Olympic Football at Wembley

I still can't believe I have seen an Olympic event! Yes I saw the double header football at Wembley yesterday. First match was Senegal and Uruguay which saw quite a shock with Senegal winning 2-0 with 10 men even for most of the game. The second match was GB v UAE and again it was a decent game. UAE played quite well after old man Giggs had given GB the lead with a header. UAE could have gone in front after equalising but GB stormed back with some luck and a good finish from Sturridge for a final score of 3-1. Olympic football is quite a muted atmosphere at times but still fun nevertheless. To my utter amazement I heard some man singing opera from the top tier when it was quiet! He got a big ovation as well...totally bizarre!  I am due back at Wembley on Saturday for the quarter final match in Olympic Football. Here are some photos from the day.

Forthcoming Gigs

Looks like I ain't gonna get anywhere near last year's personal record of 20 gigs that's for sure, but the second half of the year as always looks stronger than the first. Granted I've been a bit lazy in the first half and missed quite a few gigs that I would normally attend. I also missed Edguy having bought a ticket due to heavy snowfall. I just didn't the fuck fancy trekking through ice and snow just for some silly Germans! lol! So far I've been to the paltry sum of 3 gigs this year which is a pretty poor return for sure. I even missed Megadeth for fucks sake and i never ever miss them. The damn ticket was too expensive I'm sorry Dave there was a forclosure on my wallet! Maybe I'm getting too old and tired for this gigging game, it creeps up on the best of us believe me. Anyway I have bought some tickets to forthcoming gigs and also listing possibles for my attendance should I feel like it closer to the date.

Jon Oliva's Pain playing in full 'The Hall of the Mountain King': 15th Aug. This coming Sunday. Hate Sunday gigs. Hate'm. I'd like to see this maybe but i am not really fussed so I'll miss it. I saw Savatage before. Jon was huge. Only God knows how big he is now!

August 2012 -Zilch.

September 2012

Firewind & Leaves Eyes: London O2 Islington Academy 22nd - Ordered the ticket. Firewind never lets me down live. Leaves Eyes will be interesting although I don't like them. Love Liv though!

Dying Fetus & Cerebral Bore & Revocation & Job for a Cowboy: London Underworld 23rd - A possibility but not so excited. I like Dying Fetus though and I just wanna see the pits. Like Revocation a lot too. Comes the day after Firewind and 2 gigs is too much for this lightweight!

October 2012

Dragonforce & Alestorm & The Defiled & Cavorts: London Shepherd's Bush Empire 6th - Ordered the ticket. Gotta check the 'Force with the new boy. Alestorm was a riot last I saw them with Sabaton. The other two bands must be pure shite. Remind me to turn up late-ish!

Overkill & 3 Inches of Blood: London O2 Islington Academy 7th - The day after Dragonforce? Gig sounds good though. 3iob I've already seen this year and they killed it. Overkill I saw on the Ironbound tour and they tore the roof off. No ticket yet but possible however can I manage two gigs in two days!

Evile & Wolf:London Garage 28th - No ticket yet but definite possible. Evile have always kicked my ass badly every time I've seen them. Wolf is fun live too. Last time I saw them supporting Accept.


November 2012

Kamelot:
London HMV Forum 7th - No ticket but maybe I'll give them a go possibly. Last time I saw Kamelot with Khan I was bored silly. Maybe I was in a bad mood or the sound was bad or the venue was super packed but I didn't enjoy it at all.

Luca Turilli's Rhapsody: London O2 Islington Academy 12th - What the fucking fuck! I ordered the ticket like in prehistoric times. I'm not gonna miss seeing Luca for the first time ever am I!

Nightwish: London O2 Brixton Academy 5th - You know I swore blind I would never see non Tarja Nightwish but blow me down I might go to see this cause the last album was really good after hating the initial album with Annette.

Sabaton:London HMV Forum 9th - As if I can ever miss Sabaton, Ticket bought!

Sodom:London Underworld 18th - Classic Teutonic thrash? It's a possible.

December 2012

Nada.

Will be lucky to reach 10 gigs this year at this rate. I must be false metal!!!

2012 half year lists

So half the year is over and it's time for a run down of what's been hot on the old death deck. It's been a really solid first six months personally speaking. I have found many albums that I like and even love although I am not sure it's quite on 2011 levels but there are still six months left and you never know what surprises lay ins store for the metal fan for the rest of 2012. For the record, I am on 99 albums liked for 2012 and you might as well call it a ton cause it's sure to increase sooner or later. Expect another 100 in the next 6 months! Here is the list in alphabetical order. The albums in red are my particular faves compared to the others. Below that are my favourite 20 songs of the year so far in no particular order and with only one song per band.

3 Inches Of Blood - Long Live Heavy Metal
Abnormality - Contaminating The Hive Mind
Accept - Stalingrad
Adrenaline Mob - Omerta
After All - Dawn of the Enforcer 
Aggression - Viocracy
Amberian Dawn - Circus Black
Angelus Apatrida - The Call 
Ascension - Far Beyond the Stars
At Vance - Facing Your Enemy 
Axel Rudi Pell - Circle of the Oath
Before The Dawn - Rise Of The Phoenix 
Black Breath - Sentenced to Life
Bludvera - Terrorform 
Bonded By Blood - The Aftermath
Brute - Sophisticated_Atrocity
Burning Point - The Ignitor 
Cannibal Corpse - Torture
Capracide - Theodicy
Charlie Shred - st
Coffin Texts - The Tomb Of Infinite Ritual
Damnation Angels - Bringer Of Light
Deadborn - Mayhem Maniac Machine 
Derelict - Perpetuation
Divulgence - Future Seed 
Dragonforce - The Power Within 
Dynazty  - Sultans Of Sin
End Of September - st
Eradicator - Madness Is My Name 
Eternal Dream -The Fall Of Salanthine
Eternal Of Sweden  - Chapter I
Exumer - Fire & Damnation 
Fear Factory - The Industrialist
Firewind - Few Against Many
Flayed Disciple - Death Hammer  
Freedom Call - Land Of The Crimson Dawn 
Gaia Epicus - Dark Secrets 
Game Over - For Humanity 
Gorod - A Perfect Absolution 
Grand Magus - The Hunt
H.E.A.T  - Address The Nation
Hardline - Danger Zone 
Hideous Divinity - Obeisance Rising
Horrizon - Time For Revenge
Ian Anderson - Thick as a brick 2
Jaded Heart- Common Destiny
Janus - Nox Aeris 
Jorn - Brind Heavy Rock to the Land
Kissin’ Dynamite - Money, Sex & Power
Kreator - Phantom Antichrist 
Lacuna Coil - Dark Adrenaline
Lanfear - This Harmonic Consonance
Light Bringer - Genesis
Luca Turilli's Rhapsody - Ascending to Infinity
Lyriel - Leverage
Mad Maze - Frames of Alienation
Morian - Ashen Empire 
Municipal Waste  - The Fatal Feast
Napalm Death - Utilitarian 
Nightmare - The Burden of God 
Offending - Age of Perversion 
Otherwise - True Love Never Dies 
Outloud - More Catastrophe [EP] 
Overkill  - The Electric Age
Oxygen - Final Warning 
Paradise Lost - Tragic Idol  
Pathfinder - Fifth Element
Pharaoh - Bury The Light
Poets Of The Fall - Temple Of Thought 
Primal Fear - Unbreakable 
Psycroptic - The Inherited Repression 
Rage - 21
Reinxeed - Welcome To The Theater 
Revel In Flesh - Deathevokation 
Rise To Fall- Defying The Gods
Running Wild - Shadowmaker 
Sabaton  - Carolus Rex
Sacred Gate - When Eternity Ends
Scarlet Anger - Dark Reign
Shinedown  - Amaryllis
Shores of Elysium - The Arbiter's Clockwork
Skull Hammer - Destroyers of the Faith 
Sonic Station - st
Soulfly - Enslaved
Stargate - Beyond Space and Time 
Suicidal Angels - Bloodbath
Sunstorm - Emotional Fire 
Tank - War Nation 
Teramaze - Anhedonia 
Testimony - Transcending Reality [EP]
The Forsaken - Beyond Redemption
The Veer Union - Divide The Blackened Sky 
Thrashist Regime - Fearful Symmetry 
Unisonic - st
West Of Hell - Spiral Empire
White Skull - Under This Flag 
Wig Wam - Wall Street
Words Of Farewell - Immersion 
Xandria  - Neverworld's End 

Top 20 songs:

3 Inches of Blood - Leather Lord
Accept - Twist of Fate
Ascension - Somewhere Back in Time
Bludvera - Terrorform
Cannibal Corpse - Rabid
Dragonforce - Cry Thunder
H.E.A.T - In and Out of Trouble
Luca Turilli's Rhapsody - Dark Fate of Atlantis
Paradise Lost - Fear of Impending Hell
Poets of the Fall - Morning Tide
Pathfinder - The Day When I Turn Back Time
Sabaton - The Carolean's Prayer
Running Wild - Riding on the Tide
Primal Fear - Where Angels Die
Reinxeed - Stranger Tides
Suicidal Angels - Face of God
Soulfly - Gladiator
West of Hell - Singularity
Xandria - Valentine
Firewind - Few Against Many