Live Review : Firevolt Festival on August 9th 2026

Again the weather gods are kind to Firevolt-goers as we stumble from our pits to start another day of mayhem. Cheery greetings are exchanged by the water taps as everyone decides that they WILL have a drink today, but maybe not just yet eh? Despite this, by Sunday teatime the craft beer bar has been drunk dry again. Good going chaps!

Sunday starts with a trip to Wales, and a duo of trios. First we head North for Mad Haven, three ginger blokes that are probably suffering greatly in the current heatwave. They don’t let this deter them though, and band through an upbeat set of melodic rock with gusto. The crowd responds accordingly, shrugging off their collective hangovers and hacing a bit of a bounce about. After them we head to Souh Wales for the ladies from Haxan, who are a harder, spikier proposition with a fuzzy blues sound and some rather pleasing vocals.

Just in case the blood wasn’t already pumping, Pyroclast then wake us up fully with a bit of Scottish metal. They are very Maiden-y to start, with twin guitars and soaring vocals. There are time and key changes galore, and horns are up all over the place. It draws heavily on the early 80s NWOBHM sound, even though the bass player looks about 12! The lyrics seem to be about evil, demons, and heaven vs hell – me thinks at least some of the band probably own a decent amount of Dio records….. The crowd is small but enthusiastic (day 3 is always the quietest at a festival I think) and the whole thing was very enjoyable.  

Down in the barn Jack J Hutchinson has recovered from 2 mornings of his “Jam with Jack” sessions and brings his own bluesy take on rock out for our pleasure. He has a new bass player this year, but as usual he is cheerful and self-deprecating as he powers through a set of riffs and  solos. Sometimes his songs are slow and dreamy, sometimes they are fast and catchy but they are always performed well and with obvious feeling.

Apriori are next, another band that we see so often that it’s hard to find new words for them. Here goes though….. The Blackpool boys tear up the stage as usual with a hard-hitting classic rock set. Their outstanding track is still ‘Nananana’ and the crowd duly join in and sing it back to them like they know all the words – ha. They keep the audience engaged throughout and are obvious favourites, they can get a bit dirty in places but mostly it’s fairly uplifting and sunny.

The Virginmarys are somewhat of an acquired taste. Their stripped-bare sound (just drums, guitar and vocals) isn’t for everyone but somehow the raw primal sound appeals to the beast within you. It’s the most basic of music butt hey do it well and eventually a rather indifferent crowd begins to warm to their punky, tribal sound. In fact by the end people are yelling and jumping up and down so even if I don’t get it they are obviously doing something right.

Cats in Space have changed personnel a fair bit since our last sight of them, and now boast Chris Childs (Thunder, Tyketto) on bass and Sam Wood (Wayward Sons, Ricky Warwick) on guitar. Their lightweight 70-s inspired AOR is perfect for a sunny Sunday afternoon though, and whilst they didn’t really have any “hits” to showcase their output is precise, tuneful and very enjoyable. They meander up and down their 6-album career, and newish singer Damien Edwards proves to be a real powerhouse. The music is lightweight, drawing heavily on influences such as Styx from the USA and ELO from here in dear old Blighty, but the performance is faultless with superb vocal harmonies, great guitars and a keyboard sound weaving the whole thing together into a very palatable tapestry.

Sticking with the light side we have veteran rockers FM next. Their set too is slick and polished; and so it should be considering how long they have been doing it! The vocals are superb as always, the guitars are suitably guitarry and the whole thing is very very nice. There’s absolutely no danger here. FM represent the safe side of rock. It's Sunday evening and we're all flagging a bit now though, so even though toes are tapping and heads are nodding throughout the drum solo (why? WHY?) it's just a little stolid. There is a strong section of diehards at the front but further back there’s also a lot of chatterboxes at the bar and outside.

We’re into the home stretch now, and the greeting for The Wildhearts is a thing of joy to behold.  The set is more or less the same one that they have been touring with for the last few months so you don’t need a song-by song breakdown, but as always it’s the atmosphere that makes this show special. Ginger could come on stage and fart and I reckon he’d still get a rapturous ovation from his crowd. Yes, his crowd. Because that’s what tonight is all about – it’s a celebration of life and friendship. Bassist Jon Poole is unavailable for the current small run of dates and is replaced by the effervescent Chris Catalyst whose smiling face and bouncy demeanour fit right in to the current Wildhearts groove. Ginger swigs heavily from a bottle of Gentleman Jack throughout, he introduces his dog Maggie to her adoring fanbase, and like the emotional vampire that he is he feeds of the crowd’s adulation and seems to grow in front of our eyes as the songs go on. ‘Suckerpunch’ starts with big fireworks, and there is other pyro dotted throughout as well – at a couple of points I am a little worried for the safety of Ginger’s eyebrows and dreadlocks as he tries to get closer to his people, but thankfully all is well and the great man remains unsinged. This is not a greatest hits set by any means although it contains many personal favourite songs. Essentially it’s Ginger’s favourite songs, so while some of the obvious crowd-pleasers are absent what we do get shows off the band’s versatility and Ginger’s immense talent as a songwriter.

The upcoming new album now has a name “Northern Spirit” and should be out by the end of the year, and taster track ‘Spider Beach’ promises good things to come. We carouse to the theme from “Cheers”, we party to ‘Mazel Tov Cocktail’, we get serious to ‘Everlone’ and ‘Slaughtered Authors’. ‘Diagnosis’ remains particularly poignant, and when Ginger tells us it’s been a great night we are not about to argue with him, because it honestly has been. Ginger Wildheart is the epitome of the old chestnut that you never know what’s around the next corner, and to see him so full of life and vitality when we know he probably doesn’t have much time left is both saddening and inspiring at the same time. The encore is of course ‘I Wanna Go (Where The People Go)’ and as the crowd sing it back we get a poignancy that hopefully many of us will hold dear in our hearts for a long time.

We close the night with festival organisers Stret and Bev bringing (most of) their team of volunteers on stage for us to say thanks to, and thanks are indeed due. This is an awesome little festival. It’s a beautiful location, it’s run by a great time and year on year it just seems to get better and better. Luna Marble close out the barn stage for an afterparty with the die-hards but for most of us we are already salivating at next year’s line-up announcement and planning to get our earlybird tickets as soon as they go on sale. All hail Firevolt, the friendliest festival you could ever hope to attend and as they themselves say, the home of face-melting rock!