinions on the latest announcements from the E3 gaming Expo that is currently underway in LA as well as a quick review of Dead Man Running. I will leave all of this for next time as i feel this blog has gone on for too long!!
FT
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