I had the joy of spending yesterday at the 2nd of a 2 day festival based at London Earls Court. Something I had been looking forward to for a long time. Here's what I thought of it...

I arrived and the energy was overflowing before I even had chance to sample any of the bands or stands that were on offer at Earls Court. Getting out of the tube station was a mission in itself seeing as there was no re-admission upon entry so people pretty much gathered outside before heading in to see the goodies.

One of the first things I saw inside was the Monsterous merchandise stall, although for as many bands that are on show, it was expected that it would be pretty big. Prices were pretty reasonable as well. £15 for T-Shirts, hoodys however were a whopping £30!! There was even a chance buy a 'Give It A Name' belt buckle which I thought was a pretty good idea. I settle for me new pride and joy, my Lostprophets T-Shirt

Speaking of fashions, it appears that the days of baggy jeans and shirts are long gone. The current trend appears to be skintight jeans and some form of retro sweater that a kid would wear to the school in the 80s. Did I miss a memo or something?

On the way to the venue, I was thinking what the average age was gonna be like. Something like 15 or 16 maybe. I was though (kinda) pleasantly surprised. There were people from all walks of life. Kids, parents, emos, rockers and even the old school contingent were there as well. At one stage I was on the phone and a kid that must've been 10 years old at the most, was being chaperoned around by his parents! They get a thumbs up from me anyway! As always though, the touts were in attendance. No way in hell they were getting my ticket though. Just as I was getting settled into my spot, the cloakroom opened. All of a sudden it turned into Wild Kingdom! If it was possible to be anymore like that of course.

Anwyay, onto the bands...

Gym Class Heroes
RnB, Jazz or Rage Against The Machine wannabes? That was anyones guess. They still had an element of crowd control and clearly had a following of some description regardless of the general theme of the festival. Personally, I had no clue who they were until they were on stage. In fact, half way through their set I wanted to define them as Rasta! Yes, it was just that bad. Not my cup of tea at all, but smooth to jive to in some swanky bar somewhere, I'm sure. The vocalist had an impressive afro though!

Silverstein
An intro of Europes Final countdown roars out, and this being the first band I saw on the big stage, I was impressed as to how the organisers managed to get the small stage to the side to allow for minimal time inbetween bands. All the gig-goers at the front were urged to start a circle pit (Apparently the new kind of mosh pit) and after finally getting one going, the track ended followed by the lead singer saying that they weren't allowed to have one as per the promoters lol.

The guys broke out the heavy type tunes initially, a little growly, but mixed with some melodic vocals all the same. They reminded me of a couple of bands, but the best I can describe them as would be Atreyu-Lite. Defo a band to check out though. They are from Canada and to the best of my knowledge, the alternative/metal scene isn't massive over there so fair play to them. It should be noted that vocals were a bit sketchy 'non-growl'. This was rectified by the sheer amount of fast paced material they had. That always gets a thumbs up from me!

Bayside
One of the smaller and lesser known bands to take the (rightfully) small stage to the left. No big intro or anything, just down to business. Very professionally done as well I might add. In a couple of instances, the lead singer sounds a bit of a Matt Skiba of Alkaline Trio. In fact, the more they went on, the more they made me think of The Trio. Perhaps just not quite so dark.

No sign of the crowd letting up either, but it's early days yet. Oddly enough, it's still like wild Kingdon in the cloakroom area.

Aiden were next, one of the bands I actually wanted to see. It's gonna go off the hizzle in a bit...

Aiden
The lights go out, and a remix version of their track The Last Sunrise kicks in (The one taken from Underworld:Evolution). The bass, even in a venue like this, can still penetrate the biggest heart.

Instrumentally and vocally (Even more shockingly so) everything was spot on. Lead singer Will impressed me, being able to maintain such a regular and dead on pitchwise scream/growl along with being able to get the crowd to sing Happy Birthday to guitarist Angel. Amazingly, it was his 19th birthday. Talent at that age can't be bought, learnt or taught.

There were however a couple of problems.

Will likes to swing his mic about a fair bit. This proved to be his undoing. Before the the first track had even finished, he managed to break his mic at the connection to the cable. Cue him spending the majority of the second track trying to do a bodge job taping the cable into his mic with electricians tape. Sorry, but I couldn't take anything seriously after that. Since when is it an artists job to get through technical problems (Granted, he caused them himself). Jeez, I'm sure there must have been a spare mic somewhere. Admirably, he got on with things, and didn't let this phase him. Standout tracks were The Last Sunrise, Knife Blood Knightmare and Die Romantic.

Classic Case
They sucked ass.. 'nuff said. Really, this was shocking.

We Are Scientists
W.A.S managed to pull of something that Aiden couldn't. All out carnage! The weird thing is that this band aren't metal, not even rock. More indie if anything. There was even a rock version of the conga spanning across half the hall!

Saving the best tracks for the end, the band were really gracious more than anything that the audience had endeared them into a festival that would normally eat bands like this for breakfast. Closing off the set with Cash Cow, It's a Hit and The Great Escape (The best track they did), people were sad to see them leave the stage.

Say Anything
It was that short a set I missed it seeing as I used this time to make the required food/loo/phone breaks lol

Goldfinger
Without a doubt, the funniest act of the night. These guys have been together for nearly 20 years now and they still show the kids how it's done. They kicked it in grand style starting off with (imo) their best track Spokesman

#What happened to dignity, did it go away again? Just like some worn out trend, well I still defend the motions!#

I lost count of how many tracks they went through, but I know it was a lot. Lead singer John Feldmann got things really pumping in the crowd when he decided to go for a bit of crowd surfing while fellow lead singer Will from Aiden covered for him whilst he was a bit busy lol. the set was brought to an end when the drummer fancied setting fire to his cymbals lol.

Hundred Reasons
I just don't get what all the hype is with this band. They have a couple of good tracks and people rave about them, but I just couldn't understand it all. I wasn't impressed with the set at all. I heard other people saying they could've picked better tracks, but the damage was done. I'll give them another go (on top of the 3 I already have) but I don't hold much faith... Vocals were shoddy and the band generally didn't seem in time as such. We'll see.

Angels & Airwaves
We all know how this band started. And to a degree, I don't think Tom Delonge will ever escape the stigma that came with being in one of the most successful punk rock bands in the closing years of the 20th Century. I'd heard bits and bobs of the band before the festival, and went in there with low hopes. I didn't have to though because the band shot them into oblivion! I thought there were excellent. Granted, it took a couple of tracks, but these guys have managed to turn it around for me. Initially I thought 'melancholy' more than anything. I did also notice that drummer Atom Willard (formerly of Offspring) still has what appears to be a surgically attached smile. Something that really struck a chord, was Toms solo, semi-acoustic partial performace of Blink 182s Down using it as an intro to their debut track The Adventure. An inspired choice.

Taking Back Sunday
I've only beein really into TBS for a couple pf months now, and I'm glad I am. Their mix of in time ballads (In a rock sense of course, duh!) and fast paced semi-screamo ignited my need to find out more about them. In short, they tore it up out there! They also performed their new single Make Damn Sure from their fast approaching album Louder Now to which the peeps loved. As did I. Oddest moment was when the singer stopped mid-track to ask the bassist if he was ok seeing as he had slumped against one of the amplifiers, still singing like a pro though. The bassist went backstage for a bit then came back on with a bandaged up head! It transpired that the singer bust open the bassist whilst having one of his mic-swinging sessions. Gladly this was made light off by offers of women spending the night with him lol. A new band to me, but I love them all the same. It should also be noted that it looked like the lead singer was wearing what looked like a Spiderman suit under his shirt, I dunno what that was about. Their new album is out now.

Lostprophets
This is what the people came to see. The most eagerly anticipated band to take the stage seeing as they have been missing for almost 18 months working on their new album (Which btw is out on 27th of June). The band take the stage and this in turn lets out the most about of screaming and squealing from all the pre-pubescent girls in the crowd. The most impressive light show as well by all accounts. Ian Watkins greets the crowd, then tears into Burn Burn with his bandmates. One of which will be different to last time... They have a new drummer to replace Mike Chiplin who left the band pretty much after their last tour of the UK. Whoever he is, he's good! Looks like he has had no problems learning all the bands back catalogue seeing as they did a solid 3 tracks before stopping including Burn burn, Fake Sound of Progress and a track from their new album. I don't know what the name was but it sounds pretty damn good! A lot more melodic singing rather than all out screaming. I'll certainly be picking this up at the end of June. I did notice though that Ian appears to be going a little Whacko Jacko on us. Dodgy leather jacket, one glove on the hand, dodgy hair... Hmmm, who cares, the music sounded excellent!!

(Edited by Ethan 01/05/2006 14:58)

(Edited by Ethan 01/05/2006 15:00)