Henry Rogers

[henryrogers94-blog]

Can the releases of “Batman vs Superman” and “Suicide Squad” put DC ahead of Marvel?

Everyone has now seen and voiced their own opinion about the recent trailers for Batman vs Superman and Suicide Squad and everyone seems to be losing their minds over them, and rightly so in my opinion. The former trailer shows the darker atmosphere which DC boasts with the majority of its Batman comics and the latter’s trailer, of course, features Jared Leto’s Joker. In fact, the only criticisms I had for the trailers was the release date for each one. The question now stands of how these films will impact the superhero category which has so far been dominated by Marvel and their Avengers.

DC has produced, in my opinion, the very best series of superhero films, Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy, but it offers very little much else. I personally thoroughly enjoyed Man of Steel but the general public seemed less impressed with Zac Snyder’s efforts with DC’s original hero. Marvel films champion DC there. With the exception of the Dark Knight Trilogy, Marvel has produced the better films both in terms of reception and box office success, but why is this the case?

They may have more money thrown at their film studios as they are now owned by Disney, but Marvel comics also posses a greater variety of mainstream characters which all have great powers and abilities. DC however has the likes of heroes like Aquaman who is, perhaps unfairly, mocked by a wide variety of comic book fans. DC lacks the real star power that Marvel has with its only really huge heroes being Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman with people such as The Flash having honorable mentions. Meanwhile Marvel bring the likes of Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Hulk, Thor, Wolverine and many more to the table. This makes the Marvel films more appealing to the average film attendant as, let’s be honest, you would rather see something like Spider-Man over something like The Flash. Marvel have also mastered the whole team element with the Avengers and X-Men films all being superb and Guardians of the Galaxy being hands down one of the best films of 2014. I think people love these films because its great seeing the variety of characters, each with unique abilities and personalities, trying to work together. You get the awesome display of everyone’s abilities and also the camaraderie and the wit in the group’s dynamic. Avengers Assemble is a classic example of this as it is a captivating serious storyline but also completely nails the comedic back-and-forth conversations between characters. DC has the Justice League which they are working towards but apart from that they fail to really bring a superhero team film to the table. They had Watchmen in 2009 which, although brilliant, is tremendously dark in its storyline with half the premise of the film being about how they were completely dysfunctional as a team.

The aforementioned comedy element to Marvel films also greatly assists in solidifying Marvel at the top of the superhero genre because it makes the films more accessible to the casual viewer. I’ve known several people that go to watch the Avengers films for example purely because they are really funny in addition to the interesting storyline. DC films tend to be very dark and serious or if they are funny it is for the wrong reasons (see Batman and Robin). The Dark Knight Trilogy stick to the very nature of the Batman comics and maintain a very serious and gloomy story throughout with characters such as the Joker and Bane who are very twisted and malicious individuals. Marvel’s perfect balance of serious and comedy makes the films on the whole more enjoyable to watch.

Could this all be changing however with Suicide Squad  and Batman vs Superman? I can safely assume that Marvel will definitely still win on the comedy aspect of the films, but DC are going through a revamp and remodeling of its assets to challenge them for the title of better overall films. The upcoming Batman vs Superman is set to tee up a Justice League film in the near future meaning the likes of Wonder Woman and Aquaman are set to make appearances with The Flash also being rumoured to feature in the film. Based on their appearances in DC comics, this sounds like something that should make you fear for the success of the film, however, DC has released the stills of how the new Wonder Woman (played by Gal Gadot) and the new Aquaman (played by Jason Momoa) will look and they look amazing.

We’ll start with Batman vs Superman which is due for release at the end of March next year. As previously stated, this will not beat the comedy aspect of Marvel films, in fact, it will be incredibly surprised if it featured any humour whatsoever meaning the film might lose out to Marvel on box office success due to the lesser interest from casual viewers. However, this does not mean that the film will not be as good as anything Marvel has produced but ultimately only time will tell. I believe this has the potential to be one of the best superhero films of all time as it has all the components of a classic and features the two most iconic superheroes of all time meaning DC will not let the star power go to waste. The film is set to be based heavily on the Frank Miller comic The Dark Knight Returns which is heralded by many to be one of greatest, if not the greatest, graphic novel of all time topping several respectable judges’ charts. A friend showed me the animated adaptation of the novel and it was superb leaving me incredibly hyped for the March 2016 release date. I recommend either reading the graphic novel or watching the animated adaptation to anyone who is a fan of Batman or superheroes in general.

The film has director Zack Snyder at the helm which has received criticism from some however I for one believe the film is in safe hands. He successfully managed to recreate and increase the already dark nature of Watchmen despite the novel already being famous for its gritty storyline and he managed to make a Superman film substantially less cringe-worthy and even added some darker moments for the film Man of Steel. Naturally everyone is entitled to their opinion of these films, but for me personally they are proof that Zack Snyder can successfully take a universally celebrated graphic novel like Watchmen or a larger-than-life character like Superman and adapt them into an excellent film. Based on his directorial style we can expect plenty of slow motion fight scenes, large amounts of metropolitan destruction and an overall darker tone to Batman vs Superman and that sounds like something the film will relish from.

Batman vs Superman will also be Ben Affleck’s first outing as the caped crusader which again is something that has faced some criticism but I feel it is nothing to worry about. Affleck is a great actor who has proven his ability on plenty of occasions with more recent examples being in Gone Girl and Argo where Affleck put out great and convincing performances. Although Christian Bale would have been ideal for continuity’s sake, especially as he recently admitted that he regretted turning down the role, Affleck will fit the role of the aging Bruce Wayne superbly and he has the acting ability to bring justice to the iconic role. From what we have seen from him in the trailer, Affleck also has a brilliant Batman voice. This seems a comical point to include in support of Affleck, however, the voice is perhaps the most important part of the Batman role apart from the physique. Bale’s Batman voice received a lot of criticism being one of the very few negative aspects of The Dark Knight Trilogy as it is sometimes difficult to understand and it has been spoofed on countless occasions. Affleck’s Batman voice is heard at the end of the teaser trailer and it sounds like it will be much more audible than Bale’s whilst still having the tough Batman tone and different from his Bruce Wayne voice and, when combined with his impressive physique, means that all the signs leading to the film’s March release are good for Affleck’s Batman.

Batman vs Superman has great source material to be based on, a great director, and a great set of leading actors in Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill all of which has left many of the comic book and film world incredibly excited and rightly so. It marks the beginning of big things for DC movies and can lead the charge for DC catching up and surpassing Marvel.

If it doesn’t start to achieve this single-handedly then it definitely could with the help of Suicide Squad which will be one of the most talked about films of next year due mainly to Jared Leto’s incarnation of the iconic Joker role. Since it was announced that he would be playing the role that Heath Ledger masterfully portrayed in The Dark Knight  in 2008, everyone has voiced their opinion on how well they think Leto will fill Ledger’s shoes. Although it seems an impossible task for Leto to achieve, several people (myself included) have the utmost faith in him based on a combination of his previous acting roles, mainly that of a trans woman in Dallas Buyers Club which he won an Oscar for, and his role in the trailer. Admittedly it is hard to base an opinion of someone on four seconds of footage but his delivery of his few lines, his voice, and his laugh, all of which are greatly important to the Joker role, look brilliant. Leto is sort of the caliber of actor who could give an outstanding, potentially award winning, performance of one of the most iconic and difficult characters to play and Suicide Squad and DC movies will greatly benefit as a result. On social media, Leto has also been dropping hints that there could be some relation between the film and the famous comic The Killing Joke which provides an origin story for the character and remains one of the most important additions to the DC comic book universe due to the legacy it leaves behind. If these rumours are true then Suicide Squad  could be so much better than it already seems like it will be.

Suicide Squad can also boast being the most unique superhero film that we will have seen come its Summer 2016 release date in that it is based on the concept of villains doing good. Although both Marvel and DC have comics which feature villains doing good, Suicide Sqaud is the first to be put to film and this will give DC movies a big push. It’s unique concept of bad guys doing good, when combined with the clash of iconic characters Batman and Superman in Batman vs Superman, spells out a promising 2016 for DC movies and a very real chance to put them ahead of Marvel movies in terms of quality.

This chance to surpass also looks likely beyond 2016 as where Marvel’s current cinematic universe is starting to wind down, with one more of each hero’s film and the final Avengers film split in two halves, DC’s is only just getting started. As previously stated, DC are teeing up a Justice League movie which means they are starting what Marvel have been doing for the last few years and building up every character in individual films which all relates to a Justice League storyline. Wonder Woman and The Flash have already been confirmed from 2017 onwards and it would not be a surprise if Aquaman and Green Arrow were given films as well. DC will use these films to showcase how they are making their films more modernised as we have already seen with the new look Wonder Woman and Aquaman. This will help to pull DC out of the cheesy colourful comic book style and into the more modern day, gritty and realistic superhero movies that can challenge Marvel.

In comparison to Marvel films, DC’s future is looking rather brighter. Marvel’s Phase Three is winding down culminating with the final Avengers film Infinity Wars which is scheduled to be released in two parts, part one is 2018 and part two in 2019. I know that I was not alone in feeling at least a little bit unsatisfied by Age of Ultron and I cannot help but feel like Infinity Wars might also run into some problems. It is already confirmed that the Guardians of the Galaxy will be aiding the Avengers in the final installment as will Spider-Man after Marvel have now fully bought the rights off Sony. Already that is six new main characters being introduced into the Avengers universe and more could feature with Black Panther and Doctor Strange getting films in the next few years meaning Infinity Wars could suffer from too many significant characters making the film almost too busy, even if it is in two installments.

It also asks the question of whether or not Marvel actually needed to make half the films they are making or are they making them just because they know they will get loads of money because of the brand. My friend raised a very good point suggesting that Guardians of the Galaxy did extremely well as a lesser known Marvel storyline so they figured they could do the same with films such as Doctor Strange and Black Panther. Ant-Man was an interesting one as the role he serves in the Avengers universe is that he is the one that builds Ultron in the comic book however he is not even mentioned in the film, let alone featured, so it raised the question of why did they bother making the film? It has become apparent that he is featuring in Captain America: Civil War but that doesn’t defeat the point that Marvel missed the opportunity to correctly place him in the universe. Black Panther and Doctor Strange are both big characters in Marvel Comics but not many have been madly desiring a film about them or have gone “the Avengers would be so much better if they were in it” again raising the point of whether or not Marvel are just releasing films for money sake with little effort put in. Yes, every film studio releases films basically solely for money but Marvel role out a solid couple every year but if they start to drop in quality, which Age of Ultron in my opinion suggests they could, then the fewer and further between and more well thought out DC films could catch up and take the lead. Marvel are even making a third Wolverine based film, which X-Men Origins: Wolverine and The Wolverine suggest will not exactly be amazing.

Marvel does have two aces up its sleeve in terms of future releases next year with Deadpool and X-Men Apocalypse. In my opinion, the revamped X-Men films First Class and Days of Future Past are the best two Marvel films going and the release of the third one next year already has me excited. If any film next year is going to outdo Suicide Squad or Batman vs Superman for me it is this one. Deadpool has been a film many have wanted to see after they completely ruined the character in X-Men Origins: Wolverine and he remains one of the most beloved heroes due to his antihero personality. The trailer has already sparked up a tremendous amount of hype and looks to be what everyone wanted from the film, the teaser even referenced the fact that Marvel previously ruined the character. This film will do a solid job for Marvel next year and will lead the charge against DC’s huge duo of films.

Nevertheless, if a poor final product is produced by Marvel in terms of the Avengers and the smaller films, it could work very well in DC’s favour as their Justice League storyline would be well under way with a sequel being planned for release around that time. It all starts next year however with Suicide Squad and Batman vs Superman and I do truly believe that they can shift the balance in favour of DC as they are bringing a unique story in Suicide Squad and a darker rendition of a classic novel in Batman vs Superman up against a film studio who has potentially hindered itself with trying to do too much at once. Obviously time will tell and more than likely Marvel will do better in the box office based on brand name alone, however I for one will not be surprised if DC can turn things around.

[henryrogers94-blog]

Downpour: A Review of Download Festival 2015

Another Download Festival is in the books and what a brilliant one it was. Despite the torrential rain on the Friday night setting the tone for the weekend, Slipknot, Muse, and KISS all put on magnificent headline performances with Judas Priest, Faith No More, and Mötley Crüe all supplying excellent supporting sets. In addition, the likes of Slash, Rise Against, and many other great bands performed over the course of the weekend.

My festival weekend started properly on the Zippo Encore Stage with the Swedish rock band Blues Pills (7/10) whose blend of psychedelic and blues rock sounded like something straight out of the 60s and 70s. The band were technically superb with guitarist Dorian Sorriaux carrying the bands opening song “High Class Woman” through several musical breaks with incredible solos and Elin Larsson’s incredible vocal talent shone through in their last song “Devil Man”. Fans of 60s and 70s blues and psychedelic rock should definitely give Blues Pills a listen. It was a welcome alternative to the more heavier start of the day on the Main Stage with All That Remains and Hellyeah (3/10) who, despite the fake blood wearing frontman Chad Gray’s best attempts, never really seemed the grab the interest of the Donington crowd and fell a bit flat.

After Blues Pills, I stayed on the Zippo Encore Stage for the southern rock band The Cadillac Three (6/10) who due to travel issues had to borrow the guitars of the second stage headliners Black Stone Cherry. This, however, did not hinder their set in the slightest with a strong performance of the title track of their new EP “Peace, Love & Dixie” before going into their first album hit “Tennessee Mojo”. They attracted a large crowd which was impressive as over on the Main Stage Lacuna Coil had a the crowd partaking in a human pyramid which Kerrang! said involved at least 14 people.

After a short break, it was a time to head to the Main Stage for the Friday night main support act, the metal icons Judas Priest (10/10) who are no strangers to Donington’s hallowed ground as they played the very first Monsters of Rock Festival there in 1980 (the festival that later became Download Festival). From start to finish Judas Priest were excellent. After opening with “Dragonaut” from last year’s album Redeemer of Souls prompting devil horns and headbanging from the entire Download crowd, frontman Rob Halford walked out to the crowd and pronounced that ‘the Priest is back!’ The next hour flew by as they played hits “Breaking The Law” and “Hell Bent For Leather” which included the appearance of Halford’s iconic motorbike being rode onto the stage. The encore consisting of “Painkiller” and “Living After Midnight” brought to a conclusion one of the best performances I have ever seen. As my friend and I agreed, we knew they would be good, we just didn’t know they would be that good.

Following Judas Priest, I went over to the Maverick Stage to see the latter half of the third stage headliner’s Fightstar (7.5/10) set. Having only recently reformed, Charlie Simpson and co still put out a strong performance playing a trio of songs from their 2007 album One Day Son, This Will All Be Yours back-to-back leaving a good impression on the now drenched Download crowd. They finished strongly with “Palahniuk’s Laughter” off their debut EP They Liked You Better When You Were Dead bringing a good headline set to a close. The day was not about Fightstar’s headline set though but instead that of Slipknot’s on the Main Stage.

Everyone gathered in the now torrential downpour to witness Slipknot (10/10) perform their third Download headline set in six years but despite now being well acquainted with the headline slot, Slipknot spent no time resting on their laurels. Despite not being as good as their last outing in 2013, Slipknot still brought the onstage chaos that they are famously associated with ripping through opening songs “Sarcastrophe”, “The Heretic Anthem”, and “Psychosocial” before “The Devil In I” and “AOV” from last year’s album .5: The Grey Chapter. The almost storm-like rain failed to dampen the spirits of the Download crowd (Corey Taylor even joked that he would rename it Downpour 2015) as the latter half of Slipknot’s set brought fan favourites “Before I Forget” and “Duality” before the now iconic ‘sit the fuck down’ moment in “Spit It Out” which had the entire, now drenched crowd on their feet. A repeat of last time’s encore with “(sic)”, “People=Shit”, and “Surfacing” brought to a close an outstanding performance from the Iowans who, despite having two new members following the unfortunate death of bassist Paul Grey in 2010 and the departure of drummer Joey Jordison in 2013, showed that they are still a force to be reckoned with.

To Saturday, and my day kicked off on the Main Stage with Mallory Knox (6/10) who had a decent crowd despite the fact that the rain from the night before was still going but not as bad. The Cambridge band managed to get some good participation from the crowd in the forms of clapping and singing along and put together an enjoyable performance complete with smoke cannons starting off the Saturday on a surprisingly good footing. So not to miss any of ex-KISS guitarist Ace Frehley’s set on the second stage, I only ended up seeing three songs of Hollywood Undead which included their first single to chart “Undead”. The opening three songs went down well with the crowd but not enough was seen to really give a fair rating. On the second stage, Ace Frehley (6/10) played a very KISS heavy set, cramming “Parasite”, “Love Gun”, “Cold Gin”, “Shock Me”, and “Deuce” into his 30 minute set to an unsurprisingly large turnout. “Deuce” saw Frehley soloing on a smoking guitar in a nod to his days as the Spaceman in KISS and the earlier performance of “Love Gun” had the entire crowd jumping up and singing along. Although a good performance from Frehley, I think everyone knew they were going to see these done better the next night by KISS but this did not hinder the performance at all.

After Frehley, it was time to return to the Main Stage for Parkway Drive (7/10) who had two giant circle-pits from the early moments of their set being orchestrated by frontman Winston McCall. Despite McCall’s complaints about the rain, he and the rest of the band looked like they loved every moment of their 45 minute long set. They took full advantage of the large turnout calling for circle-pits and later crowd surfing for new song “Vice Grip” as McCall said it would ‘fill the awkwardness’ of not many people having heard the song. The penultimate song of the set was a cover of Rage Against The Machine’s “Bulls on Parade” which was a brave move as they were covering one of the most loved songs by one of the most loved bands but they did it really very well. Following Parkway Drive, Rise Against (6.5/10) took to the stage playing hits such as “Re-Education (Through Labor)”, “Prayer of the Refugee”, and finishing with “Saviour” inspiring singalongs from the now starting to lose their voices crowd all the way through their 50 minute set. Frontman Tim McIlrath utilised the ego ramp to engage the crowd throughout the performance however he seemed to struggle with playing guitar and singing at the same time which somewhat hindered their performance. Other than that, Rise Against put on a great show.

Next up on the Main Stage were A Day To Remember (8/10) who attracted a huge turnout and rewarded the crowd with a thoroughly enjoyable 50 minute set which included a person dressed like a clown firing t-shirts into the crowd, giant beach balls, a quick rendition of Oasis’s “Champagne Supernova”, and even fire. The strong performance left the crowd chanting ’10 more songs’ to which their frontman Jeremy McKinnon responded ‘we’ll headline this shit some day.’ Things only got better on the Main Stage as A Day To Remember were followed by the rock legends and main support act Faith No More (9.5/10) who won the award for the most unique stage I have ever seen. Everything was white, even the monitors at the front of the stage. It also featured flowers across the front of the stage and all over the back of the stage and the band themselves were all dressed entirely in white. The design was that as the lights changed colour, everything on the stage changed colour and it worked effectively, even in daylight. After opening with “Motherfucker” frontman Mike Patton told the crowd ‘we are Faith No More and we are your yoga teachers’ before grabbing the headset of a security guard and calling in a terrorist attack shortly afterwards. They also created the best crowd participation moment of the weekend with their cover of The Commodores “Easy” which had the entire crowd waving their arms side to side and singing along. It was also during this that a fan was carried out on a stretcher passing the front of the stage prompting Patton to jump down from the stage and walk alongside the stretcher singing it to the fan. An altogether tight performance which was accompanied by several funny moments from a charismatic Mike Patton gave Faith No More perhaps the most unique performance I have ever seen and they set the stage nicely for the headline band.

Despite being perhaps one of the more controversial headliners in Download’s history, Muse (10/10) still delivered the spectacular show which the Devon trio are almost synonymous with. Tearing through a more heavier than usual setlist that was specifically tailored for Download Festival, Muse blasted through opener “Psycho” before giving the live debut to new song “The Handler” and playing Origin of Symmetry opener “New Born”. Later saw the tour debuts and rare outings of “Micro Cuts” and fan favourite “Citizen Erased”, in addition to the EP track “Dead Star” almost making a statement that Muse can bring the heavy when they need to. That still did not stop them from their almost over-the-top stage show that they are famous for as “Mercy”, the third single from their new album Drones, concluded with confetti and streamer cannons almost engulfing the Download crowd before the release of the Hullaballoons into the crowd during another new song “Reapers”. Their encore consisted of the opening track of The Resistance “Uprising” which had the crowd all singing along before going into the most famous riff in Muse’s repertoire “Plug In Baby”. The show concluded with “Knights of Cydonia” with its explosive end rather fittingly being accompanied by a firework display above the stage. This was Muse’s debut at the Download Festival and they came out swinging for the fences and it really showed with a spectacular performance which they themselves could struggle to beat. Their headline performance almost came with a message saying ‘we knew we could do this, why did any of you doubt us?’

The last day of the festival, and hundreds of people in KISS makeup descended on Donington’s hallowed grounds in anticipation of the night’s headliners. The day started for me with the secret set from The Darkness (8.5/10) who attracted a huge crowd to the Maverick Stage meaning many had to watch from the outside of the tent. The opener “Barbarian” from their new album Last of Our Kind saw frontman Justin Hawkins riding in over the crowd wielding a sword before being joined on stage by several men dressed as barbarians showing that The Darkness still have their taste for the overly theatrical. From this they went straight into Permission To Land classic “Growing On Me” and what followed was a 45 minute set filled with Darkness classics as they played only two more new songs leaving the remainder of the set to the hits such as “Get Your Hands Off My Woman”, “Love Is Only a Feeling”, and then a finale of “I Believe In A Thing Called Love”.

Following The Darkness, it was time to head to the Main Stage for an evening of rock and glam metal starting with Billy Idol (5/10) who opened with classic “Dancing With Myself”. He performed all the hits that you would expect from a Billy Idol set playing “White Wedding” midway through before finishing with “Rebel Yell” with some new songs in between. It was an enjoyable nostalgia trip for fans from the time however the absence of classic “Mony Mony” raised some eyebrows especially with some new songs in its place. Nevertheless, an entertaining set from the 80s icon.

From one 80s icon to another, much more recognisable one, Slash (9/10) accompanied by his band fronted by Alter Bridge vocalist Myles Kennedy took to the stage. Opening with Apocalyptic Love song “You’re A Lie” to one of the biggest crowds of the weekend, Slash and co went straight into Guns N’ Roses classic “Nightrain” which was done more than justice vocally by Kennedy. Slash balanced his hour long set perfectly with songs from his solo career and songs from his Guns N’ Roses and Velvet Revolver back catalogues playing “You Could Be Mine” in the middle of the set around his solo work. Kennedy did a fantastic job at being the frontman knowing exactly when to get involved with the crowd, with an example being their performance of “The Dissident” from their most recent album World on Fire where he inspired a crowd singalong to the riff of the song, and when to stand back and give Slash the spotlight as, after all, he is the one most people came to see. Finishing with the trio of “Sweet Child O’ Mine”, “Slither”, and “Paradise City” which is enough to satisfy any fan of rock music, let alone the fans of Guns N’ Roses and Velvet Revolver, Slash made it so everyone that turned out to see them had an hour in rock heaven.

It was then time for metal legends Mötley Crüe (10/10) to take to the Download stage for the last time ever as part of their final tour. After opening with 2008 single “Saints of Los Angeles” to a thunderous response from the audience, Crüe spent the next hour playing a hit filled set accompanied by more fireworks and pyrotechnics than every band put together from the weekend so far and then some. Hit after hit after hit only to be broken up by a cover of the Sex Pistols’s “Anarchy In The U.K.” with an American twist made the whole main support slot feel like a matter of minutes. A run of “Dr. Feelgood”, “Shout at the Devil”, “Live Wire”, “Girls, Girls, Girls”, and “Kickstart My Heart” to see out the show before a emotional rendition of “Home Sweet Home” for the encore gave Mötley Crüe the perfect send off. Everyone went to Mötley Crüe expecting a brilliant show and everyone was rewarded with something truly special as Crüe put on a show worthy of a headline performance with flames, fireworks and even a flame-throwing bass guitar being played by Nikki Sixx, as Mötley Crüe bowed out in perfect fashion.

If there is one band that could outdo what Mötley Crüe had done, it was the legendary KISS (10/10) and they did not disappoint. Opening with “Detroit Rock City”, which was accompanied by more fireworks and flames than even what Mötley Crüe produced just an hour before and with drummer Eric Singer starting the set on a scissor lift several feet in the air, KISS owned the stage for the near two hours that they had. “I Love It Loud” started with Gene Simmons leading a singalong before he spit fire in “War Machine” helped keep the spectacle at a constant high and a Tommy Thayer guitar solo with fireworks coming out the end of his guitar continued this. Thayner and Paul Stanley were later elevated on a lift at the front of the stage during “Lick It Up” where they played a part from The Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again” to a resounding response from the crowd. Gene Simmons continued the theatrics with his bass solo which saw him spitting blood before going into “God of Thunder” and during “Love Gun” Paul Stanley flew out over the crowd to perform on top of the sound tent at the back of the audience. A tremendous encore of “Shout It Out Loud”, “I Was Made For Lovin’ You”, and “Rock And Roll All Nite” were followed by an extravagant firework display over the stage which brought to a close what could only be described as a once in a lifetime experience. Gene Simmonds started the show by shouting the iconic phrase ‘you wanted the best, you got the best. The hottest band in the world – KISS!’ and on Sunday night KISS reminded Download why they still are the best as they treated the festival audience to the greatest show on earth.

[henryrogers94-blog]

Is Torrenting really killing the Music Industry or is it in fact supporting it?

Despite it being technically illegal, using torrent websites to download music for free is an extremely regular occurrence nowadays with websites such as the Pirate Bay being the culprits. We are constantly reminded of how it is damaging the music industry as artists are receiving substantially less money for their albums. However, is downloading music via torrents really that detrimental to the music industry? For new and up-and-coming artists perhaps as it means they do not earn enough to call it a living, however, it also offers the opportunity for their music to have more exposure and creates more opportunities for bands to increase their fan bases, sometimes globally. For more established artists, the argument can be made that they have earned so much from their careers that they simply do not need the money any more. Some artists have somewhat acknowledged this with an example being U2's most recent album "Songs of Innocence" which was released for free and effectively forced upon people. Some artists have also disagreed with this with an example being Lars Ulrich and Dr. Dre's famous lawsuits against the peer-to-peer service Napster. In support of their lawsuits, it is their profession to produce and perform music and it is one that they devote tremendous amounts of time and effort to. Naturally they would expect to receive money for this despite their already financially prosperous careers and downloading music for free denies that. It also takes its toll on newer artists trying to call being a musician their sole career as it means they lack the funding to support themselves from the start. In fact, an article on noisey.vice.com (link at the bottom) pointed out that several UK rock bands still have their day jobs as they do not make enough in the music business to support themselves on that alone. One example it gave was the rock band Gnarwolves who all work in pubs despite having played the main stage at Reading and Leeds Festival. This supports the notion that the free downloading of music has a very detrimental effect on the music industry and many artists who are not on par with bands such as U2 cannot survive without separate day jobs as a result.

Music being obtained for free does however hold several advantages for newer artists still looking to make a name for themselves and this is why I believe that the free downloading of music is not destroying the music industry but, in fact, somewhat supporting it. It offers the chance for free exposure and creates more opportunities for people to discover artists and become a fan of them. This is not exclusive to new artists as every artist benefits from this. For newer artists, exposure and building a solid fan base is perhaps the most important focus as without a following they have little chance of success. The most famous example is the Arctic Monkeys who had a giant following before being signed due to their MySpace page which gave people the opportunity to hear them and get their music. Using further examples from my local music scene in Plymouth, some bands offer their EPs out for free or for a small donation. A local rock band called The Paisley Strays gave their EP out for free on the premise that it got it out there. Another band called Ship of Fools had a "name your price" policy which got their EP out for potentially a couple of pounds but still got them money alongside exposure. As people will get basically anything for free just because it's free, artists have the opportunity to get exposure which, although harmful in the short term, can be advantageous to them.

I cannot help but feel as if U2 realised this with "Songs of Innocence" as with it being free and on everyone's iPhones several people listened to it just because it was free and right there. The people that enjoyed it may listen to it and think "I like this band, what else do they have?" or if they are already well acquainted with U2 may reminisce and go back to explore their back catalogue with either option potentially leading to more album purchases for the band. People discovering the more established artists by downloading their music for free often leads to later purchases if they enjoy it. Radiohead were recommended to a friend because they were a huge fan of the band Muse and the two have many similarities so they ended downloading the album "OK Computer". They were hooked listening to "OK Computer" and thoroughly enjoyed what they heard which led to them going out and buying it. Although they ended up downloading the remaining discography instead of buying it like they did "OK Computer", the point still stands that discovering an artist can lead to later buying their albums and becoming a fan. The money that artists get from concerts is tremendous and naturally the bigger the venue, the more money. Artists only headline big venues if they have a fan base big enough to fill the venue and obviously the only way to have fans is to be discovered by people. For headlining a major festival an artist will receive within the realms of £1 million and, whilst most artists will not go on to headline major festivals, this shows just how much money can be obtained from gigging. In this time of downloading music for free, artists will get a lot more money from playing gigs than they would album sales and some artists have openly stated how they do not mind people using torrents for this reason. A sellout tour would earn them a lot of money which they are more likely to get if more people know their music. Again this is dependent on how well known and established the artist is, however it still does not detract from the point that more followers leads to bigger venues which leads to more money. Nowadays record labels and other companies have tried to deter torrent users by offering streaming services which still allow people to listen to copious amounts of music but for a small fee, like the company Spotify. By paying a small subscription fee, the user gets access to a large database of music which they can listen to as they please legally and artists get royalties if they get streamed. Although it is not entirely known how much Spotify pays artists, it is said to be less than a penny per stream which means it requires a large amount of streams to actually make any money, however, it is still income for the artists. In that sense, Spotify is almost the "middle ground" between buying an album and downloading it for free as the user is only paying a small subscription fee for access to several albums as opposed to £10 or so pounds for one album meaning the money that artists get from it is substantially less but it is not a free download which would leave them out of money regardless. On YouTube, the company Vevo partners YouTube with record labels and shares the wealth between the two meaning that artists can also get money from their videos being watched on YouTube. This again prevents artists' music going out without them getting any money for it.   Despite these companies, downloading music for free is still more prevalent and will be for the foreseeable future and I personally do not see this as a disaster for the music industry. It offers artists the opportunity to be discovered easier and gain more fans and it can still lead to later album purchases and gig tickets. For artists still looking to make it in the music industry, it offers them exposure which would held build a fan base and tour earning them more money and, more importantly, grant them a better chance at success. For more established artists, it offers them the opportunity to further increase their fan base and move on to bigger and better venues or higher festival slots which would get them more money. Although being illegal, it has more benefits than the music industry would probably admit and could greatly assist artists with touring and putting on bigger shows which would ultimately earn them more money and keep them on their feet. Link to the noisey.vice.com article: http://noisey.vice.com/en_uk/blog/our-favourite-bands-and-their-day-jobs

[henryrogers94-blog]

In Defence of Mr. West: A Response to the Glastonbury Headliner Announcement

In Defence of Mr. West

A Response to the Glastonbury Headliner Announcement and how people need to accept that festivals are not just about one genre.

So finally the curtain has been raised and the answer to the yearlong guessing game of who will headline Glastonbury has been revealed. This year Foo Fighters, The Who and Kanye West will take the headline slots at Worthy Farm from June 24-28 but the choice of the latter has sparked up major controversy. Naturally, there are always some people who are dissatisfied with the bookings but the backlash that organisers Michael and Emily Eavis have received for booking Kanye has been colossal. A petition that exists on Change.org to remove Kanye as a headliner and replace him with a rock band has over 134,000 signatures but the truly shocking backlash from the whole situation was that Emily Eavis revealed in an interview with The Times that she has received death threats for booking the rapper.

I am happy to admit that I am a fan of Kanye West, I think he produces good music and I do not doubt that he will produce a strong headline performance, but that is not what this is about. Glastonbury is not about one genre of music despite people seeming to think that this is the case. Its unique selling point is that it is a diverse performing arts festival which caters to everyone. With the exception of Radio 1's Big Weekend and potentially T In The Park, Glastonbury often features the most popular mainstream artists and right now one of the biggest, potentially the biggest, name in mainstream music is Kanye West. The question rises then as to why there is so much controversy surrounding his booking?

Two real reasons come to mind. The first being that, let's face it, Kanye is not the best person in the world. He is extremely arrogant and also very rude (see Taylor Swift's VMA acceptance speech in 2009). However, is booking him really any reason to send someone death threats? I have always said, coincidentally normally in the defence of Kanye West, that you cannot disregard someone's music because of their personality otherwise how can we explain the success of bands such as Oasis with the Gallagher brothers being such controversial figures? Or, indeed, that of The Beatles with John Lennon and his ever popular "we are more popular than Jesus" moment. The artist's music and personality are completely separate. It is completely understandable if you listen to someone's music and you do not enjoy it, however, if you fail to give it a chance just because of the person who made it then you might miss something that is genuinely good.

The second problem is that many of the attendees of the festival or the people who watch it at home simply do not believe that someone like Kanye West belongs there. To use the petition as an example, they feel that the spot should be given to a rock band like the other two headliners. This returns to the point about what Glastonbury really represents and how it is not all about one genre of music. In 2008, Jay-Z was booked to headline the festival and he put on a great headline performance winning over the crowd at Worthy Farm. Over the years rap artists and groups such as Public Enemy, Chance The Rapper, Tinie Tempah, Dizzee Rascal, Tyler The Creator, and Wu-Tang Clan to name but a few have taken to the stage at Glastonbury and were all received tremendously. This prejudice is not exclusive to rap, however, with heavier bands such as Motorhead, Enter Shikari, and the Prodigy all being received well only for Metallica to be booked as a headliner creating almost equal controversy. Eavis received similar criticism for booking the metal band as headliners last year despite the fact that they are one of the biggest and most significant bands of all time and, with no surprises, they put on a worthy headline performance.

This second problem does not apply only to Glastonbury as other festivals suffer from some of their attendees believing it to be exclusive to one genre. When Eminem headlined Reading and Leeds in 2013, a similar backlash occurred. Nevertheless, Eminem put on a fantastic performance despite allegations that he was miming the whole set. What was interesting about people's criticisms of the booking was that Eminem had already headlined the festival in 2001 and was received tremendously. Further back in 1992 when Nirvana famously headlined, Public Enemy were the headliners on a different day. Combined with the fact that Reading and Leeds now have the Dance Stage and Radio 1Xtra Stage both of which feature rap and dance music, shows that Reading and Leeds is more vibrant than just a rock exclusive festival.

Yet another example is Download Festival in 2012, which is traditionally viewed as a rock and metal festival, when Chase and Status were booked as sub-headliners. People were upset with the booking on the basis that they are a drum and bass band and many felt that the heavy electronic element of the band meant that they did not deserve a place in the line-up. Despite their electronic sound, Chase and Status still produce heavy music and could hold their own with the more expected bands in terms of creating movement from a crowd. In fact they are one of two bands I have seen live where the crowd surged so much that the barriers at the front actually broke and the band had to stop.

Although this began with Kanye West, I assure you my personal opinion of him has had little influence in my argument. It genuinely bothers me when people go to a festival like Glastonbury or Reading and Leeds which are world renowned for their diversity and expect it to be exclusive to one genre of music. Kanye West is a great booking for Glastonbury - he is one of the biggest names in music at the moment and one that would, based on his track record, put on a great show. He does not deserve to be disregarded purely on his perceived personality. People need to stop seeing festivals as genre specific and be more open to new music as, after all, variety in a music taste is something to be proud of and future festival bookings may well suffer until people can accept that fact.