Kerrang! were recently looking for people to write for them and asked for two 150 word articles, a review of your best and worst gigs, here is what I came up with…

Best Gig

BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE

Plus: Bring Me The Horizon, Atreyu

Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff

11.12.10

KKKKK

Californian metallers Atreyu kick things off on the night, followed by a slightly below par performance from Bring Me The Horizon due to lead singer Oli Sykes losing his voice midway through the set, but nothing can dampen the crowd’s spirits as the opening drumbeats to Your Betrayal, a song seemingly created to open nights such as these, signal the arrival of Bullet For My Valentine to what is effectively their home gig. Pleasure and Pain and new single Bittersweet Memories get just as massive a reaction as classics such as Scream, Aim, Fire and 4 Words with the 8,000 strong crowd not being given a chance to take a break, but why would they want one?! Begging for Mercy ends the night with a bang, and it’s nights like this that are only going to fuel comments that the Welsh quartet are Britain’s biggest metal export since Iron Maiden.

Worst Gig

30 SECONDS TO MARS

Plus: Enter Shikari

Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff

26.11.10

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Enter Shikari aren’t really the kind of band you would expect to be opening for 30 Seconds To Mars, and unsurprisingly they don’t get the crowd going as much as Jared and the boys would have liked which might have something to do with the trio’s lacklustre showing here tonight. Things seem to be picking up during Attack only for Leto to then retreat to the back of the arena for a mini acoustic set, the exact thing this already below par gig was not in need of. The Kill, Closer to the Edge and closing song Kings and Queens make the night worthwhile but there was something missing here this evening, most likely down to the fact that the guys have been touring constantly since the release of third album This Is War combined with the effort and high standard that usually accompanies a live performance from 30STM.

Leicester City 1-2 Bristol City, love it! Cheers Nicky!

Sooo many gigs coming up in the next few months (Trivium, Evanescence, Funeral For a Friend, Rammstein, Black Veil Brides, The Blackout, Frank Turner, and a load of others) and I can’t afford to go to all of them, what am I supposed to do?!

I’m Josh, 21. I’m new to tumblr, my sister has it and recommended it to publish my articles on. They revolve mainly around football, but I also love music (rock and metal). Journalism is my passion and I start my course at the University of the West of England this September, currently I’m a writer for sports site, www.90minutesonline.com. I am a Bristol City fan. Some of my favorite bands are, Bullet For My Valentine, A Day To Remember, Avenged Sevenfold, Paramore, Trivium and Aerosmith,…

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The £35 million transfer of Andy Carroll seems to have started something of a trend when it comes to what myself and many others would describe as paying over the odds for young home grown talent, with three big money moves for England’s supposed future stars being completed already in the forms of Phil Jones, Ashely Young and Jordan Henderson.

When Carroll made the move from Tyneside to Merseyside there weren’t many that agreed with the hefty price tag that came along with him, but that hasn’t stopped Reds boss Kenny Dalglish from splashing the cash once again with Jordan Henderson joining his ranks for the small price of £20 million this summer. Henderson seems to be somewhat of an unproven player, due in no small part to the fact that he has only just turned twenty one, with Sunderland being his only club to date aside from Liverpool, and not having much of an impact on the England under 21’s recent poor campaign at the Championships in Denmark. Yet because he is a young English player a seemingly ridiculous transfer fee has to be paid. His move has come at almost the exact same time as Kevin Nolan’s £3 million transfer to West Ham, peanuts compared to Henderson’s fee, yet Nolan was the top scoring English midfielder in the Premier League last term.

Liverpool’s bitter rivals Manchester United have followed suit in paying big for English youngsters with centre half Phil Jones, another player not long home from Denmark, joining Sir Alex Ferguson’s side from Blackburn Rovers for a reported £16.5 million. Many United fans aren’t even sure who Jones is, whilst others are wondering why he is needed with young defenders Chris Smalling and Johnny Evans already plying their trade at Old Trafford. Another point raised is that the general consensus among football fans is that Chris Samba is the star defender at Ewood Park and perhaps he is the one who deserves a big money move. Then again, who is anyone to question how Sir Alex goes about business?

Another new face at Old Trafford is Ashley Young, who arguably has already proven his worth with what he has done for Aston Villa the past few seasons, but at the age of twenty five and something in the region of £20 million being paid for him he has to also fall into the category of one of England’s future stars, and again someone you would think is surplus to requirements with Nani, Antonio Valencia and Ji-Sung Park all playing regularly for United on the wings. Ferguson definitely has an eye for a bargain, Javier Hernandez, Cristiano Ronaldo and the previously mentioned Nani just to name a few, but he has also been known to spend a lot of money on players he has faith in and you would be hard pushed to find a time when one of those decisions has completely back fired on him.

England isn’t the only place where clubs are demanding massive transfer fees without having had to have proved much. Alexis Sanchez of Chile has caught the eye of many of Europe’s top clubs, but Udinese are unwilling to let the twenty two year old leave the club for any less than £40 million! Elsewhere no one is a stranger to Barcelona’s pursuit of Cesc Fabregas, and under twenty one winning Spanish keeper De Gea who is apparently in talks with Manchester United will undoubtedly come at a price if he is to be prised away from Athletico Madrid.

It would seem nowadays if you are young, and most of the time English, you don’t have to have done much for your asking price to be, in some cases, astronomical. And let’s be honest, judging by some of the talent England has produced in recent years and the continuous disappointment in major tournaments, you wonder why managers are placing so much faith and risking so much money on this latest crop of youngsters. 

By Josh Coulson http://90minutesonline.com/component/content/article/579-youll-win-nothing-with-kids.html