The weekend’s not near, it’s here : Download Festival 2012

Initially started as a blog to document my personal escapades and experiences, Absurd History has now diversified into a professional web-zine that is teaming up with the best of record labels, artists, bands and organizers from across the globe. But, even today, all of this fails to silence the excited boy inside me (I turned 25 this year, and I’m loving it) who had hankered about attending some of the most massive music festivals out there, someday.

What was once just a passing thought that had vanished into thin air, is going to be a part of three day’s of my life, starting today. Decades down the line this post here would remind me that I was there at the tenth anniversary of one of the most acclaimed, celebrated, full-mouthed and crammed congregation of music lovers – The Download Festival.

2012′s edition would have more than 70,000 people participating in it, a total of five different stages, more than 140 bands spanning over a period of three days and don’t even get me started on the jillions of other attractions planned for the attendees. A virgin when it comes to camping, I wouldn’t ask for a better place to put up my first tent than Donington Park. So yea, here’s to a weekend full of muck, booze, sweat, torrential rains and heavy fucking metal. Don’t get your pets along, they’ll get crushed. Alright, I’m getting late now. See you all next week, when it would be you, me and the post-Download blues.

Twenty Five

 The first twenty five years of my existence are now complete, and I’m looking forward to tomorrow more than anything…

Six must-watch metal festivals and concerts in UK this year

Gigs keep happening every other weekend in England, but then there are a few exclusive ones that should not be missed. Here’s a list of six metal events that are going to shake United Kingdom to its foundations.

1. Destroyers of the Faith 2012 featuring Cannibal Corpse, Triptykon, Enslaved and Job For A Cowboy

The season kicks off with Destroyers of the Faith 2012. The gigantic death metal owners Cannibal Corpse are going to headline this event organized by none other than Metal Hammer. Supporting them would be this ass-kicking doom metal band from Switzerland Triptykon, Norwegian black/viking outfit Enslaved and deathcore band Job For A Cowboy. Nice balance of genres, and one gig that should not be missed.

When? – March second week

2. DesertFest 2012, London

Just have a look at the poster. Isn’t it fucking beautiful? The only festival in the world catering to the stoner, doom, psych and sludge metal fans, DesertFest has more than fifty bands playing across three venues. And the bands are not your formed yesterday playing today type. They are the best in the scene and you are sure to feel the pleasure in every corner of your body. That is what these genres do to you. Miss this event at your own risk!

When? – Easter weekend (6th, 7th and 8th April, 2012)

3. I’ll Be Your Mirror 2012, London

As if Slayer‘s presence on the I’ll Be Your Mirror 2012 line up was not enough and now we are told the angry thrashers are going to play the ‘Reign in Blood’ album in its entirety. This event could possibly turn out to be the last gig for many metalheads as a lot of blood is going to be shed but I cannot die here because I have to move on to greener pastures post this event. The next few points would make it clear. I’m excited about all the bands that are playing on day one at I’ll Be Your Mirror. Go on, find out which ones I’m talking about.

When? – 25th, 26th and 27th May, 2012

4. Judas Priest Epitaph tour’s London gig

This is Judas Priest‘s last world tour, so if you’ve missed them somewhere, you’ve just, missed them. But you can still catch the heavy metal awesomeness if you would be in and around London towards the last week of May. This could actually be the last time you will be able to catch Judas Priest live, so make all your other plans either before or after the weekend in question. I know you have nothing better to do so just take my advice and book your tickets.

When? – 26th May

5. Download Festival 2012

Everyone who is even remotely connected to metal cannot be unaware of this name and Download’s one festival that happens every year. Then what is it that makes this mother of all events special this year? It is the festival’s tenth anniversary. The poster pretty much makes it clear what it’s going to be like but I’ll leave it to your imagination to visualize how massive this festival would be. If everything else fails to inspire you then remember that this is the only place where Black Sabbath are going to make an appearance this summer. There is only one word that can be used for those of you who are going to give this festival a miss. And that is stupid. No, it should be STUPID.

When? – 8th, 9th, 10th June, 2012

6. Bloodstock Open Air, 2012

Well, well, well. Words fail me when I look at the Bloodstock Open Air 2012 announcement. One time I think that there is no band that has been left out and another time I wish that they add a few more names. Greedy and needy. It is just March right now and five months down the line the below poster can easily be used to just obliterate the weak. Get into a fight and show the BOA 2012 poster. According to me, Bloodstock this year has some of the most extreme names on it’s bill and would be one of the biggest metal gathering of 2012.

When? – 10th, 11th, 12th August, 2012

I deliberately skipped Sonisphere because it brings me face to face with a dull and unexciting list of bands. I absolutely love Ghost but the organizers of Sonisphere don’t love me. Let’s see how the coming months would affect my decision of not going for this festival that rocked the metal world by bringing together the big four of thrash in 2010.

Other mentions (not metal) – Fans of Red Hot Chili Peppers can catch them in the last week of June, and Pearl Jam maniacs need to attend the second day of Isle of Wight festival so obviously you need to buy the entire day’s ticket and put yourself through the rest of the acts as well. Not cool. Sadly I’m not watching both of these bands, but I just hope Adele plays one show in UK this year. I’ll book my ticket – first day, first show.

For now bookmark this page and pick your gig sensibly. I’ll see you at all six of them.

R.I.P. Amit Saigal

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Absurd History in 2011 – an annual report

Here’s an annual report for this zine, prepared by none other than WordPress. I had to share it with all the readers because the count in this report includes you. Thank you all for visiting!

 

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 60,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 22 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Interact with Karnivool on twitter, today!

So, your invisible lord has finally heard your prayers. Well, almost. While Kapil Sibal is busy preparing his plan of action for screening content on social networking websites like Facebook, Orkut, Twitter, etc, you can make the most out of your Twitter account today on the 11th of December, 2011. On this historic day, you will get a chance to shoot questions at Karnivool, directly. I’d just say one thing about this Australian group – there isn’t another band like them.

Exactly a week before Karnivool takes the stage at IIT Bombay’s annual festival Mood Indigo to headline the pro-night, the organizers are giving all of you a chance to have a virtual tête-à-tête with the Australian progressive musicians.  Like I just said, Karnivool are ready to own all of y’all on the 18th of December, 2011 with their enlightening performance. In their own words, this is what a Karnivool fan can expect in their show, “A solid performance with an enormous amount of energy that is fed back and forth between ourselves and the audience throughout the entire show. We really push ourselves live and it’s really the heart and soul of what the band’s music is about.”

Feeling wet already? Chill, I got an erection too.

This particular article is to scream at all you Karnivool fans that you have an opportunity to talk to your favorite band through a Twitter interview. Twitter is an online social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, known as “tweets”. You wouldn’t remember your father’s name but you’d definitely know the description I just gave about Twitter.

This is all you need to do.  Tweet your questions @iitb_moodindigo with #Karnivool and the Australian progressive rock band would then tweet their replies. It is scheduled between 5 pm to 7 pm IST on the 11th of December, and that is today. Not enough? Then you better tighten your laces as the top three tweets, which are going to be selected by Karnivool, would get a chance to meet them personally on the 17th. And that is one day before your enemies get to watch them. Sexy, right?

Karnivool would be interacting with their Indian fans for the very first time and something like this hasn’t been attempted before. You wouldn’t be talking to some band from your neighborhood, it’s fucking Karnivool. The lunar eclipse was yesterday, let’s all make sure it’s total eclipse on twitter today and only #Karnivool is seeable to the naked eye.

Related topics -

Karnivool live in India – a sweet overdose of music

An Addiction called Themata

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Pope says child pornography is normal and paedophilia is not evil

It’s startling how a leader of the world’s largest catholic church made such an inane statement about such a sensitive topic. The dumb motherfucker who is as old as Rome itself and is too old to even have a bucket list decided to go ahead and show his stupidity yet again and said this last year during the Christmas period – “In the 1970s, paedophilia was theorised as something fully in conformity with man and even with children“. Oh really? This coming from a lower creature who does not have enough capacity in his bones to even stand straight. He also reportedly claimed that child pornography was increasingly considered ‘normal’ by society. Huh? I wonder what society he is referring to.

Chance pe dance?

Mr. Benedict XVI, if you are reading this article and I really hope your pal Jesus sends you here, you are gradually losing it. At any point in time do not think you are important, or your opinion matters. You clearly do not understand the effects of child pornography or paedophilia on the concerned children, so you aren’t human, at least not a normal one. You idiot, you even consider using the ‘organ’ for all the right reasons to be  sinful. I don’t know what heaven is or where hell is, but which ever is worse out of the two is where you are going to land up pretty soon. It’s time, old man, to let the world decide what’s evil and what’s not.

Some more related articles -

Sathya Sai Baba has begun the countdown to extinction

Swami Nithyananda – A sex deprived godman

The Atheist Column – Pleasure of Blasphemy

New Definition of Religion

One Lakh Hits

The blog completes a lakh hits, with a total of 272 articles that I’ve written for my blog till date. Turn your eyeballs towards your right and stare at the Countdown to infinity widget.

Like I had promised myself, and today since the blog has crossed the one lakh mark, Absurd History has now gone dot com.

Thank you all for reading!

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Metallica live in India – an epic thrashfest

Today, when I think back a few years and recall the first time I played Metallica‘s 1983 classic Kill ‘Em All there was this force besides me that said “You’re never alone, metal is always with you“. It was at that moment when I learnt one of life’s biggest lessons that I should not give a fvck about any kind of trash in life. This album made me feel that powerful. And the rest, as every tom, dick and harry says, is history. I did not choose metal, metal chose me and that is how it works.

Back then I did not have the slightest of idea that playing Metallica was going to be a turning point in my life, a moment that I would be remembering years later. At that time thinking about watching Metallica live was only a thought in some corner of our minds. With very believable stuff happening in our country off-late with respect to metal, right now the Metallica event might not make you go nuts.  I suggest you hold on till that very moment when the lights on stage would come on and the four legendary figures would be staring down at you!

For me the party begins from tomorrow as I leave for the capital of Karnataka tonight. Agenda includes meeting friends and loads of pub-hopping complete with visiting Styx (I make sure I visit this place every time I’m in Bangalore).

Somehow whenever I try and picturize myself going to Palace Grounds, Bangalore on Sunday the 30th of October in an auto-rickshaw, I see myself telling the rickshaw-wala “bhaiyya, palace grounds chaloge?“. And he’d be like “haan, main bhi wahin ja raha hoon“. Everybody has heard Metallica at least once and this concert is going to be enormous. And we all will be a part of it.

The first time Iron Maiden played in Bangalore I almost got crushed. For Metallica we’ll be seeing multiple generations of fans coming together. You might want to carry an oxygen mask. The wait is finally over. As we are very close to witnessing Metallica – one of the grandest band that metal has ever seen – on our own soil. Can you feel the goosebumps already?

See you all in Bengaluru!

Also read - Karnivool line in India – a sweet overdose of music | Lamb of God live in India – Requiem for a Dream

Karnivool live in India – a sweet overdose of music

Come December, and these progressive musicians from Australia are going to take Bombay by storm with their uniqueness!

All you music freaks in the house, why so sewn and silent? Come on make some noise!

They say if a bird poops on you it is good luck, but this coming December the amount of progressive stuff Karnivool is going to drop on everyone in India cannot be measured. The moment I first heard Themata I wasn’t a simple boy anymore, in fact a whole new galaxy opened up. I was forced to walk through an alley of progression, that turning back from there was not an option. Boy, did I feel l1fel1ke or what!

Post-Themata came Sound Awake, in 2009. Fvck your definition of music, when I poured Karnivool‘s second full-length into my ears it sucked me in. I got trapped in a rubik’s cube and there was no way out. Music aimed at making even the extra terrestrial beings meditate, Sound Awake stalked me enough to be at one with myself.

Watching Karnivool play their tracks live, with Ian Kenny‘s vocals that give me a boner, eliminates the need to ponder over things that are insignificant. If you believe in a higher power then you definitely need to be present at Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay on the 18th of December. Karnivool are not only way above the higher powerless shit, they are visible too. Oh! Now you got it. IIT Bombay has set a benchmark in getting down bands that need to be here. Hitting the bull’s eye, yea baby. Be there!

I haven’t missed this event for the last five years (except for Porcupine Tree) but unfortunately I might be fvcking off to UK before this humongous event happens. Unlucky is a small word to explain what point my mind is trying to drive home. If not here, I will catch them somewhere, sometime but I just hope destiny sets up my appointment with Karnivool on the day in question here. After all a standard deck has fifty two cards for a reason.

The rest of you are closing in on that feeling of a spacecraft that will take y’all to a place you’ve never visited. You are not even required to eat roquefort before attending the gig, you can enter the venue anyways. Now that’s a bonus! Adventure is in store. For all I know, you might even go through a metamorphosis after the concert, a change as they call it, unless of course you don’t allow that to happen. Just let yourself go.

Never heard Karnivool? And don’t have the time to? Make sure you at least learn the lyrics for the track New Day so you can sing along with them. You’re welcome.

Witness how your soul illumines itself and interacts with music, from a band that probably no body can not like. For the record, I will forever be indebted to Karnivool‘s brand of progressive rock.

A Vooligan. That’s what I am. Always was, always will be.

Also read -

Gig review : Katatonia’s gig at Mood Indigo, IIT Bombay 2010

An Addiction called Themata

This is how I had felt when Lamb of God’s Bangalore gig was announced

Gig review : Lamb of God live in Bangalore 2010