Wheeeeeeeeee!. That was f*cking awesome. Megadeth scared the **** out of the indie kids on the Friday, and played a brilliant show. The weather was pretty tidy, if overcast for the most part.
On Saturday, Anthrax and Velvet Revolver were brilliant (the pit went nucking futs when Slash appeared), and Sabbath.... well, Sabbath were Sabbath. Amazing show, Ozzy on form, the place packed out to capacity. And me 20 feet from Tony Iommi.
Also saw Meshuggah on the second stage. They are very, very scary live. Good stuff though. The weather was better than Friday, with some very strong sunshine in the afternoon, leading to sunburn during Anthrax's set.
On the Sunday, Lacuna Coil played a great show on the second stage (we were going to watch Nightwish on the main stage, but they had a ****ty mix, and the mate I was with hated it so we left), and we caught the last half of Slayer's set. Not a huge fan, but they played a tight set and I was impressed. Likewise with Slipknot - I hate their music (with the exception of Duality), but their stage show was excellent - pyrotechnics and epileptic lighting etc. Very impressive, and a hard act to follow. After a rather long break, where numerous female members of the crowd flashed to the cameras (to loud applause, I might add
), System came on. They played brilliantly, though they looked exhausted (jet lag or some such probably), and they hardly talked to the crowd at all. Instead, they played straight through the set, with no encore (though it was nearly a two-hour performance), finishing with Sugar. The weather was horrible, however. The ambient temperature was fairly warm, but the wind was icy, and it was freezing as a result. It also rained briefly during Slipknot's set. Horrible.
All in all, what a weekend! Expensive, and sleeping in a tent for 4 days without proper facilities (the toilets were horrendous as to be expected, and the showers were definitely to be avoided) was rather unpleasant, but I don't care. Brilliant bands, brilliant shows, and thoroughly good fun for all...
