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Enjoyed the weekend. Was plenty busy again on saturday, great crowds for all the bands really.

I'm thinking of getting a resale ticket for this, haven't seen Opeth in a few years now. I've a few mates headed but the prospect of getting stuck seated next to a gobshite for 80 bucks is really unappealing to me and will 100% ruin the show.

I picked up a ticket for Amsterdam. A few friends are planning on making it so should be good craic. Didn't think they'd ever be back on the road so will be glad to see them live again.

I've played in bands for over 20 years now and can't really see myself stopping. We don't get to meet up and jam as much as we used to in any of my bands but we're all seasoned enough now to keep working away and get a few shows a year. It's always a great laugh when we do meet up and we fall back into the swing of it in a few mins. Would be nice to get more music released but these things always take time and people have family and work taking up so much of their time.

As for not loving some of the aspects, I've learned to try and enjoy the gigs even if they aren't always the best show of your life. Sure long drives and bad crowds can be a bit of a slog. I just treat them as a night out with mates and I pretty much always have a great time. As for equipment lugging around, just get the new light stuff. No real need to be dragging around mad heavy tube heads and massive cabs if you don't want to. You can get super lightweight tiny heads and light weight cabs that will get you through any gig and sound great. I barley ever take out my big amps now. It's nice to have them but they aren't a requirement like they used to be.

Anyway I plan to keep going until I can't, wouldn't know what to do if I didn't have some gigs or jamming to look forward to!

Had a great time on Friday. Sallys was hopping and there was a great buzz in the Roisin aswell. Was only around for the night but looks like the rest of the weekend went well also.Great to see Galway doing well and hope to catch it again next year.

Had a great time at this, the crowd was going pretty crazy for the bands which you love to see. Seems like a thriving community for the heavy stuff in there. I was playing with Trenchknife, which was a blast, the PA nearly got taken out from moshing at one stage but it was all good! Was in from the first band until Congenital Abnormalities but we had to hit to the road then. I'd seen Fraught and Ancient Malice in the last few weeks but would have liked to stick around if I could have.

This should be a fun one. Playing with Trenchknife but looking forward to catching the other bands aswell, tidy lineup.

I've always been a bigger fan of adding strings rather than just downtuning. I like to be able to play in standard and have the option of lower notes too. I've been playing 7's for so long it doesn't really feel weird. It was tricky to get used to the 8 string at first when I went that route. I always found it trickier playing the middle strings and getting hung up rather than losing what I was doing on the lower extra strings.

I actually find it harder doing things on long baritone necks now as big chord stretches feel rotten on the lower frets. A 7 string with a normal enough scale length is nice and I don't think you really need the extra length for the low strings if you use the right gauge string.

Currently I have a V30 loaded Kitty Hawk 4x12 that I run a modded Jet City JCA22h head into. Other rig is an Orange CR120 head that runs through a Barefaced Radical 2x12 (also with V30's). I recently purchased a Radial Bigshot ABY to run the two amps together for gigs (one guitar in the band). I'm hoping this will fatten my overall sound by blending the amps. Any tips from any of ye for doing this? Cheers.

I know a few people that do this. You did a good step by getting the ABY so you can get rid of ground hum or phase problems, loads of guys don't and end up having problems at gigs even if they don't in the jam room. I would aim to have a good idea of what you are trying to achieve with the 2 amps, as in going cleaner with one for clarity and good distortion for heaviness in the other or having one for a mid heavy sound. Are you looking for a stereo spread? Will you be using just one amp at times and bringing the 2nd in for impact for example? Just throwing 2 amps on stage on it's own won't sound bigger by default you need to have goals for a sound and learn steps towards achieving them.

Saw them in Dolans the other night. It was an enjoyable show, great energy and playing from the band. I thought it would have been a little busier (not that there was a bad crowd) but I'd imagine a lot of their crowd went to electric picnic.

I was toying with the idea of going. Would have enjoyed it, especially with the Rory tunes. It's just too awkward to get to Cork and back on the same night on public transport. Don't know any mates that were doing the drive.

Some of the screen stuff had that AI sheen to it, you know when everything is a bit too glossy. Also some of it looked like that AI turn a picture into a video thing with slight movement added. Not sure if was AI or just Steve Harris having awful taste. The idea is decent but you could tell there was more money/effort gone into some of the songs screens than others.

Enjoyed the gig. Really fantastic setlist which I'd managed to stay away from having spoiled for me so it was great seeing what they played. Loved the idea of the new visual backgrounds. Sound was a bit iffy, not much clarity at times but I guess you have to deal with that outdoors and in a big venue.

Felt like the band weren't on top form. Lots of mistakes and a few were very noticeable. Surprised to see Adrian smith having a few as he's usually very solid. Felt a bit like Bruce's voice was a bit strained at times but not bad for his age and he was still tearing around the stage for the 2 hours.

Had never been to Malahide for a gig before. I liked the vibe of a big outdoor gig but there was a few things that could have been improved. The jacks only being at the back was stupid, you had to walk all the way back through the crowd to use the toilets. The queues were bad at times too like right before Maiden were starting. More toilets or even urinals at the front aswell would have helped. It was a bit slow getting in and out due to traffic but I'd heard it was bad beforehand so was expecting it.

Also what's the story with them not playing Always look on the Bright side of Life after the gig? Love walking away after seeing them with everyone singing and whistling along.

Should be good fun. Looking forward to it, been a while since I was at a good metal show in pharmacia. Great line-up this year. It's such a busy weekend though, I know a good few mates who won't be able to make it this year.
Also looks like tickets are €20, it's not on the poster which is kind of annoying. Pet peeve of mine when that kind of thing is left off the posters.

They had a keys player offstage for years