Graceful Degradation

Saturday afternoon was glam/sleaze on stage 2, so from midday until around 7pm (with a couple of breaks for food and cigarettes) that's where I stayed.

First up, and seeming surprised at the numbers of hungover people who had made it to the stage for midday, were Dan Baird and Homemade Sin.  They may have had it even worse than those who partied at HRH into the early hours since the night before they had been on stage at the Borderline in London, but they did us proud.  Opening with Baird's past history in the Georgia Satellites, Keep Your Hands To Yourself instantly injected life into the crowd, and from there on in it was foot stompin', no messin', honest to goodness southern US style rock 'n' roll.  Very much a crowd pleaser, Baird can show even the most jaded a good time.

Next up was Pat McManus, of Mamas Boys.  He has been playing Celtic rock for over 30 years now and while it wasn't as engaging for me personally it would seem I was in the minority.  Either that or I was just too knackered to really get to grips with it, so I listened from a corner table and allowed the music to wash over me.  Kind of soothing really, with polish and flair, and the occasional outbreak of fiddle-playing.  Plenty of people were up on their feet and loving every minute, and that's the main thing - and it was a good performance.  Just not for me right at that moment.

On to Dear Superstar.  One of the new wave of sleaze metal monsters in the UK looking to challenge the Scandinavian supremacy of the genre, Manchester's Dear Superstar have been touring hard playing alongside some big names and building their own reputation into the bargain.  There were a few technical issues which disrupted the flow of the set slightly, something that most bands on stage two suffered on Saturday, but their brand of aggressive sleaze is definitely on the metal side and pretty damn awesome too.

And then, a legend came among us.  I have to thank whatever it was resulted in Ace Frehley breaking his wrist - I hadn't been all that bothered about seeing him to be honest.  When Ace dropped out with only a few days to go before HRH V, Jonni had to pull out all the stops to plug the gap and he did us proud.  Michael Monroe was moved up to the Saturday headline slot, The Quireboys took his original space on mainstage, and that left a vacancy on stage two into which stepped the ever amazing Tyla and the Dogs D'amour.

This guy is ridiculously prolific.  To mark his 50th birthday this year he has put out his 37th album Quinquaginta (which I recently reviewed for Black Velvet magazine - see next issue) and is embarking on a short tour, starting tonight in Islington.  There was a slightly delayed start, down to the technical troubles again, then it was a party.  With 37 albums under his belt Tyla has a lot of great music to choose from so there were the likes of The Last Bandit and No Gypsy Blood alongside some from the new album such as Story of Our Life.  It was a fantastic set, and utterly brilliant to get him as a last minute addition.

At this point I took a tactical break for some food, thereby missing most of Reckless Love.  They clearly had pulled in a good and admiring crowd who were going wild for the Finns as I returned for the last couple of tracks.  Pretty decent stuff and a good performance from what I heard.  One thing that struck me, though, was it was all so safe.  Yes, they're sleaze rockers, but aside from the standard lyrics about partying and sex that go with the genre the music itself was a bit light and poppy.  Anyway, as I say I only caught the last couple of songs, maybe there had been something with a bit more edge to it earlier on.

For edge, we needed Crashdiet.  And, man, did they deliver!  I heard a girl behind me, one song in, saying they weren't as good as Reckless Love, but to me that's like comparing Poison and Motley Crue.  Sure, Poison are a good time band, but given the choice it's the Crue all the way for me, and the same applies here.  The Swedes are truly awesome.  Sleaze with a punk side, they are magnificently, snarlingly, high octane performers.  The one unfortunate thing was their set clashed with The Quireboys signing session, but since I would be getting the chance to drool over Spike later in the evening I stayed put for one of the highlights of the weekend.  Breaking the Chains, Generation Wild, Riot In Everyone - the list goes on.  Fantastic set, brilliant performance, and one I would not have wanted to miss.

The Rocket Dolls from Brighton closed out the glam and sleaze session on stage two, which was unfortunate for them because that was clearly the point that people opted to get food before the evening's mayhem began properly.  A small but enthusiastic crowd remained for their set, and they seem like decent enough player.  It's just that following Crashdiet it seemed like a bit of a comedown.

Tactical planning meant a move to main stage for Orange Goblin.  I will fully admit that this was purely to get a good position for The Quireboys and Michael Monroe (it worked too!) and that the veteran metallers were not entirely to my taste, but it was a damn fine performance and greeted enthusiastically by the if not quite well-oiled but getting there crowd.  Orange Goblin have a new album due out next February so they showcased a few from that which went down really well.

And then there were The Quireboys.  And everyone went mental.  What I love about Spike and the guys is that from the moment they come on stage and Spike announces "This is Rock and Roll" you are guaranteed a good time.  No matter how many times I have seen them I have yet to witness a duff performance.  They have a new album due out next year too so played one of the new tracks Mother Mary alongside old favourites like Hey You, Roses and Rings, and rounded off the set with 7 O'Clock, much to the disappointment of the woman beside me who had been hoping for the usual encore finale Sex Party.  Spike is always completely drool-worthy (excuse my fan-girl moment) and tonight was no exception.  However, either my ears were really going funny by this stage or there was something going wrong with the sound - could have been me, things were sounding fuzzy by that point.

An hour of The Quireboys is not long enough, but that was all we had before the explosion of energy that is Michael Monroe.  Seriously, I don't know how he does it - he never stands still, it's high kicks, splits, climbing the lighting rig, swinging around the mic stand (there seemed to be a roadie on permanent standby to untangle the lead) and being restrained by security from leaping headfirst into the crowd on several occasions.  World class performer, and winner of this year's Best Album award from Classic Rock too.  The set was mainly based on Sensory Overdrive as you would expect, so Trick of the Wrist, '78, and Superpowered Superfly among others, but there was also a quick trip to Mystery City for the Hanoi diehards.  Absolutely killer.

At this point I headed back to the chalet, but my roommate tells me that Black Stone Cherry were awesome, even if she did get an elbow to the temple from an overenthusiastic fan at the end of the set.  She also got me a souvenir from The Quireboys' set - lyrics to the new song Mother Mary.  Woohoo!

So thanks once again to whatever caused Ace's broken wrist.  I for one didn't miss him and getting Tyla, Crashdiet, The Quireboys and Michael Monroe in one day was worth the ticket price for the whole festival for me.  And that's it for another year.  My ticket is booked for 2012 but for now I need breakfast and to pack before heading home.  Thanks to Jonni, Fleur and all the HRH team for organising a great three days, and I am looking forward to the four day festival next year.

Yesterday morning I spent battling a headache, today I'm waiting for the hearing in my right ear to return.  I'm blaming Ginger Wildheart and Therapy? entirely for the latter, but no worries, experience tells me it will be back to normal in a day or so.

The headache meant I didn't venture out until mid-afternoon which did at least have the advantage of allowing me a late lunch so I didn't have to miss anything I wanted to see later on when I went in search of food.  Started off in the Queen Vic again, where I caught the last few songs by Velvet Star.  Their mix of glam and punk was a great way to kick off my musical day so I was feeling pretty energized by the time I headed next door to stage two.

Kobra and the Lotus totally blew me away.  A five-piece from Canada, they are a metal powerhouse, and Kobra Paige has one of the most incredible voices I've heard.  She has real power in her vocals, extraordinary stage presence and looks bloody good too.  Their second album will be out next year and the set was largely based around the new songs.  Judging from the likes of Welcome to my Funeral this is a must buy for all metalheads out there.  They also threw in a tribute to Ronnie James Dio which went down well with the crowd.

It was unfortunate line up positioning for Obsessive Compulsive though.  The female-fronted Manchester foursome just could not compare and while it seems a bit harsh to judge based on Kobra and the Lotus, when they were on just a short stage change before it's hard not to.  Obsessive Compulsive are more punk in sound and attitude than metal, and while they're reasonable enough it just wasn't really doing it for me.  The contrast was too much - Kelii doesn't have as powerful a voice, for example, so her style is more like shouting.

Took a break for a smoke and a drink and returned to stage two for Million Dollar Reload.  Always good value, the guys put on an energy-filled show.  They've been on the road a lot in the last couple of years and it really shows in their live performance.  And they have the songs to go with it.  If you haven't already, do try and catch them live sometime.  Million Dollar Reload are bound to be somewhere near you soon.

Voodoo Six put themselves about a bit too, and have garnered quite a number of devoted fans.  Bass player and pretty much band leader Tony Newton is flamboyant and dominates the stage.  Singer Luke Purdie is hardly background, having as he does a great set of pipes, but Newton really likes to get up front and eyeball the crowd.  Completed by Chris Jones and Matt Pearce - two guitar monsters - and Joe Lazarus pounding out the rhythms on the drums, it was a great set and clearly much appreciated by the crowd.

Sadly I had to skip Voodoo Johnson in order to bag a place at the front of main stage.  This did mean, however, that I caught the end of Wolfsbane.  Always a pleasure.  Blaze Bayley and the lads are currently set on saving the world with their latest album but for the tail end of the set I got some old favourites like Man Hunt and Paint The Town Red.  


So, to one of the guys responsible for my current temporary hearing loss.  Ginger Wildheart is both looking and sounding really good.  Joined by Jon Poole, Rich Jones and Denzil last night, he's off on a flying visit to Helsinki before returning to these shores for a ten date tour - and I would advise you to get along to a show if you can.  Last night Ginger announced he was taking a break from the road for a while after the London shows so don't miss this chance.  Not much chat but he did share a bottle of wine with the crowd and proceeded to belt out a great set including some Wildhearts favourites like Suckerpunch and rounded things off nicely with I Wanna Go Where the People Go.  For a performance like that I can forgive the effect on my ears.

Sadly the clash meant I only caught the last track of Exit State's set.  Judging by that, though, they were on fine form, and having seen them before I know these guys are great live performers.  I hope to catch the full show again sometime in the near future.

Not being terribly fussed about Magnum, I opted to give my feet a rest and stayed with stage two for part of Vega's performance.  Good bit of British melodic rock, although since they were competing with Magnum they didn't have quite the crowd they deserve.

And finally, for me at any rate, Therapy?  God, they're good.  And very hard to pin down - as a threepiece with a lot of stage space for Andy Cairns and Michael McKeegan to play with they just don't stop.  Very bouncy too, which about half way through the set was causing me a bit of concern as the stage under McKeegan's feet did not seem to be taking it well.  There was a definite gap appearing with each bounce so, knowing how much Michael Monroe leaps around the stage, I hope it has been looked at before tonight.  Neil Cooper was doing sterling work on the drums, and with a set laden with classics like opener Trigger Inside, Die Laughing, Die Like a Motherfucker and Teethgrinder it was always going to be a blast.

So, ears ringing, I headed off into the night.  Saturday is going to be my top day, unless several of my favourite bands unexpectedly put in sub-par performances, but Friday was pretty damn good.

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.