Hellfest has almost come around again, and this time its bigger then ever. Its even got it’s own APP for devils sake!

Beatmag has been in attendance for 3 years now, and we have developed a real soft spot for this gathering of head-bangers in Clisson, France. Each year, the promoters manage to pull off some seriously heavy weight line-ups, and this year they have really outdone themselves. Iggy and the Stooges, Ozzy Osbourne, Scorpions, Thin Lizzy, Judas Priest, Down, Rob Zombie and Diff Mac Kagen are among the headliners who will be tearing up the main stage, while some other Beatmag favourites that will be grinding their axes include Kyuss (lives), Municipal Waste, Hawkwind, Electric Wizard, Grand Magus and Bad Brains. But we could go on…. and on…. and the quality still wouldn’t wain. As far as metal festivals go, this summer is looking very strong. With Sonisphere landing the “big 4″ and Download pulling out some big guns, its going to mean strong competition. But if we had to choose one rock festival to attend?… I think it would have to be Hellfest every time.

Buy your Hellfest tickets here: http://www.hellfest.fr/

Download the Hellfest iPhone app here: http://itunes.apple.com/app/hellfest/id416091706?mt=8&ls=1

Download the Hellfest Android app here: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.greencopper.android.hellfest

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This weekend is the 8th annual Supersonic festival, in Birmingham’s Custard Factory. The lineup is quite wonderful, featuring a smorgasbord of delicacies such Napalm Death, Tweak Bird, Melt Banana, Drumcorps, Swans and the wonderful Demons (from my home town of Portsmouth).  A full platter of pics and review coming next week but for now, in the words of the organisers….

Capsule the brains behind Supersonic Festival are curators, promoters and fans of the finest music, revealing the otherwise indescribable connections between contemporary music and art, crafting extraordinary events for adventurous audiences. Now in it’s 8th year, the event will once again take place at the Custard Factory in the heart of in the heart of Eastside of Birmingham, utilising converted factory warehouses and art galleries and offering up-close, intimate settings to showcase some of the most exciting music out there. Capsule’s passion for genre bending sound and performances is at the heart of all their events – there are not many places where you can listen to funeral doom, prog, folk, avant jazz and grindcore in one weekend.

The festival is now in it’s 8th year, starting out as a 1 day event in 2003 which featured Coil, LCD Sound System, The Bug, DJ Food and many more. Over the years the festival has garnered a worldwide reputation for being one of the most exciting events for experimental music, gathering audiences from all corners of the UK and further a field.

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Live Review

So this is what happens when you give a bunch of douchebags VIP tickets to Primavera with a free bar all weekend. Id tell you about the bands, sunshine, fun etc but i think it would just be rubbing salt in the wounds of those who missed out on the festival event of the summer so far. So here are some pictures that explain themselves. Viva la Barcelona!

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Hellfest 2009

Hellfest is more than just another summer festival; it is an apocalyptic heavy metal experience that makes you feel like you have entered the thunderdome from Mad Max.  Wondering around the dust and rock strewn main arena you encounter oiled up Fuel Girls, forests of perfectly groomed mullets, rusty flaming towers, stunt motorbikes in spherical cages, giants, midgets, and whole lotta growling. Hellfest is one of the worlds most revered metal festivals, taking place in the idyllic of Clisson in western France, and 2 weeks ago i had my first taste of hell. And it tasted meaty! (more…)

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July 2009

Beatmag webmaster, boozehound & questionable disc-jockey, Tim Gomersall, takes us through a night playing alongside the big boys (and girls) in London town…

Firstly, a confession. By the end of this gig I was rather plastered. In fact, I was so inebriated that the fact that i actually saw the last band only came back to me a few days later. Anyhow, I will try my best to fill in the blanks, and provide a balanced review of the night. And if there are any glaring holes in my memory, then I will fill them up with sparkles of imagination. (more…)

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Glastonbury 2008

Long after the fuss has died down, as the Winter sets in, we’ve decided to treat you to a little slice of Summer with the ultimate Glastonbury account from our man in the field, Caspar Gomez

Ever read an account of Glastonbury that got it right? They’re almost always some jaded London hack giving a drab concert review of the Pyramid and Other stages, concentrating on a load of samey indie bands, interspersed with comments about mud, whether there is any or not. These hacks, and I see them year after year, spend most of their time in the hospitality area where they’re also camped, which is basically Camden/Shoreditch transposed to Somerset, so they can sit about chatting to the same people they always chat to in the same mildly cynical way, as if they’re really a bit above/outside everything. In the meantime, the rest of us are spread over a vast area, enjoying one billion kinds of mayhem in an entirely different universe from The Fratellis. The best accounts of Glastonbury are badly written blogs all over the ‘net wherein wide-eyed enthusiasts let their amazement take control whilst recounting what they and their mates got up to. Who cares about the Kings of Leon? I mean, really, if it’s all about The Editors live in a field, why don’t you fuck off to Reading/Leeds and eat shit-burgers and drink piss with the NME massive. Anyway, enough ranting, here’s my Glasto for you: (more…)

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Jerry Lee Lewis live at the 100 Club London

The original ‘Hell raiser’ returns to London for a couple of cliquey dates to intimate crowds of rock and roll yuppies: After all, who else could afford the £100+ tickets for Jerry to show us that he still has it, albeit in a doddery kind of way?! (more…)

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Thomas H Green heads out on a booze-laden promotional beano in Tennessee

On Tuesday I received a phone call asking if I’d like to go to Jack Daniel’s birthday barbecue in Lynchburg, Tennessee, on Thursday. Since I live on the south coast of the UK, this was rather nice but unexpected. Some people I’d heard of were going to play music too. Sounded like fun. Thus it was that I found myself above the Atlantic less then 48 hours later watching Matthew Broderick in a film called ‘Diminished Capacity’, a contender for the naffest flick of recent years (although I’ve since seen ‘Death Sentence’ with Kevin Bacon which is possibly even worse). If the in-flight films are on overhead screens they’re always edits of the naffest ‘family’ fare but who cares – beer, food, reading and bad movies for eight hours is a wonderful break from the normal demands of life. (more…)

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Guy Oddy checks out Soweto Kinch live at the Jam House, Birmingham, UK

Soweto Kinch has a problem. He wants to be part of both the hip hop and the jazz scenes. While the jazzers have embraced his take on the bebop/hip hop nexus, as witnessed by Kinch’s nomination for Album of the Year by the 2007 BBC Jazz Awards, the hip hop community remain largely indifferent. (more…)

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