Review: NICK ASHTON & CRAIG BAILEY
Photos By: NICK ASHTON
Set in the idyllic surroundings of Etherow Country Park, Firevolt has quickly established itself as a major player on the festival scene. Appearing as if by magic for the first time in 2022, organisers Stret and Bev Stretford have quickly built a loyal and growing following for this three day extravaganza which mixes established names from yesteryear with up and coming talent from the grassroots rock scene.
Kicking off Friday on the Trooper Stage, local heroes and battle of the bands winners We Three Kings (NA) are greeted by an enthusiastic crowd and no small number of WTKs t-shirts. Duos can sometimes lack depth and variety, but not so Rich and Pete (aided and abetted by Bonesy the skeleton) who manage to create a glorious wall of sound. There is a groove underpinning the riffs in current single Get Back, The Criminal and Give It To Me, Go! which make it impossible to stand still while you watch the band give it everything that they’ve got. It’s Rich’s birthday today and what better way to celebrate than in front of an audience lapping up every minute of this short but glorious set which culminates in a frantic gallop through Walk. After a short amble to the Big Top stage, which as the name implies is situated in a cavernous tent, we are greeted by the irrepressible Matt Fielder and Ransom (NA) who deal in no nonsense, back to basics dirty rock ‘n’ roll. Equally at home in your local pub and on a big festival stage, Matt makes it clear that they don’t care how many people are present as long as everyone is up for a good rockin’ time. The set is built around debut album Back To The Boozer plus new singles Predator and Enter The Dragon which is dedicated to festival compere Paul Cash, whose taste in shirts is the butt of many a joke over the weekend.
I have had the pleasure of seeing The Karma Effect (CB) a number of times over the past year and each time their performance grows in confidence and swagger. Even after a 4.30 am start the band were energetic and engaging with Ash driving things forward like a big rumbling V8, Seb adding gorgeous flourishes and Henry’s and Robbie’s guitars complimenting each other so well. The set was a sweet mix of new songs from Promised Land and faves from their debut album. The set closed with Steal Your Heart Tonight and Testify. By this time the whole crowd was dancing and there are not too many bands from any generation that could close with such a pair of bangers.
A change of pace awaits in the Big Top in the form of rock ‘n’ roll juggernaut Trucker Diablo (NA) who kick off an energetic set with The Rebeland Let’s Just Ride. The riffing is offset by an acute sense of melody in radio-friendly Rock Kids of the 80s while Fighting For Everything is a rabble-rousing call to arms. Drive takes a detour into Proud Mary, before the Trucker’s theme song Drink Beer, Destroy kicks up some dust. Tom Harte and Simon Haddock rock hard and bassist Jim McGurk is a whirling dervish with long white hair while drummer Terry Crawford hits the drums harder than anyone else this weekend. Gritty new song Dig draws the invigorating set to an end before the band continue the tradition of closing with a cover, in this case Rosalie.
Word was out that South Of Salem (CB) had smashed it at Bloodstock the day before so, along with the band’s t-shirts being highly evident in the crowd, the expectation was high. The backdrop of LED coffins added atmosphere to the band’s crushing anthems which they deliver in a velvet glove of melody. The set launched into Let Us Pray and Jet Black Eyes, the latter accompanied by a load of inflatable eyeballs. New songs Vultures and Static were greeted like old friends, with Kody acting as ringmaster to the increasingly enthusiastic crowd as Joey spat out the venom of the lyrics. The crowd were left sated with the blistering closing pairing of Left For Dead and Cold Day In Hell. This was an immense set and for this scribe, probably the highlight of the weekend. Following hot on the heels of SoS’s spooky theatrics, The Treatment (NA) turn the clock Back To The 1970’s for some no-nonsense hard rock straight out of the AC/DC playbook. As the chorus to Let It Begin screams loud and proud, “you can’t stop this runaway train” and why would you want to when the ride is as thrilling as this? The crowd are lapping up the vibe and loving every minute as Tagore and Tao Grey lay down the hot and dirty riffs while vocalist Tom Rampton whips up a frenzy. These guys are really at home on big festival stages and know how to get a crowd on board for the ride of their lives.
Darren Wharton’s Renegade (NA) are the first of several bands who take us back to the heady days of the ’70s and ’80s when rockstars were gods. They offer up a consummate set of Thin Lizzy classics, reproduced accurately and respectful of the originals. Kicking off with Angel of Death, Jailbreak and Are You Ready? the setlist delivers hit after hit. How can you go wrong with Emerald, Cold Sweat, The Boys Are Back In Town and Rosalie? These are songs encoded in rock’s DNA: they have been played countless times on huge stages and jukeboxes in backstreet boozers alike for over 40 years. Everyone here knows all of the words and is more than willing to bathe in the warm glow of nostalgia. But we must return to the here and now, at least until tonight’s headliners hit the stage later on, so the task falls to Stone Broken (NA) to bring us back up to date. Theirs is very much a modern rock sound which encompasses elements of electronica as well as big riffs and even bigger choruses. They have a radio-friendly, commercial sound which has won them a large and loyal following and has seen them emerge as headliners in their own right. Tonight’s set kicks off with Revelation, Stay All Night and Heartbeat Away before hitting the highlights from their three full length releases to date. Thus, we get the driving rocker (Let Me Go), the big ballad (Wait For You), the riff monster (Worth Fighting For) and set-closing crowd pleaser (Not Your Enemy) all delivered with passion and precision.Friday night headliners Vandenberg (NA) take us back once again to the 80s with a set that reflects Adrian Vandenberg’s stint in the glossy, Hollywood version of Whitesnake that finally broke America. All of the big hits are present and correct: Fool For Your Loving, Give Me All Your Love, Judgement Day, Sailing Ships, Crying In The Rain, Still Of the Night and Here I Go Again. Vocalist Mats Levén doesn’t try to impersonate Coverdale, but his voice has similar qualities and the nuances are definitely present and correct. As well as the Whitesnake hits we also get Vanderberg’s own Hit The Ground Running, Freight Train and Burning Heart which come from a similar big rock sound mould. As the cheers echo around the Trooper Stage and the hardier festival goers prepare to keep rocking into the night with a DJ set, day one draws to a close for this reviewer.
Vandenburg
