London Astoria 5th November. Well, what can I say, three hours of sheer brutality with a pit to match. It was insane! From the start, as soon as Chimaira hit the stage everyone was ready for the last gig of the roadrage tour. I was standing on the balcony and had a view over the pit and of the entire stage. Chimaira played songs that included ‘Power Trip’, ‘Eyes of a Criminal’, ‘Severed’ and the highlight of the show for me, ‘Pure Hatred’. Mark really got the crowd siked for this with him singing the first part of the chorus and the crowd repeating it. The part where Mark took on the role of Moses and split the crowd in two was quite simply stunning with bodies getting smashed and probably bones broken in the charge that followed! Ill Nino were just as good and really got the pit hyped with circle pits at least 10 metres wide throughout! Songs that stood out for me were ‘God save us’, ‘How can I Live’, ‘Unreal’ and ‘Te Amo… I hate you’. The last track played, ‘Liar’ was one of the best out of all three bands as everyone was just ready to rock as the whole floor went mental with the band repaying the favour. Cristian Machado (singer) went to the front and sang right in front of the crowd at their level on the floor which was appreciated by the pit as people crowd surfed over to get close. Last but not least were Spineshank ending the show in style. Starting with ‘Violent Mood Swings’ was sick and you could tell that they were ready for the occasion. Other songs played were ‘New disease’, ‘Synthetic’, ‘Still Born’, ‘Dead Inside’, ‘Slavery’ and ‘Punctured lung’ amongst others. Jonny jumped off the drum kit twice and crowd surfed at the end as Mark Hunter (chimaira) joined Spineshank for their last song. He too went to the front to the fans which was a great personal touch. All in all it was an awesome night with three of the best bands in the metal scene today and all for the price of a tenner! BARGAIN! If you didn’t go this year, don’t lose out next time, as if it’s as good as this year it SHOULD NOT BE MISSED! It was a classic! The only bad thing about being on the balcony was that you couldn’t get the stuff the bands threw out after their set. e.g. picks, drum sticks and set lists etc. But saying that one drum stick thrown by Tommy flew out onto the balcony as he launched it across the room! Mike Burton Mike … thanks for writing… and everyone else, do watch out for our photos of Cardiff and London to come, plus tales of the almighty aftershow to end the tour in style.