01 May 2006, 10:45 UTC#23
Well I went. Met up with Lou and her mate Danny, who ended up being a fucking nice guy who liked and despised the same bands as me, so all was good.
I know Skipper had a bad time on the Saturday, but to be honest it's his own fault for going on a day when Panic! At The Disco and My Chemical Romance were performing. Silly little ska fan. Image file not present in the recovered backup
Well I arrived, met up with Lou, started craving a fag and a beer, and waited for the first band, The Blackout, to start. They were shit, so I didn't move from my chair at the side. (Mind you, according to my friend they were all "facking phitt". Go figure.)
Second band, Gym Class Heroes, didn't interest me either, and with the only notable mentions from then on being Silverstein (who did a great job at getting the crowd worked up after 2 shitty bands) and Classic Case (who sounded the business), it started to lag for me from then on.
Then We Are Scientists entered the stage.
Fucking amazing band. They are everything live that they are on the album, and more. The crowd was fucking pumped for their performance, everyone was moving and singing. There wasn't one song where the energy dipped. If you get the chance to see them live, do so.
The next band, Say Anything, were a disappointment for me, cos I'd heard good things about them a couple of weeks before and were expecting a quality show. But no, they sucked the big one.
Next was Goldfinger, which I think stole the top position of best fucking show. Jesus, they were totally incredible. I've been a partial fan for years (ever since I heard Superman on one of the Tony Hawk games) so I knew most of the songs, and the ones I didn't I just picked up from the heaving crowd. They sounded astounding. I really can't put into words how good they were. From start to finish of their set, it was top quality music. John Feldmann was incredible, from bringing his baby son onto stage (safely wearing heavy-duty ear-plugs), to walking into the crowd and being lifted up to sing above it, then crashing back down and crowd surfing, while still singing. Worth the price of admission just for seeing them.
Next was Hundred Reasons, a band I've wanted to see for quite a bit. I'd seen Colin Doran's other band, The Lucky Nine, last year, and they'd sounded pretty good. Plus I'm a pretty big Hundred Reasons fan, and they didn't disappoint. Kill Your Own sounded quality being blasted out live, as did What Thought Did. My only gripe was that they didn't play Live Fast Die Ugly, which would have probably brought about the most violent mosh pit of the night.
Then was Angels and Airwaves. I won't pollute this review by mentioning them too much, suffice to say Tom Delonge was a cock for singing the first verse and chorus of Down to the melody of his new song. Plus he's a cock anyway.
After that atrocity came Taking Back Sunday. I'm not a huge fan, but I have the first two albums so I was interested. They opened well, the first 25 seconds sounded great. Unfortunately, it was at this point that the singer, Adam, decided to swing his microphone around, as he is prone to do. The bassist, Matt, stepped right into it, and it knocked him off his feet. There was a collective "-ooof, FUCK!" from a few thousand people, but the band kept playing while their bassist tried to get his legs to function. He got up and staggered off stage. After two songs with no bass, he entered stage to the words "Ladys and gentlemen...Matt Rubano!" and tumultuous applause. His head was bandaged up, and his face looked like raw steak. There was blood all over it, it was already swelling to the size of a grapefruit, his lip was cut and basically the left side of his face was shattered. He must have been concussed, and I'd be suprised if he wasn't rushed to the hospital straight after his performance. It all worked for the show, though, with band members saying "Matt man...you are getting no chicks tonight" and "Here's a new song. It's called Shit I Just Hit Matt In The Face With My Microphone". They did well.
Naturally the finale, Lost Prophets, were huge. The back curtain came down to reveal light panels, which shifted and blazed differently for each song. They played fuckloads from their first album and only a little from their second, which suited me fine. Their new drummer is incredible. The crowd participation had everyone going, and it was generally the performance I'd expect from the finale of a big concert. It was fucking great.
So a good time was had by all, methinks. Apart from Skipper. Cos he sucks. Image file not present in the recovered backup
