King Mal the Glorious

I've been every year so far, it's great. Hoping the Friday doesn't sell out soon as I don't really have £70 to chuck at a gig til pay day. Most importantly, they're finally doing what I've suggested from year 1 and moving/expanding the merch area into another room. No more squeezing through queues in the main entrance!

I prefer Welcome to Hell, but probably just because it's the one I heard first. I love a bit of Venom, but I have to admit they're one of the worst bands I've seen live. First time was at Hellfest in France, 18 year old Mal's first festival abroad. Took a Newcastle flag and waited down by the barrier for hours for their set only to leave after about 15 minutes, they were so bad. Fast forward 16 years and I saw them again at Brutal Assault in Czechia and they were still terrible but also so slow. Cronos complained towards the end that they had to cut a couple of songs due to time, to which my mate shouted "if you played the songs properly you'd have space for another album". At least that time we managed to make a drinking game out of how many times they botched something 😂

Venom frontman Conrad "Cronos" Lant, age 63. Second Geordie that had a big influence on his chosen art form to pass this week, what a shite time it is. Venom definitely aren't everyone's cup of tea but were instrumental in the development of extreme metal.

I normally watch Dynamite in the office on a Thursday morning, but it'll have to wait til the evening otherwise my co-workers are going to be rather concerned about the inevitable tears.

With tomorrow being a tribute to Pac, they've announced Osprey vs Ricochet. Feels very fitting.

Not a lot I can say that hasn't already been said, but this is definitely the wrestling death that has hit me hardest. Even left work early yesterday because I couldn't think about anything else and a few tears needed to be shed. As a Brit and Geordie, Pac has been a favourite since way back in the Dragongate days. Seeing him get signed to WWE and his runs in NXT and the main roster was like rooting for a mate. Then AEW where he was even better, I thought he was a lock for a world title reign at some point but sadly it'll never be. I've always insisted to people that he's the only Geordie I've seen on TV that talks with his normal accent and not a softened or exaggerated version, that coupled with the bits of slang always popped me. He's the main reason I started going to wrestling live, first time being a WWE house show in Newcastle where he of course came out with an NUFC shirt on. Biggest pop I've ever experienced live was at a Defiant show at the Academy in 2019 shortly after he left WWE, everyone (including me) lost their minds when he appeared. I'm in Scotland at the moment but will be back in Toon tomorrow. There's been a little memorial set up at Grey's Monument in the centre of town, hopefully it's still there so I can pay my own respects.

This has taken most of the day