More Live Music in England

It has been a crazy month of live music! 25th May I went to see the Flight of the Conchords at Wembly Arena - a band that needs no introduction. Their music was great! They had the audience laughing for the whole two hours. Although I thought their between songs 'banter' was a bit... unimaginative at times. On the whole though, an awesome show!

FOTC - Intro

FOTC - Business Time

FOTC - Woo a Lady

FOTC - Boom

Next up - 6th June Rage Against the Machine played a free concert in Finsbury Park to celebrate their Christmas number 1 in the UK charts... What? But RATM haven't released an album in years. Well some guy decided he had had enough 'pop bullshit' and did something about it. The winner of Simon Cowells x-factor had won the Christmas Number 1 four years running. So this guy chose the most anti-pop, anti-authoritarian song he could think of - Rage's 'Killing in the name'. He created a facebook group urging people to buy the song - it went viral! To say thanks to all those who participated in the campaign, Rage played a free concert in London. They also donated all the proceeds from the download of the track to charity - what nice guys huh? To read more about the campaign, and triumphant victory, check out the BBC news report.

RATM - Intro

RATM - Killing in the Name

Less than a week later - the 11th June, I filled my backpack with wet-wipes, insect repellent, deodorant, toilet paper, a few clothes, a sleeping bag, a bedroll, my borrowed tent and headed to Download Festival. A three day rock music extravaganza. Out of all the European summer music festivals, download is probably the most 'hardcore' - think metal, mohawks, mullets, tattoos and combat boots. Not right up my alley, but closer than the more 'pop' festivals. 2010 boasted an epic line-up! Heading into the festival, my must-see's were Them Crooked Vultures, AC/DC, Deftones, Rage Against the Machine (yes, again!), Flyleaf, Coheed and Cambria, Switchfoot, Slash, Billy Idol, Stone Temple Pilots, Motorhead and Aerosmith. Other big names at the festival were Killswitch Engage, 36 Crazyfists, Megadeath, Five Finger Death Punch, Lamb of God, Atreyu, Hell Yeah, Bullet for My Valentine, 30 Seconds to Mars, HIM, Stone Sour, Airbourne... I could go on...

There are too many highlights to mention! But extra special highlights were being literally 15 meters away from Josh Homme and Dave Grohl (Them Crooked Vultures) - close enough to see the sweat on Dave's forehead. Again, watching Brian Johnson and Angus Young (AC/DC) rip up the stage from about 20m away. That lasted about two songs until I was so bruised and battered I had to crowd surf my way out. Some not so good moments - it started hosing down on Sunday afternoon, meaning a long treck back to the tent through the mud to get dry and return with a jacket. I ended up missing Motorhead and some of the Stone Temple Pilots - which was a bit of a shame. Overall though, such a good weekend! A hundred times better than I expected... and I had high expectations. I think a summer music festival is a definite 'must do' for anyone living in Europe.

And on to the videos...

AC/DC - Rock n Roll...	AC/DC -Thunderstr...	AC/DC - Dirty Deed...	TCV - Noone Loves...
Flyleaf - Chasm	Flyleaf - Missing	Flyleaf - I'm So Sick	Deftones - Shove it
Deftones - Change	RATM - Know You...	RATM - Bombtrack	RATM - Calm Like...
STP - Trippin' On...	Aerosmith - Walk T...	Aerosmith - Love in...	Aerosmith - I dont w...
	Slash - Sweet Child...	Billy Idol - White W...

Friday the 25th June some friends from work and I headed to Hyde Park for Hard Rock Calling - a music festival with some big name bands. First up were The Hives, a Swedish band with one of the most entertaining front-men I have ever seen. This guy was hilarious! Good music too. Next up a unfriendly Ben Harper. He came, he played songs that only the die hard fans knew, then he left. The music was good, but he didn't even play even one of his well known tracks, and there was no crowd interaction at all. So all up, a bit of a disappointment. There was one redeeming point though, Eddie Vedder joined him on stage and they did a cover of Queen's Under Pressure - awesome!!

Hives - Hate to Say

Hives - Talking Boll

Ben Harper - Up to Y..

Finally, Pearl Jam hit the stage, opening with an awesome 'Given to Fly'. The set was insane, so many great songs. They are definitely one of the best bands I have ever seen live. They played for about 2.5 hours, which is quite rare at a festival, returning to the stage for two encores. These guys rock.

P.J. - Given To Fly	P.J. - Corduroy	P.J. - Better Man	P.J. - Alive
P.J. - Nothingman	P.J. - Do The Evolution	P.J. - Elderly Woman...	P.J. - Unknown Thought
P.J. - Black	P.J. - Just Breathe	P.J. - The Fixer	P.J. - Yellow Ledbetter

In other news, I went to the iconic Wimbledon last Saturday. I had a great day of tennis, sunshine, strawberries & cream, relaxing... Was a perfect way to spend the day.