Graceful Degradation

No snow this year which made the drive up and across to Prestatyn a lot easier and walking around the site here at Hard Rock Hell V a lot less hazardous.  Made it up here around 3pm yesterday and my roommate for the weekend and I settled into our chalet before making preparations for the opening.  I don't know why it is when I usually avoid fancy dress like the plague, but for HRH I'll go with it.  This year the theme is Village of the Damned.  My roommate was a vampire, although she was having problems with her fangs, while opted for the role of fallen angel which meant very little expenditure for me.  I already had the skirt, fishnets, corset, evening gloves and boots so just needed black wings and a pair of horns.  Hmm.  Is it really fancy dress when most of the stuff is in your normal wardrobe?

Wings are not easy in crowds, I should add, although I suspect mine pissed me off rather less than the corpse bride I saw who must have had people standing on her dress all night.

Plenty of inventive costumes on display though.  There was one guy who looked like he had been skinned, and he must have been baking in that amount of rubber.  Lots of zombies, devils, murderous nurses, etc.  And a really fun crowd of people.

So, we made it across to the Queen Vic around 5.30 to start the weekend's music off with Cardinal Synne.  This was their first outing with new singer Alan Ross, son of Blitzkrieg's Brian and a hell of a vocalist.  Another recent addition is drummer Rob Walker from Tyson Dog, joining existing members Jon Hepworth on lead guitar, Huw Hopkins on bass and Brian Stafford on keyboards.  Their classic brand of heavy rock/metal was a great way to kick off proceedings.

Next up was Falling Red.  I've been trying to remember when I saw these guys before - I think it might have been with Dirty Penny - but no matter because they are definitely worth seeing a many times as can be managed.  Brash, raucous and arrogant, these guys have a great stage presence and can really enthuse an audience.  Their drummer has an interesting line in facial expressions too!  And when they belted out "If you ain't come here to rock you can fuck right off" they pretty much set the tone for the weekend.

Last act in the Queen Vic, Silverjet seemed positively clean cut by comparison.  Fusing a bluesy sound of 70s rock with the sleaze inspired LA scene of the 80s and a slightly heavier tone of more modern acts, their music is distinctively their own.  Good players, great songs, they sent us off next door to stage two for the main acts of the night in an upbeat, feelgood mood.

Opener on stage two was Simon McBride.  He handled guitar and vocals, and was accompanied by bass and drums.  Now, the guy's good for sure.  Decent enough singing voice and exceptional abilities on the guitar, he is a really very talented blues specialist.  But for me, he wasn't the right choice to open up on stage two.  After the Queen Vic I was looking for something upbeat, fast-paced and more of a party.  This wasn't it.  Reflective, downbeat, and a mite self-indulgent it kind of killed the mood for me.  As I say, there's no question that he's good, but he wasn't what I was looking for right then.

Putting everything right back on track was the ever amazing Tygers of Pan Tang.  There appeared to be a few technical issues at the start, but once they got playing they were just as tight, just as loud, and just as much of a party as they always are.  These five veteran rockers love the stage, and the crowd loves them. Gav Gray is now permanent on bass since Brian West's commitments with Uriah Heep have meant he wasn't able to dedicate the time needed to playing with Tygers as well, which is a shame but Gav fits in perfectly.  They're working on a new album and have a load of festival appearances lined up next year, so all is looking bright for them.  Thanks to the lady next to me at the rail for finding and more importantly passing on the pick tossed my way at the end of the set - satin gloves are not conducive to catching small objects!

My final band of the night, before I decided the wings were getting too annoying and the drive had caught up with me, was the almighty Girlschool.  Thirty years on from Hit and Run they still look amazing, rock as hard as ever and basically blew the roof off the place.  Kim was battling a cold but soldiered on with Enid handling a lot of the lead vocals.  Jackie, who joined after the death of Kelly Johnson in 2007, had a few concerns of her own, announcing that there was a roadie waiting in the wings with gaffer tape in case her very shiny PVC trousers split.  They were brilliant.

I hope those who held out for Demon and Praying Mantis had a good time.  The challenge for today is to work out what I'm going to do about the various line up clashes.  Bit of a dilemma.