Category Gig/Festival Reviews

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Best of All?

Getting familiar with Besty 2011:
Iiinside were back again to enjoy one of the best UK festivals, and this year with a whole eclectic mix of acts to chose from, ranging from pop, rock, dance, rap and more!

Bestival is an award winning 3 day boutique music festival set at Robin Hill in the heart of the Isle of Wight.

The wonderful world of Bestival was born out of ten fun years of pioneering music events and record releases from Rob da Bank’s Sunday Best empire. The BBC Radio 1 leftfield DJ had a dream to one day create his vision of how the modern day festival should be. Along with Creative Director and wife Josie da Bank and co founders / partners John and Ziggy from Get Involved that dream is now fulfilled...

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Pythia opened the nights entertainment by skipping their usual intro tape and going straight into some fast heavy metal. By the time they were announced as support for tonights gig, it had long since sold out, so they couldnt rely on a crowd of their own fans to help cheer them on. They clearly weren’t fazed by this, and despite some sound problems early on, were clearly making a good impression with the Dragonforce fans and as the set went on more and more fans were headbanging, and the cheers between songs were getting louder and louder. Tonight’s set from Pythia consisted of four songs from their forthcoming second album as well as two from their debut album...

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Camp Best!

This is our fourth year at Camp Bestival and our second experiencing it as a family affair. It is unique in that it is the only major festival that incorporates families without reducing the festival experience or sacrificing fabulous acts. In this way you get a real festival experience while introducing younger members of the family to festivals and camping. It is also won 3 awards – best new festival 2008 and best family festival 2009 and 2010 from the UK Festival Awards.
This years line up is on a par with previous years from older greats such as ABC, Blondie and Primal Scream to modern artists like Labyrinth, Eliza Doolittle, Mark Ronson and more….

Site and facilities:
The layout of the site makes each area really accessible without tiring out little feet or making man...

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Tonight at the Garage was part of the HMV Next Big Thing event showcasing up and coming talents. Tonights bands are all signed to Spinefarm, and the bands have played with each other before, but judging by how well these bands are going down on their tours and the quality of the albums they’re putting out, this may be one of the last times you’ll see all three on the same bill. Despite the bands having a strong appeal to the ladies, the crowd tonight is fairly evenly split between men and women, showing that these bands are not relying on their youth and looks, but actually play damn good music.

The night opened with young Cambridge band, The Treatment. The smallest of the three bands at the moment, these guys are growing in popularity rapidly...

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Introduction:
V Festival is now in its 16th year and was the first UK festival to operate over two days and swap line-ups overnight. Artists who have performed include The Killers, Kylie, Foo Fighters, Blur, Oasis, Kings of Leon and Radiohead.
2011 saw another great range of acts, most notably for me Pendulum, Eminem, Chromeo, Gomez and (because a buddy plays bass) Example.

The site:
V is on a huge site in Essex, easy to access from London, tonnes of parking and camp sites a quick walk from the entrance. Food stalls were great, was really good to see quality healthy options in addition to the standard burger vans...

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Stämningen är på topp i Helsingborg.
Det kyliga vädret omvandlas till en het afton med pumpande adrenalin och en förväntansfull publik som tålmodigt står ut med den långa pausen efter att uppvärmarna i Bai Bang gjort sitt. Bai Bang fick inte alls med sig publiken och det var lätt att se vilka publiken var där för att se…

Efter en omtumlad start på den nya mini-turnén med rykheta albumet Yes Kids It´s True i ryggen som skulle inledas vid årsslutet, står dem äntligen på TheTivolis scen i Helsingborg. Hemmaplan för Von Benzo. Det är fullt hus och publiken är taggad för att få se sina lokala hjältar erövra rockhimmeln. Keyboardisten Richard Larsson höjer stämningen direkt när han försöker presentera bandet på knackig tyska...

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MOGG är tillbaka på metalscenen i Umeå

Rock –SM deltagarna från 1979 gör bejublad comeback i spanskan på Scharinska. Bandet har under många år avböjt alla erbjudanden till reunion. Bandet hade ambitioner med skickliga musiker och gjorde enligt mig riktigt bra metal. De slog igenom stort i början på 80-talet tillsammans med band som Gotham City och Witch. En norrlandsturné gav MOGG blodad tand och de siktade mot Stockholm. Med sångaren Jonny Lindkvist (nuvarande Nocturnal Rites) så hade de en gyllene pipa i förgrunden. Låtmaterialet var starkt men bandet var inte riktigt enade. De spelade in några singlar utan att slå igenom. Klimatet var dock tufft med band som Europe härjade i Sverige och så småningom världen...

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Det är stillsamt och inte så mycket folk på John Dee den här onsdagskvällen strax innan svenska Gadget från Gävle ska gå på men så fort de kör igång förändras stämningen att bättre matcha deras medryckande och skickligt framförda dödsgrind. Inledningsvis hör jag knappt några nyanser men det är konsekvent väl framfört likt en bulldozer i formel 1-tempo. Till ”Feed on Lies” har mina öron ställt in sig och jag uppfattar lite tempovariation och med synnerligen snygga ”Illusions of Peace” från 2006 års fullängdare ”The Funeral March” är jag helt med på noterna. Den tuffar på i gammal Napalm Death-stil och då blir jag förstås ytterligt förtjust...

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Tonights show was originally planned to be at the Shepherds Bush Empire but was changed to Islington Academy due to lower than expected sales. Judging by the packed shops near the venue I think the gig suffered by being just that bit too close to Christmas when everyone was desperately running round trying to get their last minute shopping done. It’s a shame as the bands deserved a bigger crowd, and those who didnt attend missed out on a great night.

First up was the support act, a singer/songwriter called Neil Thomas. He sang and accompanied himself with a guitar. His songs all sounded or felt like ballads even though one was actually about Hurricane Katrina...

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Tonight’s entertainment started with the support band, Serpentine. Many people saw them as an odd choice to support Amaranthe with most fans expecting a female fronted band, so it was going to be interesting to see how they’d go down with the fans on the night. By the time they came on stage the venue was already very busy.
For anyone who hasn’t come across Serpentine yet, they’re a British AOR band and are well worth a listen. Tonight they put on a great show that goes down well...