| RockSound's Minority Metal Fest 2002 @ The Guildhall, Gloucester - Saturday 22nd June 1 - INTRODUCTION |
| The Gloucester Guildhall is an excellent venue. It's a nice sizeable
hall with a proper stage, a good mixing desk (producing a great sound) and very well
organised staff. All in all, a very impressive package that both crowd and bands could
appreciate. It’s also located right in the centre of Gloucester with access to many
local amenities that included places to eat and more importantly the New Inn, an
excellent real ale pub that is just around the corner. The line-up was originally for nine bands, but on the day it was honed to seven, which in all honesty was plenty of music for what turned out to be a 7-hour stretch. It allowed for more comfortable changeovers, more relaxed sets from the bands and a welcomed midpoint break for everyone to refuel. The bands to drop out were first and most unfortunately the mighty Matter (due to the band breaking-up) and a band called Grind (of which apologetically nothing is known – if your out their guys get in touch). The result of these bands missing from the line-up was that there was a slight imbalance towards the nu-metal acts, which would have been more than addressed with Matter alone. Not a major problem as it turned out, as this Minority Metal Fest All-Dayer was a cracker. Sponsored by RockSound magazine and featuring some excellent bands from three great independent labels, namely Loudspeaker, Copro/Casket and Undergroove, it had class written all over it. From a personal perspective, it was the first chance to see the very promising Hiding With Girls and the monolithic Charger (who’s sound-check blew me away), as well as enjoy again the awesome performances of Johnny Truant and Mahumodo. So let’s get it on… |
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