Ebbw Vale – 29/07/22 – 31/07/22
I only had my Steelhouse ticket confirmation come through on Thursday, a day before the festival kicked off and boy was I excited! I had over the previous weeks interviewed a lot of bands playing the Steelhouse weekend, Myke Gray, Ashen Reach and The Von Hertzen Brothers to name but a few and now, this festival I had been talking about in all those interviews, I was finally going to! I couldn’t wait.
I was packed and ready Friday morning. I made the journey down to South Wales and made my way ‘up the mountain’ – The lane up to the festival site was certainly a challenge and I was amazed to see all manners of cars making the trip up; Audi’s, Mercs, BMW’s, I was glad I was in my front wheel drive car and most importantly, I was glad it was dry!
Friday was a great warm up for the festival, Scarlet Rebels were incredible, playing a great mix from their two albums. We even got an old VOid track, Let Me In, thrown in for good measure! The Rebels were outstanding, they had the entire crowd in their hands and delivered a stadium ready rock and roll show!
Talking of stadium ready rock and roll, Myke Gray who I had seen the week before at KK’s SteelMill delivered a brilliant set. He really made use of the Stage and Revival Black’s Dan Byrne took full advantage of the runway and used it to its full effect! I watched him transform into a rock god there and then and that set is one of my festival highlights of the weekend. Just brilliant!
Inglorious brought the nights proceedings to a close, again we are reminded just what a stunning vocalist Nathan James is! They played a cover of Heart’s ‘Barracuda’ and Nathan screamed a note that I didn’t even know existed! Amazing! And that note became one of the many talking points over the weekend!
After a great Friday night disco things started to wind down around 1am, then it was off to the tent and hope I don’t wake up in a puddle, as the forecast for the Saturday was bleak!
Sure enough, I wake up in a cloud, but amazingly my 20 quid tent is keeping me dry. Breakfast, then off to the arena for more music and a mooch around some of the traders! What a great selection of stalls, a nice number, not too many, just a few around the outside of the arena. The food and bar prices were good, a pint for £5.50 at a festival is unheard of!
Mother Vulture kicked Saturday off, followed by Cardinal Black and The Black Spiders. Anchor Lane really impressed me, they were much heavier than they are on their albums, I loved their set. I need to see them live again.
The Von Hertzen Brothers, despite having a mid afternoon set on Saturday and torrential rain, played to a packed out arena. They well and truly delivered. They really cement themselves as a band to watch out for. They are possibly one of the best bands that you’ve never heard of. They really should be packing out arenas. Opening their set with the epic song ‘Day of Reckoning’ the brothers had everyone in the palm of their hands! Despite their relatively short set, they crammed a great selection of songs in from across their career. ‘Long Lost Sailor’ was incredible and the band closed with my all time favourite, ‘Peace Patrol’ which became another talking point for the rest of the weekend.
Following the Von Hertzen’s is a band I’ve heard so much about but I’ve never seen. Heat turned everything up to eleven. A band I really need to listen and see more of. I loved ‘A Shot of Redemption’, such a great song. The band is back with original singer Kenny Leckremo and the crowd loved him. His energy was infectious and had everyone in the crowd jumping around with him.
Another highlight of the weekend for me was The Graham Bonnet band. Graham played an amazing set. When singers reach a certain age, you expect them to lose some of their vocal abilities, not so with Graham Bonnet. He was absolutely outstanding. His voice was incredible. Opening with ‘Eyes of the World’ it was like listening to the album, but 40+ years on! ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’ got the crowd bouncing and after a quick keyboard solo and dip into some Deep Purple territory, Graham was back and brought it home, finishing all too quickly with ‘Lost in Hollywood’.
Saturday night headliners Saxon were next, the stage was extended, a full backline of Marshall’s were revealed and a huge crowd had assembled to see Biff and co. They kicked things off with ‘Motorcycle Man’ and delivered a sensational set. ‘Wheels of Steel’ made an early appearance in the set and got the audience bouncing, the crowd were loving it. I’ve seen Saxon a few times over the years and they always put a great show on, but Steelhouse might just be the best I’ve ever seen them.
Towards the end of the set, Biff invited Toby Jepson up onstage to join him for a song. One of the only duets of the weekend, a great version of ‘And The Bands Played On’ followed. Watching Biff and Toby trading vocals was amazing – I could watch that all day!
What an amazing set from Saxon with ‘747’ and ‘Princess of the Night’ finally bringing things to a close. Biff certainly does deliver one hell of a show! After Saxon, it was off to the disco, then back to the tent, which amazingly had survived the torrential downpour and next morning I woke to bright blue skies and red hot sun!
Ashen Reach kicked things off on the Sunday morning, what a fantastic crowd they had drawn. It felt like 75% of the Saxon crowd just hadn’t left, it was packed. They were absolutely stunning. The band really played to the size of the stage, proving they had what it takes to cope on much bigger stages, vocalist Kyle Stanley made full use of the runway, as did the rest of the band. They were incredible and even got the crowd doing a mosh pit, a festival first for Steelhouse, or so I’m told! Ashen Reach are destined for greatness, you mark my words!
Sunday definitely felt the heavier day; following Ashen Reach, These Wicked Rivers played, delivering some mighty fine, heavy riffage! King Herd followed with more in your face angst and then Green Lung, a band who I had never come across entered the stage. The London band played a mix of stoner, doomy rock come metal and they just grabbed me! A band I need to listen to and discover more of!
Diamond Head were up next and after a few problems setting up; the bass drum skin ripped and was taken off, meaning the bass drum had to be dampened with an old blanket (very 70’s), these metal legends took to the stage! The band opened with. ‘Play it Loud’, a song released as a single back in the early days and the crowd absolutely loved it. The band delivered an amazing set, it was great hearing ‘Lightening to the Nations’ and ‘Electric’ live, but the stand out moment for me was the band playing ‘Belly of the Beast’ from the bands album The Coffin Train, singer Rasmus Anderson didn’t hold back at all and after an electrifying set, to play this song two songs before the end wasn’t easy, it’s tough song to sing, but Rasmus absolutely nailed it!
I have to mention Brian Tatler too, what a guitar wizard, he is a true guitar hero! Switching mid way through the set from his black Flying V to a gorgeous Les Paul, I had major guitar envy! His guitar tone was incredible, but all too soon the opening chords to their signature song ‘Am I Evil?’ kicked in, signalling the end of their set and what a set it was! It’s just a shame they weren’t a little higher up the line up, then we could have spent a little more time with them!
Orange Goblin followed, another band I wasn’t overly familiar with and definitely a band I will be listening to more of and then the mighty Michael Schenker graced the stage. Schenker is someone I’ve seen a number of times and is normally used to playing mammoth two and a half hour shows. Tonight at Steelhouse was set to be just over an hour. The ultimate Schenker greatest hits set!
Schenker bursts onto the stage to an adoring crowd, followed by the rest of his band. The entire band are on fire, Steve Mann is running between playing keys and second guitar and vocalist Robin McCauley has been drafted in to replace Ronnie Romero, who isn’t doing the European leg of the tour and he fits perfectly! Michael Schenker really amazes me with his energy and he delivers an absolutely stunning set at Steelhouse!
Where on earth has this weekend gone, it’s absolutely flown! One band were left, Europe. Another amazing headline slot, they played a great selection of songs. I was pleased they played a few newer songs too, playing the title tracks of Walk the Earth and Last Look at Eden, but crowd were there for the older stuff! And the band well and truly delivered!
Playing five songs from the Final Countdown album, albums Out of their World and Wings of tomorrow were also very well represented. John Norum is an amazing guitarist and Joey Tempest’s voice was incredible. A true crowd pleaser. Their set came to a close and as they started their final song, ‘Final Countdown’, an orchestra of kazoo’s joined in, people had been handing them out all day! What a great festival moment!
A stunning fireworks display brought the festival to a close and what a weekend I’ve had. My first Steelhouse and what a lovely festival experience it was. It really felt like a family, everyone was so friendly and I made some lovely friends. Thank you so much to Mikey and Max for having me and I can’t wait to head back up the mountain for Steelhouse 2023!
