As the Über contingent trooped into the venue a mere thirty minutes after the advertised door time, it appeared a minor miracle was in the offing. We were actually going to catch at least part of an opening band at Newport Centre. Ha, like fuck. Despite our uncustomary lack of tardiness we managed to catch a mere three songs of Bleeding Through and completely missed openers Man Must Die due to some of the most laughable scheduling possible. I hope Man Must Die were good because no one deserves to be chucked on stage when most people are still watching Neighbours (the lunchtime episode, mind).

Anyway what we did see of Bleeding Through unfortunately confirmed their live output has pretty much followed their recent recorded output in that they are pretty damn ordinary. Competent but ultimately uninspiring, I needed a pick me up.

Cue Hatebreed. You don't play three hundred plus shows a year and be anything other than a superb live band, and Hatebreed proceed to deliver an absolute stormer of a show which has me absolutely beaming from start to finish. Kicking off with 'I Will Be Heard' from the 'Perseverance' album, Jamey Jasta has the crowd going from the off, conducting the near constant circle pits and crowd surfers as they peel off anthem after hardcore anthem. The last time I saw Hatebreed play Newport was in TJ's in 2002 and they still play with the same attitude seeming genuinely chuffed that so people are watching them. When they explode into songs like 'Live For This' and 'To The Threshold' you know the whole band would just as soon be in the crowd letting rip as up on stage. They really are fucking phenomenal.  Having cajoled the crowd into a frenzy through most of their last three releases (though not playing as much off their latest self-titled record as I would have thought) Hatebreed throw down a final gauntlet with 'Destroy Everything' and what do you know, band and crowd very nearly do. They're apparently coming back on a headline tour soon. Be there.

Following Hatebreed would probably put the fear of Gaz E. into most bands but Machine Head haven't achieved their status in the metal world for nothing. Even when they went a bit wonky around 'The Burning Red' and 'Supercharger' they were still delivering superb live shows. Now they're working off the back of two absolutely storming albums they really are something else.  Opener 'Clenching The Fists Of Dissent' is a body blow of the highest order and when they follow up immediately with 'Imperium' you can't help but feel seriously dazed by the power of their delivery (they are at a distinct advantage sound-wise mind you, but I'll leave that point of discussion to the Uberrock forum). Promising to mix old with new, and sort of keeping that promise, Machine "Fucking" Head pull out 'Take My Scars', 'Old' and the relatively young 'Bite The Bullet' to show that they've been making this shit sound good for a fair old time. Mixing these up with the majority of the much-lauded 'The Blackening', this really is a band at the very top of their game. Whilst there are flaws; Robb Flynn does need someone to have a word about his "singing" and "harmonies", when they're at full-tilt there aren't many who can touch the guitaring of Messrs Flynn and Demmel (you almost want them to play 'Calling The Coroner' just to top things off) and Adam Duce is truly one hell of a bassist. 

Finally drawing their main set to a close with the quite fucking immense 'Fuck It All' (or "Block" to you PC publishing types) the 'Head come back to top the evening off with the stunning 'Halo' which results in probably the largest circle pit Newport has ever seen, and also contains some truly top notch twin soloing. The final encore could only be, and indeed is, the song which started this band on their way and nostalgically made me go out and buy a guitar the day after I bought 'Burn My Eyes' all those years ago - 'Davidian'. 

As they say in Oakland - "LET FREEDOM RING WITH A SHOTGUN BLAST!!!"

By all accounts after the show a load of fans got to meet Hatebreed and Machine Head, so much respect to both bands for keeping their feet firmly on the ground whilst keeping their shows totally off the fucking scale.

Nice.

Photo Kudos Johnny H