Not so long ago Funeral For A Friend announced they were going to play three smaller venues in what can only be described as a mini-tour. I was shocked to hear one of them was going to be Leicester, the city that I live closest too. It was to be at Sub 91, a new venue in Leicester where Jongleurs comedy club was (it’s now Highlight). A new venue with a great band in my city!!! (There’s also an Academy in Leicester now but I’m not going until December)

Having queued up in Walkabout (by that I mean sat in Walkabout until the queue was ending outside the door) we entered and all of 10 minutes later the first band started up. Hope it’s always like that at Sub 91.

Boy With X-Ray Eyes were first. A screemo band. I’m not a huge fan of screemo even though Funeral For A Friend were pretty much at the start of the screemo movement. They were actually quite enjoyable and had a mix of singing and screeming. Doubt I’ll make an effort to listen to them again but they were good at what they did. 

Next up were Rise To Remain who are fronted by Bruce Dickinson's (Iron Maiden) son. I was told these were rubbish and they are only here because of that relationship. Rise To Remain were pretty good. Again not a band I will make much of an effort to listen to again. Their music was solid, and clearly inspired by Iron Maiden and like. The lead did have a bit of his dad’s voice but I think that’s only because I knew there was a connection, otherwise I wouldn’t have noticed. Decent set overall.

Funeral For A Friend were up. Having seen these Welsh boys 5 or 6 times before I knew what to expect. A cracking set, well preformed and the whole crowd singing their hearts out. It was the crowd singing away during the first song that stopped me noticing that Matthew Davies-Kreye’s voice was really off. Poor guy had a very sore throat but still tried his hardest and that’s what I come to expect from Funeral For A Friend. In the end his voice not being at it’s strongest really showed why live music is the best and that’s because of the crowd. The crowd had Matt’s back and sang every word to every song. Matt wasn’t really needed! Of course he is!!! Recently they released a new EP called The Young and Defenceless which I hadn’t heard anything from. They played a few tracks from that and I instantly loved them. Some heaviness I’ve not heard from FFAF before. Funeral For A Friend played my favourites too... All The Rage, Roses For The Dead, Into Oblivion (that intro has such a lovely feeling to it) and the rest...

Funeral For A Friend, regardless of Matt being able to sing, still stay as one of my highest rated live bands. 

Sub 91 is a cool little venue too. Sound is OK but my ears are still ringing.

Sunday's entertainment began, as every Sunday should be started, with the wise words of Henry Rollins. The Bohemia tent was even more packed than it had been for Corey Taylor. I saw Rollins do a spoken word show earlier in the year after trading my spare ticket for Dave Gorman with someone for their spare Rollins ticket. It was a great trade. For probably the first time ever I had sat down listening to someone for over 2 hours without my mind wondering all over the place. The reason I went to see Henry at Sonisphere was because he is one of those people who are interesting, great story tellers and most importantly speaks a hell of a lot of sense. His show was a cut down version of what I had heard earlier in the year but it was different too. Give Henry Rollins a few minutes of your time and you'll be hanging his every word.

Next up was Skindred on the main stage. The lead singer is very entertaining and the music isn't half bad. Not much else I can really say about Skindred, so I won't say any more.

After what was quite a break it was time for Pendulum. They were the band that every in our group was looking forward to the most, apart from me because that honour went to Papa Roach. I was still really looking forward to them. Pendulum are a fantastic live band that have a great position in the festival game since they can play the big metal festivals like Sonisphere and Download while also getting second stage headline set at Reading and Leeds. We made our way to the front and lead by Ruth we came to an opening. Ruth and my sister both had no idea that was where a mosh pit would be. They soon found that out. I had a couple of goes in the pit which was great fun. Having mentioned earlier that she wanted to flash for the cameras I got Ruth on my shoulders and she did what she had to, twice! You're welcome Sonisphere. Ben Mount the MC noticed the second time which was cool. Had an awesome time, even going against what I've said in the past to people about how Pendulum are at their best in small venues. The one thing I really noticed about Pendulum's set is that they didn't play Slam!!! I can see way they might have decided not to play is, probably because that's what people expect. Not playing is takes them away from being that type of one song band, which they aren't. They did play Self Vs Self with a guy form In Flames. It's Pendulum's heaviest by far and it's a TUNE!!!

Unfortunately I missed Fighstar but having seen them what must be almost 10 times now it wasn't a huge lose. Next up were Funeral For A Friend, another band I've seen quite a few times and always have high expectations about how they perform. They did exactly what I expected, nothing less than a blinding set. As happened the first time I saw Funeral For A Friend, Charlie Simpson from Fightstar come on to perform the chorus for All The Rage. A walk on like this is always good, even when clearly staged. However, what really stood out for me was a particular crowd surf. It was the first time I saw a crowd surfer in a wheelchair, pretty cool. 

As soon as Funeral For A Friend left the Iron Maiden started. Their show was great. You can definitely tell they have been doing this kind of thing for decades. For me Run To The Hills was a noticeably absent. I feel like I'm short changing Maiden now but can't seem to think of anything else to say so I'll rap it up here.

Sonisphere 2010 was such a good weekend. Better than last year and better than Download! There was something about the whole weekend, a feeling of some sorts of enjoyment I didn't get at Download. Before you say I'm totally bias (I am a bit but I'm honest) check this quote from The Guardian's website "Although only two years old, Sonisphere has elbowed Donington's Download aside to become the UK's premier metal festival". 

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.