GIG: The Birthday Massacre (Birmingham)

It's always tricky gauging your arrival at a venue when there are support bands you have zero interest in seeing. You don't want to get there a bit too late and miss the start of the band you actually want to see, and you have to allow for traffic (as we saw on the way home!)... and most of the time it's not too bad watching another band. But lately we've had a bit of a bad run seeing dull support bands, and with The Red Paintings surely we reached the bottom of a very deep barrel.

Oh where does one start....? Well the most obvious place would be with, what the fuck is that on his head! It was a warm April day, and it wasn't much cooler in the evening, he's on stage under lights with a furry hat on! And he wore it all night, he stood near us for Birthday Massacre and he was still wearing it.

And let's not forget the R2D2 rucksack... and the woman with the thing on her head being body painted...

There was also an audience member who was coaxed onto the stage to do a painting on the left hand side of stage, all of which pales into insignificance when you actually hear how shit this band actually are. Seriously... imagine a disjointed, art student, jazz-wank Nirvana and you are some way to imagining the hell that we endured for almost ten minutes before we gave up and stood in the foyer until it was over.

Thanks God for The Birthday Massacre then, who brought their own unique brand of weirdness all the way from Canada to entertain us. This was our second time seeing Chibi and co, and though the first time was in Leicester and thus more convenient, it was nice to see them playing to something approaching a crowd, instead of a handful of people like last time. 

They started with Red Stars, followed a good chunk of the new album, chucking in a good selection of tracks from throughout their discography along the way, including Leaving Tonight, Pins and Needles, Always and In The Dark. The audience loved it, and hopefully it won't be another five years until they come back again.

The journey home was horrendous though, it took forever to get out of Birmingham which was like rush hour (underpasses were closed for maintenance) and then there was a bad accident on the M6, so we left about 11pm and got home at about 12:40am!

MEAL OUT: Coal (Cheshire Oaks)

This was our second visit to Coal within a couple of weeks. On our first visit (after Resistanz) we received a £10 voucher against a second visit, so we felt compelled to use it and eschew our traditional appointment with The Pheasant. Nice as that place is, it is a bit of a faff to get to, and it was nice to be able to eat in the middle of the visit and to space out the load. 

Once again I had the Coal chicken burger (as did Rose this time) and again it was very nice. It's not the cheapest place, but it's good value for the quality of the food served, and the surroundings are very agreeable, particularly the toilets which were astonishingly luxurious. I can well imagine we will be eating here again on our next visit, even though it's a little bit of a trek to get to from the Outlet itself. 

SHOPPING: Cheshire Oaks (Chester)

Our first bi-yearly visit to Cheshire Oaks started with a bang, quite literally as we were hit from behind at a roundabout on the way. Fortunately, the damage was superficial and we were able to continue our journey to what is, for us, the holy grail of shopping. 

We didn't actually buy that much, but we sent nearly six hours there this time, including about an hour eating at Coal in the retail park next door. Highlights of the visit were the Lulu Guiness shop, with lots of new and very cool bags to look at, More of the same at the Radley shop, where I bought Rose a very chic, pink bag, and of course the Tag Heuer shop, where we spent a little while chatting to the salesman Paul, who gave me a new catalogue to add to my collection. The TAG shop had a lot of new stuff in, some of which were really nice (in particular the new Carrera's) and some not so nice, but quite impressive (one particular Monaco, reduced from £10,000 to £7,000!!!).

Unusually we didn't buy anything from the Lindt shop and Skechers totally failed me by not having any more black and lime trainers for me to buy, and indeed on the face of it it wasn't the most successful shopping trip ever, but it was a lot of fun, and we had doughnuts!

MEAL OUT: Studio One (Leicester)

A rather pleasant place to spend an hour or so, post cinema, with a pizza and some chips. We've only been in the day when it's pretty quiet (probably a hellhole at night), but the surroundings are very nice and the staff very friendly too. 

CINEMA: Woman in Gold

As ever, with our holiday upon us we looked at the cinema to see if there was anything of interest, and came across this film starring Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds. The trailer painted the film (based on a true story) as somewhat lighter than it transpired to be, little being made of the historical flashbacks portraying the Nazi occupation of Austria. But that said, there was a good balance overall, with Mirren having some funny lines and Ryan Reynolds actually managing to act fairly well for a change.

MEAL OUT: Rocksalt (Market Harborough)

Somewhat tired of The Grey Goose and it's never-changing menu, we decided that we would visit Rocksalt in Market Harborough for Rose's birthday meal. It proved to be an excellent decision. The staff were warm and friendly, while the interior was modern and comfortable. 

We both had steak, while Rose had dauphinoise potatoes and I (predictably) had chips. These were both excellent, as was my peppercorn sauce. The vegetables were a little too al-dente, witness Rose's carrot hilariously flying across the restaurant... but that aside, it was all good.

For dessert, we opted for a half and half combo of lemon tart and white chocolate cheesecake, both served with raspberry coulis. Both were very nice, though I thought the lemon tart was the (very slightly) better of the two.

Birthday meals can be tricky, but Rocksalt passed this most difficult of tests with flying colours and I am sure we will be back before too long.

DAY OUT: Worcester

Considering how many times we have been down the M5 in recent times, it's almost a bit odd that we had never visited Worcester before. After parking we decided to visit the rather impressive Cathedral, and the first surprise was that entry was free. We had anticipated a charge of £10 or more, judging what we had paid in other cities. We donated £10 anyway, and spent a good 90 minutes or more looking around the huge building. 

One of the most impressive and unusual aspects of the cathedral was the very ornate and enormous font, located in the South aisle. Aside from this there was the tomb of King John and an exhibition explaining the importance of the Magna Carta.

After we left the cathedral we headed back to our car, for a very early lunch. Then we walked up Friar Street, which is the older part of the town and featured many small, individual shops, including a chocolate shop where we purchased a small selection of hand-made chocolates. These included a Malibu truffle and a very tangy orange cream.

From here we went into an arcade, where we found (upstairs) a second hand bookshop and also a CD/DVD shop. Rose bought a book and I bought a couple of DVD's and then we visited TK Maxx and purchased some cookery tins. We looked in a few more shops, where Rose tried on various hilariously too-large hats and then we headed down another side street where we found a 'Crystal Chain' jewellery shop where I bought a last minute birthday present for Rose.

As the time on the parking was running out we decided to walk down by the river and as we were walking down the ramp from the road, I noticed a building that almost looked as if it had had a wall built in front of it. It could be that this is the case, as you can see in the picture above, perhaps a previous flood made them think twice about having a large window so near the river.

We stayed about four hours in the end and despite the horrible spray on the motorway it stayed dry all the time we were there. All in all a very nice day out, even if M&S failed dismally when it came to furnishing us with some hot-cross buns.

MEAL OUT: Dog and Gun (Kilby)

Over the years we have visited the Dog and Gun at Kilby many times, and it has always been an unfussy place selling nice pub food at pub food prices. However, last time we went there it had seemingly decided to take itself upmarket a bit. Indeed there were only six items on the menu, only one of which I liked. And that simply wasn't good enough to warrant the price being asked.

So it had been some time since we had been, and on seeing the menu it was nice to see that things were back to normal. Rose had a very nice leg of lamb (with a somewhat overminted gravy...), while I had a very tasty and positively gigantic burger stack (two burgers, two rashers of bacon, cheese and 3 huge onion rings in a ciabatta roll), all served by a friendly young waiter.

Too full to eat a pudding and the quiz started (in the restaurant!) at 8pm, so at 8:05pm we were out of there. Nice though, and nice to know there's a local unfussy place to go at a moment's notice.

GIG: Resistanz Festival: Sunday (Sheffield)

Although I wasn't exactly relishing the thought of another day spent driving at 50mph up the M1, when I got to the venue I felt better than expected. I walked in to see only a few punters standing in front of the stage, with only a few minutes before Sirus took the stage. The floor quickly started to fill up as the seconds ticked away by the end of their set I felt a little hemmed in, especially as the people in front seemed to be inching backwards (for no apparent reason).

Sirus were kind of the fourth band I wanted to see, I quite like their second album and the song 'The Monster I Am' is epic (of course, they didn't play it), but Sirus was more of a bonus than the reason I was here. They came across as very aggressive and noisy, but in an oddly geeky manner. 'No Mercy' was a highlight, but the latest ep song 'L.O.I.C.' remains a mess of a song. God knows how they managed to program something so all over the place, with about six different tempos and a couple of Meshuggah-esque passages... 

Seemingly inevitably, the technical gremlins made an appearance with the band left standing on stage for several minutes in silence while the crowd looked on impatiently. To their credit, once the equipment was fixed Sirus refocused effortlessly and the crowd was back on board in no time. Sirus finished their set with a slamming 'Daisy Cutter' and I left the venue and headed for the merch stand where I (and many others) picked up a digipack copy of the Sirus album before heading back to my car.

No sign of this fella today, perhaps he was recovering from heat exhaustion?

I returned (having decided to give Dirty K a miss), to find an almost completely empty hall, with the bass player and guitarist of Pre/Verse busy setting their kit up. A quartet of Germans walked past me and took up positions right in the middle of the barrier and it occurred to me that joining them would be a splendid idea. How right I was, a perfect view and a barrier to lean on for the whole 45min set, brilliant!

It was a toss up between RTR and Pre/Verse over which I was more excited about seeing, but I have to say that as I waited on the barrier I got the feeling this was going to be even better than RTR had been on the Saturday. Admittedly Pre/Verse didn't have the technical problems that RTR had, but even so they were easily the best band I saw at Resistanz 2015 and indeed this weekend overall.

Actually I listened to the Pre/Verse album on the way up as I hadn't listened to it for a while, and it surprised me all over again. But not as much as when their keyboard player when she walked out dressed like a Halloween rabbit!

Pre/Verse were fantastic, the crowd loved them and the singer was very cordial and interacted superbly with the crowd. At one point he asked where the 'people' were who had requested they play 'Black Tender' on Facebook, and when just one person raised his hands and called out, he said... "Okay, so... we're playing it for this guy!".

About half way through the set the singer (Kai) emptied several sacks of balloons into the crowd, which then spent the next ten minutes batting them about. 

It was great standing right at the front and having such a great view, and I (like the rest of the crowd) was disappointed when their time was up. When I got back to the car I realised that they had played every single song on the album (plus another one called 'Lust' or possibly 'Lost'), and despite intending to listen to my Nachtmahr compilation on the way home, I ended up listening to the 

Pre/Verse album all the way home (twice through, plus the first three tracks). 

All in all my experience of Resistanz 2015 was pretty damned good. I suppose it was quite expensive considering the amount of bands I actually saw, but I would have happily paid £30 just to see Pre/Verse. Plus the entertainment value of seeing all the cybergoths, cross dressers and general freaks cannot be overstated!

PRE/VERSE LIVE

PRE/VERSE BALLOONS

SIRUS LIVE

MEAL OUT: Coal (Sheffield)

After Resistanz the plan was to meet Rose back at Meadowhall and have dinner before we drove home. We chose 'Coal', and jolly splendid it was too. I had a chicken burger and Rose had a beefburger, both of us with the bacon and cheese topping. It was delicious, but left us far too stuffed to partake of a pudding. Probably not a bad thing judging by the size of them! The surroundings were pretty smart and the service was excellent all round. We also got a £10 voucher for our next visit. Result!!! 

SHOPPING: Meadowhall (Sheffield)

While I was enjoying RTR and Advance at Resistanz 2015, Rose was left to peruse the shops at Meadowhall. Recent visits had left us underwhelmed, but the place seemed to have physically grown... I don't quite know how that's possible, but there seemed a great variety and number of shops. Definitely worth a return visit in the not too distant future.

GIG: Resistanz Festival: Saturday (Sheffield)

I umm'd and ahh'd about going to Resistanz for months, and then when the schedule was finally announced I decided that I was definitely going to go on Saturday and Sunday. Overall I thought the line up was a bit weak, with the headliners being a bit, well not exactly big names in the scene. Still, it worked out well for me being able to see the bands I wanted to see and leaving early.
Bizarrely though, turning up to the regular door left me confused, as it was locked. It was only after wandering aimlessly around the block that I found a back door and made my way inside.

Mental Discipline were a bit of an after thought for me, but I thought I might as well get there a bit earlier and see them. When I arrived they were already on stage but I don't think I missed much. They are a bit too poppy really, a bit too 'club' sounding. They are okay, but nothing special.
As I watched them I realised there was a very tall man standing next to me in a pink rubber dress. It was perhaps the oddest sight I saw all evening, which at Resistanz is quite an achievement (there was also a guy with a beak mask, and body armour...)

This was my second time seeing Advance, after catching him supporting Ayria last year I was keen to see him again and he wasn't to disappoint. Technical gremlins affected the first track, with Tom's laptop cutting out several times, but thankfully after that it seemed okay. We only really got a couple of songs from the album, plus a remixed version of Dead Machinery, then several tracks from samplers and a brand new track from the planned second album. The crowd was very responsive and despite the obvious stress of his machinery not playing ball, Tom looked pretty happy by the end of the set.

When I first heard RTR I wasn't too sure I liked them, but then they grew on me steadily right up to advent of Resistanz, to the point where they were the band I most wanted to see. They certainly got an outstanding reaction from the crowd! Once again technical gremlins were in evidence though, not least the shittiest guitar sound ever and the vocals being buried in the mix. After the first couple of songs things leveled out and it was all good, at least until the sound went completely during 'Fvck the Universe'. Earlier in the day I had remarked to Rose that the female singer looked quite a bit older than you would expect and indeed, it turns out she is indeed Fillip's mother!

Was quite pleased to get the physical CD of RTR's album and the Nitro/Noise album from the DWA stall at Resistanz.

RAVE THE REQVIEM LIVE

MENTAL DISCIPLINE

GIG: U.D.O. (Nuneaton)

Despite arriving after they should have started, things were obviously running later than planned, and so after a half hour wait we were treated to 'Garagedays'. What can you say really, shit name... shit band. I guess I might have liked them a bit if I had heard them when I was 14, in 1984. But now they just sound a bit rubbish.

Our chief reason for attending this gig, was to see Norwegian Metallers 'Sister Sin'. They had a pretty short running time, it would have been far better to leave Garagedays (shit name, shit band) in Austria and let Sister Sin play for an hour if you ask me. Ah well, while they were on they were great. Although they didn't play 'End of the Line'... FFS! Not entirely sure about the singer's tutu, but her military cap certainly raised her hotness level a few notches (or 'hatness' level, if you will...). Short and sweet then, and certainly worth another look if they play here again sometime.

I must admit I had some reservations about seeing UDO again, last time we saw him in 2002, it was unexpectedly brilliant, but if it hadn't been for the fact that Sister Sin were supporting I'm not sure I would have bothered. It has to be said that this time it was unbelievably fucking tedious. By the time we left we had heard not one Accept song, not one. The only song really worth hearing was Black Widow from 1987's 'Animal House' and that was it. Everything else was plodding toss, most often sounding vaguely like a much better Accept song... and so it went on and on, and we waited, hoping for an Accept song, hoping to hear 'Fast as a Shark', but in the end the pain in my back was too great and I decided enough was enough. We gave him the best part of 90 mins to chuck us a bone, but to no avail. Apparently these shows are UDO's last shows in the UK. Oh well, never mind. I feel kind of disappointed that it's tarnished the memory of what was an incredible show in 2002. Ho hum. At least there's another gig to go to tomorrow!