Chris' Day

Primitai at O2 Academy, Islington

The boys were playing at the O2, Academy in Islington last night. I hadn’t realised it but, 02 have a whole range of venues in places like Oxford, Birmingham,Newcastle, Leeds, Glasgow, Brixton,Sheffield, Bournemouth, Islington.

Primitai wanted me to take some shots, but I knew that the O2 camera policy was draconian, so I would need a media pass. For whatever reason, I had to wait until 4 that afternoon to find out if one was possible, so at 4 I got the call, got on the fine No 17 bus to Reading, train to London, and tube out to The Angel.

At that point things went a bit wrong. Somehow I had managed to put the wrong post code into my iPhone, so struck off completely in the wrong direction for a mile, realised I wasn’t in the right place, and had to walk back to where I had started. It was freezing cold, but because I was yomping along with all my weighty camera gear, I actually ended up hot. I was a bit panicked. It turns out I needn’t have been, as I was made to wait in the same queue as everyone else, so trying to get there 45 minutes early was a waste of time anyway!

So, onto the gig. The venue is well equipped, the lighting, in particular was so much better than the usual crap that I usually have to put up with, and the band were on form.

The venue holds around 800 people, and I would say that it was full to capacity.

A few band shots of Primitai…

Chris sporting the bandana look!

Srdjan looking moody(How unusual!)

Jamie and Nick doing their usual, highly crafted, technically superb stuff

And some shots of the crowd as Srdjan is being lifted up by Guy

Talking of Guy…

I didn’t stay around after Primitai, but headed back to Reading…where 1 inch of snow had gridlocked the place…pathetic given that the snow had been forecast for 3 days.

Steel Panther, Mötley Crüe, Def Leppard

The Hair Metal boys aere at the Wembley Arena, so they just had to be seen!

Steel P{anther pouting like only Steel Panther can!

The Show started with a real favourite of mine – Steel Panther. Whilst it must be said that they are all very good musicians, they are also great showmen, with the hair flicking, pouting, bravado humour. Excellent

Phil Collen of Def Leppard

Next on were Def Leppard. I listen to Planet Rock, and I like Joe Elliott’s style, but I hadn’t heard them before, so I wondered if the show would come off. It definitely did! They were excellent!

Last on were Mötley Crüe, the wild men of Hair Metal(If you can have such a thing) didn’t disappoint. Again I hadn’t seen them live before, but they were excellent with a combination of great musicianship, and great showmanship

Tommy Lee upside down on a roller coaster-he even took a member of the audience with him for the ride!

At the end of their set, with was on the last gig of their tour, you could see the real relief and joy that everything had gone so well

Mötley Crüe

HardRock Hell-Black Stone Cherry

One of the headliner acts at HRH was Black Stone Cherry.

These guys are one of my favourites.They mix a rocky, poppy, metal sound brilliantly, and with some great choruses that you can sing along to. I particularly liked Blind Man, Blame it on the Boom boom and White Trash Millionaire

Hard Rock Hell - Primitai

One of the reasons for going to Hard Rock Hell was that Primitai were playing. I had asked for a pit pass to enable me to take my camera with me, and I actually got one, so I was able to go in the photographer’s pits in front of the 3 stages.

There was the usual collection of people in black, but what an unbelievably friendly bunch they were.Without doubt, the best atmosphere of any festival that I have been to.

Primitai did their usual storming show, which really got the crowd going

But then there was a bit of a surprise!

Guy asked his “Special guests to come on the stage, and this happened!

Yep, two ladies came out and firebreathed and ground their way whilst the band were playing-the audience loved it!

Primitai got voted as being in the top 5 acts-not bad given that there were about 40 acts playing, and I’m sure the ladies helped them on their way

Hard Rock Hell–Background

Prestatyn, on the North Wales coast is a miserable place in winter. Cold, windswept, lifeless.

Right in the middle of it is Pontins, a holiday camp from the Hi-de-hi era.

It seems innocuous, but it’s the place that Hard Rock Hell takes place each year. HRH is a medium(around 4000 people) Metal festival. I’d managed to persuade my Buddy Mike to come along with me, so off we set.

The accommodation was better than we had feared. Very tatty , but it had all the basics, and was more comfortable than a tent, my usual festival accommodation.

The area around Prestatyn is beautiful, with lots of mountains and , of course rivers(It never stops raining whenever I’m in Wales), and even a huge Canal aqueduct at Pontcysyllte

Anyway, we weren’t there to get frozen, rained on and blown away, we were there to rock, so onto that in the next post