I agree - their performance last night was hugely disappointing. I saw them at Download earlier this year and they blasted through a well-chosen set in a fairly short slot (40 or 50 minutes, I think), keeping up the momentum and really showing what they were capable of. Last night was a good example of a talented band delivering a real letdown of a gig. They played 40 minutes-worth of songs but
Forum: Noticeboard

Listing on eBay is reasonably easy with TurboLister (downloadable free of charge from their web site). It's a crappy bit of software but still a hundred times faster than listing each item manually. With TurboLister I can create an eBay listing in no more than a minute once I've set up a template with all my preferences that will stay the same from auction to auction (e.g. shipping rates). Sell
Forum: Noticeboard

Not a bad song but nothing great, and all I could think was how much better it would have sounded with Danny Bowes singing. The vocal line sounds like it's been written for his voice, and without him it just sounds a bit... lifeless.
Forum: Noticeboard

Andrew Patterson wrote: > PS those not attending this festival and live on the mainland ... SHAME ON YOU Don't forget that the line-up won't be to everybody's taste, and that's in addition to the various (and very valid) reasons other people have posted for not attending such as lack of funds, other commitments etc. I live very close to Nottingham so travel wouldn't be a problem, I could g
Forum: Noticeboard

I regularly shop on Amazon because I find the recommendations system and customer reviews helpful in discovering new music. However, almost without fail I end up buying from one of their marketplace sellers (usually Caiman, based in the USA) who offer brand new, sealed albums for around £6 a go. Even with £1.24 p&p this still tends to work out cheaper than HMV, Play, Blah etc etc, and certa
Forum: Noticeboard

If you can get to Rotherham for the Classic Rock Society Autumn Rokfest on 3rd November it would be a great opportunity to catch Threshold outside of London. Tickets are reasonably priced at £15 (£12 for members) as the line-up also includes Crimes of Passion, Soliloquy, Kyrb Grinder (Threshold drummer Johanne James' excellent side project) and Timefall. I can highly recommend almost any CRS g
Forum: Noticeboard

Sad news, especially as the John Payne-fronted Asia really excelled themselves with the last two albums and were some way through recording the next, titled Architect of Time. However, the following press release cheered me up no end: ***************** PRESS RELEASE John Payne, Guthrie Govan, and Jay Shellen of Asia have announced the formation of a new band called ONE. A deal has been signed
Forum: Noticeboard

A few years ago the music was like that in The Rig every Saturday night, but unfortunately it's changed over time and far less melodic rock and AOR is played these days. DJ Dave is a big melodic rock fan, but unfortunately the Rock City management have other ideas and insist that the evening now includes a hefty dose of 90s alternative. It doesn't bother me too much -- I've had enough years danci
Forum: Noticeboard

Rock City does have a food bar... of sorts. On a normal Saturday night it seems to have sold out of everything after three hours, so I hope they've stocked up for Saturday. The food's not great either, certainly not up to the standard of this year's grub at the Town & Country.
Forum: Noticeboard

If you like Ghost Reveries make sure you check out Blackwater Park. It's at least as good, if not better.
Forum: Noticeboard

FF2 is a *fantastic* line-up! Admittedly I'm into melodic metal as well as AOR/hard rock so I'm delighted to see Balance of Power and Power Quest in the line-up, but even if I wasn't interested in those bands I'd be well chuffed at the prospect of seeing Blue Tears, Harem Scarem, Vaughn etc etc on the same bill. For me the line-up is stronger than FF1 (although I'm not sure Pink Cream 69 can be
Forum: Noticeboard

That's cool... not too early, not too late. Everybody downstairs to the The Rig afterwards then!
Forum: Noticeboard

This is fantastic news. What a line-up!!! I'd happily have travelled across the country for this one, but with Rock City being just down the road from me -- and my regular Saturday night haunt anyway! -- it really couldn't be better. Just one thing is puzzling me. Saturday nights are the big rock night at Rock City, and the main hall hosts a nu-metal/alternative club night (classic rock being in
Forum: Noticeboard

I expected a small metal festival to enjoy a similar lack of trouble, but unfortunately it seems there are always people willing to spoil the weekend for everyone else. One suggestion was that the thieves might not have been ticketholders: the campsite was adjacent to a small wood in the grounds through which people might have gained access. Not being familiar with the grounds of Catton Hall I d
Forum: Noticeboard

Unfortunately you aren't alone in being the victim of thieves. The BOA message board has a thread about this and it's alarming to see how many people suffered thefts from their tents. I was camping with eight other people in a group of six tents, and three were disturbed during Friday night / Saturday morning. Luckily I was awake when I heard the velcro and zip of my tent's porch being opened. I
Forum: Noticeboard

OK, here goes! The festival was fantastic, especially as this is the first year the Bloodstock team have organised an outdoor version of the event. A great line-up and excellent location made for a very enjoyable weekend. The bands ranged in style from hard rock through power metal to more extreme metal, but everyone got a good response from the crowd and I didn't hear any complaints about the c
Forum: Noticeboard

I'll be there both days... very much looking forward to it. The chance to see Gotthard and Sebastian Bach at the same event as some of the best power/prog/melodic metal bands is just fantastic.
Forum: Noticeboard

http://www.bandtoband.com/ The site gets bigger and better every time I visit. You can now browse through the entire database, clicking on album covers, band names and members to explore the connections. Great stuff, and there are a lot of rock and metal bands featured.
Forum: Noticeboard

This is fantastic news. Like many people I have the bootleg CD, love the songs but hate the poor quality. I never thought I'd hear the originals in their full glory, and certainly not on an official release. I can't wait!
Forum: Noticeboard

You never told me you were mates with Bob Catley! *grin*
Forum: Noticeboard

Shame that the Nottingham date coincides with Bloodstock '05 just down the road in Derby...
Forum: Noticeboard

I'll agree with that, and Dare were also fantastic. Pink Cream 69 get my vote for best band of the night. The sound and the performance were both perfect, and I'd love to see them in the UK again. TNT and Firehouse were both excellent, and Firehouse take home the prize for being the only band to *really* get the crowd going. To my mind they should have been headlining, but I've written about So
Forum: Noticeboard

Never mind more Journey songs (although that would have been cool), how about more Soul Sirkus songs?! I wasn't keeping count but it seemed as though they only played about half the album. It was always going to be difficult making a headline set out of a single album, but I expected most or all of the songs plus some filler. By the time I'd yawned my way through all the covers, endless on-stage
Forum: Noticeboard

I live in Nottingham so I've never stayed in any of the hotels, but the closest is the Moat House. Its car park overlooks Rock City just across the road. Looks quite expensive but also very nice. Within the last couple of years they've built a new Holiday Inn Express which is about 3 minutes walk from Rock City. It's on Chapel Bar, right in the city centre, and will probably be cheaper than the
Forum: Noticeboard

I don't think you should feel the need to explain or justify how you spend your day. It's clear to me that running a site of this size must take a tremendous amount of work. You come across as a hard-working bloke and I'm sure that more time is devoted to this site than a lot of people imagine. I've run a website in the past, and although it was nothing compared with melodicrock.com it made me ap
Forum: Noticeboard

Thanks to everyone who replied re: car parks. I think I'm all ready now -- can't wait for the gig! Cheers Andy
Forum: Noticeboard

Vanden Plas are working on a new album. In fact their newsletter today mentions that they've completed pre-production but progress has been slow because of one of the members being ill. Should be worth the wait though. They haven't disappointed yet.
Forum: Noticeboard

I've heard they're due on at 7:45. Hope I'm wrong for you. On a related note, I understand that at least one of the car parks near the venue closes at 11pm, which is no bloody good. Any recommendations for somewhere safe to park nearby? I've located car parks at Birch Street, Fold Street, Peel Street, Skinner Street and a few others a bit further away. Cheers for any advice.
Forum: Noticeboard

Cheers for posting the Nottingham photos. I was standing at the back so my view of the stage wasn't great. Anyway, time for a mini-review... I was given a two-track sampler of Double Cross a couple of years ago and found them very generic and uninteresting. Last night's set started in a similar way but improved noticeably as the evening progressed. The second half of the set was really quite goo
Forum: Noticeboard

I like Train Of Thought, and for me it's a much stronger release than Six Degrees. I just couldn't get into Six Degrees and have probably only listened to it two or three times since its release. Train Of Thought, on the other hand, I found quite easy to get into. It's far from my favourite DT album, but it renewed my faith in the band. If the new one is being compared with IaW and Awake then I
Forum: Noticeboard