Man of Metal 2010: August 2010

In the words of Danny Vaughn...
'Suns been down since you've been gone, and I don't know why or for how long
The same old record played
I've been trying to move along, but I keep on singing the same old song
The end of the summer days, end of the summer days'

Although there's still a slim chance of an 'Indian summer' with August passing us by with mediocre (crap) weather it looks like another English summer as come and gone rather too quickly. The live music scene seems to be a little erratic of late but the man of metal is still out there and with news that the salutation inn Nottingham is restarting rock nights again and the continuation of venues like the old bell and Sitwell in Derby as well as the ever perenial rock city in Nottingham things might well be on the up.

Sonisphere Festival…
Knebworth… Herts… 29/07 – 02/08/ 2010…

Friday 30th July…
It’s the third weekend out of four that the man of metal is spending under canvas as I head off to Knebworth in Hertfordshire for The Sonisphere Festival, the last time I made this journey was to see Deep Purple headline a one day festival all of twenty five years ago. Now I know what you’re going to say ‘he’s not old enough’ well a quarter of a century later and with a full weekend of rock and metal ahead of me I sure feel old enough now, there’s a knack to beating off the urge to sleep. On arrival we manage to pitch camp in a comparatively quiet field, the primary camping field is nearly full and later in the weekend I’m grateful for this (more on that later). Having got my bearings it’s time to go up to the arena, there are five stages here at Sonisphere and loads of other attractions like a fairground and many market stalls etc.
It’s around five in the afternoon when we get to see the first live band of the weekend, Delain are on the Saturn stage which today is the main stage but for the rest of the weekend it becomes the secondary stage, hailing from Holland Dlain are fronted by Charlotte Wessels and sound a bit like Nightwish, they’re worthy openers of the festival. I go in search of beer or food I forget which but the upshot of these actions is that I miss a world record attempt at doing the time warp, to be honest I couldn’t give two F**ks about that.
Turisas hit the stage just after six, I saw these Finnish exponents of ‘battle metal’ last year at Bloodstock and found them very entertaining, with an amusing cover of Black Sabbath’s Supernaut replacing last years cover of Boney M’s Rasputin Turisas sadly only have a measly thirty minutes to entertain us but entertain us they do and royally so. Friday seems a lot less hectic than the rest of the weekend mainly due to the Apollo stage not being in use till Saturday so there’s a lot less tooing and frowing of the crowd.
Next up is one of the best bands of the festival in my opinion, Europe who get a mere forty five minutes on stage are stalwarts of the eighties rock scene and having seen them for the first time last year at Bloodstock let me tell you these guys know how to rock. Everyone has heard the songs Rock the night & The final countdown but there’s so much more to this Swedish band than those two numbers, they should have been further up the bill with a longer set, however in early 2011 Europe are set to play an extensive ten date tour of the UK so go and see them you won’t be disappointed.
Second from the top of the bill tonight is a curious choice, Gary Numan again an eighties stalwart doesn’t seem to fit the bill with his electronic sound the once leader of The Tube Way Army is probably best remembered for the songs Are friends electric & Cars. Cleverly Mr. Numan has ‘rocked’ his sound up to fit in here and for all I know may have moved in this direction permanently I would have loved to have heard him play the songs how they should be played though, the end result was unsatisfactory for me and many people were of the opinion that he should have played before Europe not after.
The only act with a full ninety minute slot today is Friday headliners Alice Cooper and thank goodness for that because there’s no way Alice Cooper could fit his stage act into any less time, I can still remember the hour set he shoehorned in at The Monsters of Rock 2006, not good. Schools out opens the show followed by a brilliantly paced set with Cooper meeting his demise five times during the show, hanging, decapitation, an iron maiden device, lethal injection and impalement all in the name of rock n’ roll, what a pro. There was a couple of songs off From the inside album which you don’t hear very often but the bottom line is Alice Cooper has written so many songs over the last forty plus years and so many of those he can not leave out his set like, eighteen, elected, Ballard of Dwight Fry, only women bleed, no more Mr. Nice guy, poison etc etc that it makes it difficult to include more unobvious songs but he manages it perfectly. Finishing with the song he started with Alice Cooper brought the house down on day one of Sonisphere 2010 with a touch of sheer class that’s for sure.
With one band left to play on the Bohemia stage tonight I rush round the corner to catch up with Terrorvision, a band I haven’t seen for many a year only to find the tented stage they’re playing on is rammed pack full of people, it was an impossibility to get in the place so day one ends with disappointment for me and many others wishing to see the boys from Bradford. As I head off back to my tent I can hear some great songs like Oblivion, Tequila and Perseverance belting out across the campsite

Saturday 31st July…
After what seems like no sleep at all it’s up and about foraging for breakfast before the first band of the day on my schedule which is Sabaton, coming from Sweden and playing ‘power metal’ Sabaton have been around for a decade or more and having seen them last year (at Bloodstock again) I’m keen to catch up with their show. Thirty minutes is the norm for bands playing early slots and quite frankly it just isn’t adequate enough. They do themselves justice however despite this disadvantage and having a large following already most definitely add to the fan base here in England and with six more dates in the UK this October it’s not the last we’ll see of them this year.
With a trek to the opposite end of the arena to see Lacuna Coil it’s my first visit to the Apollo stage, it’s bigger than Saturn but to my mind not as good, vision is impaired on the right hand side of the stage by a massive camera boom flying around all the time which is annoying to say the least. Lacuna Coil from Italy are a six piece ‘gothic metal’ band that have been around since the mid nineties and have the novel sound of dual lead vocalists Christina Scabbia and Andrea Ferro. They’re playing a dozen dates in the UK soon most of which are small venues where I think they’ll be better suited than the massive arena at Sonisphere, well worth checking out if like me you’ve not seen them before.
Back in the Bohemia stage, the one I failed to squeeze into last night are
Heaven’s Basement, who take to the stage a man down, Mr. Jonny Rocker has broken a finger playing footy and is unable to play guitar but although they play as a four piece HB still go down very well indeed and Jonny Rocker does join in the fun when he makes a dramatic entrance to sing Paranoia which can be seen on my YouTube channel… http://www.youtube.com/user/GDster1.
Time vanishes into thin air and with a few bands on that I’m not really bothered about I concentrate on one of my favourite pastimes, drinking! Apocalyptica are the next act of note that I catch up with, another Scandinavian band, Apocalyptica come from Finland and have been playing ‘orchestral metal’ since the early nineties with many cello based instrumental numbers interspersed with some vocal based songs. They certainly stand apart from many of the bands playing here this weekend and are set to return to the UK in November, well worth checking out.
As afternoon fades into evening Skunk Anansie take to the stage, the multi-platinum selling English rock band of the nineties reformed last year after the best part of a decade in the wilderness, they’re back and on this performance better than ever. Front woman Skin possesses one of the most distinctive voices in the business and is a jack in a box on stage throwing herself into the crowd on more than one occasion, crowd surfing whilst singing is a neat and indeed brave trick to do at a festival of this size. With a new studio album Wonderlustre due to be released on 13th September and an extensive UK tour in November things are looking good in the world of Skunk Anansie.
Another route march up to the other end of the arena next for Placebo the alternative rock band formed in the mid nineties who have become a world wide success story with hits such as Nancy boy, Pure morning, Every you Every me and Infra red. Opening today’s set with Nancy boy Placebo play a really attractive set looking resplendent all dressed in white however like a lot of bands who started in the decade of the nineties they don’t put on much of a show and before the end I grow a little bored with proceedings and scuttle off back to the Saturn stage in anticipation of some showmen from LA.
It’s amazing to think that next year in 2011 Motley Crue will be celebrating their thirtieth anniversary, it’s been a long road with many ups and downs along the way but with more than 80 million album sales worldwide The Crue have certainly cemented their name in rock history. The crowd is rammed at the front by the time the band hit the stage and opening up with Kickstart my heart the show is up and running. There’s some tension around, the band have a few technical issues happening on stage and I witness a bit of an old punch up next to me resulting in one unfortunate ending up bloodied but unbowed, not a thing that happens often at festivals but pretty ugly all the same. Live Wire, Girls girls girls, Shout at the Devil, To fast for love, Doctor Feelgood are all in the set which runs around an hour with many a pyrotechnic explosion towards the end, a good if not brilliant show from the boys from California.
Day two of Sonisphere is nearing it’s end with only the main headliners left to play out in the open, now I’ve heard many things about Rammstein, about how I’ll love their show, about how good their songs are (even if you can’t understand what they’re on about) so now is the time to see for myself. The German ‘industrial metal’ band from Berlin certainly put on a show with massive amounts of pyros and cannons firing out foam and all sorts of shit into the crowd and with a leaf out of Alice Coopers book at one point having some bloke getting sliced in half, neat trick, but I’m afraid unless you like the music any amount of on stage tomfoolery is not going to impress, sadly I remain unimpressed and with nothing more to say on the subject it’s time to head off back to the campsite for more booze.
One gripe before we draw to a close day two is that Therapy are playing last on the Bohemia stage and like the previous evening with Terrorvision it was nigh on impossible to get in the place, a friend of mine who did manage to enter was denied re-entry after paying a visit to the loos and missed most of Therapy as a result, not good organisation.

Sunday 1st Aug…
After what seems like another sleepless night Sunday starts slowly for me, it’s only when I started to write this that I realised I only really see that many bands on the last day of the festival so here’s some padding. Now I mentioned before that I went to Knebworth back in 85 to see amongst others Deep Purple also on that bill were the Scorpions, Meat Loaf, UFO, Blackfoot, Mamma’s Boys, Mountain and Alaska. A quarter of a century later and there’s over a hundred bands playing a three day event, now I don’t think way back then was necessarily better than what we have today but at least the bands got a fair crack of the whip and most bands then got to play a full set and were seen by everyone in the audience I don’t want to labour the point but we’re getting short changed today with a lot of bands playing short sets and It’s an impossibility today to see every band and on occasion the clashing of bands means tough decisions have to be made on who to see and who to miss.
One thing though that is a definite improvement from the dark ages of festivals is the catering and general amenities. Back then the food was basic, burgers, chips and hotdogs being the standard now there’s everything from Chinese, Indian, Italian and Vegetarian foods, being a bit of a traditionalist though my gold star of the weekend for catering has got to the Battersea pie and mash wagon, steak n’ ale pie with lots of chunky meat in it accompanied by creamy mash n’ thick gravy and at £7 a pop not too expensive by comparison to the rest of the food outlets. The only concern was the fact that there’s a stray dogs home in Battersea, no? I’m sure it was beef in those pies… wasn’t it?
Back to the live action and throughout the weekend Blaas of Glory, a band of Dutch musicians wandered through the crowds entertaining us as they went. Sunday morning sees them on stage playing an Iron Maiden medley along with Ace of Spade, The final countdown and many other rock ‘classics’, Blaas of Glory do all this acoustically with sousaphone, flute, clarinet, banjo, lyre, accordion, washboard, acoustic guitars, snare drum, bass drum. Colourful, amusing and very entertaining they marched off pied piper like still playing with a string of followers trailing in their wake.
Later in the afternoon, Alice in Chains follow Slayer onto the Apollo stage, Slayer I heard but didn’t see, to be honest all their riffs sound the same to me so missing their act was no great hardship. Alice in Chains over the last few years are on a bit of a comeback trail but still have a way to go to reach the heights of the 1990’s. I enjoyed their set without being bowled over by it and due to the geography of the arena and the fact I wanted to get close to the front for the next band I leave before the end of their set.
The Cult are on next and speaking personally the most anticipated band of the day, they don’t disappoint, playing a great set Rain, Love removal machine, Lil’ devil, Fire woman and the song that everyone knows She sells sanctuary along with their new single Every man and woman is a star. The Cult put on a great show in the late afternoon Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy along with the rest of the band strut around the stage with purpose, a rebirth? Well let’s hope so, with new songs to be released let’s hope more live dates are to follow.
This Sonisphere weekend seems to be rapidly drawing to a close as a rock legend hit’s the stage. Iggy & The Stooges are veterans of the rock scene and go way back to the 1960’s. Opening their set with Raw power Iggy Pop stomps around the stage shirtless belying his age and I don’t know about his recent notoriety at advertising car insurance but if he lived in England he’d qualify for a bus pass. I don’t know what’s happening today but again I miss the end of a set as it’s time to get in possession for the grand finale.
Iron Maiden, what can you say they’ve rose to the top in heavy metal terms, I can remember seeing them thirty years ago back in 1980 when the NWOBHM movement was at it’s height, that year Maiden toured the UK promoting their first album. Umpteen albums later they’ve gained a massive following many of whom weren’t even born in 1980 and with a new album The final frontier due out on the 16th August let the show begin.
Opening their set with The wicker man Maiden seem to be in full flow from the get go, I’m a tad disappointed that the ignorant so and so’s with flags on long poles have ignored the festival’s plea to move to the side or take them down as visibility of the stage is hampered. By the third song in, an oldie, Wrathchild the crowd are ecstatic, however this is not to last. The next seven songs, El Dorado, Dance of death, The reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg, These colours don’t run, Blood Brothers, Wildest dreams, No more lies and Brave new world are all good solid Iron Maiden fair from their more recent albums, however they’re all a bit one paced, the crowd were restless and who could blame them, I’m one of the oldest and most ardent Maiden fans but this is not a good ‘festival’ set. To compound my dismay Bruce Dickinson pontificates between songs as if he’s delivering the sermon on the mount at one point saying that Iron Maiden are not a Las Vegas band who trot out all the obvious songs, well he got that right, oh but wait a minute what do they play next? Do I detect a vein of hypocrisy? Fear of the dark. Iron maiden, The number of the beast, Hallowed be thy name and amazingly their first single Running free this just about saves the day for a none ‘Vegas band’. Despite the glorious multi changing backdrops, alien Eddie and Mr Dickinson’s athletic charging around the stage I think a lot of the crowd are left a tad deflated by the main headlining band’s performance.
The show is over and on the whole Sonisphere 2010 has been an out right success story, going back to the beginning of this review I alighted to the primary camping field well the actions of certain individuals in the early hours of Monday morning made me grateful for where I’d pitched my tent. In the next field to me there was what seemed like a riot, now I don’t know how it started but there were fires, explosions and wreckage all around, Police on horseback were called in along with a helicopter and fire engine, these actions could easily get any future festival at Knebworth banned and all involved in these actions should be ashamed of themselves and it saddens me to end this review on such a negative note, so I won’t.
Although the toilet facilities weren’t all they should have been on the camp site, in the arena they were pretty good, sited all around and cleaned regularly. For some and indeed many in my party this was not enough so for £15 for the weekend you could buy a ‘Comfy Crapper’ wrist band which enabled you to attend some ‘luxury’ loos, I was reliably informed they smelt of shit as well… Cue Sid James for suggestive laugh, what a f**king carry on!... GD.

Sack Sabbath + Skam…
The Roadhouse…
Birmingham… 13/08/10…

It’s been a few months since I was last on the road with Sack Sabbath and tonight we’re going to a great little venue in Birmingham, located in the suburb of Stirchley, the roadhouse sits adjacent to a canal and is one of the cleanest, friendliest gigs on the circuit. Although the place isn’t full there’s over eighty people in by the time tonight’s support band take to the stage, SKAM are from Leicester and having seen them before I know they’re good value for money. In their own words they describe themselves as, and I quote “SKAM are a flick rock band from The Midlands, Their unique flick rock genre is a blend of classic British rock with elements of punk and Heavy Metal that will have your finger pointing and your head banging”. With a new six track CD to promote the Leicester trio of Steve Hill (lead guitar/lead vocals) Matt Gilmore (bass/backing vocals) and The X-Ray (drums/backing vocals) go down really well here and get a rousing ovation at the end of their entertaining set. Tonight’s headliners hit the stage around ten thirty opening with children of the grave and following this in quick succession with the ever popular iron man, a national acrobat, fairies wear boots and supernaut, all going down well at the roadhouse even if the crowd here tend to take their time to get into it and with most of them sitting down this doesn’t help matters. Sack Sabbath’s current line-up have been together around a year now and newest member, front man Ozzy Asbeen has well and truly found his feet in the band with his quips and asides between songs, tonight he announces that original Black Sabbath roadie Mr. Les Martin is in the audience, one cheeky sod thought he meant me, the fact that I was only a school boy when Sabbath were touring with Ozzy in the seventies seemed to have flown over that individual’s head. On with the show and with all the classics in the set like war pigs, snowblind and Sabbath bloody Sabbath the crowd finally find their form, the only thing that put a slight dampener on the show was that after the ever popular paranoid the plugs were pulled and it took a monumental effort from lead guitarist Tony IOU to get the PA guy to agree to let them play one more song. With the audience by now mostly on their feet chanting for an encore Sack Sabbath were eventually allowed to finish their show with NIB bringing the curtain down on a feast of Ozzy era Sabbath songs, now if only I can persuade the guys to play some Dio era Sabbath material the jobs a good un’… GD.

Above: Europe Live @ Sonisphere.

Above: Motley Crue Live @ Sonisphere.

Above The Cult Live @ Sonisphere.

Above: The Smears Live @ The Old Bell Derby.

Above: Evil Scarecrow Live @ Damaged Stock Nottingham.

Name: Dee Suicide
Age: 30
Height: 5’5’’
Home Town: Lincoln/ Sheffield
Country: England
Relationship Status: Engaged to Jonny Suicide
Anniversary: To Be Announced!!!

About Me:
You know the track Crazy Bitch? Well that’s my ring tone and nickname on many a friends phone so go figure!! Im now in my 30’s and had a bit of a crazy life ride, which I use in my art (Im a tattooist and body piercer and own my own Studio - She Inks - in Woodhouse, Sheffield) , Im fun, firey, love a laugh and a drink with friends new and old and am crazy in love with my soul mate Jonny. Ive a gorgeous and equally as big personalitied son called Mason, who also loves his rock and roll just like his mum. Im currently a Club Nitro Resident DJ - Glam Rock all the way baby! Ive been a Suicide Girl (but now Im too much of an old fart lol) and signed to a record label and lead singer of rock band Liberty Slaves (which are no more!) and fully intend to grow old disgracefully adhering to my life long mottos, What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger - But Growing Old is Mandatory, Growing Up is Optional!!!! You’ll find me in my 80’s Glam Rock Bubble, with my friends, family, whisky and hairspray and I fully intend on staying there!!!
Music:
Im a Rock Chick through and through, whether is be Glam, Metal, Heavy or Classic you’ll find me there horns in there air, whisky in hand having a damn good time!! Recorded, Live, Festival or Gig its all Good ol Rock n Roll! Favourites include in no particular order Cinderella, Motley Crue, Crash Diet, Iron Maiden- the list is endless!
Tattoos:
Im a Tattooist and Body Piercer so Im covered!! Back, Stomach, Ankles, Thighs, Sole of my Left Foot, only place im not tattooed is my chest and arms. My most recent is a Lotus Flower inside my ankle and biggest a large cross wrapped in a rosary on my back which leads to a rock n roll winged heart on my ass! Like a tattoo fans Im hooked and want more and more, piercing are around the 22 mark including micro dermals in my feet. If I can reach I do my own ink, if not its Julian at Demon Ink in Lincoln,
Films:
Anything that makes me wet my pants or pants wet ha ha! I love a good comedy and cheesy 80’s films like Ghost Busters. And if the films got Hugh Jackman, Gerard Butler or Vinny Jones in all the better!!
Dislikes:
Heros:
My Grandfather for everything(long but amazing story for over a whisky), Joan Jett for her ambition and drive and amazing voice, and Nikki Sixx for just being a sex god.

Aug… [10]
01st: Sonisphere Festival [Day3]…
Iron Maiden + Alice in Chains + Slayer + Iggy & The Stooges + The Cult + CKY [Knebworth Park]
04th: Blood Orange [MFN Shipley]
07th: The Smears + Thracia + Never The Last Breath [The Old Bell Derby]
11th: Toxic Federation + Deeper [MFN Shipley]
13th: Sack Sabbath + SKAM [The Roadhouse Birmingham]
14th: Rob & Jayne’s Wedding…
Kitty Hudson + Miles Hunt & Erica Nockalls (The Wonder Stuff) [MFN Shipley]
21st: Damaged Stock…
Evil Scarecrow + Collibus + Isolysis + Twilight’s Embrace [Rock City Nottingham]
25th: Isolysis + Chubby Brown Tribute [MFN Shipley]
26th: Quo Motion + Sack Sabbath [Robin2 Bilston]
28th: In For The Kill [The Victoria Stavely]