stuff and things

so anyhoo, I went to hellfest the other day. I caught the tgv over there, was pretty cool, but not really all that different from any other train to be honest. The trains aren't really set up to sleep in comfortably either. I met some random french guy on the train, and ended up pitching my tent near his. As a sidenote, I took a shit on the tgv on the way back to see how it would compare to shitting on an english train, not really much difference.

There was nothing on the first day, just the campsite opened up but a good proportion of the people who came arrived that day. I ended up drinking beer with a couple of random french dudes, before stumbling across some english people while really drunk.

Anyway, general notes on my first festival:
1. Toilets are gross. So I took anti-diarrhea pills so I wouldn't have to shit.
2. Buying food with the intention of cooking and shit is a bad idea, as I couldn't be arsed.
3. midday till 3am or so is a really long time, so pace yourself.
4. Whilst shirts make good hats, oh god, the sunburn.
5. ?

Now, boring notes on bands to follow:
The first day there wasn't much good on early, I went to see Alchemist, support the home team and all but they had technical troubles and stopped after 20 minutes, oh well. I went to see paradise lost a bit later, was pretty disappointed as they didn't play anything old. Mayhem were really fucking cool, the crowd got right into it, cos it's mayhem. Katatonia were cool, they played a bunch of newish stuff, teargas is the only song I can specifically remember, but then they played some old songs, one of which was Without God which is my favourite katatonia song ever so it was awesome. Dimmu Borgir were not all that great, In Flames put on a good show, fireworks and all sorts of shit. Baroness were absolutely amazing. Venom was pretty good, but I was too tired to really care by that point. I also saw a bunch of random hardcore bands, the pits were good fun.

Second day:
Airbourne were pretty cool, basically an ACDC clone, but they put on a good show. The singer also climbed up near the top of the scaffolding by the stage and was playing guitar from up there, was funny. Sodom were really awesome, crowd got right into it as well. I saw anathema, pretty bland to be honest. They did play a couple of older songs (including sleepless) but yeah, they don't really have it any more. Candlemass were really cool. Anaal Nathrakh put on a good show, and had an awesome pit going. Shining were intense, the singer was spitting whisky at the crowd and cutting himself with a broken bottle and a boxcutter. He threw a bloody bandage into the crowd, I was close enough to have grabbed it, but really, it's a bloody bandage, gross. The girl next to me had no such qualms and had a tug of war for it with someone for it. She was trying to break it with her teeth at one point, I mean honestly. Watain followed them, and were just as intense. No cutting or spitting, just pure black metal. Saw a bit of ministry and cavalera conspiracy after, but in general couldn't be arsed by that time of night.

Third day municipal waste played early, was a pretty awesome pit, not sure if it was the biggest of the festival, but it was pretty big. I went to see Rose Tattoo a bit later, bit of a random choice for the festival, but still great. Dilinger escape plan were pretty good, went to see primordial after them, was nuts. Kinda pissed they clashed with meshuggah, wouldn't have minded to see them. Opeth was alright, they opened with Demon of the Fall, which was a good start. My dying bride was on after, and yeah, was good. NOFX were playing after that, I really don't know whose idea they were, but ugh. I went to see Shai Hulud, because of their name. I don't even really like them (generic sorta hardcore), but still. Motorhead were great, awesome stageshow (girls in bikinis breathing fire, Hell yeah). I went to see Cult of Luna after that, I'd only really heard of them, not heard them and they were awesome. I went to see Envy over Slayer, dunno if it was a good idea but oh well. Envy were great, but still, slayer. Caught the end of the slayer set, came over just in time to see angel of death.

thus ends my boring and rather poorly described description of the bands I saw.

If you're not bored by now, you might also enjoy watching grass grow, or paint dry, or something.