Well it looks like shaping up for some pretty good festivals next year.

Just booked the hotel for the Leipzig Wave Gotik Treffen, now debating whether to fly or take the train. No bands announced yet (as usual), but still 4 days in a beautiful city overrun with Goths, Punks and associated weirdos is always good for the soul.

Hellfest is shaping up nicely with Immortal, Twisted Sister, Behemoth and Finntroll. Think I might even invest in some cheap tickets before the end of November. This time the transport debate is between Flying and Driving, depending on what car we have at the time.

And last but not least the UK’s own Bloodstock is shaping up nicely with Behemoth, Obituary and a load more to be announced. if some of the rumours are true, this it going to be an impressive year.

I’m sure we’ll find plenty more to fit in around that lot as well. 2010 is looking to be a fun year.

I’ll be DJing at Infest this year, on the 2nd dancefloor on the Sunday between 23:00 and 00:30

A short night tonight. Only 3 bands and a 1 o’clock finish.

First up were The Last Days of Jesus (http://www.myspace.com/thelastdaysofjesus) (Pictures). Another fine performance. Don’t think I’ve seen a bad one from them yet.

Next up Mona Mur (http://www.monamur.net/)(Pictures) Didn’t really know much of her stuff, apart from the fact that En from KMFDM was playing guitar for her. Interesting enough, but the bar was tempting for some last night socialising.

And he’s back. This time a set of his solo material rather than another Sex Gang Children set. Nice way to wind down at the end of the festival. Though personally I’d have rather gone out with something a bit faster heavier.

All in all a great festival. I enjoyed Prague, just a shame we were knackered trying to do the festival and sightseeing. There’s already talk of another European fest next year, which will almost certainly end up on the cards.

Straight into the venue again. I’ve heard a rumour that there was a band on that we missed, but who really knows.

First band we saw were The Naughty Zombies (http://www.myspace.com/naughtyzombies)(Pictures). Good fun fast paced Rock N Roll from spain. Top live act. The music is a bit of a hybrid, but there’s definitely some cramps influence in there as well.

The next band up were The Sixteens. Didn’t seem to do anything for me, and insisted on playing in the dark so no photos either (some of us are nice enough to know that only idiots use a flash at gigs =:p).

So moving swiftly on we come to Din Glorious (www.myspace.com/dinglorious)(Pictures) A multicoloured cacaphony with cocks is probably a decent description of these New Yorkers. The Crowd seemed to enjoy them with a teeny pit starting up. Definitely on the art punk side of the festival.

myspace.com/antiworld)(Pictures) They bounced through a classic set, complete with fake heads and audience throw outs.

Next on the bill were ‘French Cold Wave Pioneers’ Norma Loy (http://www.myspace.com/normaloy) (Pictures) Not a name I was familiar with. Interesting set, but seemed a bit slow and plodding after Antiworld

But that may have just been getting us ready for Lene Lovich. Not an artist I know very much about, but it was certainly interesting. Unfortunately I was lured away to the bar a bit to sharpish at the end, so missed Antiworld coming on stage to perform with her. D’oh

No baroque for us today, just a wander round prague and then straight into the venue.

First up were Varsovie (http://www.myspace.com/varsovie) (Pictures). Another French post punk band (they seem to be churning them out at the moment). Very enjoyable. Unfortunately due to very fast change over times (impressively so) I didn’t get a chance to see if they had any CDs on offer, but I’m tempted by the paypal button on their myspace.

Next were Moldig (www.myspace.com/moldig) (Pictures). They work well at home on CD, but just didn’t grab me live. The guitarist does appear to have had a sip at the fountain of Jimi though……

Quickly followed by Los Carniceros del Norte(http://www.myspace.com/loscarnicerosdelnorte) (pictured left) (Pictures).. Good fast Spanish horror punk. The singer definitely looked at home on the stage, though could probably have done with some more room to stalk, and some more things to hang off of.

Twisted Nerve (http://www.myspace.com/twistednervosis). (Pictures) First gig in 22 years. Hit the stage running and didn’t really stop. 22 years didn’t seem to have dented the bravado, some comments were made comparing them to the Gallagher brothers….

Ausgang (http://www.myspace.com/ausganguk)(Pictures). Was too busy chatting at a bar to make it in for the start of there set so ended up quite a way back. So not many photos. The banged out the usual upbeat performance as normal. Certainly pulled in a decent sized crowd with quite a bit of dancing going on.

Rubella Ballet (http://www.myspace.com/rubellaballet)(Pictures) Here comes the Day Glo crowd. Great set with all the favourites. Spend most of it down the front bouncing around, and ended up with a sore throat from singing along (probably not helped by the 30 a day habit that appears to be manadatory in the Czech republic).

Sex Gang Children http://www.myspace.com/sexgangchildren)(Pictures) First of 2 sets from Andi. This was a proper ‘Sex Gang children” one, with a solo Andi sexgang set to follow on the Sunday. He certainly seemed in fine form, with a decent setlist (thought the obligatory shouting for Sebastianne did start quite early on).

Finally a chance to attend Drop Dead without having to cross the Atlantic. After a delayed flight and feeling like the proverbial we’d decided to skip the first club night so this was our start to the festival.

A brief detour to see a Vivaldi recital and we were on our way.Bit of a wait to get in, but these things never start on time. So why we’d decided to get there on time for once remains a mystery. Once we’d got in we found a great venue, someone had obviously thought about laying the place out properly. There was plenty of room at the bar, plenty of places to sit out of the way for a chat and still a decent sized room for the bands (and a cinema that took us 2 days to find).

Finally got to see Joy Disaster live, and get to buy the new album. Ejaculation Post Mortem were mighty fine as well (ended up buying the back catalogue), nice to see a Theremin on stage as well. Frank the baptist were good, but didn’t seem to have the same energy/kick-ass that they’ve had when I’ve seen them before.

We stayed for about an hour after the bands before the beer and tiredness kicked in and we wandered home via a sausage stand.

The rest of the photos are at
http://napalmgram.co.uk/wordpress/photos/tags/dropdeadfestival/