Live Review : Primordial General Mayhem @ Lincolnshire Showground on April 22-23rd 2022

A bit scant on detail but better late than never…

Last month over 1000 people descended on the Lincolnshire Showground for Primordial Radio’s General Mayhem. It didn’t feel like five minutes since the last one in September, when camping was far more pleasant… brrrrrrrrrrr.

Anyway, I won’t go on too much about the venue, camping etc. as sadly this is probably the last time Primordial will be hosting an event at the showground but a special shout-out to Sean Ayling aka Sean The Brewer from Tom’s Tap and Brewhouse in Crewe who provided the alcohol. Always a delight and if you haven’t sampled his wares yet, or indeed visited his establishment, I heartily recommend.

Live Review : HRH Viking - December 5th 2021 at the O2 Academy, Sheffield

By Mjolnir the mighty hammer of Thor I am out of my depth here! Due to other commitments I am only able to do the one day at Hard Rock Hell’s annual beard and helmet fest, and I have no idea what to expect. I mean it’s (supposed to be) Scandi-rock Jim, but not as I know it…… only of course it’s not. This is a rollover from 2020 and due to the dreaded ‘rona the line-up looks very different from the one originally booked. It’s all UK bands and I have no idea if they fit with the Viking theme as I’m a fish out of water here – I only know two of the bands playing. So let’s just play it by ear and see what happens right?

Live Review : Damnation Festival 2021

Damnation Festival is at the end of the day a labour of love by a couple of fan boys who felt their distinct tastes in Metal were not be catered for elsewhere. Over the last sixteen years it has morphed, moved and grown, but it has never ever lost its deep-seeded independence. It is that independent spirit that has so connected it with its immensely loyal fanbase, to the point that the festival sold out in March this year, over nine months before the actual show. Damnation is not a corporate money-making exercise, it may now have a capacity of three thousand (soon to be nearer six) and command a headliner of Carcass’s stature, but it is still very much that labour of love for the organisers.

Live Review : Damnation Festival 2021 - "A Night Of Salvation"

We ended our Damnation 2019 review by stating that we were already counting down the 365 days till the next one. Well, we got that spectacularly wrong, didn’t we? Damnation 2021 has been a long-time coming and has faced many hurdles during its elongated gestation period. But here we are back together once more at Leeds University Students Union.

Damnation Festival 2021 Preview

We stand on the edge of the precipice. This time next week we will all be deep in the bowls of the Labyrinth that is Leeds Student Union. You see, even though it felt that it would never come around, we are now a mere seven days away from Damnation 2021. Well, what a journey it has been. For obvious reasons Damnation 2020 went off with the fairies and the bill that we will feast our eyes and ears on next Saturday bears little or no resemblance to the one that they launched late last year. BUT it is testament to the tremendous work of Gavin McInally and Paul Farrington that, not only, has it been sold out since March this year, but they have managed to put together a much stronger bill than they had at the start. There is also the small matter of an absolute cracker of an opening party in the shape of Night of Salvation (this Friday, tickets still available!!!).

FleshtivalsAuthor : Stewart Lucas30 October 2021Damnation Festival, 2021, PreviewComment

Live Review : Badgerfest - Sunday, October 17th 2021 at the Bread Shed, Manchester

It’s day three of Badgerfest and our Sarah has taken a well earnt early bath and gone home to put her feet up. I’ve taken on the reviewing baton and steel myself for a full on day of metal. As said, this is the third and final day and as an urban city-based festival it is always going to be a struggle to get punters out of their own beds/ hotel rooms / friend’s couches and into the venue for a 1.30pm start. The answer is simple. You stick the most hyped local band in decades into that opening slot.

Live Review : Badgerfest - Saturday, October 16th 2021 at The Bread Shed, Manchester

After my hotel booking for the weekend was randomly cancelled with barely any notice, I decided I would be more than capable of getting the train to Badgerfest each day. Day 2 and I am regretting that thought already, as I whizz through Warrington and Newton Le Willows, unable to get lost in my usual daydreamy train thoughts (todays is “They missed a trick last night not covering the Badger song”) as I am alarmingly close to Dave and his workmates having a staff day out and sipping their pre mixed G and Ts.

Live Review : Badgerfest - Friday, October 15th 2021 at The Bread Shed, Manchester

We all knew it was going to be a moment of pure joy, but words cannot adequately express the ecstasy of finally being back in a room with such a wonderful group of people and such an excellent line up of some of the finest UK metal bands.

Badgerfest’s opening day arrived in with a bang... that bang being John Badgers foot on the bass drum of the kit.

Live Review : Rockin The Bowl (Forged In Fire & Steel) – Sunday September 12th at Don Valley Bowl, Sheffield

Sunday starts not with a bang, but more of a splat. There is an Issue with the toilets, namely that the company that was supposed to come and clear them out on a regular basis over the weekend hasn’t turned up. This has led to a bit of a crisis, as those of us camping are faced with (literally) brimming cubicles, and the arena can’t open for health and safety reasons. Thankfully after frantic ringing around a replacement pumping company is found, and the situation is relieved. As are the campers!

Live Review : Rockin The Bowl (Forged In Fire & Steel) – Saturday September 11th at Don Valley Bowl, Sheffield

It’s an early start after a late night as we trundle along the M62 in the campervan. The weather is looking promising, and we arrive in plenty of time to get settled in before the bands start. This event has expanded from one day to 3 this year, to make up for having to roll over from 2020, and the campsite is busy but well-organised. You can pitch your tent next to your car (which is handy) and those of us in vans just park them up in an available space. Everything is compact, it’s a very short walk to the arena, in fact there are several places where you can sit outside your tent, car or van and both see and hear the main stage pretty well.

Live Review : Slam Dunk Festival (North), Leeds Temple Newsham Park on September 4th 2021

There’ve been times that Slam Dunk looked like it may have shot its final 3-pointer, what with the date changes close to four times across the pandemic. But the determined promoters kept at it and managed to get the festival, together with a still fantastic line-up to the masses of Leeds and Hatfield. I’m off to the North date, and start by navigating the intricate shuttle bus queuing system in the centre of Leeds (have I just entered Alton towers?). Pleasingly I can see loads of people are ensuring they get there for opening at Slam Dunk 2021.

Live Review : Bloodstock Festival 2021 - Day 5

By day 5 it has all become a bit of a chore. Our hangovers have melded into one, our backs all hurt, and we are all thoroughly sick and tired of being asked if we are overjoyed to have live music back. Look we have had live music back for five whole continuous days, is it home time yet? It is starting to feel less like a music festival and more like an endurance event and there is an increasing hope that when we go through the exits tomorrow morning there will be well-wishers awaiting us with silver foil blankets and medals. But before we dream dreams of flushing toilets, full English’s, and comfy beds, we have Sunday to contend with.

Live Review : Bloodstock Festival 2021 - Day 4

Well it’s day 4 of the festival that never ends. I am already becoming delusional that my permeant home is in fact a canvas shelter in a field and that my adopted family are those people surrounding me. I am struggling to imagine what life was like before I entered the gates on Wednesday. My day beginning with the sludge-tastic Horse called War. With distorted guitars and murky melodies, they manage to blow away the most stubborn of hangovers. Netherhall are progtastic and sound like Marillion fronted by Francis Dunnery (formally of It Bites). Back in the New Blood stage Black Atlas are deftly combining grunge and stoner rock. The result is remarkably danceable, laced with filthy riffs and scuzzy beats. My first visit to the main stage is next for the much lauded Conjurer.

Live Review : Bloodstock Festival 2021 - Day 3

Friday morning finally sees the main stage splutter into life. By this point we have already had two nights under canvas and are beginning to feel like we are in some Kafkaesque nightmare where we are perpetually doomed to roam the wastes of Catton Hall. It may well be quarter to eleven, but Foetal Juice are determined to make as much nasty primal noise as humanly possible. This is metal at its most puerile and putrefied, and they do a grand job of sending all those hangovers packing.

Live Review : Bloodstock Festival 2021 - Day 2

And so onto the extra day, essentially a heavy metal take on the leap year. Thursday is a full additional twenty four hours of metal on all stages bar the main one. The lack of big big draws means that the day is one of exploration as we are given the opportunity to try and test many of the exceptional home grown talent that haunt small venues across the breadth of the country. Sophie Lancaster tent opener Mother Vulture turn out not to be Mother Vulture at all and instead much fancied West Midlander’s Fury (though not the Chris and Luke Appleton fronted Fury UK).

Live Review : Bloodstock Festival 2021 - Day 1

I am not a hugger. At best I find it intrusive and at worst it makes my skin crawl. However over the bloodstock weekend I hugged, I hugged and I hugged. I hugged people that I consider life-long friends, I hugged people I have only ever seen at a distance and I hugged complete strangers. And it wasn’t just me, everyone was hugging. It was like some well-behaved orgy, where everyone kept their clothes on. Bloodstock was emotional and a celebration, but it was also normal. By about band three it felt no different to other years at Catton Park and the idea of not being able to be near people seemed preposterous. Though the one evident difference was the length. Five days of unrepentant Metal at the start sounded like manor from heaven but by the end it felt like you were jogging through custard to get to the finishing line. In fact, I was expecting silver blankets and a medal as I exited the site, like I had finished some endurance event. However, we need to start at the beginning….

FleshtivalsAuthor : Stewart Lucas18 August 2021Bloodstock 2021, Amakim, Ward XVI, Beholder, Onslaught, Raised By OwlsComment

Live Review : Steelhouse Festival 2021 - Day 3

Much to everyone’s surprise, Sunday at Steelhouse actually did dawn bright and sunny, and the mood as we trooped into the arena for the final day was very definitely on the up. We scatter onto the grass to bask in the sub and soak up the atmospheric sound of our opening band Empyre.

Live Review : Steelhouse Festival 2021 - Day 2

Saturday dawned bright and…… nah. This is Wales. The wind got up a bit overnight, the rain came in and Saturday morning was wet and blustery. Much re-pegging and such was done on the various campsites as people woke and surveyed the havoc wreaked by the unforecast gales. Thankfully casualties seemed to be minor, and it was soon time to head into the arena to see what the second day would bring.

Live Review : Steelhouse Festival 2021 - Day 1

It’s been a long 18 months, hasn’t it? Since Covid kicked us all in the face in March 2020 our lives have changed so much, possibly forever. For those of us who love our live music our hearts have been torn out as we have watched gig after gig, festival after festival fall to the dreaded “Covid Rules”. There have been glimmers of hope here and there with a smattering of socially-distanced and sanitised events and some online streams, but they have been few and far between and, while better than nothing, they haven’t really been able to replace what we have lost.

Why Bloodstock 2021 will be super special!

Yes, Bloodstock is always special. It’s Christmas for metalheads for Lemmy’s sake. But this year it will be extra special sauce special. This year will be the Metal party to meet all Metal party. And here are the reasons why..

FleshtivalsAuthor : Stewart Lucas23 July 2021Bloodstock 2021Comment