DAY 1 - Thursday 8th March, 2018
Hi, dear reader, you know I do all this for
you, you smart and clever individual. Anyway here we are for my 5th
outing to the HRH AOR festival in, Hafan Y Môr translating to ‘The Haven’, at Pwllheli.
That’s Pwll = pool, and ‘heli’, short for helicopter.
We are at AOR VI (No 6 for you Millennial’s
not knowing how to count in Roman Numerals). HRH now have many brands, and the
AOR one being a particular favourite of most of my gigging friends, and acquaintances.
They have got to the point, where, even before HRH AORVI has played its last
note of the festival, AOR VII is almost sold out. Now, I could cut my balls of
to spite my face and have a little bit of a mini rant. You could theorise that
the good people of HRH could take the piss – they have your money (or a lot of
it anyway) for 2019s event. Knowing that it’s sold out, they could (hopefully won’t)
put out an average line-up. I only say this as, considering VI is purely AOR
this time, there are bands on show over this weekends that are either
a.
On the wrong stage – insert
band name here, but my choices are Degreed and Midnite City
b.
Clearly in no shape or form an
AOR band – here’s my four penneth worth – Aaron Buchanan and the Cult Classics,
Enuff Z’Nuff, Joan Ov Arc
I understand that changes had been made by the
organisers due to late cancellations, Great White aside. We appreciate
all their efforts to give a mixed and excellent line up despite any
obstacles they are presented with. Which is what makes HRH a sold out
even 12 months in advance (almost).
THURSDAY
Anywho, we arrived a tad late on the Thurs
evening, thanks to the shite traffic getting out of both Wrexham and then
Chester. One of my fave melodic rock bands, Dante Fox was missed completely
unfortunately. We entered the main stage to the very busy and very loud set of
UK melodic rock stalwarts Newman. Steve was in fine fettle and introduced the
young whippersnapper of the band (Harry) as a 19 yr. old. Newman started this,
20 years ago and probably has gig t-shirts and undercrackers older than this
fella. What we heard was a strong selection from his latest album ‘Aerial’.
Musically Newman are excellent, but on a couple of the songs, particularly ‘If
Its Love’ Steve Newman’s voice wasn’t the best I have heard him do. My comment
aside, the set was going down a storm with the Pwllheli massive. Of particular
quality for me were ‘Stay With Me’, ‘Primitive Soul’, and the early Newman
classic (and set closer) ‘One Step Closer’.
If I were measuring in paint colours it
would be a ‘magnolia’
Eclipse were up next, and are a different
proposition altogether. Right from the off, you can tell that the Swedes are
rehearsed to within an inch of their lives. I like the ‘running on to the mic’
and shapes being thrown, but it looks as if it may be a bit too clinical. That
said, Eclipse performed one hell of a set. ‘Vertigo’ from ‘Monumentum’ is up
first and goes down a storm. I suspect that Eric Mårtensson would love to have
been born 20 years earlier, and been a contender for a slot in 87-89 era
Whitesnake. Even becoming ‘ol ‘snake-hips’ himself when Erik proclaims ‘Are you
ready to rock?’ Eclipse fall into the ‘every song an anthem / killer’ category.
This is no way an issue, and I love their music, but I want them to have their
‘Stargazer’, ‘Heaven and Hell’, or ‘Blackbird’ moment. Something that takes
them from near contenders, to Heavyweight Champions of the world. Mårtensson is
a very likeable and excellent front man, and you can see why he is very much in
demand as a co-performer (W.E.T.), writer and producer. The man has an ear for
an anthem. Stand out songs for me were The Storm’, the Celtic influenced
‘Battlegrounds’, ‘I Don’t Wanna Say I’m Sorry’. They just need to make the next
(big) step, and victory is theirs for the taking.
JLT was marked for a 90 min set, and like
his 2016 appearance, it was all over after an hour. I felt a little bit short
changed, even if I didn’t pay for my ticket. Considering his extensive and
excellent back catalogue, JLT could go from performing a very good concert, to
being absolute classics. Even if he dropped ‘LLRNR’ which isn’t his to begin
with, and replaced it with 3 or 4 others – ‘Déjà vu’, ‘Heaven Tonight’, ‘Tearin’
Out My Heart’, and ‘Rescue You’. That would be SOME gig. Do it Joe, you know
you can.
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