Again, it has been a very long while since I have created a blog. At the time of writing it is a very boring Sunday afternoon/evening and things are are bit fuzzy and I am suffering with 'Holiday Comedown'. At the time of writing (14th March 2010), it has been a good couple of hours since my return from Sheffield; my bags still require unpacking and I am at a loose end this evening. I really hate coming back from somewhere, and returning 'back to reality' after having a good time over the weekend. Back to the drudgery or returning back to Bastardoshire, and going to work at Unimatrix One towers the following morning. Returning back to reality totally sucks arse.
Anyway, enough of my bitter complaining and lament.
I was quite pleased to discover that Obituary were touring, and I decided that I MUST attend. However, one of the biggest problems to face with being a fan of extreme metal (Death and Black Metal being my specialist subject) is that in the UK most of these bands just appear to play just in London alone as the sole UK date. If you are a 'Northern Metaller' like myself, this can become rather annoying as you feel that the rock scene is somewhat neglected compared to our southern cousins down in “Lahndahn”. However, much to my delight I discovered they were playing in Sheffield.
The tickets had been ordered for myself, but unfortunately due to a lot of complex shit I will not get into here the hotel was booked last minute. And I mean VERY last minute, quite literally the night before with the laptop in the kitchen while me and Dave Taxidude searched for locations to crash at, along with Countess Bastardo searching for places on her PC. Fortunately, we hit up a place in in Beighton, Sheffield. Which unfortunately was as close as we could get. We ended up crashing at a Bed and Breakfast in town that only set us back £40 a night for a twin room, or £25 for a single. In our case, we chose a twin room due to a lack of rooms at the time.
There were further setbacks getting to the place which resulted in us getting into Beighton for something like 1930hrs. As a result, we literally had to check in, and bugger off straight out of the building as soon as we arrived. With part of the journey speeding through Snake Pass, which is probably one of the most treacherous roads in the UK for any motorist worth their salt. Incredibly, there was still snow in parts on the hills and for half of the duration there is no phone or radio signals of any shape or form whatsoever. Before travelling through there, I recommend that your car is in optimal mechanical condition before going, as it's the last place you would want your vehicle to thrown it's hand in at.
It was also a poignant journey, as it was the last journey in 'Luciferia - The Ethereal Vehicle of Darkness'. Which is the name that we referred to Dave Taxidude's car, a Rover 75 Connoisseur SE 2litre CRTDi, which has an imposing gothic looking presence due to its retro styling and black colour. I only hope that Luciferia goes to a good home and is looked after. I know, it sounds a bit odd having feeling and sentiments for a vehicle - especially a vehicle that isn't my own. It must be a bloke thing, I don't know...
Due to the late arrival, I am not entirely sure of what other support bands were playing. The doors were open from 1830hrs onwards, which is an insanely early time for a venue to open that hosts gigs. Upon arrival, we discovered that there were next to no staff around the building to point us in the right direction, and nobody to check who had entered the premises. Most unhelpful, and not forgetting a security risk as we actually attended the concert with our tickets, and the ticket stubs still intact as there was nobody to verify our tickets. Come to think of it, one could have actually sneaked into the gig without any suspicion and attended the gig for free. Bad move, Sheffield O2 Academy!
Neuroma were a pretty interesting band, that appear to be in the 'Progressive Death Metal' vein, very much like Opeth. Involving clean vocals in places and keyboards and synths wrapped up into the mix. It is with regret that we only managed to see half of their set, but they are certainly a band worthy of note and recommendation, and their material is certainly worth tracking down if you got on fine with Opeth and like Death Metal and Black Metal bands.
Next up, naturally, was Obituary. I had managed to get a decent spot at the front which was relatively easy as the room was small and intimate. Something I like to see in a metal gig; I like it when you can see the band close up and personal and where you can see the whites of the band members eyes and I am not a fan of larger gigs such as in stadiums, which I feel distances the band from the fans and depersonalises the whole experience (one of the best gigs for being close up and personal was Esoteric, playing in Club Phoenix, Manchester).
They certainly worked rather well, with the spectacle highlighted by the singer John Tardy and his 'Rapunzel' style barnet moshing away like a whirling dervish - which is quite incredible for a bloke who must be in his mid 40's (there is nothing wrong with my own barnet but I couldn't help but be jealous), with crunching riffs from Ralph Santolla, Trevor Peres and Frank Watkins. The crowd went several shades of mental when old classic were played such as 'The End Complete', 'Rotting Ways', with the closer being 'Slowly We Rot'. The curfew of the gig was quite frankly ridiculous, with the crowed being booted out of the building not long after 2215hrs (the ticket stubs actually said a curfew of 2200hrs!).
Clubbing for the remainder of the stay:
The rest of the night out in Sheffield on Friday was something of a damp squib. It appears that the discerning Metaller and Goth chooses to go out on the sauce in Sheffield on a Saturday. Various establishments were visited such as The Nelson, Boardwalk, and Casbah and we found them to be particularly dead with not too much activity, apart from the occasional moronic trend that happened to enter the premises jumping around like a prick to tunes that they have heard on Kerrang and Scuzz on UK Satellite and Cable TV.
By far the worst, was The Corporation. We had only attended for a mere quarter of an hour and were horrified with what was being played. Turns out, that on Friday The Corporation plays all this horrid 'Radio Friendly Unit Shifter' rock that is commonly featured and played to death on the likes of UK Satellite TV channels Kerrang and Scuzz. Awful stuff and other Emo 'Hitler Fringed' nonsense while upstairs played chart and dance stuff, believe it or not. Upon exiting, we quiz a bouncer about it and it transpires that due to 'The Recession' (groan) the venue is no longer making enough money and that they now have to appeal to the trend moron count on Friday's just to generate money.
A difficult thing really. Granted, the place has to make money and put bread on the table but if I owned the place I would rather stick my cock in a pickle slicer than do such a thing to a night club. It really pisses me off; I see this happen with other venues such as The Krazyhouse in Liverpool on a Saturday to name on example. The trends have plenty of other places to go to, so why the fuck should they ruin and pollute OUR nights out? Personally, I would have very strict quality control to keep these morons out as they are the ones who cause most of the trouble on these nights out. It must be known that there is dramatically less shit occurring on rock nights than there is on the average trend night, as I witnessed when I used to 'double agent' down King Street in Wigan.
Saturday was by far, infinitely superior. A lot more of the decent Metal and Goth crowd were out and the music in The Corporation was how it usually is when I have attended in the past. The place is comprised of four rooms, which Countess Bastardo reckons is too many. The first and largest floor (where bands usually play) is usually where the Hair Metal is played and the more popular Rock and Metal music that you would hear in other establishments similar to that of The Krazyhouse, Maximes, or Jilly's Rockworld. The second room is one of the smallest, but by far my most favourite room as the room is centred around Extreme Metal music such as Carcass, Hatebreed, Bloodbath, At The Gates, Killswitch Engage and a lot more in-between.
The third room is practically nirvana for the Cybergoth persuasion as there is usually a lot of Industrial/EBM/Aggrotech type of music played in there which I don't mind at all. There is a fourth but I think this is the balcony area (apologies for vagueness but the place is very much like a maze) and fuck knows how you get to the cloakroom. You would think that logically, like most nightclubs you would be able to hand your coats in somewhere around the ticket booth area like Jilly's, or at least within spitting distance from it. Oh no, it's ferociously confusing after quite a few beers but fortunately I was wearing a German army shirt/coat affair which I just tied around my waist.
So, in conclusion: AVOID FRIDAY like the plague. Go out on a Saturday. I did this, so you didn't have to!
Daytime stuff:
During our stay, we had a wander around the shops. A particularly cool feature of the locale is the usage of trams to get around. In our case, it was a 10 to 15 minute walk up a steep hill away from the Bed and Breakfast and you sort of go around a bend and nearly double back on yourself to get to the Beighton stop. Which isn't recommended if you have Asthma and lungs with the consistency of Swiss cheese.
The tram journey was super efficient and went through all sorts of strange little villages and areas before going to Sheffield centre. With curious place names like Crystal Peaks, Heckinthorpe, and other typically Yorkshire sounding place names. Granted, we may have dropped a bollock on booking a place to stay but it was certainly worth it to see these strange and mysterious places you wouldn't normally have seen if you stayed in the centre of Sheffield. The tickets are £3 for a full day pass type and are usable on Stage Coach badged buses. Me and Dave Taxidude had invented a name for the Tram; it was like a bus, but it isn't, with the efficiency of a train but it isn't a train. Therefore, we referred to it as 'The Trus', or 'The Brain' – an amusing portmanteau of the words Bus and Train.
Conclusion:
All in all, despite last minute faffing with booking somewhere to stay it was a good weekend indeed. The Beighton Bed and Breakfast is a pretty cosy place to stay, and is easy enough to get out to the town centre and relatively cheap in a quite village where it seems not very much goes on. I also recommend Marilyn's sandwich bar over the street as they do a pretty mean Bacon Sandwich. I purchased something called The Full Monty, which consisted of basically an all day breakfast shoved on a sizeable barmcake which is open at daytime hours. An ideal morning food to mop up the alcohol in your system the night before, if you are up to it.
Stay tuned for more, and hopefully frequent updates!
