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So, it’s been 40 whole years since Woodstock’s massive effect on the world. Thousands turned up to see some of the most famous acts of the time, such as The Who, Hendrix, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and many more brilliant bands. The turn out was amazing, over 400,000 people traveled from all around the world to be a part of this life changing experience.

The festival was an idea to change the way our world thought, it was a free event, to get as many people as possible to attend. The subject as we all know was for more peace and love on the planet, and indeed it was a weekend full of love, peace and happiness. Amazingly, there were no more than 6,000 injuries over the whole weekend and three deaths, one accident and two drug related deaths. Which is pretty impressive to say there were over 400,000 people at the Festival.

In 1999 Woodstock had another festival, again to bring peace and love to the world. This time there were around 200,000 fans entering the three day event. The ‘99 Woodstock did not go to plan. In fact it was a disaster, but come on, what did they think would happen. You put 200,000 people in a field in front of the likes of metal gods Metallica and Rage Against The Machine.. not exactly going to have a loving peaceful weekend are you. On paper the line up was incredible, well if you have James Brown and the Chilli Peppers on the same stage it’s going to be pretty special isn’t it. The festival soon turned into a full scale riot including huge fires and big brawls. The reason being, Woodstock 69 was a free event full of peace and tranquillity, 99 wasn’t free and people were even getting searched to make sure there was no food being brought into the festival. To me it seams like it was a scheme to make a lot of money, not an event to change the world!

I personally blame it on the amount of hardcore, heavy metal acts supporting Woodstock. Such as Korn and Limpbizkit, two bands that are notorious for getting their fans to go crazy. Silly if you ask me. If your looking for a peaceful weekend then James Brown and Elvis Costello are perfect, Insane Clown posse and Kid Rock not so much!

Now we’re in 2009, forty years after the original Woodstock. There is a special anniversary taking place in both New York (August 15th-16th) and Berlin, Germany (August 22nd – 23rd). It was a fantastic success in New York and i’m sure Germany will be the same. Woodfest is free like the 69 weekend and has a lot more sensible choices of acts.

All of you lucky enough to enter either events have an amazing weekend and enjoy all the bands you see. Also don’t forget why you are going to this festival, to appreciate the brilliant music and to help put more peace in this world, I’m sure you all will have a great few days and I hope to see some reviews on how the weekend went.

Cheers, Tom Playrecord.net

For many of people including myself, there isn’t much time left until the festival is up and away!
I’ve heard many mixed views about how this year’s Leeds/Reading festival will turn out. Personally, I can’t wait for it. I know it’s tough competing with last years line up as it had some of the best metal bands on the planet, such as rock gods Metallica and Rage Against The Machine head lining, along with many other brilliant live acts.

This year on the other hand has rock legends, Faith No More headlining the NME/Radio 1 stage. Also, the amazing Radiohead headlining the main stage. That’s not it, there is a much better selection of bands to suite every taste this year!

Throughout the weekend there’s a wide range of music such as uber dance group, The Prodigy, who will be supporting the Arctic Monkeys on the main stage, Deadmau5 headlining the dance stage, Deftones right along side Fall Out Boy and FFAF plus many more massive names; Kings of Leon and the Lostprophets!

I’m sure most people will agree it is going to be a time to remember for many years to come. I hope all of you attending either Reading or Leeds have an awesome weekend and enjoy all the bands you are wishing to see! =D

Written by Tom B

Once again it’s that time of the year. You dig out your tent, remove the beanfeast that’s somehow got into the corner of your sleeping bag, and prepare for some weekends of music and hippy-ness out in some fields away from the buzz of modern-day living….ahh back to our roots!

So whilst your still in the modern-day mentality, taker some thought into what your going to need for those late night camp fire drinking sessions. We have recently taken on a new supplier of authentic hand-made African percussion. From small egg shakers, to some thumping full-size djembe’s, we now cater for all. So before you hike off into the country this summer check out our new ‘World Percussion’ in the Drums/Percussion category and I’m sure you’ll find something suitable for the camp-fire entertainment.

Happy Festival…’ing

So, it seems that even though we kicked-up a fuss about a Hip-Hop artist performing at our biggest festival this year, we loved his performance and decided to get ourselves to the nearest shop to buy his album…..

The so called “Glastonbury effect” has meant that Jay-Z has now seen his album sales rocket by nearly five-fold..not bad for an album that came out in 2003. He’s not on his own though, many of the artists have seen an increase in album sales since the event, such as
Amy Winehouse and Neil Diamond.

So are we in a time now where Glastonbury will be hailed as a commercial, sales boosting marketing campaign?… quite possibly. The industry will be feeling the bennefit of sales, especially with the amount of downloading that has impacted on high-street business over the last few years. No doubt the major’s will be rubbing their hands together in anticipation of the next “Glastonbury Effect”.

Further Reading
A.M. Nuggets: Glastonbury Festival Pics & Reviews
I wish I was there: Massive Attack at Glastonbury 2008
Amy Winehouse performs/fights at Glastonbury
Lupe Fiasco – Glastonbury Speech

It’s that time again, Festival season. So i thought a quick list of some up-coming events you can’t miss this year would come in handy.

Sunrise Celebration 2008 / 29 May 2008 – 01 Jun 2008
Bearley Farm, Somerset UK

Middlesbrough Music Live 2008 / 01 Jun 2008
Middlesbrough Town Centre, UK

Hampton Court Palace Festival 2008 / 03 Jun 2008 – 21 Jun 2008
Hampton Court Palace, UK (Jools holland, Marc Almond, Van morrison and more)

New Generation Arts Festival 2008 / 05 Jun 2008 – 20 Jun 2008
Various venues aound Birmingham, West Midlands, GB

Rock Ness 2008 / 07 Jun 2008 – 08 Jun 2008
Dores, Loch Ness, UK

Future Perfect / 08 Jun 2008
Durham University Racecourse, Green Lane, Durham

Grassington Festival 2008 / 13 Jun 2008 – 28 Jun 2008
Grassington, Wharfedale, North Yorkshire (top line up including The Ukulele orchestra of great britian and the BBC Big Band)

Download 2008 / 13 Jun 2008 – 15 Jun 2008
Donington Park, UK (expect to see The Offspring, Lost Prophets and KISS)

Glastonbury Festival 2008 / 26 Jun 2008 – 29 Jun 2008
Worthy Farm, Pilton (Jay-Z and Kings of Leon headlining)

This is just a shortlist of some of the many amazing events going on this year that the PlayRecord team recommend.

And, of course, don’t forget to take your festival guitar and tambourine for the late night entertainment round the campfire…….oh, and maybe some wellies just in case ; )

Further Reading
Promo Video for Sunrise Celebration
Sunrise Celebration
Middlesbrough Music Live 2008
Birmingham summer festivals round-up
New Generation Arts Festival
Rock Ness
Fatboy Slim at Rock Ness
Future Perfect
GLASTONBURY FESTIVAL – WHY ARE PEOPLE SNUBBING THE MUD?
Jay-z Addresses Glastonbury Festival Controversy
Glastonbury 2008 weather forecast
Full Glastonbury Lineup

Over 300 of the worlds leading musical instrument distributers and maufacturers will be packed into Londons ExCeL venue on the 14th and 15th of June to inspire you, the consumer with their latest gear.

London International Music Show is 4 shows in one; London Guitar show, Drummer Live, Unplugged and the Sound Recording & Technoligy show all under one roof and one ticket gets you into all shows.

The show promises all the lastest gear and technology with siminars, conferences and even celebrities of the music world. You can expect to see exhibitors from “Acoustic Guitar Magazine” through to “Yamaha Music UK”, and instruments from xylaphones to bassoons.

On the Live stage you can see Paul gilbert playing on saturday for the London Guitar show, Chad smith will be beating them skins for the Drummer live line-up, and the list goes on….

For updates on the event visit www.londoninternationalmusicshow.com and be sure to not miss the best music event this year.

According to sources, the legendary punk band The Offspring will headline this year’s Download festival, set to take place on the weekend of June 13-15. The festival will also be headlined by The Lostprophets and one other to be comfirmed legendary rock band (strongly rumored to be Kiss). Other bands confirmed for this year’s festival are metal legends Judas Priest and Finnish love metal band HIM.

The Offspring are currently in the studio working on the new.

The band has been working on the album for over a year with producer Bob Rock (of Metallica fame), and while frontman Dexter Holland had been posting studio updates on their official website, it is unknown how far the recording has progressed and what its title will be.

The new album will likely include the tracks “Fix You”, “Hammerhead” “Stuff’s Messed Up” and “Takes Me Nowhere”. Holland describes them “lots of guitar, energy, lots of energy, and good songs”.

Drummer Atom Willard left The Offspring to focus on Angels & Airwaves and was replaced by Pete Parada (Saves The Day, Alkaline Trio, Face To Face) during last summer. He made his live debut with the band at Japan’s Summer Sonic festival in August. Josh Freese (The Vandals, A Perfect Circle) had been laying down drum tracks in the studio for the forthcoming album, which the band worked on in Maui, Hawaii with Rock and in their hometown of Huntington Beach, California.

The Offspring has sold more than 32 million copies of their seven albums prior to the 2005 release of “Greatest Hits”, which included “Come Out And Play (Keep ‘Em Separated),” “Self Esteem,” “Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)” and “Why Don’t You Get A Job?”.

Prior to the Download festival, The Offspring will be part of the Soundwave Festival that will hit five Australian cities later this month.

Related Blogs
ZMEMusic The Offspring set to headline Download Festival and prepare for new release
The Metal Report: JUDAS PRIEST to play DOWNLOAD FESTIVAL?

Classic Rock: Kiss, Priest set for Download