Yup.
At the Orange Peel. Awesome venue! Except for the potentially deadly central air circulation device. That sucker must have a 6 foot radius. If it came down, it would wipe out half the audience. The layout is a little fucked up. Looks like an old middle school gym or something. I disliked the bar location until I realized there was a smaller bar to the right. So, the big bar kept everyone away from the smaller one. I ended up there; and, that spot was definitely the best view and close to to some good pale ale. I highly recommend visiting the Orange Peel, friendly and beautiful. But if you drink, tie one on before you get there. Imports for $3.75 are pricey by my standards, maybe not for urbanites. It really is a great place though; so, I felt ok supporting them.
Knoxville and Asheville are about the same distance for me, around 2 hours 30 minutes.
If anyone out there hasn't seen Sonic Youth this is the show to catch. I know some people have been saying its not up to par and for them I say: Read it again!

From Ballard's _Super-Cannes_ "I passed a tracked excavator digging a trench along the corinche road, laying the land lines for the cable television contractor. Rather than sit on their balconies with an evening drink, enjoying one of the world's most striking views, the owners of these exclusive villas preferred to slump in the dark of their rompus rooms, watching Hitchcock films and English league football."

I'll have to say the more I think about what Be your own Pet had to say the more I like them too. Just the fact that I'm still thinking about it is more than I can say for most bands.

Drop me an email if somebody good is at to the Tennessee Theater another great venue.

Agreed about beer: the 9:30 Club sells $6.00 Amstel Lights, $9.00 Boddington's Pub Ale. The Orange Peel sounds like a little patch of heaven.

I still can't believe that everyone in Be Your Own Pet is around 18 years old. They really seem beyond that in years, and their first full length is really solid, 16 songs in 30-odd minutes. Really good stuff. I loved that at my show they tried to figure out what they played during the previous show and didn't want to repeat too much.

So, yeah, totally, check out the tour. SY didn't exactly "rock" for most of the set (don't get me wrong: I liked the material and I was into it, but it felt more like a listening show than a slam dancing show... but then they played Eric's Trip in the first encore and that was fucking it!)

Eric: the email in your profile is accurate, right? I'll be coming through on the 81 at some point in the next few weeks to pick up a car I'm buying from someone in northern Georgia. A rendezvous sounds like it's in order.

Nine fucking dollars, Nine fucking dollars, wait a minute ... NINE FUCKING DOLLARS! Thats the the reason they shouldn't do that shit is because eventially just the thought of it is going to be enough to make someone jump across the bar, fix a brew, hand $2.50 and when they ask for more tell them to fuck off.

Free Beer

quote:

Justy says: Eric: the email in your profile is accurate, right? I'll be coming through on the 81 at some point in the next few weeks to pick up a car I'm buying from someone in northern Georgia. A rendezvous sounds like it's in order.

Yup. Let me know. Johnson City is probably the coolest place off I-81 (an hour for me to get to I-81 anyway I cut it but that is a normal drive to do anything more than pick up groceries) besides Abingdon (very interesting town) on the way to Knoxville.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Eric,

Last Saturday, I caught the Twilight Singers, Afterhours, and (insert first name here) Kline(?).

Fucking awesome show. Kline was a nonentity in comparison to the others. An Austin wanker with an art-school haircut and poor personal hygiene. His only redeeming factors were his expert use of loop machines which he used to create his own backing tracks while performing, and his girlfriend. I assume it was his girlfriend. She was hot. But I digress. (In fairness, Kline will eventually have a great voice, and as he showed when he played second rhythm guit for the Singers for a few songs, he is a very good guitarist. He's just too in love with his own histrionics at the moment for my taste.)

Afterhours was insanely good. An Italian rock band with huge amounts of energy and charisma. If these guys had been around in the 80s, they would have ruled the metal scene. Their studio album does them no justice. See them live if you ever have the chance. You won't regret it. As an aside, two things are apparent when you look at these guys: 1) They're definitely European; they have that ultimate Euro-trash decadence look about them, and 2) the price of cocaine probably doubled in the US the moment they flew into the country.

Twilight Singers were awesome, though in a different way than the last time I saw them play. Probably driven to keep up with Afterhours' opening act, they hit harder, faster, in the beginning of the set. A little noisier, a little more raw than before. The drummer is still amazing, and this time I got to tell him so and shake his hand after the show. Tremendous musician, that guy.

Not as bad as I thought the pictures would turn out. I kept forgetting to hold the little flash charge button down long enough.


Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore at the Orange Peel, Asheville, NC, 6-17-06

quote:

Originally posted by Splitcoil: Last Saturday, I caught the Twilight Singers

Cool, I just found out they're playing here in early august. Made my day, that did. Saw Afghan Whigs once and that was one of the best concerts ever. Been listening to "Powder Burns" a lot lately, just as good as the earlier ones.

The game Japan/Brazil was in connection with a performance by Gocoo. Japanese drums - probably not really traditional. Reminded me of the Zatoichi and Akira soundtracks. Pretty good.

quote:

Originally posted by englishvoodoo:

quote:

Originally posted by Splitcoil: Last Saturday, I caught the Twilight Singers

Cool, I just found out they're playing here in early august. Made my day, that did. Saw Afghan Whigs once and that was one of the best concerts ever. Been listening to "Powder Burns" a lot lately, just as good as the earlier ones.

Yeah, it's good stuff. I wouldn't miss them if you have the opportunity to see them. I can't believe I forgot to mention that Mark Lanegan showed up during the encore for three or four songs, too. Haven't seen Lanegan since I saw him with the Trees back in '92, and he's changed a lot since then. Still the same stage personality, though. I don't know if he's touring with them, or if it was just a Seattle thing. He was on the bill for the show, so... you never know.

quote:

Originally posted by Hasa:

Lovely-

Last Friday, the 16th, Sting, in Terra Vibe, Malakassa, Greece.

A failure imo, not 'cause of Sting and the band, but of the place it was held, it's actually a big clearing in a small forest. And there was such a dissapointingly small crowd and there weren't any speakers but on the stage. And he only played for an hour and twenty. I got there for free but if I had paid €67 I would want my money back.
But he and the three-member band he had played well. A rock version of a few Police and personal songs.









Good thing was that I saw the area for the first time and prepared myself for the Roger Waters gig that was two days after.

quote:

Originally posted by Hasa:
The game Japan/Brazil was in connection with a performance by Gocoo. Japanese drums - probably not really traditional. Reminded me of the Zatoichi and Akira soundtracks. Pretty good.

Gocoo is pretty cool; they did some work on the Matrix Reloaded soundtrack and with Juno Reactor on the Hotaka single.

Roger Waters, 18th of June, Terra Vibe, Malakassa, Greece.

One of the best experiences I had. Ever. Of any kind.
The day had started excellent. My friend from Thessaloniki was here for the concert, so we spend the day together. But when we left for Malakassa, 37km out of Athens, she started putting a huge effort to ruin it for me. First it was my driving, then the parking position I found, the water was too expensive and so on! Ah, parking... There was a 2,5km qeue just for the exit of the highway for the place. We waited there for something like 15 minutes and then I fled. I had an... epiphany! As we passed the exit we saw that they had started parking on the highway, facing away of the exit, away of Malakassa. I drove to the next exit and turned round, driving back towards Athens again. We parked on the highway facing Athens just on the hight of the exit, wallked under the highway and saw the hell that was on the other side. Thousands of cars having nowhere to go. A friend had to walk 50 minutes from where they had parked. We only walked 15.
And then we were there. The concert was supposed to start at 21:00, the plan was to be there at 20:00 the latest. With the traffic and the waiting for said friend we entered at 21:05 hearing that he had already begun. The place packed. And then after we had waited for my friends 30 minutes we seperated as we wanted to get closer, and so we did.















He played almost everything! 2 hours and 40 minutes. The sound systen was amazing, there were sounds and effects coming from right, left behind, everywhere. The music was so loud yet so clear. The band excellent!

I heared there were 28.000 people. We started walking back but returned. The crowed was so thick you couldn't move, walking at an almost not moving pace. We sat on the grass, eating souvlaki and dronking beer for almost an hour then headed off and there was still a very long qeue of cars waiting to leave. We walked by them, and had no problem leaving as we were already on the highway, facing Athens. I'm so proud of the parking spot I selected

If he's coming near you and you can go, go!!! It's a must!

That's when we first tried leaving.

O2 Wireless festival, London, on June 23rd 2006

In no specific order...


Cute milkshake stand.


Ceiling of the XFM tent.


Mrs ArkanGL, before the first gig


Speakers in the sky.


Metric


Metric


Metric


Mojave 3


Mojave 3


Mojave 3


Terry Callier


The Flaming Lips


The Flaming Lips


The Flaming Lips


The Flaming Lips


The Flaming Lips


The Flaming Lips


Sweeping confetti after the Flaming Lips.


Crowd before Massive Attack.


Massive Attack


Massive Attack


Massive Attack (Horace Andy)


Massive Attack


Massive Attack (Terry Callier)


A nice festival :

Metric was a pleasant surprise.
Mojave 3 was insignificant.
Terry Callier impressed us by having a Buena Vista social Club vibe.
The Flaming Lips made us feel warm and happy inside (and they rocked).
Massive Attack blasted our ears with a wall of bass.

We couldn't see DJ Shadow

Nice pictures!
I guess i should get to writing my graspop review.

Yes you should.

Graspop Metal Meeting, day 1 (friday 23rd)

After an amusing trainride to the festival (being on the train with a bunch of irish dudes who brought plenty of beer and were eager to share), and a long search through the camping area for that one empty spot left, i made it to the festival area. The day was hot, dry and dusty so i decided to take it fairly slow.

Darkane was the first band i went to see: stomping metal with influences from thrash metal thrown in. I actually saw these guys live once before, also on Graspop many years ago shortly after the release of their first album. I remember them rocking fairly hard back then. And indeed, the band played tight and had some pretty cool songs. On the other hand, issues with the sound caused some of the solo work to be drowned out which was unfortunate. However, a great start for sure.

Next up was Trivium. They are one of those new metal bands coming out of the US, and apparently fairly popular. Unlike other new US-metal they aren't all emo and shit, despite some modern influences they mostly rip old school style. It was a pretty decent show, and some of the guitar playing was impressive (more so when you know the frontman is only 18 years young). However nothing in the set really made a lasting impression. So while it was certainly good, i'm not about to run out and get their albums. Maybe my taste in metal is just too damn old fashioned

There wasn't anything else to see for a while, so we stocked up on food and drink tickets and just sat arround enjoying cool drinks for a while. There was this band called Edguy on the main stage, but i thought they were cheesy and boring so i didn't pay too much attention.

My friend wanted to see 36 Crazyfists, so i tagged along. They're Alaskan (note to Arkan, they're from Anchorage) dudes falling in that above mentioned category of new american metal. Their metalcore wasn't at all interesting though.

After an extremely greasy bratwurst with plenty of onions and sauce, i went to check out some of the shops in the market-area of the festival. Since i couldn't find anything interesting there i went on to the podium where small local acts were performing. I was right on time to see the belgian grindcore-act Leng Tch'e blasting away on stage. They were mainly... uhm... very loud. But there were some groovy tunes in there, so i'll probably check their album out at some point.

Next up was Soilwork. I saw these swedes last year on Graspop as well. They left a pretty good impression on me then, so i was looking forward to seeing them again. Some issues with the drums falling apart slowed down their set a bit, but apart from that it was all good. Excellent playing, great interaction with the crowd and allround kick-ass metal. Cool show this.

I rushed back to the mainstage to get a good spot for watching Lacuna Coil: goth-rock drenched in a warm southern atmosphere. You'd think it'd be perfect for the festival, yeah? Well... not really. I mean, the music is great, but it's more a band for a smaller and darker stage and a more compact sound. They were good (specially once the sound was properly balanced and the bass stopped dominating over the guitars), but i've seen them do much better on smaller venues. Anwyay, i didn't watch their entire set because i wanted to get to the next stage early to see:

Moonspell! I got a spot very near the stage. Allthough, looking back that might not have been the best place to be. The band played a mainly heavy set so the crowd went rather mental. I got hit rather badly three times. One nasty push in the back, a crowdsurfer wacking me in the ear and a blow to head from behind which almost knocked me out for a moment. I wasn't even in the moshpit!
Anyway, band was absolutely stellar. Having just released their new album Memorial they of course focussed most of their setlist on that. They openend up with In Memoriam (as intro), Finisterra and Momento Mori in one go; they then mixed it up with some older songs: Opium (from Irreligous), WolfHeart and Alma Mater (both from Wolfheart). Some more songs of the new album followed: Blood Tells, At The Image Of Pain, Proliferation and Sanguine; and closed the gig with their anthem Full Moon Madness (of Irreligious, again).
All in all that was a pretty awesome set, although i guess some more old songs would've been nice too. Moonspell always plays flawless, the sound was great and the lighting was well adapted to the red theme and dark mood of the last album. My only real gripe (next getting hit from all sides) is that a band like Moonspell really should get more time to play then just 50 minutes.

After Moonspell, i dragged my tired and beaten body out of the tent to a) get something to drink and b) watch the headliner Whitesnake. Apparently they're old hardrock heroes, but i know absolutely nothing of their music. Their set was sort of ok... old hardrock is fun. What isn't fun though is long and boring solos. Sure, you can play the guitar well, but i don't need to hear your guitar masturbation for seven minutes... and drum solos get boring even faster. About halfway through their set i sat down, exhausted and getting bored. It wasn't one of my better ideas. Some drunk didn't see me sitting in his path to the beer-tent, and tried to walk all over my back. Fucking painfull, specially after the above mentioned treatment during Moonspell.
So, tired, cold and in pain i decided to call it a night and head back to try and find my tent on the huge camping site. Even though i wanted to see either Satyricon or Die Krupps closing up on both side-stages, i just couldn't find any more engery to. Thus ends day one.

Cool review!

More text would enhance mine.
And more images could do yours some good

yeah i know. Unfortunatly i can't take my camera to graspop. It looks too "professional", which oddly enough they only judge on the size of the body and not on the strength of the lens.