PureVolume

Download 2009

3 days of good music and great weather considering it's now raining again! What more could you want? I caught 18 bands over the three days and disagree largely with the reviews I've read so I'm writing my own!

Friday

Hollywood Undead - I'd seen these guys back at Slam Dunk and it was honestly insane. The crowd was much more subdued here (probably due to less hardcore fans turning up) but it was still pretty crazy and I was still amazed at the crowds reaction considering how few fans I always think the band has.

The Blackout - A favourite band of mine, saw them first at Slam Dunk as well. I much preferred the set to that of Hollywood Undead and certainly sang along with all of it but I think The Blackout still aren't a big enough band to get the crowd at main stage excited at 2pm and despite all their energy and efforts (and stealing ideas off of Lostprophets) they struggled out there.

Staind - Failed to impress me greatly. I don't know much of their stuff and whilst I greatly enjoyed Outside which was the only song I knew the rest of the set made little difference to me. It was quite nice to chill out in the sun listening to it though.

Billy Talent - Similarly to Staind I don't know the band well enough to enjoy it much! But I preferred the music even if I couldn't really work out one song from the other.

Enter Shikari - The only band I saw today not on main stage and it was also some of the most fun I had all day! Asides from the guys trying to open up circle pits on every side of me and the general inability to se anything due to being shoved right up against the guy in front that was all part of waht made it so fun. Definately getting hold of the new album - Common Dreads - especailly as I had Juggernauts in my head quite a bit of the weekend

Limp Bizkit - who said rap metal has no future? THEY LIED! Limp Bizkit were good fun and it was good to see everyone "Rollin'" together. I also enjoyed Fred Durst finding some look-alikes to get on stage and sing with him. I think he was right in saying one of those guys should be put in a band - NOW! Almost did better than Fred up there.

Faith No More - What can I say, except "Epic"? (I know my jokes are terrible) Seriously though, before this night I knew Faith No More were a huge influence on many bands I listened to but I couldn't really understand why. NOW I understand why. The band of the day and they certainly deserved their headline spot. I'm glad these guys reunited and I am still continually singing Be Aggressive to myself at intervals.

Saturday

Dragonforce - I could care less about this band but not much. I only watched them as I had nothing better to do but I did enjoy one of their songs which I'll have to look up in a spare moment.

You Me At Six - Came on stage about 2 minutes too early as far as I'm concerned as the radio (which was being played between bands) had got about half way through Last Train Home (by Lostprophets, one of the greatest songs by one of the greatest bands ever - not that I'm biased!) And they then didn't quite make up for this interruption although they did a good job at trying. No longer the young boys I saw when they first started out they've developed into a better band - if a little more stand-offish.

My Passion - Impressed me. I watched them on a recomendation from a friend and did not expect them to be as good as they were. The songs impressed me and the way they were delivered did too. On top of which the bassist looks GOOD (heh... not the idea right?)

The Blackout (again) - Filling in for The Ghost Of A Thousand these guys tonight proved my earlier point. They were about ten times better playing to a closer, smaller crowd and managed to get the crowd much more worked up with only one stolen idea from Lostprophets. I reckon this band have a long way to go before they become as good as their afforementioned larger and more famous friends but this set went a way to show they might just be able to!

Sunday

Journey - Rock Band and Guita Hero have gone a long way in bringing older bands into young kids lives and that was the reason me and my brother turned up for this set. Minimal crowd interaction here but good tune after good tune which made me feel really happy. Rock like this should never be allowed to die.

Hexes - Despite everything I have been lead to believe by Ian Watkins and Sean Smith Hexes are not the greatest band around nowadays. I'm not saying their bad but after they got so hyped up by lead singers of bands I love I expected much better. Sadly they didn't deliver.

First Strike - Possibly the youngest band I saw all weekend - these boys certainly only LOOKED about 15. Clearly from a guitar hero generation they played music inspired by classic bands found on those video games but they came across as trying to hard. They certainly weren't old enough to start telling the crowd twice their age to get up and dance if that crowd didn't want to. Not a bad band and when they get a bit older and can get a bit more respect they could do well.

Exit Avenue - My dose of powerpop for the weekend yet they somehow managed to get a circle pit going. Not sure how but nice work on their behalf. A pillar in the tent meant I couldn't see half the stage but the half I could see was lively and as bright as the sun that was driving more people into the tents to seek shade.

Attack! Attack! - I truly enjoyed this band. I genuinely like them but I think their back up vocalist was struggling and his parts came out flat and dry. Still it was good to see them after I missed them at Slam Dunk.

Papa Roach - Absolutely loved this band. Favourite band of the day. I got hit by a bottle and an oreo in the pit beforehand but that didn't matter. They played a good range of songs and most importantly they played Scars - one of my all time favourite songs. On top of that they had amazing crowd interaction and the intro to Lifeline was the only time the entire weekend that everyone was jumping in time when I was there. Truly awesome.

We Are The Ocean - They're a good band and I do like them but I think I've worked out the main proble mI have with them. On record they sound good but live their frontman/screamer can't pull it off and just ends up making me wish he stopped. The second vocalist is amazing and the parts of the song he sang sounded absolutely beautiful. So yeah, lose the other guy and you stop sounding like a bad version of Alexisonfire and become a GOOD band. The other main problem I had they could do nothing about, they weren't Lostprophets and even when I tried not to all I could think was "last year at this time I was watching my favourite band of all time and the best show of my life" WATO just oculdn't compare to that.

Overall I really enjoyed myself. It was a good weekendand I had a lot of fun. It wasn't as good as last year but I reckon every other band last year could've been terrible but as long as Lostprophets were still as great it would have won out for me. I'm biased, that band means too much to me for anything to beat seeing them live, no matter hoe many good bands I saw.

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