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Old 02-02-2016, 09:49
Glawster2002
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Halestorm are absolutely tremendous live!!! Also, I would recommend getting there early if you can as for the first 20 minutes after doors open, Black Stone Cherry will be doing a special signing session so that should be quite chaotic but could be cool

I'll also be at Slipknot too, definitely a strong start to the year with 2 intimate gigs followed immediately by 2 massive gigs
I first saw Halestorm when they supported Shinedown, funnily enough, in 2012, the first time I saw them headline was in a pub venue in Bristol, The Fleece, later the same year! They've certainly come a long way since then!

I've got Slipknot next Monday in Cardiff, fingers crossed the journey will be easier!!!

In March I've got Machine Head, Von Hertzen Brothers, and Antimatter, with Babymetal the beginning of April.
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Old 02-02-2016, 13:36
deadmancarl
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This Thursday will be the 4th time I've seen Halestorm in 2 years.
First time was at the Forum in Kentish Town.

From the review I saw of the tour in Nottingham it sounds like Halestorm should have been billed ahead of Shinedown.
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Old 02-02-2016, 18:47
ShotDownInFlame
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I first saw Halestorm support Slash in 2012 and then I've seen them 4 times since, so Thursday will be my 6th time and Download will be the 7th

Agree on Halestorm's and Shinedown's placements on the bill, definitely should have been flipped, Halestorm are most certainly the bigger band here in the UK without a doubt. Plus not only do Shinedown talk just as much as they play (seriously, they're FAR too preachy), but they also use an insane amount of backing track, to such a point that it almost can barely be called a live performance, and I say that as a big fan of Shinedown on record.
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Old 03-02-2016, 10:29
Glawster2002
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I first saw Halestorm support Slash in 2012 and then I've seen them 4 times since, so Thursday will be my 6th time and Download will be the 7th

Agree on Halestorm's and Shinedown's placements on the bill, definitely should have been flipped, Halestorm are most certainly the bigger band here in the UK without a doubt. Plus not only do Shinedown talk just as much as they play (seriously, they're FAR too preachy), but they also use an insane amount of backing track, to such a point that it almost can barely be called a live performance, and I say that as a big fan of Shinedown on record.
I think over the few years Halestorm's profile has greatly increased because, like BSC, they have pretty much toured the UK constantly, and every time I've see them they deliver a great show. On balance they probably are a "bigger" draw than Shinedown these days, it will be interesting to see where they are both put in the Download schedule.

I've seen Shinedown a couple of times before and they did seem to be wasting a lot of time in Cardiff. Well, from what I saw of their set!

My wife said at one point they should just get on with it. Brad Smith has said in the past everything they play onstage is 100% live and they use backing tracks because the four of them could never replicate their studio sound live, but it can be very distracting!!
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Old 03-02-2016, 12:28
ShotDownInFlame
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I think over the few years Halestorm's profile has greatly increased because, like BSC, they have pretty much toured the UK constantly, and every time I've see them they deliver a great show. On balance they probably are a "bigger" draw than Shinedown these days, it will be interesting to see where they are both put in the Download schedule.

I've seen Shinedown a couple of times before and they did seem to be wasting a lot of time in Cardiff. Well, from what I saw of their set!

My wife said at one point they should just get on with it. Brad Smith has said in the past everything they play onstage is 100% live and they use backing tracks because the four of them could never replicate their studio sound live, but it can be very distracting!!
Exactly! Halestorm play a set here somewhere almost every 8 or so months, sometimes even less of a gap than that, where as Shinedown only seems to come over here when they're doing something like this, they rarely seem to want to do a headline set on their own over here where as BSC and Halestorm put in the effort and do the work, so Halestorm should definitely have been main support on this.

Not too looking forward to seeing Shinedown again if I'm honest, as you say both the talking and the backing track is distracting as hell.

In fact, supposedly last night BSC's Chris Robertson took a little dig at Shinedown when Black Stone Cherry had technical difficulties and he said "Everything we do here is 100% live, we don't use backing tracks or anything like that"
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Old 03-02-2016, 13:46
Glawster2002
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Exactly! Halestorm play a set here somewhere almost every 8 or so months, sometimes even less of a gap than that, where as Shinedown only seems to come over here when they're doing something like this, they rarely seem to want to do a headline set on their own over here where as BSC and Halestorm put in the effort and do the work, so Halestorm should definitely have been main support on this.

Not too looking forward to seeing Shinedown again if I'm honest, as you say both the talking and the backing track is distracting as hell.

In fact, supposedly last night BSC's Chris Robertson took a little dig at Shinedown when Black Stone Cherry had technical difficulties and he said "Everything we do here is 100% live, we don't use backing tracks or anything like that"
I think that might have been tongue-in-cheek, though, because BSC have said in the past Shinedown were a great influence on them when they were getting started.

As for Download we will definitely be seeing Halestorm, no matter what, Shinedown depends on scheduling...

I see that Babymetal are playing Download France on Saturday 11th June, so it wouldn't surprise me if they're added to the UK bill as well. I am surprised, though, there hasn't been any more announcements about who is playing.
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Old 03-02-2016, 20:09
ags_rule
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I saw Halestorm in a small venue here in NI, the Limelight, only holds about a thousand people, I think. Great show!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8q93rGBbp70
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Old 03-02-2016, 20:50
ShotDownInFlame
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I see that Babymetal are playing Download France on Saturday 11th June, so it wouldn't surprise me if they're added to the UK bill as well. I am surprised, though, there hasn't been any more announcements about who is playing.
Andy Copping (who books Download UK, not Download France) said he'd never book Babymetal as long as he was the festival booker, he could be lying but I dunno he seemed pretty damn aggressive about how much he thought they were beneath the festival.

As for DL Paris, Korn as a headliner? What a pisstake
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Old 04-02-2016, 10:33
Glawster2002
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Andy Copping (who books Download UK, not Download France) said he'd never book Babymetal as long as he was the festival booker, he could be lying but I dunno he seemed pretty damn aggressive about how much he thought they were beneath the festival.

As for DL Paris, Korn as a headliner? What a pisstake
And yet, ironically, he has long complained about the lack of potential headliners coming through...
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Old 04-02-2016, 14:20
Soupietwist
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Holy Prog! I've just listened to the new Dream Theatre album, all 2 hours of it, it's completely bonkers - even by DT standards!
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Old 05-02-2016, 01:16
ShotDownInFlame
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Just got back from Carnival of Madness - got there bang on door opening and managed to get my way into the Black Stone Cherry meet and greet John Fred and Jon (the drummer and bassist) were both lovely and very happy to have a quick word, where as Ben and Chris just signed shit without really saying anything other than "Hi", which was fine, I'd assumed they were saving their voices for the gig or something.

But anyway, as for the gig itself; Highly Suspect were a bit bland - good musicianship but the vocals left a lot to desire personally. Halestorm, again, they should have been higher up. They were just SO strong, the entire band was firing on all cylinders, Lzzy's voice was in top form, Arejay did a nice little drum solo which highlighted his showmanship and Joe's guitar solos sounded damn good.

And now we come to the low point of the night - firstly wtf Shinedown were thinking having a 20 odd minute "Meditation Lesson" as a build up their set is beyond me, because it left the entirety of Wembley baffled and laughing/cringing. The new songs sounded great but he clearly mimed the chorus to Diamond Eyes, and as Glawster said that distracted me for the rest of their set because I was always wary of whether or not he was actually singing. Fortunately I got so behind State of My Head that I can't call it a bad set, it just wasn't very good.

Black Stone Cherry however, completely owned it. Borderline gig may have been better because of the intimacy advantage but this set had a nice few surprises like "Ghost of Floyd Collins", "Yeah Man", Lzzy Hale coming on for Peace Is Free, a couple of new songs and then finishing up on an Ace of Spades cover? Yep, Black Stone Cherry deserve all the success they get
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Old 05-02-2016, 09:08
deadmancarl
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Just got back from Carnival of Madness - got there bang on door opening and managed to get my way into the Black Stone Cherry meet and greet John Fred and Jon (the drummer and bassist) were both lovely and very happy to have a quick word, where as Ben and Chris just signed shit without really saying anything other than "Hi", which was fine, I'd assumed they were saving their voices for the gig or something.

But anyway, as for the gig itself; Highly Suspect were a bit bland - good musicianship but the vocals left a lot to desire personally. Halestorm, again, they should have been higher up. They were just SO strong, the entire band was firing on all cylinders, Lzzy's voice was in top form, Arejay did a nice little drum solo which highlighted his showmanship and Joe's guitar solos sounded damn good.

And now we come to the low point of the night - firstly wtf Shinedown were thinking having a 20 odd minute "Meditation Lesson" as a build up their set is beyond me, because it left the entirety of Wembley baffled and laughing/cringing. The new songs sounded great but he clearly mimed the chorus to Diamond Eyes, and as Glawster said that distracted me for the rest of their set because I was always wary of whether or not he was actually singing. Fortunately I got so behind State of My Head that I can't call it a bad set, it just wasn't very good.

Black Stone Cherry however, completely owned it. Borderline gig may have been better because of the intimacy advantage but this set had a nice few surprises like "Ghost of Floyd Collins", "Yeah Man", Lzzy Hale coming on for Peace Is Free, a couple of new songs and then finishing up on an Ace of Spades cover? Yep, Black Stone Cherry deserve all the success they get
Its funny how different people see things. I agree with you on Highly suspect and Halestorm who I thought where the clearest band to hear, especially the vocals (I was sat up quite high on the side so this might have had an effect on the sound).

That meditation stuff was just wrong, and the people sitting next to me where asking what is going on.

I really enjoyed the Shinedown set and this was the set that I was least looking forward to, especially having read the comments above and only really getting into the band in the last 6 months.
I agree they talk/waste too much time especially compared to Halestorm who go from song to song with very little delay. And there were very obvious times where you could hear the backing track.

Black Stone Cherry starting well, but I was finding it hard to hear the lyrics as Chris sounded quite muffled, and I discovered that even though I have all of their albums I don't know the tracks that well so found the middle section a little flat, but the last few sounds did sound good.

Apart from Highly Suspect, I am sure I will go and see all 3 live again but for Shinedown and BSC I would hope they have a good support acts to really make me go.
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Old 05-02-2016, 09:57
ShotDownInFlame
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Its funny how different people see things. I agree with you on Highly suspect and Halestorm who I thought where the clearest band to hear, especially the vocals (I was sat up quite high on the side so this might have had an effect on the sound).

That meditation stuff was just wrong, and the people sitting next to me where asking what is going on.

I really enjoyed the Shinedown set and this was the set that I was least looking forward to, especially having read the comments above and only really getting into the band in the last 6 months.
I agree they talk/waste too much time especially compared to Halestorm who go from song to song with very little delay. And there were very obvious times where you could hear the backing track.

Black Stone Cherry starting well, but I was finding it hard to hear the lyrics as Chris sounded quite muffled, and I discovered that even though I have all of their albums I don't know the tracks that well so found the middle section a little flat, but the last few sounds did sound good.

Apart from Highly Suspect, I am sure I will go and see all 3 live again but for Shinedown and BSC I would hope they have a good support acts to really make me go.
I genuinely thought I had dreamt that meditation stuff, it was just SO surreal I can't even comprehend wtf they were thinking there. The thing is I did enjoy the set for all it's flaws (which there were plenty of) especially as I thought the rendition of "State of My Head" with all the lights in the air was one of the cooler moments of the entire night. Didn't care much for the speeches though, the speeches and the meditation make me think Shinedown are either master trolls or they take themselves far too seriously.

As for BSC, I had no issues hearing Chris (other than that one time he messed up Soul Creek), I do agree that the middle of the set with "Ghost of Floyd Collins", "Yeah Man", the drum solo, "In Our Dreams", "Things My Father Said" and "The Rambler" should have been executed better though, they needed some tunes the casual audience would have recognized rather than just deep cuts for the die-hards like me. I mean thats 2 deep cuts back to back, then a drum solo, then a new track, then a ballad, then a previously unheard of ballad all one after the other, so I don't blame you for thinking the middle dragged, even if I personally loved it, I can understand why others would have issues with it.
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Old 05-02-2016, 11:59
deadmancarl
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I liked the drum solo but then I normally do at shows.

It did feel that having "Things My Father Said" and "The Rambler" together was a bad idea as it slowed things up a little too much especially for a brand new track. they could have done with one of the higher tempo tracks in between.

As for shinedown, I was surpirsed by the amount of people, wearing their mechandise, as most of us here (3 people ) had agreed that they are not as well known in UK as the other 2.
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Old 05-02-2016, 12:26
deadmancarl
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I was listening to Planet Rock and they 3 of them where at the show last night and said they would give the show to Shinedown.
Especially for the way Brent sounded. Which as much as it sounded good, how much was backing track that gave it that sound
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Old 05-02-2016, 14:51
ShotDownInFlame
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I was listening to Planet Rock and they 3 of them where at the show last night and said they would give the show to Shinedown.
Especially for the way Brent sounded. Which as much as it sounded good, how much was backing track that gave it that sound
I think Shinedown - in terms of reception - had the advantage of not playing over here anywhere near as much as the other 2. So while BSC and Halestorm were slaying, Shinedown still had an almost "novelty" factor to their set.

Although I'm surprised they rated Shinedown so highly because of the way Brett sounded, if anything Brett lip synching at all should drop them down a few points. To be honest, I'm baffled why he chose to lip synch during the chorus of Diamond Eyes of all things, that was quite simple in comparison the some of the stuff he actually did sing.
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Old 05-02-2016, 17:58
deadmancarl
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I think Shinedown - in terms of reception - had the advantage of not playing over here anywhere near as much as the other 2. So while BSC and Halestorm were slaying, Shinedown still had an almost "novelty" factor to their set.

Although I'm surprised they rated Shinedown so highly because of the way Brett sounded, if anything Brett lip synching at all should drop them down a few points. To be honest, I'm baffled why he chose to lip synch during the chorus of Diamond Eyes of all things, that was quite simple in comparison the some of the stuff he actually did sing.
From where I was I couldn't tell that Brett wasn't singing, but I could hear and tell the backing vocals at times.
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Old 05-02-2016, 23:03
dodger0703
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Went to see Skunk Anansie last night, they were fantastic.
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Old 07-02-2016, 21:03
ShotDownInFlame
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Download Festival just updated their line up:

http://d3sn2e09bpjt2d.cloudfront.net...nnoucement.jpg

Leave it to Andy Copping to turn Download into a year of mostly utter trite pop-punk the one time I book tickets bang on the minute they go on sale Never again

The only bands I'm fussed about are the headliners (obviously), Nightwish, Shinedown, Rival Sons, Halestorm, Monster Truck, Skindred, Billy Talent and Saxon - and of course those are all clash-dependent (no way Saxon DON'T clash with either Nightwish or Maiden so that's them out).

I can take or leave bands like Megadeth and Disturbed, in comparison to the rest of the line-up they're quite strong but I think that says more about the quality of the line-up than the quality of them.
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Old 08-02-2016, 09:37
Glawster2002
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Download Festival just updated their line up:

http://d3sn2e09bpjt2d.cloudfront.net...nnoucement.jpg

Leave it to Andy Copping to turn Download into a year of mostly utter trite pop-punk the one time I book tickets bang on the minute they go on sale Never again

The only bands I'm fussed about are the headliners (obviously), Nightwish, Shinedown, Rival Sons, Halestorm, Monster Truck, Skindred, Billy Talent and Saxon - and of course those are all clash-dependent (no way Saxon DON'T clash with either Nightwish or Maiden so that's them out).

I can take or leave bands like Megadeth and Disturbed, in comparison to the rest of the line-up they're quite strong but I think that says more about the quality of the line-up than the quality of them.
This is the first time I've been to Download for the full three days, in the past there has often been a good one day lineup but with the three headliners it was a no-brainer for me this year.

The same as you, apart from the bands you've highlighted, Skindred, Nightwish, Rival Sons, etc, although I'd ass in Delain as well, there isn't much.

I find it ironic that Andy won't book Babymetal but is happy to book Alien Ant Farm...
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Old 08-02-2016, 16:23
ShotDownInFlame
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This is the first time I've been to Download for the full three days, in the past there has often been a good one day lineup but with the three headliners it was a no-brainer for me this year.

The same as you, apart from the bands you've highlighted, Skindred, Nightwish, Rival Sons, etc, although I'd ass in Delain as well, there isn't much.

I find it ironic that Andy won't book Babymetal but is happy to book Alien Ant Farm...
I've heard good things about Delain but I get this feeling they probably clash with either Halestorm or Monster Truck.

As for Babymetal, I get this feeling they could well make an early appearance on the Friday main stage now. Supposedly Babymetal and One Ok Rock are being sold to festivals as part of a "bundle package" type deal, and One OK Rock has been confirmed for Download, plus Babymetal are playing Download France on Saturday so it'd make sense for them to do the UK edition on Friday or Sunday.
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Old 08-02-2016, 16:26
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Wow Alien Ant Farm is still a thing?
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Old 08-02-2016, 19:14
TheTruth1983
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Just discovered this blog. The guy has reviewed an insane amount of forgotten 1980 hard rock/heavy metal so you all might enjoy it.

https://playitloudforever.wordpress.com/
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Old 09-02-2016, 09:24
Glawster2002
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I've heard good things about Delain but I get this feeling they probably clash with either Halestorm or Monster Truck.

As for Babymetal, I get this feeling they could well make an early appearance on the Friday main stage now. Supposedly Babymetal and One Ok Rock are being sold to festivals as part of a "bundle package" type deal, and One OK Rock has been confirmed for Download, plus Babymetal are playing Download France on Saturday so it'd make sense for them to do the UK edition on Friday or Sunday.
I've seen Delain many times over the last six years or so and, as I've see Halestorm and Monster Tuck as well, that would be an annoying clash. On balance I think Delain would win, though.

On a positive note, with Delain, Halestorm, and Nightwish, all playing there is certainly going to be more than one token female singer over the weekend.

If they do play, I hope Babymetal are on the Friday as that is by far the weakest day for me. It is ironic that for me the third stage on Sunday, Saxon, Ghost, Gojira, Electric Wizard, and Tremonti, is arguably stronger than any stage on Friday bar Rammstein..
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Old 09-02-2016, 14:15
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I've seen Delain many times over the last six years or so and, as I've see Halestorm and Monster Tuck as well, that would be an annoying clash. On balance I think Delain would win, though.

On a positive note, with Delain, Halestorm, and Nightwish, all playing there is certainly going to be more than one token female singer over the weekend.

If they do play, I hope Babymetal are on the Friday as that is by far the weakest day for me. It is ironic that for me the third stage on Sunday, Saxon, Ghost, Gojira, Electric Wizard, and Tremonti, is arguably stronger than any stage on Friday bar Rammstein..
I entirely agree about the tent on Sunday being stronger than anything Friday has (bar Rammstein ofc), it's ridiculous, Saxon play venues like Brixton Academy just like Korn, and unlike Korn they sell those venues out, so by that logic Saxon should be (at least) 4th down on Main, and again, in Hellfest France, Ghost are literally 1 position off headlining the entire festival... where as here they've been put in some random tent! The band positioning is utterly all over the place this year, small bands are getting huge slots like Korn and NOFX while fairly big deal bands are being put in tents, I have no idea what Andy is thinking.
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