After a day of so far relatively nice heat and the occasional sun, the Scotsmen of Alestorm flew in from California. Sadly, they managed to pull some of the British weather with them on their way, as it got colder and rain began to pebble down...

“It’s evil, it’s boring, and it’s about squid.”
- Christopher Bowes (vocals/keytar)

Still, Alestorm was the first band on our schedule for this years’ Metalfest, and strengthened by the power of beer we were prepared to give them a go none the less.
There was an ok amount of people gathered, and after a rather silly sounding intro (which, I guess, was exactly what the band was going for) the band thrust away from safe port to sail into uncharted waters.
The first thing I noticed was that they had recruited a new crew- member since our last run in, a Mr. Elliot ‘Windrider’ Vernon on secondary keyboards and keytar. Or primary actually, since Captain Bowes seemed to spend less time fiddling away on his keytar than usual, without abandoning it completely though. It did add an extra visual treat to the ol’ rum keg, watching these two gentlemen battling it out with their respective keytars in hand.
Apart from that though, it was only helmsman Daniel Evans who made a noticeable effort to gain our interest this early afternoon, as he made frequent use of the short catwalk while bending his strings to the wild melodies.
Sadly, the rest of the crew, or much of the time the whole crew in fact, seemed to be weary from the earlier journey, rendering them helpless in the fish-smelling face of the vile sea-creature that is stage-fatigue. In other words, they were far from able to steer this wounded ship on a safe dock on their own.

As luck would have it, the crowd was there to help, but as with any old shanghaied crew, enthusiasm wasn’t exactly running high. Sure enough, there was the occasional yo ho ho and a clapping of the hands as the sound of the drums died down. Especially songs like Nancy The Tavern Wench got a good sing along out of the crowd and our throats warmed up, as did Keelhauled which also saw us throw down our oars for a minute to raise our fists to the air in defiance of Neptune and his moist weather.
In the end though, it wasn’t enough to make it back to port, and much like the Flying Dutchman, these Scotsmen were from this day on doomed to roam the world, stage by stage, until they fulfill their destiny and deliver a kick-ass show which will not leave a rum-keg in the hall un-emptied.

Setlist (incomplete):

Shipwrecked
Midget Saw
Nancy The Tavern Wench
Keelhauled
Rum
Death Throes Of The Terrorsquid
Sunk’n Norwegian
Captain Morgan’s Revenge