Although the UK live scene is thriving, thanks largely to the efforts of the New Wave of Classic Rock movement, those of us with a specific interest in the melodic rock and AOR scene, weaned on the glory years of The Gods, Firefest and Rockingham, have not had a festival of our own since before the pandemic (don’t get me started on the misnomer that is Hard Rock Hell AOR).

So this new one day Manchester festival, organised by Greg Dean and Bruce Mee, came out of the blue, even if the latter is also behind a new iteration of Firefest this autumn. A 200 mile trip from London was a small sacrifice to catch some new or relatively unfamiliar live bands, and reunite with old pals from those days. Sensibly it was held at a relatively small club in Rebellion, but in spite of the lack of household names, there was a decent attendance, including a few intrepid foreign travellers, and far from the car crash some pessimists were predicting.

Having become very fussy about similarly sized venues in the capital, I was also impressed with the set up. The sound was good and the stage at a decent height with a perfectly shaped area to watch from up front, with a raised area behind for socialising, buying drinks or more relaxed watching from a distance.

We were eased gently into the day with an acoustic set from Gabrielle De Val, the Spanish singer accompanied by bandmates on guitar and bass, who had a pleasant voice accompanied by an engagingly modest personality. Opener ‘Natural High’ had a bluesy Melissa Etheridge or Sass Jordan vibe and a trio from her ‘Kiss In A Dragon Night’ album in ‘Fuel To the Fire’, the title track and ‘Hold On’ were all enjoyable.

I was delighted to hear a cover of ‘Moonlight Shadow’ (a song that was never off my ghetto blaster in my post ‘O’ level summer of 83!) which might even have been extended longer, while there was a taster for her new album in ‘Up To Where You Are’. There was another cover, this one to delight melodic rock purists in James Christian’s ‘Candle in the Window’ before she finished with ‘Take On The World’ one of a number written with the great Steve Overland of FM. I was not familiar with her material, only with her name and a duet at Rockingham with Robert Tepper, but this set whetted the appetite both for the bands to come and her electric performance at Firefest.

There aren’t enough British melodic rock bands on the circuit but one such is White Skies, a group of seasoned pros with pedigree in other bands, who have been building a name supporting the likes of Romeos Daughter and FM.

Opening with ‘What Do You Know About Love’, the chorus helped by strong backing vocals from guitarist Ray Callcut and drummer Daz Lamberton to reinforce Mick White’s raspy tones, initially their style on songs like ‘A Love Unjustified’ and ‘If This Is It (Get Ready)’ reminded me of the post NWOBHM acts from the early eighties (Heavy Pettin, Tobruk etc) and felt a little average to me, even dated.

The turning point was the Journey- esque ballad ‘Kiss Me As I Say Goodbye’, even if in the absence of a real player the taped keyboards were very prominent. The title track of 2022 album ‘Black Tide’ was very impressive with a hint of something different both lyrically and musically, as was ‘One Step Forward’ whose chorus even had a touch of early eighties prog a la Asia or 09125-era Yes. Mick’s voice and geezerish charm really grew on me as the set closed with ‘Taking A Ride’ and I ended up a convert.

In a line up of newer bands, Saracen were, on the face of it, a little the odd man out. Singer Steve Bettney is the only original member, but as he opened with an ear splitting falsetto it was clear he could still bring it, and his hyperactive stage movements and crowd poses were also highly entertaining.

Their debut album ‘Heroes Saints and Fools’ – one of my favourite NWOBHM albums ever, blending old school metal and the pomp of early Magnum- was well represented and after ‘Crusader’ eventually came to the boil, the Maiden like gallop of ‘Rock of Ages’ even got a few fans headbanging at the front.

‘Meet Me at Midnight’ was a casualty of running late, so the first four songs ended up being from that album, with two absolute epics back to back in ‘Horsemen of the Apocalypse’ and the title track.

I’ve been less keen on their later material but ‘Swords of Damascus’ had the classic Saracen feel before a final oldie in ‘Ready to Fly’: as Simon Roberts stretched out with a lengthy and fluid guitar solo, Steve’s energy took him into the crowd to high five and shake hands. A revelation of a set to delight old fans and hopefully make some new ones.

In a mainly home grown bill there was though room for a UK debut by one of the seemingly endless conveyor belt of young Swedish melodic acts in Remedy. Though I had actually seen them before on last year’s Rocknytt Cruise, they were clearly the main draw for quite a few people in attendance, not least with the recent release of a critically acclaimed sophomore album ‘Pleasure Beats the Pain’.

So opener ‘Living on the Edge’ sparked a bit of fist waving and ‘Marilyn’, complete with Jonas Ojvall’s stabbing keyboard intro was classic AOR. However the smooth tones of neckerchief sporting singer Robert van Der Zwan, with his cool ‘light sabre’ style mic stand, sounded a touch strained on the rockier songs ‘Crying Heart’ and new single ‘Sin For Me’.

Guitarist Roland Forsman was excellent on the latter and though his solos were crisp and concise I was hearing something of both Michael Schenker and old-school John Norum in his melodic tone. Beginning in almost orchestral style and building to a big chorus ‘Sundays at Nine’ was an epic ballad while the bouncy chorus of ‘Moon Has the Night’ had a number of people going crazy.

Robert had a good sense of humour and the English vernacular (‘kick butt)’ which, combined with the band’s enthusiasm and a series of catchy hooks ensured the atmosphere was retained for the rest of the (slightly truncated) set in ‘Thunder In the Dark’, ‘Angelina’, and ‘I Wanna Have It All’. It was a triumphant debut on English soil and, however much I’d loved Saracen, the band of the festival to date.

They were also a hard act to follow for Atack, the eponymous band of respected guitarist Keith. Opener ‘Nine Lives’, the title track of their album, told you everything about their more traditional classic rock influences, with Keith on his strat and Hammond organ wizard Nick Foley trading solos like vintage Blackmore and Lord. However usual singer Lee Small was absent and the towering figure of deputy Paul Riley feeling his way: he had a strong voice but lacked the easy confidence another stand-in Dan Byrne showed when I saw them last year at Firevolt. Combined with songs like ‘New Addiction’, ‘The Seven Seas’ and ‘The End Of the World’ being decent but cut from similar cloth, it all meant the area at the front of the stage thinned out as many people took a break.

Mountain’s ‘Blood of the Sun’ was an interesting choice of cover and really impressively done though inadvertently showing up their own material. After ‘Stone Cold’, where instead of the Whitesnake and Purple comparisons I was reminded of at least one of Robin Trower’s classics from ‘Bridge of Sighs’.

Prior to a fast and furious closer of ‘Like a Twister Blowing Through’, Keith thanked both Paul and bassist Dominic Hill as late stand-ins and there was some much more relaxed banter. I did wonder that if these intros had been made earlier we might have made more allowances and warmed to them more- nevertheless it was a very creditable performance, if perhaps a little out of place sandwiched between two more AOR acts.

While all the other bands were limited to 40 minutes, headliners Nitrate were given an hour set. Brainchild of East Midlands based bassist and songwriter Nick Hogg, they have actually released four albums since 2018 though I was only familiar with their last effort ‘Feel the Heat’- a matter rectified at the merch stall. Yet anticipation was high as remarkably this was their first ever live appearance.

As on the past couple of albums, an otherwise all- British line up including the songwriting twins and former Vega stalwarts James and Tom Martin was topped off by- what else- a Scandinavian vocalist in Alexander Strandell.

After a lengthy intro, he rushed on stage, a swarthy, loose limbed figure with the air of a young Steven Tyler and on ‘Danger Zone’ his voice, simultaneously powerful but smooth and slightly high pitched, complemented a classic AOR chorus. Indeed the good stuff was unrelenting with ‘Renegade’, ‘All the Right Moves’, ‘Live Fast Die Young’ and the more mid tempo ‘Needs a Little Love’ all master examples of uptempo hook-filled songwriting, yet all the better for some live punch compared to the necessarily sterile nature of modern recording techniques.

I joked to others we were witnessing an AOR supergroup as we dipped into the band members past, Alexander singing Art Nation’s ‘Need You to Understand’ which has a huge chorus hook even by the standards of the genre, before Vega’s ‘Kiss of Life’, with its bounce in the air chorus, one of the few where Tom took the guitar solo instead of impressive colleague Richard Jacques.

The band looked like they were enjoying themselves, and you had to look hard to spot any joins despite it being a debut gig. Though ‘You Think You Got It’ did not live up to the other songs, quality was restored with the mid-tempo ‘Satellite’ with some Def Lep style harmonies and closing ‘who-oahs’ while the title track of ‘Feel The Heat’ demonstrated all the promise as a live anthem I suspected when I heard the studio version. As they closed with Wild in the City and Big City Lights, a party was in full swing, celebrating a triumphant live debut, hopefully only the start of something.

Indeed the whole day could be counted an unqualified success, well beyond my expectations. There was a very varied selection of bands, and a friendly atmosphere, and it was great to again have a melodic rock festival to call our own. I hope there is room for future editions to continue to bring together the melodic rock community and showcase the talent that is out there.

Review and Photos by Andy Nathan

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.

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David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 24 November 2024.

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Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections

Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)