**CANCELLED** Ozzy Osbourne/Judas Priest - 3 Arena

[Bogmetaller]

Who played guitar for Mastodon??

[Bogmetaller]

 

[Kollin]

Who played guitar for Mastodon??

Nick Johnston

[Neuromancer]

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.

[Emphyrio]

That's exactly the report I'm glad to have read. Just looking at the back stage stuff, current and past heroes, still like kids. Class. The dates and travel made it a no-go but I'd have paid 500 for that day out no problem.

[Mr Barlow]

Yeah man, I took a half day from work and watched the whole stream. It was whopper. Really great vibe and everyone seemed to be having a great time. Would have loved to be at it.

[Carnage]

I see it's on the stick now so I might give it a look over the next couple of days. I'm sure it's the Sharon-approved, autotuned, de-booed version but better than nothing.

[mk2glenn]

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.

[Mithrandir]

I'm glad it was better in person because any clips I've seen looked like my worst fucking nightmare!

[Paul keohane]

I never judge going off live clips, a lot of the time they can be terrible; but great in person.

[leatherface]

A vlog from the day.
Question though, do people really run around in a circle like that at metal gigs nowadays? looks quite naff:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gUsFTR9H50

[Thorn]

It's the stupidest thing isn't it, watch the band, drink your pint and bang your head man 

[Carnage]

Circle pit me hole. It's running around and it's quite silly. So is moshing, but I've done that in my youth so it gets a pass - unless you're one of those hardcore kung-fu wankers, then you're gettimg a slap.

[leatherface]

Just an observation. I've not been to a modern setup like this, looks like metal cardio as opposed to 'moshing' , I still have physical marks from stage diving, legs knocked against the stage, elbows in the head etc, different times I guess , no hate.

[Carnage]

Ah no, I'm with you. Each to their own and all that, it came along after my days as a mosher*. Just bemused by it all, really.


*I can actually remember the last tume I went moshing - Entombed in the TBMC in 1997, went out for Left Hand Path at the end. Came back in bits after one song, said that was it. I was all of 21! Oh, to be that age and physically able again.