Free Theatre/Concert Tickets Discussion Thread

[TheyCallMeMrGlass]

hmm, HIgh VOltage, sounds good. is this one of those concerts you can sit outside the grounds and still hear the music just fine?

Just came back from the festival and it certainly was a great venue. You literally could sit outside and feel that strumming, base, percussion and deaf metal!

Was a superb day. Favourite acts were Slash, Thin Lizzy and Skin but top billing Judas Priest was just a little too much for me at the end, as there was only so much heavy rock I could take in at that point! Strangely, my friends felt the same. Even our 18 guitars owning rock fan felt tired. And Priest is on the higher grade of Heavy Metal. Of course he drew more crowd being the British godfather legend of heavy metal. Just as well there were no death metal bands, I probably would have had a head split, guess age is catching up with me after all.

Great atmosphere, very relaxed. And I did indulge a little on the variety of food available (I opted for a Jamaican Jerk chicken dish with plaintains and dumplings...yum!...shhh dont tell my freaky fitness alter ego! I best not even mention the beer and cider I had too, in case one of you grass on me..

b*ght a couple of t shirts (A cool slash skull and a High Voltage one) plus a program.

Came home happily but dappened with news of Amy Winehouse which was terribly sad if not surprising in its eventuallity.

An excellent first festival for me and I did video some fun videos of highlight songs which I'll put up on youtube. Though...given a choice, I would still opt for a dedicated arena concert.

[TheDude]

Well that was one long weekend! And thanks to Metal Hammer, it was free so at least I’m in the right thread! Just as well, weekend tickets on the door were £130.

I’ve done a bunch of festivals, High Voltage was one of the better organised and laid out events I’ve seen, and yeah very cool atmosphere on both days, and the perfect sunny and dry weather too! Beer prices were a rip-off as expected (£4.50) so we mostly had tea and coffee from the Ace Cafe bar! They had a nice collection of bikes and hot-rods on display too.

Band of the weekend for me were Ravens Creed, fronted by a madman, they did a short but intense and blistering half hour set of Discharge style noise that totally spoke to me! Wow.

The only band I liked on the prog stage were Amplifier, what I saw of them reminded me of Soundgarden, slow and heavy riffs with clean haunting vocals, must check them out properly. Only caught a couple of Anathema’s songs, it’s hard to believe they started out as a doom metal band (I saw them in 93!), now they’re unrecognisable (to me anyway).

Huge fan of Thin Lizzy, love the music, but I still think the current Cash-in Lizzy line-up is an abomination. Phil Lynott must be turning over in his grave 25 years on. Slash was very cool indeed, for the rest of his life he can live on playing that sweet guitar solo from Sweet Child O’ Mine, and that’s ok with me. I just wish the singer in his band had an ounce of his own personality instead of being a carbon copy of Axl Rose.

Judas Priest took a couple of songs to warm up but then started delivering classic after classic for nearly 2 and 1/2 hours, finishing off with Living After Midnight. If they really are retiring, then I’m very happy to have seen them and I’ll forgive them the karaoke version of Breaking the Law. The girl who flashed her boobs on the big screen during their set got the biggest cheer of the night though. Then, 10 mins later she did it again!

On day 2 mostly hung around the Metal Hammer Stage, got there in time to see Gentleman’s Pistols go through their short set of 70s hard rock, quite liked Black Spiders, they had a lot of energy, and then sat down and soaked up the headliners Neurosis whose weird blend of experimental ambient noise and epic stoner sludge may test patience for some, but is also unique and at times hypnotic. With the sun setting they finished off in style with a crescendo of feedback and almost tribal drumming to leave us all stunned really. Who the f**k can follow that?

Dream Theater were just getting going on the main stage but when I heard them going into a drum solo I knew it was time to leave!

Great weekend but I’m shattered.

[pcRock]

Thanks for the summary of the festival, thedude, and well done on winning weekend tickets.

Only caught a couple of Anathema’s songs, it’s hard to believe they started out as a doom metal band (I saw them in 93!), now they’re unrecognisable (to me anyway).

Yeah, that's true. I saw them a couple of years ago and I was slightly bored during their gig. However, I was very glad to hear a few songs of their Silent Enigma album.

[canadian_turtle]

Not sure if this is the right place to put this but...


I have the following ticket I'd like to swap for something else:

1 ticket to Emperor and Galilean at the National Theatre for Saturday July 30 at 7pm. Seat B 26 (which is in the centre of the second row in the stalls - an amazing seat as a friend of mine booked in with an advance membership so she could pick the best possible spot).

As I have a crazy busy week which will make it very hard for me to make the play which I booked ages ago (I have already seen it last month anyway, so not being able to see it again won't mean the end of the world in that regard).

I pa*d £12 for the ticket (it's part of the Travelex season) and I'd like to swap it for something that you don't have any need for yourself. Think: (cinema) vouchers, an unwanted gift/prize or a reasonable offer.

About the play: It stars Andrew Scott (Moriarty in Sherlock's BBC) as the lead and he doesn't leave the stage in the first act (and barely in the second!). The play is really epic with a large cast and amazing sets. It's in the Olivier Theatre and they make excellent use of the rotating stage. The story is quite intense and long (over 3 hours) but very good.

Through vivid storytelling Emperor and Galilean sweeps across Greece and the Middle East from AD 351, covering 12 crucial years in the history of civilisation, and dramatising the actions of one man who could have changed everything forever.

Ibsen’s magnificent farewell to epic drama tackles faith head on. A company of 50 perform this exciting new version, creating a cathedral of sound and ritual.

I'm living on a tight budget at the moment and seeing the ticket not go to waste is way for me to reassure my consciouss (which also means that if no one is interested in a swap I will somehow have to manage to get to the theatre so I can still make use of the ticket myself).

I have the actual ticket already, so it's not at the box office for you to pick up. This means we'll have to meet before Saturday night. I'll be at the O2 for Captain America tomorrow (Thursday) night and in Battersea Park for the Foodies Festival on Saturday. If those don't work for you, I also finish work at 4pm on Friday and can meet you somewhere for the exchange.

PM when interested/if you have any questions.

[funthing29]

I really liked it, well written, very topical and the juggling was brilliant. They do a segment where they take 3 randomly chosen objects and juggle them at the same time. The night I went it was a cycling helmet, toilet roll and tea pot. Good for kids too!

Today the items were a jumping rope, a boom box and a chicken (yes, a whole raw featherless chicken!)
My bf and I thought the show was very adequate for children and we weren't bored at any time, but we didn't find the juggling that impressive apart from a couple of stunts (this includes the chicken!)

There were so many codes available for The Flying Kamarazov Brothers so I thought I'd give the show a try and went tonight.

It was decent entertainment for 90 minutes but I would have been disappointed if I'd pa*d £25 for my ticket. Some of the routines felt a bit awkward (the ballet especially) and the attempted humour fell flat at times. I agree that the juggling wasn't impressive enough except for in the second act (and they actually dropped their batons twice in the first half).

I did like it when they made fun of the British during the jazz juggling.

I had excellent seats - second row from the stage! I was so close I could see the beads of sweat on their faces, LOL. This also meant I had water, salt and champagne thrown on me during the show.

The theatre was pitifully empty though. Both upper circles were closed and despite giving free tickets to SFF, there will still empty seats in the stalls. I can't see how this production is making any money if they are less than 50% full every night.

The three random items juggled in the show I saw were a plastic piggy bank, bag of bird seed and a kitchen roll holder. It would have been cool to see a whole chicken being juggled!

[Rainey]

Thanks funthing29, I've got SFF tickets for Friday and am planning to take the kids. I hope they do the chicken, perfectly gross enough for 8 year old boys! lol

I guess they are hoping people will see it through SFF and tell their friends to go see the show, it is supposed to be running until early September.

[mandmc10]

We've been to see Karamazov Brothers as well on Wednesday. Yes, not too bad... My son was entertained and kids on the row behind us seemed to like it as well... I would say 7+ or 8+, as it's not really a kids show... It was OK to watch, but not spectacular.... We were on the 6th? row, so were not salted or watered
It was nice as a free show, on the leaflet it says they charge 20 to 40 pounds per ticket...that's way too much! that's why the seats are empty.... Oh, and it's just under 2 hours with an interval.

[prettyxcool]

I had excellent seats - second row from the stage! I was so close I could see the beads of sweat on their faces, LOL. This also meant I had water, salt and champagne thrown on me during the show.

I remember being in a second row of a theatre, and when the actors try to throw their voice, they were spitting as well ! It was disgusting.

[June]

I had excellent seats - second row from the stage! I was so close I could see the beads of sweat on their faces, LOL. This also meant I had water, salt and champagne thrown on me during the show.

I remember being in a second row of a theatre, and when the actors try to throw their voice, they were spitting as well ! It was disgusting.

Hmm, sounds nice, sweat, water, salt, Champagne and spit did they throw anything else into the cocktail?

[Rainey]

Which is the best tube station for the Vaudeville Theatre for Karamazov Brothers please?