Hiding Place review

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Download Festival 2004

Saturday 5th to Sunday 6th June 2004
Donington Park, Leics, England MAP
£80 for both days, camping £15 extra, camping upgrade

The bar has already been set for the day on the third stage and it seem that Hiding Place just cannot keep up the pace. The five-some, with twin guitarists, have influences ranging from Deep Purple to Led Zepplin which one would think would provide an interesting mix of emo-esque metal.

The set seems to start without notice and simply fails to grab your attention. The only thing to grab your attention are the vocals of Paul McCallion – whiney and out of place.

Hiding Place have been gaining acclaim over recent months – supporting acts such as SOiL and INME, but they just don’t seem to deserve the reputation they have received based on their performance today.

As the set progresses the stage actually empties. A hardcore of fans mosh away but to everyone else the set just seems lost. Each song merges in to the next and the inter-song banter falls on totally deaf ears – without even the slightest of response from the crowd.

Musically the band work – but when you put the pieces together it is a case that the whole is less than the sum of its pieces. In essence, it just doesn’t seem to be working today. Maybe Hiding Place are only hear because they whined their way in?