24/7/2010 High Voltage Festival - Part 1

Subject	High Voltage Festival - Part 1
PostedDate	7/24/2010
	Not being able to blag any festivals for free this year, and with dwindling funds I have decided I can only go to one major festival this summer. Download and Sonisphere both feature bands I would really like to see - as well as a load of 'kiddie-metal/Kerrang! type bands that I wouldn't cross the street to see. Both are also really expensive weekends that I can't really justify at the moment. Being stung for £20 just to park my car in a field well over a mile from the Sonisphere campsite last year definitely influenced my decision to give it a miss this year. However, a brand new rock festival has appeared this year - and it's in London so no camping required, and I can get there easily by public transport. Even better - a weekend ticket for High Voltage is a hell of a lot less than a camping ticket for Download or Sonisphere. Plus it's a really strong classic rock bill with a far higher percentage of bands I want to see on the bill compared to the other festivals - and no kiddie-metal! And so, on Saturday I find myself heading to Victoria Park - not the one in Barnet unfortunately, the one in Hackney. Black Spiders are playing on the Mental Hamster Stage as I arrive and are going down a storm. The band later claim to have been struggling a bit as they aren't used to playing in sunlight, but I've never heard them sound so good. Unfortunately, watching til the end of the Black Spiders set means I miss most of the The Union's set - one of the very few clashes between bands I want to see on different stages over the weekend. I've only heard a couple of songs previously from this new band formed by ex-Thunder guitarist Luke Morely and Silvertide's Pete Shoulder - the ones they've given away as free downloads. I really liked those songs so was looking forward to seeing the band live. However, I was a bit underwhelmed by what I saw of them and I can't quite put my finger on why - I guess I was disappointed I missed seeing them play 'Step Up To The Plate'. There are a few interesting things to see as I wander round the festival site - such as this modified Westland Whirlwind helicopter. I'm not exactly sure what the point of this is or why it's there - there don't seem to be any signs saying what it's all about, but it's an interesting curiosity to look at so maybe that's all it's there for. Among the other things you don't normally see at a rock festival are exhibitions by classic car and motorcycle clubs, and London's famous rocker hangout the Ace Cafe. I'm quite impressed by the general site layout - no shortage of toilets or bars scattered around, and plenty of trees and shady areas to shelter from the sun should you so want. There is a huge variety of different food on offer - none of it cheap, but definitely things to suit every taste. It cost me £6 for a burger with everything on, but it was so big it took me half an hour to eat it! It would have been nice if it was properly cooked though - not burnt on the outside and still pink in the middle. Planet Rock had been plugging the fact that where was supposed to be a special 'Real Ale Pub' on site - which was great news to me! However, extensive searching revealed to sign of such an establishment. After grabbing a few drinks from various sources between bands I eventually discovered a hastily handwritten sign at one of the beer tents 'advertising' real ale. By the time I'd finished the drink I already had and went back to sample said beverage it was sold out! I was less than impressed by this. However, apart from that cock-up the bar set-up at the festival seemed well organised with little or no queuing. It wasn't cheap at £4 a pint or can of beer or cider, but that's pretty much what you pay at any major festival thse days. One thing worth noting - most the bars only serve cans at £4 - which gives you less than a pint. You can avoid any queuing by buying a full pint from one of the mobile blokes dispensing beer or cider from large containers on their back - a very good idea! This is particularly handy as they mingle with the crowd all over the site and near the stages so you can actually get a beer while watching the bands. The next band I see is The Answer. This band have spent a lot of time over the past year or so on tour supporting AC/DC - they've come a long way since I saw them a few years ago supporting Planet Of Women in a tiny pub in Brixton! They were a very good live band even back then, and now two albums and a lot of radio airplay later they are even better. Another site to see as you wander round the site is the Eagle Vision Cinema. I found this well worth a visit as not only was there a bar inside, but I also found a great film showing featuring a vintage Chuck Berry festival performance! This was an excellent way to pass a little time while waiting for guitar legend Gary Moore to start his set. Needless to say, Gary played a blinder. No Thin Lizzy songs, but the usual stuff you'd expect from him including 'Empty Rooms', 'Out In The Fields' and a smattering of songs from his blues albums. Next up is Foreigner - not a band you often get a chance to see in the UK these days. I've never seen this band before, but was impressed enough by their new songs to buy their latest album 'Can't Slow Down'. This came with a live DVD showcasing the current lineup of the band - which really whetted my appetite to see them. Foreigner may appear a bit AOR, but their set turned out to be one of the highlights of the whole weekend. Guitarist Mick Jones is now the only remaining original member of what has now become 'his' band. Now the sole Englishman in this Anglo-American band he is the most unlikely looking 'guitar hero'! He can certainly play though - even though he looks like he'd be more at home playing covers in your local pub! You can hardly imagine a less 'rock 'n' roll' looking guy in a major rock band - I can only guess that he doesn't give a shit. Well he's been a major player in one of the world's biggest late 70's/80's rock bands and had plenty of hit singles and albums, and reaped the financial rewards - once you've done all that I suppose you don't need to worry about looking cool anymore. Anyway, he can leave all that to the band's current singer who does a very good job of being a Steven Tyler lookalike - but is actually a much better singer than the Aerosmith frontman. Kelly Hansen also does a very good vocal impression of previous singer Lou Gramm. Mick Jones has actually assembled a shit-hot band around himself - apart from the drummer this is the same lineup that can be seen and heard on the band's current album/DVD. As far as I'm concerned, the highlight of the set was the amazing sax solo on 'Urgent' - played by 2nd guitarist Tom Gimbel - he can really play that thing! I also particularly loved 'Juke Box Hero'. I was surprised the title track from the band's current album was the only one they played. Otherwise, it was a 'greatest hits' set as you'd imagine. I was a little disappointed they didn't play 'Women', but apart from that and 'Ready' from the latest album they played everything I wanted to hear. The only bit of the set I wasn't keen on was the encore of the token soppy ballad 'I Want To Know What Love Is' - for which they wheeled on a large choir to provide backing vocals. This had me heading off to catch the rest of Saxon's set over on the Mental Hamster stage... Saxon/Foreigner was the only other band/stage clash of the day for me. I went with Foreigner as a chance to see them is so rare, whereas I saw Saxon at Sonisphere last year, as well as a couple of other times with Motorhead/Girlschool over the past few years. I only got to see two or three songs from Saxon on this occasion, but I'm glad one of them was the classic 'Wheels Of Steel' along with their anthem 'Denin and Leather'. I'm not sure if the lineup has changed since last summer, but from what little I saw this time I thought they were really good and better than last year. A much vaunted highlight of the weekend was the Heaven & Hell tribute to the late great Ronnie James Dio. I was really looking forward to this, but I found it a bit of an anti-climax. Don't get me wrong - it was pretty good, but there seemed to be something missing - and not just Dio himself. Such was this man's presence that it took not one but two men to replace him for this show - and even then they couldn't fill the void he leaves. Vocal duties for the first few songs were taken by Norwegian singer Jorn Lande from power metal band Masterplan. He did a good job and at moments did actually sound like the great one time Sabbath and Rainbow frontman. After a while a more obvious singer is introduced - Glenn Hughes. He too does a good job, although he looks a little weird. A touching moment is when Wendy Dio is introduced to the crowd. She makes a short speech to thank everyone, and to publicise the new charity she has set up in her late husband's name - the Ronnie James Dio 'Stand Up And Shout' Cancer Fund. A less respectful moment ocurred later when as Lande and Hughes were paying tribute to Mr Dio at the end of the set there was an unplanned (and unwelcome) one man stage invasion from Phil Anselmo who tried to gee-up the crowd in what looked to me like an attention seeking moment. Ronnie James Dio will be much missed - I am so glad I was lucky enough to see him perform with Heaven & Hell at Sonisphere last year. It was the only time I ever saw him, but it was a great performance that I'll always remember. Thanks for the music Ronnie... As is usually the case at festivals, we have quite a long wait before the headliners take to the stage. It's worth the wait though, as it's not that often you get the chance to see the legendary ZZ Top in the UK. I've loved this band since they released their classic 'Eliminator' album - I still remember how I was blown away by their live performance on the old Channel 4 music show The Tube. I wish I still had that video recording. It wasn't until last year at Wembley that I finally got to see this band live. I have to say I was a bit underwhelmed on that occasion, although I think I was in the minority. I'm afraid I have to say much the same about this performance. I can't really fault the 'greatest hits' setlist, but the band just doesn't have that much charisma or stage presence compared to other big acts like AC/DC, KISS, or even Foreigner. It's not that they don't play well, it's just that there seems to be some vital spark lacking. They played most of the songs I wanted to hear, but they just didn't really excite me until the last two songs of the set - which I though were terrific. It's difficult to put my finger on what it was that was wrong, but the aside from the vocals and Billy Gibbons guitar the sound seemed dull and muddy compared to every other band I saw other the weekend. It shouldn't be like that for a headline band. I'm sure I am very much in the minority again, but I just wasn't very impressed - even though I really wanted to be. I found something lacking. I remember reading somewhere about someone who went to a ZZ Top show in America saying the band stopped playing mid-song at one point and appeared to start having an argument - but the music carried on playing! Now I'm damn sure the vocals and Billy Gibbons guitar were all live tonight, but the rest (particularly the drums) sounded very dull and lacklustre - I thought Frank Beard looked quite dissinterested and like he was just going through the motions. Like I said, I am probably very much in the minority on this... It took me two hours to get home - quite a bit of which was just trying to get from the festival site to the tube station - a distance that was only a 20 minute walk when I arrived. How can it take so long just to get from East London to North London. Oh well, at least I get to shower and sleep in my own bed before another day at the festival tomorrow...