Darkest Hour - I had a gripe here, it was advertised and also printed on the ticket that the show started at 19:00 with the doors opening about an hour before that….well we got there at 18:30 and Darkest hour were 2-3 songs into their set so not a great start, also with it being early doors meant not everyone was there and the arena seemed empty and lacking atmosphere, also add in the fact that I’m not really familiar with the band so all I can really say is that I can see the appeal and “potential” of the band but wasn’t really “feeling” it on the night for the above reasons.

Devil Driver - This is a band I am familiar with, and as soon as they stepped on stage the place came to life, arena was still half empty but pushing myself further forward into the crowd and keeping my eyes firmly fixed on the stage in front of me and not on the half empty hall behind me allowed that feeling of “atmosphere” to seep in, these guys were great, got the crowd warmed up very nicely a few decent pits in full swing, this is what its all about.

Bring me the horizon - Will say from the outset right from when i first purchased my ticket I was resentful of the fact that these were the penultimate act before MH…a spot that as far as i’m concerned belonged to devil driver, however I can say i’m not one of those petty dick heads booing and throwing stuff at them on stage, they just aint my cup of tea, when they came on, I went toilet, grabbed a beer got some food and came back when they were done…nuff said.

Machine Head - Epic is the word I would use to describe them, and I mean that in the true definition of the word and not in the way the word has come to be used in “internet speak” recently. All the fan favorites were on the set list (with the exception of raising the fist of decent *angry face* lol) they did have me worried at one point when it looked like they were gonna wrap it up with who we are and not play the godly Davidian but the encore set it straight :-). By the time MH got on stage the arena floor seemed about 3/4 full and getting as close to the front as I could and in amongst the crowd much like with devildriver ensured that special feeling of electricity was present and accounted for, and I think Rob Flynn hit the nail on the head when he said that the band feeds off that atmosphere as much as we do and you could tell, by the end of the performance the guy was buzzing, fist pumping etc as they left the stage obviously pleased with the reception from the crowd, little touches like that where you know that the band on stage is loving being there performing as much as you’re loving being there listening makes the whole thing that much better.

Awesome gig, would have been better in a smaller venue and minus BMTH (my opinion, don’t like it…tough) but overall £30 well spent.

8.5/10

First of all it seemed a shame that Darkest Hour weren’t on longer just so more people could of seen them, they were very energetic and to say this was the first time I had seen them, I almost felt into their songs straight away.

Devil Driver aren’t to my taste, that doesn’t mean I’m going to slate them. They did their job got the crowd warmed up and ready to go. Very powerful music, but unfortunately goes over my head. I should probably give more time to their music.

BMTH didn’t sound too great, I hated the fact they they got heckled constantly and things thrown at them. I admit Oli Sykes can be a bit of an idiot, but when you’re pumped and into your songs any person near the front who is giving you the finger or whatever is going to seriously annoy you and you’re going to feel like saying something back! those people who are chucking things and shouting things are seriously narrow minded…BMTH have their place whether you like it or not. Machine Head like them and have got more fans from this. I see BMTH as a gateway band to people who might progress on to other things like Machine head…isnt that a good thing? Slipknot were once quite hated, look at them now… If you don’t like a band go and have a beer, rather than chucking your fluids (9 times out of 10 covering the people in front of you rather than getting the band) towards the front.

Machine Head were epic, yes it was disappointing to see the gaps…but what can you do? rubbish weather and poor economical times will contribute I’m sure. It didn’t stop them putting on a powerful display of their finest work. (8/10)

BMTH were hated before they got on stage, people throwing stuff at them, etc…. I thought they were ace and the people who were singled out in the crowd and insulted were most likey being morons (throwing the bottles and stuff).

Your right about it being loud. May be they would be better in a smaller venue - it was embarrasing when they put up the lights to the seated crowd only to see it was 1/4 full at best!

The whole blah blah about “we did Wembly last night, they were a better crowd” was laughable - are we at pantomime or a rock concert?