High Voltage Festival - Sunday
25 July 2010
Victoria Park, London
A pint of Pimms in hand and the Quireboys, what a great way to kick off the second day of High Voltage.The band ambled on to the stage and, in a ramshackle manner that fit them perfectly, slowly formed into a rock’n’roll introductory jam.In a three piece suit and trademark bandana, frontman Spike strode onto the stage, greeted the crowd and calls for a “Gimme a yeah!”.Having suitably woken the attendance they were off and running with Bite The Hand That Feeds, both guitarists risking their necks as Spike twirled his microphone stand around his head.The Quireboys style or rock’n’roll isn’t my usual bag, but to ease us into day two with the sun shining they worked a treat.
Quireboys set list:
Intro Jam / Bite The Hand That Feeds / Mislead / The Finer Stuff / Tramps And Thieves / There She Goes Again / Mona Lisa Smiled / I Don’t Love You Anymore / Hey You / 7 O’Clock
It was now time to settle at the Metal Stage for pretty much the rest of the day and first up were Audrey Horne.The Norwegian’s recent self titled effort has been rightfully receiving great reviews and today the whole of their set bar Threshold was drawn from it.The band meant business and it was impressive to see how more and more people were sucked in to watching their set, which just kept gathering momentum.Even the joking “boo’s” at the announcement of a power ballad, turned to cheers as Sail Away sucked us all in.Frontman Toschie’s entirely white outfit was drenched to the point where you could see his tattoos through his shirt, such was the effort put into this short set. Though as ever it was a no shirt occasion from Ice Dale, (also of Enslaved) who had girls queuing up near us to take photos of each other with the guitarist in the background.Blaze of Ashes closed one of the sets of the weekend.Chances of missing them next weekend at Sonisphere – nil!
Audrey Horne set list:
Charon / Circus / Bridges and Anchors / Sail Away / Down Like Suicide / Threshold / Blaze of Ashes
High On Fire seemed to split opinion today, even my own.At times, like during Rumors Of War and How Dark We Pray, their relentless pummelling was a joy to be battered by, but then things would drift off into a samey wall of noise.Mainman Matt Pike’s appeal for some reaction as “this is supposed to be a rock show” pretty much summed up the mixed feelings.High On Fire floored me when in the tent at Download a couple of year’s ago but the same couldn’t be said for today.
High On Fire set list:
Fire, Blood & Plague / Rumors of War / How Dark We Pray / Hung, Draw & Quartered / Blood From Zion / Frost Hammer / Snakes For The Divine
The prog stage was only about 2 minutes walk away and during High On Fire’s Blood From Zion, I sauntered over for a quick look at Magnum.The contrast in crowds was massive with the High On Fire crowd stood, dressed mainly in black and mainly with long hair.Meanwhile at the Prog Stage it was camping chairs galore and a multitude of coloured t-shirts and thinning hair.Unfortunately many of those on the chairs had nodded off and the song I caught, The Moonking, hardly got me excited.The feedback I’d heard and set list I saw indicated Magnum had opted against a festival friendly set and mainly played recent material.Whilst I can appreciated their wish to move forward, some more reminders to old fans of the quality of their back catalogue may have got them onside for newer material, but instead they appeared to miss an open goal.
Magnum set list:
Cry To Yourself / Brand New Morning / The Moonking / When We Were Younger / Les Morts Dansant / All My Bridges / All England’s Eyes / Kingdom Of Madness
Clutch strolled onto the stage and eased into the set with the blues of Gravel Road, with frontman Neil Fallon supplying slide guitar.This was akin to having a stretch before a work out with the rest of the set cherry picked from their groove rocking best.Guitarist Tim Sult and bassist Dan Maines flanked either side of Fallon, both with baseball hats, looking down at their instruments, focused on the task at hand.Their lack of movement was no issue as Fallon just had to look at the crowd to suck you into his world.Weaving crazy stories over the catchiest of riffs, Clutch made it all look so easy, particularly drummer Jean-Paul Gaster with his part jazz, part rock technique on a minimal kit.Gaster has a side project called King Hobo with Opeth’s Per Wilberg, who joined Clutch on stage for the final three songs.This really was a set you simply didn’t want to end.
Clutch set list:
Gravel Road / 50,000 Unstoppable Watts / Struck Down / Power Player / Cypress Grove / Profits of Doom / Mice & Gods / 10001110101 / Electric Worry / One Eye Dollar
Opeth start their set in a similar manner to Clutch with the mellow Windowpane most likely wrong footing those who hadn’t heard the band before.The Grand Conjuration provided a complete contrast and benefits from an amazingly clear sound for an outdoor festival.Mikael Åkerfeldt seemed more laid back than usual today, but wasn’t without jokes, introducing the band as Poison and himself as Bret Michaels before a luscious The Drapery Falls.Opeth had initially been confirmed for the Prog Stage and with the twists and jazzy middle of The Lotus Eater, which incidentally Åkerfeldt announced as being from the Look What The Cat Dragged In album, ticked all the progressive boxes.However their appearance a few hundred yards to their left would have been amusing given they were the only band to use death metal vocals all weekend.Deliverance brought the Swedes set to a close.
Opeth set list:
Windowpane / The Grand Conjuration / The Drapery Falls / The Lotus Eater / Deliverance
With no interest in seeing ELP, Down were set to bring a close to High Voltage for me.As noted, Phil Anselmo was present the previous day and by now he was visibly chomping at the bit to go as Down launched into Eyes Of The South.The crowd had grown considerably and for the first time this weekend crowd surfers appeared and the security are finally called into action after a lazy weekend stage front.Down are currently in the midst of working on their fourth album, but today’s set contains no new material and concentrates mainly on their classic 1995 NOLA debut.Word is they are trying to recreate a similar working vibe to that album’s creation.Hopefully they can pen songs as strong as the likes of Temptation’s Wings, Stone The Crow and Bury Me In Smoke which leave this crowd in raptures and finish a fantastic weekend.
Down set list:
Eyes of The South / N.O.D. / Lysergic Funeral Procession / Lifer / Ghosts Along The Mississippi / Losing All / The Path / Pillars of Eternity / Temptations Wings / Hail The Leaf / New Orleans Is A Dying Whore / Stone The Crow / Bury Me In Smoke
LINKS:
http://www.highvoltagefestival.com/
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