All About Rock & Metal

Doro never rests! Since her last album she has been busy, including planning ‘Metal Queen’ Cruises along the Rhine, in relation to which the idea for this album was born. It’s a special edition on her own label, pending a new studio album, and, incredibly, a limited edition of the vinyl record contains blue curaçao, which can be drunk (as opposed to Rhine water that they considered at first, which probably wouldn’t have looked half so nice).

Ginger traditionally has a show in London this time of year, close to his birthday, this time it’s in Islington and the Christmas spirit is well on its way!

Nocturnal Affair from Las Vegas opened proceedings. They have toured with Wednesday 13 before and so it obviously works. They are generally pretty heavy, straightforward Hard Rock with strobes and a few death growls, but behind this lies a lot of traditional skill.

It was the best weather at Steelhouse this year. Notorious for rain, we only saw a few light showers on the Sunday afternoon, with beautiful clear views of the surrounding hills being the order of the day for the rest of the time. Things are so much easier at a festival when the weather is good!

There’s no doubt that New Model Army is an appropriate choice for support for this gig in terms of their vintage and likely cross over in terms of fans. While they have always been in a bit of a class of their own, they were always more Goth than Rock and this expresses itself in lyrics about bodies, war and death. These days they very much look like a Rock band and they are very loud, but the haunting storytelling nature of their songs persists.

I wouldn’t have necessarily put The Spangles in the same breath as The Electric Boys, but there’s no doubt that the former were very pleased to be on the same bill. Full of beans from the off, they are lively and engaging. They play Punky Rock ‘n’ Roll right up my street, so a win for me. Not far into the set Ben Marsden on guitar and vocals declares “We don’t give a f*ck we’re not in Wembley... Might be selfish, but I’m here for a good time too!”

The 100 Club is a historic venue that has hosted many greats over the years and on offer tonight was a great roster of acts, starting with opener Kirris Rivière and The Delta Du Bruit who brought a lovely helping of Ol’ Black Blues, a mixture of originals and covers such as Muddy Waters’ ‘Can’t Be Satisfied’. The fact that they sat beside one another so easily is a testament to their songwriting and chops.

So it’s Call Of The Wild again, a festival I have now been at for six consecutive years. It’s lovely to see it grow and keep the family feel, but also get more polished and executed with cutting edge professionalism. It always takes a couple of years for a festival to get going and it’s now on a roll. It’s getting more diverse now, not solely Glam Sleaze, it embraces heavier and Goth bands and the Saturday night headliner is usually a crossover mainstream band. For those into

There has been much excitement about this Scandinavian Sleaze orientated festival with every band being from Sweden. It’s all the nicer for me, as one of the promoters is a lady I used to go clubbing with back in the day, someone I know is passionate about the music and not doing it for the money.

To dry ice flowing like a river across the stage and into the audience, The Darkness came on stage triumphantly with their first song a

Skin bounced on stage in an oversized overcoat and enormous Balenciaga bovver boots as big as her head.

Support Yaki Dah (meaning Cheers! In Welsh) from Swansea are a shouty Punk band like the Beastie Boys, with some Nu Metal and Thrash influen

The Quireboys have always cheered me up when I see them. Despite the cost of living crisis, the crowd are here to have a good time

CJ Wildheart opened with his own band, following the split of the classic line up of The Wildhearts. It’s Punky, trashy Rock ‘n’ Roll

The main “mothership” event of HRH in the autumn traditionally starts with the awards.

On almost the exact anniversary of her gig at the Palladium last year (which was the fiftieth anniversary of ‘Can The Can’) Suzi Quatro

This was a double headliner bill dubbed as ‘The Grand Union Tour’ with The Struts and Barns Courtney taking it in turns to actually go last.

The press release declares “The joy is back, and Bon Jovi is here. Forever!” Listening to this record, I can believe it.

It’s a fine, cool, bright morning and a lovely warm welcome for everyone arriving as this most friendly of festivals.

It would be madness to try to leave the Monsters of Rock Cruise in Miami on a Thursday and try to be back to a Hard Rock Hell in the UK