A strong contender from the outset was always going to be the High Voltage Festival. A new festival, that only launched last year, the benefits were countless. There's no camping, so that means hotel! Which instantly means a bed, showers and cooked breakfasts. I was almost sold on that fact before any bands were announced.
To be brutally honest, the lineup for last years High Voltage was better. Not so much when you compare Main Stage bands, or even the Prog Stage (Yes, they have a Prog Stage) but the lack of any big names, or any real names at all on the Metal Hammer stage this year when they had the likes of Opeth, Black Label Society, Down, Saxon, Hammerfall and many more last year was a bit shoddy.
But, at the end of the day it was a Classic Rock festival, and there was always going to be sufficient for me to enjoy. And was there ever.
The first day kicked off with a hell of a bang with Michael Monroe (****) who was on fire. I was unsure how he would be without Ginger in the group. His replacement Dregen (from Backyard Babies) was capable enough, but it just didn't feel the same in that respect. Monroe, however, was brilliant. Bouncing from one end of the stage to another, and even scaling the scaffolding at one point, he was great. The songs were from his latest album (which is great, by the way) 'Sensory Overdrive', as well as a few choice Hanoi Rocks and Demolition 23 covers. He only had half an hour but he made it count, and was a fantastic opener to the festival.
Michael Monroe played...
- Trick Of The Wrist
- Got Blood?
- Modern Day Miracle
- Motorvatin' (Hanoi Rocks cover)
- Hammersmith Palais (Demolition 23 cover)
- '78
- Nothings Alright (Demolition 23 cover)
- Back To Mystery City (Hanoi Rocks cover)
- Dead, Jail Or Rock N' Roll
Following that was a band who have said they would call it a day (again) after their farewell tour at the end of last year. But due to the horrific winter we had, which left a lot of fans unable to get to the shows, and illness within the band (again, flu down to the bad weather) Skin (****) decided to do a final selection of shows.
Whether this will really be it for the band remains to be seen, but they are really the kind of band that you just forget how good the songs are. In the run up to the festival I was very much "Oh Skin are playing again, cool" but when they come out and start playing songs like 'Tower Of Strength' and 'House Of Love' you really remember. And even now, they are winning people over. A guy behind us had no idea who they were, and by the end of their set he was a new fan, exclaiming how brilliant they were. Always good to see.
As a side note, it's still incredible how many people mix up Skin with the singer from Skunk Anansie. HMV had a store set up on the grounds, doing signings and selling overpriced CDs and DVDs from the artists playing, and in amongst them I spotted a album with the latter Skin on. Idiots!
Anyhow, Skin played...
- Born To Rock N' Roll
- House Of Love
- Take Me Down To The River
- Look But Don't Touch
- Tower Of Strength
- Shine Your Light
At this point we decided to leave the main stage for a bit. The next two bands, Rival Sons (who immediately strike me as this years band that gets forced down everyones throats like Taking Dawn last year, and I have forgotten the version from 2009 already. Also they are not "the next Led Zeppelin" as I heard some moron say) and Queensryche (One of the most boring bands I have ever seen at a festival. Also they recently proclaimed rock music dead in an issue of Classic Rock, but will take the paycheck from a rock festival. Dicks) so we decided to get something to eat.
Even the food at the festival was reasonably priced, and tasty! £8 for some hog roast in a roll with gravy, chunky chips and a drink was a bargain in my eyes. Good eating.
After we ate, we moved to Prog stage, where we happened upon Caravan (****) who I really enjoyed! Veterans of the Canterbury Prog scene that also produced Gong, Egg and Soft Machine, Caravan were formed in 1968 and are still performing on a part time basis today, with original singer and guitarist Pye Hastings still fronting the band! It was really enjoyable set, a real nice change of pace. One highlight was the guitarist, who also played the violin, producing the spoons (yes, spoons!) for a solo! Then the drummer produced a washboard for a brilliant jam session!
Sadly, I was unable to find a complete setlist for the performance but Caravan ended their set with an epic 'Nine Feet Underground'.
After Caravan, and for the first time in all my years of festival-going, I tried a Comfy Crapper! Or Luxury Loo, whichever you wish. At £3 to relieve yourself I was quite dubious, but it was well worth it. Nice, clean and some Vanilla hand soap afterwards, a nice touch!
Following that excitement, we went back to the Prog stage for Anathema (*****) who were absolutely superb! It's the same kind of thing as with Skin, I always forget how good they are till I listen to them again. And they were on top form. Just fantastic songs like 'Everything', the beautiful ballad of 'A Natural Disaster' and the vocoder genius of 'Closer'. And a dedication of 'Dreaming Light' to the people of Norway (Lead guitarist Daniel Cavanaugh lives there) just added so much emotion to the set. I think it is safe to say that wherever they are playing next in this country, I shall be there. Captivating stuff.
Anathema played...
- Thin Air
- Summernight Horizon
- Dreaming Light
- Everything
- A Natural Disaster
- Closer
- Universal
After that, it was back to the main stage for Thin Lizzy (***) Kinda. As close as you can probably get to Thin Lizzy these days, the band features Scott Gorham on guitar (Who joined Lizzy back in 1974) and original drummer Brian Downey, as well as Marco Mendoza (Whitesnake, Blue Murder, Lynch Mob) on bass, Richard Fortus (Guns N' Roses current guitarist) on lead, and Ricky Warwick (The Almighty) on vocals. It's probably more supergroup than anything now, but it was an entertaining run through of Lizzy classics like 'Jailbreak', 'Whiskey In The Jar', and 'The Boys Are Back In Town' (of course).
They even had Michael Monroe re-emerge to add saxophone to 'Dancing In The Moonlight'. All of this was hampered though by some poor sound throughout, which apparently was constant on the main stage throughout the Saturday, only rectified for the headliners. We were near the front for every band bar Thin Lizzy, so didn't really notice!
Thin Lizzy played...
- Are You Ready
- Waiting For An Alibi
- Jailbreak
- Dancing In The Moonlight (It's Caught Me In It's Spotlight) (w/Michael Monroe)
- Emerald
- Whiskey In The Jar
- Cowboy Song
- The Boys Are Back In Town
- Rosalie (Bob Seger cover)
- Black Rose
Last year, the best act at Download for me was Slash (****) Featuring Alter Bridge's Myles Kennedy on vocals, it was a truly superb run through of the hits, and some great material from his solo album. So hopes were high that he would take the festival for his own this year. And while it was great, it didn't quite touch the highs of the 2010 performance for me. It's totally subjective, but there were just too many Slash's Snakepit songs in there for my liking, I would have preferred more solo album, Velvet Revolver or G N' R stuff. But, to be fair, it was his birthday (the built up mass sing-a-long never happened) and he can play what he likes. Which was...
- Been There Lately (Slash's Snakepit)
- Nightrain (Guns N' Roses)
- Rocket Queen (Guns N' Roses)
- Ghost
- Mean Bone (Slash's Snakepit)
- Doctor Alibi (Todd Kerns on vocals)
- Speed Parade (Slash's Snakepit)
- Sweet Child O' Mine (Guns N' Roses)
- Slither (Velvet Revolver)
- Paradise City (Guns N' Roses)
The last time I had seen the evenings headliners, Judas Priest (****1/2), was a bit of a letdown. 3 years ago at Donington, promoting the rather dismal 'Nostradamus' album, every time the set got going it got stopped by another unimpressive new song.
This time however was reported to be their farewell (Or Epitaph) tour, and would be a truly best of set. But before they even went out on the road, original guitarist K.K. Downing sensationally quit, preferring to stay at home and (reportedly) work on his golf game!
Replacement guitarist Richie Faulkner (formerly of Voodoo Six and Lauren Harris' band) was drafted in rather quickly, but how would he mesh with the band?
The answer was quite well, at times you almost forgot about K.K. to be honest. And the band played an absolute stormer, with loads of stuff from throughout their near 40 year career, from 'Rock N' Rolla' to 'Nostradamus' (Yeah, they played a couple from that, and in hindsight it was OK!) The only downside was singer Rob Halford electing to let the crowd sing all of 'Breaking The Law', without going near the mic himself, a slight mark down required for that. But it was 2 and a quarter hours worth of fantastic songs, with the set (and the first day) ending with 'Living After Midnight', a song that I honestly believed they had neglected to play at one point.
Judas Priest played...
- Rapid Fire
- Metal Gods
- Heading Out To The Highway
- Judas Rising
- Starbreaker
- Victim Of Changes
- Never Satisfied
- Diamonds And Rust (Joan Baez cover)
- Prophecy
- Night Crawler
- Turbo Lover
- Beyond The Realms Of Death
- The Sentinel
- Blood Red Skies
- The Green Manalishi (With The Two Pronged Crown) (Fleetwood Mac cover)
- Breaking The Law
- Drum Solo
- Painkiller
- The Hellion/Electric Eye
- Hell Bent For Leather
- You've Got Another Thing Coming
- Living After Midnight
Here's a video I recorded of Judas Priest perform 'Hell Bent For Leather', and a few photos from the first day...
Michael Monroe
Michael Monroe
Michael Monroe
Anathema
Thin Lizzy
Slash
Judas Priest
No comments:
Post a Comment