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Just because a band is on this list doesn't necessarily mean I am a fan, I get stuck seeing a lot of bands I don't like on tours with bands I like.

Abigail Williams (4 times)
Aborted (2 times)
Adastreia
Aerial Ruin
Aesma Daeva
Adema (3 times)
The Acacia Strain
Accept
The Accursed
AFI
After Forever (3 times)
Agalloch (7 times)
The Agony Scene
Akercocke
Alcest (2 times)
Alestorm (2 times)
Alien Ant Farm (2 times)
All Out War (3 times)
All That Remains (5 times)
Amanda Rogers
Amen (6 times)
American Head Charge (2 times)
American Nightmare (2 times)
Amorphis (6 times)
Amon Amarth (5 times)
Anaal Nathrakh
Anal Blast
Anathema (8 times)
Andrew W.K.
Angel Corpse (2 times)
ANGST (2 times)
Anneke van Giersbergen (2 times)
Anthrax (4 times)
Anthrophobia
Antimatter
anodyne
Antipathy
Anvil
Apartment 26
The Apex Theory (3 times)
The Aphelion
Apocalyptica (2 times)
Arch Enemy (9 times)
armour for sleep
Arson
Asrai
The Atlas Moth
…

Fri 23 Nov – Cog, Dead Letter Circus, Hinge

I've been going to Cog gigs for a long time now (since 2001), and this gig was as high-energy and powerful as ever. As always, Cog had a big sound that was mixed well; unlike the support acts, hearing the vocals wasn't much of an issue, but that was also due to the fact that almost everyone in the crowd was singing along.

It always strikes me as strange how radically different the sounds are of the headline and support acts. Obviously the key factor is having a sound engineer who knows what he's doing - but it seems to me that getting your sound right is such a big part of a gig (on par with actual performance), and so why don't these support bands put in more effort to sounding good?

Take Dead Letter Circus - their performance was up there in terms of energy, and their music sounded like something I would enjoy, but the sound made it really hard to do that, because all I could hear was vocals and drums (and the vocals weren't even all that clear). …

30 January 2007 - Air Traffic, Snow Fight in the City Centre, Blisst

Blisst I liked. Really atmospheric and multi-faceted performance that filled the Barfly in a way not normally seen in an opening band. Somehow, three guitars, one bass, assorted drums and two vocals come together in a unified whole rather than the Noise it could so easily become. But I think I'll have to reserve judgement until the next time I see them (there shall surely be a next time) - I got the feeling that they weren't putting everything into it, and I'm not sure why.

Snowfight in the City Centre, despite the brilliant name, didn't really work for me. They sounded like a mishmash of a lot of other bands - not saying that's a bad thing, but I didn't really hear anything novel or new. Kept getting excited by exciting blasts of the synth in between tracks, but it never really materialised in the actual songs. More's the pity, really, as their best moments came when the synth player was allowed to let go (especially with the extra drum…