Pub crawling, 2010

I posted ages ago about what pub crawling is supposed to be about, it’s basic rules, why it is not healthy and also and more relevant, why it is such a good fun, so I’ll go straight to the point: 10 pubs, 10 pints, 5 hours. Friends, at least one (if so, preferably a good one): lock, stock & barrel. Saturday, January 30th, Reading.

The night before: Monks Retreat, O’Neills, After Dark and Déjà vu. Great fun, a million aftershock shots (more or less), beer and a stamp on your wrist.

Pre-Crawl: up and running, the first half Fosters of the day: just what you need to get nice and easy into the required mood. This one was in The Turks. Apparently one of the oldest pubs in Reading, it is quite a funny one: divided in two halves, the closest one to the main door is really cozy, with all these leather sofas, a chimney, the Victorian decoration and all the classics a boozer like that is supposed to have. The other half is more a sports bar, with its plasma TVs, its lack of character and – you got it – its football. Not memorable, but good enough for a promising start.

Food dose: Pizza Express. Another half of Peroni, but, on the top of that, nothing relevant to say about the place, neither in the positive or the negative side: I’m quite sure you’ve been in the sort of place before. Just Okish.

Pint 1 (Fosters): The Retreat. I already posted about this incredible pub (ages ago, before I moved to London, when I still posted in Spanish), so I won’t repeat here how good it is, and how fond both Gilberto (my crawling mate) and myself of the place we are. In a nutshell: we were alone there, meaning ALONE, with a jukebox that played Eric Clapton, Bruce Springsteen (twice), Queen and The Cream. I don’t think I’ve felt much better than at that time in a long long time (right, maybe last Sunday – cheeky bastard, don’t remind me that one!)

Pint 2 (Becks): The Lyndhurst. This is a nice gastropub with a really friendly barman… it wouldn’t bring me big memories if it weren’t for that night Richard sung and kissed that Spanglish folk singer – a big classic in crawling history. A bit pricey (3.10 in Reading is a bit too much), but relaxing environment altogether. No jukebox, though.

Pint 3 (Tuborg): Back of Beyond. One of my favourite pubs in Reading, and by a mile the best Wetherspoons in town. Cheap, they keep it simple and they keep it right: another 30 minutes of good conversation, and the first symptoms of crawling starting to be noticeable. Nothing worrisome so far. So far.

Pint 4 (Becks): The Warwick. A former traditional pub, for some reason it became a Thai pub at some point. Quite pointless, I have to say: it has lost most of its charming. Still, not that we care too much at that point.

Not sure if I’m missing a pub at this point. Maybe Gilbert, if he reads the post, may help!

Pint 5 (I think it is the 5th, Fosters): Cooper Arms. You cannot have a proper binge without some hooligans and a proper brawl or two. In this case, it was a group of BNP members (or something like that – you don’t wear skinhead clothes and a boxing tattoo with St George flag for nothing) against a group of Welsh… when we started to realize what was going on the empty pint glasses started to fly (one just 5 cm far away from my head), the knuckles started to find noses on their way, and the big arseholes started to crash pints to use them as cutting stuff. I have not ever seen anything of the like, even close to this. Obviously, we ran as fast as we could, not without waiting in the door checking how a group of yobs destroy a pub… really depressing, really, but a part of the local folklore as well.

BTW, apparently it is not the first thing something like this happens... they will not see me around over there.

Pint 6 and 7 (Tuborg and Fosters), plus a vodka redbull: Monks Retreat. Another Weatherspoon pub, not as quiet and nice as Back of Beyond (it actually stinks sometimes), but with a much nicer dose of chicks and teenagers warming the night up. We had a couple of random conversations with a friend of Gilbert who rang some friends as she was a bit scared about what may be coming up – no big reason to be worried, after the fight we were quite sobered up.

Pint 8 (Becks): The Bugle. For me, the discovery of the night. A little pub hidden in the middle of Friar Street (one of Reading’s main high streets), almost everybody inside was in the bad side of the thirties, quite drunk, but really friendly all of them. Really tatty pub with a lovely jukebox, with a guy aged over 70 playing the same Rolling Stone’s song once and another again… until we got control of it. Not that I remember all of them, but Pearl Jam and ACDC sounded for sure there
After that we tried to get into a pub where all our friends were – we weren’t allowed in, so I won’t even mention its name. Just on our defence: we weren’t really that drunk, we were really friendly with the bouncer (he also was, really), and the pub didn’t look like such a good place.

Pints 9 and 10 (Red Guinness): at O’neills, the only place in Reading where Red Guinness and terrible music meet each other. We met Cris, Olga, Raquel and some other friends over there and we stayed for a long time, really not sure how long, but long for sure. Anyway, after the 10 pints threshold it is not a pub crawl anymore, so better stop the tale here… just to say it was again Déjà vu Club where we finished the night, but you may better ask someone else for details about it.

Brilliant weekend in Reading, as usual – courtesy of old and new friends, and of course, of everlasting Gilberto. Counting the days down…

The mighty Purple Turtle

9 Gun Street,Reading RG1 2JR

I just realized there is no entry on my blog about what it is, altogether with Pavlov’s Dog and the Afterdark, the pub/club that better memories brings me every single time I think about these old good times in Reading… and also about these not-that-old good times as well, with my brother several times (his famous cheeky countdown pulling a friend with a dinner at stake) or even more recently – last Sunday, for instance, in one of the most silly but at the same times delightful binges I’ve enjoyed lastly. Yes, I’m obviously talking about the Purple Turtle. Or just the Turtle. Or the Purple.

Some say that before God said ‘Let there be the Oracle’, only the Purple existed on Reading. It may well be an exaggeration, but the true fact is that everybody I know who lived there ages ago, they don’t remember too much but this pub. And very likely if it wasn’t for the fact that I go back quite frequently over there, that could be very likely my case as well – there I met very good friends for the first time, there I pulled (or there I was pulled, I have to say) by my Welsh ex-girlfriend, and there I went for tequilas with Cherra for at least a million and one times. A memorable place indeed, at least on my little drunkard memorabilia.

So, what is all this about? What makes this place so special, so fucking special? Well, call me a creep, but, you know what? This places closes at 4 am. At 3 am, on Sundays. If you’ve ever gone out in Reading, you may well know that this is late, big time. Full stop. There are alternatives, obviously, but the time I used to live there these were constrained to Mango, a dodgy and moody club demanding a 10 quid cover for the sake of listening bad electronic music and be surrounded by sweating loser. Fair enough, I’ve been there several times (I’m a creep, or a loser then?), but you really cannot compare. Music in the Purple is on the Metal side, with Metallica being a big local favourite, but you may enjoy more relaxing tunes and even cheesy electronic rhythms some times. This all refers to the main floor, where you can also find a juke box so everybody can have his pick of the day, buy a bunch of roses and seduce that little princess dress as a Lolita Goth over there. Whatever.

Second big hit – the terrace, with its gas heaters on winter. Always squashed, I’m not a big fan of it, I have to say – as when you go there, there is no stop: you just stay there. Given there’s no music in the outside, this tends to evolve into a initially interesting conversation that easily decays into drunkards grunting. Which is fine, but improvable with some music and dancing. Still, the terrace is pretty cool, gotta say.

Third one – the people. Trendiest ones in Reading, really it is one of the few places where you feel you are in Camden, Shoreditch or Kentish Town in London. Big gay community (apparently, not that I’m good spotting that sort of connotation), sometimes easygoing punks, everything is very modern but with a good attitude and friendliness that you may miss in the big city. Another point for the Turtle, there.

Fourth? If you are a crazy drum&bass chum, you may enjoy the rave sessions they have on the basement sometimes. Gigs, metal, but mainly electronic craziness is what you smell over there… quite filthy, not my cup of tea, but still another option to enjoy the place differently.

Flaws? Well, drinks are far more expensive than Reading’s average – this is, pint over 3 quid, double spirit over 5, shots over 3. Not a big issue if you benchmark the place with London clubs, but also, if you perform this comparison opening until 4, playing hard rock or getting cool people inside don’t score that well. So let’s say it is expensive.

And finally, the fact that you can’t get in after 2. Given the AfterDark – my favourite club in Reading by far- closes at 2.30, and they are not just one beside each other, really it becomes more and more complicated to have a perfect night, as you would never leave the After before you are forced to by the big bouncers. This is quite likely the reason I re-discovered the place last Sunday, after a while without enjoying it. And that is also the reason I’m going to Reading today Friday instead of tomorrow Saturday, for instance he he he.

PS: there is another Purple in Camden I’ve had the opportunity to enjoy as well (a further one in Oxford, I didn’t taste that one). Material for another post, I guess…

Discovering Hackney: The Royal Oak

73 Columbia Road, London, E2 7RG

I have to be greatful to @wildebees for a certain range of stuff, but introducing me to this pub is definitely not the lesser of them – at all. A really nice eastern London pub deprived of most of the trendiness that brings my opinion down some times in that hood, but also keeping some character on it. I’ve just came from it and believe my friend, after a knackering weekend in Reading including a crazy tequila Sunday night at the Purple (remember that pub crawl? It seems like ages ago...) and an early return to London on early Monday morning straightaway to the office, it is just what I needed.

Columbia Road is located in Tower Hamlets borough and it is quite famous in London because of it Sunday’s Flower Market. There are also plenty of shops on the high street that at some point may make you think you are in Central London, surrounding Carnaby Street or any other big shopping spot. Not at all, and you will discover so as soon as you pay a careful look to the stuff they sell: overprized, maybe, but good quality and rare sometimes. A nice road to explore if looking for a different present to give away to someone you care about.

Sunday's flower market

Obviously, East London, as a friend told me once, is now the real Central London. Meaning this that the are may not be particularly nice, but it is full of people with good money on their pockets and, even more importantly, willing to spoil themselves. As a result, do not expect to pay less than 3.50 for a drink in The Royal Oak – being this its main and only flaw. But the pub is worth it, trust me. For a stack of reasons, including…

First, it looks like one of these old pubs which has been kept and preserved nicely for a long time. Apparently it's in a between-the-wars style, but it really fits perfectly well with the Victorian surroundings... that is in the outside. In the inside, it is not that it looks (or smells) old – it is that you may spot this or that little pieces of furniture or decoration that indicate you that attention to detail is something the owner reckons his patrons value the most. You may spot old pictures and paintings altogether with new adds in like origami birds hung all around the place.

The vibe over there is really friendly – all professionals on their thirties looking for a nice conversation after work, but with the eastern flavour. Do not expect ties and suits here, but neither the sort of annoying arts student on his early twenties with such a big hunger for reaping the word apart. Just young common people looking for a little corner of enjoyment.

The drinks are quite standard: Guinness, Becks, John Smiths, Peroni… the usual suspects. The also serve a warm wine called ‘mulled wine’ – I had tried something similar in Germany, but not here in the UK. I quite liked it, although it is strong and expensive too… and not completely sure if they serve it through the year or just on the winter period. Food is apparently good enough - although I have to say I haven't tried it so far.

Music is nice, but at a fairly low volume. Again, this is a place for nice conversations, not for big clubbing nights or binge drinking. Still, I’ve read somewhere that clubbing nights on the weekends are big here – I cannot say, as I have just visited it twice, and both times were Tuesdays.

The structure of the pub is a square-shaped bar, with several tables surrounding it (quite busy all of them all the time) and most of the people taking advantage of the large bar to drink some good stuff. Not very big, and because of that and because it is quite popular it is better to avoid it on Thursdays, as it gets packed.

Definitely, a brilliant pub I will hopefully become a frequent patron of.

Welcome to Shoreditch: Cargo

83 Rivington St, London, EC2A 3A

Trying to be compliant with my personal 2010 purposes, let’s try to resurrect pintofcarlingplease.blogspot.com and make out of it that lovely little shelter for all these pubs in London you’d like to know about but you don’t because you are unsocial or a weirdo or because you are scared of big beer measures. Whatever.

So here we go. I went to the gym twice this week, I had salad for dinner also twice and I only had beer with my dinner once. I bought tickets for the theatre and for Opera, and also a flight for going back to Madrid in March. Writing in this blog is really the only pending issue in my ‘feel good’ list for the new year… it wasn’t that hard, really.

Next posts will be ideally cover Shoreditch based pubs. As you may or not know, I’ve recently moved to this trendy London area. No more Cricklewood / Kilburn dives, good bye crappy Jubilee line and welcome to a new life of flat sharing, student-like life comeback and overprized boozers. Welcome to Shoreditch, darling.

And first one to be reviewed, for no specific reason, is Cargo. Although a bit pretentious, I quite like this place, half-way a pub and club, in the hurt of Shoreditch… I discovered it for the first time last summer, while we repeatedly enjoyed its lovely terrace on those after work binges we used to have… true enough, Cesar Tomate was still around, and London was a sparking city where every day was a good option for sipping some lager nectar until late nite.

Its terrace is indeed one of its biggest attractions. Gas heaters on winter, wide wooden benches and tables for enjoying a quiet conversation (I remember Jason helped me out to schedule my Japan trip over there), chill out tunes as background and a consistently trendy young audience, everybody in love and in pink, it looked some times more like what you would expect at Ibiza than like a hidden dive in the dirtiest area of London. Bansky-like graffiti in the walls helped to overcome that easily committed mistake, and also makes you give it a final and conclusive thought as a refreshing beer goes through your throat: yes, London is a nice place to live in.

Later on, winter came and all that crap didn’t make any sense anymore. But still the pub is quite cool inside, based under a bridge and with a Fabric look like on it - the classic brick vaults and arches with neon lights all around the place. The music tends to be electronic, and for my taste might be slightly aloud most of the time, pounding your ears a little too much and making conversation sometimes a bit difficult. Nice place then for a handover between the early pubs and the night club, but not for some quiet drinks in a mid week binge anymore.

People hanging around there? Well – the classic arty trendy Shoreditch crew, with sporadic visits of city boys. Everybody is wearing clothes worth more than 200 pounds, which obviously mirrors how much to be ‘alternative’ is synonym of mainstream and posh nowadays. I include myself on the sort of stupid people to be blamed for it – I cannot help it.

Nice as well is the live bands playing there. I saw The Drones last November, and it was one of the best examples of how a sold out gig should be: full, but comfortable. The organization maybe thought that not overpacking the place would be a good idea not only from a safety stand point, but also taking in consideration the enjoy of everybody paying about 10 quid for watching the band. So I can only recommend the venue, as the organization was good, the sound quality was flawless and the vibe they got was quite impressive, although I didn’t like the band itself too much – not my cup of tea, really.


Anyway, the area where gigs take place is also used for clubbing nights - which I think may be cool... I never went, I was put off by the massive queues I see when I go back home.


On the top of all that, drinks are a bit overpriced (that is a constant flaw of every single Shoreditch venue) at 3.50 the pint. Lager is Amstel, and you also have a couple of other draught beers plus a wide variety of bottled ones – being Budvar the best option hands down. They also serve food – advertised as Latin, but with burguers as main topic… WTF!” -, which might be an option on summer on the terrace – again, slightly more expensive than you would pay for somewhere else, but apparently the quality is good enough, which is saying more than you rally could about some other places in the area.


Recommended place, then, particularly on summer. The fact that is located at a 4 minute walk from my place obviously helps…

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everybody.

One of my purposes for 2010 is to revive this blog... let's see if I finally do so or not.

In the mean time, a cool quote for this time of the year:

Don't buy drugs. Become a pop star, and they give you them for free!

Love Actually (as spoken by rock singer Billy Mack, while talking to children in a Christmas related TV programme)

Be an artist, be Shunt

London Bridge, London, SE1 9RL

So far so good, no club has blown away me in such a way as Shunt did when some weeks ago I went there for a random Saturday night. I had heard about the place before, true, but you know how it works, you don’t believe everything you hear, people tend to go on the exaggeration side, and so on. But they were totally right. This place is amazing.

Shunt is located in London Bridge station. Nope, not besides, either close to. In. Inside the station, in its underbelly, completely hidden. Capisci? So follow the insider tip: as you cross the barriers in order to leave the tube station, if you follow the indications toward the train station you will find a small door with a bouncer besides it, checking IDs. There may be a small queue as well, depending at what time in the evening you get there. And that is it – a tiny door, and a bouncer. And £10 to get in. And a closing time at just 2.30 am, which is not late enough at all for the price. So it doesn’t seem tempting enough, let’s be fair.

But as soon as you get in, everything changes. The place is built up behind the station vaults, which means they have lot of space. Actually, they have a massive space available, and they make use of it all – just imagine Fabric, but with wider spaces and less people, and more corridor like instead of room like. Yes, you are getting it…

There is a very big corridor (about 8 m broad and about 10 m high) with small corridors/rooms on its sides, with several artistic performances on them, each one more different and more surprising. Actually, Shunt is not so much a club but an artists space, as you can easily perceive if you browse their website. All the shows and works change on a weekly basis, so you may be surprised with something new almost everytime you go there if you want.

After all those corridors, there are two massive rooms where the party takes place, and besides them there is an additional space used as a venue room, where gigs take place. It has even several stands with chairs where you may enjoy the gig from if you feel like doing it. The day we were there we didn’t pay a lot of attention to the bands, but I’ve read in several blogs that some good ones have performed there. So maybe it is a good point to check out from time to time who’s playing in order to make the experience completely rounded.

The big room has a pool table, a football table, a couple of pianos, and several tables and chairs scattered around the place. This is so big that you may have chairs and people chatting up or directly kissing and also people dancing, or just drinking. The place fits all. It has even a little terrace where you can show up your dancing skills, if you like that, or check out someone else’s.

A cooler place to pot balls? I don't think so...

And you can also walk through the infinite small corridors coming from this big room and discovering small places with small pieces of art work too.

On the negative side, they don’t have draught beer. They have cans, though, at £3.50, which is alright for a night spot. They also do cocktails, but they seemed a bit pricey for me… anyway, I’ve never been to much into the mojito way of life. They don’t accept debit cards, either, and you may have to queue at some point to go out to smoke a fag, if you are one of them. Finally, the music is quite eclectic, and from time to time I felt lost about what that was about. Trendy and alternative places have this, I’m afraid: they don’t do the Strokes or Bruce Springsteen, or any pop music, at all. Anybody’s perfect.

The main bar

The gigs room

And another negative point: you have to get there early enough. At 11 they close the doors, while you can stay inside, so going fairly earlier than that is compulsory. 9 is a good time to be in the door, but don’t risk to go much later than that unless you are up to a potential b plan.

A really different place, this Shunt. Maybe a bit too artistic, and maybe not the cup of tea for everybody, but always worth a visit. Or two.

PS: ah, I forgot it. Mixed toilets!!! :)

Download Festival: Donnington

Donnington Park is one of the most well-known motorbike racing parks in the world, although the first time I heard about it was also about music. Being myself just 15 years old I was drinking with some friends in Garage, one of my favourite pubs in Getafe, when they played in the TV Donnington’s 1991 Monsters of Rock video. Since then, I’ve thought without the slightest doubt that that one was the best gig ever – ACDC and Metallica leading it, playing one right after the other, and trying to prove who reigned the heavy metal scene at that time. The countless fans watching it also impacted me in the deepest way: 1.6 million people - believe it or not - enjoying the two best bands in the world at that time, and in what still today remains in the case of ACDC as their best recorded performance, at least in the Brian Johnson era.

So when a friend of mine here in London offered me a couple of weeks ago to go to Download Festival, in Donnington, in the VIP area for three days at the ridicule prize of £45 – for the WHOLE bloody weekend, Friday,Saturday and Sunday -, I obviously didn’t think it twice. And I can say it was the best festival I’ve ever been.

Donnington Park is 1h 30min far away from London by train, besides a very close to a small town called Castle Donnington – no need to say it has a castle on it -, an not too far away from Derby, another town lost in the middle of nowhere in Derbyshire. 85,000 tickets were sold for every day in the festival, which may give a clear insight of what a massive festival we are talking about. And the crude fact is that festivals in the UK have nothing to do with our little Spanish ones…

For instance, the fun fair rides. Russian Mountains, big wheels, bumper cars… well, all you can get in your hometown local fiestas, you get it in a festival like this one as well – I cannot even think about Glastonbury, which is even bigger. Plus a 24 h cinema. Plus a million food take-away shops, ranging from the classic beef burger to the pizza alike, Thai food, Mexican food, etc. Plus ‘the village’, an ad-hoc real village with more shops, t-shirts, tattoos, heavy metal paraphernalia… build up just for the three days festival. Plus the Guests area, where we met Korn’s bass player, and where you could chill out besides the main stage and listening to the show at the earlier hours of the day when you don’t feel bold enough for those crazy goths making annoying noise in the outside :).

Plus pints of beer priced at £3.50, without any queues because yes, those guys know how to organize a festival and they are pretty aware that queuing for an hour is not fun – here in Spain we have to learn so bloody much about that. Plus the brilliant idea consisting in giving you back 20p per glass returned: you didn’t return it, but as some people in the festival short of money would do it for you, picking them up from the grass, the obvious result is that the place remains tidy and clean and healthy enough. Just like an Spanish festival, don’t you think?

Plus a camping area with grass – yes, real grass, that lovely green thing. Plus a gigs arena with grass – yep, the very same green stuff. And clean toilets. And not-too-overcrowded showers.

Plus a Guinness bar :)



And allowance to get as much booze or food from the outside as you want – no glass permitted, though. And… fuck it. Enough is enough. In a word: Plus plus plus. I’ll be back next year, VIP or not.

There were four stages:

The main one

The second one (Lacuna Coil, The Prodigy)

The Tuborg one

And the Redbull one, which, by the way, we couldn't find in the whole weekend!! :)

About the music, the gigs I went to – there were 4 stages, so some painful decisions including missing Opeth, Chris Cornell and Motley Crue had to be taken…

Friday

Bring Me The Horizon

Punk metal, I didn’t know any of their songs but they were good enough for a warm up. 6/10.

Lacuna Coil

A fairly famous band in the metal-goth circle, I had been willing to watch these Italians for a while: I particularly like some of their melodic tunes. They sound a bit like Evanescence should sound if they weren't a shitty MTV con. They performed alright, although obviously the voice of the female singer - Cristina - didn’t get to the pitch she does in their records. I didn't know all the songs, so I guess my favourites ones are not the favourites of most of their fans... anyway, a fairly good gig. 7.5/10.

Limp Bitzkit

Everybody else insisted, and I suffered just half of the gig, after I decided to go to the guest area for a beer . I hate those guys, oh dear, how much I hate them, and they’re live performance is even more rubbish than their albums. 'Chandal metal' of the worst sort. 3/10.

Korn

Well, this is excelsior stuff. My first Korn gig, they really know their racket, these guys. Pretty aggressive metal, with machine head and fear factory they created a completely different sound that still today sounds fresh, as opposed to most Nu Metal bands. Jonathan Davis voice was perfect, and the band was just a trashing machine. I particularly loved the bagpipes moment, pretty emmotive too... anyway, pretty aggressive crowd as well in the front rows, but what the fuck, this is Korn! I will survive with a couple of bruises in my legs/head :) 8.5/10

Play attention at the mike in the picture LOL

Faith No More

The best gig of the festival, and one of the best I’ve ever been. Mr. Patton comeback was amazing, and even while I’m not a big fan of the band, they won me forever. Almost two hours of an incredible gig, I simply have no words, just say that absolutely everybody I spoke with on Saturday was pretty moved about it. 10/10.



Saturday

Devil Drivers

The other big thing in the festival, a personal recommendation from my friend Kennet. These guys are extreme metal on its best, and the circle pit they created with their last song will very likely appear in the Guinness Records. I jumped around for a while in the dancing area, in the circle, under the moshing crew, and after a while I realized I just couldn’t breath anymore. And at that point, they did the circle pit thing. And I joined it, and almost died, and had fun as I didn't have had in a metal concer for a while. Have a look how the circle pit thing was in the video, from the screens in the stage...



An incredible shot of adrenaline, and an experience I effortless recommend to everybody. At 13.30 pm in the morning LOL. 9/10

The Auteurs

A punk rock band formed by four young lads, melodic enough to pass the evening alright. 6.5/10

Dragonforce

Famous because of the Guitar Hero impossible to play track, this is classic heavy metal in the Helloween best tradition. As expected, they sounded technically perfect, and a bit soulless for mi taste. It remembered me my teen days, though. 7/10.


Pendulum

Another very good surprise, this weird band is right between the goth vibe and the drum&bass one. They are not rock, either dance… but they are good. Sometimes they remember the early prodigy, but more than that I cannot describe them, just listen a couple of tracks and decide by yourself. I'd be suprised if you don't like them. 8.5/10

Marylin Manson

The biggest deception ever. I’ve seen this guy three times before, and he was incredible every single time, so I don’t know what has happened since then, but guy, you were rubbish. Just three classics, and all the other songs from his last shitty album. No respect for his fans, sniffing over the stage and just pocketing the money and going somewhere else, like the Starfucker he is. Beautiful people and Dope show give him the 4/10, but really should be even less than that. 4/10

The Prodigy

They were pretty good in their comeback. With less pre-recorded stuff than I thought, their live gig is really a live thing, almost completely performed with guitars and other rock instruments. I was quite far away from the stage, but the partying vibe was so good, and the atmosphere so high, that I really didn’t care. 8.5/10

We are back!!!

Slipknot

I don’t get how they got to be the head of the main gigs day, but they didn’t deceive. I’m not a very big fan of this totally unmelodic band, but I reckon they have energy. Again, too far away from the stage, as 85K people were there at that time. Particularly memorable when they got everybody ducked first and jumping at the same time at the shout of ‘stand the fuck up’. A bit kiddy, but cool nevertheless. 7.5/10



Sunday

Tesla

A hard rock band I didn’t know at all and didn’t pay a lot of attention either. They didn’t sound too bad, though. 6/10

Skin

A classic British hard rock band, coming back after 10 years ago they decided to call it a day. They sounded very very well, as if they had never stopped it. 7/10

Black Stone Cherry

The other big discovery of the festival. This American guys make a rare mixture of metal, grunge and blues. They were very well accepted by everybody in Donnington, and they did a particularly touching show at some points, specially in the slower tunes. I recommend them, and hopefully I’ll have the chance to see them again when they come back to London on tour in October. 9/10.

You can count me in for the next one, guys

Journey

What can I say about this classic of the classics? They invented concepts as glam rock, power ballads and so many others, that even today you feel something special when you listen to one of their ballads. They were the classic formation but the singer, which by the way was fairly good. 8/10.

Dream Theatre

With Marilyn Manson, the other big deception. The singer voice sounded like shit and their virtuoso way of playing, with long tracks and long solos, didn’t get on well with the mood in the festival at that point. And it is a pity, as I really like the music they do.

And that was all, as I had to go back… I missed three classics after Dream Theatre: ZZ Top, WhiteSnake and Def Leppard. But you can’t get everything in live… so better take what you get!