25/7/2010 High Voltage Festival - Part 2

Subject	High Voltage Festival - Part 2
PostedDate	7/25/2010
	My day gets off to a promising start when I crack open an egg for my breakfast fry-up and find it has two yolks inside. This is supposed to be lucky - right? Or maybe not... I arrive at the station with a couple of minutes to spare before my train is due - having carefully planned my journey beforehand to ensure I arrived at the second day of the High Voltage festival in time to catch the Quireboys. Or so I thought. There are no bloody trains for another couple of hours - due to engineering work.  It would be nice if they had mentioned this before.  No notices, nothing on the electronic indicator board, nothing on the Transport For London email I received which is supposed to mention this sort of thing.  So I have a 25 minute walk back in the direction I came from to the tube station. And of course the tube trains are much slower and stop every couple of miles. So I eventually arrive at the festival in time to see the last two songs of the Quireboys set - no thanks to First Crapital Connect/Railtrack or whoever is responsible. This is particularly annoying as there were one of the bands I was most looking forward to seeing. What little I see of the Quireboys set was pretty good - I arrived just in time to see Spike introduce founder member Guy Bailey as a special guest - rather surprisingly sporting a Flying V guitar! Spike makes a point of geeing the crowd up for UFO who are on next... I was looking forward to UFO as I'd never seen them before, and they've got a few classic songs I like. However, like myself UFO are not having a good start to their day.  The first song goes OK, then lead guitarist Vinnie Moore decides it's necessary to change guitars for the next song - and it's all downhill from there. A few seconds into the second song his guitar or amp packs up! There is much frantic activity onstage with roadies running round trying to sort out the problem. Lots of fiddling around is going on behind Vinnie's amp stack. Eventually they think it's fixed and Vinnie starts the intro to the next song as he walks to the front of the stage - and his guitar cuts out again. This gets repeated another two times - with the same result. The crowd are getting restless. Phil Mogg is getting pissed off as well - "This is good gear.." he says, sarcastically pointing towards the ENGL stacks "...If you're in a shop check it out!" All this goes on for about ten minutes. Phil is pissed off, Vinnie is pissed off, WE are pissed off.  No one on stage seems to have a clue what the problem is. Vinnie makes out he's going to smash his guitar on the stage - I'm wishing he would! I'm thinking 'If he had a Les Paul and a Marshall stack I bet everything would be working!' Nobody seems to think of just trying the guitar which worked fine for the previous song. Obviously they've never heard the saying 'If it ain't broke - don't fix it!'. I can't help remembering that last night I saw Billy Gibbons play the same guitar on every song for 40 minutes before changing guitars... Phil tries to keep us entertained: "See on the other side of that road over there? That's where I went to school! And over there on the other side of the park - I was born in Bethnal Green Hospital!" Eventually, after a good ten minutes the problem is sorted out and Vinnie finally has a guitar which actually works for more than a few seconds and the show goes on. We get one or two new songs, which Phil doesn't think are that well recieved - so he announces they are going back to the old classics and they launch into 'Rock Bottom'. What with all the technical problems, and some overlong solos Phil Mogg spends quite a large part of the show with nothing much to do - he struggles not to look bored. Of course we get 'Lights Out' and 'Doctor Doctor' as well. I get the songs I've been waiting to hear, but I don't think they sound very good. Like with ZZ Top yesterday I'm probably in the minority, but I really don't think UFO sound good at all - in fact I'd say (of the bands I heard) they are the least good band of the weekend. Next we get something a bit on the rare side: Bachman & Turner - Overdrive being conspicuous by it's absence - for legal reasons I think. This lot sound pretty good (apart from croaky vocals like Billy Gibbons last night) and a lot more polished and professional than UFO, with a Les Paul guitar that works! I'm half expecting them to be introduced by 'Smashie and Nicey' with "Let's ROCK!". The duo on stage are actually aware of how Harry Enfield helped raise their profile over here a few years back. Naturally we get to hear that song, and I'm really pleased they also play 'Taking Care Of Buisiness' - one of the best songs anybody plays all day! Next is someone I've been particularly interested in seeing. Until I got a DAB radio two or three years ago and discovered Planet Rock, I'd never even heard of Joe Bonamassa. Then on the radio came this name this unfamiliar song which blew me away. It was a slow bluesy number called 'Sloe Gin'. I hear it a few times on the radio before I found out who the artist was. Then they started playing songs from his new (at the time) album 'The Ballad Of John Henry'. I had to buy the album. Then I had to get his previous one 'Sloe Gin' and the new one 'Black Rock'. This is the first time I've seen Joe Bonamassa live, so I wasn't sure quite what to expect, although I knew he had build up quite a reputation as a live performer. My main impression of this show? WOW! He opened the set with 'John Henry' and straight away had the audience in the palm of his hand. He is much more of a showman than I was expecting - especially as he's wearing a suit. Really though, it's the music which does the talking. Bluesey, at times heavy (which a noticable Zep influence) and the odd moment of seld indulgence - which is soon forgotten when he hits you with a moment of brilliance. Seeing that Joe endorses Gibson guitars and even has his own signature Les Paul model - I was surprised to see other makes of guitar being used - particularly as his (highly recommended) radio show on Planet Rock often contains remarks like "Gibson - is there any other make of guitar?" He's got a pretty good band too, but they tend to stay out of the limelight. Most of the songs I want to hear get an airing - apart from 'Jockey Full Of Bourbon' (a Tom Waits cover) with it's atmospheric bar-room piano intro. Naturally we get 'Sloe Gin' (another cover) which is a real show stopper, and 'Blue And Evil' (an original) from his current album. This was a spellbinding performance, which did actually feature several Gibson guitars including an unexpected Flying V, and inventive use of a theramin. Joe Bonamassa's set was easily one of the highlights of the whole weekend for me. I think the next act was billed a bit higher than neccessary on the bill (probably because of their special guest) and was a definite anti-climax after Joe Bonamassa. I had been looking forward to hearing Joe Elliot's new side project the Down 'n' Outz though, and had liked what I'd heard on the radio. Like Joe Bonamassa, the Def Leppard frontman also currently has his own weekly show on Planet Rock - which seems like a thinly veiled way to promote his new band's 'My Regeneration' album as the radio show and album share the same title. And guess what? He plays some Down 'n' Outz songs on the show too! Still, Alice Cooper and Joey B. can get away with it so... Actually, Joe Elliot's radio show has some pretty good and rarely played stuff on it and is well worth a listen. Anyway, the Down 'n' Outs show gets off to a rather slow start with Joe playing a long piano intro to a oddly plodding song to start a rock set with. Things pick up for the next song when he shows hidden depths and straps on a guitar. I had no idea the Def Leppard singer played keyboards or guitar! If some of the band members look familiar - it's because three members of Joe's band have already been on this stage once today, as they are also in the Quireboys! It has to be said, the Quireboys had better songs in their set than the Down 'n' Outz collection of Ian Hunter and Mott The Hoople obscurities - although I have to say I think their 'Overnight Angels' is a great song and I expect I'll buy their new album. One song that was probably familiar to most people present was Ian Hunter's 'England (or Cleveland) Rocks' - I was surprised this great song didn't get more of a reaction with it's sing-a-long chorus.  Towards the end of the set Joe introduces their special guest - rock legend Ian Hunter, accompanied by his guitarist/producer of the last ten years. Of course, they play 'Once Bitten...' which makes it all worthwhile for me. At the end of the song the band's stage time appears to be up - even though Ian Hunter is being given another guitar to play. At this point the people in charge of the stage decide time has run out, although the band are obviously prepared to carry on. There appears to be a bit of a scuffle and they are bundled off stage to make way for the headliners ELP. The Sun 'newspaper' subsequently reports this incident as a 30 man onstage brawl - which is complete bollocks!  As the only acts left to play on the main and 'Prog' stages are ELP and Marilion and I don't like prog at the best of times I decide to take my leave while it's still light. As I head toward the exit I hear some racket still coming from the Metal Hammer Satage. Down are still playing and as I pass I hear Phil Anselmo talking what sounds like complete drunken bollocks between songs. Situation normal then.  I keep walking... Leaving the festival a couple of hours early proves to be a smart move. It's easier walking through the trees in the park in daylight being able to properly see where I'm going or might be treading in. Also, the walk to the station is much much quicker without thousands of other people all going the same way down the same road at the same time. And the train isn't packed. The only down side is that I'm too early to buy a pirate festival T-shirt from the dodgy blokes outside. On the festival website it said official T-shirts on site would be a not too outrageous £15. I was thinking of buying one, but they were selling them for £20 on the day so I decided they could stick them up their arse and I'd get one for a tenner outside - should have got one on the way home yesterday instead... I was home before ten o'clock - result! I thought overall it was a very good festival - well organised, with a great bill, and much better value for money than Download or Sonisphere. It seemed well organised overall - expecially as it the first year the High Voltage festival has been held. There were a few teething troubles, like poor privacy between the sexes in the urinal area of the toilets, and the major cock-ups regarding the much vaunted (but non-existant) on-site 'Real Ale Pub' and the massive under-estimation of demand for said beverage. That said, if the quality of the bill is as good next year I'll definitely be buying a ticket.