More Sonisphere photos from Sunday August 2nd

Well, the Sunday of Sonisphere festival 2009 certainly made up for a disappointingly wet day the day before and I managed to charge my camera battery and had more luck in getting lots of photos of all the bands I watched.
The bands were not all on at the same time and didn't clash as with other festival line-ups, so I managed to watch almost every band on the main stage and second stage.
My highlights on Sunday were Saxon, Limp Bizkit, Alice in Chains, Mastodon and Avenged Sevenfold. I missed Buckcherry, as they were on rather early at 11.15 in the morning, but luckily I caught the band at the Kerrang! signing tent later that afternoon and got some great shots of the guys signing stuff for fans. Nine Inch Nails were rather dull, which was a big let down for fans who were eager to see Trent and Co. perform for the final time in the UK (so he is saying) and we expected a lot more action, but the set just dragged on and I ended up wandering back to the other stage to get a good view ready for Alice in Chains.
Despite having to rush off to catch a train back into London, I still caught most of Metallica's brilliant performance that night, although I still think they were better at Rock Im Park and Reading last year, they were still amazing. As I arrived at my hotel in London that night when it was almost 1.00am, Machine Head, Limp Bizkit (apart from Fred Durst who was elsewhere with his wife) and Mastodon were also all checking into the same establishment and the lobby was crazy and packed with all of us who had just come from the same place!
















To see all my photos from Sonisphere, please check out the gallery on my MySpace page here:

www.myspace.com/ontheguestlistbiz

Wet Saturday at Sonisphere and I forget to charge my camera battery...

What a wash-out and disappointment! Not only did I forget to charge my camera battery, it decided to die on it's ass while I was watching Taking Back Sunday, so no more photos from Saturday August 1st. The Used's brilliant performance made up for my lack of ability to get any photos and I dashed back to the hotel where I was staying to charge my battery and get some decent food and just missed a downpoor.

Did I bother to go back to the festival site...? Unfortunately I just couldn't be bothered. Rather annoyed that I've missed Bullet For My Valentine and Linkin Park, but considering I've already seen both bands several times before, it wasn't too upsetting.

Download festival was one of the best yet!

This little bunny wasn't impressed by the loud music in his/her home area! I got a shot of him/her having a rest to hide away from all the festival goers!





I know it was a few days ago now, but this year's Download festival was considered as the best yet and I had a really good weekend. The weather was a bonus, we had three gorgeous sunny days which is definitely a blessing in the UK! I didn't have a photo pass sorted, so unfortunately it meant not getting any decent live photos, just what I've uploaded onto here. Friday night had to be the best for me, as I was eagerly looking forward to seeing Limp Bizkit and Faith No More, both bands who hadn't performed in Europe (or anywhere in fact, as Faith No More only just reformed) for several years and I met a lot of people who came to the festival specifically to see these bands. I even met a couple of people who flew all the way from Saudi Arabia for Download and that is dedicated!
I only just made it into the festival, as I didn't have a ticket and depended on luck of blagging through anyone I knew who was in the biz and this took a lot of patience and waiting around looking like a loser by the VIP entrance, but I did it in the end and literally only just made it into the arena for Limp Bizkit's set. I then joined in the masses and made the most of being one of the many "moshers" for a change. I didn't manage to get a single video shot of any of the main stage acts on Friday because of being right in the crowd, but I had to back off for Saturday and Sunday, as the warm weather also played it's part of making my feet even more sore. Plenty of sunburnt faces were spotted throughout the weekend, but I was rather lucky already having a suntan from my holiday in Fuerteventura a few weeks ago. Most random song covers performed over the weekend included two performances of Lady Ga Ga's hit Poker Face, first sung by Mike Patton of Faith No More, then You Me At Six did it again on the second stage on Saturday afternoon. Korn did their version of Pink Floyd's classic, Another Brick In the Wall.
Slipknot, Faith No More, Limp Bizkit, Def Leppard and Chris Cornell were my favourite performances of the whole weekend. I wish I'd got to see Motley Crue, but there was no choice between them and Faith No More, as I was already stuck in the crowd in front of the main stage and no way was I going to leave my spot to walk all the way to the second stage. It sucks when there are two bands you want to watch on at the same time! I hope the same thing doesn't happen at Sonisphere, as I am definitely going to that festival in August.

Toxic Glamour advert in Kerrang! magazine

My jewellery and accessories line, Toxic Glamour, is now being advertised in Kerrang! magazine. First ad came out this week in the classifieds advert pages featured at the back of the magazine and will continue to be featured in Kerrang! only in selected issues June 23rd, July 29th, August 25th and September 9th. I chose to feature the advert in these issues, as major events will be reviewed in those issues, Download festival reviewed on June 23rd, July 29th is an end-of-month issue that will have other festival reviews, the preview of the 2009 Kerrang! Awards and Reading and Leeds festivals will be in the issue out August 25th and all the happenings from those major rock events will be featured in the issue out September 9th.

Oh yes, I know what issues sell the best when it comes to Kerrang! because I've been reading it for 15 years!

Anyone who knows about Role Model clothing and is a fan of Simple Plan please read this!

Role Model is co-owned by musicians Pierre Bouvier and Chuck Comeau from Simple Plan, so their accessories should be more rock 'n' roll! Moulded resin silver guitar with red glitter Canadian maple leaves with R and M for Role Model. Fans of Role Model clothing saw this design and liked it, but will the guys behind the label think the same...? The little gold drumkit pendant has also been popular. I made some more pictured below. Gold star is the same item, pictured back and front.


Below: This was one of hundreds of pendants I've made for members of the official Fall Out Boy fan club Overcast Kids. I give these out to lucky winners of the meet and greets with the band before any Fall Out Boy shows I attend. It is NOT an official Clandestine Industries item, it's yet another idea and something I created, but Pete Wentz has seen these many times and luckily approves. The umbrella symbolises the Overcast Kids logo, which is obviously an umbrella.

Anyone who is a fan of Canadian band Simple Plan will know of the clothing line Role Model that vocalist Pierre Bouvier and drummer Chuck Comeau co-own with their friend and tour buddy (ex-merchandise boss) Patrick Langlois.

Last week I never had enough time to have a look around the Role Model store, which is in a small town called Laval, just outside Montreal. I did send some necklaces which I'd made to the store address, as samples for jewellery ideas for Role Model and told Patrick and Chuck about it at the private party Pete Wentz and Gabe Saporta DJed at last Wednesday night after the show at Metropolis.

Patrick interviewed Pete Wentz about his clothing line Clandestine Industries before the concert in Montreal for French Canadian music channel Musique Plus. The interview is obviously in English. You can view it on the Musique Plus website here:

www.musiqueplus.com

If anyone from the Role Model store received these necklaces, you know what to do. Sell them in the store, but give some (or even ALL) of the price to the Simple Plan Foundation, the charity that the band set up at the end of 2005 that has helped raise funds for cancer hospitals, children's hospitals and young people who aren't as lucky as all of us are. Of course, if people like them, I can make lots more -

if it's for the charity.

Believers Never Die Tour in Toronto and Montreal

I've been in Canada the past week and only returned to the UK yesterday. It was a good week. Managed to see two shows on the Believers Never Die tour in Toronto and Montreal, featuring All Time Low, Cobra Starship, Metro Station and Fall Out Boy.
I only got a photo pass for the show in Montreal, so photos are from that show on May 6th. The Montreal show was moved to the more popular Metropolis venue in downtown Montreal from the CEPSUM Montreal university venue, so it was smaller and easier to get to. I was relieved it was at Metropolis instead, especially when the VIA Rail train I got from Toronto was late arriving into Montreal due to asbestos on one of the tracks! So I missed the meet and greet and was unable to give out my promo photos to the fans like I usually do before Fall Out Boy shows, but still gave out the free Overcast Kids necklaces to those meet and greet winners who I saw in the front row. This was the second time I'd seen both Fall Out Boy and Metro Station in Montreal, as last August I also photographed Metro Station at the same venue when they were with Good Charlotte and Fall Out Boy I saw on the 2007 Honda Civic Tour at the Bell Centre. Two members of one of Canada's most successful rock bands, Simple Plan, were amongst the audience on May 6th, Chuck and Seb and their old merchandise boss and tour buddy Patrick Langlois who co-owns Role Model Clothing with Chuck and Simple Plan frontman Pierre Bouvier. Metro Station toured Canada with Simple Plan in the fall of 2008. It was great to chat to those guys again at the afterparty, as everyone who is familiar with my live photos and blogs knows I've photographed Simple Plan just as many times as Fall Out Boy in lots of different countries!
Cobra Starship did a DJ set after the Toronto show at a small club called the Wreck Room downtown, but I was way too tired to stay late. Cobra Starship frontman Gabe Saporta got embarressingly drunk that night, but nothing stopped him from keeping in great spirits the next day in Montreal for an even more energetic DJ set with Pete Wentz at the very chic Buonna Notte Supper Club in downtown Montreal. I got a few photos from that party, you can see more from the party and the full set of live shots from the show on the sites listed below.
Me pictured with Gabe Saporta and Pete Wentz in the DJ booth, at the Fall Out Boy and Cobra Starship party at the Buonna Notte Supper Club in Montreal. May 6th, 2009.





Don't be too alarmed by the bruised and battered looks of Fall Out Boy in my photos. It was all part of the act for the opening of the show!



All the photos from the Fall Out Boy concert in Montreal will be on the following websites within the next few days -

www.myspace.com/ontheguestlistbiz

www.cashdolla-fromtheinside.com

Video captures on my YouTube page soon.