Rock2Wgtn

**Conquiztador** · 24th March 2008, 15:18

Right. Been there, got the T.

In order:

DAY 1

Lordi - Professionals! Worth to be drawcard. Many were surprised about the quality. And the ones who did not get the costumes needs to learn to laugh!! (But then I am partial...) 9/10

Alice Cooper - Top one. Seamless, all class! The only thing he did was to get more fans outta this! ( Outstaged Jesus on Easter!!! To hang and resurrect your self inside 5 min. What a performer!)10/10

KISS - Facepaint, tired songs played in a tired way. "We are here because this is what we do..." 5/10

DAY 2

Poison. - The only band that got the whole stadium involved. Not bad from a bunch of semi retired musicians with songs from early 80's! 6/10

Whitesnake - David Coverdale is all class. OK, so he survives on songs from the past and he admitted that they dont do many shows anymore... Only outstaged in professionalism and down to earth by Alice. Might not have been music for the younger crowds. But I give him 7/10

OZZY - The drawcard. Heaps of F**K. And more F**K. I did see him 30 years ago when he just got kicked out of Black Sabbath. He was in much better shape now. (And he is now overweight and has NO rythm!!!) But he is a crowd pleaser. You have to love a guy who survives and survives and... And he can still sing. So 8/10.

To the organisers:

1. The NZ guitarists: Why did nobody tell us who they were? Why did nobody tell us who was voted winner? Why did the 3 top ones not come back second day and play a minute or two with the bands: Winner with Ozzy, 2nd place and 3'rd place with the one band they liked best? Lost opportunity!!!

2. First day: top job, seamless, smooth.
Second day: limping, too many gaps filled with pause music!

3. Weta Workshop: After 30 seconds the dragon had lost it's magnetism (But it kept going for ages...and came back next day...) NEED MORE NOISE, MORE BANG.

4. Guitarists on fire: WOW!!! Why did we not see them closeup properly, whole show on bigscreen???

5. The NZ bands. A mixed bag. Some of them forgot they were there as "warmup bands" and got too worried re cowd not supporting them. Grow up.

AND MAKE SURE THE BEER IN BOTTLES DOES NOT RUN OUT NEXT TIME!!!

But all in all. I recon you hit the spot. I be back next year. For sure. I give you 7/10.

But to fill the stadium: Mix in a "todays" band each day (OK, so Lordi is todays, but not well known enough yet) and you have the younger crowd lining up.

Oh and: I hate you guys for selling me two tickets at $250 ea in first week of ticket sales. And then 3 weeks out from concert you drop price... Like Ozzy would have said: " For F**K's sake, what the F**K was that all about???"

**ynot slow** · 24th March 2008, 19:34

Yep shame about ticket prices dropping a few days out.

Seems that it will be touch and go whether it makes a profit,they gave away a few thousand tickets late last week,and the promoter isn't sure if he will do it again.

Good on him for trying to give Wellingtonians something to stay home over easter for.Maybe one night next year,who knows.

**Lias** · 24th March 2008, 20:57

My Day 2 thoughts.

Poison: Pretty good, coulda have been better.
Whitesnake: Alot better than I thought
Ozzy: Good, but not great. But still it was ozzy FFS. Zakk's fucking long drawn out awful solo made me want to shoot him thou.
Overall I think Kiss were the weakest link of the whole weekend. Which is a bit of a shame.

I fully agree on being better prepared with regards to beer stocks. Was truly sad. Also closing the food stalls so early on sunday night. I could understand closing the bars early, but why the food? I wanted coke during ozzy :-(

Severe lack of larger sized shirts. Only shirt I got in 2XL was the actual rock2wgtn one (and they were $10 more on the night than from the website!). One stall told me noone got any 2xl's, another told me the thought they had a few but sold out real quick. Who knows.. bad voodoo thou, I know quite a few people were pissy about it.

Also the whole limits on the number of beers you can buy at once, esp when they reduce it later in the night. I know its standard event management practise these days but its still fucking bullshit. Although I did manage to find a till where a chick was on the take, pay her extra and she'd serve you extras :-)

**Waylander** · 24th March 2008, 21:23

Originally Posted by Lias

Zakk's fucking long drawn out awful solo made me want to shoot him thou.

lol mate he does that every concert. Surely you remember going to BLS last year.

**Jiminy** · 24th March 2008, 21:41

Mmmmmmh, I haven't been that impressed by Lordi. They did their job fine, but I found that their pyrotechnics fell flat. It was like they were following the 'Good Rock Show 101' plan. By comparison, Alice Cooper didn't make a show, he WAS the show.

Not too impressed by the other animations either. There was nothing wrong, but they just felt unfinished. The 6 guitar players thing was too long, the guys on fire, well, felt a bit out of place, the dragon was cool but seeing the people moving it made it lose its magic, etc.

BUT THEN, THEN, THERE WAS Alice Cooper! WAOW!

As for Kiss, well, maybe we were too tired after 5-6 hours there in the cold. With more public support, it might have been different. It was still awesome, though, maybe we were expecting too much.

Oh, and I wish I could have met with the Kiwibiker crew for a drink this week-end. I'd like to put a few faces on those nicknames, but there was really too much going on.

**nadroj** · 24th March 2008, 21:41

Bumped into Ossie in Wellington airport just before 11am. Was great to see him shake hands with a young fan who then left him alone. Better than the bunch of tossers, who were old enough to know better, trying some stupid antics to get close.

**Mom** · 24th March 2008, 22:13

Originally Posted by ynot slow

Yep shame about ticket prices dropping a few days out. Seems that it will be touch and go whether it makes a profit,they gave away a few thousand tickets late last week,and the promoter isn't sure if he will do it again. Good on him for trying to give Wellingtonians something to stay home over easter for.Maybe one night next year,who knows.

Well as an out of town visitor attending an event where I was going to get to see one of my all time favourite acts performing, along with an act that my hubby needs couselling for (sorry babe I dont really mean it), I was all geared up to have a really good time! And I did!!

No apologies here, Alice Cooper did it for me, BIG TIME!

Originally Posted by Lias

My Day 2 thoughts.

Poison: Pretty good, coulda have been better.
Whitesnake: Alot better than I thought
Ozzy: Good, but not great. But still it was ozzy FFS. Zakk's fucking long drawn out awful solo made me want to shoot him thou.

Day 2 for me was an opportunity to see a bit of a rock legend, and see him I did! For me he delivered up as much as I expected, and a bit more. Zakk Wilde reinforced how much I love a string picking man. Ozzy is showing his age, and it sits really well on him! FFS he is 60 odd years old!!!

I saw his bum!! Not sure too many 60 y/o men would moon a crowd of 40K+!!

Poison was not such a draw for me, but I managed to sing? along to a couple of their songs, they were out here having the best time, and it showed! Whitesnake, David Coverdale, what a voice! He is no youngster either and still has the voice!!!

Easy to criticise, we paid more money than we should have to go this weekend, but there was no way we would have missed it!!

Venue needs some attention!

End of first night of raving I went to the toilet, busting as you might imagine, NO TP! Lucky I had a "wee" McDonalds tissue in my pocket, saved my day.

Next night in, need some food, go and buy a hotdog. The chick handed it to me, and I refused it as it was cold. She went and got another (from the bottom of the warmer) it felt warm until i bit in to it! Stone cold in the middle! Got fries (cant get them wrong eh?) They looked like fries, smelled like fish, and tasted like????? Disgusting! Long story short, the food there sucks!! Overpriced crap!!

Go for a tinkle before the event gets under way, NO TP!! next stall, NO TP!! FFS I need TP!! wandered along checking stalls until I found a supply, used a tiny bit, took 2 lots of "incase I need to go again"

How hard is it to make sure the ladies have toilet paper? Ran out on the Saturday night, know there is a shit load of us back again Sunday and dont replenish the TP!

**Dodger** · 24th March 2008, 22:40

My very quick thoughts of night 2 (Didnt go to night 1)

Poison - Very Good (should have been on just before Ozzy and not first as they really worked with the crowd)

Whitesnake - Boring (ok, 2 songs good, rest boring so I went and got coffee)

Ozzy - Excellent (brilliant opening, good mix of tracks and great stage presence)

---

Weta Dragon - OK (looked nice, but needed to do more than act like a nodding dog, also really needed the people hidden)

Cheerleaders - OK (but you couldn't see details even on the screens)

Fire dancers - Meh (seen it before)

Fire walkers - Good (but again needed to be closer or at least on the screens for more than 10 seconds)

NZ Bands - OK-Good (Sonic alter didn't really do it for me, and I don't think the last band had their name up on the screen)

**Mom** · 25th March 2008, 06:12

Originally Posted by Dodger

NZ Bands - OK-Good (Sonic alter didn't really do it for me, and I don't think the last band had their name up on the screen)

The second NZ band was Symphony of Screams. I actually felt really sorry for them. We have seen them perform live and they really know how to rock! The lead singer has a great voice that he knows how to use. Pity of it was the sound was so appalling for their act the first night no one got a chance to actually hear what they are capable of. They have a CD single just released , title escapes me at the moment, go and hunt it down and have a listen. It is good!

**Lias** · 25th March 2008, 10:34

Originally Posted by Waylander

lol mate he does that every concert. Surely you remember going to BLS last year.

It was alot worse.. trust me.. I enjoyed the BLS gig, this was just awful white noise as a cover for ozzy having a break.

**Lias** · 25th March 2008, 10:44

Pics..

Quality aint that great, Cellphone camera + drunkness :-)

**Lias** · 25th March 2008, 10:56

Few more pics

**Maha** · 25th March 2008, 14:32

Originally Posted by Lias

It was alot worse.. trust me.. I enjoyed the BLS gig, this was just awful white noise as a cover for ozzy having a break.

Partly agree, OZZY needed a break (probably hasn't stood for that long in 10 years) but Zakk did a brilliant job IMHO just went on toooooooooo fucking long!!!...( I did feel a yawn happen thru' that solo) that cames back to Mr Osbourne, taking way to much time getting out of the lazyboy

**Mrs Busa Pete** · 25th March 2008, 14:43

Originally Posted by maha man

Partly agree, OZZY needed a break (probably hasn't stood for that long in 10 years) but Zakk did a brilliant job IMHO just went on toooooooooo fucking long!!!...( I did feel a yawn happen thru' that solo) that cames back to Mr Osbourne, taking way to much time getting out of the lazyboy

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