People of Aftershock 2019 - you can be proud!

Just a few of the 97,500 People of Aftershock 2019

People of Aftershock, you did it again. But this year, not only were you doing your thing for three days, not one or two as in previous years, yes Three Whole Wonderful Aftershock days in Sacramento's Discovery Park, but also you grew and grew and grew until there were 97,500 of you in attendance - a sold out weekend and the biggest so far in the history of the event. To think: it all began with a one-day festival in 2012. There are seven-year-old kids that have grown up in Aftershock.

Crowdsurfers and catchers, Monster Energy Stage, Aftershock 2019

As has become a Toon's Tunes tradition, before talking about the individual performances - and there were very-many, more than 50 bands, and there will be very-many photos of them coming soon - let's celebrate YOU, the People of Aftershock.

At the barrier, Kolas Discovery Stage, Aftershock 2019

Every one of you - from organizers to street crew, ticket-holder to security team, bartenders and chefs and hungry-and-thirsty attendees, crowdsurfers and surfer-catchers and guitar and drum technicians, camera and drone operators and the people who rescue pets and those who say, Fuck Cancer... thank you, thank you, thank you!

Sign language interpreter, Aftershock 2019

You made this a weekend for the memory books. You travelled, performers and Aftershockers alike, from all corners of the earth: musicians from Mongolia (The Hu), France (Gojira), England (BMTH) and Japan (Babymetal), attendees from all over the USA and from Australia and from Mexico and further north and south than that, along with a presence from the other world (there was a Zombie in the lineup, right???) and at least one photographer from the UK (me! me! though I feel I still have one foot firmly planted in the 916).

Aftershock 2019

You were unicorns. You were spiderman. You were Corey Taylor and some bizarre creature from Japanese anime. You were tattooed and beautifully-inked or beautifully-madeup or both, or you wore your naked face and torn jeans and tired Aftershock T-shirt from 2015; you possibly bared your boobs for beads or for Marilyn Manson who returned the favour (?) and bared his bum and burned a "bible" (in quotes because I have no proof whether it was, or was not, a religious tome), and at least one of you declared to anyone and everyone and the big screen in VIP in particular that He Is Satan, despite the rest of us thinking that he is more a performer than an antichrist. Though maybe I should modify the list of attendee-performer origins and add Hades to the list, somewhere between Australia and Mexico.

Three unicorns and other people, Aftershock 2019

You worked really hard and you partied until you broke - if not your bodies, because the security teams did a great job of catching you as you surfed the crowd (I only saw one bloodied nose all weekend, very early on on the first day, way before any circle pit had spun its end-of-summer NorCal dust cloud or anyone had zoomed across the heads of their Aftershock friends), at least some of your bank accounts (how else did you get so happily wasted? that wasn't cheap!!!) and you wore your shoes out walking/dancing/hobbling several long happy miles back to your hotels when Sacramento's cell phone network collapsed under the weight of 97,450 or so people all trying their utmost to live stream Tool's gem of a show.

Korn fans, Kolas Discovery Stage, Aftershock 2019

Thank you, thank you, thank you, People of Aftershock. You were friendly, you were happy, you were generous, and you rocked your hearts out. That was a wonderful weekend. How is it over, so fast?

Aftershock 2019

And today, it's Friday again, and suddenly a week has gone by since the first day of Aftershock 2019... and what are you doing now? Already planning for next year's Aftershock, of course! Because wait: the dates for 2020 have already been announced, the headliners known - Metallica, yes, you guessed, Metallica - planning two nights with different setlists, not only at Aftershock but at all five rock and metal festivals presented by Danny Wimmer's team, and tickets are already on sale, and selling really, really fast (you can do a layaway: reserve your spots and pay for the tickets over time). I hope, very much, to see you all again at Aftershock, in Sacramento, in 2020. Fingers and eyes crossed and drowned in travel-fatigue and an overdose of caffeine.

Many, many more People of Aftershock 2019 photos here, in the photo gallery. Take a look, you might find yourself. Feel free to share the pics directly from the gallery website using the social media links please tag @alisontoon on Twitter, @alisontoonphotographer on Instagram, @therealtoonstunes on Facebook.

Previous Aftershock People Of galleries are all here except for People of Aftershock 2012 which was hosted on the platform of the time here.

Band photos and reviews coming soon here: http://camerasandcargos.com and the photo galleries will all be hosted here: http://www.alisontoon.com/-/galleries/music just give me a few more days!

Aftershock 2019 lineup

Second day of Aftershock 2019

Blink 182, headlining Saturday at Aftershock

Again, just a few photos... many more to come - from day two of Aftershock 2019!

Ho99o9

If you missed Ho99o9 on the Coors Capital stage, you missed a treat - go check them out!

So many enormous performances yesterday... Highly Suspect, Marilyn Manson, Bring Me The Horizon, Rob Zombie to name but a few.

Highly Suspect

Marilyn Manson

Bring Me The Horizon

Rob Zombie

And unicorns. There were unicorns...

And now it's Sunday... final day of this year's Aftershock... who is looking forward to Korn? Tool??? See you there!!!

First day of Aftershock, 2019

Aftershock Festival, Discovery Park, Sacramento California... first day of the first-time-three-days festival, and it was just what Aftershock should be... thousands and thousands of people rocking out to great bands, headlined by Slipknot and with Lamb of God putting in an epic performance,

Lamb of God

Just a few quick edit photos for now - many more to come! Day two today!

I Prevail

Halestorm

Dropkick Murphys

Staind

Muse, Simulation Theory World Tour, at London's O2 Arena (and Nothing But Thieves too!)

Muse, O2 Arena, London, UK

London stop on the Simulation Theory World Tour: it was my first Muse show. It won't be my last.

At the O2 Arena in London, out to the east of the city on the North Greenwich penninsula: the venue is a city to itself, with street food, restaurants, clubs, a garden, mountaineering (OK, not really mountaineering, but you can climb all the way over the dome) - even London's biggest cinema. You can travel to the O2 by tube, bus, river bus (boat), even by crossing the Thames on a cable car. Tube is the most fun because then you see the signs by @allontheboard. (Leaving the venue is a little trickier, but if you're floating on air after a show like this, it doesn't matter how long it takes.)

Muse, O2 Arena, London

The show opened with Nothing But Thieves, who I have been guilty of missing on several occasions when over the other side of the Atlantic. So very, very good! With a backdrop of the stunning artwork from their 2017 album, Broken Machine, - a new album next year? to add to this and their self-named 2015 release, Nothing But Thieves deserve to be huge. Huge. They filled the arena with their music. Lovely. If you haven't heard them yet... it's about time you did.

Muse, O2 Arena, London

And then Muse... I knew to expect lights, lasers, spectacle and had found a spot at the sounddesk barrier, to better experience the whole show. It started pretty low-key... blue lights and a troupe of LED-costumed-trombone-players seemingly right in the centre of the arena crowd - the stage an elongated arm into the centre of the audience... Matt Bellamy with glasses lit up neon like Times Square (how does he see? let alone sing, or play?) and it just built from there, a crescendo of live video and animation on the huge screen, a near-perfect sound system, and a bloody great monster that from my perspective could have been video, could have been hologram, could have been real, might just have been the dream that everyone in the room was dreaming at the same time.

The music was pretty darn good too. Yes, I'm the queen of the understatement today.

Muse, O2 Arena, London

It was my daughter's first Muse show in the UK - by no means her first Muse show, she's seen them in many countries so far - and indeed, her first concert in this country (we left the UK before any of my kids had the chance to experience big venue live music) and for her, the experience of being in the middle of singing, dancing, ecstatic fans, and seeing everyone in the galleries and boxes and nosebleeds standing up and too, was very very special. (There is nothing in the world quite like British music fans... nothing.)

Muse, O2 Arena, London

Some of you get the chance to do this all over again, tomorrow night in Birmingham. We very much wish we were there, too. Have a blast.

More Muse tour dates here and Nothing But Thieves here.

Muse, O2 Arena, London

(Photos in this post are cellphone shots from the audience and there are a few more here. Yes, I did spend part of the show wishing I had my pro cameras... can't help it with these amazing visuals... but sometimes you just have to go for, and with, the music. Wonderful evening!

That was some show. Thank you - you know who you are!)

Muse, O2 Arena, London

Five Finger Death Punch tickets for European and UK tour on sale now!

Jason Hook, Five Finger Death Punch, Aftershock 

Tickets are on sale now for Five Finger Death Punch with special guest Megadeth and supported by Bad Wolves. The UK and European winter tour calling at major arenas begins on January 14th in Kiev, Ukraine, and runs until 20th February (Budapest, Hungary). UK dates are 30th January (Cardiff, Wales) and 31st January (Wembley Arena, London, England).

Ivan Moody, Five Finger Death Punch

The shows will sell out - don't miss this opportunity to see these three bands. Some brilliant, beautiful locations: make a vacation of it, road trip!

Yes, for those based in teh UK, London's Wembley will be an unforgettable experience - but also check some of the other locations as it's an inexpensive time of year to travel and vacation plus music is always a good thing! (Just ask my bank manager.)


Need an intro? Check out Wrong Side of Heaven from FFDP, Symphony of Destructionfrom Megadeth, and Remember When from Bad Wolves (you may have already heard their version of Zombie, it's brilliant.)

Chris Kael, Five Finger Death Punch

See also: Five Finger Death Punch at Aftershock, 2017; photos and review

Photo galleries:

- Five Finger Death Punch
- Megadeth

Zoltan Bathory, Five Finger Death Punch

New release: Marillion, Afraid of Sunlight deluxe edition!

Marillion, 2019

Marillion will release a deluxe edition of Afraid of Sunlight later this year... a four-CD/Blu Ray set and a five vinyl box set, each with a whole lot of new stuff including a full remix of the original album by maestro Michael Hunter, a live recording from Rotterdam, The Netherlands (1995): full details, track lists for each set and the link for preordering is here:

- Afraid of Sunlight deluxe edition CD/Blu Ray
- Afraid of Sunlight delux edition vinyl

 (and yes, they are different, and yes, you really do want both so check the listing for both.)

Marillion are heading out on tour in November with "Friends From The Orchestra", beginning November 1st with a sold-out show at Liverpool Philarmonic and following on with Nottingham, Manchester, Birmingham, Portsmouth, Bath, Oxford, Glasgow, Gateshead, Southend, Cardiff... and then two nights, yes TWO nights, at the Royal Albert Hall, London. Check here for all dates and locations and try to find a ticket somewhere along the way. Haven't seen them live, yet? You're a fan just waiting to happen. I'll see you there.

More Marillion photos here

The Feast of 2019: listen to all of these

Corey Taylor, Slipknot, Chicago Open Air 2016 OLD MASK!!!

Late 2019 is turning into a celebration for fans of the heavier side of music - and through the success of albums so far, the new music is coming to the ears of those who might not previously have heard. In August, Slipknot's We Are Not Your Kind knocked Ed Sheeran from his perch to take the number one in the UK album charts, the first metal band in four years to top the pile in the land where heavy metal began. And, incidentally, Slipknot's first UK number one in eighteen years. And then of course they did the same in the USA, reaching the top of the Billboard album charts.

Slipknot wear masks and put on an incredible live show. The masks (not the one above any more - new ones) elicit emotion: fear, laughter, ugliness, nightmares, and that of course is intentional. If you've never listened to Slipknot yet because of the visual image, think again. Listen to the music somewhere different: a walk on the beach, when roaming through an art gallery, while shopping in the supermarket. Find the music first - the appreciation of the not-faces comes later. My photographer brain wants to see the musician's emotions and I had to get past that to the sound... it's a learning, and I learned to really appreciate this band in all it's incarnations. Loving We Are Not Your Kind!

Maynard James Keenan, not Tool, Aftershock 2017

Then Tool... Tool's Fear Inoculum, the long-awaited, very long awaited ... really, let's not count the years, let's just bathe in the sounds, let's just drown in the music. Entering the UK album charts this week at number four, in Kerrang!'s rock chart at number one, (and if anyone can tell me how to understand Billboard's myriad of ridiculous classifications I'd give you the placement there too), it's an album for the years - who cares how long it took? While Tool are being interviewed by metal magazines this one should be on the playlist for anyone who reads PROG too; it's a delight.

Jonathan Davis, Korn, at Aftershock 2016

Then... coming soon, and with a new single "Can You Hear Me" in my inbox yesterday afternoon UK time, on September 13, Korn's The Nothing arrives. I may be gone for some time, listening to that one... check out the interview in this week's Kerrang magazine (and some beautiful photos too), you'll have to buy the mag to read it. The Nothing will be a personal and dark collection of songs - don't expect any stone to be left unturned. My soul hurts already.

Mark Tremonti, Alter Bridge, Houston Open Air 

Alter Bridge release Walk The Sky on October 18th... another one to add to the preorder list if you haven't already! And check tour dates just about everywhere in the USA and Europe - just make sure you pick the Manchester on the correct side of the Atlantic, if that's where you're planning to see them. Or heck, go to to both. I might.

Johnny Stevens, Highly Suspect, at the Boardwalk, Orangevale, CA

Another album to anticipate this year: Highly Suspect will release their third album, MCID, on November 1st. With a couple of songs - 16 and Upperdrugs - already out, it's going to be special. (While listening to 16 did keep wanting to ask, "are you sure???", because DNA and bloodlines can do some strange things...) With their November tour dates in the UK and France sold out seemingly within seconds, if anyone has a clue how to get hold of two billets for either show, please let me know.

And guess what??? Four out of these five bands (and many, many more) will be performing at Sacramento's Aftershock Festival, October 11 - 13th, three days yes three days of huge music, wonderful music, fun, friends, food and festival. Go check out the lineup to see which three... and then hurry up and buy your tickets, there are only a few left... it's going to be an incredible weekend. So much good music. Be there!

Links:

- Aftershock Festival
- Slipknot
- Tool
- Alter Bridge
- Highly Suspect
- Alison Toon Photographer: Music

The Bloodshake Chorus at Cromer Carnival

The Bloodshake Chorus at Cromer Carnival 2019

A few phone photos of last night's performance by The Bloodshake Chorus at Cromer Carnival, in the big marquee, after the firework display. If you haven't seen them yet, DO SO. They have a CD available - order one here - and find them on Facebook and get following or check out some videos on YouTube here. Seriously good music...

More pictures here from last night in The Bloodshake Chorus Cromer Carnival gallery.

And proper camera pics here from this year's Bearded Theory festival and here from... Cromer Social Club.

The Bloodshake Chorus

Cromer Pier Show -- show two, 2019

Cromer Pier Show Dancers, show two, 2019

Earlier this week I had the pleasure - the enjoyment - of seeing Show Two of this year's Cromer Pier Show (see here for the review and photos from Show One). It's a delight: hours of entertainment, ranging from crack-me-up and (ouch!!!) jokes to poignant melodies and beautiful contemporary dance. It's world-class performers and it's a happy night out and it's for all the family - from kids to Great Aunt Jane.

Dancers from Marlene's School of Dancing and the Cromer Pier Show Dancers

Local young dancers from Marlene's School of Dancing join the cast at the end of the first half of the show.

Matthew Pomeroy with Natasha Lamb, it's magic!

The magic and illusion of Matthew Pomeroy and Natasha Lamb really stunned me in show two. (She floated! She did! And that was after being somehow squished and stabbed and vanished and made to reappear... I have no clue how they did that. And I have photos, which yes, I have examined, and no, I still have no idea how they did that. It's magic, it has to be!

The Man They Call G and Emily Yarrow, Cromer Pier Show 2019

The Man They Call G shines again - not only as a wacky funnyman with a million voices and faces, but as a singer of songs, partnering with soprano Emily Yarrow for a duet.

Harvey James, Cromer Pier Show 2019, show two

Harvey James sang Tom Jones and had the whole crowd singing along. Comedian and compere Paul Eastwood keeps the show moving on at a high level of hilarity.

Percussion

(One of the) hilarious moment: Ms Yarrow singing sweetly on stage right, and four hooded and becloaked males suddenly reveal the percussion section. It involves saucepans, wooden spoons, dangly bits and knee bends. You might want to cover Great Aunt Jane's eyes for this one.

Miss Saigon, Cromer Pier Show 2019

Miss Saigon is the musical for show two, with lovely performances from Emily Yarrow and gorgeous backdrops and costumes from the designers. And the Cromer Pier Show Dancers as always making the stage their own - and so much bigger than a theatre at the end of a pier in an English seaside town.

Finale! Cromer Pier Show 2019, show two

Don't miss the Cromer Pier Show! See here for ticket details and schedules for shows one, two, and the end-of-summer "best of".

Many more photos from both show one and show two here - show two begins at image number 88 in the Cromer Pier Show 2019 gallery.

Paul Eastwood and The Man They Call G