It’s London 1997, the pinnacle of the Britpop era, a time when people still buy records. Steven Stelfox is a young, ambitious and extremely greedy A&R guy at a major record label, who literally kills his way to the top, all the while fueled by an enormous quantity of cocaine, booze and sleazy sex. Disillusioned by current music, he blows astronomical amounts of company cash while chasing trends and living large.

‘Kill Your Friends’ is a satire on the music industry. If you enjoyed Bret Easton Ellis ‘American Psycho’, you’ll love John Niven’s book, especially if you’re in the music business. Explicitly grotesque, utterly insulting and morbidly hilarious, I felt almost guilty for not putting it down. So good, had to read it twice.

Monday 18th October: ANTI-FLAG at Razzmatazz 2, Barcelona

Got back from Portugal just in time to catch Pittsburgh’s favorite punks at ‘Vans Off The Wall Music Night’, which included The Swellers and Pulled Apart By Horses. Right before the show, Anti-Flag went beyond the traditional ‘Meet & Greet’ and invited Rock Zone magazine and a few lucky fans to join them for lunch at a vegan restaurant. Anyone who’s seen them live can testify that their shows are a tour de force, but unfortunately they weren’t able to fill the venue this time around.

Wednesday 20th October: AVENGED SEVENFOLD at Sant Jordi Club, Barcelona

On the other hand, Avenged Sevenfold sold out in less than a week and had to upgrade the venue. Their first and only concert on Spanish soil made it one of the most highly anticipated gigs of the year (I heard people camped out for three days). Great show. Moving tribute to ‘The Rev’. But honestly, for a band that’s reinventing metal and with five albums under their belts, they should have given us more than 1hr and 15min.

Thursday 21st October: THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM at the Hammersmith Apollo, London

If you’ve never seen these guys live, shame on you! Make damn sure to catch them, next time they come to a town near you. You’ll thank me No bullshit egos, just four guys from New Jersey, playing honest music, filled with heart and soul. I’ve never seen anyone so genuinely happy and grateful to be on stage every night. It was their biggest U.K show to date. Here’s their AMAZING set list:

High Lonesome

Stay Lucky

Bring It On

The Diamond Church Street Choir

Old White Lincoln

Even Cowgirls Get The Blues

Old Haunts

Wherefore Art Thou

Casanova, Baby!

I Coul’da Been A Contender

Miles Davis And The Cool

Blue Jeans & White T-Shirts

Ida Called You Woody, Joe

Angry Johnny And The radio

The Queen Of Lower Chelsea

Film Noir

The Spirit Of Jazz

Señor And The Queen

Great Expectations

The ’59 Sound

We Did It When We Were Young

Encore:

She Loves You

American Slang

The Boxer

The Patient Ferris Wheel

Here’s Lookin’ At You, Kid

The Backseat

Friday 22nd October: ALTER BRIDGE at the Hammersmith Apollo, London

How can anyone not love Alter Bridge? This is a band that has all the great qualities of an 80s hard rock band (remember Bon Jovi? Scorpions? Guns’n'Roses?), those catchy choruses, those power ballads, those heart stopping guitar solos, with the added touch of 90s alternative rock. They’ve got that EPIC arena rock sound. And so what if they’re ‘radio friendly’ or ‘commercial’, so is Incubus, Metallica, hell, even Rammstein! You can’t deny that Myles Kennedy is one of the greatest rock’n'roll singers of all time. His dynamic vocal range is unmatched! London appreciates good music, they practically sold out the Hammersmith Apollo’s 5000 capacity. STELLAR show!

Oh and lets not forget London’s SLAVES TO GRAVITY who supported them on their U.K dates. They rocked that stage like they owned it!

Saturday 23rd October: MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE at the Hammersmith Apollo, London

One of the biggest bands of the last decade are ready to contaminate the world with their new record ‘Danger Days: The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys’. This was the very first show of their first tour in three years and it sold out in less than 5min. You can imagine what it was like, complete insanity. Read my full review in next months Rock Zone. Here’s a pretty good recording of the first three songs:

Sunday 24th October: SICK OF IT ALL and MADBALL at Razzmatazz 2, Barcelona

No sleep in 42hrs, but it had to be done if I wanted to make it back down to Barcelona for the ‘New York United’ tour with Sick Of It All and Madball. Hardcore at it’s best!

PHOTOS WILL BE UPLOADED SOON!

There are many moving stories at this years’ event and not all of them are about the horrors of violence. There’s a fantastic exhibit by the great William Klein, but my favorite is by Stephanie Sinclair and I’m so happy to hear that she won this years’ Visa D’Or Award with her story on Polygamy in America. So, I urge anyone who can, to take a trip to Perpignan…you have until the 12th of September.

And while I’m on the topic, here’s the new Placebo video