Live Review : Firevolt Festival on August 8th 2026

Saturday is another fine day weatherwise. Is there anything better than being at a great festival in a beautiful location when the sun is shining? Particularly when, like Firevolt, that festival is full of friendly faces? That’s a rhetorical question, because anyone who was anywhere that involved sunshine, live music and beer this weekend knows exactly what I am talking about! 

We kick off today with Crowley, who unfortunately have to truncate their set a little due to some technical issues. This band from the north-east are quite dark and kind of witchy, they play heavy blues with big Sabbath-inspired riffs with that name they couldn’t really not.  

For proper blues though we need to move into the barn for a set from McHales Permanent Brew. They draw heavily on a country rock feel alongside some deep Southern boogie-woogie and attract an enthusiastic response from the crowd.  

Thieves of Liberty then up the stakes considerably. They start out as a run-of-the-mill classic rock band, but as the set goes on you find yourself drawing closer and closer….. Their energy and enthusiasm are enchanting, the vocal work is superb, the twin guitars chime merrily in the sunshine and essentially they just blew me away. There’s melody aplenty, and the happy atmos is compounded by the fact that they appear to have a circle pit of demons capering in front of the stage. No really. The sound touching a little on the likes of Journey and Aerosmith is maybe not where you would expect to find a devilish pit but there you go. It gets better though, as before long both guitarists leap down off the stage and join in before one of them then sprints up the hill and poses in front of the tents whilst not missing a note of a rather excellent solo. Silhouetted against a blue sky this is quite a spectacle to behold, and Thieves of Liberty immediately jump to being a strong contender for Band Of The Weekend.  

Their triumph is, however, short-lived because over in the barn LN are just heading onto the stage. The first thing you notice about them is the stage outfits – LN are Vikings, with full furs and facepaint. The music begins, and it’s reverberating power metal. And then, the vocals. Oh my days the vocals. The singer is a slight wraith, with dreadlocks and corpse paint, but the sound that emerges from her is simply stunning. She wails and screeches, but in a tuneful and beguiling manner. The lyrics weave tales of ancient gods and rituals as she moves about the stage like a modern-day (and slightly deranged) Kate Bush. The music drives forward and she soars above it, taking the crowd on a journey full of battles and longboats, death and afterlife. It’s extraordinary, compelling, fascinating. Occasionally she growls or howls, and somehow it all makes sense. The vocal range is overwhelming, the band is dark, brooding and deep, and they are one of the best new-to-me bands I’ve ever seen. Seriously, if you love metal with a pagan twist go and check LN out, you won’t be disappointed.  

After that poor old Dare (with Darren Wharton putting in his second shift of the weekend) seem at first to be positively humdrum. There’s a definite lack of shieldmaidens in their AOR-tastic keyboard-driven ditties. Instead we get songs about life and love, and Darren trades his usual double denim attire for a somewhat shinier pleather look. He plays on being a local lad and gives us a set that is chockful of melodic goodness. That song ‘Abandon’ creeps out fairly early on, and sets the tone for an hour of sweet melody that verges on easy listening in places. Just perfect for a summer afternoon really. They do occasionally break into a powerchord or three, but honestly? It’s like being savaged by a toothless old dog – the intention is there but the bite is somewhat lacking! There’s a tribute to Phil Lynott in ‘King of Spades’ and the last song ‘We Don't Need a Reason’ is also very Lizzy inspired. It’s all very nice, but after the intensity of the previous two bands it’s a welcome oasis of calm. 

Wednesday 13, the self-proclaimed Duke of Spook starts with ‘Bloodline 666’ and hits the right spot from the get-go. It's not really dark enough for a printing of Darkness but hey ho, we join him to throw a few hexes and slip in a bit of post-teatime demon summoning because what else are you going to do on a Saturday evening in Stockport? Last time young Wednesday 13 graced our shores he was celebrating his tenure in previous band Murderdolls, but this performance is all about his own material, and it’s glorious. His tongue is firmly in his check with the song titles, his band is on fire and the pace and excitement seems to increase the further into the show we go. Yes, show. Because Mr Wednesday 13 is primarily a showman, an entertainer. He poses with devilish delight as he runs through a set of absolute bangers. The energy and enthusiasm on the stage is off the scale, and conveys itself to the crowd who duly join him in prancing and capering. The humour is dark but the performance is flawless. The dead are definitely dancing tonight! It’s not all doom and gloom though, the demonic humour in both lyrics and banter is set off by music that is fast, furious, and flowing. Death prevails but the devil has a smile on his face. Being a showman he has to finish the set and come back for encore, and as the crowd chant for one more song Wednesday 13, with an impish grin, tells them they can have two if they’re bad enough. The show closes with his by now standard ‘I Like To Say Fuck’ and his umbrella blazoned with those same words, and the breathless crowd it would seem also like to say fuck. From start to finish it was a flawless performance and yet another highlight of the whole weekend.  

So finally it’s headliner time and Massive Wagons duly nab the spotlight and make it their own. This is a hard one for your humble reviewer as our regular readers will spot that we only reviewed their warm-up show at The Tiv the previous week and this is essentially the same show so we already know pretty much exactly what the setlist is going to be. Undeterred, they remind us that that was a theatre show and this is an open-air arena, so although the songs remain the same the energy is a different beast tonight. Again the bulk of material is from their post-covid output, and although it all flowed nicely and was performed flawlessly there did at times seem to be something missing. Singer Baz is not one for endless chatter and crowd banter between songs, maybe that was it? The band engaged well (as always) with each other but by halfway through a significant portion of the crowd had wandered away and appeared to have lost interest. The diehards at the front more than made up for that with their vocal enthusiasm though, and Wagons carried on regardless. The addition of some pyro soon perked things up a bit, and as they ploughed through standards like ‘Please Stay Calm’, ‘Fuck The Haters’ and ‘House of Noise’ the atmosphere started to build again and by the time the set closed we were back to normal with lots of crowd participation and bouncy energy. There seemed to be a slight issue with time constraints as the reggae bit in ‘Generation Prime’ was cut short and ‘Back To The Stack’ was dropped entirely, but other than that it was a fizzy, fun end to the night. 

But it’s not over til the fat lady sings, and I had no intention of opening my gob at that point so we went to check out the afterparty band instead. They turned out to be a rather splendid covers band called Thunder Hammer and their eclectic set caused everybody to dance until their feet hurt. However, it had been a long day and (wo)man cannot live on rum alone so even though the festivities continued into the wee small hours your humble correspondent bailed and went to bed!