IMGP8307-e
My friend, Robin Anstealin securted two Guest Passes for the 2015 Reading Festival...and he kindly invited me to join him! That gave us full weekend admission to the festival, and access to the private R&R zone adjacent to "backstage" of the main arena. By festival standards that meant nirvana - easy access, no beer queues, exotic drinks and cocktails, private dance areas, real food, tables and chairs, no ablution queues, real (sanitary) toilets, no mud, clean/odourless people. Bliss! We checked into an out-of-town Holiday Inn late on the evening of Friday, August 28 and eventually made it to the festival in time to see Limp Bizkit and the tail end of Mumford & Sons. We returned on Friday morning, sadly missing Baby Metal's set, but catching Fidlar, Marmozets, Modestep, Pierce the Veil, Alexisonfire, Royal Blood, Bring Me The Horizon and, the headline act, Metallica. After a great (relatively rain-free) two days, and we made our way back home in the early hours of Sunday, August 30. With no wives and children around, we took the opportunity to brave the fringes of the mosh-pit at the front of the main stage, and here are some of the images I captured.
Californian thrash metallers, Metallica put on one of the slickest performances I have ever seen. Humble and appreciative of their audience they staged a spectacular monster of a show. The two-hour extravaganza was relentless and extreme - exhilarating volume, grinding guitars and heavy, spine-thundering drums. Metallica's performance was teflon-slick and they treated the adoring crowd to four decades worth of metal anthems. Catching James Hetfield's flicked plectrum / guitar "pick" at the end of the set was the cherry on top of a very special weekend for me.
Here's the full Metallica set for your viewing pleasure, courtesy of the BBC.
To quote the oracle, Tenacious-D:
You can't kill the metal
Metal will live on
Punk Rock tried to kill the metal
But they failed as they were smite to the ground
New Wave tried to kill the metal
But they failed as they were stricken down to the ground
Grunge tried to kill the metal
They failed as they were thrown to the ground
No one can destroy the metal
The metal will strike you down with a vicious blow
We are the vanquished foes of the metal
We tried to win for why, we do not know
New Wave tried to destroy the metal
But the metal had its way
Grunge, then tried to dethrone the metal
But metal was in the way
Punk Rock tried to destroy the metal
But metal was much too strong
Techno tried to defile the metal
But Techno was proven wrong
Metal, it come from Hell
IMGP8307-e
My friend, Robin Anstealin securted two Guest Passes for the 2015 Reading Festival...and he kindly invited me to join him! That gave us full weekend admission to the festival, and access to the private R&R zone adjacent to "backstage" of the main arena. By festival standards that meant nirvana - easy access, no beer queues, exotic drinks and cocktails, private dance areas, real food, tables and chairs, no ablution queues, real (sanitary) toilets, no mud, clean/odourless people. Bliss! We checked into an out-of-town Holiday Inn late on the evening of Friday, August 28 and eventually made it to the festival in time to see Limp Bizkit and the tail end of Mumford & Sons. We returned on Friday morning, sadly missing Baby Metal's set, but catching Fidlar, Marmozets, Modestep, Pierce the Veil, Alexisonfire, Royal Blood, Bring Me The Horizon and, the headline act, Metallica. After a great (relatively rain-free) two days, and we made our way back home in the early hours of Sunday, August 30. With no wives and children around, we took the opportunity to brave the fringes of the mosh-pit at the front of the main stage, and here are some of the images I captured.
Californian thrash metallers, Metallica put on one of the slickest performances I have ever seen. Humble and appreciative of their audience they staged a spectacular monster of a show. The two-hour extravaganza was relentless and extreme - exhilarating volume, grinding guitars and heavy, spine-thundering drums. Metallica's performance was teflon-slick and they treated the adoring crowd to four decades worth of metal anthems. Catching James Hetfield's flicked plectrum / guitar "pick" at the end of the set was the cherry on top of a very special weekend for me.
Here's the full Metallica set for your viewing pleasure, courtesy of the BBC.
To quote the oracle, Tenacious-D:
You can't kill the metal
Metal will live on
Punk Rock tried to kill the metal
But they failed as they were smite to the ground
New Wave tried to kill the metal
But they failed as they were stricken down to the ground
Grunge tried to kill the metal
They failed as they were thrown to the ground
No one can destroy the metal
The metal will strike you down with a vicious blow
We are the vanquished foes of the metal
We tried to win for why, we do not know
New Wave tried to destroy the metal
But the metal had its way
Grunge, then tried to dethrone the metal
But metal was in the way
Punk Rock tried to destroy the metal
But metal was much too strong
Techno tried to defile the metal
But Techno was proven wrong
Metal, it come from Hell