666 : Dynamic pricing. The Future or Pure Farce?
666 : Dynamic pricing. The Future or Pure Farce?

Currently, you can get a ticket on Ticketmaster for Slipknot’s much anticipated 25th anniversary tour for around £220. That’s not a VIP ticket or a resale one, that is a bog-standard ticket. This is because of a phenomenon known as dynamic pricing. They didn’t begin life at £220. They started at a much more palatable (but still high) £70 but as the “maggots” (who know must all be in middle-aged well paid IT jobs) swarmed over the tickets they steadily increased in value as their scarcity increased.

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666Author : Stewart LucasSlipknot, Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, Rush, TicketsComment
666 : Is that it?
666 : Is that it?

Never ones to let an opportunity to be opinionated pass us by, ROCKFLESH is here to give its esteemed opinion on the Download 2024 announcement. The first thing to say is love it or hate it Download sure know how to draw attention to themselves. All publicity is good publicity and even though their lineup is on the weak side (there you know which side of the fence I'll be coming down on) we are still talking about it. They have achieved what they wanted to do, and that was to make a splash and to get all the tongues wagging

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666Author : Stewart LucasDownload Festival, 2024Comment
666 : Power Trip
666 : Power Trip

Aside from humanity finding new depths to its innate ability to be horrendous to each other, the other thing that captured our imagination last weekend was Power Trip. It may have happened thousands of miles away, but we still felt compelled to talk about Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Judas Priest, Guns n’ Roses, Tool and Metallica sharing the same billing. However, the conversation wasn't about what they played, it was about how much it cost to witness the whole thing.

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666Author : Stewart LucasPower Trip, AC/DC, Metallica, Guns n' Roses, Tool, Judas Priest, Iron MaidenComment
666 : It isn't just a photo!
666 : It isn't just a photo!

Things were remarkably different in the pre-Spotify world. It was remarkably difficult to hear new bands as essentially the only way that you could sample an up-and-coming outfit was to buy their records (or to unscrupulously copy off your mates). We relied on the music press to describe to us what emerging scenes sounded like and the photos that accompanied those testaments could make or break a fledgling beat combo. I fell in love with Kiss not because of their songs but because of the photos that adorned my well-thumbed copies of the Kerrang and Metal Hammer. Paul, Gene, Ace and Chris in full makeup and faux body armour looked to the preteen Stewart like superheroes. They took my breath away and those early images ensured I became a dedicated member of the Kiss Army.

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666Author : Stewart Lucas666, Photography, Prints, Kiss, Metal PhotographyComment
666 : Damnation 2023 Preview
666 : Damnation 2023 Preview

Can I be honest with you? Why the hell isn't Damnation 2023 sold out? The bill on offer is a smorgasbord of extreme metal crudites that outshines anything they have previously managed to cobble together. And that's before we even talk about its even eviller twin "Night of Salvation”, which is ludicrously stacked with world exclusives destined to make Roadburn weep into its pillow.

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Author : Stewart LucasDamnation, Festival, 2023Comment
666 : Bloodstock Calling!
666 : Bloodstock Calling!

Some festivals start big and just accelerate. Download for instance had Iron Maiden as its first headliner, a statement of intent if there ever was one about the space that it wanted to occupy. Some however build from minuscule begins. The first Bloodstock was unrecognizable from the event we see today.  It was held indoors at Derby Assembly Rooms, it lasted just one day, it was headlined by Saxon (at the time as far from their heyday as they could get) and it attracted 700 people. However, it was a spark, a beginning, an opening gambit that has metamorphosed into a mainstay of the UK festival calendar.

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666Author : Stewart LucasBloodstock Festival 2023Bloodstock, 2023, FestivalComment
666 : Passing the torch - Should we indoctrinate our children?
666 : Passing the torch - Should we indoctrinate our children?

My passion is music. It's my release and it's my obsession. My close friendships are based around music. My downtime is based around music and I met my wife through a Guardian soulmate ad which read "Musical obsessive seeks indie chick for passionate pogoing”. Yet, I'm not sure where this obsession sprung from. My parents were not great muso's and if the radio was on in our house, it was Radio Four. I did not have any great compulsion about musicality passed on to me, it just happened quite randomly and quite organically.

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666Author : Stewart Lucas666, Iron Maiden, Finntroll, Biffy Clyro, Green Day, The DarknessComment
666 : Is social media responsible for the next generation of gateway bands?
666 : Is social media responsible for the next generation of gateway bands?

Ask anyone over the age of 25 which band it was that got them into metal and the answers will often be the same. For myself, it was AC/DC, for others it may be Metallica, Iron Maiden or even Slipknot. These are bands that have been around for the best part of 20/30/40+ year’s yet they still had a lasting influence, inspiring generations to seek out a new realm of music that often fell outside of the mainstream media. 

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666Author : Alex StuartMåneskin, Lorna Shore, Sleep TokenComment
666 : A Meeting Of Minds? 
666 : A Meeting Of Minds? 

Paid meets and greets – Would you? Should you? Could you? 

In these days of austerity, independent artists and no more huge record company advances, many of your favourite bands may have turned to these as a way of generating a little extra cash. Experiences vary from a quick photo to a full backstage experience and prices vary from a couple of quid to thousands of your hard-earned, but are they worth it? 

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666Author : Jo Crosby666, Steve Harris, Krokus, Diamond Head, Ginger Wildheart, Steve Conte Comment
666 : The spectre of the £40 t-shirt
666 : The spectre of the £40 t-shirt

It spread through the internet like the proverbial dose of salts. “Have you seen what Gojira are charging for merch?”. The French giants, long regarded as a band of the people were caught with their fingers in the tills asking for forty quid for a t-shirt and eighty quid for a hoodie. I think what hurt most and caused the most disdain is that they weren’t a band that we expected this of. Gene Simmons yes but Joe Duplantier?

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666Author : Stewart Lucas666, W.A.S.P., Gojira, Iron Maiden, Black Spiders, Crippled Black Phoenix, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Stewart Lucas Comments
666 : The remarkable rehabilitation of Mr. B. Lawless
666 : The remarkable rehabilitation of Mr. B. Lawless

If you want a true definition of resilience and durability, then you need to look no further than Blackie Lawless and his horde. They encapsulate completely the idea that a career in rock n’ roll is a marathon as opposed to a sprint. W.A.S.P. have been written off on many occasions, yet each time they have laughed it off, brushed themselves down and come back brighter. Over forty years in (yes 40) from their inception they are now more relevant and more lauded than they have ever been.

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666Author : Stewart LucasW.A.S.P., Blackie Lawless Comment
666 : Safe events for women?
666 : Safe events for women?

Today I am riled up. Roe vs Wade. If you have been living under a rock this protected a pregnant woman’s right to an abortion). So being a woman with a five-year-old daughter I am horrified and troubled by what the future holds. I waited until the age of 36 to get pregnant and it has been the hardest and best challenge. Since my daughter’s arrival we have faced: Brexit, pandemic, the government dividing the nation, dire financial situation, and the erosion of human rights.

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666Author : SamanthaComment
666 : What is Viking Metal?
666 : What is Viking Metal?

The weekend of the 4th-5th of December will see HRH bring the third chapter of its Viking themed mayhem to Sheffield. ROCKFLESH will be there with our drinking horns (full of very un-Viking rum) and plastic swords. This has led to discussions in ROCKFLESH towers about what actually constitutes Viking Metal. As ROCKFLESH’s resident Nordic and Black Metal obsessive (the two are not un-connected) I have been asked to explain.

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666Author : Stewart Lucas666, Viking Metal, Bathory, Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, Enslaved, Myrkur, Wardruna, Eluveitie, Ensiferum, Heilung, Stewart Lucas, HRHComment
666 : 666…. And We’re Back In The Room….
666 : 666…. And We’re Back In The Room….

t’s been a long looong year hasn’t it? When Covid shut everything down in March of 2020, did we really think we would still be here, lives restricted beyond recognition, 15 months later? I don’t know about you but I’ve found it really hard to be parted from my family, my friends, my work colleagues and my live music for so long. But here we are, restrictions are finally lifting and there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon and a hint of anticipation in the air. Will we ever get back what we have lost? Possibly not, but in the meantime we can, I think, begin to plan things again.

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666Author : Jo Crosby666, Loverocks, Spike, The Quireboys, Gin Annie, Jo CrosbyComment
666 : True Grit!
666 : True Grit!

The music festival has become a quintessential part of the Great British summer. They used to be counterculture enclaves, full of smelly hippies wishing to storm the barricades of the bourgeoisie elite, after of course they had finished spliffs. However, over the last fifteen years they have evolved into an essential component of our way of life (and our economy). Comparable to high profile sports or cultural event such as Wimbledon or the Chelsea Flower Show.

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666Author : Stewart LucasCall of the Wild, Festival, 2021, Ricky Warwick, Inglorious, Massive Wagons, The TreatmentComment
666 : The Day The Music Stopped
666 : The Day The Music Stopped

Like many of you, I am approaching the most bizarre and unwanted anniversary. On Monday, March 15th it will be exactly one year since I last clapped eyes on an in the flesh live band. 365 days before that date I witnessed the majestic Employed to Serve (you can find my review here) at the Academy 3 in Manchester. They were tight, taut and utterly excellent. A youthful cocktail of confidence and rage filled righteousness. Then suddenly the world grounded to a halt. Tours shuddered to a standstill, the cancelled or postponed signs came on one by one and the wheels fell inexplicably off my world.

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666Author : Stewart Lucas666, Conan, Employed To ServeComment
666 : Anarchy in the USA
666 : Anarchy in the USA

Like any good student of American politics, I watched last week’s attack on the Capitol building unfurl with a mixture of shock and disbelief. This was not simply a protest, this was an attempted coup. The pictures from inside the under siege building were worth a thousand words, as what looked like a load of Sons of Anarchy extras (including a dude in a sweatshirt extoling the virtues of Auschwitz and another dressed like the guy from Jamiroquai) trashed the joint. If, like me, you have Metal running through your veins then there was a certain familiar face that made collective jaws drop.

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666Author : Stewart LucasJon Schaffer, Iced Earth, Capitol, Morissey, Phil SpectorComment
666 : Seat Dancing – The New Normal?
666 : Seat Dancing – The New Normal?

It’s been a long 6 months but here we are, emerging from lockdown and looking for a new normal. How can live music possibly survive under current social distancing rules? Many venues can’t, and have sadly remained closed or even folded under the financial pressure of not being able to trade.

One of my favourite venues, however, has recently reopened. Eleven (Stoke-On-Trent) ...

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666Author : Jo CrosbyEleven, Stoke-On-Trent, Motley Crude, Poizon, Tribute BandComment
666 : # Let The Music Play
666 : # Let The Music Play

When I'm not working for the NHS, I'm a gig photographer. As nice as it sounds (and as amazing an opportunity as it would be), I don't go to stadiums or arenas every week to shoot Metallica/Foo Fighters/Pink Floyd etc. I shoot up-and-coming Rock and Metal acts that gig across the North West of England for this very website (run by people not only very passionate about live Rock and Metal music …

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666©Gregg HowarthLet The Music Play, #letthemusicplay, Live Music, 2020, Stray From The Path, Thrashatouille, Cryptosy, Florence Black, Rebellion, FAC251, The Live Rooms, The TivoliComment