Please note: You are of course free to kill me for this one !!!!!! This is going to be a long one !

Also pix are uploade right here: http://fotoalbum.o2active.cz/plateau/wasted06/

Re-post from my boards and finalizd today (day 3 - 4).

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[size=117:11yt1p4d]Wasted Punk Fes
Blackpool Wintergardens
August 10 - 13, 2006[/size:11yt1p4d]

Here we go ... I am still in the UK, Manchester to be precise. I thought of going to Windermere for the day, but it looks rainy on the west coast so I am staying in the city and do my work instead of wandering around ... i.e. starting the Wasted report.

Of course, no pictures will go here until I am back home (tomorrow night), upload them onto comp, review, resize, upload onto a server etc. So photos shall be up by the end of this week. I took literally hundreds of them, for sure many will be crap, but it will still take some time to go through them and select ^the best^.

Having been in Blackpool, there will of course be also pix of the locality, like the tower, sea, clouds, hovering seagulls (it was really windy out there and the poor buggers had problems especially with the take off), oh yes and also the big wheel on the pier, and the piers, and the sun-bathers (it was mostly cold and windy) .... simply, captures of the holidays in the sun. You will not understand Sex Pistols properly until you come over to Blackpool !

Now, a small introductory note and some technical comparison with the last year Wasted fest in Morecambe (not far from Blackpool anyway).

As some of you know from my previous inconsistent Wacken report, I arrived from Wacken (the weekend before the Wasted started) with high fever and was diagnosed with lymphatic system inflammation and high-dosed with antibiotics Zinnat 500 mg ... Now this is not of real interest until you read the side-effects and rare side-effects ... For detailed description of those [url=http://www.999-online-pharmacy.com/buy-zinnat.htm?PHPSESSID=342752a638829664aa4b35cca0ff5ba7:11yt1p4d]you may actually not wish to go here.[/url:11yt1p4d] ;D ... not being used to antibiotics I have developed most of these symptoms in 2 days after starting the treatment - especially those that create a very special bondage between you and the rest-room. That may suggest how I felt during my very first days at Blackpool ... Fortunately, there was that Loyd pharmacy at hand and so I plundered it with kind consultations from the pharmacist.

Having said that I actually did not miss a thing during Wasted ! Well, apart those that were in direct collision / parallel shows, but that is a legitimate miss.

Technical comparisons.

Blackpool : the Wasted fest was in Winter Gardens, a venues / bars / restaurants complex under one roof. Their side reads Welcome to the Winter Gardens, Blackpool, home to Europe's second largest theatre, The Opera House, and 12 self-contained venues each with their own character and unique style. There's something for everyone be it business, leisure or pleasure.
http://www.wintergardensblackpool.co.uk/

Quite honestly, I was surprised to see what kind of venue is actually ^given away^ for a fest like this one ... this would never be the case in CR because both the authorities and the public will all go mad at the potential ruin that the place would suffer ... You know, central European (and I may even add ^Austrio-Hungarian Empire^ ) mentality would never even think of such possibility.

The flooring there is either parquetes, or marble or carpets ... sure enough, bz early afternoon it was all covered by beer, plastic cups, fag-ends ... regardless of the very many signs saying ^no smoking^ the place was filled with smoke. Which was actually annoying because the ventilation was poor (as the locals say: it is not sufficient even if people do not smoke there) ... and e.g. at the Arena on top of the smoke there was quite some heat as well ... I promised menzman (who kindly stayed online via mobile phone / text messages ) not to go into rest-room details, but there is one detail I have to mention. Actually two details: the Ladies next to the Arena stage were the only place where you could actually breathe. Plus when in there it was funny to listen to the noise of the ^undressing^ ladies ... I felt like at the ironmonger's / hardware shop ... the sounds of all the falling chains and other metal equipment .... sorry for the toilet story, but this was really hilariously funny.

The shows were held at:

The Arena - the only place with stable good sound, yet no air, heat + all the smoke stuck in there. But the sound was good there. Carpets provided were cozy for having rest during the shows. ;D

The Empress Ballroom: ... apart for the fact that it was really a ballroom, and a place I wouldnt go for a punk gig anyway, the sound was mostly crap ... though it really depended on where you were stationed during the gig and also how many people were in there. The more the better and the sound was more dense then.

The Olympia: ... looked more like a roofless garage covered with canvas ... the sound was all crap save for some rare exceptions.

Pavilion Theatre: was used for the accoustic stage ... for that purpose it was OK.

The only though most important plus of having this venue for a fest of this size is that you can easily and quickly move from one show to another. The other advantage it has is the excellent and wide range of facilities ... catering, toilets ;D etc ... you simplu do not need to go ouside (save for fresh air).

MORECAMBE
Well, the locality as such is incomparably smaller than Blackpool and does not have a complex of venues similar to Winter Gardens ... the gigs were either at canvas covered market or in clubs and isolated venues ... However, I must admit I liked Morecambe better. It was difficult to move between gigs / individual venues, and it was a bit rougher there, but somehow I felt the venues were more appropriate for a punk fest. And the sound at the venues was much better. Morecambe was by far less comfortable but felt more like a real thing, if you know what I mean.


To be cont

Day 1 - Thursday Aug. 10

This was really a starter ... and actually the day when the UK airports were closed due to the terrorist attack alert .... this implies that those who wanted to arrive on Thursday must have arrived a day later. Which also concerned some of the people who shall have stayed at the B+B I stayed ... which gets me to the composition of the audience ... looks like the foreigners + UK citizens must have been 50:50 ... even on the train to Blackpool I noticed punks from Slovakia, there were Poles, Lithuanians, Swiss, people from Spain, Netherlands, Sweden, USA, Portugal, Izrael ... all possible kind of nations really.

The Thursday went on two stages only - Arena + the acoustic stage.

For pragmatic reasons (see the side effects above) I have entirely avoided the acoustic stage and remained at the arena.

The bands I have managed toi check out were these:


BOOKSTORE http://www.myspace.com/bookstore
Manchester based punk / new wave band. Genuine music, nice performance, fine start of the day !

The United Kingdom of America http://www.myspace.com/theukofa; Punk from Sheffield ....
Gorgeous http://www.myspace.com/wearegorgeous from Birmingham, who were actually pretty interesting, and it appears that the lead guitar is taken by the Goldblade guitarist Peter Byrchmore.

The Debretts followed by Fire Exit http://www.fireexit77.com/ ... old punks from 1977 ... pretty good as much as I can remember !

The Astronauts ... I must check out their photos when back at home ...this may and not may be their site http://www.myspace.com/typicalenglishday ;D

DEMOB : http://www.holidaysinthesun.net/pages/w ... punk.co.uk and http://www.myspace.com/demobpunk ... Punk from Gloucester. They kind of started the fest for me and were brilliant !!! Looks like they will start their US tour in September ... so those who are from the US, check them out if you have chance !

Drongos for Europe http://drongos-for-europe.tk and http://www.myspace.com/drongosforeurope ... Classy punk from Birmingham with big fan-base I must say (guessing from t-shirts and the num,ber of people that gathred in the Arena). Their show in Morecambe last year belonged to my most fave and they didnt fail my expectations in Blackpool !

UXB http://www.u-x-b.com/ and http://www.myspace.com/uxbtheband ... Punk / reggae from England ... looks like they were primarily around in the very early 80s and reformed in 2001.

Devilish Presley http://www.devilishpresley.com They were actually good fun, formed in 2002. The singer was born in Australia, but it looks like they are based in the UK.

The Neck http://www.neck.ie/ and http://www.myspace.com/neckireland . Irish punk / folk band ... I especially waited for them as they are from some time among mu ^myspace friends^ and the songs I heard on the net were really good. Live they were excellent ....

But there awas a ^but^ ... on that day I fully realized that punk bands (young or old) from Czech Republic, Slovakia ... would cause real havoc on that day in Blackpool. Just those bands I heard last year at Antifest alone would easily attract due attention ... regardless of the language barrier. Pity the Czech / Slovak punk scene does not have the human resources and perhaps also money to bring them to events such as these. >:(

After the Neck I left to regain some strength for the main days. In fact, I was happy enoiugh to have survived the night ! ;D

Day 2. Friday Aug. 11


This day was full of very difficult decisions. I will start with the bands I had to decide to skip due to parallel shows, although I would truly love to see them .... These were Cockney Rejects http://www.cockneyrejects.net/ and GBH http://www.njhindl.demon.co.uk/gbh/ > But simply there are moments when you have to decide. They played Empress Ballroom and Olympia resp. and so my only cpnsolation may have rested on the fairly well-grounded assumption that the sound there was crap anyway.earlier thi

In Olympia I went to see Stuntface http://www.myspace.com/stuntface and http://stuntface.com. Welsh punk ... I know them from myspace, plus got their CD earlier this year, and so I knew what to expect + they were music-wise really good. But Geeez ... the silly comments of the frontman almost ruined the show. Their myspace site reads Welsh punkers STUNTFACE started life in May 1999, born from various defunct but legendarily dangerous punk rock bands from the Wrexham area. Maybe so, brilliant they were, but it would be really good if they better shut the fuck up next time, lmao ... ;D On the other hand, perhaps thanks to this they left a lasting mark.

I also went to check out Eddie and the Hot Rots http://www.eddieandthehotrods.com/ and http://www.myspace.com/eddieandthehotrods at the Empress Ballroom. But left during the 3rd song ... not really my cup of coffee, though it does not mean they were bad. On their myspace site they choose the description of punk / powerpop ... no idea what powerpop stands for, but it is perhaps the kind of music I cant genuinly stand ! ;D

I probably also shortly saw Spitting Dummies http://www.myspace.com/spittingdummies from Manchester. If I remember it well, they were OK.

My main venue was the Arena on Friday.

Bands I checked out were Mouthguard http://www.mouthguard.com.au/ from Australia (very good performace !); Guns on the Roof http://www.gunsontheroof.com/, Outlaw http://outl4w.com/ - kids that play fast and very good and dynamic punk / r+r ... but I think their day will only come ... if they keep playing.

Then Argy Bargy http://homepage.ntlworld.com/oioioi/argybargy/argy.htm and http://www.myspace.com/argybargyuk ... old good streetpunk -+ excellent performance ... The Blaggershttp://www.blaggersita.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/, The Straps http://www.thestraps.co.uk/, The Crack http://www.myspace.com/crackuk ....

Yet the main bands for me on that day were : MDC http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MDC_(band)/, The Varukers http://www.varukers.co.uk/ and http://www.myspace.com/varukers, and Anti Nowhere League http://www.antinowhereleague.com/ and http://www.myspace.com/animalanwl.

Fucking riot they rose !!! It was my first time seeing MDC live (given the songs they played I guess the Millions of Dead Cops is the proper translation of MDC, lmao) ! Last time I saw Varukers it was in 1996 I think at Fuck Reading punk and HC all dayer ... and as for ANL - just any time. ANL always play their classy stuff - but that is what you expect anyway, plus - and that is fairly interesting - it always feels terribly fresh and with played high energy. I guess these guys still enjoy what they are doing !

So I was really looking forward to see these three bands .... if there was nothing else @ the Wasted punk fest, these were worth travelling for !!!


I have to stop here for I am soon off to Jillys Rockworld to check out Sworn Enemy www.myspace.com/swornenemy !


To be cont .... I am afraid I have still to cover Day3 and 4 ! Plus the photos ....

Yeah, thank you : you are too kind ... it is difficult to keep it short with 4 days and 4 stages packed with music !

Btw. I just discovered that punks returned to the idea of organizing Fuck Reading festivals in London .... too bad I learned it too late.