FUCKFUCKFUCK. Complete lack of Nine Inch Nails. Jerome gets ill, so they pull out. Errm, drum tech? A lot of pissed off people there. I blame Glastonbury, irreprable damage from seeing a field full of trendies.

Anyway, got in easily enough (for some reason quite a few people didn't), and first up was Little Hell on the Kerrang stage. They sucked, so time to wander the stuff there. Buying some herbal weed substitute (wood shavings, basically) and beers. Trust me, no-one cared about them. So much so that there was less cheering at the end of the set than at the start. As one pissed up old punk put it, 'Fuckin' 'ell more like'. That sums 'em up rather well. Cheers!

Next up on the same stage was 100 Reasons, getting the crowd livened up a bit with some hardcore stuff, as opposed to the britrock shite we were previously subjected to. But they weren't really what anyone was there for, which was a small problem. And the weird sight of a moshing grannie in leather kecks. I'm not making any of this up, honest.

Soonto the main stage, and it was time for Sona Fariq, who went down a storm with their high energy set, although taking the piss over the NIN shortage wasn't the wisest move of their careers. Still, made a lot of new friends in the process with their hyped up punky hip hop material. And the vocalist and guitarist kicking each other was rather funny to watch.

Next up, back on the Kerrang stage, was earthtone9, straigt afterwards, so many were still recovering around the arena. They also had the problem that a lot of their set sounded rather samey, although Withered blasted open the arena effortlessly, complete with vocalist Karl Middleton lurching around in his cellophane boxers only. And my group noticed the bloke handing out flyers to us taking the piss out of them for playing lesser venues was their drummer. Shit.

Skipping Queen Adreena completely (boring and shit, basically)-at which time I spotted former Wildhearts frontman Ginger lurking on the outskirts of the crowd-or most of the arena floor to be exact and Middleton walk past with a pint in a boiler suit and pair of slippers (nutter or what?), we move onto Kill II This, the first band people were actually there for, although a few probably just for bassist Caroline Campbell. Their set was the best so far, full of energy and agression, with Matt Pollock leading on the crowd amply supported by hyper guitarist Mark Mynett, and Campell in a rather pleasing leather outfit all bounding around. Although they had to borrow their drummer from vacant Stare. Hang on...

But next was the main event, A Perfect Circle. After a rather moody stage entrance with Maynard James Keenan getting a rapturous welcome (in his rather strange trousers), they promptly dived into a set that left the crowd asking for more. However, another insult came when Danny Lohner got on stage to play bass during 3 Libras, which either went down well, or pissed off some people-split decision, really. After Maynard James Keenan offered to marry the whole crowd, especially a chick off to stage right, they fired off Judith to a crowd that was aching for it for the hour long set. Easily the act of the day.

Then it was back to the Kerrang stage for Groop Dogdrill. Or not, they were terrible and lot of people were recuperating from APC's set. Meanwhile, there was I ligging with earthtone9 guitarist Owen Packard when he was handing out fliers. Man, I'm a corporate rock whore!

Lastly were now-headliners Ash, who weren't popular. So unpopular it was like Kosovo the amount of projeciles headed their way. Too right we were 'fucked off', as Tim Wheeler put it. Adding to their plight, he also joked they would do Head Like A Hole at the end. Why did a bottle hit him in the bollocks soon after, I wonder.

Then to wrap up, with HUGE chants of 'Trent', followed by 'NINE INCH NAILS', Wish came on over the PA. And went off. Cruel fuckers.