He took some video clip on his i-pad of both Maiden and Shinehead both sounded good,im not that familiar with Maiden's live set but he showed me the bit where Dickinson rips out the heart of that tall fella....:lol:

Yeah, SHINEDOWN were good. I had not heard that much from them before but enjoyed their set.

Apparently this is the setlist for tonight's Manchester show

I didn't know any of their songs and their sound was quite terrible (support band issues) but they got the crowd eating out of their hands, they certainly knew what they were doing. I'm guessing they do arena shows back in America. I've listened to their albums at home and it's not the same!

When I last saw Maiden, Airborne were supporting and they suffered from "support band syndrome" too, shame because I was looking forward to seeing them live too.
The few songs we watched at the end of Shinedown's set were pretty good, but the sound was shite compared to Maiden's

They are, Shinedown that is, huge Stateside. Arenas are their regular haunt. I suppose opening for Maiden was to get them a boost over here.

Their last album hit # 13 on the UK chart and the one before it #18. The Sound of Madness for some reason didn't chart. That must have been the one that grew on people over time. I think it's one of the best albums this century.

Mastodon 2017 UK tour dates

Dec 02: Cardiff Great Hall
Dec 04: Wolverhampton Civic Hall
Dec 05: Nottingham Rock City
Dec 06: Newcastle Northumbria Uni
Dec 07: Glasgow Barrowland
Dec 09: Manchester Academy
Dec 10: London O2 Academy Brixton

Tempted by this!

Opeth have announced 5 new dates in November, they're playing in Manchester on the same date as Alice Cooper so I'm proper gutted about that...

Nov 15: Manchester Ritz, UK
Nov 16: Glasgow Barrowlands, UK
Nov 17: Belfast The Limelight, UK
Nov 18: Dublin Academy, Ireland
Nov 19: Nottingham Rock City, UK
Nov 21: Bristol O2 Academy, UK
Nov 22: Birmingham O2 Institute, UK

Both Opeth and Mastodon don't appear to be getting any bigger venue size. In Opeth's case they seem to be losing popularity given that they played an arena show and The Royal Albert Hall in support of their last record. I mean they aren't even playing Apollo size venues.

Tempted for Mastadon in Manchester, shame there's no Leeds Academy show though

I think because they have only just played Wembley Arena on the same album tour they're not counting on selling loads of regional tickets as well. I would have been going if it wasn't the same day as Alice Cooper.

In other news, Floor Jansen announced on her social media account that Nightwish are celebrating an anniversary in 2018 and are doing a full world tour as a 'greatest hits' kinda thing.