Stonedead Festival
- Rock Metal Machine
- Sep 9
- 13 min read
Artists: Stonedead Festival
Venue: Newark Showground
Date: 22nd - 23rd August 2025
"...this is how a festival should be. There’s a reason it sells out every year, and next year’s has already sold out before any bands have been announced, so if you were thinking of going but haven’t got a ticket, tough luck."
Having missed this gig last year, I was curious to see if anything had changed. I suspected not as, well, why change something that already works successfully, as once again the festival had sold out. I have to admit to not being too sure about the main headliners, The Almighty, as I had never seen them before; in fact, I wasn’t sure if I had heard anything by them either, so it would be a new experience for me. Actually, I have to admit that there were only two bands over the Friday evening and Saturday that I had seen previously. On the Saturday, The Dead Daisies were second headliners, a band I am familiar with and, before them The Sweet, who I had also seen, and who doesn’t like a bit of that?
Before that though, we had the regular Friday night party, now titled the Monster Friday Party, for those that were camping there over the weekend, and as usual there were three bands; this year Jayler, Sweet Electric and Tyketto.
My first thought on entering was “Has the stage got bigger?” When this thing first started, the stage was a small, half-dome thing that only came up to your knees. This has grown over the years, so now it, and the lighting rig are impressive indeed. Kicking off at 19.45 prompt (bloody well organised these guys) Jayler, a band from Tamworth entered the stage, and for a while I thought I was listening to, and to some degree watching, early Led Zeppelin. Vocalist James Bartholomew won’t mind me saying this I hope, but his style in dress, posture, vocal characterisation and bare chest under an open denim shirt was pure Plant, and he’s only nineteen. (Hate him!). He even played harmonica. One big difference from Mr Plant was that I have never seen the Zep vocalist pick up and play a Gibson SG, which this guy did. He even did the old trick of playing it behind his head, which with that hairstyle can be quite risky. They only had time for seven songs, but I think they made an impression on those here tonight.
Jayler ©Andy B
Right from the kick-off I knew I was going to like Sweet Electric, a self-funded, organise everything themselves band from Germany. The vocalist didn’t look like someone you would see fronting a Rock band, but he did look familiar to me, and that was because I had seen him here twice before, fronting Australian band Massive, who, due to problems too insurmountable for one particular member in Australia who cannot leave the country, has been rendered inviable as a band. The music was tight and punchy, and in places quite humorous. Take for instance the chorus to ‘Somewhere In The Middle’ that went “You wake up, grow old and and something, something, something in between.” They are the actual lyrics, and how can you not smile? I would probably be correct in saying they could be described as a bit of a ‘lad’s band’ due to the humour incorporated in their songs, and the appearance of two young lady dancers scantily clad in gold lamé swimsuits during ‘Living It Up.’ When I say two, I may not have been paying full attention as, during the last song ‘Hard Times’, there were six up there, and then I also noticed two people stood in the middle and, not for the first time here, there was a wedding proposal. I have to admit, I am surprised that Sweet Electric are unsigned.
Sweet Electric © Andy B
As the sky closed down and the night crept in, and before they came on, photographers in the pit had been warned to stay behind a rapidly painted yellow line on the grass, as pyro was to be used. Two of us at least (hi Tony) got a bit confused as we couldn’t decide whether they had said the first song or the third. We were discussing this when, as the band came on, there was a loud explosion behind us that practically required us to go and change certain items of our apparel. Having got over that, eventually, we witnessed a fine performance from what I would describe as a “part-time” band. I always used to see Tyketto advertised on flyers and posters, particularly at Rock City when I had been to see something, or walking past from the Royal Concert Hall. I always thought “I will have to check them out”, but for one reason or another never got the chance, so that would be corrected tonight. I was surprised to see someone I had been talking to at the Guitar Show in February up there, namely Thunder bassist Chris Childs. I had no idea he played for them! At the first opportunity, Danny Vaughn explained that they should have done this gig in 2020, but thanks to Covid… However, they were more than happy to be here now, and they put on a very good show. With songs such as ‘Strength in numbers’, ‘Rescue Me’, ‘Reach’, ‘Circle The Wagons’ and one that surprised me, a cover of UFO’s ‘Mother Mary’, the crowd was more than happy. Vaughn was in fine form, as were the whole band, and he explained that two songs, ‘The Run’ and an early Waysted song, ‘Heroes Die Young’ were dedicated to his Harley riding, and his dad respectively.
Oh yes, and during ‘Lay Your Body Down’ they were joined by the scantily clads, this time in black lingerie. The final song ‘Forever Young’, everybody seemed to know and sang along to before retiring to their camps.
Tyketto © Andy B
Saturday
Would the weather hold off? The weatherguessers had said it would, but unlike yesterday evening the sun was out, and it was strong. Hats were required! Today, as usual, saw the wily old compere Krusher return to teach us how to spell his favourite word, on many occasions. Kicking off was a Cardiff based band named King Kraken, who started off with ‘Release The Kraken’ accompanied by lots of smoke and flames. No idea what the second song was, other than we had two guys in skirts trying to kill each other with swords and shields. Well, the shields were for protection, but you could if you wanted to, couldn’t you? ‘Green Terror’ saw Frankenstein trying to strangle Doc Brown, while ‘Hero’ was for anyone who has lived with grief, in vocalist Mark Donoghue’s case, as with Danny Vaughn last night, his dad got a mention.
King Kraken © Andy B
We had been told earlier that as soon as KK had finished there was a surprise, and get back to the pit. Before the surprise came on stage, top Stonedead man Chris Sumby came on to mention Ozzy Osbourne, and before he could get the request out, everybody started chanting “Ozzy, Ozzy, Ozzy” followed by Skin’s Myke Gray coming on and starting to play ‘Mr Crowley’ to begin what was a tribute to Ozzy Osbourne. He was then joined by Crowley UK’s Lidya Balaban for ‘Sabbath Bloody Sabbath’ (which happens to be my favourite Sabbath album), who unfortunately, at the start, didn’t realise that the microphone required switching on so we could hear her. She departed to be replaced by Florence Black for ‘Children Of The Grave’, ‘Supernaut’ and, naturally, ‘Paranoid’. The crowd was well impressed with this, and I kind of felt a little sorry for the following band, Black Oak County from Denmark, having to compete with that. To be fair, they didn’t do bad at all, starting with ‘Watch Your Back’ and to their credit they snuck in their own version of ‘Paranoid’ as their third song and a bit of ‘War Pigs’ just to keep the party going, which once again encouraged the crowd to sing along, and another guitar to be played behind the head during ‘Laughing With The Crows’. There may be a theme developing here. During their set, we had the customary Stonedead flyover by one of the Battle Of Britain Memorial Flight craft, this year it was the Spitfire. (I often wonder what the guys who are on stage think to this, as all attention turns to the sky at this point as the plane does three flyovers and nobody’s looking at the band). They finished their set with ‘Boom Boom Baby’, and everybody seemed happy with what they had seen and heard.
Suprise Band © Andy B
Black Oak Country © Andy B
Enforcer were next up, and I guessed from the name that we were going to get some “heavy”, which we did. Blond flowing locks (even the drummer unusually, as you don’t usually see them), mega-posing, rapid riffing and two stage screens that between them proclaimed the title “Heavy Metal”; everything you would expect from such an ensemble. These guys were from Sweden, and took no prisoners. Strutting all over the stage, it was noticeable that this was what the younger Metal-heads had come here for (and some of the older ones, but not many, most of them seated a little further back). With songs such as ‘Undying Evil’, ‘From Beyond’, ‘Into The Night’ and possibly ‘One With Fire’, it’s not hard to imagine the type of songs they were offering. I say possibly to the last title there as on numerous occasions the music drowned out the vocalist, so it was difficult to make out what he was singing.
Enforcer © Andy B
German band The New Roses have been described as a Hard Rock band, but after the previous onslaught they were like the calm after the storm. One thing I can always rely on at this festival is that even though I have never heard of the bands, it’s nailed on that they are going to be musical/entertaining/fun, depending on what you are looking for, and how many pints of Overkill lager you have had. And so it was with The New Roses, who settled into their groove straight away with audience interaction being a large part of their appeal. During the nine-song set, which included ‘Bring The Thunder’, ‘The Usual Suspects’ and ‘Down By The River’, the crowd were dragged in by the third song, and front-man Timmy Rough (honestly, I found out afterwards), diving into the crowd mid-set, and returned unharmed! All three things mentioned above successfully achieved.
The New Roses ©Andy B
When I saw the name Primal Fear on the bill, I mistakenly confused them with Primal Scream, who I saw supporting Alice Cooper on his last tour and who I thought would be an odd inclusion here. Mistake corrected, I then realised it was yet another band I had never seen before. It didn’t take long though to realise that ‘Fear’ and ‘Scream’ were two totally different entities. I learnt that they were formed in Germany in 1997, and again, not being familiar, I didn’t know any of the songs, or titles, but managed to catch ‘Final Embrace’, ‘The Hunter’, ‘King Of Madness’, ‘The End Is Near’, ‘Chain Breaker’ and ‘Metal Is Forever’. I have to admit to scratching my head a little as I wasn’t sure what I made of them. They were obviously a band which has done its time, knows what the game is all about, and performs as such, and maybe it was me tiring, but I found it a little hard to take in. One thing that did occur to me though, was that fairly new guitarist Thalia Belkezecca was the only female playing on this stage over the whole event. (Not including the scantily clads last night of course, as they were not members of any of the bands). In total they did eight songs, some of which were almost “Progressive” length, during which Thalia left no-one in any doubt how well she could play guitar. This was a band I would probably have to look into after this.
Primal Fear ©Andy B
Krusher came on stage again, to give another spelling lesson, and introduced a few minutes of the last ever episode of ‘Noisy Mothers’, the programme he used to co-host with Ann Kirk, who he also brought on-stage and who, considering what she had been through, looked very good indeed.
Krusher © Andy B
Next on was a band I had seen pictures of before attending, and I thought they looked “different”. D-A-D, a name they now go under after their original name Disneyland After Dark was challenged by a certain company (but whose backdrop hasn’t altered), appeared as a guitarist in a suit and a top hat, another guitarist, a Metal-head with a Flying V, a bass player with blonde hair, blue eye make-up, blue starred shorts and a see through, two string bass (who a fellow photographer, (hello again Tony), originally thought was female), and a drummer… who looked normal. (That can’t be right). The music was in your face with different elements to make it sound alternative, while still remaining firmly in the Heavy Rock descriptive. However, there was one thing that detracted from the music, and that was bassist Stig. He was like a wound-up toy that careered all over the stage, climbing on monitors, the drum kit and anything else he could find, leaving me wondering what he was going to do next. He swapped his bass for another two-string, which made me think “why” and “could it be tuned differently,” closely followed by “why have four or five strings”, as nothing sounded amiss. Very entertaining.
D-A-D © Andy B
We were then confronted by one of the best Pop/Rock/Metal bands ever, and who would have thought that those of us who were here for the original conception of Sweet in the seventies would be listening to their music here today in 2025. Fair enough, the band only contains one original member, Andy Scott, but his voice hasn’t changed after all these years, still hitting the high notes and falsetto harmonies as good as ever. I took a look at the crowd during their set, and the number of rockers with serious metal patches on jackets and t-shirts etc were all dancing away. It’s a little bittersweet (no pun intended) when I see them as they stole the vocalist, Paul Manzi, from one of my favourite bands Arena, but to be fair, he does fit in really well. Hearing the building harmony in ‘Fox On The Run’ is still sublime. To be honest, Sweet gave the crowd what they really wanted, basically a greatest hits show. I did think they may have stuck in a few of their harder edged numbers, being where we were, but I couldn’t complain. Nobody could. ‘Action’, ‘Hell Raiser’, a song from last year’s new album ‘Full Circle’ album ‘Circus’ (and during which there were three or four beach balls bouncing around the crowd and someone on stage, probably Andy Scott, commented “In the seventies they would have been condoms, and f-ing big condoms), ‘The Six Teens’, ‘Fox On The Run’ and the two big hitters at the end, ‘Blockbuster’ and ‘Ballroom Blitz’ (where one audience member changed that to “balls and tits”. It made him happy!). Andy Scott did mention that they had done more festivals this year, and that finally the UK was starting to get back into them. Certainly, that was true here tonight.
Sweet © Andy B
Before seeing the second band I had previously seen before today, there was another Black Sabbath “tribute” where they played a video while the song ‘War Pigs’ rang out, the words to which were on the bottom of the screens, and which everybody seemed to join in with.
It had been a couple of years since I had seen The Dead Daisies, and it’s quite easy to lose track of who is and isn’t in the band at any one time. I did know that Doug Aldrich was still on guitar, and that John Corabi was back on vocals, and I thought I’d heard that ex Ozzy/Sabbath drummer Tommy Clufetos was doing the pounding, which would be quite an addition, and he was. Their sound is very… precise is the word that comes to mind, but not so much that they sound clinical. The raunch is still there, and they did a set of around fifteen songs that included ‘Long Way To Go’, ‘Rise Up’ , ‘Light ‘Em Up’, ‘I Wanna Be Your Bitch’, ‘I’m Gonna Ride’, ‘Take A Long Line’ (Angels cover) and, after Corabi told everyone to phone their bosses at work to tell them they were going to have the week off, with pay, so that they could accompany him on a journey, they played ‘Mexico’. They even squeezed a little Led Zeppelin into one of them, but no Black Sabbath, surprisingly.
The Dead Daisies © Andy B
And so we came to the final band, The Almighty, fronted by Ricky Warwick, who I had seen before fronting Thin Lizzy and Black Star Riders a few years ago. To be honest, they weren’t really my thing. I was totally knackered by then, the Overkill had done its job, and my back was killing me, my inner thoughts screaming “You’re too old for this”, and my calmer self going, “Yeah, what he said”. I do have to mention though that I was impressed before they came on, with a wall of four Marshall stacks wheeled onto each side of the stage. Not something you see very often these days. Admittedly, only one or two of them would be working, but it looked good. Part of the problem for me was that, through my ears at least, there wasn’t a lot of difference between the songs, and I wasn’t sure if what I was listening to was a new song or part of the one I heard a few minutes ago. I got some of the songs such as ‘Power’, ‘Addiction’, ‘Little Lost Sometimes’, ‘Over The Edge’, ‘Jesus Loves You But I Don’t’ and ‘Free And Easy’.
The Almighty © Andy B
So that was another Stonedead for another year. Thing is, blink and it will be around again. One thing I had to add up though, was who won the Stonedead challenge cup and, with three bands from Germany and two from Denmark, Germany wins by one. Mind you, if the bands from Wales, Scotland and England all joined together as the UK representatives, then we won four to three. Being serious though, this is how a festival should be. There’s a reason it sells out every year, and next year’s has already sold out before any bands have been announced, so if you were thinking of going but haven’t got a ticket, tough luck. It’s the most friendly event, run by fans and volunteers. You get a friendly wave when you go in, and the same when you leave, and usually the weather is excellent, and if we all survive the troubles of this mad world, it will continue on and on.
Review: Andy B & Lou C
Photos: Andy B
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