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The festival
season just keeps on growing with every passing year and another new
addition
for the diary this year was the Wildside Festival. One that started out as a
small affair involving a few small bands has grown into a monster, with
eight bands now billed to play the first full blown festival today.
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From entering the venue it was plain to
see that the organisers had their heads firmly screwed on. The venue was
spacious, there was both hot and cold food available, seating down both
sides of the venue. The band merchandise stalls were well laid out
and easily accessible. There were even a few stalls selling rock clothing, jewellery and
general rock and metal CDs. Also the bar and toilets were easily
accessible to all. So far so good then.
The venue boasts
a 60K sound system and that’s where I think it was let down a bit, as the venue’s
acoustics just weren’t really suited to such a vast PA. The onstage
lighting was also a problem and was a bit inadequate at times, however, I’m sure for a first time event these things were
looked upon as only minor distractions on what in total was great day.
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ROLLIN THUNDER
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The day’s proceedings got underway by the very capable Rollin Thunder, a
band that impressed me when I caught them recently at Bradford Rio, and
tonight they lived up to the standards laid down at that gig.
The band put on
a great display of melodic hard rock with frontman Rik Clayton leading the
way with his Ted Poley demeanour. Stand out tracks had to be the excellent
up tempo rocker ‘No Work Just Play’, new songs ‘It's Only Love’ and ‘Two
Worlds', with the band finishing off with two of my favourites
‘Forever’, and the party track ‘Everybody Want’, which rounded off a great
set from a band who have a lot of promise and one who set the standards for
the rest of the bands to follow.
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NEW GENERATION SUPERSTARS
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Things continued after a short interval
with New Generation Superstars, who like most of the bands on today, I was
no stranger to their live shows.
This band are a
completely different animal to Rollin Thunder. Whereas Rollin Thunder have
a more melodic edge to their sound, New Generation Superstars are a full on rock
machine who took to the stage and from the off laid down their own brand
of high tempo sleaze rock, with vocalist AJ just ripping up the guitar as
they stampeded through their set like a freight train out of control, which
at times lead to some of the songs sounding very similar through the poor sound. This
didn’t deter the crowd enjoying what they heard though, with standout songs
‘Star’, 'That's The Way It's Always Gonna Be’, and the bands swan song ‘Rock n
Roll Overload’, which once again raised the bar for the rest to follow.
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SWEET SEDUCTION
Well with the melodic Rollin Thunder and the sleaze punk of New Generation
Superstars, it was time to change the tone once more with Sweet Seduction.
To say the band were up for the show is an understatement,
especially bass player Ian Savage who at times thought he was playing
Wembley Arena, as he rampaged about the stage and on more that one occasion
climbed the speakers, much to the dismay of the sound tech’s working at the
side of the stage.
This band have the looks and the moves of a
much bigger band but I’m afraid they were let down, firstly by the poor
sound, but mainly to the band focusing on image more than their music.
Singer Rob Du Conte clearly wanted to be a Jeff Scott Soto but I’m afraid
lacks the vocal prowess of Mr Soto and as for Savage, he made me almost
dizzy with this stage antics.
The band did
have a few stand out tracks though that made me think that they could do better
under different circumstances. Firstly ‘Down In The City’, 'Looking For A
Good Time’, and the one that really impressed me ‘One Hell Of A Night’.
But
alas the band were just trying too hard to impress and if they'd just came on
and played I’m sure they would have come across better.
RED STAR REBELS
Now for Red Star Rebels, a band who have
grown in stature in my eyes since the first time I saw them play live.
So
would tonight be any different? Well I’m afraid it was the band that I saw
just a few months ago have returned to their old ways and came across
today as a band with an attitude and a grudge to bear. Whether it be with
their place on the bill, which I think was wrong anyway, as were a number of
bands, but I’ll come to that later. The band are more professional than
that, well at least I thought the were, but after tonight’s performance the jury is
still out.
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With Blackie Rebel on vocals you don’t
know what your gonna get from show to show. I’ve seen him give his all at
show and really blow the crowds away, but then again I’ve also seen him not give a damn, and tonight it was more
towards the latter I’m afraid.
As he came on stage holding a bottle of
wine and wearing a white top hat and shades this was a man on a mission of
self-destruction.
The band opened up with ‘Too Young To
Care’, a fitting opener for what I was hoping to be set where the band
could really show what they could do. But as Blackie started to throw the
mike around stage, much to the disgust of the sound guy, who I thought was
about to launch himself at Blackie at one point. The look on his
face said it all really.
The set continued with ‘On My Way To
Hollywood’, 'Another Heartache’ and ‘The Fast Die Young And Pretty’, all
sounding rather second rate from a band that have so much potential.
It’s criminal to see them not give their all, as I know they can and have
done on so many of the other occasions I've seen them perform live.
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The managed to get things together for
the final quarter of the set with a new song ‘Young Rebellion’, before
finishing off with ‘Just Another Drug’, with drummer Stevie
Rebel leaving the drums to lend a hand on vocals, but it was all too late
to save what was overall a disappointing set from a band that can do much better,
and I’m sure next time I see them this will be the case.
RATTLESNAKE REMEDY
Finally on to a band that I have a lot of
respect for and a band that have been on the road for what seems like a
dogs age, with such high profile supports slots like Ted Nugent and Seb
Bach, appearing from everywhere from 2000 capacity venues to church
halls, this band have done it all this year.
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The band got the set going with the now
familiar set opener ‘Black Sheep Fiddle’ and straight away all the sound
problems that had plagued the other bands were gone. The tight
professionalism of constant touring has shown its own rewards as the band
delivered what was to become the show of the day.
The set continued with ‘Drag You Down’,
another real up tempo rocker with frontman Lee Stone’s voice showing
little signs of fatigue. The band slowed things down a little by
bringing in the blues with ‘Hangover Blues’, before raising the gate with
‘Killing Time’, a song which Stone informed us was about waiting for sex!
The band had clearly brought their A-game
tonight as the set continued with ‘Falling Away’, before once more bringing
it down with the melodic tones of ‘Reach For The Line’. This band have all
the right ingredients, great sound, great songs and are a tight as a fishes
arse and that’s water tight.
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The more sombre tones of ‘Freestyle’ was
next, as the band whisked the crowd on a psychedelic magic carpet ride
before bringing everyone back down again with the bluesy ‘Payin My Dues’,
before finishing off with the title track of the band debut album ‘Magic
Man'. Which rounded off a great set from a band destined for greatness if
the breaks go their way. Never mind what Classic Rock magazine said about
the album, it's plainly clear for all to see that the reviewer didn’t even listen to the album.
This
band demand respect and they bloody well deserve it after a show like
today.
KID EGO
Now on to Kid Ego, a band who surprised me when I saw them so high
up on the bill today. The band have obviously returned
from the US with a bigger view of themselves than others have.
Today's settings were a far cry from The Studio at Hartlepool that we are
more accustomed to seeing them perform in.
This band are an all out party band who
know how to have a bit of fun, but
even so they shouldn’t have been this high on the bill. However, I
was willing to give them the
benefit of the doubt and see if they could live up to that status. Well
sadly not quite.
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As the band came on stage accompanied by
their now infamous backing dancers the Glitter Kittens, lead singer Zakk
swaggered on dressed in
a fur waistcoat which made him look more like a miniature Giant Haystacks, than the
singer in a sleaze rock band.
The band opened things up with ‘Lady
Conniver’ and immediately brought the fun factor to the day proceedings,
whether this was entirely intentional or not.
The set continued with ‘Suicide’ and the
first of a couple of new tracks ‘Running The Pink’, before Zakk introduced
the band as a “bunch of filthy bastards from York”.
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The set did have some highpoints though, firstly
‘Heartbreak Hooker’ and then another new song ‘Forbidden Tattoo’, but I’m
afraid the band have started to live up to their name Big Ego, oh sorry Kid
Ego, and are living the rock n' roll dream far too early in the bands
career
and I’m afraid are perhaps heading for a fall.
Bring back the Kid Ego prior to the Glitter Kittens and all the phallic
props. The band that were fun to watch, gave us 200% every time, and
who really knew how to party hard with the best of them onstage.
TIGERTAILZ
One of
the main reasons for the whole day's events for me was to see the Welsh glam giants Tigertailz.
Yes, the proper version of the band, the Kim Hooker fronted version and not the Steevi Jamez
version of the band.
The band were almost in it's entirety from
those glory days of the Bezerk album, with Pepsi Tate returning from
illness on bass, Jay Pepper on guitars, and completing the line-up Matt
Blackout on drums.
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The band got things underway with the
rocking ‘Tear Your Fucking Heart Out’, a track taken from the bands 'Wazbones' album and
one that immediately had the crown were whipped into a frenzy. This
was
before really getting them going as the band went into ‘Living With Out
You’, a song that brought the memories of the 80’s flooding back, with Kim
high kicking his way through the song like a man half his age.
The set carried on its lightening pace
with ‘Shoot To Kill’ and ‘Love Overload’, two obvious crowd favourites.
What am I saying?, all the songs on tonight’s set are crowd favourites!, even
the new tracks off 'Bezerk II'. But it was the classics that the crowd wanted
to hear and they were here in abundance with ‘Noise Levels Critical’,
'Dirty Needles', and 'Call of The Wild’. These were intertwined
nicely with the newer tracks ‘For Hates Sake’, a Jay Pepper composition
that was played live for the first time tonight, ‘Do It Up’, and the
sensational ‘Murderous’.
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The band left the best for the encore
with ‘Sick Sex’, and everybody’s favourite Tigertailz track ‘Love Bomb
Baby’. Both of which rounded off a great set from a band who don’t do enough UK
shows. The band are however making a rare appearance at Cardiff’s St David’s Hall, the
very place the video for 'Love Bomb Baby' was shot, and where one lucky
audience member was going after she won herself a pair of tickets by not only getting her
tits out, but by getting them out on stage! So Michelle from Cardiff,
enjoy your night because the male population of Marcus Garvey's sure enjoyed
your contribution to today's proceedings.
VAIN
The final act today were the headliners San Francisco’s own sleaze kings
Vain and with the vast majority of the crowd still ready to rock, even
though
the band arrive on stage some twenty five minutes later than scheduled,
this was all forgiven in an instant as the band opened up with ‘Secrets’,
with Davy Vain’s vocals losing none of their passion and fortitude after
all these years. Together with fellow band mates Ashley Mitchell, Jamie
Scott and Danny West from the bands heyday of 'No Respect', they were joined
by Louie Senor on drums, who gave the Vain sound back its bite.
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The set continued with ‘Love Drug’ and ‘Push Me Over’, before returning to
the 'No Respect' album for ‘Down For The Third Time’, all of which get a warm
and endearing response from the audience.
But like Tigertailz the crowd wanted to hear their favourites and the band
dually obliged with ‘Who’s Watching You’ and the ultimate Vain track in
many of the crowds eyes ‘Beat The Bullet’, both of which just simply rocked.
The band seemed to play a somewhat shorter set than advertised, whether
this was due to the later that scheduled start time or not, only the band and the
promoter will know the answer to that.
The band rounded off the set with a stirring encore of ‘No Respect’ and
the excellent ‘Ready For More’, before leaving a much drained and exuberant
crowd fuelled up for the rock night that was about the follow, so the party
would keep on going into the wee small hours.
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Bands of the day for me Rattlesnake Remedy, Vain, Tigertailz, and Rollin
Thunder. Disappointments of the day were Kid Ego, Sweet Seduction for trying to
hard, and Red Star Rebels for lack of professionalism.
To sum up, as for a first attempt at a festival of this kind the organisers, promoters and all involved in the day should be very proud of
themselves. With just a few problems with sound and lighting the day seemed
to pass without too many other visible problems and I would have to say
that I
for one are hoping there will be a Wildside 2 next year. |
