The ET Rock Blog

 Monday. Traditionally a day for getting back to work after the weekend then heading home for a quiet night in, In other words, the worst day of the week. However, for the ET crew Monday 12 th November was set to be far from this. E arrived into Paddington shortly before T and soon the crew were on the bus heading towards Euston and our digs for the night. With bags dropped and with 4 hours until stage time, it was off the Euston Flyer to kick things off with a few pints of Fullers ale. The Euston flyer is a regular haunt of the ET crew when in this part of London and for good reason! A massive pub with a cracking ale selection. Nicely warmed up, it was onto the bus for the short Journey up the Hampstead Road for the lining of the stomachs in the excellent (sadly now gone) Istanbul Grill. As our regular readers will know, the ET crew are very much partial to a late night donner, however with it being 6pm and us only being two pints in the more sensible choice of shish kebabs was...

 Sunday morning at Download festival. The ET crew were just emerging from the blissful land of sleep for the final day of what had been a weekend full of booze, junk food, hardly any sleep and of course, fantastic music! Tea drunk, cereal bars eaten and with the ET crew vaguely resembling human beings (as far as is possible at a festival) it was off to the guest area for the lining of the stomachs. The Sunday line up meant the ET crew had a late start with the first band of the day, Amon Amarth not taking to the stage for some time, a fairly relaxed late morning/early afternoon was had, starting off with, as readers of the Day 2 post will have heard about, some ‘Spicy bois’. Stomachs suitably lined (and probably also destroyed) it was back to base camp to put another dent in the remaining plastic bottles. Whilst warming up for Amon Amarths set with a mix of Brothers of Metal, Slipknot, Tool (who were headlining the main stage that evening) and various others was put on with the E...

Saturday morning in a field in Leicestershire and the ET crew were waking up for their second day at Download! Ordinarily the ET crew would have expected to wake with absolutely shocking hangovers, especially given the events of the previous night following Def Leppards headline set, but for some reason Download is the land of no hangovers! Result! Before we recount the events of the second day at Download, we need to explain a story called ‘the spicy boi incident’. Following Def Leppards excellent performance, it was back into the guest area for a few pints and then back to our living quarters. E got the drinks sorted whilst T sorted the tunes out. It was at this point T exclaimed “Petition to rename fire ants to spicy bois!”. A combination of being plastered and surprise had E in absolute hysterics and thus, the spicy boi term was born. Turns out T was reading something on his phone and stumbled across it. This term got used to describe all sorts of things throughout the weekend in...

 Wednesday 17 th June 2019. A time long before covid. For E this meant the last day in the office until next week and for T, a journey to E’s for the next day, the ET crew would be making the journey north to the hallowed fields of Donington Park. Why you ask? Well, for the uninitiated, this is where the legendary download festival, the UKs largest rock and metal festival takes place! T arrived at E’s shortly after 8 and for the ET crew this naturally meant one thing, the pub! Off to E’s local it was where the crew settled down for a few pints of London Pride for T and a few of Cornish Orchards cider with an obligatory pub salad. Plans were hatched for the following 3 days with the crew working out possible clashes and how to dart between stages. With plans made and the clock nearing 10pm, the ET crew made their way back to E’s for the last night of proper sleep in a proper bed for 4 days. The next morning, with final showers taken and the car loaded (thanks to honorary member T...

 Sunday. For most normal people this is usually a day of rest with a nice roast dinner in preparation for Monday. As you’ve probably gathered by now, the ET crew are far from normal so what are we doing? Preparing for Heilung at Camdens roundhouse! The crew met at Paddington and then it was onto the bus towards Euston and the ET crews’ lodgings for the night. Check in completed and with 4 hours until stage time, it was down the road to the Euston Flyer for a few pints of Fullers London Pride before heading round the corner to the wonderfully named Mabel’s Tavern, a lovely Shepherd Neame pub. It was packed, so the ET crew ended up sitting outside on the street but fortunately heaters were available. This is a lovely little pub and thoroughly recommended if you’re ever in the Euston Area. With the stomachs starting to growl it was onto another bus for the short journey up the Hampstead Road to Camden. With the ET crews normal pre gig eatery permanently gone, it was into the decen...

 Metallica. Few bands in the metal world evoke such excitement when they announce a gig, so when the ET crew learned they’d be playing at Twickenham it was no questions asked, we’re going. With tickets bought, fast forward to June 2019 and the ET crew are disembarking their train at Twickenham station and making the short walk to the George pub on Twickenham’s queen street. For this outing, the ET crew were joined by two honorary members, T and D. With a table secured, it was time for the warm up to begin. Several pints of various beverages were sunk, with the ET crew getting into discussion with some fellow Download goers from the week before. Suitably Hydrated Soon, it was time for the pre gig feed (with hindsight we should have done this before going to the pub) so over the road to KFC it was. Two sharing buckets ordered between the 4 of us, perfect pre gig food. Unfortunately, the poor staff somehow got the orders all mixed up and the ET crew were soon provided with a bag conta...

 Friday afternoon in deepest darkest Berkshire and for us two metal heads, this would normally mean the end of the week in our respective jobs, a few after work beers and then home. But not this week for the ET crew had a gig to get to! For E it was a half day in the office and then home and out of the suit waiting for T to arrive. T arrived at E’s shortly after 3 and following a quick cup of tea it was into the taxi to make our way to Wembley (bizarrely a taxi is cheaper than the train for the ET crew!). Leaving suitably early to avoid the traffic on the north circular, the ET crew were soon in Wembley. Time for the lining of the stomachs in the wonderful yet rather unfortunately named Fatburger on Wembley High Road. Trust us, the food is better than the name implies! With the stomachs suitably lined and with 3 hours still to stage time it was over the road to one of the ET crews favourite pubs ever. A proper Irish boozer, The Corner House! This being a pub E used to frequent ...