There is more than a hint of surrealism in the air this evening as a larger-than-life band such as the Deftones packing themselves into a tiny venue in the centre of London certainly doesn’t happen that often. Walking around to join the end of the queue on this mildly chilly Wednesday night and it is plain to see the excitement plastered on the faces of the lucky few anxious to witness this rather special event.
Tonight the venue is packed to the rafters with a noticeably more mature audience, many of whom have undoubtedly grown up through the Sacramento 5-pieces’ various musical incarnations. As soon as they hit the stage it is easy to see why the Deftones have built and maintained such a loyal fan base over the years.
Kicking off with free download offering ‘Rocket Skates’ followed by new single ‘Diamond Eyes’, the band prove (not that they had to!) that they still have the ability to write songs that will transform a room into a mass of writhing bodies at the drop of a hat. The intimate venue can barely seem to contain the energy resonating from the stage and it seems at any moment the building will be ripped from it foundations. Unfazed by this, the band plow through a selection of new material with such total professionalism that you would be forgiven for thinking they have been playing these songs for years.
However tonight is not just about the new and ‘When Girls Telephone Boys’, ‘Lotion’ and ‘Feiticeira’ act as a stark reminder of the quality that lies within their extensive back catalogue. The crowd is made to turn back the years with ‘Be Quiet and Drive’ and a belting rendition of ‘My Own Summer (Shove It)’ and a new leaner-looking Chino Moreno controls the stage, climbing monitors and whirring his microphone above his head with admirable enthusiasm.
Man-mountain Steph Carpenter effortlessly grinds out a selection of the heaviest guitar riffs known to man as stand-in bass player Sergio Vega gives a noteworthy performance in control of the rhythm section.
My personal highlight of the night comes in the form of ‘Passenger’ from 2000’s landmark ‘White Pony’ album and although the track is flawless, there will always be an undeniable sense of disappointment when Tool’s Maynard James Keenan doesn’t appear through a cloud of smoke and lights to sing his parts.
As the hour and 45 min set draws to a close, the band pull out more old crowd-pleasers including ‘Root’ and rapturous sing along anthem ‘7 words’ from debut album 'Adrenaline'.
As the final chord rings out and the crowd begins to disperse, I can’t help but think how much the music world needs bands like the Deftones.
Long may they reign.
Set List
1. Rocket Skates
2. Diamond Eyes
3. Feiticeira
4. Elite
5. Knife Party
6. Passenger
7. CMND/CTRL
8. You've Seen the Butcher
9. Sextape
10. When Girls Telephone Boys
11. Minerva
12. Birthmark
13. Beauty School
14. Be Quiet and Drive (far away)
15. Around the Fur
16. Lotion
17. My Own Summer (shove it)
18. Back to School (mini maggit)
19. Change (in the house of flies)
Encore
1. Root
2. 7 Words
Deftones - London ULU (12/05/10)
Documentary Clip Log
These are the clip logs for a documentary being worked on by myself and Mark Lovell at University. There are two documentaries being made one filming of Winchester which will include Winchester from dawn to dusk (Doc 1). The other is a profile in the form of a 'day in the life of'. Our profile was a coffee shop worker (Doc 2).
Log of Shots (Doc 1)
Final Rock Sound review
OK, so I know this is a bit late in coming but better late than never. Due to financial and accommodation hardships I had to cut down my original month long placement to 3 weeks at Rock Sound but in the end I felt I chose a good time to leave.
My final week coincided with the final deadline for issue 132 (out 3rd February and featuring yours truly so buy it!) which meant it was understandably quite busy around the office.
Alkaline Trio Camden Underworld 25/01/10
The sense of anticipation surrounding this show becomes evident as soon as I walk out of Camden Tube Station. Twenty minutes before doors open and there is already a cue of dedicated fans braving the cold to grab a good spot to see Chicago's finest.
Good news for armchair sports fans
The cost of watching live football, cricket and rugby on television is set to plummet as BT and Virgin attempt to end the dominance of Rupert Murdoch's satellite broadcaster BSkyB.
Plans by the media watchdog, Ofcom, will force Sky to drop the price it charges rival broadcasters for its Sky Sports channels.
The Ofcom board is due to meet on Tuesday to discuss the level of the proposed cuts and an announcement will be made in March.
BT hopes to start offering Sky Sports 1 to BT Vision customers for £15 a month.
The plans are set to be the biggest changes to sports TV for almost two decades. Prices scould even drop in time for the 2010/2011 Premier League season.
That girl Peaches does it again
http://www.flickr.com/photos/62693937@N00/2462277968
The Media Guardian reported that Peaches Geldof received "substantial damages" from the Daily Star this week, over a front-page headline that read "Peaches: spent the night with me for £5k".
The issue arose because the story claimed that Geldof accepted appearance fees for turning up to parties and launches and Geldof's solicitor Jonathan Coad said it implied Ms Geldof "provided services of a personal sexual nature for the payment of a fee".
The story was originally published in September 2008 and Peaches initially went to the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) about the item, but was unhappy with the result.
The paper refused to print a retraction on the front page and instead published it on page 2 where Peaches believed it was not "adequately prominent".
The newspaper's solicitor, Zoe Norden, said it accepted all that had been said by Coad.
Quick Rock Sound update
Managed to get some fun things done this week including transcribing a couple of interviews with none other than Tom Delonge (Blink 182, Angels And Airwaves) and a very funny one with Mastodon about life on the road. Make sure you keep your eyes peeled for them in the new issue.
Today I also wrote a piece about a new Welsh band called Bastions who are awesome so check them out.
Will update again soon!
Rock Sound week 1 update - finally!
Well, the first week is over and again apologies for the lack of updates. I also want to apologise for the lack of pictures to accompany this post. I would say that I forgot to take my camera, but the truth is I really didn't want to be known as ‘that weird new guy who takes photos of everything.’
It’s been an eventful week and I pretty much expected it to be. The place where I am stationed is in a lovely part of London, very close to Liverpool Street Station. The office is a bit smaller than I originally thought it would be but I suppose Rock Sound isn’t a huge international operation. The people are really nice and although they are obviously very busy, they have still found time to have a chat with me whenever they get a bit of free time.
The place I was staying at for the week was, ahem, basic to say the least! I don’t really know what I was expecting for £20 a night in London but I mean a TV would have been nice!
I have been assigned several jobs which range from sorting and collecting the post to making the tea! I am also responsible for emailing and collecting all the review artwork for the next issue and making sure the gig listings are up-to-date. I have also completed a couple of reviews which I am hoping will be in the next edition which is out on the 3rd Feb. Note - This is incredibly exciting to me so please buy it!
The hardest thing to get my head round is listening to the people at Rock Sound talk so casually about these big rock stars (big to me anyway!). Yesterday, I was sat next to a chap who was having a full on conversation with Justin Beck from Glassjaw and there was talking today of an imminent interview with Tom Delonge from Blink 182. Now, to me, these two bands are a huge deal! I guess these guys are used to dealing with musicians on a daily basis whereas I am more used to sitting in my room and listening to their records so I guess i've idolised them a bit too much, they are only people in the end!
But the weirdest thing about the whole experience has to be the fact that the subeditor who originally gave me my work experience placement actually comes from Wolverhampton and used to frequently go to the same gigs as I did back in the day.
It’s a very small world!
Anyway stay tuned for (hopefully!) more regular updates next week.
Updating soon...
Sorry for the lack of updates, the availability of a working internet connection has proved to be a hard thing to find.
I will be updating very soon but in the mean time heres one of my favourite songs of the moment:
My new experience
For those of you that don't already know, I am set to start my work experience placement at Rock Sound in London tomorrow which I am incredibly excited about.
I have been a huge fan of Rock Sound magazine for many years and after applying a few months back, I was delighted to be offered a January placement.
I have decided to blog about my experiences during my placement dependent on availability of an Internet connection and the amount of spare time I have etc, but I hope to be able to update at least every couple of days.
So keep checking my blog for updates, hopefully they wont all be about how much tea I had to make!
Wolverhampton named fifth worst city in world
How could I not possibly comment on this story!
Wolverhampton (my hometown) has been named as the fifth worst city to live in the world on a travellers' website.
The list compiled by travel website Lonely Planet puts the West Midlands city below Detroit (USA), Accra (Ghana), Seoul (South Korea) and Los Angeles (USA).
Now, don't get me wrong, Wolverhampton isn't one of my favourite places in the world! I openly admit that when I was looking at University courses, I wanted to move as far away as possible and I chose Winchester because it was such a nice place compared to the city where I spent nearly 20 years of my life.
But to say that it is one of the top five worst places to live in the world is completely laughable.
Detroit is statistically the most dangerous place to live in the US and Los Angeles has a huge gang culture and an ever increasing number of deaths per year from gun crime among a host of other social and economic problems.
How on earth can Wolverhampton be mentioned in the same breath as these places?
Channel 4's annual list of the best and worst places to live revealed that Wolverhampton wasn't even named in the bottom 20 of worst places to live in the UK in 2009.
I refuse to accept there is not a more deserving place to be named in the bottom five than a small city in the Midlands. One comment on the website even ludicrously compared Wolverhampton to Ground Zero in New York!
I don't know what the criteria was for voting on the worst places to live so if anyone knows could they please comment on this page.
Leicester Tigers vs Sale Sharks 27/12
Thought I would upload some pictures to show off my new camera!
Ian and Jon in front of the impressive new Caterpillar Stand
Can't afford that ideal Christmas present? Just steal it!
Interesting story on the BBC News site today that is sure to lead to some interesting debates.
A priest from North Yorkshire has advised people to shoplift if they find themselves in hard times.
Speaking at St Lawrence and St Hilda in York, Reverend Tim Jones said people should steal from big chain stores rather than small businesses.
He told the congregation: "When people are released from prison, or find themselves suddenly without work or family support, then to leave them for weeks and weeks with inadequate or clumsy social support is monumental, catastrophic folly.
"We create a situation which leaves some people little option but crime."
Father Jones was blasted by Yorkshire police who said his actions were "highly irresponsible".
Defending his actions, Jones said he was trying to encourage people to give to charity to avoid those in need becoming so desperate, not trying to rally people to shoplift.
I thought I would try and get some reader participation on this story!
Do you think what Rev. Tim Jones said is right, or is he encouraging people to break the law? Is shoplifting ever right?
Vote on my poll and feel free to leave your comments.
Rage Against the Machine are Christmas number 1!
Rage Against the Machine have made it to number 1 in the UK singles chart!!!
I can't quite believe this happened. I know it was close but I never actually expected a song that is over 15 years old to make it to the number one spot over song by X-factor winner Joe McElderry.
RATM's song 'Killing in the Name' sold more than £500,000 copies to keep the 18 year old off the top spot whose single 'The Climb' came in at number 2.
I can honestly say, this has restored a lot of my faith in the music industry and the music buying public.
Rage Against the Machine have achieved this feat off the back of an unofficial facebook group and with a marketing budget of £0.
I know what some people are going to say, Simon Cowell still stands to benefit and Rage are on a major record label yadda yadda. Bottom line, this is a great victory and a good demonstration of social media flexing its muscles and showing how powerful it can be.
The darker side of journalism
Everyone knows the well publicised rewards that come with pursuing a career in journalism. The chance to see your name up in lights, being the first to break a story and making high profile celebrities face the music in interviews are just some of the ones which attracted me to study it at undergraduate level.
But it is not all glitz and glamour as a recent article reminded me.
The Committee to Protect Journalists revealed that 68 journalists were killed in 2009, making it the highest yearly tally since the CPJ started detailing records of journalist deaths.
The previous worst stood at 67 in 2007 when the violence in Iraq was at its peak and media deaths were common.
The record toll this year was driven mainly by the election-related slaughter of more than 30 media workers in the Philippine province of Maguindanao. This is the single deadliest event for the press in CPJ history.
The Philippines, Somalia and Pakistan were identified as amongst some of the most dangerous places, accounting for over 50 media deaths.
The full report can be found here
My Favourite Albums of 2009
The time is finally here!
The selections have been made, the order has been decided, the winners are preparing their speeches; it can only mean one thing...It is time to announce the winner of the highest accolade in music, my top ten favourite albums of 2009!
Mick McCarthy - cop out or wise decision? I feel sorry for the fans...
Most of the newspaper back pages today are focused around one story.
Wolverhampton Wanderers losing to Man Utd at Old Trafford isn't exactly a big story in itself, but last nights result is sure to have any number of bloggers giving their 2 cents worth for a very different reason.
Remixing bands own songs with Creative Commons
I am taking an (extended) break from my law revision to write a blog about something that appeared in my twitter feed this morning.
Thinking about it, this blog concerns Creative Commons and copyright so I guess it is kind of connected to my revision anyway!
Trying new things for 2010
I have decided to get a new digital camera for Christmas to assist me in my new years resolution to take more pictures. The whole resolution thing was admittedly an afterthought as I realised I can loosely justify spending near a £100 on a camera as it is an "essential" purchase.
Noel Edmonds speaks with passion
Everyone loves a bit of talk show ranting! This is a fantastic bit of TV from earlier this year. This clip comes from Noel Edmonds' Sky One show 'Noel's HQ' about the case of a former soldier who had been denied planing permission to build a bungalow. Enjoy!
