Sunday morning and it’s raining, a lot. This doesn’t affect the festival though as it’s indoors, and the lovely people at the venue even put on breakfast for the somewhat soggy campers. Let’s be honest, everything is better with bacon, right? (Veggie options are available!) Being indoors, rain cannot stop play and before we know it it’s lunchtime and the main event is kicking off.
Read Moret’s been a couple of years since I last made it to Rockwich, for various reasons. Prior to that it was a regular fixture on my summer festival schedule, for the simple reason that they somehow always managed to get hold of the best new rock bands JUST before they started to take off and hit the big time. The venue is great, a grass pitch for tents, and plenty of hardstanding areas for campervans and general parking, and it’s just 10 minutes off J19 of the M6 so easy to get to.
Read MoreSaturday starts for me with Scarsun, a fairly generic alt metal female fronted band. They are doomy and gothy and it turns out this is only their second gig with this singer. She's actually really rather good and it's not bad at all in a gloomy melancholic sort of way.
Read MoreSOS Festival has moved since last time I was able to attend it, and now takes place at Whittles in Oldham. This gives them better staging, but overall slightly less space, and I’m still undecided on if this is a good thing or not. On the plus side,: there is a cheap bar, a food van, plenty of merch space and even room for a couple of traders. The minus is that o
Read MoreSunday is another bright and sunny morning, but as I already have a nose that’s bright red enough to see from space, the first thing I do today is make sure I’m wearing A Hat. And sunscreen. That was a crap song but a great message! Anyhow, over in the arena……..
The day starts with LaVire who are good, loud and powerful thrashy rock with a female vocalist. I find them quite similar to Ukrainian outfit Jinjer so if that's your thing check them out, I think you'll be impressed.
Read MoreRefreshed by a good night’s sleep and bacon, I return to the fray of the arena wondering what surprises today may have in store for me. The sun is shining and so is my nose (dear reader, wear sunscreen!) so armed with factor 50 and a hat I sally forth into battle.
The day starts with Shadow Smile who are a good wake up band there's nothing like a bit of metalcore in the morning to blow away the cobwebs! They are competent and fast, and although the music is slightly out of my comfort zone it's ok.
Read MoreThe sun is shining as we stumble from our tents and vans into the arena for an 11am start. Bleary-eyed from the VIP welcome party the night before, we wonder who on earth thought it was a good idea to start a festival this early? To be fair they kind of had to, as we have a packed schedule today with many bands to see and many friends to greet.
Read MoreIt’s Steelhouse Sunday and the weather has cheered up which in turn cheers the crowd up too. We start with Merseysiders Ashen Reach and I know who they are this time (in joke!). They are not bad at all, I like them quite a lot. They do melodic alt rock and remind me a bit of Papa Roach.
Read MoreActually it’s kind of day 2 because those of us in self-contained campers are now allowed to drive up and get settled on the Thursday night. No facilities, no bands, just a chance to chill with your mates and celebrate most of us getting our various vehicles up the mountain without mishap.
Read MoreSaturday starts rather drizzly and the first band up are Mother Vulture. They are heavy blues and I was prepared not to like them but wait, what’s this? They have the worst pants ever but they move, they dance, they fall over - it's all a bit mental but it's also kind of fun. Musically they're average but visually they are superb
Read MoreBy Mjolnir the mighty hammer of Thor I am out of my depth here! Due to other commitments I am only able to do the one day at Hard Rock Hell’s annual beard and helmet fest, and I have no idea what to expect. I mean it’s (supposed to be) Scandi-rock Jim, but not as I know it…… only of course it’s not. This is a rollover from 2020 and due to the dreaded ‘rona the line-up looks very different from the one originally booked. It’s all UK bands and I have no idea if they fit with the Viking theme as I’m a fish out of water here – I only know two of the bands playing. So let’s just play it by ear and see what happens right?
Read MoreSunday starts not with a bang, but more of a splat. There is an Issue with the toilets, namely that the company that was supposed to come and clear them out on a regular basis over the weekend hasn’t turned up. This has led to a bit of a crisis, as those of us camping are faced with (literally) brimming cubicles, and the arena can’t open for health and safety reasons. Thankfully after frantic ringing around a replacement pumping company is found, and the situation is relieved. As are the campers!
Read MoreIt’s an early start after a late night as we trundle along the M62 in the campervan. The weather is looking promising, and we arrive in plenty of time to get settled in before the bands start. This event has expanded from one day to 3 this year, to make up for having to roll over from 2020, and the campsite is busy but well-organised. You can pitch your tent next to your car (which is handy) and those of us in vans just park them up in an available space. Everything is compact, it’s a very short walk to the arena, in fact there are several places where you can sit outside your tent, car or van and both see and hear the main stage pretty well.
Read MoreSaturday dawned bright and…… nah. This is Wales. The wind got up a bit overnight, the rain came in and Saturday morning was wet and blustery. Much re-pegging and such was done on the various campsites as people woke and surveyed the havoc wreaked by the unforecast gales. Thankfully casualties seemed to be minor, and it was soon time to head into the arena to see what the second day would bring.
Read MoreRockwich Saturday is a bit of a strange beast. Technically Rockwich was (is?) a one-day festival, The first one was part of a town-wide initiative and was intended to be very much a one-off event. But organisers Promethius Promotions had other ideas and having secured themselves a venue they set about organising a few years of what have turned into killer line-ups. This meant that, as word got ...
Read MoreDay 3 starts with a stonking set from Atlas. I reviewed them at some length fairly recently so I won’t bore on about them too much. Suffice to say they were just as good as last time, Craig still has a fabulous voice, I still think they would be improved with more backing vocals and I enjoyed them very much. My friend said that although their songs are good they have not yet written their That Song, and I kind of agree.
Read MoreAnother mad dash up the motorway for me, and much to my delight I managed to catch all bar the first song of openers Hell’s Gazelles. They are a young band from Oxfordshire who play traditional metal – big riffs and soaring vocals abound. There’s been a line-up change since I saw them last but stalwarts Nate (guitar) and Cole (vocal) are still holding the whole thing together nicely.
Read MoreThis year sees the 12th edition of Manchester’s SOS (School’s Out for Summer) Festival, and it will be the 5th one I have attended. The festival was originally envisioned by Lynne Hampson from Rocksector Records to be a family-friendly indoor gig. It continues on that basis to the present day, providing a platform for local bands whilst also adding some national and international acts into the mix.
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