23/7/2011 High Voltage festival - Day 1

Subject	High Voltage - Day 1
DateCreated	8/13/2011 7:47:00 PM
PostedDate	8/20/2011 12:31:00 AM
	After months of waiting, the High Voltage festival has finally arrived. I've decided this is the only festival I'll be going to this year - I'm not paying hundreds of pounds to camp in sites that come to resemble a war zone over the course of a weekend, get ripped off £20 for parking in a field miles (literally) away from the campsite and have to carry camping kit and provisions all that distance from my car, and put up with hundreds of drunken brats being a pain in the arse, falling on my tent when I am trying to sleep, etc.  Compared to Download and Sonisphere High Voltage wins hands down in my book. For a start a weekend ticket is less than half the price, and I can go home on the tube instead of having to put up with campsite conditions. Also, the ratio of bands I actually want to see compared to hyped up shit I wouldn't cross the street to see is far higher. And not only is there real ale for the second year running - there is actually a beer festival on site. It ticks all the boxes.  Like the first ever High Voltage festival last year, the initial few bands announced on the bill didn't tempt me enough to part with my cash, but as more and more bands I was interested in seeing were added I eventually bought a ticket. I still don't think the bill is as strong as last year, but there are a lot of bands playing over the two days that I want to see. OK, there are bands I'd really like to see at Download and Sonisphere as well - but at High Voltage I'm not paying to see loads of other crap kiddie-metal Kerrang! hyped bands who I don't want to see. Also, most the bands playing at Sonisphere this year that I like are ones I saw play there two years ago anyway - I don't want to go to the same festival twice! Apart from which, I'll be seeing some of those bands later on this year on their own tours anyway. So after a week of wet weather Saturday arrives dry, warm, and at times sunny. This is a good start.  My arrival coincides with Michael Monroe's arrival on stage. The ex-Hanoi Rocks frontman turns in a high energy set unusually light on songs from his former band and heavy on material from his current 'Sensory Overdrive' album - with only 30 minutes to play with at this festival show he has to leave a lot of songs out from his normal headline set. Michael has a good band behind him, including his old Hanoi bandmate Sammi Yaffa on bass along with former New York Doll Steve Conte on guitar. Wildhearts frontman Ginger quit this band recently and his spot has been more than ably filled by Backyard Babies six string demon Dregen - a very popular choice with the fans. Michael Monroe is still one of the best frontmen out there and always throws everything into his performance - climbing over the barriers to meet the crowd, as well as climbing up the stage rigging. All too soon the set is over, and I head off in search of real ale before the next band is on - like last year it takes a while to find it among the various bars on site... Eventually, after the Beerhunter has tracked down the elusive real ale it's time for the next band. A blast from the past - the 80's in fact. It's the fairly recently reformed Skin. Maybe not so much hair these days, but still plenty of cracking tunes! The band play really well and sound terrific, and although they aren't one of the biggest names on today's bill they certainly have a lot of the best songs. Unlike the way things normally go at big multi-stage festivals and all the inevitable stage time clashes of bands I want to see - today works out really well for me: ALL the acts I want to see are on the same stage - I don't need to go anywhere near the Prog or Metal Hammer stages all day. In fact there's only one band on the main stage on Saturday that I'm not bothered about seeing, but first there's a new band I've been looking forward to checking out. Rival Sons have been getting quite a bit of airplay on Planet Rock over the past few months - and I've liked what I've heard. Nothing very original about them - quite a Led Zep/Black Crowes influence to this band from L.A. along with a trace of stoner groove and southern swagger. I've heard some good reports about their album but have held off buying it to see if their performance at this festival would 'sell' it too me. I'm sorry to say it didn't.  I did like them, but much like Black Stone Cherry and closer to home The Answer there wasn't really anything fresh and new on offer here. I like their style of music and they have some good dynamics going on, but in both their look and their sound there is little to make them stand out from all the other bands doing much the same thing. I was underwhelmed . There is obviously some serious money and management muscle going on behind the scenes to get so much airplay and major festival slots for a band who no-one had heard of six months ago. They are a good band, but not THAT good to justify all the hype. They are pushed as being a very 'organic' and natural sounding band, but their guitarist relies too much on effects for his sound for this to be convincing. I'd like to see them play in a small club with guitars plugged direct into cranked up amps - raw like early AC/DC. Then maybe they could convince me - until then the jury is out as far as I'm concerned. Next up is the ONLY band of the main stage today I'm not bothered about seeing. I've got nothing against Queensryche at all, but they have never had enough songs that really grabbed me although I can see they are a very good band and fine players. This is my chance to grab something to eat as well as a beer or two between bands.  Like the other big festivals, the food and drink onoffer isn't cheap, but I think the quality is definitely higher. Maybe because it isn't so 'corporate'? As well as a wide variety of real ales on offer in the beer festival tent (once you've found it) there is also a terrific selection of food on offer - not cheap, but carnivores to vegans and everyone in between is catered for. I just want a burger of some sort, but there is so much choice. Fed and watered after watching some of Queensryche from afar and then it's time for some of the best classic rock songs ever. I've been a bit dubious about seeing the current version of Thin Lizzy in the past. How can it ever be 'Thin Lizzy' without Phil? People will always argue about this. On one hand some will say this is just a Lizzy tribute band - that happens to contain a couple of genuine ex-Thin Lizzy members. Then again, just because of that it's more 'authentic' than any mere tribute band? One of the reasons I haven't bothered seeing this band before is their tendency to only play seated venues. I'm not so old I want to sit down while watching one of the best ever hard rock bands - it's just not rock 'n' roll is it? OK, so it's not often I dance at gigs, but I like to feel the option is there if I want it. Otherwise it all just seems a bit like 'Chicken-in-a-basket time'. Also, I wasn't too sure about them getting in The Almighty's Ricky Warwick to front the band. I liked The Almighty, and Ricky has the right Celtic heritage for Thin Lizzy, but he's not a bass player and sounds nothing like Phil Lynott in the vocal department. However, in spite of my misgivings I've got to say I thought he did a fine job! Although he was either empty handed or playing either a Les Paul or an acoustic guitar during the set he played with passion, and also great respect for Phil's memory. He certainly won me over. It goes without saying that the current band are terrific musicians, and although Skin had some great songs earlier - this set contained considerably more all time classics than other other band on the bill over the whole weekend. Michael Monroe also joined the band onstage at one point to play sax on 'Dancing In The Moonlight'. It was impossible not to enjoy Thin Lizzy's set simply because they had more great songs than anyone else.  Slash also has a fine back catalogue to pick from, even if he can't come close to matching Thin Lizzy. It's made more interesting by the fact that he has several different bands to choose from. His first proper solo album that he put out a couple of years ago now was possibly my favourite album of the year - it's certainly one of the most interesting to listen to because of the wide variety of different singers. I was sort of hoping that because of this there might be one or two 'special guests' lurking in the wings for this show. Unfortunately there weren't, but guess what? It didn't matter! Myles Kennedy from Alter Bridge sings a few songs on the album, and because of him singing more songs than anyone else Slash has made him the singer in the touring band. To be honest he is one of my least favourite singers on the album. Sure he has a decent voice and knows how to use it, but he sounded a bit thin and weak to me compared to Axl or the other singers who appear on the record - Axl being being almost the only member of (the real) G'N'R not to appear on the album. Myles did a good job of winning me over with his live performance and charisma - I actually much preferred the way he sounded live to on record. It was very unusual to see a 'name' artist play virtually a whole show without saying a word - Slash just 'let the music do the talking' - and it worked.  Obviously some of the songs in the setlist were predictable - 'Paradise City' and 'Sweet Child...' but I wasn't expecting the set to open with Velvet Revolver's 'Slither'. I'd have expected him to save their stuff for the next VRshow - but who know's when THAT will be? Another surprise was 'Haven't Been There Lately' from Snakepit. The lack of 'guest' singersdidn't stop any non-Kennedy songs from the current Slash album appearing - the touring band's bass player stepping up to the plate to take Lemmy's place for an excellent version of 'Doctor Alibi'. It was certainly good to hear Velvet Revolver and Snakepit songs as well as some G'N'R classics, but songs from the current solo album outnumbered them, and I have no complaints there. The High Voltage crowd absolutely loved Slash's set. As is often the case there was the odd 'rock star' lookalike in the crowd - on this occasion a kid dressed up as 'Slash' in the front of the audience got picked up on the cameras for the big screens - 'Mini-Slash' was a big hit with the crowd! I found the whole set thoroughly enjoyable and for me the best act of the day was Slash. And so to Saturday's headliners. This was the first time I'd ever seen metal legends Judas Priest, and as I knew it would probably also be the last I was looking forward to it. It was disappointing to hear a few weeks beforehand that half the band's famous guitar duo had quit the band. I think the departure of long time member K.K.Downing took a lot of people by surprise, and I was certainly sad that I wouldn't be seeing the 'classic' lineup of the band. However, no time had been wasted signing up a new guitarist to partner Glen Tipton. I have to say Richie Faulkner the 'new boy' recruited from well known hard rock/metal covers outfit Metalworks fits in really well and deserves this break after spending years 'paying his dues' playing metal covers in Camden. He certainly looked at ease in his new role and enjoyed a good rapport with the crowd. Needless to say, as this show was part of the band's 'Epitaph' World Tour it was largely a 'Greatest Hits' setlist. Not being a massive fan of the band I'm not familiar with much of their back catalogue anyway so that was OK by me. The inevitable 'Breaking The Law' , 'Living After Midnight', 'Metal Gods' and 'Hell Bent For Leather' plus 'Electric Eye' and 'Victim Of Changes' were enough to keep me happy. I couldn't help but chuckle when Rob Halford rolled onto the stage astride his Harley Davidson as is customary - and I overheard a nearby punter refer to it as his 'Mobility Scooter'! I have to say the 'Metal God' struck me as an odd figure with his frequent costume changes and to me looked a bit out of place. I have to hand it to Rob (ooer missus!) and say that in the vocal department he was still very impressive at what must now be 60+? Many once mighty rock singers like Plant, Gillan, and Coverdale can't these days hit the high notes that they used to manage - but like the much missed Ronnie James Dio, Halford can still do it.  Although they certainly weren't my band of the day Judas Priest managed to turn in a powerful and dramatic set with plenty of 'classics' thrown in - which is what High Voltage is all about.  The only low point in their set for me wasn't their fault - it was during 'Breaking The Law' when some stupid cow decided to start waving a carrier bag in the air as I walked past with a freshly acquired pint of Hobgoblin (tasting much fresher and nicer than normal at this festival) and knocking it flying - virtually a full pint and I ended up wearing most of it! I was less than impressed and told her so. She said she was 'terribly sorry' (which I've no doubt she genuinely was) but it didn't cut much ice with me at the time as by the time I got back to the bar to replace it the bar had shut! As a result I didn't end the Saturday night at the festival in the best of moods, but at least I got home reasonably quickly on the tube and slept in my own bed instead of enduring the horrors of a campsite. All in all a good day out overall.