REVIEW: High Voltage Festival (featuring Glenn Hughes)
David Meadows
skip the rest.)
High Voltage
Victoria Park, London
24-25 July 2010
High Voltage need to sort their timings out.
Oh, everything seemed to run perfect to schedule as advertised (apparently
rare at festivals). It's just that the schedule wasn't very clever.
First, the gates opened only 20 minutes before the first band came on, so
despite arriving in good time I had to queue outside the park. Then once you
are inside the park you have to walk across half of it queue again to get
into the fenced-off festival ground. It was in this queue that I heard what
must have been Touchstone starting their set, promptly at 12:20. Minutes
later, this sound was obliterated by the roar of the roar of the first band
starting on the Metal Hammer stage. I am still outside, and I am nowhere
near the back of the enormous queues. I wonder how many Touchstone fans
missed their set entirely?
Anyway, through the gates, no time to look around, I headed to the
bizarrely-named "Prog" stage. (Which would have been better named the
"Random bands, some of whom are Prog" stage or the "Everyone not playing
heavy metal and not big enough for the main stage" stage. Anyway...) On the
way I passed the Metal Hammer stage, where some metal band was going
RRRRRRRRRRR at a million decibels, and finally got to the Prog stage in time
to catch most of Touchstone's 20-minute set.
TOUCHSTONE
Touchstone have a lot of talent and some great songs (plus the best dress of
the day). I really enjoyed what I heard. They are a good band and the singer
has a good voice (and if she would do a bit less shouting and a bit more
singing she would probably have a great voice).
And in the quiet bits between songs, you can hear RRRRRRRRRRRR from the
Metal Hammer Stage.
So, a great choice of opening band: energetic and entertaining.
PENDRAGON
I was expecting great things from Pendragon, which is perhaps why I was a
bit disappointed. They aren't bad -- but they don't live up to their
reputation. Their songs have many great bits in them but don't seem to hang
together as songs. Oh well.
And in the quiet bits between songs, you can hear RRRRRRRRRRRR from the
Metal Hammer Stage. (Pendragon's singer shouts, "Will somebody turn down
that noisy heavy metal!" He is not the last performer to a similar comment
over the course of the weekend.)
FOCUS
I love Focus because they are completely bonkers -- while still being
first-rate serious musicians. But a 40-minute set doesn't really give them
time to shine. They only play about four songs and only have time for one
drum solo! And during the flute solo, the bloody Metal Hammer stage goes
RRRRRRR...
Still, Focus are brilliant as always.
After Focus there wasn't anyone I was desperate to see until Gary Moore so I
took a break to wander around the site -- which is immense!
I have to give credit to the organisers -- they thought of everything! There
were plenty of merchandise stands and sideshows (though I'm not sure who
could find time to go on the fairground when the music was basically
non-stop). There were enough bars to keep an army of heavy metal fans happy,
and they didn't forget us non-drinker either: I drank orange juice by the
pint (at half the price of the beer). And enough toilets that you never had
to queue. There was every kind of food stand I could imagine (and quite a
few I had never imagined). And I found a place that was selling falafel, the
real kind that I've never found in the UK before (there's a place in York
that sells it, but they make it right).
Overall, the planning and organization is excellent, my only quibbles being
the doors opening too late, some stupid timetable clashes between the stage,
and the Metal Hammer stage being too close to the Prog stage.
Anyway, on my wander round I caught a bit of The Answer on the main stage
(good band, seem to want to be Led Zeppelin), a bit of Big Elf on the Prog
stage (and interesting psychedelic sort of sound, needs more listening, I
think) and a bit of some band on the Metal Hammer Stage (it might have been
Hammerfall) and actually sort of liked them -- I had to move away before
they could corrupt me with the heather heave metal RRRRRRRRRRRRR.
GARY MOORE
Gary Moore played a hugely crowd-pleasing set, starting with Over the Hills
and Far Away and Thunder Rising, a few (excellent) new songs, and ending
with Out in the Fields and Empty Rooms. He still can't sing but he' still
one of the best guitar players in rock and it was great to hear those songs
again -- I had forgotten how much I used to love them back in the day.
Definitely the highlight of the day so far. Maybe the best concert I have
ever seen.
It seemed that Gary Moore wanted to play an encore, and the crowd certainly
wanted him to play an encore, but it wasn't allowed. Massive boos from the
crowd. I can understand the need for strict running times, but still...
DWEEZIL ZAPPA
I only caught the last two-thirds of Zappa's set (due to the clash with Gary
Moore) but I was very impressed by it. Great music played by a virtuoso
band -- superb. I think Frank would have been very proud.
ASIA
The first Asia album would be in my list of the most perfect rock albums of
all time, and today band is playing the whole thing (though not necessarily
in the right order).
It sounds magnificent. They flawlessly recreate the songs live, everyone
sounding perfect and every band member playing superbly. This is one of the
highlights of the festival.
And yet... I've already decided I'm not missing Heaven & Hell, which means
missing the last half of Asia's set. But this is so good, I don't want to
go. In a moment of synchronicity, then play CUTTING IT FINE as it reaches
the time I must leave, as if hinting to me. I start moving back through the
crowd, but I'm reluctant... until they start playing WITHOUT YOU... one of
my favourite rock ballads... with a RRRRRRRR accompaniment from the Metal
Hammer stage. That's it. I'm not having one of favourite songs spoiled by
heavy metal noise. I leave.
I sing WITHOUT YOU all the way to the main stage to make up for it.
HEAVEN & HELL
One of the deciding factors for me getting a High Voltage ticket was that it
could be my last chance to see Ronnie James Dio sing. Well, we all know what
happened there. So it was with mixed feelings that I got ready to see his
former band mates in Heaven & Hell play a set in tribute to Ronnie. Ronnie
Dio was special, but Ronnie wouldn't be singing...
So I didn't really know what to expect or, more importantly, how I would
feel. I just knew I would always regret it if I wasn't there.
Well.
It was unbelievably emotional.
You know I'm not a "metal" person under normal circumstances and I would
never have predicted I would find myself in a field with 20,000 heavy metal
fans singing HEAVEN AND HELL at the top of my voice with tears streaming
down my face. Surreal. And yes, I felt that Iommi & co were giving Ronnie a
worthy tribute. I'm not sure that I can do it justice in a review, but I'll
try...
Heaven & Hell were the first band of the weekend that I saw who had made an
effort at a stage set (all grim iron railings and slabs of metal) and a
light show (as much as you can at 7:20 on a sunny July day). They played
only songs from the Black Sabbath albums Dio sang on -- I had thought that
they might do other songs from his career, but on reflection what they did
was exactly right, and there is no shortage of good material on those
albums.
Iommi, Butler and Appice sounded incredibly tight and provided a monstrous
wall of sound to back their "tribute" singers. Jorn Lande and Glenn Hughes
shared the singing, taking alternate songs throughout the set and alternate
lines on HEAVEN AND HELL.
Jorn Lande has a vocal delivery eerily similar to Ronnie James Dio (I don't
know if that's always how he sings or if he deliberately adopted it for the
occasion) and did full justice to his songs (MOB RULES, TURN UP THE NIGHT,
~VOODOO, DIE YOUNG -- particularly profound in the circumstances). A very
good choice of singer.
Glenn Hughes was a less obvious choice -- included because he was a friend
of Dio's, apparently -- and he came on to, frankly, murder COUNTRY GIRL.
Because he sang it like Glenn Hughes, and Glenn Hughes doesn't suit that
style of song at all.
But his voice -- his voice is incredible. Possibly the best voice remaining
from his generation of singers, possibly even the best rock voice I've ever
heard live. Incredible voice, truly amazing.
The only thing bigger than his voice appears to be his ego, and his
posturing and posing (to be fair, he seemed a bit awkward without a bass
strapped around his neck) and his proclamations from the stage threatened to
turn this tribute to Ronnie James Dio into the Glenn Hughes show. My main
thought was, he's going to do to Heaven & Hell what he once did for Deep
Puple... oh dear...
But despite these first impressions, he slowly won me over. There obviously
was a lot of emotion in what he did, he was genuinely there for his friend
Ronnie, and performing in difficult circumstances. After the ropey start, he
sounded more comfortable on CHILDREN OF THE SEA, absolutely fantastic on
BIBLE BLACK, and on HEAVEN AND HELL... well, he understood that this was the
crowd's song to sing and was content to let us do it.
Also nice to have Wendy Dio come on stage and say a few words, including an
appeal for his cancer fund. Though it was clearly a difficult occasion for
her...
Overall Heaven & Hell played an hour and a quarter and left us all highly
satisfied.
Worth missing Asia for? Oh yes.
TRANSATLANTIC
I don't know Transatlantic's music but they have been highly recommended to
me for some years now so I was keen to hear them headlining the Prog stage.
The clash with Heaven & Hell on the main stage meant I missed the start of
their set, but I arrived at the Prog stage in the middle of the most amazing
music.
Transatlantic are PHENOMENAL. Astonishing. Five top-rank musicians playing
some of the most perfect music I have ever heard. It has the complexities
and intricacies to be called "Prog" but also melodies and harmonies that
most other bands can only dream of. Simply beautiful.
I'm not sure how much of their sets I missed but I watched them for about an
hour (including an encore of THE RETURN OF THE GIANT HOGWEED, featuring
Steve Hackett) and loved every minute of it. Beautiful, beautiful music.
My original plan was to catch the end of ZZ Top after Transatlantic -- not
because I'm especially interesting in ZZ Top, I just wanted to get my money's
worth.
But after Transatlantic, I just left. I wanted Transatlantic to be the
memory I took home with me -- they were really something very special.
Ok, that took so long to write that I'm not going to bother with Sunday's
bands. There were no Purple People in any of them anyway ;-)
--
David Meadows
http://www.heroes.force9.co.uk
Harrie Hendriksen
Great as always David.
You're more positive on H&H then THS was.
'Cause you are the uncrowned king of reviews I'll go with yours !!
greetz,
Harrie
"David Meadows" <da...@no.spam.here.co.uk> schreef in bericht
news:fM6dnVbI7LWyTNDR...@brightview.co.uk...
A-A
> High Voltage
>
> Victoria Park, London
>
> 24-25 July 2010
Thank you very much David for this review. May'be you can also publish
somewhere some of your photos ?
David Meadows
news:4c5067a5$0$10199$ba4a...@reader.news.orange.fr...
Sorry, I didn't take any photos. My camera broke a while ago and I haven't
got a new one yet.
A-A
> "A-A"<a...@aa.org> wrote in message
> news:4c5067a5$0$10199$ba4a...@reader.news.orange.fr...
>> David Meadows a écrit le 26/07/2010 20:12:
>>
>>> High Voltage
>>>
>>> Victoria Park, London
>>>
>>> 24-25 July 2010
>>
>>
>> Thank you very much David for this review. May'be you can also publish
>> somewhere some of your photos ?
>
> Sorry, I didn't take any photos. My camera broke a while ago and I haven't
> got a new one yet.
That's very sad for you and us. However you review let me see all i need :-)