The Weekend of 19/20th August saw the inaugural Steelhouse Festival in the beautiful setting of Blaenau Gwent, Wales. The event at Hafod-y-Dafal Farm was well organised and had excellent sound throughout the weekend. Having easily found the location we had to endure a steep winding road up to the site in our rickety old van! Once on site we found everything within a pleasant walking distance, with adequate facilities for a small festival.
Top tribute acts entertained us through a mainly sunny first day. The hills came alive to the sounds of Hot Red Chili Peppers, Pure Cult, Whitesnake UK, Pure Purple & Bon Giovi. Whilst ‘covers’ bands are not always to everyone’s liking, by the end of the night these bands had built up a great party atmosphere, finishing off with some Jovi sing-a-long classics.
The party for most didn’t carry on too late into the night, as the wind kicked up & blew around the campsite, unhinging the odd gazebo! Saturday started off damp, dull & misty, with the occasional rain shower. This kept us camp-side where we could clearly see & hear the first two bands Fighting Wolves & Ataraxis Vibration from afar.
We ventured to the stage enticed by the heavy blues rock of the Tom Hollister Trio. The excellent vocals and the exquisite guitar sounds intricately weaved together into great songs, culminating in some cracking guitar showmanship from Chris Buck.
Next up were Heaven’s Basement, the band were stoked up and in an aggressive mood. Some wonderfully scuzzy sounds mixed in with some nice melodies and swaggering choruses topped off an entertaining set. A slightly heavier and a more modern sound than I remember, the band are obviously not afraid of risk taking and evolving their sound.
Unfortunately it rained throughout Red, White and Blues rocking set. A sound not to dissimilar to Thunder or Skin, didn’t quite do enough for me, but did go down very well with the crowd under difficult circumstances.
If you like huge boisterous boozed up anthems, then Black Spiders are the band for you. The music is fast paced and energetic, with pure ‘sonic’ moments, drawing influences from 70s metal and bringing it snarling into a new century. The chant along ‘Just like a Woman’ and whiskey-soaked ‘St Peter’ stood out for me in an energetic set, with a crashing finale.
Glam Metal legends Tigertailz were the local special guests, particularly apt as it sees the return of their original drummer Ace Fincham for the first time since the early 1990’s - giving fans the first chance to see all surviving members of the ‘classic’ line-up perform. Now they’ve always put that little bit extra into the shows, whether it be pyrotechnics or confetti! This time we had lovely fire eating girls & backing singers. A fantastic set covering all the albums is lit up with the awesome ‘Livin Without You’. Obvious sing along crowd moments in ‘Love Bomb Baby’ and ‘Call of the Wild’ get everybody singing. But what sets Tigertailz apart from other glam bands is the heavy intensity of some of their songs ‘Wazbones’, ‘Tear Ya Fuckin Heart Out’ and ‘Dirty Needles’.
The Quireboys are a classic party rock & roll band that never fail to deliver an exhilarating performance. Hitting the stage with ‘Hoochie Coochie Man’ they can follow this with a never ending set of crowd pleasing hit ‘Hey You’ and ‘7 0’Clock’ from their early albums. But if you’ve followed them since their return with ‘This is Rock’n’Roll’ you’ll know they can still fire up some cracking tunes like ‘I Love This Dirty Town’. Four members have been the main contributors in recent years, Keith Weir piano player extraordinaire, the brilliant guitar duo of Guy Griffin & Paul Guerin & of course the beautiful voice of lead singer Spike who is entertainment personified. Whether it be the quieter passionate moments in the heart felt ’I Don’t Love You Anymore’ and ‘Searching’ or the rollicking fun of ‘Sex Party’ you are always guaranteed a joyous Quireboys show.
What the festival may have lacked in festival goers, it more than made up for by a great hard-working line-up of bands and all the efforts of the festival organisers. Now mine’s a vodka & cranberry juice please…
Reviewed by SJRox
