Part One
Review and Photographs Linda McDermott
Oh, I do love a great wee rock festival. There’s something exciting about catching up with like-minded people enjoying the same thing, and if that includes supporting a charity, all the better. Rockinburgh is run by Andy and Gill Cowe to raise funds for a charity they set up called Rockin’ for Tots, all monies raised go towards various neonatal units and bereavement charities. You can find out more information about the charity and how to donate at the following website https://rockinfortots.co.uk/about/
With an array of rock bands lined up to play we were in for a great time. The festival kicked off early on Friday evening with four bands on the bill at La Belle Angéle, Edinburgh which is a great venue for live music.
First was Nothing Speaks and according to the band they aim to provide ‘head-banging riffs and shredding guitar solos’ and they warmed the crowd up nicely on that score with some impressive tracks with a grungier edge to them. I particularly liked ‘One More Day’.
Although the guys have been together for four years, they haven’t released anything up to this point, but this is about to change so watch out for them on the usual platforms.
Meantime they have another gig coming up on 19th Oct at the Banshee Labyrinth, Edinburgh if you want to catch them live.
They are-
Blair – drums
Evan -vocals/rhythm guitar
Joe – bass
Zak – lead guitar.
Next up was Scottish Borders band Wildfire who have been gaining a name for themselves over the past couple of years. Their ‘Buried Deep’ EP is a cracker and worthy of a listen.
They are:
Mikey Roberts-vocals
Liam Roberts-drums
Keir Ballantyne-guitar
Nick Smith-guitar
Lewis Stanners-bass
With five songs in their set, they got down to business, only stopping to offer a swig of Jack Daniels to those at the front of the stage and to light fireworks on Nicks’s guitar, which has become a bit of a tradition at their gigs.
Their third song, ‘Stronger’ is a favourite of mine because I know all the words to the chorus. As Mikey encourages the crowd to join in, they take up the challenge and everyone is singing the chorus along with me, Whoa oh oh! which gets louder and louder as the song goes on, the audience loves it.
Setlist
Undercover
Gimme a Kiss
Stronger
Slide it Down
Screaming for Mercy
The band have a few dates in the diary supporting Tailgunner on part of their tour so if you want to catch them, they are playing on:
Oct 17th Trillians, Newcastle
Oct 18th Bannermans Edinburgh
Oct 19th Audio, Glasgow
Up next was She Burns Red and if you’ve not heard of them yet, where have you been? Hailing from Scotland and Italy, She Burns Red released their debut album ‘Out of Darkness’ only two weeks ago on the 15th of September to rave reviews, I’d suggest you check that out because it is outstanding.
Playing to a packed room they started off at a blistering pace and got a great reception for their own brand of rock music with influences coming from the likes of The Foo Fighters and The Deftones
She Burns Red
Andy Moore – Vocals/Guitar
James McCulloch – Vocals/Bass Guitar
Naz Scanferlato – Guitar
Scott Hanlon – Drums
Singing all nine songs from their album, only interrupting them with the brilliant ‘Copernicus Falls’ they had the crowd eating out of their hands. The singing from the audience was very impressive especially when ‘Crosshairs’ and ‘Heavy is the Head’ was played. Having had over 88,000 streams in the first few days of ‘Out of Darkness’ being released it doesn’t surprise me one bit that there were a lot of people who had come to the festival especially to see them.
Set list
Touch
Rise and Fall
Killing Time
Copernicus Falls
Crosshairs
Heavy is the Head
Stronger
Run
Crack the Sky
Out of Darkness
She Burns Red are touring extensively over the next few months in both supporting and headlining roles with more dates being added all the time. Playing from London to Brighton and Blackpool to Bathgate and everything in between there’s a gig for everyone. Check out their gig dates on the link below.
Bad Touch
Bad Touch is a five-piece rock band that originally formed in 2010 when the guys were still at college. They started off performing covers of rock classics while writing and composing their own material. They have a new album due for release on 10th November 2023 called Bittersweet Satisfaction which will be their fifth album to date.
They are:
Stevie Westwood – Vocals
Rob Glendinning – Lead Guitar
Daniel ‘Seeks’ Seekings – Guitar/Vocals
Michael Bailey – Bass
George Drewry – Drums/Vocals
Starting the set with the title track from the forthcoming album they got stuck right in with their bluesy rock songs that had the crowd foot tapping and swaying along.
Delivering a great set with some new and old songs and a sprinkle of ‘Hand in my Pocket’ by Alanis Morissette their die-hard fans were lapping it up. Doing a two-song encore they played an acoustic version of ‘Nothing Wrong With That’ which is their latest single, released in July, followed by the last song of the night ‘99%’ taken from their 2016 album ‘Truth be Told’.
Set List
Bittersweet Satisfaction
I Get High
Strut
Lift Your Head Up
Wise Water
Good On Me
Dressed To Kill
See It To Believe It
Spend My Days
Let Go
Hand In My Pocket
Come A Little Closer
Nothing Wrong With That
99%
Gig information can be found
Links to Video ‘Nothing Wrong with That’
And that wraps up a fantastic Friday night at La Belle Angéle with four fantastic bands giving the crowd a taste of what was to follow tomorrow.
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