By David O’Neill
Well we were finally at the end of July and, guess what? It didn’t come home again, we have had a general election and now have a Labour government for the first time in 14 years, someone has attempted to assassinate Donald Trump and Joe Biden has dropped out of the US presidential election. But all of that is irrelevant because, as the sunbeams danced through the bedroom window, dappled by the gently blowing breeze in the oak tree outside, in that half awake moment I woke with a start: ITS ONLY STEELHOUSE WEEKEND, SO LETS HAVE IT.
My preview should have given you an idea what to expect, except for one thing – it isn’t raining and the sun is actually shining. The usually protracted journey up the track took only 20 minutes… holy crap, Batman, what’s going on?
Friday night’s Berniefest proved a bit of a curate’s egg for some – good in parts. An announcement from Ian Danter at the start of the events stating that Elles Bailey had unfortunately had to pull out due to ill health was met with a chorus of “aahs” from the audience. This resulted in some last minute “surprise” substitutions that included an acoustic set from the man of the moment Dan Byrne and the one and only Toby Jepson.
However, kicking off events was one of the bands I have been looking forward to seeing again (four times and all at Steelhouse) – fellow Celts Trucker Diablo. Kicking things off with the banger of a new single ‘Kill The Lights’ our Über Rock Singles Club #DailyPick this very day. This band need to be much further up the bill. It was nice to see Jim McGurk wandering down the poser ramp this time, his flowing grey locks and beard twirling in the summer sun.
With the new album, ‘Social Hand Grenade‘ out in October watch out for more performances then. This band are great musicians who obviously enjoy performing on a big stage. With tracks like ‘Drink Beer Destroy’, and ‘Party Like It’s The End Of The World’, they really set the bar high for Friday night openers.
Dan Byrne was next to fill the gap left by Elles Bailey (get well soon Elles). Whilst it is under no doubt that Dan can sing, with this session, his BernieFest appearance and his own set on Sunday it may be a bit of overkill.
Next in line was Oli Brown and the Dead Collective who have been making a lot of noise on the scenes. He is a really great musician who is a virtuoso guitarist and has a great voice too. This is highlighted by the fact that he shares the guitar pieces with none other than Sam Wood from Wayward Sons! With a lot of appreciative nods and pursing of the collective lips from the crowd the set was obviously appreciated.
Toby Jepson was next up to fill the Elles Bailey void. Again there is no doubting his pedigree, ability or personality so his set was also well received by the crowd with top Toby South Wales fan, (and my mate) “Dave the arm” practically ecstatic in the front row.
In the absence of Elles Bailey the blues session was well and truly filled by Allan and Steve Nimmo, Johnny Dyke and the rest of the King King band. Going through tracks like ‘Move Together’, ‘Waking Up’ and a truly visceral Hammond organ solo by Dykes on ‘Long History of Love’. This was only topped by the dedication of ‘Whatever It Takes To Survive’ to Thunder frontman Danny Bowes which was accompanied by a huge cheer from the Steelhouse crowd.
King King are a truly class act and I for one, will be seeing them on the autumn tour.
Following the sad passing of the one and only Mr Bernie Marsden, the posthumous release of his last album ‘Working Man’ in December 2023 made the Steelhouse organizers work hard to arrange a “supergroup” of his contemporaries as a fitting tribute to the great man. This included the local “Voice of the Mountain” Nev MacDonald of Kooga/Skin/Hand of Dimes, supported by a variety of musicians including members of Hand of Dimes, Neil Murray (bassist with Whitesnake), FM guitarist Jim Kirkpatrick, Thunder’s Luke Morley, the returning Toby Jepson, the incredibly talented Chris Buck (Cardinal Black) and the ubiquitous Dan Byrne. Unfortunately, Steve Overland also fell foul of the same bug that caused Elles Bailey to pull out.
This was a very special “I was there” moment. ‘Steelhouse Mountain’ provided the suitable introduction to the band before the mighty Nev Macdonald carried the majority of the evening with a plethora of Bernie’s songs including ‘Love Hunter’, ‘Don’t Break My Heart Again’, ‘Blind Man’ and the superb ‘Crying In The Rain’ (but there wasn’t any!). How the hell he hit that last high note was beyond me!
Guest appearances included Toby Jepson on ‘Sweet Satisfaction’, Dan Byrne on ‘Walking In The Shadow Of The Blues’ and the surprise of the evening the absolutely incomparable Allan Nimmo on ‘Ain’t No Love…’ accompanied by a stellar performance from Chris Buck. Jim Kirkpatrick also did a surprise vocal performance on ‘Dead Man Walking’. All in all it was an incredibly well curated set that was a fitting tribute to someone who many in the industry agree was one of the nicest most talented guitarists and songwriters of a generation.
Well done everyone.
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