So far this year I've seen Lamb of God, Trivium, Steel Panther, Airbourne (supported by the awesome Black Spiders) and Dropkick Murphys who were all brilliant. Dropkick Murphys were the band I was least familiar with but with the way they put on a live performance that hardly matters. I can't wait to see them live again.
I have a busy spell at the start of next month when I manage to fit in 3 gigs (Black Spiders, Biffy Clyro and Gogol Bordello) in the space of 4 days, followed by one more (Joe Bonamassa) later in the month.
From the 11th to the 14th of June I will be at
Download which is lining up to be incredible. Already I've got to make some tough choices about who to see and when. Not going to have long to recover as on the 15th I fly out for the Polish leg of
Sonisphere, coming home on the 17th. This will be my first trip abroad to somewhere other than Amsterdam in 10 years (barring a quick hop to Dublin) and it also keeps up my (albeit fairly new) tradition of only seeing Metallica in other countries!
Being made redundant at the end of June I have decided to celebrate my freedom with yet another festival by heading straight out to Bilbao for
BBK Live which has the added benefit of being in a hot country

I may even extend this into a full holiday but I wont book anything up yet until I've found the best deal. If I don't book this up I will probably try for a day ticket for Hard Rock Calling at the end of June just to see Pearl Jam.
Then at the end of July I round off my summer of music with the UK leg of
Sonisphere. The lineup there doesn't amaze me as much as some of the others but it should still be a good laugh.