GIG: Resistanz (Saturday)

Day two of Resistanz, now with Rose in tow. The journey up was slightly quicker than yesterday and gave us plenty of time to stop at Woodall Services to eat our lunch. We arrived about half an hour before Neonsol were to appear and we spent the time looking at the merchandise (fuck all really) and looking at the people (many of whom obviously took their appearance very seriously).

Eventually the doors to the main arena opened and we made our way to the front and perched ourselves on the barrier. Shortly afterwards Neonsol took the stage and delivered a solid 45m set consisting largely of tracks from their debut album plus a few other from a forthcoming EP (we think).

Neonsol's keyboard player/percussionist seemed to be having a whale of a time hitting his drum pads and one lonely cymbal. Neonsol were quite a surprise to be honest and better than expected. There was then a gap for us as we didn't want to see Randolph and Mortimer (seriously?), so we headed out of the venue and down the road to 'Henry's'.

Actually we went to the Wetherspoons up the road first, but it was rammed and Henry's looked a lot nicer (it was). We had a couple of drinks and then, seeing as we had rather a while to wait we decided to order a serving of garlic ciabatta. This was pretty huge and came with a salad (for like £2.50) and fed us both. At this point we were still planning to go to Coal at Meadowhall after the show, so this was just to keep us going until then.

We got back to the venue in time for Terrolokaust, but not in time to get back on the barrier. This band are far more like a Metal band live than an electronic band and they rocked hard for their 45m set.

The band played a couple of songs from the newly released album (which I purchased from the DWA stall the day before), plus the classic 'The Ways it Must Be'. Since we were standing against the side wall I lifted my arms up as high as I could and took several pictures, one of them came out okay.

Cyferdyne were next and were endearingly shambolic in their entrance. It all seemed a bit amateur after Terrolokaust who seemed very professional and together in comparison, but it just seems to be the way they are, especially when a lot of friends are in the crowd perhaps.

I'd forgotten that Cyferdyne had a guitar player, not entirely sure its the same one that played with them in Nottingham a couple of years ago, he didn't look very familiar. 'Jigsaw' was a set highlight, as was 'Cables and Codes' and a long song which sounded like an extended remix of something but I couldn't quite work out what. 'Clockwork' on the other hand dragged a bit and really doesn't seem to sit well in the live environment.

The other thing which doesn't sit well is the harsh vocals on the older songs, they seem rather out of place now that the band have obviously moved on from them, but the crowd wanted the old songs so I guess they were happy.

When Cyferdyne finished it became apparent that there was an hour gap before Grendel were due to play, so we rushed back to Henry's for another drink and loo stop (the toilets in Corporation are pretty bad). Here we decided to scrap our plans for dinner at Coal, before rushing back to catch the Dutch band perform. On the way back in Rose told someone who may have been Josh Rombout from Sirus (not sure, he had a blue mohawk) that she liked his boots.

I really wasn't expecting Grendel to perform with a bassist and guitarist, and I can't help wondering if it would have been better if they hadn't. While the set was enjoyable, it did sound rather like a rock band covering an electronic band's songs... and the guitarist was epicly bad in places. Is this the right chord, what about this one... I know I'll try this one, no not quite that one. Painful at times, but the guy could solo right enough....

The setlist was good though (well, except the dreadful 'EDR//EDP', the worst track on the 'Timewave Zero' album), and we were very pleased that they played Chemicals & Circuitry, Shortwired, Soilbleed, Hate This and Timewave Zero. 

And so that was that, the end (for us) of the very last Resistanz Festival. It's such a shame that it's the last one, as Grendel said from the stage, the UK relies on this festival and it is going to leave a huge hole in the EBM scene if it really is the end. On the way out we bumped into Tina from London again, but she was rushing off somewhere and so were we - home!

GIG: Resistanz Festival (Friday)

I got my Resistanz ticket last year, without knowing the full line up or indeed which day who would be on when...? Aesthetic Perfection pulled out of the festival at the start of January which left five bands I actually wanted to see (not counting Serephim System who were a maybe): Neuroticfish, Terrolokaust, Cyferdyne, Grendel and Ginger Snap5. Then Ginger Snap5 pulled out a few weeks ago but Neonsol were announced in their place.

As it turned out, Neuroticfish were scheduled for the Friday and all the others were lined up for Saturday, which meant there was no need for me to drive up to Sheffield again on the Sunday (hurrah, twice is quite enough). Plus I didn't mind driving up just for Neuroticfish, because they were probably the band I most wanted to see (although in recent weeks I have got a lot more into Grendel than I was before).

I was going to Resistanz on my own, but a couple of weeks ago Rose decided to come on the Saturday. Which was fair enough as it's a lot of money to buy a day ticket to see one band. So I arrived at the venue at about 1:45pm (Neuroticfish were due on at 2:25pm) and watched the second half of Iszoloscope's set.

I wasn't familiar with Iszoloscope, and initially it did sound a bit like being inside a washing machine. After about fifteen minutes it kind of started making sense, but by then the set was pretty much over and with no vocals it's hard to really 'get into' the tracks because it's all much of a muchness. Definitely more of a 'club' thing I think.

I waited for the set to finish, and then pounded onto the barrier (just like last year). This paid dividends as again I got to watch the whole Neuroticfish set from the front! As usual with electronic gigs, the between sets set-up consisted of laptops being set-up and cables being inserted, unplugged and reinserted. This was done by Neuroticfish's keyboard player and a roadie, while NF's singer Sascha watched on in his crumpled lumberjack shirt. 

With the right cables in the right holes, eventually the all clear was given to start and NF's intro song started to roll just as Sascha was walking offstage, he disappeared for a moment and then walked back on and everyone cheered his arrival even though he'd been standing on stage for the last fifteen minutes... 

Neuroticfish opened their set with the awesome 'Silence', following it up with 'Former Me' and 'Bomb' before returning to the new album for 'Behaviour'. I'm not to sure on the rest of the tracks, though 'Suffocating Right' was definitely played, as were 'Wake Me Up!' and Velocity. It was a good show, if not exactly a visually arresting performance. Like Assemblage23 this was more about hearing great songs being played, rather than watching a band 'perform'. Neuroticfish just aren't that kind of band.

During the gig I made friends with a girl called Tina. She was trying to take photo's of Neuroticfish over my shoulder, but her hands were shaking because of her medication. She was very friendly and it transpired that she was from London. She was also a Metal fan who also liked electronic music and we had a bit of a chat before I left to drive home.

I told her I would be back on Saturday with my wife and she said that her motorbike was called 'Hollywood Rose' (I think that's what she said anyway). 

MEAL OUT: The Grey Goose (Gilmorton)

Another trip to the Grey Goose, and finally the menu has been changed. Perhaps not for the better... but still. The complimentary bread has now become a 'starter', however, it is rather a good deal. For £2.50 you get four pieces of bread and two small cups of soup (Broccili and Stilton this time, very nice indeed!) and some olives.

For main I had the fillet steak with Pepper and Armagnac sauce, and Rose had Coq au Vin. Both of us struggled to finish our mains and pudding was out of the question, but what we had was very nice, if very rich.

CAKERY BAKERY: Rich's 'TAG Heuer' Birthday Cake

MEAL OUT: White Lion (North Kilworth)

Another trip to the White Lion on a Saturday lunchtime. This time celebrating Sally and Dad's birthday, and Mother's Day all rolled into one. It was pretty quiet, but once again the food was excellent. I had sausages and mash (a risk, but it paid dividends!) followed by a very agreeable peanut butter and toffee cheesecake. I completely forget to ask if it was 'decosntructed', but thankfully that fad seems to have passed.

Rose had a burger which was very nice and followed that with a couple of scoops of ice cream, one strawberry and one after dinner mint. A pleasant surprise when it came time to pay as well, five people for £87 was ridiculously cheap, stranger still as their evening prices are much steeper.