By David O’Neill
After the successful conclusion of day one, aka Berniefest, would day two bring a second sunny successful day to the mountain? Well… SURPRISE ! The sun was up as we all rose to shake off ourFriday night hangovers.
First up were South Wales newbies and alt/pop rock quartet Zac And The New Men. Their stuff is bit grungy/alt rock but it is musically typical of the hangover band on Saturday morning. With a retro style to their appearance (Zac was in a faux fur half length jacket), the performance and mix of music is growing in confidence despite the increasing audience sizes. Not a bad start to Saturday.
The retro dress up box must have taken a hammering for this weekend as next up was the South Coast Brighton based band Creeping Jean (who we featured on our Singles Club this very same weekend). They look and sound like a late ’60s psychedelic band so they are in the Steelhouse wheelhouse. The guitarist looked like he pinched his suit from the Dennis Waterman wardrobe of The Sweeney. Despite this the music is very reminiscent of the late ’60s psychedelia that their wardrobe appears to espouse. It may not be to everyones liking but it was easy listening for the Saturday af’ternoon. Whilst the band just delivered the music with little or no activity, there was a band member who put the animation into the set dancing around and playing tambourine.
James And The Cold Gun get the third slot on the Saturday afternoon, another alt rock band that has been appearing on many bills over the past year or so and I have seen them a few times. Once again their music failed to inspire me, it may just be personal taste as they are accomplished musicians. I will leave you to draw your own conclusions. Even the new single, ‘Fragile, failed to register much more than usual from me.
Things start to get a bit heavier now with hard rock/metal Bournemouth band South of Salem. I have seen this band several times over the years and they just get better and better. So I know this is going to be a great set for the fan (and the photographer) in me. This was one of the sets of the weekend for me and the continuous movement of all bar the drummer make it difficult to keep an eye on the action.
‘Vultures’ and ‘Static’ have been firmly imprinted as earworms since the weekend. The impressive addition of pyros and smoke guns to the show was also added to by two “cheerleaders” on the set. This was an impressive appearance by a serious contender for the band of the weekend.
The first international band on the bill is the Mexican born Villareal sisters aka The Warning. From the opening notes of S!ck everyone’s ears pricked up! These are no lightweight pop princesses, the throbbing bass line and impressive drumming was perfect accompaniment to the vocals. You could see on the faces of the crowd that they had no idea what to expect.
Then ‘Z’ happened! The musicianship was brilliant, guitar, bass, drums all had their part to play and the backing vocals were as good as the vocals of Daniela. Both Alejandra and Paulina provided superb backing vocals. It is incredible to find out that the girls are aged 19 to 24!
‘Choke’ is another ear worm. There was not a missed note or cue in the entire set. Surprise band of the weekend by a country mile. This band already has four albums and I’m sure they will carry on releasing and touring for a long time to come.
To really warm things up another favourite of the Steehouse wheelhouse is Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons, now with a stable singer in Joel Peters accompanied by Todd, Dane and Tyla Campbell. This was another great set. Kicking off with the obvious ‘We’re The Bastards’, ‘Going To Brazil’ and ‘Schizophrenia’, this was a great start to what was always going to be littered with tracks from their three albums and the Motörhead back catalogue that included ‘Born To Raise Hell’ and ‘Ace of Spades’. The curve balls came in the style of ‘God Save The Queen’ (not the anthem!), ‘Heroes’ and finishing with ‘Killed By Death’. Now that is a rock set!
The penultimate band for Saturday was the German thrash metallers Accept, I for one had never heard of them before this weekend and I am sure there were many others in the audience in the same boat as me. However, the impressive backdrop (from their latest album ‘Humanoid’) provided the setting for a superb demonstration of the metal style. The only original member, Wolf Hoffman, looked the part in his studded leather suit, slinging his guitar around the stage like a toy on times.
“New” vocalist Mark Tornillo’s gruff vocals sounded like he’d been gargling razor blades before coming on stage. The big surprise for me was the appearance of Joel Hoekstra, who had joined them as a touring guitarist as part of the South American tour earlier this year. However, the trio of guitarists (Hoffman, Hoekstra and Lulis) really delivered a shredfest of the highest order. This was no more obvious than on ‘Fast As A Shark’ and the obligatory set closer ‘Balls To The Wall’. Let the doubters doubt no more: Max and Mikey had pulled off another blinding sign up, and also got yours truly to listen to Accept on a regular basis).
I cannot believe it was seven years ago that Skindred were on the same Steelhouse bill as Saxon. However, I for one was not at all disappointed that Benji and co’s return as Saturday night headliners was always going to receive a mixed reception. Love them or loathe them, you cannot deny that they put on a show filled with energy, controversy, humour, humility and goddamned entertainment.
The humour is readily visible in the picture of Roger Moore on the bass drum. Multiple costume changes from the main man add to the showmanship of one of the best entertainers currently on the scene.
If you are going to be offended by bad language then a Skindred show is not one for you. However it is delivered, there is no malice intended in the use of expletives, it is just the way Benji rattles off his between song banter and storytelling. From ‘Jump/Jump Around’ to ‘Kill The Power’ there is hardly anyone who cannot help but warm to the musical encyclopaedia of styles that Skindred bring to the table: reggae, rap, rock and anything else you care to mention.
After almost 90 minutes of this the crowd were more than ready for the display of T shirt twirling during the Newport Helicopter. However, the last time ‘Warning Warning’ played atop the hill it was in a monsoon. This time to negate the necessity to take T shirts off the band were selling Newport Helicopter tea towels on the merchandise (damn that’s good marketing).
After a day full of sunshine, you have to finish with some reggae! In the words of the Carly Simon outro track “nobody does it better” (than Skindred).
Great day two.