Last lap. Something of a 'stoner' day today at LA BELLE ANGELE, featuring young upstarts, legendary veterans and a fair bit of stuff in between. And something at the end to blow the cobwebs away.
VENUE: LA BELLE ANGELE:
Line-up:
FULL MONTIES: The aforementioned young upstarts, playing mostly covers and a few originals. A different selection of covers, though, including the likes of DOORS and CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL. Originals showing a fondness for QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, too. An unexpected offering from a bunch of kids. They need to change their name, though. FULL MONTIES brings to mind a bunch of middle-aged men doing terrible pub-rock covers at a bowling club Christmas party.
CULT OF SOBEK: Grinding doom from local worshippers of the Crocodile God. Very dark.
DUSKWOOD: Sturdy stoner rock from the deep south...well, Yeovil, actually. Back in Edinburgh for the first time in a few years.
BIG IRON: Oliver Wardell's newest hard rockin' project, in which he does singing and not guitaring, for a change. Big fun.
SAINT KARLOFF: Heavy duty stoner trio from the deserts of Norway.
RITUAL KING: Sticking with the hefty stoner theme, here we have Manchester's RITUAL KING.
ALAIN JOHANNES/EARLOF HELL: A legendary figure in the desert rock/grunge scene. At times, with our eyes closed, we could be listening to MARK LANEGAN or QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, but it's all ALAIN JOHANNES. Backed on this tour by local scamps EARL OF HELL, whose own set I missed earlier.
ELEPHANT TREE: Headlining the main stage, bluesy, progressive stoner/doom sort of thing from London. If they've ever played Edinburgh before, it was a long time ago. It would be nice to see them back soon.
That's Sunday at La Belle over and done, and I am very nearly dead. But there is still something to see to before I actually die, so it's a quick dash round the corner to...
VENUE: LEGENDS
COFFIN MULCH: Something completely different from Glaswegian death metallers getting all shouty and aggressive in our faces. Which is nice.
Right, that's it. Four days of metal, and I'm totally done. I can barely stand up and I've still got to drive home. I've got a few days off, and then it's STRANGEFORMS time. But that's for later. In the meantime, thanks to DUNCAN MOUNTAIN and everybody at RED CRUST for having me, and for putting on a remarkable weekend of metal in all (or most, anyway) of its forms. I'm assured that plans are already brewing for next time, when the Fest will be back, bigger and, arguably, better. Hopefully, I'll have recovered by then.
