Masters of Rock

Day 2 – 12th July

Friday 12th July.

We were up bright an early for the first shuttle and as we arrived Denoi were just finishing their set. Soon after those heavy hitting Canadians Osyron hit the stage and gave us all a major wakeup call with some crushingly heavy power metal which was just what the doctor ordered. They were heavy and melodic, and word was obviously spreading because the crowd continued to fill at an alarming rate. Dark Sky came up next with a thoroughly entertaining set of 80’s inspired hard rock which sounded like a mash between Europe, Gotthard and Treat which ain’t a bad thing. Serious Black followed which both Adrian and I were excited about. They pumped out some serious metal and aired a couple off Adrian’s fave Serious Black album – ‘Magic’. Now this is where things got serious. Literally as Any Given Day hit the stage the heaven’s opened, I reckon hell had a part to play in it as well because I have never seen a storm like it! But that didn’t stop two stupid Englishmen who are old enough to know better – but because we take this job seriously, we took the pictures, being the only two people in the pit. Any Given Day got on with the job of giving the crowd some superb melodic metalcore despite all of them except the drummer getting soaked to the skin – well once you’re wet – you’re wet.

Unleash The Archers are really pushing to be the next headliners and on the strength of their performance here I don’t they will have long to wait. They played some raucous full on NWOBHM inspired metal with a serious modern edge. Singer Brittney Slayes prowled the stage like a lioness protecting her cubs and what a voice she possesses showing all her power and range on openers ‘Abyss’ and ‘The Matriarch’ and proving she can go for the kill.

The metal queen herself Doro graced the stage and gave us a set full of classics and new cuts from her latest record which stood proudly alongside those classic tracks. Opening with ‘I Rule The Ruins’ then rattling through ‘Burning The Witches’ she proved that she still has an incredible voice and her love and enthusiasm for all things metal was obvious. Doro is renowned for writing fist pumping horn throwing anthems, and she didn’t disappoint with tracks from her new album ‘Time For Justice’, ‘Fire In The Sky’ and ‘Raise Your Fist In The Air’ sitting comfortably next to her classics. ‘Deep Inside My Heart’ saw another side of her voice before we got back to the metal with ‘True As Steel’ then her stone cold classic ‘All We Are’.

Adrian kept badgering me about Electric Callboy. I was sceptical with the way he described them, but he was spot on. They really got the crowd going with their mix of techno and death metal. It works and the crowd went nuts for them. Not my cup of tea though.

The weather started to threaten again but we were reliably informed that the rain wouldn’t come until a bit later. Whoever told us that needs a punch up the bracket because just as Judas Priest took to the stage it pissed down like before – almost biblical! Again, yours truly took one for the team and remained in the photographer’s pit for the first three songs whilst everyone else ran for cover. I saw Judas Priest earlier in the year and they were superb tonight they passed superb went straight to awesome even with a break in the set to let the electrical storm pass. We got stone cold killers like the brand-new opener ‘Panic Attack’ then it was straight into ‘You Got Another Thing Comin’’ and ‘Rapid Fire’. ‘Breaking The Law’ came out early before the rabid ‘Riding On The Wind’ and the sleazy ‘Devil’s Child’. ‘Sinner’ sounded huge and as fresh as a daisy before the band were advised to leave the stage for safety reasons. Ten minutes later they were back with ‘Turbo Lover’ before the title track of the new album ‘Invincible Shield’. Probably the oldest song in the repertoire ‘Victim Of Changes’ was a tour de force and one of the best cover versions ever – ‘The Green Manalishi’ brought out Ian Hill’s pounding bassline. Drummer Scott Travis prepared us for one of the fiercest drum intro’s ever on ‘Painkiller’. Priest finished with the one-two-three of ‘Electric Eye’, ‘Hell Bent For

Leather’ and of course ‘Living After Midnight’. I’ve got to say that the guitar partnership of Richie Faulkner and Andy Sneap is one of the best I’ve ever heard or seen despite the awful weather.

Following a legend like Judas Priest would have phased most bands but not Alestorm. They sauntered on stage and brought a huge Pirate Metal Party and boy did the crowd enjoy themselves, so did Adrian who Dad danced and swashbuckled to every song and inadvertently caught one of our German colleagues right in the nuts. It amazes me how much mileage you can get out of the piracy theme, but Alestorm wring every last drop out of it. Huge party anthems like ‘Body Of The Dead Marauder’, ‘Uzbekistan’, ‘Mexico’ and a fine song about rum called …‘Rum’ and any band who has a song called ‘Fucked With An Anchor’ is alright in my book. They brought the energy back for the crowd who went back to their tents totally knackered but totally satisfied.