Congratulations to Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi just been appointed professor of music at coventry University.

Black Sabbath star Tony Iommi is to pass on his rock 'n' roll knowledge to students as a university music professor.

The rocker has been made a professor of music at Coventry University and plans to start teaching songwriting workshops in the autumn .

Dr Sara Reed, head of the university's performing arts department, adds, "His huge wealth of experience and musical knowledge is beyond value to our students. It's a fantastic opportunity for them to learn from such an immensely talented individual."

Oh dear. Rumour has it that Download (capacity 120,000) has only sold around 45/50k camping tickets. People are reporting that it's very quiet in there, compared to previous years.
http://forums.downloadfestival.co.uk/m5950489.aspx

Not all that surprising - two acts headlining who divide opinion on Friday and Saturday (A7X and Linkin Park) and a heritage rock act who were never really that big in the UK on Sunday (Aerosmith). The full Saturday line-up is weak as well, with Fallout Boy as the second biggest billed act on the night.

Add into that the fact that Sonisphere has a Maiden/Metallica double-header and it's easy to see why Download suffered.

I went on Friday, mainly to see Within Temptation & The Temperance Movement, and I would have said it was busy enough. Based on last year when Maiden headlined the Saturday I would have said there were more than 45/50k there but less than for Maiden, which is understandable to be honest.

I only saw the second half of A7Xs set, Opeth in the tent at the same time was a no-brainer for me and they were brilliant with Mikael Åkerfeldt as humerous as always, but they had a large crowd watching them and their set was certainly spectacular.

The Temperance Movement won't be playing mid-afternoon on the second stage of a festival for much longer, they delivered a great set and I think they will be huge.

Skindred were simply amazing, the perfect festival band and probably one of the best live bands in this country at the moment.

I enjoyed Within Temptation as I'm a fan but they, like most Symphonic Metal bands, struggle out side in the early evening.

Just had a look at getting Rise Against tickets for their tour in Manchester, is this a new trend as their is no option to buy tickets without also adding the purchase of the album to the ticket price?

Can't say I've ever heard of that (or them actually) before. Isn't there an 'opt out' box anywhere?

nope, its either the cd or lp

Which site are you using? Ticketmaster says tickets aren't available yet http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/rise-a...&minorcatid=60

It also says Please Note: No album purchase necessary.

ENTS says the tickets don't go on sale until Friday 27th http://www.ents24.com/manchester-eve...gainst/3918059

http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/promo/...uk_riseagainst

And it says No album purchase necessary. To purchase tickets without an album subject to availability, please click here

Few days old but hasn't been posted in here

Queen - Life at the Rainbow 74'

The first official remastered DVD/Bluray of Queen at there most hardest

http://www.queenonline.com/en/news-a...-in-september/

Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bQlyDygns8

Hmm, might have to get a Saturday day ticket for Sonisphere, if there's any left.

It looks like there are still tickets available http://sonisphere.seetickets.com/eve...ts&direct=true

Ok, thanks for that

Was there for the weekend and it was noticeably less busy, but personally made it a much better experience. Download got load of investment this year with new paths and what not, interesting to see it tested when it gets super busy again. Download always has a poor selling year now and again. Seriously doubt the festival is in trouble.

My brother worked it to get a free ticket, and only had good things to say about it, and that's the second time he's been. Kind of gutted I missed Opeth.

Opeth were superb and played a "classics" set.

I only went for the Friday and the arena was far from deserted. I am sure Download, like all events, have a "break even" point and as long as they've made that they will be OK.

For me it was quite similar, I was always into the older lighter britpop / soft rock through my youth and junior years however there was a big surge of these ' Indie' bands as people use to call them. Although it was in high school, when the drummer in the covers band suggested we played Iron Man by Sabbath.

I listened to it and instantly fell in love the track, and this harder gritty sound! I knew if we did a tight rendition of the track it would rock and be great fun to perform live

Only just recently found out that my dad was quite a big Sabbath fan in his earlier days, I discovered his Sabbotage (vinyl) while sifting through his collection.

Also ended up buying him this War Pigs limited print for Fathers day the other week, as his 'Back office aka rehearsal room' is lacking any posters or artwork!

http://www.thefloodgallery.com/colle...ts/war-pigs-a2

Pretty cool, would make a wicked tattoo for any metal head out their!

Is it just me or is Graspop live stream not available in the UK? I'm just getting a pre recorded video on a loop http://www.skynet.be/fr/festivals/gr.../live-stream#1

The new Mastodon album has leaked if anyone's interested

Heavy metal really can do your head in, according to doctors who treated a Motörhead fan with a blood clot on the brain caused by headbanging.

The 50-year-old German man developed the condition after getting carried away at one of the rock band's concerts
http://www.theguardian.com/music/201...jury?CMP=fb_gu

That's pretty brutal

Anyone up for some true Scottish pirate metal? Alestorm touring in the autumn. I'll be at Leeds I think

https://www.facebook.com/alestormban...type=1&theater

Looks like they went down well..


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxMJ6lSI9yI

and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4k35ME0KOs

New Judas Priest album is far better than it has any right to be.

Chas 'n' Dave went down very well @ Sonisphere, as did all the bands I saw over the weekend to be honest.

It must be said Babymetal are so bonkers they are going to be huge, for a short while at least. Mind you if you take out the three girls their backing band is seriously heavy and can certainly play!