Saturday 20th June – After hours on the razz non-stop, I finally hit the sack at… err…don’t know the time but it was getting light. Nothing much to tell until I woke up at …err…no idea of the time but it was afternoon, my head hurt something silly and I had no voice (a blessing in disguise, I hear some of you say).

Details of the rank loo experience while hangover as fuck aside, time was flying and all of a sudden it was time to hit the festival stages again… But first some beer to ease the pain.

Gogol Bordello was on at the Green Stage at…err…don’t know. All I know is that me and my homies made it there in time to see some of his set and attempt some dancing and singalong but all we managed to do was to stand there kinda mesmerized by the energy coming from the stage while pitifully lacking any energy ourselves. It was enjoyable, the band was tight and the crowd got well into it but I must admit it wasn’t my cuppa. Still, I feel I must give them a WIN.

Editors followed. Even though I had been told by a reliable source they were pretty good live, I wasn’t expecting much. I was/am dubious of bands when they show up from bloody nowhere, sign a major deal, release an album that goes straight on to number 1 after being flogged to death on TV and every single commercial radio station on the land. Call me a cynic if you must but I have seen way too many bands/artists “arrive” in the scene that way and to vanish just as quick. Having said all that, Editors were good. I was impressed with his voice, which does sound exactly the same. None or very little reverb was used. My educated guess is that there was no reverb in use. Their sound was powerful but clean. The band as a whole was as tight as a rat`s arse! WIN.

I vaguely remember seeing Eagles of Death Metal perform 1 or 2 songs but I was shattered so I decided to have a nap until midnight as NIN was on at 12.30 and I wanted to be compos mentis then. It goes without saying that I didn’t manage to nap due to the anxiety which was now pretty high. Why was I anxious? Because I was about to be surrounded by NIN psychofans who could potentially recognize me and carry out some of the threats I received after His Holiness Trent Reznor flamed them and set them loose on me. But that is old news now so…

Nine Inch Nails was on at the Blue Stage. Unlike some of the other bands which came on earlier, NIN was the first (and only) band to keep the punters waiting. It wasn’t a long wait to be honest, 10 minutes tops, but it was cold and raining so it was unpleasant and unnecessary. Obviously I speak for myself but I know most punters were pissy about this because they started to boo and shouts of “oh c`mon!” were heard loud and clear. Later I was to find
out by a reliable source that the band didn’t arrive at the festival site until like 20 minutes before the gig. Not a very professional approach from Mr.Perfect, is it?

Lights deemed and the stage filled with smoke. I moved my plump asscloser to the stage and managed to position myself a few feet from the shortest microphone placed in the middle of the stage. NIN came on in style! Robin Finck guitar was deafening. The drummer reminded me of Animal, in a really good way. They were both great! Then the unexpected happened: Trent Reznor started to “sing” and his deep, low voice was almost inaudible. As he struggled to mutter his own songs, at the end of each line an excessive amount of reverb kicked in. Can't blame the PA because the rest of the band was doing just fine. The reverb was there to hide the fact Reznor no longer can deliver. His voice is gone and we are left with a sweaty, bloated, old angry looking excuse of a man/artist with moobs. All through the show Reznor looked “out of it” and there was a lot of going back and forth to have a sip at the beer can next to the drums which lead me and my companions in the crowd to assume he was legless. This assumption was confirmedwhen, while erratically pacing about, he slipped and almost fell to the ground. So, all things considered, it was a FAIL.

Originally posted at http://andreaurbanfox.wordpress.com/

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