HRH AOR V
Grab a beer and get ready for a long (ish) read......
So a good couple of
thousand descended on the tiny Chwiliog,
aka Hafan Y Mor, for this, the fifth HRH AOR. Once shared as a fest,
it's now finally gained its own independence as a stand-alone festival which
shows how strong this genre has become. AOR has always been an underground
scene, but the people who follow it are very passionate and dedicated about
their bands. A lot of the audience are returnees, in fact most can be seen at
any melodic rock gig across the country and beyond. My only gripe, there was NOT ENOUGH AOR!!!!
Credit to HRH, as this
is a mighty fine festival, it's all contained, the stages are close, except the
acoustic, the food is a bit 'meh' (OK if you can live off Fish n chips, and
Burger King, or Starbucks) and the drink plentiful. It leads itself to a nice
warm, cozy and very friendly festival.

Last year I loved
Kane'd(s) brand of music. More Within Temptation, than melodic rock, but their
difference stands out in sisters Steph, Stacey and Chez, and lead guitarist
Harry Scott Elliott. At first glance, there’s that many of them, you would
think they are a Caucasian tribute of Earth Wind & Fire. However, this time
something was amiss, the spark wasn’t quite as bright this time. It wasn't all
Kane'd isuue as I had doubts over the quality of the sound. The vocals were too loud
and pitchy. It was eventually sorted and the songs do the talking – the
highlights being ‘Beautiful But Tragic’, Guilty Of Nothing’, ‘Covered In Roses’
and the utterly infectious ‘La Di Da’. What with a guitarist like Harry Scott
Elliot and the vocal assault from the girls, I fully expect greater things from
this bunch moving forward. Time for a new album I think and a move up the next
step of the ladder….? (7/10)

All of a sudden, when
you thought the main arena couldn’t get any busier, it suddenly became almost
unbearably full. In three previous visits, I’ve never seen the arena as full as
this. The reason I hear you ask……’Jizzy Pearl’s ‘Love/Hate’. Fair play to
whoever built a massive cross out of Budweiser cans. They opened with ‘Wasted
In America’ and the crowd went nuts. If anyone on the bill, looked like they
had lived, loved and survived the 80s up until now, it was Jizzy Pearl, looking
all the part a rock star. I’m going to wind a few people up here but the vocals
got on my wotsits a little bit. It was like someone was kicking a bagful of
Yorkshire Terriers around. I caught the first seven songs, and whilst I enjoyed
the set. I wasn’t as keen as all the people around me, which is probably
because Love /Hate aren’t AOR to me. Although I am sorry that I missed the rock classic
‘Blackout….’ (6.5/10)
I trundled over to the
second stage to catch HRH virgins Epic. Fronted by the spectacular vocal range
of Tanya Rizkala Agostine (she’s not Welsh!), this is a band (Like Bailey) that
should have been performing on the main stage. If you haven’t heard of Epic,
where have you been? Opening with the extremely powerful ‘Love Will Find A Way’
Tanya’s vocals were even better than the recorded version. Epic give
the bigger and more established bands a run for their money. Great things come
in small packages, and that’s what Tanya is. Her vocals could strip paint at
50m, and couple this with the fretwork dexterity of Mario Agostine and some Billy
Sheehan-esque bass playing from Carlos Bouchabki for great effect. Throw in drummer Souheil Moukaddem, and Epic give
one of the performances of the weekend. Again, its more classic rock per se
than AOR, but us AOR fans know a good band when we see one. As the set went on
the audience grew. My fave was the 80s rifftastic ‘Like a Phoenix’ followed by
a great rendition of AC/DCs ‘Highway To Hell’. For some reason their allotted
time wasn’t filled, and they finished with the sexy ‘Nah Nah Nah’ five mins earlier than expected. I’d like to see Epic re-invited as they
deserve another crack at the main stage. This was another highlight of the
weekend. (8.5/10)


Again Like Romeos Daughter,
FM are as reliable and faithful as a reliable and faithful reliable thing. Its now a
full ten years since they reformed and their output has been prolific and also of
very high quality. Coming on 10 mins later than planned and finishing near to
time, I felt a bit short changed. But what was missed in time was made up in
the set list of some FM outstanding classics. Jim Kirkpatrick looked every inch
the star with a trimmed look and aviator shades. He’s really added extra punch
to FM since his arrival. FM is mainly about one guy, and that is the UK Michael
Bolton…..Steve Overland, rightly known as THE VOICE! FM did something I’ve not
witnessed in years, opening to a couple of
pyro’s for ‘Diggin Up The Dirt’. Again the first few songs were a bit
ropey in the sound dept., not FMs doing. All was sorted for the best song that
never appeared on an album, ‘Let Love Be The Leader’. A couple of hardly played
songs made this evenings set, the song that should have set their path to stardom,
‘Someday’, and the superb ‘Tough It Out’. They went for the big finish with
‘Other Side Of Midnight’ and on the basis of the songs on offer, in my humble
opinion a mistake was made with the headliner, as FM have the songs and
substance to highlight this great AOR festival. Considering the type of
festival this is, they were the first band to have a keyboardist on show.
(8/10)
The headline act is
Lita Ford. I saw her in the early 80s supporting Rainbow on the ‘BOOS’ tour. To
be honest, I can hardly remember anything from that set, and the chances are,
give me a month and I will be in exactly the same position after this set. I
cant complain about the sound, as the songs paled into insignificance with
other bands on this bill today. One thing I will say is that Lita Ford still
looks fantastic. However, looks cant carry you forever, the songs have to do
some talking. From where I was stood (on the upper level near the bar), the
songs were bland and uninspiring. I was wondering how someone can headline a
festival based on 2 solo songs in ‘Close My Eyes Forever’ where she was joined
on stage by a crowd member who was dressed like a Poundland Ozzy, miming the
Ozzy parts, and the encore ‘Kiss Me Deadly’, and the other well known song from
The Runaways…‘Cherry Bomb’. I looked around near me and I think this is a sign
of what I’m thinking, as lots of people near me were having conversations, and at no point in time did people stop and look up and listen, which would be the reaction to have for a great performance, or song. It was not to be. Near the bar, and way before the last few songs, the area, which was packed out at the beginning of the set, was almost empty. If I judged it by colour, it would be Magnolia. (6/10)
of what I’m thinking, as lots of people near me were having conversations, and at no point in time did people stop and look up and listen, which would be the reaction to have for a great performance, or song. It was not to be. Near the bar, and way before the last few songs, the area, which was packed out at the beginning of the set, was almost empty. If I judged it by colour, it would be Magnolia. (6/10)
Saturday…..



The next band should
have the previous three I have mentioned, standing in the photo pit taking
notes on how a gig should be done. Or at second best giving them all lines. The
Radio Sun, making their second appearance in a row at HRH (four if you count
their own, and six if you add the Paul Laine gigs), are aeons ahead of most of
the bands on this whole roster. I was hoping for a bit of light hearted banter,
with say the ‘Home & Away’ theme tune as an intro, but they came out with
all guns blazing for ‘Tell Me What You Want’ With Steve Janevski and Jason Old,
pulling out the 80s shapes and style, the only thing missing was a Scorpions
pyramid. Their ace up the sleeve are Robbie Erdmanis and Ben Wignall. Why you
may ask? I will tell you why, because
when these two are added to the mix with Steve’s BVs all backing up Jason, then
its pure harmony heaven. ‘Wrong Things Right’ drove this fact home even more,
as the final lines send me and hopefully others into a goosey frenzy! ‘One In A
Million’ follows the same path. Why if it aint broke, don’t fix it. Highlights
for me are ‘Worlds Crazy Now’ and their cover of an Andy Taylor classic ‘I
Might Lie’. The Radio Sun are a class act, and should they make it three in a
row, they fully deserve at least an hour to perform next time around. (9/10)
The spit and polish
effect continued into the afternoon with Brit melodic rock starlets, Vega. I’ve
previously stated that these guys get better every time I see them. Well this
is the third time in less than 6 weeks, and I still stand by that statement.
Vega are built for the big stage. Their songs are made for it, their vocalist
Nick Workman is made for it, Bollox, all of them deserve the bigger stage and
the chance to play in front of thousand(s). Should Vega stick around long
enough, they are at the sharp end of being the best in their field. All the
songs are anthems, end of. No expense is spared when it comes to their tunes.
You can tell that every note and word has been carefully chosen and sweated
over for maximum effect. Vega are the second band of the weekend to have the ‘must
have’
AOR keyboards. Vega prove to be one of the best bands of the whole weekend, their time on the road currently with DRN has tightened up their repertoire even more. Its just killer after killer – 'Stereo Messiah', 'Every Little Monster,' and 'WTH' just bombarded us with quality, and 'Fade Into The Flames’ highlights just how good a singer Nick Workman is, he just doesn’t stand still and is the focal point for Vega. The pièce de résistance for me is the set closer ‘Saving Grace’, an absolute defining song for Vega that shows they are ready for the next big step. (9/10)
AOR keyboards. Vega prove to be one of the best bands of the whole weekend, their time on the road currently with DRN has tightened up their repertoire even more. Its just killer after killer – 'Stereo Messiah', 'Every Little Monster,' and 'WTH' just bombarded us with quality, and 'Fade Into The Flames’ highlights just how good a singer Nick Workman is, he just doesn’t stand still and is the focal point for Vega. The pièce de résistance for me is the set closer ‘Saving Grace’, an absolute defining song for Vega that shows they are ready for the next big step. (9/10)
My final viewing of the day was for Paul Laine (I had a meeting to keep with a real Count! I’m sure it was Count!!). Backed by the lads from The Radio Sun for their third appearance of the weekend, I knew it was going to be a bit special. I caught 8 of the 100 songs of the set and was blown away by how good Laine is, even when he is well on the way to being shitfaced! Some people may find him a bit arrogant due to the drink, but I prefer to let the voice literally do the singing. What with Paul also playing guitar, they are the AOR equivalent of Iron Maiden, because with Steve and Jason also playing, there’s absolutely nothing that can be played. There wasn’t much solo stuff to be played unfortunately. Then again, he was in D2 after all. I’d love to have heard a
Defiants track if I’m honest, but its no loss, as Paul is still fantastic. His on loan guitar from Lee Revill kept failing in the strap dept., so there’s now’t that duct tape can’t fix, even if it probably lifts the lacquer of it. ‘Under The Gun’, ‘We Are The Young’ and ‘Don’t break My Heart Again’ just tripped off the tongue. I’d love to see him, and as The Defiants invited back. I just hope his liver allows him to! (8.5/10)
One again, HRH have
one of the best organised festivals in the UK. Whilst I don’t necessarily agree
with their choice of bands (at the very least, Epic and Bailey should be on the
main stage) as more than a few were sleaze than AOR, but it proved overall to
be very good, but it could have been great. I’m already looking forward to the next
one.
Pictures courtesy of Simon Dunkerley and Sean Larkin
Pictures courtesy of Simon Dunkerley and Sean Larkin
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