Festival Reviews

Festival Review: High Voltage 2010

By | Published on Thursday 29 July 2010

High Voltage

Prog-rock from the 1970s and 1980s will always have a solid fan base of older people whose dedication to the genre is admirable. This was very evident at the Classic Rock and Metal Hammer magazines’ High Voltage Festival. Although the programme ranged from blues to metal, and covered the majority of genres in between, headliners Emerson, Lake And Palmer ensured the prog fans were well in attendance.

The festival arena was jam-packed with all the classic fairground rides, ice-cream vans and food trailers. On top of these were few out-of-the-ordinary gems, including an on-site cinema showing ‘rockumentaries’ throughout both days and a small stage devoted entirely to air-guitar contests.

Saturday
The first band to grab my attention was The Black Spiders, a hard rock outfit from South Yorkshire whose mixture of high-pitched vocals, crunchy riffs and a very entertaining rhythm section went down very well. London stoner metal stalwarts Orange Goblin followed, pummelling the audience until no head was left un-banged. Then came slots on the Classic Rock stage from Irish rockers The Answer, rock n roll heroes Foreigner and Irish bluesman Gary Moore, each of which was a huge success.

Strong sets followed on the Prog Stage from the symphonic Hammond-organ playing band Bigelf from California, as well as Frank Zappa’s son Dweezil, fronting Zappa Plays Zappa, and industry legends Asia. Headlining the Prog Stage today was Transatlantic, the neo-progressive supergroup who wowed the large crowd with a whirlwind of impressive musicianship and finely crafted epic songs.

Heaven And Hell’s set was decidedly poignant, being a tribute to their late vocalist Ronnie James Dio, and their last show ever. The two frontmen they’d brought in to take Dio’s place were good, but there was a general feeling that nobody could really fill the pint-sized rock god’s boots.

In keeping with the heavier side of the day, Metal Hammer Stage headliners Black Label Society launched a barrage of intense drums and whisky-fuelled riffs that punished the crowd, shortly before ZZ Top took to the stage, giving everyone a chance to relax slightly. This was Southern rock at its finest, with wailing bluesy solos and husky vocals that made classic tracks such as ‘Gimme All Your Lovin’ and ‘Sharp-Dressed Man’ all the more memorable.

Sunday
The Quireboys kicked off the day with a foolproof mixture of old-school GNR and Aerosmith, followed by UFO’s timeless blend of classic rock and virtuoso guitar solos. Lethargy, Audrey Horne and High On Fire were the first acts on the Metal Hammer stage, mixing-up a cocktail of catchy groove metal, dirty Vegas-style rock and thundering stoner metal. Steve Hackett proved popular with his very progressive set on the Prog Stage before Magnum, Uriah Heep and Argent, who all played brilliantly. The main act, Marillion, was delightfully cheesy – a serious blast from the past.

The highlights for me on Sunday were the three final bands on the Metal Hammer stage – Clutch, Opeth and Down. Each of these bands has their own very unique and heavy style that never fails to get a crowd moving or to inspire awe in those who watch them. It was with some effort that I had to tear myself away from the final few songs of Down’s set so that I could catch the headliners.

Emerson, Lake & Palmer were an interesting choice for the Sunday headline slot. Having been away for twelve years, nobody was quite sure if they could pull it off or not. In the end they played competently, if underwhelmingly, to a diminished end-of-the-weekend crowd who were not terribly keen to take part in the invitations to “make some noise”. Being probably the most progressive band of the weekend, they might have been better assigned to the Prog Stage. Despite the prog crowd being present, the more metal and hard rock-oriented fans who seemed to dominate didn’t’ really care.

All in all it was a great weekend, fuelled by the more eccentric and imaginative minds of the rock world. The title High Voltage may have implied a slightly faster strain of rock n roll, but it was far from disappointing, in fact it was quite the opposite. My tastes have been given a serious history lesson, and as a result have been greatly enriched. TC



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