Messages

Was at the event, golden circle - absolutely incredible.  Tool, Slayer & Metallica easily top 3 bands of the day. Though I can't get my head around Metallica not doing their Sabbra Cadabra tune in favour of Jonny Blade!

Booing of the Disturbed singer was phenomenal - you could see it shook him a little initially and i was glad to be a part of it (mind blowing he was even there, never mind him being successful)! Missed Rival Sons (who the fuck even are they anyway?) and LoG (not a fan) but mostly caught everything else - save for missing a few songs due to toilet and drink breaks!

Cool to see the supergroups people like Jake E. Lee, Bettencourt, KK Downing jamming with people like the Tool guys, Tom Morello & big hitters like Steven Tyler & Ronnie Wood.

Anthrax may have played ok, but 2 songs?! C'mon - worst value of the day. Zakk Wylde was once again awful for Pantera - really did them no favours, he simply doesn't treat the material with the respect it deserves. I'd never watch Pantera again, pity Down or CoC weren't on the bill instead. Bands like Gojira & Mastodon did far better than Pantera in my opinion. Brann Dailor hung out in the crowd for a good portion of the later show and I also chatted to Blaze Bailey at the very end - lovely dudes, happy to chat.

4th time seeing Sabbath and 2nd time seeing Ozzy (first time for both was at Ozzfest '98 at MK bowl) - performance wise, certainly not their best - but, given the gravity of the event, it was just special (and very emotional for some people, lots of tears etc.) - not from me though, just happy to see Sabbath for one last time!

Watched some highlights from the stream from a torrent yesterday - decent, but cannot do the real thing justice. Vibe/crowd energy was maybe the best at a gig I've ever experienced. No casuals, no mongs, no idiots, no wipeouts - lots of global fans, just there for music. (It was a far cry from the Maiden & Pantera shows this year in Ireland!)

All things considered it was pretty well run - fast change overs, free water (lots of it in the smoking area!), reasonable queues for food/drink/merch given the numbers (from my perspective at the Golden Circle accessible stand drink/food area). Only time it kinda felt bad was trying to get home - not enough trains, taxis or buses - had to walk into the centre of Birmingham to get a taxi.

A 2 day event may have worked and given artists more time, but I think it would have lacked the energy/intensity of the actual day - hard to describe how frantic and fun it was. Bands could only play their best stuff and seemed like they REALLY wanted to be there - made it special.

I agree the stream or videos don't seem to do the atmosphere justice, nor the sound. Metallica sounded pretty good in reality but the recording doesn't sound half as good. I suppose when something is mixed for a certain setting and to come out of a certain system, it can't be mixed again to perfection in a few hours.

Food queues were a shitshow around me, I waited 45/50 minutes only to be told they had run out of food, this was at around 5 o clock!

We walked 20 minutes and then used Bolt to get a taxi but otherwise it was a kip to get out of. Entry was a breeze to be fair, 25 minutes in a taxi from the city and probably around 5 minutes from getting out of the taxi & into our seats just as Mastodon started.

The area around the stadium is ramshackle enough even today never mind 60 years ago when they were growing up there.

I see a lot of people mention the crowd from the stream. Maybe it didn't translate but the crowd was very very loud in person.

I see a lot of people mention the crowd from the stream. Maybe it didn't translate but the crowd was very very loud in person.

How loud was the booing for that draiman cunt?

It was pretty loud to be fair! Kind of kept going from the moment he was mentioned until the song actually started. Be interesting to see the response he gets here later on in the year as I think the Irish would be even more pro-Palestine than the Brits.

Just had a quick look at the streamed version of Goodbye To Romance, they didn't edit out his voice breaking during it surprisingly. It was pretty sad in person too but to be honest the whole weekend was a nice celebration. The city was buzzing, Sabbath was everywhere and a lot of metal celebrities could be found wandering round the city. We met Gary Holt, Kerry King (inc. very serious security man), Paul Bostaph & Johan Hegg.

Watched a few bits, mainly just the covers tbh. Thought Mastodon doing Supernaut was great. Pleasantly surprised by Anthrax, Metallica, Zachtera (yes, I'm as shocked as anyone to be saying that) and Gojira especislly, none of whom I'd usually be interested in. Slayer wwre grand but jesus Tom has gone very old. Alice in Chains were pretty dull. The supergroups/drum offs can do one (especially that goon from Blink 182), but indeed Nuno killed it, and the big surprises vocally were Lizzy Hale and the Ugly Kid Joe guy. Billy Corgan was the unintentional comic relief. Awful.

Not gonna lie, it was sad see Ozzy the way he is, but he didn't do too badly given his condition. I'd say that's it now, retirement, and tbh Id say he hasnt much time left. I'm glad they got to close the book with the original lineup. Regardless of what you think of their performance last night, they really are the originators of so much. Shame we didn't get them ending with the song Black Sabbath but such is life.

Whitfield Crane was great, Billy Corgan definitely was not. Steven Tylers slot also came across very well in person aswell.

Not sure if the livestream was edited, but in reality Ozzy was well fucked by the end of his own set. I actually thought Sabbath weren't going to come out but Sharon must have given him a boot up the hole.

I see a lot of people mention the crowd from the stream. Maybe it didn't translate but the crowd was very very loud in person.

David Draiman was there? I take it there were no Palestinian speeches so 

Haven't seen any clips yet, but Nuno seems to be gaining a bit of cred lately. One of his newer guitar solos was all the talk of the guitar internet a summer or two ago. He's some player.

Yea he got booed to fuck and then made a balls of Shot In The Dark.

Was a very enjoyable day overall. Ozzy sang much better than I expected, considering the state he's in.
Tool were excellent...so were slayer.enjoyed the supergroups.Nuno was shit hot all day.

Nuno is a consummate professional, he put in the longest shift all day and it was pitch perfect. Fair play to him. Pity the sound was horrific for Jake E Lee and he got lumped with David Draiman who went down like a lead balloon.

Just back at the hotel meself. Slayer pretty much blew the place apart.

GNR covered Never Say Die which was a bit outside the box. Axl made a bit of a balls of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.

Ozzy shook as hell. Managed OK given the circumstances, Bill Ward however probably should have just done one song. Probably would have been better to mix in some of the supergroup stuff with the Sabbath set. I hope Nuno Bettencourt gets a few bob for the shift he put in during them bits.

Really enjoyed the gig, maiden are always a solid show. Set list was fantastic. First time at malahide and it's a cool spot. I got an event bus in so there wasn't much walking or pricking around with having to get public transport which was nice for a change.

Was kinda funny seeing the band make mistakes, they're usually so on point. Guess they're human after all! New drummer wasn't fantastic - he absolutely destroyed a few bits by slowing down to a snails pace. You could see Adrian getting annoyed at it in Wasted Years and he flubbed the solo as a result.

Would love to see this show indoors. I think the production suffered from the large outside stage, no fault of the band there though.

Wasted Years sounded notably off pace, especially the intro part and even when it comes back to that part during the song. Ironic that Bruce made the click track comment earlier in the night.

I felt it wasn't a patch on the last show in Dublin, or the Legacy show in Belfast, but still for a bunch of pensioners they are still a great live act.

The drummer wasn't too bad, but totally missing the Nicko feel. I wouldn't be a massive Nicko fan but he had his own style & groove which was totally absent.

There's definitely something strange in Ireland where the bigger the event, the bigger the draw is. Slane was always a good example, I know loads that always went but wouldn't have bothered going to Foo Fighters or whoever if they were playing in the Olympia.

Noticed a lot of videos on Tiktok of young people panicing to get tickets and it made me realise there is a whole new generation who never got to see Metallica. My aul fella first seen them in the Top Hat, and I first seen them in the RDS in 2003 but he has 2 younger kids now of 11 & 16 who would chop their arms off to go. Pretty big deal for him to be able to bring them aswell.

First two albums are great, but once the Tik Tok goth money came in the quality dipped leaving a couple of decent songs. There's definitely worse folks could be listening too.

I'm still surprised he hasn't done something with Bjorn & Benny from Abba yet.

Interestingly, I came across a video on TikTok of some "ghestie" reviewing the album and every song I liked she rated lower, and the complete dogshit ones she loved, so I assume I'm just not the target market any more!

Cenotaph in particular gets on my nerves for some reason

I quite like Ghost, think they peaked with Meliora but I still liked Prequelle and the last one.

This is much more of a struggle. Listened a few times and really don't feel like putting it on again.

Zakk does overplay a lot of stuff, but Dimebag also did a lot of extra divebombs and pinch harmonics live too so probably isn't too far of the mark.

Had a look at the merch as I was coming in - €80 for a hoodie and €45 for a shirt must be a new record.

You can thank the greedy pricks from live nation aka ticketmaster for that since they demand a cut of every single piece of merch sold by bands in the venue same with the Olympia and plenty of other venues around Dublin. Prices were the same at the Wu-Tang and the Ice Cube / Cypress Hill gigs in 2023. I am nearly sure hoodies were even 80 at the Unholy alliance tour back in 06. I remember being shocked by the merch prices back then.

Wanted to see KP but had to wait for one of my mates who was working since I couldn't transfer the ticket and no ins / outs once you get inside. Got in about 15 mins before Pantera started and all the merch was gone every single Pantera item was sold out. Don't really care as I remember the merch all being shite at the 2023 shows stupid block capital back prints on everything "for the fans and the brothers" etc.

Good show but some amount of pricks in the crowd mainly people constantly pushing trying to get further up in the crowd when clearly there was no room. So annoying and it's why smaller shows are so much better. Great to hear Floods as they only added that to set after the last time I saw them.

I think Phil got mixed up saying the show was the first to sell out as I don't think the Dublin show ever actually did sell out it just got fucked by the dynamic pricing. That's the biggest crowd I have ever seen in the 3 arena for a show that wasn't sold out. Once you hit past as far as the seats went out it was almost impossible to get any closer to the stage.

Correct about the pricks in the crowd. Never felt as wedged in there and there was some clown trying to push through every 2 minutes. We weren't even near the front.

Thought Pantera were grand. Cowboys is the only album I really love so setlist wasn't ideal for me, more of a box ticking exercise as I was minus 1 years old the last time they were here. 

Just reading on another forum, a lad was in the queue for 90 minutes for presale tickets this morning, all that was left was "Ultimate side stage experience" tickets at £2932.50... each

It looked like that but if you kept refreshing the page after you got in, random seats would pop up. None of them cheap mind you.

I got 2 on Tuesday with a hotel package, wasn't cheap but overall very little more than people were paying for tickets alone. I managed to get 2 more for my Dad in the Download presale yesterday but when I went to checkout it must have cross referenced phone numbers to the other account I used and failed to checkout saying I had already bought the maximum amount of tickets for the event.

Don't have time to get to many gigs, just nice to say you were at this, hopefully

If it's not a cheeky question what did that skin you?

€1700 for 2 decent enough seated tickets & 2 nights in a 4 star in Birmingham.

Not cheap but people have given that and more for tickets alone.

Just reading on another forum, a lad was in the queue for 90 minutes for presale tickets this morning, all that was left was "Ultimate side stage experience" tickets at £2932.50... each

It looked like that but if you kept refreshing the page after you got in, random seats would pop up. None of them cheap mind you.

I got 2 on Tuesday with a hotel package, wasn't cheap but overall very little more than people were paying for tickets alone. I managed to get 2 more for my Dad in the Download presale yesterday but when I went to checkout it must have cross referenced phone numbers to the other account I used and failed to checkout saying I had already bought the maximum amount of tickets for the event.

Don't have time to get to many gigs, just nice to say you were at this, hopefully