Where – Whitebottom Farm, Nr Stockport
When – Thursday 8th Aug – 11th Aug
Review and Photographs by Linda McDermott
Thursday
This is a great small festival at Etherow Country Park, Compstall near Stockport.
The beauty of smaller festivals is that there are no horrendous queues, and we were on site within 20 minutes, set up and ready to go.
The day started off with a great idea in the shape of a ‘solo meet’ for those who were at the festival on their own. This gives people a chance to meet others who were also there by themselves, giving them the opportunity to enjoy the festival together if they wanted too.
Then it was quiz time, with the winning team having to have an inflatable guitar competition, which was hilarious.
Included with the price of the ticket was two courses of hot food, this was very much appreciated by everyone who hadn’t had time to prepare something when they arrived.
Ransom brought the live music for the night and did a rock covers set, playing everything from The Foo Fighters to AC/DC, and The Cult to Billy Idol, and everything in between, getting everyone into the spirit of the festival. The night finished with a Rock DJ set before heading to bed, ready for a full day on Friday.
Friday
With the bands starting at 12.15 today, a relaxed morning was had before setting off on the two-minute walk into the hub of things with toilets, showers, vendors, and stalls in the yard. The Trooper Stage was to the right with the Big Top tent, the second stage just a stroll away, meaning everything was at hand.
As always, and I don’t know how it started, but Friday is shit shirt day, and boy was there some amazing shit shirts! Seemingly, Paul Cash, radio presenter and compère for the weekend thinks every day is Friday!
We Three Kings
Battle of the band’s winners, We Three Kings opened the main stage with a great rock set to a big crowd. They are in fact a two piece and a skeleton who have a big sound and great songs that I will be checking out.


Singing their latest single ‘Get Back’ which came out only a couple of weeks ago they had the crowd clapping along and getting right behind them. For two guys and a
pile of bones they managed to fill the stage and create a brilliant atmosphere. I like discovering new to me bands and We Three Kings now have my ear.



What a great start to the day.
Ransom
Opening the big top stage is Ransom, a four-piece rock band from South London and they make the bold statement that they ‘bring the stadium rock experience to a venue near you!’ You can’t fault this band as they do give it everything they’ve got and more. It is clear from the very start that they love what they do and the crowd lap it up, and I find myself smiling and tapping my foot along to the music. After their set of covers from last night, today was all about their own tracks which filled the tent full of guitar riffs and that stadium rock and roll music.



The Karma Effect
The band had set off to the festival at 4.30 am to get to Firevolt on time, and it was worth it as the crowd showed their appreciation. Playing songs from their
new album ‘Promised Land,’ which came out in May and reached number nineteen in the UK charts, the five-piece band are riding a wave. They are touring all over the country so go check out them out at https://thekarmaeffect.co.uk/



Trucker Diablo
Ireland’s finest rock export, Trucker Diablo brought their own brand of music and treated the crowd to a cracking set. They are very funny guys and had loads of banter all the way through that had the crowd laughing and cheering along.



With powerful rock tracks that included ‘Rock Kids of the 80’s’, from their ‘Tale End of a Hurricane’ album and their latest single, ‘What I See’, a power ballad that was released last week, they had the crowd eating out of their hands, and if that wasn’t enough they gave us a rendition of Tina Turner’s ‘Proud Mary’.



South of Salem
It is always a pleasure seeing the guys from South of Salem who always bring their ‘A’ game. With three festivals in three days, they are an unstoppable machine. Playing songs from both albums ‘The Sinner Takes It All’ and ‘Death of the Party’ they played full throttle and with so many great anthems in their set the crowd were singing their hearts out, what a fantastic atmosphere.



A special moment was when Joey came off stage and held the mic out to young Samuel Jackson who was on his dad’s shoulders. Samuel is a huge fan of the band and sung his heart out. I know he knows the lyrics to most, if not all their songs and he will have his own band some day.



The Treatment
With classic rock oozing out their pores The Treatment take to the stage and rip it up. These guys have been around for over fifteen years and are like a well-oiled machine with an array of albums under their belts. They had the crowd in the Big Top tent jumping and enjoying the set as the band nailed it, both vocally and lyrically. Check out their latest album ‘Wake Up the Neighbours’ which was released in May for some powerful hard rock tracks.



Renegade
Thin Lizzy in a nutshell and what’s not to like about that? Hit after hit after hit, and a great big sing along with those of a certain age joining in. I reckon you could hear the crowd’s rendition of the classics right in the centre of Stockport. I loved getting caught up in the nostalgia of it all and with tunes like ‘Jail Break,’ ‘The Boys Are Back in Town,’ and ‘China Town’ and finishing with the fantastic ‘Rosalie’ it was impossible not to be transported back in time. Pure joy right there.


Stone Broken
Hard rock band Stone Broken are one of the bands I’d not seen before, but I will definitely see them again. Think Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin meets Black Stone Cherry and Halestorm, then put all those influences together, mix them around a wee bit and you have this mighty rock band delivering amazing gutsy songs on stage in a big tent.



With a tour throughout November, I would grab a ticket while you can, because that’s what I’m going to do. Have a look for a date near you on their website https://www.stonebroken.com/tour


Vandenberg
If it’s big powerful guitar riffs you’re after, with a sprinkling of White Snake classics, then that wish had just been granted as Vandenberg take to The Trooper stage to finish Friday’s main event. With Vandenberg only reforming four years ago with a new lineup and releasing the album ‘SIN’ last year they have kept to their roots and fans will absolutely love this album.


Tonight, the band make it look so easy as the crowd lap up every song sung, singing along to the anthems that this band produce so easily.
At one point I couldn’t help but stand back and smile and think that all these people singing their hearts out in a field were in their happy place right now.



Tyger
If that wasn’t enough, White Tyger took to the stage in the guise of their cover band Tyger to sing an array of classic rock songs from the 80’s and 90’s. This band just love what they do and have now carved out a name for themselves doing their own music and are ones to check out for some great rock tunes. After all that there was still a more for the died hards and the night ended with the Rock DJ disco.
What a brilliant first day, but it was off to bed for me, so I was ready for more face melting rock music.
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