Tonight’s list include:

• Sorry – Buckcherry
• Beautiful Day – U2
• Breathe Again – Alter Bridge
• My Happiness – Powerderfinger
• Many of Horror – Biffy Clyro
• Time Is Running Out – Muse
• Africa – Toto
• Drive – Incubus
• The World I Know – Collective Soul
• Ana’s Song – Silverchair

But that changed this weekend, it was Download 2010, and while the line up was not as epically good as Download 2009, it was still a spectacular weekend.

This year, a slew of bands that I’ve been following for the past couple of years took giant leaps forward with more awareness and more fans, mainly gained by new albums and constant touring.

This year saw the Download debut of Starseed, in acoustic form, on the Jager stage.  This is a band with a massive sound and somehow, they brought that into an acoustic format.  The energy that just flows from these guys is intense and from the sheer exuberance of drummer Andy through to the smooth, deep vocals of Russell – the band wowed the crowd.

My Passion graduated this year to the Ronnie James Dio (second) stage and put on a damn good show, showing they can take their energetic sound out of the small venues and onto a large open stage.  There’s a bit of work to be done still, but they did a fine job and clearly attracted new fans with the crowd growing by the second.  A slight wardrobe malfunction saw singer Laurence Rene’s pants turn to tatters by the end, and there were some near mishaps with cables, mic stands and band members throwing themselves in all direction.  All in all a great fun set as you would expect from the foursome.

The Blackout, always the showmen, brought forth two giant inflatable hands showing the middle finger… a massive backdrop that proclaimed “Fuck The Blackout” and 2… that’s right 2 drumkits.  Joined by Kids In Glass Houses drummer Philip Jenkins, The Blackout rocked the socks off all and sundry.  Each gig, each festival, they draw more and more to their show and convert crowds into fans with their light hearted banter, enormous presence and sheer joy with what they do.  Earlier in the day they played an acoustic set, clearly still a bit uncomfortable in holding a crowd for it – they shouldn’t be.  Over the last year their vocals and music has just got better and better, and when you think they’re at their peak – they just get better again!  Quite possibly my favourite band of the day.

Bullet For My Valentine show they’re a force to be reckoned with as they brought flames, fireworks and pure metal rock to headline the Ronnie James Dio stage on Saturday.  Another band with a huge sound and a presence that commands you to watch, they played a mix of old and new and had a large crowd’s attention from start to end.

These four bands, all at slightly different stages in their career, have something quite obvious in common.  A love of music that drives them and a passion that attracts people to them, feeding their ability to constantly improve, constantly surprise and constantly entertain.  Four bands with very different styles – all on the path to greatness.

A few photos of some are online here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennikate/sets/72157624272674424/

In the past few years x-factor winners have won the UK Christmas number 1 single place. Every year there’s a campaign to ‘beat the x-factor and get *insert song here* to number 1′, but until this year the campaigns haven’t been powerful enough.

So what made 2009 different?
Firstly, in 2009 we saw the advancement of social media, Twitter took over the world and musician’s everywhere started tweeting. Facebook continued to be a driving source of keeping your friends updated – and the two worked hand in hand to keep rock fans updated and united about when and where to buy their chosen single.

Secondly, downloaded songs count towards the charts and there are a number of large retailers selling downloaded songs. Not that long ago you had to physically go to a store and buy a CD, and then you had to buy it from the right store for it to count. Today it’s easy to get a song to a retailer and almost any song can be counted. ‘Killing In The Name’ incidentally is also the first number 1 composed entirely of download sales and is the biggest electronic sale of a song ever.

Finally, a well known song was chosen to unite people. For some, the song didn’t matter, but for others ‘Killing In The Name’ was the perfect choice, the lyrical content and the bands political statements being a big factor in gaining their support.

OK, we all know that RATM’s music ultimately lines the pockets of Sony Executives, as does the x-factor. But it was never about who made money from this.

From the start it was about showing that just because you won a reality TV show and all your fans bought your CD in the first week of sales – didn’t mean you had the unalterable RIGHT to be the biggest selling single in the lead up to Christmas. Time and again through the debate people mentioned the x-factor winners ‘right’ to be the number 1, and that is what has everyone’s backs up. Yes RATM for number 1 was an organised campaign, but you can argue that the x-factor is too. This was two campaigns to get a song to number one creating a buzz and interest in music and the popular charts once again.

An added benefit of this race were the charities with RATM fans donating directly as well as profits from much of the sales of ‘Killing In The Name’ being donated as well.

There’s no big winner or loser here – but there is a clear showing that there are more people in this country that care about quality musicians and refute anyone’s ‘right’ to be marketed into being the best. Will this change anything in the long run – probably not – but it has shown the power of the Internet to unite music lovers in a cause and will hopefully introduce a new style of music to kids who’ve never been exposed to anything like it before.

The RATM campaign was started and co-ordinated by @jon_magic and @moogyboobles – who did an amazing job of keeping us going! Congrats to them.

I find it hard to choose my favourite band. Is it the one that I listen to the most, the one that I see live every time they plan, the one that currently makes me happy… there’s so many ways to choose and far too many bands to choose from.

But, I think if I had to choose, it would be Placebo.
They’re not always top of my play list and I’ll go months without hearing a single song. But whenever I turn them on or come across them they evoke so many more feelings in me than any other band has, they have to be way up the list!
They also, not coincidentally, held the title of ‘best ever gig’ I’d seen, from 2003 to 2009 (when Lostprophets took over that title). Mind you, it’s a tough call not to put them right back to the top after last week.

It’s the first time I’d been to the O2 arena so we booked seats. I’m suspicious of being on the floor at arena venues as so often you just get trapped in a crowd of people who are not feeling the music. At least with the seats you can guarantee a good view and a space where you’re not impacted by indifferent audience members.

The venue deserves praise. The sound quality was superb and the headline set well mixed. The supports did fall into that trap of sounding like they were trying too hard to fill an arena with sound instead of just playing their music and letting it happen, but then again, maybe that’s just their style of music! Silversun Pickup remind me of a not quite so good Killing Hannah, roughly similar in style and the singer’s voice had the same sound as Mat Devine’s. The Horrors seemed very much like The Cure, which was nice, but too many of their songs overdid the sound.

Placebo were amazing. I’d last seen them in 2003 when it was just the 3 of them in a moderately sized venue in Melbourne. Tonight they were backed by strings, brass, keyboards, extra guitars and backing vocalists. However, all the support were just part of the background. The stage space kept the focus very much on the 3 members and their energy and passion took over the arena.

They’re not a band that talks much and they don’t need to. They let their music set the scene. Each song has so many layers in sound and meaning that you can experience it on a hundred different levels. Some people just take it at surface value and enjoy the tune, others tap into the deeper meanings and are affected in a very emotional way. It makes them a very accessible band that allows people to take what they want from the experience.

For me, it was one of those gigs that you do remember forever and it well deserves to earn the top of my best ever gigs list. But then, Lostprophets also evoked a very emotional response or me so it’s a tough call!

I left the arena emotionally drained and full of awe and happiness. My only complaint is that I know it will be a while before I have the chance to see them live again.

Best Gig Ever

The Blackout and Lostprophets are the perfect team and rocked the room.

Lostprophets were passionate and energised and the new songs sound amazing.

This night easily beats my former best ever gig, Placebo at The Palace in Melbourne 2003, into second place.

Sean Smith (The Blackout) and Ian Watkins (Lostprophets) have a very similar stage presence and the rest of the bands are relaxed but full of energy and banter with the two front men naturally. These are bands that are full of mates just having fun and making supercharged music.

It’s impossible to write a proper balanced review of your favourite bands, especially when the put on a performance like last nights.

There aren’t words good enough to describe how amazing the night was.

Recently I was chatting to the singer of a band that are coming close to breaking out and he made an interesting comment – they’ve only just hired a PR guy, and suddenly have become aware of all the ways of getting their name out, that they didn’t know of before.

This is something I can understand.  Before joining RoomThirteen.com as a writer, I had no idea just how many music mags, both offline and on, exist and just how powerful they can be for up and coming bands.
I suspect a lot of young bands aren’t aware of them either.

Every story that is written about a band drives publicity.  The more people they talk to and the more the word gets out, the more others hear and want to know more.
In the UK there are some big players in terms of publicising bands – Kerrang! magazine and tv, Rocksound magazine, Scuzz TV and MTV two are the big rock sources along with a few radio stations.
But underneath those are hundreds of smaller publications and sites that have high readerships and that can also channel bands through today’s social networks, building press and getting kids to gigs.

In today’s web of social networking it’s becoming easier for bands to be DIY in terms of creating their music and getting it out there – but it always helps to have a PR person on board that has the contacts in the media, to make the introductions and send out the CDs – thus allowing the bands to get on with what they do best, make music.

Dissatisfied with the large volumes of manufactured dross on the airwaves, Full Scream Ahead decided to write their own anthems.

Vocalist Justin Percival has a very distinctive voice and style.  From the almost spoken verses, the rasped passion of the bridge through to the full voiced smoothly sung choruses it is one that will be instantly recognisable.   Subtle guitars from Will Slater wind their way through the verses keeping the focus clearly on the lyrics, before soaring into a full uplifting sound as the choruses rise, Percival’s voice going with them in a powerful outpouring of emotional sound. All the while backed by James William’s subtle drums and Alex Percival’s refined bass keeping time and adding depth to the sound.  This pattern continues throughout the EP showing that Full Scream Ahead are unmistakably a lyrically led band, and with very good reason.

These songs tell a tale and it’s clear there are stories behind each one. ‘As Good As It Gets’ with it’s question as to what are we waiting for and is there something more to life, ‘Rio’ all about a girl, ‘Stealing of a Nation’ showing their love for their country and their worry about the state of things, the overwhelming outpouring of emotion on ‘Play With The Light’ that can’t be ingored.   And they do all of this with uplifting positive music, no whining or moaning for these Britains.

This is a band full of passions, questions and opinions. Full Scream Ahead sound like a seasonsed team that’s spent years perfecting their sound.   It’s hard to believe they only formed in 2008.’

We Write Our Own Anthems’ is avaiable now and Full Scream Ahead have done what they promised, giving us six heartfelt, thoughtful anthems. I suggest you get your hands on it as soon as you can.

This review was originally written for roomthirteen.com but as two writers were accidentally assigned the same EP mine wasn’t needed and so I’ve posted it here!

A night of irreverant fun.  These boys love to have a good time and while most nights they’re absolute professionals organising a structured set that ensures the fans get what they want, occassionally they just break loose and put on a night of randomness.

The Barfly in Camden for the launch of their latest single Save Ourselves (The Warning) was one of complete and utter randomness.  Handing control of the set list to the fans, the room chose most of the songs.  This lead to a long night of fast tracks with high energy and sweat pouring from every person in the room.

Singer Gavin Butler crowd surfed his way from the stage to the bar at the back of the room and sang most of a song from the top of it.   There was crowd surfing, stage diving and craziness all over and the room was wall to wall passion.

Towards the end the single was played, followed by traditional closer I’m a Riot.  Deciding that the night couldn’t end there the band huddled and came back to play one more song (which I wish I could remember what it was!)

This was a night for the fans and as a fan I can say it was damn amazing and just fun fun fun.

Plastic Toys – what can I say, I love this band.

It’s a mix of glam-rock, bluesy,  electro but deep and dirty – it rocks you to your core and the style and passion oozing from the stage seeps into your very soul.

On fine form as usual, new drummer Sammy Lee fitting in seemlesly.

Playing as second supports, straight after The Baddies and just before headliners Laruso, unfortunately most of the crowd seemed to be friends and family of those bands and left the floor a bit empty for Plastic Toys.  It was the crowds loss though as anyone who bothered to stay were treated to a sleazy slick performance with the band owning the room and keeping us highly entertained.

This means less reviews on this site, but it’s not the end.  I will still be writing my rants and opinions here along with some reviews that are not needed by r13.

So – for loads of reviews on all styles of rock music – check out Room Thirteen and I’ll see you back at mylifemysoundtrack  soon with some thoughts on Sonisphere.