Download 2015 Line up announced: Kiss, Motley Crue, Slash, Enter Shikari

This just in! Three of the biggest names in rock have been announced for Download next year; Kiss, Motley Crue and Slash Ft. Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators as well as Hardcore band Enter Shikari, who I know nothing about! However, Kiss and Crue are two of my favourite bands ever and I'm a huge fan of Slash's solo stuff, particularly his awesome new album 'World on Fire'. All four bands will be perfoming on Sunday 14 June 2015.

Gene Simmons broke the news last Tuesday by simply tweeting the poster showing the four bands, but the tweet was later removed. The fan site 'Kissin' UK' did confirm the news on their twitter account, but they too later removed the tweet! We were then left to guess if Gene was trolling or if he wasn't supposed to post the news yet and was told to remove it. But now the news is official, with Download themselves confirming the line-up today.

Motley Crue are currently in the middle of their 'Final Tour', which at present is going across the US and Canada, with some Asian dates booked for early next year. This Download appearance could prove to be the only UK date on the tour, but we'll see when the Crue announce the rest of the dates for the tour.

Slash comes to the UK this November in support of 'World on Fire', and I'll be catching him on one of the dates, so check back here soon for a review of the gig.

You may remember that late last year I made a post on this blog after Gene Simmons said that Kiss would be touring the UK in 2014, but of course that plan was sidelined and the band toured the US with Def Leppard (I am extremely envious of you if you saw that tour by the way!). However Gene Simmons did personally tell me via twitter after that US tour was announced that Kiss would return to the UK soon, saying, in his trademark all-caps, 'RELAX DUDE. WE WILL COME'. Looks like he's making good on his promise!

Before I go, here's a picture to summarise my reaciton to this news:

Anyway, follow me on twitter guys: @danj_101! Thanks for reading!

Metallica-'The Lords of Summer' First Impressions

Last night Metallica premiered a brand new track live in Colombia. The song is titled 'The Lords of Summer' and some amateur footage has unsurprisingly found it's way online. Check it out:

The song seems to be very much in vein of stuff from 'Death Magnetic' ('Tallica's last album, 2008) in the sense that it sounds like good old fashioned thrash. It even has a guitar solo, so no need to worry about the four horsemen returning to the 'St. Anger' sound any time soon, as if they ever would!

The opening riff was my personal highlight of the song, sounding very thrash and reminiscent of the band's classic 80's material, particularly the '..And Justice for All' era.

However, it's worth bearing in mind that whenever Metallica have premiered songs far ahead of an album's release in the past, the final product has often ended up sounding very different. Still, things are looking very positive so far and I'm eager to hear more!

Metallica's next album is due in 2015.

Follow me on Twitter: @danj_101 \m/

Saxon, 53 Degrees Preston (15/02/14) Review

Last night I had the pleasure of seeing New Wave of British Heavy Metal legends Saxon live for the first time at 53 Degrees in Preston, UK.

The warm-up band were Stormzone from Ireland who took to the stage at 8pm and played for about 40 minutes. I hadn't heard of Stormzone before they were announced to be the opening act for Saxon, but I was highly impressed. Their charismatic singer, John Harbinson, provided brilliant vocals and the dueling solos of guitarists Dave Shields and Steve Moore were formidable to say the least. I had only listened to one Stormzone song before going to the gig ('Three Kings', as seen below) but I would certainly check them out again!

During the 20 minute interlude between bands, I moved away from the bar into the main standing area to prepare for Saxon. They came on stage at around 9pm and played for two hours, opening with 'Sacrifice', the title track from their latest album.

Despite the fact that some members, including front-man Biff Byford, are now in their early 60s, Saxon made it clear last night that they are still a heavy metal force to be reckoned with and can blow any modern metal bands right out of the water! The band played a good mix of both classic and newer material with a huge amount of energy that was clearly rubbing off onto the crowd, who sang along throughout the show.

After ending their main set with their signature anthem 'Wheels of Steel', Saxon returned to the stage to play a three song encore consisting of 'Crusader', 'Denim and Leather' and 'Princess of the Night'.

Overall, last night was a stunning gig with both bands putting in tremendous performances. If you get a chance to see either band any time soon, don't pass it up!

Follow me on Twitter: @realdannymoore

Edit: 13/06/19 -

Thanks for reading this article, especially if you're visiting in 2019! This was actually the first gig I had ever been to back when I was 15, so its fun looking back at it now, although it is slightly bitter-sweet considering that 53 Degrees is now closed indefinitely.

I have just launched a new music blog, covering all the latest developments in rock and metal, including weekly UK chart updates as well as festival and awards coverage. The blog is called Sound Mouth and you can check it out here. I also plan to launch an accompanying podcast in the near future, so look forward to that. Thanks again for reading!