Live Review : Call of the Wild Festival 2022 - Day 4

Unfortunately, what I thought was a Sunday morning hangover turned out o be a bit more than that, and I missed a handful of bands at the start of the day as I struggle to surface on day 4. I’m not sure what the festival equivalent of Dheli belly is, let’s just say it’s the opposite of a rock block and leave it there. Anyhow, I wasn’t my usual sparkly self on Sunday and quite a bit of the day managed to pass me by. Johann was out and about with the camera though, so we have some decent galleries of the bands that I didn’t see even if there are no words for them.

I pop into the marquee for a brief look as A’Priori. This is a band with no bass player, instead the keyboard player takes on that role. They play clean classic rock and even though I don’t stay long it’s a good set that has attracted a reasonable audience.

I did manage to make the arena before Saints Of Sin finished, which was good because I like them. They are another band who make maximum use of pitch-perfect harmonies and although their basic style is lightweight AOR they throw in a few genre curveballs just to keep you on your toes. Of particular note is their cover of Mark Ronson’s  ‘Uptown Funk’, which is surprisingly well=played and certainly gets your dancing feet twitching.

Anchor Lane next, and the Scottish boys have recently lost their bass player. Today they were playing as a three-piece but I'm told by other members of the crowd that recently they did this with a backing tape - it didn't go well as they used one that included crowd applause on it as well as bass and other sounds! Today it just seems to be the two guitars and drums and they seem a little bit lost compared to how I remember them previously. Unfortunately I have to go for a bite before the end of the set so I didn’t catch it all, but friends tell me that they were okay.

I re-emerged in time for The Big Dirty who were toe-tapping blues. Not bad, decent sound, nice attitude and they sounded a bit like the early ZZ Top. They’e a bit gritty, a bit dirty, and I wonder if maybe they live on a ranch somewhere?

Hollowstar are firm crowd favourites. They are powerful and heavy and they get the first decent turnout of the day. They throw in a decent cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s ‘Simple Man’ amongst their own stuff, and it goes down well. Some of their songs can be quite bright and sparky and I do enjoy watching them. The rest of the crowd are right behind them, and there’s a fair bit of bouncing and horns going up around me.

Over in the marquee we get a surprise with the “by popular demand” insertion of The Mercury Riots. They are just as bouncy and bubbly as I remember them from the other week and I still love their cover of Hot Chocolate’s ‘Every One’s A Winner’. If you’re going to do a cover you might as well make it all your own eh lads? The tent is rammed and sweaty and as we get to the end of the set the band are in the crowd, the crowd are on the stage and much fun is being had everywhere! Watching them cheers me right up, and suddenly Sunday doesn’t seem to be such a bad day after all.

New Device are another band with no bass player, it seems to be a bit of a theme today! This time they rely heavily on backing tracks which, although I get why, kind of kind of spoils it for me. Their sound belies their appearance, I expect them to be power metal or a bot thrash but actually they are smooth radio-friendly AOR and it’s not a bad set. It’s just that track thing, I can’t really gel it in my mind with watching a live band,. Not outstanding, but definitely OK.

Next The L.A. Maybe, Ah now this is more like it! It’s greasy 80’s rock and roll, they're a bit Guns n’ Roses but that's okay. They have twin guitars, lots of solos and some good instrumental bits. It starts to feel a bit more like a party again. Watching this band has perked me right up and I actually feel a little bit like dancing again. They do a bit of a “what shall we play next?” thing to get the crowd going which includes lots of short bursts of famous songs, I spot some Def Leppard and some Iron Maiden, and ‘Freebird’ pops up too. It’s all done in good spirits and I enjoy it a lot. There’s a power ballad, of course there is, and arms are duly waved. That was a proper tonic, thanks guys.

Doomsday Outlaw next, and I am puzzled. How many bands can play cheerful doom? It’s a total contradiction in terms but it also kind of works. The songs have a kind of epic-ness about them that is tempered by a proper 70’s pop groove due to the organ-style keyboards. Have they always had keyboards? I’ve seen them before and I honestly can’t remember, but they do now and it suits their sound and makes everything pretty groovy. It's catchy, they're cool cats and they do a cracking cover of The Osmonds’ ‘Crazy Horses’ which puts a massive smile on my face.

By the time The New Roses take the stage we're nearly at the end of day four and I'm flagging. I have perfected the art of seat dancing and much as I love this band I’m not sure I can stand up for them so I sit at the back and wiggle to the music. This band are like a German Bon Jovi. They play upbeat, accessible, hook-heavy rock with easy-to-master choruses. Sometimes they have a country twang, and it’s a good happy beat that's easy to move to, easy to (seat) dance to. I would be tapping my toes if my feet weren't so bloody sore! They do a good power ballad too but there do seem to be some gaps between the songs and I'm not sure if it's a technical issue or just a frontman issue. However when they go again they go hard and manage to be both energetic and laid back at the same time. It’s music to sway to.

Midnite City are polished to perfection. They open with their crowd pleaser ‘We Belong’ and it's slickness all the way from there on. The whole set is a danger to seabirds and you could slide down a mountain on it it's so slippy. They tick all the glam-rock cliché boxes but they do them so well that you have to love them for it. There are some new songs as well as older favourites and of course Rob Wylde never fails as a frontman. The vocal harmonies are absolutely spot on and Myles shreds like he’s playing with a cheese-grater rather than a pick. There are times though when the perfectness becomes almost robotic and I wonder if the soul is really there or is it rock-by-numbers?  Doesn’t last long though, as for all their rehearsed perfection they still manage to keep it real. The music picks me up again and I revel in a sound that might be lightweight but is never boring.

Finally we get to headliners Phil Campbell and The Bastard Sons. They also have a new (to me) singer in the form of Joel Peters who used to be in The Bootyard Bandits. The addition of Joel to the fold is a great move, as he has a certain Lemmyness to his voice that is well suited to a set that, let’s face it, contains a fair bit of Motörhead songs! They start with Deep Purple's Highway Star and I can't help thinking that given Phil's history Speed King might have been more appropriate? Anyway it all starts very dramatically with Phil on his own soloing over a backing track. The band are currently touring with a Motörhead-based set but tonight they seem to be putting in more other stuff and their own songs which makes it a bit more fun for somebody like me who isn't the biggest Motörhead fan in the world. Phil comes across as a really nice guy and it's all very gritty. There's no polish here more of a bit of a sanding down. They play Motörhead’s ‘Iron Fist’ to a huge reaction from the crowd and everybody is loving it. Phil is an absolute professional, he's put this band together just for the joy of being out there with his people and you really can't fault him for that. The songs keep coming, the banter is subtle but humorous and the crowd are right on side. I, however, am done. I like Phil, I like what he is doing with this band but I’m rocked out and I need my bed. 

So that was Call of The Wild 2022. A great crowd, some decent weather, an eclectic line-up and fantastic value for money. We are already booked for next year, see you there?