Mike Patton performs Laborintus II in Amsterdam

On June 18th, I was lucky enough to see Mike Patton perform a unique special performance in Amsterdam of Italian composer Luciano Berio's Laborintus II, followed by an avant garde jazz improvisation second half of the concert. Full review of the whole show with photos can be seen here:

www.rockmidgets.com

Download festival

Download 2010 was good, but not as good as 2009, mainly being because of all the excitement about Faith No More reuniting and performing at Download 2009 was what made it so special for me and many others who I know who went. Plus the weather was much nicer last year!
This year we were lucky with the sun and cloud and no rain until it suddenly decided to change on the Sunday afternoon while I was watching The Damned Things on the second stage and the rain came. With soaking wet jeans and muddy feet (I wore flip-flops, so walking bare foot in the mud was better as they kept getting stuck!) I still stuck it out as I couldn't possibly miss Aerosmith, who I'd been looking forward to seeing all weekend.
Slightly disappointing line-up compared to 2009, but my highlights were still all the bands I'd planned to watch and they were all brilliant. Bullet For My Valentine proved they deserved the headline slot of the second stage Friday night and were fantastic. My overall favourite of the three days being an amazing Friday night show from ACDC, who had a special customized stage set up by a German crew who happened to be staying in the hotel I stayed in and they told me that it was going to be spectacular and it certainly was. 30 Seconds To Mars were awesome as always, Jared with a blonde mohawk dyed pink at the top! I watched all of their set, then ran towards the main stage to catch the rest of Rage Against The Machine.
Of course, they finished with their 2009 UK Christmas No. 1 Killing in the Name.
Sunday was supposed to be the best day for me, but when the rain came it wasn't pleasant and a lot of people left the site, but despite the mud and being wet, cold and hungry, I stayed on and enjoyed Motorhead, featuring a guest performance with Slash, Stone Temple Pilots and the amazing Aerosmith who rounded off the weekend with two of my favourite hits by them, Dream On and Walk This Way. Everyone was saying that they were a bit disappointed that they didn't do Dude Looks Like a Lady, but after almost 40 years together, Steve Tyler and the gang still put on a great show.

The giant bell which was part of ACDC's special unique stage set.
Above: The fireworks display after ACDC's performance was awesome. Below: ACDC frontman Brian Johnson


Jared Leto performing onstage on Saturday June 12th, 2010. Below: Jared and Shannon Leto in the Kerrang! signing tent.


Rage Against The Machine on the main stage on Saturday June 12th, 2010.

New items for sale in my online shops

Lots of new jewellery designs on sale in my online stores now. On the main store on Etsy and on eBay and eBid.net. Details for all online stores can be found in the main store.








To buy, go to:

www.toxicglamour.etsy.com

Any currency accepted, but prices are in US dollars. Free shipping to any UK address.

As I am still paying off debts from having such a great time in Australia and saving money for the Summer festivals, there will be no more new concert photos or reviews for a while.

I have plans to attend several festivals this Summer, as well as the usual UK events like Download, Sonisphere and Reading, I will be at the BBK Live festival in Bilbao, Spain and undecided about other events as it all depends on whether I can even afford to go anywhere else. More details closer to the dates.

Photos from Australia Faith No More shows all online ready to view

All my photos from the Soundwave festival dates in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide are now up in my MySpace galleries, along with the live shots from the Faith No More sideshows at the Melbourne Festival Hall on February 24th and 25th. The reviews will be on Rock Midgets soon, plus the best photos I took. There are so many photos that it's impossible to include them all on Rock Midgets, so I've put them all onto MySpace anyway.

Mike Patton at Melbourne Festival Hall, February 24th, 2010 BELOW: Roddy Bottum at Melbourne Festival Hall

Jon Hudson at Melbourne Festival Hall, February 25th 2010.

ABOVE AND BELOW: Mike Patton at Melbourne Festival Hall, February 25th, 2010.


I managed to get photos with all the members of Faith No More as we left the hotel for Adelaide airport the day after the Soundwave festival at Adelaide Bonython Park. They were flying to Perth for the final date of the festival tour and I was flying back to Sydney to get a flight back to London the day after. It was a very windy afternoon, that's why my hair is all over the place in the photos!



Managed to have a chance meeting with Stefan Olsdal and Steve Forrest from Placebo, same afternoon we all left for Adelaide airport. I didn't see Placebo singer Brian Molko around at all throughout the whole trip. Steve is such a great replacement for their former drummer Steve Hewitt. They made the right decision, nice guy and a superb drummer. So glad this band are still around after 15 years, I got some fantastic shots of them at Sydney and Adelaide Soundwave festivals. Melbourne I was sticking around Stage 3 most of the day to get photos of different bands, so it was very varied. There were so many acts I am a fan of, but couldn't get to watch everyone.

ABOVE: Me with Davey Havok of AFI in Adelaide. I wish I had got a full length body shot of him that afternoon, he was wearing these tight magenta colour jeans and they looked so quirky and great on him and the colour went well with his arm tattoos! BELOW: Toasted, blistered, swollen feet was the result of walking around in the intense heat at Sydney and Melbourne Soundwave. I wore soft hotel slippers to walk around at Adelaide Soundwave and they started to make a recovery! The pain was worth it, though! I had to take a ibuprofen tablets every few hours so I could walk without limping and cringing. European sun is nowhere near as hot as the Australian sun. You can't even buy any suntan lotions that are lower than Factor 30, it's that strong.

Still busy editing pics and writing reviews

I haven't even been home for more than a day and I've almost finished all my Soundwave and Faith No More sideshow reviews. Done editing pictures and that takes ages. All the reports I did will be featured on this website soon:

www.rockmidgets.com

In the meantime, ladies can drool over this lovely photo I got of Mike Patton when I said goodbye to him and the rest of Faith No More when we all left for Adelaide airport on February 28th...

Back home in England after an amazing time in Australia

I arrived back home from Australia this morning and it's hard to believe that my trip went so fast, but it was worth the huge expenses and exhaustion! Soundwave festival 2010 in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide were all fantastic fun and the Faith No More sideshows were performances I will never forget.

I still have lots of photos to edit and upload from all the events, but here is a taste of some of my personal favourite shots from Soundwave Sydney on February 21st.

Back in Sydney after almost four years and it's still amazing

The stunning view of the famous Sydney Opera House.
Me with ACDC bassist Cliff Williams. The wind was really strong, I look like I've been dragged through a tornado!



I arrived back in Australia two days ago and loving it. Last time I was here was July 2006, but luckily nothing has changed. I was so tired yesterday, but it didn't put me off wanting to go out and explore, so I did and spent the later afternoon relaxing by the hotel swimming pool.

Today was totally crazy and random, gearing me into the mood for plenty of rock 'n' roll tomorrow at Sydney Soundwave. I walked past a hotel down the road and spotted Australian rockers Wolfmother, who were in Sydney to support ACDC at their massive sell out stadium concert at the ANZ Stadium at Olympic Park. I'm not a fan of Wolfmother and I don't really think they're that bad, either, but Mike Patton from Faith No More openly had a rant about them on an Australian TV interview backstage at a festival and it made me laugh, as Faith No More are the main band I'm excited about seeing here. Maybe I should've had the guts to approach lead singer Andrew Stockdale and asked him whether they were going to stick around town for their day off tomorrow and catch Faith No More at Soundwave! I'd love to have seen the look on his face if that had happened.

Later on, after relaxing out by the hotel swimming pool, I walked all around the area of Sydney Harbour and The Rocks district, overlooking the water. The best scenery in Sydney and the main tourist area. I got some good photos of the sights. At a luxury hotel right on the waterfront, several wedding receptions had obviously been taking place and tourists were watching different brides get photographed with the amazing views. Then I noticed some ACDC fans hanging around and I asked them why they weren't at the concert venue already and they tipped me off that ACDC were in fact staying at that hotel. What a strike of luck that the band were due to leave soon, so I waited around, but not for long as drummer Phil Rudd came outside to smoke, and lead singer Brian Johnson, guitarist Malcolm Young and bassist Cliff Williams followed. There wasn't much time to chat to the band members, as they were waiting for a police escort to follow their car driving to ANZ Stadium and I only managed a quick photo with bass player Cliff, but the others were all rushed into their car by their tour manager as we were going to get photos, so I was disappointed, but at least I got to meet them with such lucky and very by chance timing. Lead guitarist Angus Young still resides in Sydney, so there was no need to stay with the rest of the band in the hotel.

My feet are sore from all the walking around seeing the scenes today, but I hope they hold out for all the rushing around I'm going to be doing here before I return to the UK! Lots to see and do. Photos and reviews will be uploaded onto the following websites:

www.rockmidgets.com

www.virtualfestivals.com