HIT THE DECK FESTIVAL

Sunday April 17th 2011
HIT THE DECK FESTIVAL
Nottingham Rock City

This was my first festival since V97, the day after which I went into hospital to have my gall bladder out.  Aimee was a little baby and Luke was a toddler at the time ... this time they were in charge.

The day started early as Steve and I had to pop over to Macclesfield to pick up a hire car.  The reason for this being that Aimee had a friend joining us and Luke had six, meaning we had one too many bodies to fit in two normal sized cars.  Luke had done a collection amongst his friends and raised enough money to hire a very nice Dodge Journey for the day ... and I got to drive it.

We came back home and collected the troops and headed off to Nottingham.  I must admit I'm not a big fan of the place ... well not the town itself, but driving around it ... I find it far too confusing.  I also made the mistake of following Steve and the boys when I'd have got there quicker on my own.

We eventually got to the car park, where I was shocked to find that it was going to cost us £13 per car to park up for the day.  Not a lot we could do about that though.

Then we joined a very long queue only to discover we had to get in another queue first - this would be to get our wristbands, which in turn would gain us entry into all of the venues.  Luckily for us, when we got our wristbands we skillfully side stepped security and went straight inside instead of being sent around to the (even longer) queue.

Once inside Aimee and her friend Jess went into the main stage area and got straight to the front - they decided to stay there for the rest of the day, and in fact didn't move all day.  I had no clue at this point if Luke and his friends were inside, but I knew I didn't have to worry about them.

Now to be honest, Steve and I didn't watch very many bands.  We mainly went along for the kids anyway and as they both had friends with them we managed to have a bit of time to ourselves.

I'll put a full set list towards the end just for historical correctness but I can only comment on the bands I saw, the first of which being We Are Fiction.  I had never heard of them but they were first on the main stage and there wasn't much of a crowd, but they weren't bad.  We hung about and got the girls drinks before Tomorrow Brings Giants came on - I thought they were OK but Steve wasn't keen.  We sat at the back for a bit and then went in search of food.

We went downstairs and found someone selling home made toastie sandwiches for extortionate prices, but we were very hungry and so endulged ourselves.  I was quite shattered at this point so I bobbed back to Aimee just to let her know I was going for a sleep in the car.  This just shows my age I suppose but I really wanted to see Deaf Havana, We Are The Ocean and The Blackout who were on later.

So Steve and I went back to the hire car, reclined our seats and had a bit of a doze.  I set my alarm to go off 15 minutes before Deaf Havana were due on but I was awake before then anyway so we went back.  I saw a chap snogging a girl against a lamp post and I thought to myself that he looked very familiar ... as soon as Deaf Havana came on I realised it was James Veck-Gilodi, the lead singer.  Duh!

We caught the end of Exit Ten's set and I thought they were really good.  I found Aimee during the break to see if she needed a drink, but security had been handing out free bottles of water so she was OK.  Deaf Havana were brilliant ... hence me using their picture as a header.  They were definitely my favourites of the day and I'm sure Aimee will be looking out to see if they tour.  She did get quite a lot on camera here >> Aimee's Videography 

We stayed to see We Are The Ocean who were excellent as ever, but then I had a cracking headache and so had to leave the room.  I was very disappointed to miss the Blackout but we're seeing them again so it wasn't too bad.  As Steve and I returned to the car I passed Aled from Kids in Glass Houses, although I was too shy to speak to him.  I sent Aimee a text to tell her I'd seen him and she was convinced I'd seen someone who looked like him - she was so convinced I was wrong she checked to see what he'd put on Twitter and then grudgingly had to admit I was right!

Once in the car, Steve checked on his iPhone to see if there was anywhere nearby we could go to eat, and discovered TGI Fridays was very close by and was open.  We passed a convenience store on the way which sold painkillers, much to my delight.  We managed to kill some time by having a meal and drinks and then went back to the car.

Aimee and Jess finally moved from the main stage once the Blackout had finished, in the hopes of seeing Young Guns in the Basement.  They did get in eventually but didn't have a great view.  Not surprisingly Aimee has managed to find tickets to see them later in the year too.  Once Young Guns had finished they came back to the car ... Aimee and Jess that is, not the Young Guns!  They were starving but the only thing we had was a bag of chicken crisps and lots of fizzy pop ... not too well prepared there unfortunately.

Luke and his friends weren't too far behind - they had been in to watch Underoath but apparently got bored and came out after 10 minutes.  This meant we could miss the main lot of traffic and made a relatively quick getaway.

All in all it had been a good, if expensive, day.  The kids all had a great time, and Steve and I got to spend the day together for a change.  It was tiring, but well worth it.

The full timetable is below :

Rock City Main Stage

22:00-23:00   Underoath (right)
20:00-21:00   The Blackout
18:45-19:30   We Are The Ocean
17:45-18:15   Deaf Havana
16:45-17:15   Exit Ten
15:45-16:15   Hyro Da Hero
14:45-15:15   Summerlin
13:45-14:15   Tomorrow Bring Giants
12:45-13:15   We Are Fiction

Rock City Basement

21:00-22:00   Young Guns (right)
19:30-20:15   My Passion
18:15-18:45   The Swellers
17:15-17:45   Lightsgoblue
16:15-16:45   Save Your Breath
15:15-15:45   Atlas & I
14:15-14:45   Rio
13:15-13:45   Kiss Corona
12:30-12:55   Evarose

Stealth

21:30-22:00   Sylosis (right)
20:40-21:10   Devil Sold His Soul
19:15-19:45   Bleed From Within
18:15-18:45   While She Sleeps
17:15-17:45   Hawk Eyes (formally Chickenhawk)
16:15-16:45   Blitz Kids
15:15-15:45   Turbowolf
14:15-14:45   James Cleaver Quintet
13:15-13:45   Cars On Fire
12:30-12:55   Against The Flood

Rescue Rooms

21:00-22:00   Cancer Bats (right)
19:45-20:30   Comeback Kid
18:45-19:15   The Ghost Inside
17:45-18:15   Kvelertak
16:45-17:15   Gravemaker
15:45-16:15   Social Suicide
14:45-15:15   Feed The Rhino
13:45-14:15   Hospitals
12:45-13:15   Galleons

Well there you have it ... my first festival in 14 years.  I think it would have been better had it been an outdoor event, but that's only because it was a nice warm day.  A good time was had by all.

My next event is on Thursday May 5th and its Twin Atlantic in Manchester, which should be good.

TTFN x

THE BLACKOUT plus HYRO DA HERO and SWELLERS

Friday April 8th 2011
THE BLACKOUT plus HYRO DA HERO and SWELLERS
Manchester Academy 2

I have been a bit lax in updating my blog lately, no real reason, just being lazy.  Its not like I haven't had any spare time - I'm currently at the end of my second long weekend.  Last week was Easter and then we had Friday off for William and Kate's Wedding, which was quite lovely, and today is Mayday.

We had a lovely barbecue at the house yesterday for Mum's 71st birthday and my sister Sally and her brood came along too - most enjoyable.  Not sure I should have given Mum that huge bottle of Lambrini though!

Aaanyway ... back to the gig ... Luke and Aimee both joined me for this one - we all really like the Blackout, so much so that we're going to see them again later in the year.  Not sure if I've mentioned it before but Aimee has her name printed in the album sleeve for Hope as she bought the album before it was even made.

The queue was already huge when we got to the Academy, and we stood behind a couple of orange-legged girls who confirmed that we were indeed in the right queue.  They had massive sunglasses on, which I decided were only to protect their eyes from the bright glow of their own fake tanned lower halves.

As the crowd started moving forward we spotted something on fire on the grass next to us ... its amazing what people will do during a few minutes of boredom!

The organisation inside wasn't up to much and we seemed to join the middle of the crowd going in, which basically meant we had inadvertently jumped the queue ... oops.  Once inside we went to the front and I took up my usual position down the left, along with the rest of the middle aged parents!

First on were the Swellers from Michigan.  They are a melodic punk band and they got the gig off to a good start.

I have never seen so many floating condoms in such a small space - I don't know how these youngsters can afford to waste them!  Kids ..
I enjoyed the Swellers anyway, especially the very handsome chap on the right hand side ... sorry I don't know his name!

Next on stage was Hyro Da Hero - he's the rapper that appears on Higher and Higher by the Blackout. 

I wasn't sure what I'd think of him at first - I do like some rap but I'd not heard any of Hyro's stuff before.  I needn't have worried though as he was really good and he really got the audience jumping.  Aimee's not a rap fan normally but she liked him too - even bought his album when we got home.  He and his band had loads of energy and everybody loved his set.

He also came out later and joined the Blackout for Higher and Higher.

The Blackout appeared to raucous screams and applause, as always.

There's not an awful lot I can say about them that I haven't already said.  They are always very entertaining and they always put on a great show.  As ever Aimee did a bit of recording for your viewing pleasure >> Aimee's Videography

Aimee has persuaded me that we need to see them again (twice) later in the year ... guess that makes us fans then.

I'll close this entry there as I still have another one to write before I'm up to date!

TTFN x