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I was there both days with Mrs Lacklight seeing bands across all 3 stages, started on Saturday with a nice set from the Black Spiders. then wandered off to see The Union on the Main Stage but they disappointed with a dull, lacklustre set in my opinion. Then over to the Prog Stage for Focus who were great (34 years since I saw them last) followed by the mighty Bigelf who were loud and splendid. A quick peek at Cathedral followed, then off for a fun display by Foreigner and an emotional Heaven & Hell. After that we caught the last 20 minutes (although it felt longer!) of The Whirlwind, followed by a bonus with Transatlantic were joined by Steve Hackett to do a superb Hogweed.

Sunday started with a rockin good time provided by The Quireboys, then UFO who were great despite some technical problems. Unfortunately that meant missing Steve Hackett's set but we got there in time for Magnum. I love Magnum, but I think they missed a trick by playing a lot more of their recent songs which is fine on tour but those songs got nothing but polite applause from the crowd. Stick to the 'hits' guys, it's a festival! Uriah Heep were amazing but Demons and Wizards is one of my favourite albums so I was in heaven! Then came Opeth, who were.... Opeth! 5th time in 18 months I've seen them and they were great again. That took us to Marillion (via a trip to view the wall of death). A slowish start gave way to a fine performance, although occasionally hampered by technical problems and Down's set clearly being heard on the Metal Hammer stage during the quiet Marillion bits of which there are many. We then wandered over to view ELP for a bit, but fatigue got the better of us (as did an Emerson piano solo) and we headed for home.

We didn't encounter any problems at the gate, but then we didn't arrive till about 12.30 on both days. Overall, we had a great time and will watch with great interest to see if 2011 materialises.

Thanks guys!

Alice In Chains - Black Gives Way To Blue
Mastodon  - Crack The Skye
Porcupine Tree - The Incident
Nosound - A Sense Of Loss
Muse - The Resistance

Bigelf's Hex was one of my favourites this year although it's a few years old. Strangely I was very underwhelmed by their newest, Cheat The Gallows, not a patch on Hex.

There were certainly 4 drummers on stage at Wembley, and with the size of Portnoy's kit, there's was probably room for another 17 or so...

Missed Unexpect, but their drummer was good!

Bigelf were very good, I like this band a lot! Opeth were stunning, utterly on the money as they should be after more than a year on the road and although me and DT kind of parted ways after Six Degrees, they were very enjoyable and I'll definitely be giving the new album a spin very soon.

Disappointing crowd though, curtainained off and quite a bit of room in the standing area too.

p.s. saw a certain Mr Burke there with some Darwin's Radio chums if I'm not mistaken.

Tried to find it in my local indie newsagents but to no avail, got it in the huge WHSmiths at Liverpool St Station instead.

Possibly the only Smiths in London where I didn't look..

There's a copy on ebay already, and the bid is nearly three times the RRP!

I've been a bit slow off the mark here and now I can't seem to find the magazine anywhere...  Does anyone know where it's still available?

I often wondered what the real meaning of No Brie No You was....

Well they were stunning in London last night, firing on all cylinders! Can't wait for the DVD!

Me when I write, hold a snooker cue or tennis raquet etc, but if I ever play cricket, golf or strap on my air guitar, it's right.

Curiously, I work in HR and about 60% of my colleagues are lefties too...

Mrs Lacklight loves them to bits and I think they're pretty good too. It's been just under 3 years since their last release (Songs From Black Mountain) so although it's not six years, it's high time for another release!  

I have both those albums too and I like them but they don't really jump out at me. I sometimes think Bruce Soord tries a little too hard to sound like Thom Yorke.

Incidentally, have you tried GFT for the back catalogue?

http://www.gftmailorder.co.uk/

Always loved that drum break about two thirds of the way through The Gates Of Delirium..  

Album of the Year for me is The Tall Ships. So many great songs.

With gigs it's a bit harder to single out, but Alter Bridge at Brixton, Frost* at Summer's End, Testament at Download, It Bites at The Point and Thunder at The Astoria are all stand outs.

For me the later albums always had enough on them to retain my interest and willingness to buy the next one, stuff like Mama, Home By The Sea and Domino. I actually thought that WCD contained some wonderful stuff namely the longer tracks such as Fading Lights and Driving The Last Spike and although Dreaming While You Sleep was a more of the "quiet bit, drum kit falling down the stairs, loud bit," I though it was very emotive and beautifully sung by Phil.

Great stuff sir, very amusing!