Category: Live Review

HRH AOR VI – Hafan Y Mor, Saturday 19th March 2018 (Part Review)

Saturday 10th March 2018
SATURDAY
I could not be there for the full day, so managed to cram in 4 bands. First up were The Idol Dead. These are another band that I’d never come across before, but full marks to the organisers for getting them on the bill. Again there were as far away to AOR, than Bulletboys are to enjoyment. They reminded of Teenage Casket Company from 2016 that came on and blew the place up. The Idol Dead were no different. To say they had the audience in the palm of their hands was a massive understatement. No solos as such, but they had some of the best songs and riffs this side of the Pennines, all played out with an attitude and swagger bigger than Snowdon. They are on tour in May, I strongly advise you to get your arses over to see them. The highlights of their set were ‘Blackout Girl’ which reminds me of early Coheed & Cambria, and the wonderfully titled C.H.I.M.S.A. (Christopher Hitchens Is My Spiritual Animal). If they had dropped the mic at the end, it would have rounded off a near perfect performance.
Blood Red Saints were on first on the main stage. My worries that they might not be playing to a decent crowd were thankfully the opposite. The room was pretty much filled out and BRS deserve to play in front of numbers like this. They had 45 minutes to make statement, call it 35 if you can shut Pete Godfrey up. That’s a big part of the show. ‘Another Freak’ from their latest album was a stormer, a lot of bands try to write anthems, and very few can do it better than BRS, especially on ‘Mercy’ with the harmonies from Chemney, Naylor and Revill making it a killer. The band were trying to move on quickly and pack the songs in, but stopping Pete Godfrey  from joking, as like trying  to stop Mr Creosote from having a ‘weffer thin mint!’
Pete royally took the piss out of Rob Naylor’s voice (who, when asked to say something, stated he had a sore throat), with Pete commenting ‘you sound gay, where did you lose your voice? In the men’s toilets? ‘
The large venue suits these bands to a tee, as this is probably the best I have seen BRS perform. Amongst the golden nuggets was a brief rendition of Take That’s ‘Back For Good’. Follow this up with ‘Live and Die’ and ‘Kicking Up Dust’ and the set was glorious. God help who had to follow this
So, from the Blood Red Saints to one of France’s patron saints, the all female Joan ov Ark. I would stake (see what I did there) a good amount of money that a lot of the punters were like me, and were a new experience. Despite having to follow Ted Bovis and the BRS, Joan ov Arc were out to prove a point, that it’s not just the blokes who can kick ass. The crowd had faded by the time they entered the stage. From what little I’d seen of them on YouTube, it was nothing when compared to their live performance. The vocals courtesy of Sam Walker were both powerful and ear-bleedingly high. Her sister Shelley (lead guitar), looked as if she wanted to prove a point. There was a bit of overplaying, but I can easily forgive that especially when they want to showcase their talents in a setting like this. Four songs in and the crowd had returned, and they were very well received. They proved that they could mix it up, with the more soulful vocals of bassist Laura Ozholl taking lead on a couple of songs. An anthem for the girls was proclaimed, and it kame with a killer riff, and clearly one of the best songs of the set. They chose to finish their set with an all-time classic, Freebird. It takes some balls to play a track like this, so it was a good job than none were present, and they knocked it out of the park, with Shelly Walker showing how good a guitarist she is.
My final band of the festival was up next, and what a band, and performance it was from Wales’ own Nev MacDonald of Hand of Dimes. I felt a bit like Dorothy Boyd in Jerry Maguire, as he had me at ‘Hello’. Very few singers have this talent; and Nev is one talented bloke. He sings effortlessly, and for me, it was THE vocal performance of the weekend. Joining him from eons back was Andy Robbins (ex-Skin and Jagged Edge). The area was as full as it was for a headliner and it was only 4pm. The set was only seven songs, but fook me, what a seven songs it proved to be! I was lucky to catch him a few years back at Steelhouse in 2013, so it was great to them higher up the bill. ‘Looking at You’ is a classic, and had the whole crowd in raptures. To be honest, Nev could have sung ‘Shaddup Ya Face’ and I’d like it at this point. Hand of Dimes was on fire (damn I should have used that for Joan ov Arc), and in ‘Jacobs Ladder’, a soulful blues number that borders on perfect. It is without doubt their finest work. It was their final track that almost took the roof off the place, Skin’s ‘House Of Love’. It was commented that Nev MacDonald should be a household name. Well, he is in the Buckley household.
Hand of Dimes came a close second to Night Ranger, and join Blood Red Saints, The Idol Dead, and Aaron Buchanan and The Cult Classics as the stand out acts of AOR VI.
I’m hopeful that the guys at HRH will come up trumps next year and deliver the goods as an AOR festival. To many bands were either not AOR or were on the wrong stage (especially Midnite City and Degreed). On the way home, we talked about this in detail, and Styx would be the choice. One of the few bands that can still cut it and matches the high standard of Night Ranger.
The festival goes from strength to strength, they have a brand that doesn’t necessarily cater to the AOR crowd, in a good way.

HRH AOR VI – Hafan Y Mor, Day 2, Friday 9th March

Day 2, Friday 9th March 2018

FRIDAY
Moving on to the Friday. A long day was planned out, mainly sticking with the main stage.  Up first are fellow Celts, The King Lot. I really liked their first album and saw them supporting Dan Reed Network a short while back. I always like to see bands like The King Lot, get a shot in front of a ready and willing audience. Thankfully they did not fail me. As a three piece TKL will give anyone a run for their money, even Earth, Wind & Fire! I must say that with their new guitarist in tow, Jay Moir, The King Lot are a different prospect to what I saw in 2016. They were tight as a nut, and the vocals from Jason Sweeney were a joy to hear. Very few bands have that ‘sit up and take notice’ vibe about them, but TKL are one of those bands. ‘As They Burn’ was a strong song to get a crowd on your side, and the new songs prove they are making big leaps and bounds on from the debut, with ‘Save Me’ and ‘All I Want’ making more than a mark. Going on first can be a killer as a lot of people could still be tucked up in their vans after heavy night, but the guys managed to pull in a very decent crowd. Props go to Jason for his humorous banter in-between songs. I’m sad I missed them at the bar afterwards for a ‘drinkypoo of Irn Bru!’
Cruzh as in ‘Crush’ and not ‘Cruise’ as I thought it was. This is proper AOR that the Swedes in particular seem to be flying the AOR flag for. Even before they start, bass player Dennis, resplendent in his fur wrap, and arm in the air salute showed off their stagecraft. This is some serious shit I think to myself. I have to say, vocalist Tony Andersson has one hell of a range to his vocals, and a various points was hitting notes that only Labradors can hear. I was not aware of these guys, but what was presented to me was very good, and in ‘In and out of love’ Cruzh have their Bon Jovi moment, I half expect Andersson to belt out ‘Tommy used to work on the docks….’ They were out Bon Jovi-ing, Bon Jovi! If that makes sense.
What does every good AOR vocalist need to have? Did I hear anyone say, abs? With his bandana, and desire for showing off his torso, Tony is every inch a 1989s MTV star. To qualify how good they (Cruzh) are, I stepped over to see Fugitive for one song on the second stage, and the gap, my friends, in difference is as wide as the smile on a Cheshire Cat! Although Hippie Jesus (if you caught him – hair matted and with a John Motson sheepskin) seemed to like Fugitive.
Some five years after making their debut at the inaugural HRH AOR, Daylight Robbery was a bit further up the bill this time. They have been quiet on the album front, with their most recent being 2013s ‘Falling Back To Earth’. Most of their set is weighted towards this second album. In Tony Nicholl, they have a very good vocalist and all round front man, (a bit like pointy Bob from Magnum) and an excellent guitarist in Mark Carelton. My only criticism is that Mark should watch Brad Gillis and see how a guitarist performs. Carelton is a cracking guitarist but it was like watching a mannequin! Most of the set comes from FBTE, and any band having a decent intro tape is worth a punt. The songs on offer warrant a bigger crowd than they got. ‘Digital Dreamer being one of the best songs with they guys great harmonies, I’m a sucker for four of five part harmonies and DR deliver on all counts. ‘Fallen Star’ is probably the best song in their armoury, whilst it isn’t a ‘Stargazer’, it is a very good song. I heard a lot of mixed opinions regarding DR, but for me it was a good performance. I’d like to be seeing a new album coming out form them soon to keep some momentum going.
Jac Dalton, ‘who?’ I hear you say was up next.  Well he is the first Antipodean rocker on the main stage on Friday. First impressions count for me, and if that isn’t a syrup, I want to know what the fuck he is doing, as I want whatever he is putting on it. It was like a fucking mane! Anyway hair, and dodgy ill fitting kecks aside, Jac started up very promising. He was one of the few acts I have never heard material from over this weekend and I suspect I wasn’t the only one in this position. ‘Powder keg’ has the hallmarks of a great opener, decent riff, and a good and catchy chorus. I have no idea where this blokes been for the last 20 years, but with it being Australia, I’m guessing its witness protection. Jac has surrounded himself with some pretty good musicians. JD firmly has his feet planted in the 1980s and makes no apologies for it, with ‘Roll in The Punches’ being a prime example. His diction is clear, which is great for a reviewer, and JD comes with a decent set of pipes. He did however declare that they were there to party on this Saturday Night. I’ll forgive him, as it probably was Saturday in Australia! Some of the set is clichéd, but there were some pretty decent songs to be heard here with ‘Armed and Dangerous’ being a particular favourite for me.  Jac is an amiable front man, who operates at 30 DHACF (that’s 30 Devil Horns and clenched fists per song. He was handing them out like sweets). ‘Blow me Away’ was another good song where a Hammond organ plays its part. ‘Let It Go’ comes from the same stable as Ratt’s ‘Invasion Of You Privacy’, both riff wise, and chorus.
My favourite moment was not a song but an introduction to his band. ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, the Ayatollah of rock and rolla….Graham Greene’ . Well done Sir!
JD finished with a song that Ratt, Poison, and all the Hair Metal Bands of the 80s would love to have in their repertoire the unashamed, ‘Locked, Cocked and Ready To Rock’. It was a bit trapped in the past, but that necessarily isn’t a bad sign. There were more hits than misses, but had they had 45 mins like some of the others; they could have left more of a mark on the audience
Onto my favourite Skippy/The Sullivans/Sons and Daughters, Australian band,  (second only to the legendary Jimmy Barnes), The Radio Sun, bringing their own brand of ‘thunder from down under’. Steve Janevski, Jason Old and the guys certainly get their money’s worth out of the HRH AOR fest, as this was their second performance (out of three for the weekend). They had travelled both far and wide, and bloody long to get here – non-stop for 30 hrs. and still managed to put in a great show on the Thursday night after the main JLT event. It’s the main stage set that the one they have been building up to. There is good reason that TRS are here for the third year in a row, their crowd is building with every performance here, they deserve the hour slot that they have built up to as they have certainly put in the hours and performances. This slot gives TRS a chance to hit the audience where it hurts, and they deliver on all fronts. With the big stage and more time, Janevski bounds around like it is their last performance, and in Jason Old, we have a guy who likes to talk about hair care. Thankfully, he can sing also! TRS epitomize what this festival is about, melodic rock. The audience gets hit with a barrage of their ‘pop/rock’ brand and manage to cram in a hefty fourteen songs. It could have been seventeen had they stopped Mr Old from singing  ‘Working Class Man’ and chatting away!! I’ve said this many times before, but they do this ‘power pop/rock’ so well, in a way that a band like Coheed & Cambria does. Jeez, there were too many songs to pick from, but highlight for me were ‘One In A Million’, the raucous ‘Tonight’s The Night’, and a song they have made their own, the excellent Andy Taylor cover, ‘I Might Lie’.
We are now getting to the sharp end of Friday night. I had no idea who Aaron Buchanan and The Cult Classics were. Coming onto the stage, they all looked as if they were there to make a huge statement of intent. Sharply turned out, a whirlwind of movement from them all, and right in your face. It was like being kicked in the balls (in a good way).  Opener ‘Left Me For Dead’ reminded me of early Alter Bridge crossed with Alice In Chains. Buchannan is a live wire of a performer, hardly keeping still, and his delivery is great considering he put more energy into one hour than all the previous bands could muster up!
I had a thought, what is he doing playing ‘Fire, Fire’, then it hit me. He was the bloke in Heavens Basement. Now without the long locks. Backed up by his sister Laurie on guitar, and Lead guitarist Tom McCarthy, they were here to leave a mark on the audience. I think he very nearly did – in trying to stage dive he went arse over tit, and looked like it could have smarted a bit. It could have been the end of it there and then. To quote him afterwards, ‘a show without risks, isn’t a show’. I honestly think he lives and dies by this mantra. ‘Fire in the ~Fields of Mayhem’ is a song inspired by Coheed, and hits the spot, short and punchy like a Claudio classic, complete with ‘whooa, oh ohs!’ After the near death experience, Aaron thought ‘I’ve survived this, so ill give it another shot’. During the powerful ‘I Am Electric’ he beckoned the audience in, walked across them, and pulled off a headstand on top of the audience for one of the memorable points of the whole weekend. The whole band at this point were on fire, all bar Paul White (drums), the guys up front were in the audiences face for the whole hour. ‘Man With Stars On His Knees’ was the stand out song for me, you get to hear Aaron just singing, it built up into a crescendo without the need for screaming and was simply wonderful. Hearing four Heavens Basement songs made me think why the hell this band didn’t make it, as the interpretations here were excellent.
AB&TCC are as near to AOR as I am to being politically correct. That doesn’t matter, because as far as I am concerned they gave one of the performances of the weekend. Fucking fantastic.
Marc Torien’s Bulletboys were up next. The audience was stoked for these guys. I feel that I might be in the minority, but I saw and felt differently to the crowds reaction. As far as I’m concerned,  they should have been sponsored by ‘The Dairy Council of Great Britain’ as these fuckers know how to milk out a song. It was all smoke and mirrors. I thought Torien, looked great, sounded great and played guitar even better, but I just don’t understand what all the pissing about was for. The few songs they played (8 in total. Really?) there were extended intros, extended outros, and the bits in the middle were too bastard long also. If I hear him shout ‘Are you glad to see us Wales?’ I heard it 20 bleedin’ times. If I’m honest, it started well with ‘Hard as A Rock, finished well, with ‘Smooth Up In Ya’ but the middle was the shit, in a shit sandwich. I just did not get it.  They were booked for an hour, played 5 or 6 songs in 50 minutes, and I wouldn’t have put it past him to count his money on stage for the last 10. There was too much faff and fannying around for my liking. You can tell he is taking the piss by throwing in a drum solo. I would have swapped these around with AB&TCC. Where’s the mind bleach as I want my mind erasing.How he could take the money after a performance like this is beyond me.
Night Ranger nave been doing this for 35 years and were not going to let anyone before steal the thunder. By the time they took the stage a little late the venue was rammed, to the point of almost being uncomfortable. Based on this, Night Ranger is THE band that people were here to see on any of the three days. They play with the vibe of a band that is playing gigs every weekend for the last 10 years. Jack Blades in particular looks as if he is having the time of his like. Very few bands from the 80s could pull in a crowd like this today. It’s all because they are fucking great. End of.
This is the third time in four years that I’ve seen them. Do you know what is great? They have mixed up the set list for all three gigs. It helps considerably that they have such and excellent and extensive catalogue of great songs to pull from. There’s no light weighting or fillers here folks, its full on Night Ranger power for almost two hours.
The new (ish) songs, opener ‘Somehow Someway’, ‘High Road’ and ‘Truth’ fit in seamlessly with the older classics. In fact if you didn’t know any better you would think they are all from their golden period. It’s an artillery of voices, with five part harmonies, an AOR fans wet dream. With Brad Gillis and Keri Kelli the interplay between both is something else, and Gillis in particular is one of rocks finest guitarists, and vastly underrated. The playing on ‘A Touch Of Madness’ is just to die for. Jack Blades is taking something that I want. I don’t know what it is, but if I can bound around like him for a couple of hours at his age, I’d be a happy man indeed.  Night Ranger are a well oiled machine, its hit after hit, from ‘Rumours In The Air’ to ‘The Secret Of My Success’ and the not very heard ‘7 Wishes’ and ‘Night Ranger’. For me, the crowd responds better to the Damn Yankees songs than the Night Ranger ones. They have enough great songs to draw in that don’t need to be Damn Yankees. One of my favourite albums is ‘Man In Motion,’ there are some cracking songs on here that never get an outing.  With the last five songs, Night Rangers phasers are set to ‘stun’. ‘Goodbye’, When You Close Your Eyes’, the superb ‘Don’t Tell Me You Love Me’, segueing into Highway Star, then onto the one-two sucker punch with ‘Sister Christian’ and ‘(You Can Still) Rock In America.
Night Ranger delivered on all levels, song choice, and performance level, and musically. There’s not that many bands out there form the 80s that could match this level at this stage in their careers. Here’s to 2021 or sooner hopefully.

HRH AOR VI – Hafan Y Mor, Day 1, Thursday 8th March

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 5thouting 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.

Headliner for the Thursday night was Joe Lynn Turner. I make no bones that Rainbow are my all-time favourite band, and JLT is a big part of my musical life. Considering Joe is no spring chicken, he is 66 (a bloke of his age shouldn’t be in a sleeveless jacket indoors); he is still in great shape, both physically and vocally. Its two years since his last appearance at HRH AOR, and his set hasn’t altered much in this period. Hey, if its not broke, then don’t fix it. Alongside Joe is his axe slinger of choice, one Jorge Salán, who does an excellent job of stepping into Ritchie Blackmore’s shoes, and that aint an easy fill. For me, as a Rainbow lover its off to a flying start – Death Alley Driver, and I surrender just trip off the tongue, with the B side classic ‘Jealous Lover’ third in. How this song never made the cur for ‘Difficult To Cure’ is an absolute travesty. We get ‘Dark Days’ from his ‘Slam’ album, followed by ‘Spotlight Kid’ and ‘Street Of Dreams’. At his point, JTT could have farted the next song and I’d still be happy as a pig in shit. Salán is a very good foil for Turner and some of his solos were close to Blackmore’s. A couple of rarely played Rainbow tracks for Bent Out Of Shape followed, the raucous ‘Drinking With The Devil’, and guaranteed sing-a-long-a ‘Stranded’. The filling between the two BOOS sandwich was a treat from his very first solo album, ‘Endlessly’. I swear to God that had he followed this up with ‘Rescue You’, I would have needed to be carted out in an ambulance. Sadly this was not the case, but second best was a song from the classic album he did with Malmsteen, ‘Rising Force’. Just 45 mins in, that was the set. Done. An encore dedicated to the great Ronnie James Dio in ‘Long Live Rock and Roll’ completed it. As a 51 year old bloke, if you have asked me 3 years ago if I’d get to see a Rainbow heavy, electric set, I’d have crawled though broken glass to witness it. Even this time, if I were any closer to him, I’d be receiving a restraining order. But, this is now my third JTL gig in the last 3 years and on each one I have been left feeling a little bit wanting more.
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.

HRH AOR VI – Hafan Y Mor, Pwllheli, 8-10th March 2018

HRH AOR VI – Hafan Y Mor, Pwllheli (Thurs/Fri 8/9th March 2018)

Hi, dear reader, you know I do all this for you, you smart and clever individual. Anyway here we are for my 5thouting 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, or
b.     Not an AOR band

 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.
Arctic White
Headliner for the Thursday night was Joe Lynn Turner. I make no bones that Rainbow are my all-time favourite band, and JLT is a big part of my musical life. Considering Joe is no spring chicken, he is 66 (a bloke of his age shouldn’t be in a sleeveless jacket indoors); he is still in great shape, both physically and vocally. Its two years since his last appearance at HRH AOR, and his set hasn’t altered much in this period. Hey, if its not broke, then don’t fix it. Alongside Joe is his axe slinger of choice, one Jorge Salán, who does an excellent job of stepping into Ritchie Blackmore’s shoes, and that aint an easy fill. For me, as a Rainbow lover its off to a flying start – Death Alley Driver, and I surrender just trip off the tongue, with the B side classic ‘Jealous Lover’ third in. How this song never made the cur for ‘Difficult To Cure’ is an absolute travesty. We get ‘Dark Days’ from his ‘Slam’ album, followed by ‘Spotlight Kid’ and ‘Street Of Dreams’. At his point, JTT could have farted the next song and I’d still be happy as a pig in shit. Salán is a very good foil for Turner and some of his solos were close to Blackmore’s. 
A couple of rarely played Rainbow tracks for Bent Out Of Shape followed, the raucous ‘Drinking With The Devil’, and guaranteed sing-a-long-a ‘Stranded’. The filling between the two BOOS sandwich was a treat from his very first solo album, ‘Endlessly’. I swear to God that had he followed this up with ‘Rescue You’, I would have needed to be carted out in an ambulance. Sadly this was not the case, but second best was a song from the classic album he did with Malmsteen, ‘Rising Force’. Just 45 mins in, that was the set. Done. An encore dedicated to the great Ronnie James Dio in ‘Long Live Rock and Roll’ completed it. As a 51 year old bloke, if you have asked me 3 years ago if I’d get to see a Rainbow heavy, electric set, I’d have crawled though broken glass to witness it. Even this time, if I were any closer to him, I’d be receiving a restraining order. But, this is now my third JTL gig in the last 3 years and on each one I have been left feeling a little bit wanting more.
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.
FRIDAY
Moving on to the Friday. A long day was planned out, mainly sticking with the main stage.  Up first are fellow Celts, The King Lot. I really liked their first album and saw them supporting Dan Reed Network a short while back. I always like to see bands like The King Lot, get a shot in front of a ready and willing audience. Thankfully they did not fail me. As a three piece TKL will give anyone a run for their money, even Earth, Wind & Fire! I must say that with their new guitarist in tow, Jay Moir, The King Lot are a different prospect to what I saw in 2016. They were tight as a nut, and the vocals from Jason Sweeney were a joy to hear. Very few bands have that ‘sit up and take notice’ vibe about them, but TKL are one of those bands. ‘As They Burn’ was a strong song to get a crowd on your side, and the new songs prove they are making big leaps and bounds on from the debut, with ‘Save Me’ and ‘All I Want’ making more than a mark. Going on first can be a killer as a lot of people could still be tucked up in their vans after heavy night, but the guys managed to pull in a very decent crowd. Props go to Jason for his humorous banter in-between songs. I’m sad I missed them at the bar afterwards for a ‘drinkypoo of Irn Bru!’
Cruzh as in ‘Crush’ and not ‘Cruise’ as I thought it was. This is proper AOR that the Swedes in particular seem to be flying the AOR flag for. Even before they start, bass player Dennis, resplendent in his fur wrap, and arm in the air salute showed off their stagecraft. This is some serious shit I think to myself. I have to say, vocalist Tony Andersson has one hell of a range to his vocals, and a various points was hitting notes that only Labradors can hear. I was not aware of these guys, but what was presented to me was very good, and in ‘In and out of love’ Cruzh have their Bon Jovi moment, I half expect Andersson to belt out ‘Tommy used to work on the docks….’ They were out Bon Jovi-ing, Bon Jovi! If that makes sense. 
What does every good AOR vocalist need to have? Did I hear anyone say, abs? With his bandana, and desire for showing off his torso, Tony is every inch a 1989s MTV star. To qualify how good they (Cruzh) are, I stepped over to see Fugitive for one song on the second stage, and the gap, my friends, in difference is as wide as the smile on a Cheshire Cat! Although Hippie Jesus (if you caught him – hair matted and with a John Motson sheepskin) seemed to like Fugitive.

Some five years after making their debut at the inaugural HRH AOR, Daylight Robbery was a bit further up the bill this time. They have been quiet on the album front, with their most recent being 2013s ‘Falling Back To Earth’. Most of their set is weighted towards this second album. In Tony Nicholl, they have a very good vocalist and all round front man, (a bit like pointy Bob from Magnum) and an excellent guitarist in Mark Carelton. My only criticism is that Mark should watch Brad Gillis and see how a guitarist performs. Carelton is a cracking guitarist but it was like watching a mannequin! Most of the set comes from FBTE, and any band having a decent intro tape is worth a punt. The songs on offer warrant a bigger crowd than they got. ‘Digital Dreamer being one of the best songs with they guys great harmonies, I’m a sucker for four of five part harmonies and DR deliver on all counts. ‘Fallen Star’ is probably the best song in their armoury, whilst it isn’t a ‘Stargazer’, it is a very good song. I heard a lot of mixed opinions regarding DR, but for me it was a good performance. I’d like to be seeing a new album coming out form them soon to keep some momentum going.
Jac Dalton,  ‘who?’ I hear you say was up next.  Well he is the first Antipodean rocker on the main stage on Friday. First impressions count for me, and if that isn’t a syrup, I want to know what the hell he is doing, as I want whatever he is putting on it. It was like a mane! Anyway hair, and dodgy ill fitting kecks aside, Jac started up very promising. He was one of the few acts I have never heard material from over this weekend and I suspect I wasn’t the only one in this position. ‘Powder keg’ has the hallmarks of a great opener, decent riff, and a good and catchy chorus. I have no idea where this blokes been for the last 20 years, but with it being Australia, I’m guessing its witness protection. Jac has surrounded himself with some pretty good musicians. JD firmly has his feet planted in the 1980s and makes no apologies for it, with ‘Roll in The Punches’ being a prime example. His diction is clear, which is great for a reviewer, and JD comes with a decent set of pipes. He did however declare that they were there to party on this Saturday Night. I’ll forgive him, as it probably was Saturday in Australia! Some of the set is clichéd, but there were some pretty decent songs to be heard here with ‘Armed and Dangerous’ being a particular favourite for me.  Jac is an amiable front man, who operates at 30 DHACF (that’s 30 Devil Horns and clenched fists per song. He was handing them out like sweets). ‘Blow me Away’ was another good song where a Hammond organ plays its part. ‘Let It Go’ comes from the same stable as Ratt’s ‘Invasion Of You Privacy’, both riff wise, and chorus.
My favourite moment was not a song but an introduction to his band. ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, the Ayatollah of rock and rolla….Graham Greene’ . Well done Sir!
JD finished with a song that Ratt, Poison, and all the Hair Metal Bands of the 80s would love to have in their repertoire the unashamed, ‘Locked, Cocked and Ready To Rock’. It was a bit trapped in the past, but that necessarily isn’t a bad sign. There were more hits than misses, but had they had 45 mins like some of the others; they could have left more of a mark on the audience
Onto my favourite Skippy/The Sullivans/Sons and Daughters, Australian band,  (second only to the legendary Jimmy Barnes), The Radio Sun, bringing their own brand of ‘thunder from down under’. Steve Janevski, Jason Old and the guys certainly get their money’s worth out of the HRH AOR fest, as this was their second performance (out of three for the weekend). They had travelled both far and wide, and bloody long to get here – non-stop for 30 hrs. and still managed to put in a great show on the Thursday night after the main JLT event. It’s the main stage set that the one they have been building up to. There is good reason that TRS are here for the third year in a row, their crowd is building with every performance here, they deserve the hour slot that they have built up to as they have certainly put in the hours and performances. This slot gives TRS a chance to hit the audience where it hurts, and they deliver on all fronts. With the big stage and more time, Janevski bounds around like it is their last performance, and in Jason Old, we have a guy who likes to talk about hair care. Thankfully, he can sing also! TRS epitomize what this festival is about, melodic rock. The audience gets hit with a barrage of their ‘pop/rock’ brand and manage to cram in a hefty fourteen songs. It could have been seventeen had they stopped Mr Old from singing  ‘Working Class Man’ and chatting away!! I’ve said this many times before, but they do this ‘power pop/rock’ so well, in a way that a band like Coheed & Cambria does. Jeez, there were too many songs to pick from, but highlight for me were ‘One In A Million’, the raucous ‘Tonight’s The Night’, and a song they have made their own, the excellent Andy Taylor cover, ‘I Might Lie’.
We are now getting to the sharp end of Friday night. I had no idea who Aaron Buchanan and The Cult Classics were. Coming onto the stage, they all looked as if they were there to make a huge statement of intent. Sharply turned out, a whirlwind of movement from them all, and right in your face. It was like being kicked in the balls (in a good way).  Opener ‘Left Me For Dead’ reminded me of early Alter Bridge crossed with Alice In Chains. Buchannan is a live wire of a performer, hardly keeping still, and his delivery is great considering he put more energy into one hour than all the previous bands could muster up!
I had a thought, what is he doing playing ‘Fire, Fire’, then it hit me. He was the bloke in Heavens Basement. Now without the long locks. He is backed up by his sister Laurie on guitar, and Lead guitarist Tom McCarthy, they were here to leave a mark on the audience. I think he very nearly did – in trying to stage dive he went arse over tit, and looked like it could have smarted a bit. It could have been the end of it there and then. To quote him afterwards, ‘a show without risks, isn’t a show’. I honestly think he lives and dies by this mantra. ‘Fire in the Fields of Mayhem’ is a song inspired by Coheed, and hits the spot, short and punchy like a Claudio classic, complete with ‘whooa, oh ohs!’ After the near death experience, Aaron thought ‘I’ve survived this, so I’ll give it another shot’. During the powerful ‘I Am Electric’ he beckoned the audience in, walked across them, and pulled off a headstand on top of the audience for one of the memorable points of the whole weekend. The whole band at this point were on fire, all bar Paul White (drums), the guys up front were in the audiences face for the whole hour. ‘Man With Stars On His Knees’ was the stand out song for me, you get to hear Aaron just singing, it built up into a crescendo without the need for screaming and was simply wonderful. Hearing four Heavens Basement songs made me think why the hell this band didn’t make it, as the interpretations here were excellent.
AB&TCC are as near to AOR as I am to being politically correct. That doesn’t matter, because as far as I am concerned they gave one of the performances of the weekend. Bloody fantastic.
Marc Torien’s Bulletboys were up next. The audience was stoked for these guys. I feel that I might be in the minority, but I saw and felt differently to the crowds reaction. As far as I’m concerned,  they should have been sponsored by ‘The Dairy Council of Great Britain’ as these buggers know how to milk out a song. It was all smoke and mirrors. I thought Torien, looked great, sounded great and played guitar even better, but I just don’t understand what all the pissing about was for. The few songs they played (8 in total. Really?) there were extended intros, extended outros, and the bits in the middle were too bastard long also. If I hear him shout ‘Are you glad to see us Wales?’ I heard it 20 bleedin’ times. If I’m honest, it started well with ‘Hard as A Rock, finished well, with ‘Smooth Up In Ya’ but the middle was the shit, in a shit sandwich. I just did not get it.  They were booked for an hour, played 5 or 6 songs in 50 minutes, and I wouldn’t have put it past him to count his money on stage for the last 10. There was too much faff and fannying around for my liking. You can tell he is taking the piss by throwing in a drum solo. I would have swapped these around with AB&TCC. Where’s the mind bleach as I want my mind erasing.
Night Ranger nave been doing this for 35 years and were not going to let anyone before steal the thunder. By the time they took the stage a little late the venue was rammed, to the point of almost being uncomfortable. Based on this, Night Ranger is THE band that people were here to see on any of the three days. They play with the vibe of a band that is playing gigs every weekend for the last 10 years. Jack Blades in particular looks as if he is having the time of his like. Very few bands from the 80s could pull in a crowd like this today. It’s all because they are fucking great. End of.
This is the third time in four years that I’ve seen them. Do you know what is great? They have mixed up the set list for all three gigs. It helps considerably that they have such and excellent and extensive catalogue of great songs to pull from. There’s no light weighting or fillers here folks, its full on Night Ranger power for almost two hours.
The new (ish) songs, opener ‘Somehow Someway’, ‘High Road’ and ‘Truth’ fit in seamlessly with the older classics. In fact if you didn’t know any better you would think they are all from their golden period. It’s an artillery of voices, with five part harmonies, an AOR fans wet dream. With Brad Gillis and Keri Kelli the interplay between both is something else, and Gillis in particular is one of rocks finest guitarists, and vastly underrated. The playing on ‘A Touch Of Madness’ is just to die for. Jack Blades is taking something that I want. I don’t know what it is, but if I can bound around like him for a couple of hours at his age, I’d be a happy man indeed.  Night Ranger are a well oiled machine, its hit after hit, from ‘Rumours In The Air’ to ‘The Secret Of My Success’ and the not very heard ‘7 Wishes’ and ‘Night Ranger’. For me, the crowd responds better to the Damn Yankees songs than the Night Ranger ones. They have enough great songs to draw in that don’t need to be Damn Yankees. One of my favourite albums is ‘Man In Motion,’ there are some cracking songs on here that never get an outing.  With the last five songs, Night Rangers phasers are set to ‘stun’. ‘Goodbye’, When You Close Your Eyes’, the superb ‘Don’t Tell Me You Love Me’, segueing into Highway Star, then onto the one-two sucker punch with ‘Sister Christian’ and ‘(You Can Still) Rock In America.
Night Ranger delivered on all levels, song choice, and performance level, and musically. There’s not that many bands out there form the 80s that could match this level at this stage in their careers. Here’s to 2021 or sooner hopefully.
SATURDAY
I could not be there for the full day, so managed to cram in 4 bands. First up were The Idol Dead. These are another band that I’d never come across before, but full marks to the organisers for getting them on the bill. Again there were as far away to AOR, than Bulletboys are to enjoyment. They reminded of Teenage Casket Company from 2016 that came on and blew the place up. The Idol Dead were no different. To say they had the audience in the palm of their hands was a massive understatement. No solos as such, but they had some of the best songs and riffs this side of the Pennines, all played out with an attitude and swagger bigger than Snowdon. They are on tour in May, I strongly advise you to get your arses over to see them. The highlights of their set were ‘Blackout Girl’ which reminds me of early Coheed & Cambria, and the wonderfully titled C.H.I.M.S.A. (Christopher Hitchens Is My Spiritual Animal). If they had dropped the mic at the end, it would have rounded off a near perfect performance.
Blood Red Saints were on first on the main stage. My worries that they might not be playing to a decent crowd were thankfully the opposite. The room was pretty much filled out and BRS deserve to play in front of numbers like this. They had 45 minutes to make statement, call it 35 if you can shut Pete Godfrey up. That’s a big part of the show. ‘Another Freak’ from their latest album was a stormer, a lot of bands try to write anthems, and very few can do it better than BRS, especially on ‘Mercy’ with the harmonies from Chemney, Naylor and Revill making it a killer. The band were trying to move on quickly and pack the songs in, but stopping Pete Godfrey  from joking, as like trying  to stop Mr Creosote from having a ‘weffer thin mint!’
Pete royally took the piss out of Rob Naylor’s voice (who, when asked to say something, stated he had a sore throat), with Pete commenting ‘you sound gay, where did you lose your voice? In the men’s toilets? ‘
The large venue suits these bands to a tee, as this is probably the best I have seen BRS perform. Amongst the golden nuggets was a brief rendition of Take That’s ‘Back For Good’. Follow this up with ‘Live and Die’ and ‘Kicking Up Dust’ and the set was glorious. God help who had to follow this
So, from the Blood Red Saints to one of France’s patron saints, the all female Joan ov Arc. I would stake (see what I did there) a good amount of money that a lot of the punters were like me, and were a new experience. Despite having to follow Ted Bovis and the BRS, Joan ov Arc were out to prove a point, that it’s not just the blokes who can kick ass. The crowd had faded by the time they entered the stage. From what little I’d seen of them on YouTube, it was nothing when compared to their live performance. The vocals courtesy of Sam Walker were both powerful and ear-bleedingly high. Her sister Shelley (lead guitar), looked as if she wanted to prove a point. There was a bit of overplaying, but I can easily forgive that especially when they want to showcase their talents in a setting like this. Four songs in and the crowd had returned, and they were very well received. They proved that they could mix it up, with the more soulful vocals of bassist Laura Ozholl taking lead on a couple of songs. An anthem for the girls was proclaimed, and it kame with a killer riff, and clearly one of the best songs of the set. They chose to finish their set with an all-time classic, Freebird. It takes some balls to play a track like this, so it was a good job than none were present, and they knocked it out of the park, with Shelly Walker showing how good a guitarist she is.
My final band of the festival was up next, and what a band, and performance it was from Wales’ own Nev MacDonald of Hand of Dimes. I felt a bit like Dorothy Boyd in Jerry Maguire, as he had me at ‘Hello’. Very few singers have this talent; and Nev is one talented bloke. He sings effortlessly, and for me, it was THE vocal performance of the weekend. Joining him from eons back was Andy Robbins (ex-Skin and Jagged Edge). The area was as full as it was for a headliner and it was only 4pm. The set was only seven songs, but fook me, what a seven songs it proved to be! I was lucky to catch him a few years back at Steelhouse in 2013, so it was great to them higher up the bill. ‘Looking at You’ is a classic, and had the whole crowd in raptures. To be honest, Nev could have sung ‘Shaddup Ya Face’ and I’d like it at this point. Hand of Dimes was on fire (damn I should have used that for Joan ov Arc), and in ‘Jacobs Ladder’, a soulful blues number that borders on perfect. It is without doubt their finest work. It was their final track that almost took the roof off the place, Skin’s ‘House Of Love’. It was commented that Nev MacDonald should be a household name. Well, he is in the Buckley household.
Hand of Dimes came a close second to Night Ranger, and join Blood Red Saints, The Idol Dead, and Aaron Buchanan and The Cult Classics as the stand out acts of AOR VI.
I’m hopeful that the guys at HRH will come up trumps next year and deliver the goods as an AOR festival. To many bands were either not AOR or were on the wrong stage (especially Midnite City and Degreed). On the way home, we talked about this in detail, and Styx would be the choice. One of the few bands that can still cut it and matches the high standard of Night Ranger.
The festival goes from strength to strength, they have a brand that doesn’t necessarily cater to the AOR crowd, in a good way.
There was a spare slot for Sat night after Jack Russell’s Great White pulled out a couple of weeks back. It was to be filled by The Quireboys. Is this the third year running for them? I’ve heard on the grapevine that Spike hires a caravan for him and the band, over in Criccieth the same weekend as HRH AOR, and he is on permanent ‘on-call’ should the need arise. Its true I tell ya!

HRH AOR VI – Hafan Y Mor, Pwllheli, 8-10th March 2018

HRH AOR VI – Hafan Y Mor, Pwllheli (Thurs/Fri 8/9th March 2018)
Hi, dear reader, you know I do all this for you, you smart and clever individual. Anyway here we are for my 5thouting 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
What I will categorically state, is that despite not being AOR, Aaron Buchanan &TTC and Joan ov Arc, were both great bands, particularly ‘AB&TCC’ who exploded onto the Main Stage in my opinion and were one of THE bands of the weekend (more below). Whilst not being known to me before Friday, both most certainly are now, and isn’t that what makes gigs worthwhile?

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 event 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’ score.
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.

Headliner for the Thursday night was Joe Lynn Turner. I make no bones that Rainbow are my all-time favourite band, and JLT is a big part of my musical life. Considering Joe is no spring chicken, he is 66 (a bloke of his age shouldn’t be in a sleeveless jacket indoors); he is still in great shape, both physically and vocally. Its two years since his last appearance at HRH AOR, and his set hasn’t altered much in this period. Hey, if its not broke, then don’t fix it. Alongside Joe is his axe slinger of choice, one Jorge Salán, who does an excellent job of stepping into Ritchie Blackmore’s shoes, and that aint an easy fill. For me, as a Rainbow lover its off to a flying start – Death Alley Driver, and I surrender just trip off the tongue, with the B side classic ‘Jealous Lover’ third in. How this song never made the cut for ‘Difficult To Cure’ is an

absolute travesty.

We get ‘Dark Days’ from his ‘Slam’ album, followed by ‘Spotlight Kid’ and ‘Street Of Dreams’. At his point, JTT could have farted the next song and I’d still be happy as a pig in shit. Salán is a very good foil for Turner and some of his solos were close to Blackmore’s. A couple of rarely played Rainbow tracks for Bent Out Of Shape followed, the raucous ‘Drinking With The Devil’, and guaranteed sing-a-long-a ‘Stranded’. The filling between the two BOOS sandwich was a treat from his very first solo album, ‘Endlessly’. I swear to God that had he followed this up with ‘Rescue You’, I would have needed to be carted out in an ambulance. Sadly this was not the case, but second best was a song from the classic album he did with Malmsteen, ‘Rising Force’. Just 45 mins in, that was the set. Done. An encore dedicated to the great Ronnie James Dio in ‘Long Live Rock and Roll’ completed it. As a 51 year old bloke, if you have asked me 3 years ago if I’d get to see a Rainbows heavy loaded electric set, I’d have crawled though broken glass to witness it. Even this time, if I were any closer to him, I’d be receiving a restraining order. But, this is now my third JTL gig in the last 3 years and on each one I have been left feeling a little bit wanting more.

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.
FRIDAY
Moving on to the Friday. A long day was planned out, mainly sticking with the main stage.  Up first are fellow Celts, The King Lot. I really liked their first album and saw them supporting Dan Reed Network a short while back. I always like to see bands like The King Lot, get a shot in front of a ready and willing audience. Thankfully they did not fail me. As a three piece TKL will give anyone a run for their money, even Earth, Wind & Fire! I must say that with their new guitarist in tow, Jay Moir, The King Lot are a different prospect to what I saw in 2016. They were tight as a nut, and the vocals from Jason Sweeney were a joy to hear. Very few bands have that ‘sit up and take notice’ vibe about them, but TKL are one of those bands. ‘As They Burn’ was a strong song to get a crowd on your side, and the new songs prove they are making big leaps and bounds on from the debut, with ‘Save Me’ and ‘All I Want’ making more than a mark. Going on first can be a killer as a lot of people could still be tucked up in their vans after heavy night, but the guys managed to pull in a very decent crowd. Props go to Jason for his humorous banter in-between songs. I’m sad I missed them at the bar afterwards for a ‘drinkypoo of Irn Bru!’

Cruzh as in ‘Crush’ and not ‘Cruise’ as I thought it was. This is proper AOR that the Swedes in particular seem to be flying the AOR flag for. Even before they start, bass player Dennis, resplendent in his fur wrap, and arm in the air salute showed off their stagecraft. This is some serious shit I think to myself. I have to say, vocalist Tony Andersson has one hell of a range to his vocals, and a various points was hitting notes that only Labradors can hear. I was not aware of these guys, but what was presented to me was very good, and in ‘In and out of love’ Cruzh have their Bon Jovi moment, I half expect Andersson to belt out ‘Tommy used to work on the docks….’ They were out Bon Jovi-ing, Bon Jovi! If that makes sense.

What does every good AOR vocalist need to have? Did I hear anyone say, abs? With his bandana, and desire for showing off his torso, Tony is every inch a 1989s MTV star. To qualify how good they (Cruzh) are, I stepped over to see Fugitive for one song on the second stage, and the gap, my friends, in difference is as wide as the smile on a Cheshire Cat! Although Hippie Jesus (if you caught him – hair matted and with a John Motson sheepskin) seemed to like Fugitive.

Some five years after making their debut at the inaugural HRH AOR, Daylight Robbery was a bit further up the bill this time. They have been quiet on the album front, with their most recent being 2013s ‘Falling Back To Earth’. Most of their set is weighted towards this second album. In Tony Nicholl, they have a very good vocalist and all round front man, (a bit like pointy Bob from Magnum) and an excellent guitarist in Mark Carelton. My only criticism is that Mark should watch Brad Gillis and see how a guitarist performs. Carelton is a cracking guitarist but it was like watching a mannequin! Most of the set comes from FBTE, and any band having a decent intro tape is worth a punt. The songs on offer warrant a bigger crowd than they got. ‘Digital Preacher’ being one of the best songs with the guys great harmonies, I’m a sucker for four of five part harmonies and DR deliver on all counts. ‘Fallen Star’ is probably the best song in their armoury, whilst it isn’t a ‘Stargazer’, it is a very good song. I heard a lot of mixed opinions regarding DR, but for me it was a good performance. I’d like to be seeing a new album coming out form them soon to keep some momentum going.

Jac Dalton, ‘who?’ I hear you say was up next.  Well he is the first Antipodean rocker on the main stage on Friday. First impressions count for me, and if that isn’t a syrup, I want to know what the fuck he is doing, as I want whatever he is putting on it. It was like a fucking mane! Anyway hair, and dodgy ill fitting kecks aside, Jac started up very promising. He was one of the few acts I have never heard material from over this weekend and I suspect I wasn’t the only one in this position. ‘Powder keg’ has the hallmarks of a great opener, decent riff, and a good and catchy chorus. I have no idea where this blokes been for the last 20 years, but with it being Australia, I’m guessing its witness protection. Jac has surrounded himself with some pretty good musicians. JD firmly has his feet planted in the 1980s and makes no apologies for it, with ‘Roll in The Punches’ being a prime example. His diction is clear, which is great for a reviewer, and JD comes with a decent set of pipes. He did however declare that they were there to party on this Saturday Night. I’ll forgive him, as it probably was Saturday in Australia! Some of the set is clichéd, but there were some pretty decent songs to be heard here with ‘Armed and Dangerous’ being a particular favourite for me.  

Jac is an amiable front man, who operates at 30 DHACF (that’s 30 Devil Horns and clenched fists per song. He was handing them out like sweets). ‘Blow me Away’ was another good song where a Hammond organ plays its part. ‘Let It Go’ comes from the same stable as Ratt’s ‘Invasion Of You Privacy’, both riff wise, and chorus.

My favourite moment was not a song but an introduction to his band. ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, the Ayatollah of rock and rolla….Graham Greene’ . Well done Sir!
JD finished with a song that Ratt, Poison, and all the Hair Metal Bands of the 80s would love to have in their repertoire….the unashamed, ‘Locked, Cocked and Ready To Rock’. It was a bit trapped in the past, but that necessarily isn’t a bad sign. There were more hits than misses, but had they had 45 mins like some of the others; they could have left more of a mark on the audience
Onto my favourite Skippy/The Sullivans/Sons and Daughters, Australian band,  (second only to the legendary Jimmy Barnes), The Radio Sun, bringing their own brand of ‘thunder from down under’. Steve Janevski, Jason Old and the guys certainly get their money’s worth out of the HRH AOR fest, as this was their second performance (out of three for the weekend). They had travelled both far and wide, and bloody long to get here – non-stop for 30 hrs. and still managed to put in a great show on the Thursday night after the main JLT event. It’s the main stage set that the one they have been building up to. There is good reason that TRS are here for the third year in a row, their crowd is building with every performance here, they deserve the hour slot that they have built up to as they have certainly put in the hours and performances. 

This slot gives TRS a chance to hit the audience where it hurts, and they deliver on all fronts. With the big stage and more time, Janevski bounds around like it is their last performance, and in Jason Old, we have a guy who likes to talk about hair care. Thankfully, he can sing also! TRS epitomize what this festival is about, melodic rock. The audience gets hit with a barrage of their ‘pop/rock’ brand and manage to cram in a hefty fourteen songs. It could have been seventeen had they stopped Mr Old from singing  ‘Working Class Man’ and chatting away!! I’ve said this many times before, but they do this ‘power pop/rock’ so well, in a way that a band like Coheed & Cambria does. Jeez, there were too many songs to pick from, but highlight for me were ‘One In A Million’, the raucous ‘Tonight’s The Night’, and a song they have made their own, the excellent Andy Taylor cover, ‘I Might Lie’.

We are now getting to the sharp end of Friday night. I had no idea who Aaron Buchanan and The Cult Classics were. Coming onto the stage, they all looked as if they were there to make a huge statement of intent. Sharply turned out, a whirlwind of movement from them all, and right in your face. It was like being kicked in the balls (in a good way).  Opener ‘Left Me For Dead’ reminded me of early Alter Bridge crossed with Alice In Chains. Buchannan is a live wire of a performer, hardly keeping still, and his delivery is great considering he put more energy into one hour than all the previous bands could muster up!
I had a thought, what is he doing playing ‘Fire, Fire’, then it hit me. He was the bloke in Heavens Basement. Now without the long locks. Backed up by his sister Laurie on guitar, and Lead guitarist Tom McCarthy, they were here to leave a mark on the audience. I think he very nearly did – in trying to stage dive he went arse over tit, and looked like it could have smarted a bit. It could have been the end of it there and then. To quote him afterwards, ‘a show without risks, isn’t a show’. I honestly think he lives and dies by this mantra. ‘Fire in the ~Fields of Mayhem’ is a song inspired by Coheed, and hits the spot, short and punchy like a Claudio classic, complete with ‘whooa, oh ohs!’ After the near death experience, Aaron thought ‘I’ve survived this, so ill give it another shot’. During the powerful ‘I Am Electric’ he beckoned the audience in, walked across them, and pulled off a headstand on top of the audience for one of the memorable points of the whole weekend. The whole band at this point were on fire, all bar Paul White (drums), the guys up front were in the audiences face for the whole hour. ‘Man With Stars On His Knees’ was the stand out song for me, you get to hear Aaron just singing, it built up into a crescendo without the need for screaming and was simply wonderful. Hearing four Heavens Basement songs made me think why the hell this band didn’t make it, as the interpretations here were excellent.
AB&TCC are as near to AOR as I am to being politically correct. That doesn’t matter, because as far as I am concerned they gave one of the performances of the weekend. Fucking fantastic.
Marc Torien’s Bulletboys were up next. The audience was stoked for these guys. I feel that I might be in the minority, but I saw and felt differently to the crowds reaction. As far as I’m concerned,  they should have been sponsored by ‘The Dairy Council of Great Britain’ as these fuckers know how to milk out a song. It was all smoke and mirrors. I thought Torien, looked great, sounded great and played guitar even better, but I just don’t understand what all the pissing about was for. The few songs they played (8 in total. Really?) there were extended intros, extended outros, and the bits in the middle were too bastard long also. If I hear him shout ‘Are you glad to see us Wales?’ I heard it 20 bleedin’ times. If I’m honest, it started well with ‘Hard as A Rock, finished well, with ‘Smooth Up In Ya’ but the middle was the shit, in a shit sandwich. I just did not get it.  They were booked for an hour, played 5 or 6 songs in 50 minutes, and I wouldn’t have put it past him to count his money on stage for the last 10. There was too much faff and fannying around for my liking. You can tell he is taking the piss by throwing in a drum solo. I would have swapped these around with AB&TCC. Where’s the mind bleach as I want my mind erasing.
Night Ranger nave been doing this for 35 years and were not going to let anyone before steal the thunder. By the time they took the stage a little late the venue was rammed, to the point of almost being uncomfortable. Based on this, Night Ranger is THE band that people were here to see on any of the three days. They play with the vibe of a band that is playing gigs every weekend for the last 10 years. Jack Blades in particular looks as if he is having the time of his like. Very few bands from the 80s could pull in a crowd like this today. It’s all because they are fucking great. End of.
This is the third time in four years that I’ve seen them. Do you know what is great? They have mixed up the set list for all three gigs. It helps considerably that they have such and excellent and extensive catalogue of great songs to pull from. There’s no light weighting or fillers here folks, its full on Night Ranger power for almost two hours.
The new (ish) songs, opener ‘Somehow Someway’, ‘High Road’ and ‘Truth’ fit in seamlessly with the older classics. In fact if you didn’t know any better you would think they are all from their golden period. It’s an artillery of voices, with five part harmonies, an AOR fans wet dream. With Brad Gillis and Keri Kelli the interplay between both is something else, and Gillis in particular is one of rocks finest guitarists, and vastly underrated. The playing on ‘A Touch Of Madness’ is just to die for. Jack Blades is taking something that I want. I don’t know what it is, but if I can bound around like him for a couple of hours at his age, I’d be a happy man indeed.  Night Ranger are a well oiled machine, its hit after hit, from ‘Rumours In The Air’ to ‘The Secret Of My Success’ and the not very heard ‘7 Wishes’ and ‘Night Ranger’. For me, the crowd responds better to the Damn Yankees songs than the Night Ranger ones. They have enough great songs to draw in that don’t need to be Damn Yankees. One of my favourite albums is ‘Man In Motion,’ there are some cracking songs on here that never get an outing.  With the last five songs, Night Rangers phasers are set to ‘stun’. ‘Goodbye’, When You Close Your Eyes’, the superb ‘Don’t Tell Me You Love Me’, segueing into Highway Star, then onto the one-two sucker punch with ‘Sister Christian’ and ‘(You Can Still) Rock In America.
Night Ranger delivered on all levels, song choice, and performance level, and musically. There’s not that many bands out there form the 80s that could match this level at this stage in their careers. Here’s to 2021 or sooner hopefully.
SATURDAY
I could not be there for the full day, so managed to cram in 4 bands. First up were The Idol Dead. These are another band that I’d never come across before, but full marks to the organisers for getting them on the bill. Again there were as far away to AOR, than Bulletboys are to enjoyment. They reminded of Teenage Casket Company from 2016 that came on and blew the place up. The Idol Dead were no different. To say they had the audience in the palm of their hands was a massive understatement. No solos as such, but they had some of the best songs and riffs this side of the Pennines, all played out with an attitude and swagger bigger than Snowdon. They are on tour in May, I strongly advise you to get your arses over to see them. The highlights of their set were ‘Blackout Girl’ which reminds me of early Coheed & Cambria, and the wonderfully titled C.H.I.M.S.A. (Christopher Hitchens Is My Spiritual Animal). If they had dropped the mic at the end, it would have rounded off a near perfect performance.
Blood Red Saints were on first on the main stage. My worries that they might not be playing to a decent crowd were thankfully the opposite. The room was pretty much filled out and BRS deserve to play in front of numbers like this. They had 45 minutes to make statement, call it 35 if you can shut Pete Godfrey up. That’s a big part of the show. ‘Another Freak’ from their latest album was a stormer, a lot of bands try to write anthems, and very few can do it better than BRS, especially on ‘Mercy’ with the harmonies from Chemney, Naylor and Revill making it a killer. The band were trying to move on quickly and pack the songs in, but stopping Pete Godfrey  from joking, as like trying  to stop Mr Creosote from having a ‘weffer thin mint!’
Pete royally took the piss out of Rob Naylor’s voice (who, when asked to say something, stated he had a sore throat), with Pete commenting ‘you sound gay, where did you lose your voice? In the men’s toilets? ‘
The large venue suits these bands to a tee, as this is probably the best I have seen BRS perform. Amongst the golden nuggets was a brief rendition of Take That’s ‘Back For Good’. Follow this up with ‘Live and Die’ and ‘Kicking Up Dust’ and the set was glorious. God help who had to follow this.
So, from the Blood Red Saints to one of France’s patron saints, the all female Joan ov Arc. I would stake (see what I did there) a good amount of money that a lot of the punters were like me, and were a new experience. Despite having to follow Ted Bovis and the BRS, Joan ov Arc were out to prove a point, that it’s not just the blokes who can kick ass. The crowd had faded by the time they entered the stage. From what little I’d seen of them on YouTube, it was nothing when compared to their live performance. The vocals courtesy of Sam Walker were both powerful and ear-bleedingly high. Her sister Shelley (lead guitar), looked as if she wanted to prove a point. There was a bit of overplaying, but I can easily forgive that especially when they want to showcase their talents in a setting like this. Four songs in and the crowd had returned, and they were very well received. They proved that they could mix it up, with the more soulful vocals of bassist Laura Ozholl taking lead on a couple of songs. An anthem for the girls was proclaimed, and it kame with a killer riff, and clearly one of the best songs of the set. They chose to finish their set with an all-time classic, Freebird. It takes some balls to play a track like this, so it was a good job than none were present, and they knocked it out of the park, with Shelly Walker showing how good a guitarist she is.
My final band of the festival was up next, and what a band, and performance it was from Wales’ own Nev MacDonald of Hand of Dime. I felt a bit like Dorothy Boyd in Jerry Maguire, as he had me at ‘Hello’. Very few singers have this talent; and Nev is one talented bloke. He sings effortlessly, and for me, it was THE vocal performance of the weekend. Joining him from eons back was Andy Robbins (ex-Skin and Jagged Edge). The area was as full as it was for a headliner and it was only 4pm. The set was only seven songs, but fook me, what a seven songs it proved to be! I was lucky to catch him a few years back at Steelhouse in 2013, so it was great to them higher up the bill. ‘Looking at You’ is a classic, and had the whole crowd in raptures. To be honest, Nev could have sung ‘Shaddup Ya Face’ and I’d like it at this point. Hand of Dimes was on fire (damn I should have used that for Joan ov Arc), and in ‘Jacobs Ladder’, a soulful blues number that borders on perfect. It is without doubt their finest work. It was their final track that almost took the roof off the place, Skin’s ‘House Of Love’. It was commented that Nev MacDonald should be a household name. Well, he is in the Buckley household.
Hand of Dimes came a close second to Night Ranger, and join Blood Red Saints, The Idol Dead, and Aaron Buchanan and The Cult Classics as the stand out acts of AOR VI.
I’m hopeful that the guys at HRH will come up trumps next year and deliver the goods as an AOR festival. To many bands were either not AOR or were on the wrong stage (especially Midnite City and Degreed). On the way home, we talked about this in detail, and Styx would be the choice. One of the few bands that can still cut it and matches the high standard of Night Ranger.
The festival goes from strength to strength, they have a brand that doesn’t necessarily cater to the AOR crowd, in a good way.Just make it more pink n fluffy next year please.

There was a spare slot going on Sat night after Jack Russell’s Great White pulled out a couple of weeks ago. I’ve heard on the grapevine that Spike books a caravan for him and the gang the same weekend as HRH AOR over in Criccieth. He is ‘on-call’ for the whole weekend. Its true I tell ya!!

Michael Schenker Fest – O2 Academy, Sheffield 3rd November 2017

Michael Schenker Fest – O2 Academy Sheffield
Many months ago I got the chance to review the then ‘one-off’ MSF DVD that took place in Japan. (Review here – http://www.chesyrockreviews.com/2017/02/michael-schenker-fest-live-review.html ) I got a bit misty-eyed watching this gig, especially when I think back to Cozy Powell, and thought how great it would be to have him alive and involved in something like this. It would have been the cherry to top all cherries.
Thankfully, someone had sense to take this on a wider tour. It was announced for the UK. YAY! I’m not sure if ticket sales had been poor as it was recently announced that Sheffield was offering a 33% discount via the people at HRH. Bastards!!! Not HRH, just the fact that tickets were heavily discounted. This tactic worked. Whilst the balcony wasn’t really utilized, the floor was pretty packed, and these punters had excellent foresight.
Schenker these days is a completely different bloke to the poor state he was in 10 years ago. Upon entrance, he was happy, beaming with joy to be precise, and this immediately shows in his playing. In fact on the opening salvo of ‘Into The Arena’, its probably the best I’ve seen him since the early 80s. In fact, this happiness seems to have rubbed off on all of the band. All of the 3 vocalists stints – Gary Barden, Graham Bonnet and Robin McAuley, are interjected with an instrumental classic – ‘Into the Arena’ for Barden, ‘Coast To Coast’ prior to Bonnet, and ‘Captain Nemo’ for McAuley.
Barden is first, and while he doesn’t have the voice of Budokan, he still handles his vocals with charm and polish. There’s nowt vocally from ‘Built To Destroy’, all of Barden’s are classics from the first two albums, ‘Let Sleeping Dogs Lie’, ‘Victim Of Illusion’, ‘Cry For The Nations’, ‘Attack Of The Mad Axeman’, and ‘Armed And Ready’. Such is the enjoyment, thirty minutes goes past in a blink of an eye. Chris Glen, looks every inch the star (and nutter) as he was in the 80s, and with Ted Mckenna the groove is well and truly covered. McKenna’s Bass drum, and Glen’s bass notes pummel your body with the groove. Steve Mann, the youngest at 61 (I want whatever he’s drinking!) handles the rhythm and keys excellently. My only gripe, no ‘On and On’, which is probably my fave MSG song of all of them. Gutted.
Graham Bonnet looks every inch the fashion icon as he was in his Rainbow days. The guy looks resplendent in his aviator sunglasses, black shirt, red tie, salmon jacket (yes…..salmon!) and jeans ‘n sneakers. It took him just a minute to joke about the infamous incident at Sheffield City Hall some 35 (ish) years ago, when he got his knob out when he was pissed as a fart. In this venue, instead of pulling out his willy, out came a banana. You rock guys…..! The excellent ‘Desert Song’ from the underrated (not in my house) ‘Assault Attack’ was up first, followed by ‘Dancer’ with Barden and McAuley on BVs, with ‘Assault Attack’ bringing up the rear. Bonnet is almost 70 and is in amazing nick. Chris Glen stated this was the first time this song had been heard and having Bonnet back in the fold was superb.
Robin McAuley’s voice (whilst no spring chicken either) is identical to his Grand Prix and McAuley Schenker Group days. Superb vocally, he has no right to still be this good! ‘No Time For Losers’, ‘Save Yourself’, ‘Bad Boys’, and the superb ‘Love Is Not A Game’ and ‘Rock Bottom’ covered his stint. McAuley looks every inch the star, and went down a storm. The solo from Schenker for ‘Rock Bottom’ was just sublime.
The encore continued in the UFO vein with stellar renditions of ‘Doctor Doctor’ and ‘Lights Out’ with all three taking on vocal duties.
I was looking forward to this, after seeing the DVD a few months back, but in reality it was much better than I expected it to be. Schenker was stunning, wringing every note out of his various flying V’s (Dean), and it was a joy to witness up close. Being in a happy place suits the guy.
If I’m honest, this is the set list I’ve been itching for on the 4 times I’ve seen Temple Of Rock, this was as good as it gets. The only icing on the cake would have been Michael bringing in Rocky Newton, Paul Raymond, and I would have desperately loved to see the late, great Cozy Powell just one more time.

I’m not ‘age-ist’, but I would like to state that the total age on show here tonight was 452! In fact, what I saw tonight was a band that was better than the MSG I saw on the ‘Rock Will Never Die’ tour in ’84. Remarkable stuff. Well done fellas, and thank you for a superb night.

Personally I think it’s a mistake having two gigs (Sheffield and Manchester) so close, which is why I think sales of the Sheffield gig were being pushed. That said, at £30 it was value for money, but if you paid the 20 quid, then it was probably the best value gig of the year by a country mile.
(Note – As a regular gig go-er, not necessarily to Sheffield, watch out for those thieving NCP bastards next to the O2. £17 for four hours. Now for my next review of them in Trip Advisor!)

9.5/10

Michael Schenker Fest –
Michael Schenker – lead guitar
Chris Glen – Bass
Ted McKenna – Drums
Steve Mann – Keys/Guitar
Vocalists –
Gary Barden
Graham Bonnet
Robin McAuley
Tracklisting –
Yin And Yang
Searching For Freedom
Into The Arena
Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
Victim Of Illusion
Cry For The Nations
Attack Of The Mad Axeman
Armed And Ready
Coast To Coast
Desert Song
Dancer
Assault Attack
Captain Nemo
No Time For Losers
Save Yourself
Bad Boys
Love Is Not A Game
Rock Bottom
Encore
Doctor Doctor
Lights Out

Hard Rock Hell AOR V – Festival Review – Hafan Y Mor 10th & 11th March 2017

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. 
My day started on the Friday with a couple of stunning acoustic sets courtesy of The Radio Sun, and then the same guys being joined by Paul Laine. It’s great news to have The Radio Sun returning for second year in succession. The Aussies certainly made an impact last year and gained a lot of new converts along the way. First of all, the banter is great, we got to hear about the guys travel from South to North Wales and their traffic encounters, and Jason being one of the ‘Wiggles”! Don’t ask! It’s the quality of the songs that make the biggest impression. ‘One In A Million’ is just wonderful, it highlights just how strong TRS are with harmonies, in fact very few of the bands over the whole weekend can match these guys. ‘Wrong Things Right’ and a sterling Andy Taylor cover ‘I Might Lie’ (the one with the riff that’s VERY Eddie ‘Beat It’)! ‘Maybe’ finished off a short but very memorable set. (8.5/10)
Without any further ado Paul Laine stepped up and you knew he was going to be trouble (but in a good and very funny way!). Paul set up a high seat in front of him so he could read some of his lyrics. Bless him. Obviously a forgetful chap, he has self-declared Paulzheimers! ‘Going All The Way’ eventually kicked off the set. Paul’s vocals would be one of the best over the whole weekend. You can tell that both TRS and Paul had spent time with Blood Red Saints as jokes and insults a-plenty were traded between Paul and Jason….’Does The Rock know you’ve stolen his 80s haircut?’, and ‘Jase, you’re doing this (makes yapping sound with his hand)’ and I want you to do this (shut up hand signal).  You had to be there!! There’s a new double act in town folks. That said, I think it’s all stemmed from love and respect. But, it’s his show, so Paul is in charge. Up came ‘I Still Think About You’ and it was just sublime in this acoustic setting. Laine’s vocal’s are undiminished from the fist time I ever witnessed him from his performance at The Gods over twenty years ago (on the telly). After ‘Comin Home’ we were even given an encore of ‘Dont Walk Away’. TRS firmly set the bar for the weekend, and Paul Laine raised it. These two sets were to be one of the main highlights of the weekend. About 120 people witnessed something special here. (9/10)
We legged it to the main stage for a band I’d only looked at the day before….Walkway. As far as first bands go, Walkway were the best opening act I’ve seen at 4 AORs. This is a band that clearly tour…..a lot! I missed the first three songs, and entered for ‘Overrated’. That’s one thing that this band definitely are not.  Their set is smooth as silk and very polished. They are not exactly AOR, more classic rock, but when it’s as good as this, who cares. Frontman Chris Ready obviously has Robert Plant as an influence, and this is no complaint from me. With a song armoury like ‘Best I Ever Had’, Stutter’, ‘Rise’, and the instantly memorable ‘Streetwise’, I really hope these lads get the major break they deserve. Guitarist James Ready, who was fucking outstanding I have to say, went on walkabout during the final song ‘One Touch Too Much’. Walkway were another memorable highlight of the day and weekend. Catch them live again if you can, you will not be disappointed. If you are, I will refund your money myself!!

(8.5/10)

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)

It was time to show the young whippersnappers a thing or two. Romeo’s Daughter are a class act. I’ve seen them quite a few times over the last (cough), thirty years, and they have NEVER let me or the audience down. The set was to be quite wide ranging, mixing the old and the new seamlessly, proving that the new songs are just as good, if not better than the older songs. Leigh Matty looks gorgeous as ever, and if there were awards for best hair, she would win hands down. In Craig Joiner, Romeos Daughter have one of the most underrated but finest songwriters of his generation. His playing isn’t necessarily flashy, but its honest and from the heart. ‘Heaven In The Back Seat’ – a song that should have made them household names, opened up a short but superb set. The good side of playing a 55 minute set…..all the stops are pulled out. From ‘Velvet Touch’ from the 80s, to the likes of ‘Bittersweet’ and ‘Radio’ from more recent years, Romeo’s Daughter have not lost any of their effectiveness. They finished the set 80s heavy with the upbeat ‘Inside Out’, ‘I Cry Myself To Sleep At Night’ – one of my all time favourite tracks, and finishing with a blast of the song that Heart covered, the obligatory ‘Wild Child’. Great stuff. (8.5/10)

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)

I scuttled back across to the main stage to view the last three songs of Bang Tango. They were a band I never got into in the 80s and the reason was in these last three songs. The vocals were whiny and just poor. The crowd around me heard a rendition of ‘Highway To Hell’ and went nuts, but Epic did it so much better ten minutes earlier. If I was harsh on Jizzy Pearl, then Joe Lesté fans should stop reading now. This sleaze (not AOR HRH!) was as fun as a root canal without the anaesthetic. And then doing it all again….and again…and again…(4/10)
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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)

Saturday…..

I watched the last three songs of Haxan based on their T-shirt. ‘You don’t need a cock…..to know how to rock’. My kind of band I thought. The reality was a bit different. I have to give them kudos and balls for a three piece that wants to rock out, but they were let down a bit by the quality of their songs. The feistiness is there, which is great, and I hope they develop into a great little band. Their best shout came from a Zep cover ‘Rock and Roll’. There are lots of other AOR bands in a similar position who would have killed for a slot like this. (6/10)
‘Watch Devilstars’ says Dennis, they’re great. So I did, up to a point.  Their intro tape meant they could have almost fit in an extra song. They looked the part, but the sound of the vocals was inaudible. I don’t think it was down to the sound guy, it was just piss poor projection. I lasted just four songs of the set, and was glad to get out to the main stage. Who did I see in there…..yes, Dennis, who had lasted just two songs of his own tip. (5/10)

Summers were well into their set by the time I landed. This is the third time I have seen them and the first two times they were great. The last was at the inaugural HRH AOR at Magna. What I got this time was a disjointed Summers. Whereas a lot of other bands had a theme or a ‘look’ Summers didn’t know what direction they were headed in. Yes the sound was dodgy again, but I give the band the benefit of the doubt. Crash Summers appeared to be disinterested and there had a severe lack of activity up there. Plus, his gran would have been well pissed off when she realises that he was wearing her curtain tie-backs. ‘Inseparable’ was like a Bon-Jovi country track which is now all the rage. They made up for it with decent versions of ‘Shot In The Dark’ and ‘I Came Here To Rock’. Five years ago I thought Summers had a great future, but they have been over taken by bands on this festival that are now higher up the bill. I really hope they pull something good out of the bag in the near future as I still want them to make it. If they do, it will probably be the hard way. (5.5/10)

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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)

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 

Dan Reed Network and Vega Live Review – The Live Rooms Chester, 4th March 2017

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Dan Reed Network + Vega – Live Rooms Chester, Sat 4th March 2017
The two bands on stage tonight deserve/d to be huge. DNR had all the ducks lined up in the late 80s/ early 90s and were tugging on the coattails of the likes of Bon Jovi with their funk/rap/jazz/ soul infused hard rock edge with some pop overtones. They were fairly unique in their day, and is possibly….no, make that definitely why their record company did bugger all in spreading the word. So instead of tonight’s gig being at Wembley, it’s at the Chester Live Rooms. 
Vega on the other hand still deserves a shot at being huge. They’ve been around a while now (since 2009) and with every passing album and gig, there’s bigger and better performances coming from the guys.  Last night nudged my Vega viewing into double figures. One thing these lads do ever so well is, first and foremost hit you with a powerful melody. The first song ‘Stereo Messiah’ was missed due to visa issues (a Welshman travelling into England) so I entered to the anthemic ‘What The Hell’ and by this point in the place was rocking. Its also nice to see a Live Room gig attended by quite a few people for once, and Vega, whilst nowhere near the same type of band as DRN, they prove to be a perfect foil for them. When you have the Martin brothers shitting out melodies for fun, and then having this backed with the guitar prowess of Marcus Thurston, and a powerful and engaging front man like Nick Workman, it makes for a cracking nights entertainment. ‘Gonna Need Some Love Tonight’ is a prime example – infectious, and with an end line harmony that will melt the hearts of any a detractor. Apart from a minor potential electrocution, Vega was superb. New songs like ‘Every Little Monster’ (I cant type it without singing it) are potential future classics. All the songs are anthemic, and why set out your stall as being ‘average’ when you can write and perform songs like ‘Hands In The Air’, ‘White Flag’ and ‘Savin’ Grace’. I expect them to be one of the bands of the festival at HRH next weekend.
Dan Reed Network is a different band. They all seem relaxed; in fact I don’t think I’ve ever seen a happier looking band. Just don’t miss your cue, or set the monitors up correctly as Mr Reed, despite the smiles and political statements/and Trump jokes, is a consummate professional. After the lady jiggled some wires  (oo-er!) at the front of the sound desk, we were ready to be taken on a journey. Tonight (possibly others too) the set list is non-existent pretty much and the DRN is open up to offers….but more of that a little later.
Straight up from the debut is in force with DRN storming into ‘Ritual’. Despite being the wrong side of 50 (60+ for Brion James!), not just Dan, its all bar young Rob, they all prance about the stage just like it was 1988. The faithful were not to be disappointed, songs were played from all across the network, “seven Sisters Road” played with a frenetic ending, after which the floor was opened up by Dan, now taking requests….’Rainbow Child’ shouted a punter. The usual response for this said Dan was for every ‘Woo-hoo’, there’s a ‘fuck no!’ Thankfully the ‘fuck no’s’ were beaten down and they hammered it. ‘I’m So Sorry’ was up next. It sounded as if it hadn’t had an airing in quite some time, but this added to the whole enjoyment and spontaneity of the evening. I prefer to call it an ‘off the cuff’ performance.
‘Baby Now I’ segued into a medley of Kiss’ ‘I was Made For Lovin’ You’, ‘Enter sandman’, ‘Relax’ ‘All Right’ (sung by Melvin, followed by a bass solo) and a smidge of ‘Highway To Hell’ Fantastic stuff indeed! A couple of new songs (Infected’ and  ‘Champion’) sandwiched ‘Under My Skin’ and some Bruce Lee Kung Fu with added drum sound effects. Young pup Rob Daiker was given the chance to shine with one of his own songs, an excellent blues number ‘All For A Kiss’ first accompanied by Brion, then the rest of the Network joining in. This stripped down version with just a guitar was superb.
The last three songs were at hand with ‘Ritual’ being my fave of the evening. That much so, I still can’t stop singing it some 15 hours later. The staple ballad ‘Stronger Than Steel’ set the tone, finishing with a crescendo and ‘Tiger In A Dress’.
Dan still sounds pretty much identical as he did almost 30 years ago, and it makes for a terrific nights entertainment. Throw in James. Pred, Brannon Jr and Daiker, and the end result is one of the best gigs you’ll witness in 2017 or any other year. Most of the gigs are almost sold, so what are you waiting for….get your asses our to one of the best tickets in town. All this for a mere £9 a band and you can say hi afterward. No £50 meet n greet to be seen here folks! My only gripe…..no ‘Make It Easy’, ‘Slam’ or ‘Long Way To Go.’
That said Vega and Dan Reed Network provided one of the gigs of the year without a shadow of a doubt.
PICTURES COURTESY OF ‘JEFF PRICE PHOTOGRAPHY’

You can still catch them on tour……

DRN March 2017 UK Tour with special guests VEGA
Mar 5: The Globe Cardiff
Mar 7: The Cluny Newcastle (Sold Out)
Mar 8: Òran Mór Glasgow
Mar 10: The 100 Club London (Sold Out)
Mar 11: The Local Authority Sheffield
Mar 12: The Robin 2 Bilston
Mar 14: The Ruby Lounge Manchester
Mar 15: Rescue Rooms Nottingham
Photo by Jeff Price. #DanReedNetwork

Martina Edoff – Live Review, Railway Venue, Bolton 15.4.16


Sultry Swedish singer, Martina Edoff who has the voice of an angel x with a smidge of good ‘ol USA Country & Western, rode into town on THE ‘Highway to Hell’……or in this case, Bolton. Not that Bolton is Hell, but the main road going into town is the A666. There will be no ‘end of days’ jokes here folks, but after seeing Ms Edoff, there were a few ‘horny’ males knocking around the venue.
The venue in question, is the soon to be defunct Railway Venue. A unique place, part living room (nice and homely), with all the accoutrements a budding starlet could want; a cracking sound system that perforates ear drums, lasers, and enough smoke to think you’re in the Vatican electing the next Pope. The current landlords (John and Hilary) have done a cracking job of this place and it will be a loss to the rock scene that’s for sure.
Enough of the back story, what about the main event. Well this was Martina’s last stop of a very brief soiree in the UK; first Bilston, tonight Bolton. Apparently she only plays at towns/cities that begin with the letter ‘B’. Go figure. That’s probably why we didnt see her at the recent HRH AOR that is hand made for singers like Martina Edoff – shame on you HRH guys! HRH loss is definitely our gain. 
Martina is backed by ‘Crash’ (Drums) and Jona Tee (Keys) of Heat, with long standing bassist Nalle Påhlsson, and guitarist Stefan Bergström.


Despite this being being the second of two gigs, one thing is evident, the band are tight. Edoff is a glamorous as they come; slim, slender, with long flowing black hair and bejewelled with shiny stuff. Despite her very svelt frame she has the power of a cannon ripping through tissue. The ‘voice’ shouldn’t come from a frame like this, but it does, with some welly that matches the two albums and with no added effects!

Edoff powers through a lot of the set. The two albums are contrasting, her debut (for the rock community) is more rock country, whereas ‘Unity’ is  Melodic Rock, but both are enhanced by one of the best female (or male) rock singers this side of Stockholm. In fact the first seven songs from the set are all from Unity – with the title track  ‘Unity’, ‘Sound Of Thunder’ and the strangely named ‘I Am Mining’ taking the edge. The latter being a punchy, fun number that soars above the album version, even if it is about ‘mining!!’
‘On The Top’ is the very first song that attracted me to Martina Edoff, A song that’s truly in the vein of the queen of Country Rock – Shania Twain.  There was a bit of a special encore for us crows in covers from both Heart and AC/DC, which were lapped up in droves. Martina Edoff handles Ann Wilsons vocals without any trouble, and that’s no mean feat. All in all it’s a very impressive performance from Edoff and her band. Its just a pity that there were only about 50 people there to see it. However, those that did were treated to a little gem of a performance.

Which brings me onto the subject of why so many venues are closing their doors….this isn’t  the case here as the Railway Venue as they really support bands with a great set up. Their imminent closure is more brewery related than a lack of support. That said, Martina Edoff deserved a better turnout than this. And when this happens, its no big surprise that either a) bands fail to return, or b) the more important nature of venues closing their doors.

Get with the plan people, support your venues and the bands that come to play in them!
PHOTOS COURTESY & COPYRIGHT JEFF PRICE

HRH AOR 4 – Hafan Y Mor, Pwllheli, 11 & 12 March 2016

HRH AOR 4 – Hafan Y Mor, Friday 11th March 2016
If HRH were a person it would be young (younger than me anyways), confident and slightly cocky. It knows what it wants, and is not afraid to shout it out from the rooftops. It doesn’t want to be the next Download, or perhaps it does! But based on its various homes the last few years (Prestatyn, Magna and today’s current but established location of Hafan Y Mor, Pwllheli) it doesn’t seem to want to be Download, or Wacken, or Bloodstock. And that for me, and many others I suspect, that it’s fine just the way it is.  It’s most definitely for this reason why it sells out VIP and Royalty tickets for the next bash before a band has even been announced.
For me, I’m not in my twenties any more, or thirties (bollox) and on my third crack at HRH AOR (missed No.2) it feels like a comfortable pair of slippers, and definitely like a second home. You meet the same great people, and some new ones get added as friends after every visit, and certainly the AOR side is definitely a gathering of friends, and I include the bands in this statement as most of them mingle about the crowds and are fans of the genre as well as performers. I can’t see Axl mingling or doing anything like this anytime soon. Over the course of a weekend of mingling, drinking and chatting you may just get to see some fantastic bands also.
Unfortunately for me, I could only visit Fri, and just a small part of Saturday due to another commitment, but I’m fucking glad I made the day I did as most of it was excellent……..
Taking to the HRH stage first were Scottish young guns Estrella. It could have been worse,  because had they watched a different film they could have been called Tuborg, or Staropramen. If EVER a band was born for a big stage and perform for a large crowd, it’s Estrella. A couple of few years back I saw them in Bolton in front of about 40 people. Times that by about 20 this time and the lads rose to the occasion. To be fair to them,their professionalism was there right from the beginning, but in kicking off the Friday they absolutely came across as one of the best bands of the day.  They arrived to a proper into tape, one of the few bands to do so, and believe me, it does make a difference. They arrived on stage one by one, with backs turned to the audience then explode into ‘Rock This City Tonight’ . Front man Paul Gunn plays the crowd to perfection (all the Estrella guys do), and this has come from years of practice and honing their craft. On ‘Heaven’ if Tesla ever decide they want a replacement for Jeff Keith then this song highlights it to perfection. PG is across between Hamie and Keith and that is not a bad place to be. Estrella hit the crowd right between the eyes (no its not a review littered with Joe Lynn Turner puns) especially with the anthemic ‘Whatever It Is’. I pity the band that has to follow Estrella…..
I was correct.  I always, ALWAYS look for the positives in reviewing bands, especially ones I’ve not encountered previously or ones who are relatively new. In Iconic Eye, I really struggle to lavish praise. The songs I caught were ok to be fair to them, but my issue is with the vocalist Tim Dawkes (this wasn’t just me as quite a few I spoke to tended to have the same opinion). He looked the kind of guy that didn’t look as if he were in rock band, and I cant get my head around looking at a front man who looks like he is off on the pull. Especially with the sweater he was wearing. That aside the vocals were flat and with a limited range. Couple this with little stage presence, and the overall result is one that would match the colour of his jumper……grey and uninspiring. The album has the very good Lee Small on vocals, I wish they could have gotten him in for today as his voice would have been a huge improvement. Even an Aersomith cover did little to garner any more attention. After about 60% I had to move across the way to see a bit of …..
….Sorcerer. FUCK. ME. Once I walked through to the Doom/ Sleaze stage it was like being in a psychedelic kaleidoscope of sound compared to the Iconic Eye. Immediately the vocals of Anders Engberg were aeons away from those of Dawkes. A band 27 years in the making that only had their debut album out last year! On the basis of the 3 songs I heard, I implore you to go buy it and give them a listen. ‘Northern Seas’ was introduced as a song from their 2nd demo cassette.!!! Fuck they have been around for years. If Blackmore decided he wants another relative unknown to front the Rainbow machine then he could do no worse than the powerhouse Dio-like vocals of Engberg. Bloody brilliant.
Back over to the AOR stage and still Iconic Eye were playing a song called ‘I Cant feel It’ Judging by the room most others couldn’t either.
Probably one of the least traveled bands (well they are local to Wales, even if they are from the wrong half!) were Kane’d. As this year’s trip was a last minute thing I had not done much homework. One thing is for sure, I will definitely be digging out Kane’ds album. The stage was all a bit full or so it seemed. I took a quick glance and saw one of the girls, and thought ‘great voice’. Then looked again and thought ‘how novel, 2 vocalists’ then ‘fuck me, there’s three of them!’ ALL of the vocal bases are covered with a band like Kane’s. Thankfully they harmonise, and intertwine to near perfection. Like Estrella, Kane’d are suited to a big stage and a bigger crowd. They bring some great elements of bands like Halestorm, Paramore and a bit of Evanescence into the mix, with explosive results, with ‘Beautiful But Tragic’ being one such example. The delightfully entitled song about people who piss you off, called Fuck You’ was the lighter side of their set, but the last three in particular, ‘Guilty Of Nothing’, the very catchy ‘La Di Da’ (Ok its not thinking man’s metal, but it does what it says on the tin), before finishing with the anthem that is ‘Hero’. Kane’d are definitely a band to keep a close eye on. They were undoubtedly pleasant on the eyes, but I could have watched, and listened for double their allotted time. At the end I felt that I had well and truly been Kane’d. Da iawn.
Blood Red Saints are the first band of the day to epitomize the AOR genre, in bucket-loads. Speedway was one of my fave AOR albums of last year. Its no messing AOR; BRS hit you full on in the face (and ears) with ‘Kicking Up Dust’ a melodic gem of a number. BRS were going to be one of the most anticipated bands of the day, and they thankfully delivered to an appreciative audience. ‘Mercy’, or as Pete Godfrey calls it, Mer-ceh!’ shows BRS off to perfection, all members wading in with harmonies that make an old AOR fan like me weep into my water (I was driving!). Haven used to be a Butlin’s many years ago, and it’s here where imagine that Godfrey honed his craft as a Redcoat. One of the wittiest guys on stage anywhere, he was told to cut out the jokes. Which

is the same as telling Finbarr Saunders not to find anything dirty in any situation. For example ‘How the Hard Rock Hell are you?’, and ‘I’ll be back next year with a different band’ to name just two. That aside, BRS have a quality set of songs to pull from, and we were given two new songs, ‘Dirty Little Secret’ and one penned by Newdeck called ‘Tragedy’ and is a bit heavier than the usual stuff, but still bloody good. The AOR crowd were treated to a 1986 ‘one song medley’ of Bon Jovi’s ‘Wanted Dead Or Alive’, and also threw in Signal’s ‘Does It Feel Like Love’. Blood Red Saints sound the part, look the part (Rob Naylor looks like he’s come from a fashion shoot for GQ), and have given the genre a much-needed shot in the arm. Fantastic set.

Russ Ballard apparently got caught in traffic which set the running slots back about 40 mins. When he arrived he certainly made up for being late.  For starters the bloke is 71 this year (Seventy-fucking-one!), but looks as if he’s in his fifties, and still sings very well indeed. The bloke has penned songs that have been around in my lifetime that are truly iconic. Whilst most of the crowd today know who he is, I doubt the majority of people generally haven’t a Scooby Doo as to who he is.  Just look at his setlist  – kicking off with the excellent ‘Rene Didn’t Do It’, one of the few that hasn’t been covered by another artist. One fave of mine that I never realized was his was ‘Dream On’ made known to me in the mid 80s by King Kobra. We had all his own versions of songs that were made famous by others – ‘So You Win Again’ (Hot Chocolate), ‘Liar’ (Three Dog Night), ‘I Know Theres Something Going On’ (Frida – Abba), ‘New York Groove’ (Frehley / The

Sweet). The latter part of his set were what most people had gathered for, almost like paying homage, if you like – Argents ‘Hold Your Head High’ with Ballard singing as high and as well as he ever has; his original version of ‘God Gave Rock And Roll To You’, and he even admitted that Kiss did it better, and finally coming back for an encore of ‘Since You Been Gone’. The whole band must have had a combined age of about 543, but with age comes great experience, and there’s definitely a lot of life in the old Barnet Dog yet!

We’re now hitting the sharp end of the evening with the final two acts to go. I saw Tyketto back in 2007 at their alleged farewell gig. Thankfully they saw the love that fans held for them and have continued to this day (thank God). I have to say that Tyketto are one of those bands (only 2 originals currently) that sound just as good today as they did back in 1990. We were in for a treat – the whole of the debut ‘Don’t Come Easy’ album played in its entirety, but backwards. Thankfully, not the notes, just the songs! Danny Vaughn looks years younger than he is, and sounds like the Danny Vaughn from half his lifetime ago. Vaughn and Clayton are joined by Chris Childs (Bass, he of Thunder also), Ged Rylands (keys – ex-Ten / Rage Of Angels), and Chris Green – ex-Furyon/ ex-Pride). Green looks the part of a bonafide rock star from the top of his highlighted hair to the soles of his boots.  No one was really aware of Tyketto in 1987 in the UK. But one thing that happened over here in October 87 was the hurricane that flattened parts of the UK. The 2016 hurricane equivalent to Hafan Y More, is Tyketto, as they swept through the building and took the roof off the place. 
Again Tyketto had a great intro….”Welcome to the band that’s been kicking your arse for 25 years…..TYKETTO!!!!” Immediately on ‘Sail Away’ Vaughn proves why he is one of the best singers in the business, his vocals just soar and are full of power. ‘Stand Up’ is simply awesome, the harmonies superb. They threw a curve ball into the mix by playing a B Side from the ‘Forever Young’ single ‘Walk Away’ and judging by the hands raised in the room, about 10 of us own it! (Which is a travesty!). I hold a special place in my heart for ‘Forever Young,’ I knew where I was the first time I heard it, it was that special, so to hear it again was a fantastic moment. Few gigs are as good as these, play them as if they are your first (or last) and to your strengths, and Tyketto played a gig that could not be faulted, with no fillers, ALL killers. Now, does anyone know the number of a good local roofing contractor….
Joe Lynn Turner is listed as the main event, but Ballard, Tyketto and JLT all have the same allotted time to play. I admit that, as a HUUUGE Rainbow fan, I was here to see JLY strut his stuff with a ‘proper’ set. Forget the acoustic bollox from last year, this was what all of us wanted to hear. Joe did comment that this was his first solo gig in the UK. Alzheimers aside, he did not count last years tour as a solo gig. Anyway, JLT is still living and dressing like is 1986, just drop the leather gloves mate! It was a clever move by Mr Turner, going on at 11.15, as most of the audience would be well hammered, so he gave a Rainbow greatest hits set, with a couple of  non JLT-Rainbow classics thrown in for good measure. More of that in a minute. Opening with ‘Death Alley Driver’, I was immediately smitten, as on this, and all the songs the backing vocals from JLTs keyboardist were sublime to say the least. That bloke can sing!
Renditions of ‘Power’, ‘Can’t Let You Go’, the great ‘Jealous Lover’ (how this didn’t make a studio album is beyond me), ‘Street Of Dreams,’ etc was just wonderful.  Why cant guitarists try to play similar Blackmore solos? I know he is a God, but these songs were not similar in the soloing department.? Griping aside a huge positive is JLT; a bloke the wrong side of sixty, he still has a fantastic voice.
The hardly ever played ‘Miss Mistreated’ was up next, and whilst its not one of my fave rainbow songs, it’s a pleasure to hear it again after such a long time. More gems followed, ‘I Surrender’, Purple’s ‘King Of Dreams’, ‘Stone Cold’, and finally ‘Can’t Happen Here’ and one of the one’s I was desperate to hear again….. ‘Spotlight Kid’. Joe then paid homage to Ronnie with decent renditions of ‘Man On The Silver Mountain’ and ‘LLRNR’. Then it was all over way too quickly.
If I had an issue, it’s one of song selection. Joe is one of the most prolific singers of the last 35 years – Fandango, Rainbow, Solo albums a plenty, Malmsteen, Deep Purple, Sunstorm, Brazen Abbot, Mothers Army, etc. etc. The bloke must have sung on hundreds of songs. It was a JLT solo set, so at least dig out more songs from the JLT songbook  – especially ‘Rescue You’, and maybe one from Malmsteens best album, ‘Odyssey’. I love the fact that he paid homage to Ronnie, but the list could have been so much better. That said, I sang my arse off with Joe for every single song. So, thank you for making up for the acoustic disappointment of last year for me. Blackmore’s missed a trick in not using JLT for his Rainbow reunion. It was a great ending to a pretty good day.
HRH AOR partial review Saturday 12thMarch

A double booking meant that I couldn’t hang around for most of Day 2, apologies to the organisers! One band that was one to see was The Radio Sun. These guys travelled from fucking Australia to entertain us. 38 hours worth of travelling, and I have to say there were polite, funny and worth seeing (twice).
First we managed to get into the acoustic set of 4 songs at 1pm in the Owners Lounge. We were treated to a Q&A session and some giggles as Jason Old and the guys could talk for his/their country. The set consisted of four songs – ‘Wrong Things Right’, ‘One In A Million’, ‘Maybe’ and ‘Lets Talk About Love’. There’s nowhere to hide with an acoustic set, and TRS certainly nail the songs on offer. It’s a great testament when songs are stripped to their skin and become a different animal. When you can strip back a song and it still sounds great then you know it’s a good one. That’s exactly what they have here, a superb set of songs!
But it’s the full electric set where the magic really happens. The songs from ‘Wrong Things

Right’ and ‘Heaven or Heartbreak’ become something very different from the CD. The guys have come a long way to entertain and they certainly do what they set out to do. It’s also clear to see

that they are truly appreciating the support the fans gave from the other side of the World to them. TRS manage to cram in ten songs in their short set as openers for the Saturday. At the off, it looks a bit of a small audience, but by halfway the crowd had doubled. Singer Jason Old is a cross between Oz Fox and Claudio Sanchez mainly due to the damp weather!! Only visually I add, as Jason’s voice is definitely his own. TRS are not as visual as yesterday’s openers Estrella, but what they lack in movement, they make up in top quality songs. They border on heavy pop/rock, but they are as infectious as the ebola virus (in a good way of course). The highlights of the set were ‘Science Fiction Make Believe’, ‘One In A Million’, World Crazy Now’ and the title of their recent album ‘Caught Between Heaven and a Heartbreak ‘ which for me is one of the best songs of any of the bands on offer on today or any other day, a song  that is built on 80’s foundations, with a rasping riff and soloing from Stevie Janevski, and some sumptuous harmonies, and had it been 1986 it (and The Radio Sun) would be a household name. HRH have to invite TRS back and put them higher up the bill in the near future.

In between the two The Radio Sun sets we whisked over to the Sleaze stage to catch Teenage Casket Company. How these guys aren’t playing higher up the bill is beyond me. They have everything going in their favour, a band that truly look the part, and have classy songs with a cutting edge. In fairness their songs are not too far away from The Radio Sun. Where TRS deliver with polish, TCC deliver them with an attitude and swagger with a bit of punk thrown in for good measure. It’s a good sign when at 2pm the auditorium is pretty much chock-a-block. Some of their stuff is a UK version of Coheed & Cambria who are well-known for throwing in plenty of ‘Hey! Heys!’. Add this to the riffs, and the way in which Rob Wylde delivers and its one of the performances of the weekend. Again when the band has quality, the songs just come at you thick and fast. ‘Hate Me’ was one of their finest songs, and the new single ‘Thinking About You’ wasn’t too shabby either. They threw in a cover of the Beastie Boys ‘Fight For Your Right To Party’, before the closing song ‘Best Friend’. “Best Friend is my radio” wails Rob, which is appropriate given the audience age. I somewhat think ‘BF is my mp3, torrent, rapidshare’ etc does not have quite the same ring. Quality band.


HRH are proving to be a consistent and quality brand where AOR-sters and hammerfest-ers can get their musical fixes. You can’t make every fan happy, and that was the case heard over the weekend as certainly a couple of the AOR bands were not as per the genre expected. Perhaps ‘Melodic Rock’ is a term best used in future events
HRH have an opportunity to corner the market should they want to stamp their authority on the AOR/Melodic Rock genre. Firefest took a year off, and looked like they were going to fit something in later this year but events transpired against them. Rockingham stepped into the void in 2015, and so far looks as if they too may not be holding an event in 2016. One thing is for sure, they (HRH) have much better facilities for food, drink and accommodation. Not so much location, as it’s a trek even for locals, but at least its more scenic in N Wales. HRH, when you’ve had chance to take five, listen to the fans on the forums and whilst you cant book all and sundry, there will be some great names thrown at you. Looking forward to the next one already.