So
after dawn broke and the revellers rose from their stupors, many didn’t even
sober up I suspect, the big news of the day was the backing tape saga. Everyone
had an opinion, and I’m a big HEAT fan (‘twas my melodic rock album of 2014),
but I’m vehemently against any form of added bonus content for want of a better
word. It will play out over the course of the coming days I guess…
So,
brekkie was had, coffee and tea was drunk at the excellent facilities that
HRH/Haven had to offer. Album browsing at the metal market(vinyl was bought)
and a bit more Doom was taken in – I’ve come to the decision that I don’t particularly
like Doom!
I
missed the first couple of songs by opening act Euphoria Audio. I was looking
forward to this UK outfit. They come across as the type of music that makes
your toes curl – similar to Daughtry, David Cook, Jonas Bros etc etc – but I personally
like this stuff. There’s shitloads of bands like this across the US that make a
good living, but not so many UK bands. It’s the type of music that middle age
women of a certain age lap up in droves. And some middle age men! But a friend
nailed it when she said that she wants to hear music that makes her stop a
conversation, turn around and watch the band. This was no such case. Euphoria
Audio have some decent enough songs, and a very good singer in Matt
Shirty (but there was very little stage presence – which showed when
guitarist Ben Lloyd had an issue and Shirty didn’t really know what to do with
the dead time). That said EA were enjoyable enough, went down reasonably well
considering the attendance was piss poor vs the same time the previous day. But,
if I could describe the experience in one word it would be ‘beige’.
I’ve
seen White Widdow a couple of times now and have been disappointed with Jules
Millis’ vocals. This time was it was different, he seemed stronger than the
past, (there were a few minor issues) but he was much, much better than
previous. I suppose they are the band of the day (come to think of it, the
festival) to have a proper ‘widdly’ guitarist. I had to laugh when Jules took
the piss out of The Poodles when they said they had come a long way to be in
North Wales, “well try fucking Australia mate!’’ or words to that effect. That
makes it all the more special
that a band, not exactly rolling in it, is
prepared to travel half way around the World to perform. A few of the new songs
were chosen, and rightly so as ‘Caught In The Crossfire’, ‘Below The Belt’, and
‘Just Another Night’ are some of the gems from ‘Crossfire’. I’m guessing that
Jules is a big Aviator fan as they finished their set with the classic
‘Frontline’ and bloody good it was too. It was probably the best he sounded all
gig. Cracking stuff.
Eclipse
is one of the leading lights of melodic metal. In Eric Martensson they have a
great singer, guitarist, writer and producer, although his guitar tends to only
be rolled out for the odd song when performing for Eclipse. If you haven’t got
the new album ‘Armageddonize’ then where have you bloody well been. Most of the
performance was taken from what is likely to be many peoples album of 2015, and
the excellent ‘Bleed and Scream’. Eric is a great vocalist, and sometimes
Eclipse have little passages where they out-Whitesnake Whitesnake!! Similar to
Vega,
Eclipse are a very anthemic band, on this occasion the songs picked – ‘Wake
Me Up’, ‘Bleed & Scream’, ‘Aint Dead Yet’, ‘Battlegrounds’, ‘Blood Enemies’,
‘Stand On Your Feet’, etc etc, - it was like being twatted with a hammer for 50
minutes as Eclipse were RELENTLESS. It was a bombastic approach which ensured
maximum attack. My highlight was the guitar-off between Martensson and
Hermansson before the Jelly Roll-esque ‘Breakdown’, which is one of my fave
live tracks from ‘Armageddonize’. If you were lucky to catch them on their UK
tour either side of this event, all I can say is was that they were even better
than this performance, and that’s saying something. Erik Martensson is the
baby-faced assassin of melodic metal.
I
caught Crazy Lixx at last year’s inaugural Frontiers Festival in Milan where
they appeared first on the bill of day 3. Then they were OK to reasonable, now
just over 10 months later they have improved immensely which was proven by the
attendance in the arena for them. Again, Crazy Lixx were here to play mostly
from their recent album. They are more Sleaze than AOR, but that didn’t stop
them in releasing both barrels. Singer Danny Rexon announced that it was his
first time out with a guitar. I think the change from last years line up to now
has made things better and seemed tighter. More Motley Crue than Magnum, the
lads held the audience in the palm of their hands for the likes of the
excellent ‘Hell Raising Woman’, ‘Heroes Are Forever’ and ‘Outlaw’. Based on
this, I expect great things over the course of the next couple of years.
From
here on in we were getting to the sharp end of day 2. All of what’s left are 3 of
my all time faves and none of them disappointed. First up, Romeos Daughter.
There were 4 pricks behind me who whined and moaned about everything, RD being
one of them before they had even stepped on the stage. Of course I know better!
And so did they come the end of the set. With Romeos Daughter theres no fuss, no attitudes, gimmicks etc. They don’t
need any of these things as they let the songs do the talking as they just ooze
quality. When you have 2 albums like they do in the debut and 'Delectable', it
takes some balls to ditch most of them and concentrate on music from ‘Alive’
and the
soon to be released ‘Spin’. It wasn’t a total abandonment as ‘Inside
Out’, ‘Cry Myself To Sleep’, ‘Wild Child’, and ‘Attracted To The Animal’ were
represented. One thing that RD have in their armoury is the very underrated
Craig Joiner. All eyes are directed at Leigh Matty for good reason, but Craig
is the superglue of the band. Not only that, the brand new songs, were pretty
damn good. ‘Radio’ in particular, is a massive slice of radio friendly rock
that is screaming to be played on Radio 2 when its released in April. The
ladies were poorly represented at HRH AOR, but Leigh Matty more than made up
with a classy performance. The upcoming tour with FM in May will be one tour that’s
hard to resist.
Night
Ranger haven’t exactly been perennial visitors to these shores. It’s only the
last couple of years that an effort has been made. Jack Blades commented that
they have a five-year plan for the UK. Next year it will be 2 x gigs, year 3, 3
gigs, and so on - that is if Brad Gillis is still alive in five years time! Night Ranger show why they are headlining a
festival – 35 years after they started. They are consummate professionals, and
have probably played every weekend for the last 10 years. Night Ranger are as
polished as Mr Sheens/Windex (for US readers) testing laboratory. New to the
line up is Alice Coppers gunslinger Keri Kelli, and you know what, it feels
like he’s been with them for 20 years. Jack Blades is the main focal point, but
when Kelly Keagy comes to the fore it gives them even more presence –
especially as Keagy’s voice hasn’t diminished. Highlights for him in particular
are ‘Sentimental Street’, ‘Sister Christian’, and the bloody fantastic ‘Don’t
Live Here Anymore’. Blades moves around the stage with the energy on man half
his age, and what with his stage patter is an absolute joy to watch. I’m a fan
of Night Ranger and Damn Yankees, but I wouldn’t give a toss if Alice Cooper’s ‘Schools
Out’, Ozzys ‘Crazy Train’ or DYs ‘Comin Of Age’ or ‘High Enough’ were
represented. I’m sure Keagy would love to plug a solo song or two! That small
grip aside, NR are a fantastic proposition live – ‘Lay It On Me’, ‘Secret Of My
Success’, ‘Eddies…’ and the ultimate closer, ‘(You Can Still) Rock In America’.
Let’s just hope they stick to Blades 5 year plan, and play somewhere other than
London for a change in the future.
I
bow to HRH United team as AOR is a genre that’s never been the most popular.
They have a great home in Haven at Pwllheli, with fantastic facilities, and
hopefully another 10 years in the festival at least. Its up to the new wave to
drive it forward otherwise 90% of the bands will have retired by then. Here’s
to next year.
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