Naturally, Slayer made this gig. But not only that, I was really impressed with the Apollo as a venue - the sound was ace and you feel a lot closer to the bands as it's quite compact and intimate. Plus no matter where you stand you get a fairly good view of the stage as the standing area is on a gentle gradient and rises the further back you go.
Got to the Apollo for the last couple of songs for Amon Amarth which seemed generally to go down well with the crowd - I think their finisher was "Pursuit of Vikings" (?) correct me if that's not the right title, but it's the only one I semi-know.
Mastodon were up next - not being a Mastodon fan I struggled with them a little bit with these guys, a lot of their stuff was a bit samey, but don't get me wrong they did a good job getting a pit going and they're top musicians, but for me I got a little bit bored...maybe I need to listen to more of their material as I only know "Blood & Thunder" (which they opened with incidentally).
Trrivium were third on the bill. Greeted by lots of cheers and fewer yet still noticeable boos, wanker gestures and middle fingers. They were energetic, enthusiastic and did a good job at getting their fans going. On the other hand for me, their set was boring, they talked crap and posed to the max. It really did seem like at points that it was 1984 and we were listening to early Metallica - at one point we could have sworn they recycled the riff/double-kick combo from "One". They did a couple of new songs which really didn't enthuse me at all, but I'm sure if you are a Trivium fan then you would have enjoyed it. I utilised a proportion of their stage time to go and purchase cans of Carlsberg for £3.50...Trivium or over-priced warm Danish lager? There was only one winner...
I shall complete my review later, as now I have to go to work!
