Review by Laura Wozniak, written June 7
After collecting our wristbands we headed to the arena to catch the last 10 mins of the Gallows’ punkcore set.
Next up was hip-hop/dub god Roots Manuva followed by gypsy punkers Gogol Bordello who really got the diverse crowd (16 year old popsters through to die-hard tattooed metal-heads!) going. 
A hog-roast baguette, four ciders and a ‘Rage – 1 Cowell – 0’ purchased t-shirt later it was time for the mighty rap/rockers to start the celebration.
Their intro was a hilarious cartooned Simon Cowell (complete with black V neck t-shirt and ultra camp voice) gloating about how for the past five years he and his X Factor puppets have secured the Xmas no.1 but how this year ‘those t**ers’ RATM beat him to it, at which point the crowd booed, jeered and starting throwing beer. Brilliant.
They performed all the RATM classics from ‘Bombtrack’ to ’People of the Sun’ through to my fave ‘Bullet in the Head’ before inviting the founder of the ‘Rage against the X Factor campaign’ (that guy from my small rural town in Essex, strangely!) onstage to collect a cheque for Shelter.
RATM actually gave 1
00% of the proceeds from the single (over £160,000) to the charity, bless ‘em!
Then the moment we’d all been waiting for happened, that unforgettable riff kicked in and they launched themselves into ‘Killing in the Name Of’. The 40,000-strong crowd went berserk screaming the lyrics, punching the sky and genuinely uniting as one.
Last night was pretty damn special… I’m just gutted the concert took place on a Sunday night – I’m hanging today!
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