Jueves 12 Ago 2010, 15:52

Fri 6 Aug – Hevy Music Festival 2010
SATURDAY, DUDES ;)

Instead of camping, and since the festival was about 10 minutes away from my home, I got day tickets and arrived with my mate an hour or so before the first acts. The first great thing about Hevy was how short the queue was when we got there. Although the weather was a bit crap at first, it brightened up once we were inside and it wasn't a confusing site so finding our way around was easy.

The first act we saw were Predicting The Fall, opening the Local Heroes Stage on a pretty cloudy Saturday Afternoon. I'd downloaded their EP free off their site a few weeks before, so I roughly knew the choruses and hooks from the set as it went along. On record, the singing was not a strong point, so I was hoping that live they would do more. And to be honest, they did, they certainly made me laugh. After a few songs, the guitarist told the vocalist he was 'full of win', before fucking up the opening to the next song. They certainly weren't amazing or breathtaking, but for an opening act I wasn't left bored, but found it quite funny and for making me laugh, I give them a thumbs up

We then shuffled our arses onto the Main Stage, to see the hyped band from Rochester Feed The Rhino. Expecting a good time, the crowd got going quick and the set started with a great atmosphere, before eventually petering out as it went along. The set itself was great, and I was left wanting to hear more, buying the album may be a start.

I'd seen Take Courage earlier in the year in Folkestone, so we weren't strangers to their live presence, and neither were a lot of people, this being proven with dozens of fans shouting their hearts out during a thunderous performance of Rifles. The 1st act that was able to entertain their fans as well as make new ones.

TRC were an odd act to add to the Main Stage, yes, but once on there, in the afternoon sunshine, the crowd was raring to go and they put in pretty good set. Well known to a lot of the crowd, They finished with the enjoyable London's Greatest Love Story, which i sung almost every word.

Back on the Local Heroes Stage, Folkestone hardcore legends Jairus, recently reformed and with a new EP out, amazed me. I hadn't expected to have seen them but faced with the opportunity, and with the Local Heroes Stage directly next to the Main Stage, we couldn't resist. They opened with Film Noir, a new song off the EP, which was the highlight of the set and one of the highlights of the festival for me, their energy was terrific and instead of nodding along, it was impossible to as I was too taken back by how amazing it was, truly outstanding.

The 1st band I was dying to see on the Saturday, Dead Swans, began with album opener Thinking Of You and one of my favourites The Hanging Sun. The set was going brilliantly, until halfway through, an amp started fucking up and many fans, myself amoung them, were frustrated with the time it took to correct this. It slightly ruined the atmosphere but their set was enough to produce positive feedback.

Needed some lunch at this point, before returning to the Main Stage for Californian Thrashcore foursome Trash Talk. After being bruised up a bit in the previous pit, I wasn't going to get myself killed in this one before Comeback Kid. So me and my girlfriend decided to watch from a fair bit out, as I reckoned they'd destroy all, whilst my mate and her two friends wanted to be close to the stage. One got kicked in the mouth by the vocalist, whilst my mate witnessed a fucking pic pit in which the vocalist went beserk and swung the microphone around his head before clobbering an innocent mosher in the face. Ouch. Their set was insane, not much rest given to anyone. An unforgiving pit, I was sensible to miss it but I would be gutted if I wasn't able to see them again. Lucky enough, they're supporting Cancer Bats in Folkestone in October.

Soon after, Rolo Tomassi graced the Main Stage. We got to the front for this one, and was happy to see these guys after wanting to for a year. They didn't disappoint too, they were just as energetic and excentric as I had hoped they would be, Eva Spence was superb, and the band didn't have to rely on her for performance either. Rather than having the one frontwoman, the whole band contributed and it was welcoming seeing a band work so well together. Highlights of their set included Fofteen, Party Wounds & Abraxas. It was such a good set, even my girlfriend wanted me to lend her Hysterics. She also got the setlist, which was pretty cool.

We chilled out a bit before watching the start of Deaf Havana's set , which was great for a band who'd lost their main vocalist, but after 3 songs, including an awesome performance of Nicotine and Alcohol Saved My Life, I had to leave the Red Bull Bedroom Jam tent to hurry to the Main Stage to see one of the major bands in the festival, Comeback Kid. They began the set strongly, with material spanning all 3 previous albums, and their new single Because Of All. Highlights of their awesome set were the ferocious circle pit in False Idols Fall and the inevitable riot during the set closer and anthem Wake The Dead. Unfortunately, i received a kick to my thigh and an elbow to the throat which killed, but it couldn't spoil a great set from a band I will probably never see again.

Finally the headliners Gallows came on. After the brutal CBK pit, which was full of emotion and passion, I decided to stay out the way with my girlfriend again. I had seen them live in the same venue, well, field a few years before, at the failed ZOO8 festival (Which I enjoyed a lot), and they were definately the best act there the whole weekend. This time round, they had more material and although I've seen some bad reviews, I though the set and energy they had was terrific. Set highlights were London Is The Reason, Leeches, and the gigantic circle pit during Gold Dust. They finished the gritty set off with Orchestra Of Wolves, with guests on stage including Rolo Tomassi's Eva Spence to help with vocals, helping the set to come to a fitting climax. Despite some criticism I've heard, I though the set was even better than 2 years before and they perfomed as headliners should.