I saw Fightstar on Sunday at Picturedrome in Northampton. It was a one off acoustic / unplugged gig for around 300 people. OMG! It was fantastic! Definately the best night of the year and over all I rank it as my second favourite gig (second to only Jimmy Barnes). The whole set was quality and executed perfectly. My favourite's of the night were  Paint Your Target, Amethyst, Vincent, and Cross out the Stars but EVERY song was amazing. The covers of Jordan Sparks and Don McLean were really both nice supprises as I didn't know the songs before. I took my camera with my and my mate videos every single song! So are the Fightstar unplugged videos in one playlist. Well worth listening to. Enjoy.

Update: I had requests to remove the videos from YouTube. I have done so because, as a fan, I don't want to harm Fightstar. I only uploaded them to share and show the world how great Fightstar are. Please don't email me asking if I can send you copies because I won't. They are releasing a DVD of the show early next year so I recommend you all buy it. Check out  www.fightstarmusic.com for more information when it comes out.

Here's the set list:

1. Palahniuk's Laughter
2. 99
3. Paint Your Target (this is in the same video as 99)
4. The English Wa
5. Our Last Common Ancestor
6. Sleep Well Tonight
7. Battlefield (Jordan Sparks cover, and Fightstar's Live lounge cover)
8. Mecury Summer
9. Amethyst
10. Vincent (Don McLean cover)
11. Waste A Moment
12. Be Quiet and Drive (Deftones cover)
13. Cross out the Stars
14. Mono

On Friday night I finished work early and got the train to Birmingham to see Funeral for a Friend and Fightstar at the O2 Academy as part of the Vans Off The Wall night. It was back in April I was last at the Birmingham Academy when I saw Papa Roach and since it as moved to a new location. It looks good on the outside and the inside is pretty nice too. There's 3 stages. The main stage which  is larger than the average venue (not including the big areanas), 2nd stage and the 3rd stage which is about size of a stage you find in a pub. The venue as a whole was ok but the sound in the main room didn't fill the room enough and having seen Fighstar 4 times and Funeral for a Friend 3 times it wasn't them! Oh and the price of a pint of Carling was a lot! £3.60! That's more than at Download and Sonisphere and they are festivals! The worset thing about the price is Carling tastes like piss.

Anyway there were load of bands playing but I can't remember the ones on the 2nd and 3rd stages. On the main stage was Attack! Attack!, Kids in Glass Houses, Fightstar and Funeral for a Friend. Didn't seem much of Attack! Attack! but they sounded alright. Kids in Glass Houses didn't do anything for me. The only reason I went was for Fightstar and Funeral for a Friend.

Fightstar are one of my favourite bands and I've seen them 5 times now. Unfortunately, the lead singer Charlie Simpson had a throat infection and so really couldn't perform at his best. Which is a real shame because his voice is awesome. He solidered on. Because of his throat the set was a little softer than the usual (they didn't play Deathcar) and he missed out quite a few lines but we, the crowd did what we could. I say Fighstar do have great fans. The music was, as always, bang on. Omar Abidi was playing his ass off on the drums. The bassist, Dan Haigh, seemed to take a bigger roll interacting with the crowd than normal. Alex Westaway was also doing a fine job. So to sum up Fightstar there were great if not slightly disppointing but rest assured I will be seeing them again. My Fightstar videos are on YouTube.

The task of closing the gig was upto Funeral for a Friend and they did it nicely. They were on top form. The start was a bit stupid as they had some guy in a banana suit come out singing a song... can't think what it was. After that it was great start to finish. They didn't play anything from Memory and Humanity which is a good thing as it wasn't their best. I think they played only 2 songs that weren't on their first 2 albums or early EPs. Into Oblivion is always great live, it's so up beat and just has such a great feeling to it. Others songs they played included my favourite Rose for the Dead. Can't really say any else than they were quality and here are my Funeral for a Friend videos. 

Overall a great night. Which ended at MacDonald's with a drive-through orchestra (about 10 cars randomly pressing their car horns), was pretty fun.

Download was great! Saw loads of cool bands. My top 5 were:

1. Papa Roach
2. Slipknot
3. Fightstar
4. Chris Cornell
5. Journey (Don't stop believin'!)

I'm going to be posting a full review shortly but just don't have time to finish it now. Hopefully tomorrow but if no I'll get it done this weekend.

I also want to some post pictures however I didn't take a camera so I'm waiting on my friends to upload them to Facebook before I can post any. Come on guys! Well I can't push them really as I've not uploaded my video yet. It will be entitled "Kane the Rubbish Drummer" and that's all I'm going to give away for now. It's definately work watching!

Look out for the update in the next few days!

My current song of the moment is by Fightstar. Never Change is their latest single. It's  got a great upbeat beat and a little chatchy. The video isn't really anything special but it's funky. I like the lights in the background between 1:45-1:55 and the interesting use of the Non-Newtonian fluid. Never Change isn't my favourite song off the new album (Be Human), that goes to Colours Bleed to Red, but it's still good.