24/7/2011 High Voltage festival - Day 2

Subject	High Voltage - Day 2
DateCreated	8/18/2011 4:05:00 PM
PostedDate	8/20/2011 12:26:00 AM
	So, refreshed after a night in my own bed I return for day 2 of the High Voltage festival. So far so good - some great bands, plenty of real ale - and unlike Glastonbury, Download, and Sonisphere this year not a drop of rain has fallen. In spite of all the rain in the previous week yesterday was warm and mostly sunny. There's no mud either, and the rain in the previous few days has also presented Hackney's Victoria Park from turning into a dustbowl. Today isn't so sunny, but it's warm and dry so I'm happy to settle for that. I think Saturday's bill was stronger, but there is enough of interest on today's bill to make it worth parting with the extra money for a weekend ticket. Things kick off on the Main Stage with Heaven's Basement. This band have changed so much in both sound and image since I first saw them in their days as Hurricane Party that they are totally unrecognisable. Not only has the band's image changed completely, but I think along with their look, every single member of the original band has now departed - along with all their old songs. I think the last original member left last year, along with the last trace of the band's retro image and big '80's hair. The band changed their name to Roadstar for a while, before reinventing themselves yet again as Heaven's Basement. They seem to be aiming themselves at the teenage girl market with the more 'emo' look they have these days, but they still sound more like a hard rock band - even if no longer a 1980's one. Whatever they call themselves or look like these days, Heaven's Basement are still a pretty good live band. Polished and professional, they have all the shapes and moves - but the songs aren't as strong as they were in the band's earlier incarnations. Staying with the Main Stage, the next band have a much more unashamed retro look and sound - harking back to even earlier times than the first days of HurricaneStarBasement. Saint Jude take their cue very much from the 1960's and early '70's. Imagine Janis Joplin singing with The Faces and you're in the right ball park - although I'd say the band sound virtually identical to how The Quireboys sound these days - but of course they were always just a 1980's version of The Faces anyway. Saint Jude certainly seem to draw quite a crowd today - no doubt helped by airplay on Planet Rock over the past few months. Unlike the young upstarts on this stage less than an hour ago, this lot have a Stones/Faces swagger and swing - which is probably why Ronnie Wood joined them onstage for a song or two at the 100 Club not so long ago. Lynne Jackaman and the band give a tight and confident performance - not surprising as they are fast becoming seasoned festival performers. After not straying far from the main stage yesterday where all the bands I wanted to see were conveniently playing, today I have to move about more. Fortunately, the festival site is well laid out and it's easy to move around between stages and the various other attractions. Now although I generally approve of preserving the old traditions of my country, I've always found Morris Dancers to be a bit creepy and never really cared for all that old 'Hey-nonney-no' bollocks. Now some Goth types have taken it on themselves to re-invent Morris Dancing as a 'Black Art' - as you can see here: Now if someone had told me about this beforehand then I'd probably have thought it sounded like a good idea. I don't think traditional Morris Dancing is actually supposed to be creepy, although I think this lot are trying to deliberately make it sinister.  It has the potential to genuinely be so if done in the right way, but I found this totally unconvincing. The 'Glam' touch of adding sequins to the costumes completely ruins the whole effect.  Passing some of the more interesting attractions like the Ace Cafe display of custom cars and motorcycles, I arrive at the Metal Hammer Stage. I was intrigued beforehand by the name and logo of Gentlemans Pistols but hadn't heard any of their music. Maybe I was expecting a bunch of metallic Dandy Highwaymen or something, but what I saw and heard was very similar to the Black Spiders, but with maybe less heavy-duty rifferama and a higher boogie quotient. Certainly not bad at what they do, but not much to make them stand out from the crowd. Next I have a quick diversion to the Prog Stage. I managed to completely avoid this stage yesterday, and all weekend at last year's festival. I am curious to see Curved Air though - even though I can only name one of their songs. That song is 'Backstreet Luv' and fortunately they are playing it when I arrive towards the end of their set. It sounds good, but then they go into an instrumental to end their set and my interest drifts away. I assume from the ages of those on stage that this is around half the original band and half younger newcomers. Sonja Kristina still sounds good though. Next it's back to the Main Stage for the mighty Thunder. This is the second 'Final' show I've seen from them - the previous one being at Sonisphere two years ago. Thunder never got as big as they deserved to be, and were never considered 'cool' or fashionable by the media. Their music was obviously influenced by AC/DC and Led Zeppelin, without sounding like they were copying either band - neither of whom were considered 'cool' at the time. They never followed trends or tried to fit into any scene - they just concentrated on writing good songs and being a good band, but they actually wrote some truly great songs and were a fine live band. They still are. As far as I'm concerned this was the best set of the day - by far. This was for two reasons: 1. They had easily the best songs. 2. Danny Bowes. He might not look much like a rock star, but he has a good set of pipes on him - he is also a brilliant frontman! He was highly entertaining, full of banter, and had the crowd eating out of his hand. Thunder's set was definitely the highlight of the day for me - and judging by the huge crowd's reaction it was the same for many of them too. They were simply outstanding. I look forward to their next 'final' show.  PS: It now looks like Thunder will be playing a 'Christmas Show' this year. Nottingham Rock City? Unfortunately, due to a few time clashes on different stages I had to miss parts of the sets of bands I wanted to see today. After Thunder's triumphant set I rushed over to the Mental Hamster Stage to catch the end of Black Spiders. They were excellent as usual - or at least the one song I managed to catch was. More beer and back to the Main Stage to catch most of Black Country Communion. I was looking forward to checking this lot out for the first time. On paper they are a promising supergroup, but what I've heard on the radio to date hasn't quite hit the spot with me. Glenn Hughes is a great bass player, but his screaming grates with me.  Joe Bonamassa is a terrific guitarist and it's good to see him able in this band to cut loose from his blues straightjacket and really rock out - and he looks like he's really enjoying being able to do so.  Jason Bonham is no slouch on the drums either. Although this is supposed to be a 'band', a lot of the time it does seem like the 'Glenn Hughes Show'. He is a good frontman and has great stage presence, but I find his voice a bit wearing - if only he wouldn't scream so much. The 'Voice of Rock'? Not as far as I'm concerned. It gets a bit deja-vu at times as I saw both Glenn Hughes and Joe Bonamassa on this same stage at last year's High Voltage - Joe's set last year was a definite highlight of the whole weekend. For a band who have just released their second album, they don't seem to have many good songs of their own - otherwise why pad a mere hour's set out with two Deep Purple songs, and one from one of Joe's solo albums? Like with Rival Sons set yesterday, I was a little underwhelmed after the hype. Like with last year's High Voltage, the final day seemed to turn into a bit of a Prog-fest towards the end. A year ago E.L.P. had me heading home early - this year it's Dream Theatre and Jethro Tull. The 'Evil' (not) Morris Dancers were enough 'Hey-nonney-no' for me for one day - the threat of an old bloke in tights standing on one leg playing a flute had me heading for the exit while it was still broad daylight!  One major bonus of this was that's it's so much easier and quicker getting back to the tube station when thousands of other people aren't doing the same thing at the same time. I found the second ever High Voltage festival a very enjoyable two days and great value for money compared to the other major festivals. Apart from the official merch prices - at £22 for a T-shirt they can fuck off!  I didn't think the bill was as strong as last years, but particularly as they had actually reduced the ticket price this year I thought it was well worth it. It seemed very well organised overall, and they had definitely taken on board some of the criticisms of last year and made improvements - particularly in regard of real ale supplies!  There's still room for improvement, but if they can make it as good next year I'll be back.

PS: There hasn't been a High Voltage festival since 2011..