Live: High Voltage Festival - Victoria Park, London - 24th, 25th July 2010
Monday, 26 July 2010
Written by Jon Stickler
It was the weekend that many the long-haired, headbanging, vintage tour shirt wearing rock fan had been waiting for. High noon and High Voltage festival’s gates opened at London’s Victoria Park, with hordes of rock fans descending onto the city for two days of classic, metal and prog rock!
Concentrating on the more classic acts of rock, High Voltage festival waves aside nu-metal and emo, preferring to leave out the Fall Out Boy and Lost Prophet types of the genre to make way for the real monsters such as Saxon, Heaven & Hell and ZZ Top.
There is a great atmosphere in the air, which is noticeable as soon as you climb the stairs from the nearby tube stations. There’s a variety of antique band t-shirts on display, ranging from Johnny Cash to Black Sabbath dictating the kind of crowd that this festival caters for.
With the event organisers claiming that High Voltage festival is “built by rock fans for rock fans,” inside the gates there’s everything a rock fan wants. Three huge stages, an air guitar competition stage, classic muscle car and bike displays and not forgetting of course the Jagermeister tent!
Bathed in glorious sunshine for most of the festival’s two-day span, the High Voltage bill featured a number of “dinosaur” acts such as Gary Moore, Foreigner, legendary heavy metal group Heaven and Hell, who dedicated their final show ever to their late singer Ronnie Dio, Joe Bonamassa, Asia, Uriah Heep Bachman & Turner, ZZ Top and many more.
It felt like the “glory days” of rock had never disappeared. Former Thin Lizzy axe man Gary Moore is superb on stage, playing a set list packed full of wailing solos, its enough for us to forgive him for leaving out a rendition of the haunting “Parissiene Walkways”. Followed by the freshly shampooed locks of Kelly Hansen, the Foreigner frontman, with ever-present founder of the band Mick Jones on guitar, led the band through a number of classic tracks, finishing with one of the biggest sing-a-longs of the weekend to power-ballad “I Want to Know What Love Is”. If only it was dark enough for those lighters to show up!
Playing as support to the headliners, it was all about one man for this next act. Playing their final ever show and dedicating it to metal icon and former singer Ronnie Dio, Heaven & Hell delivered some thunderous riffs in an emotional set by the band formed from the ashes of Black Sabbath. After losing his brave battle with Cancer last May, Ronnie James Dio was set to perform with the group at this year’s festival. With former Deep Purple and Black Sabbath singer Glenn Hughes as well as Masterplan’s Jorn Lande doing a sterling job at taking-over vocals, the duo, flanked of course by Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler, led an emotional tribute that also featured an appearance from Dio’s wife Wendy who gave a touching speech about the late legend.
Following the performance, Hughes revealed that a tribute album was in the making, which is also set to feature collaborations from “some mega stars”. The singer spoke of his joy of being involved in the show, saying, “Ronnie was more than a musician friend to me. He was a really good friend. Tonight I got to sing the songs that I saw him write. I was around when he got the gig in Black Sabbath. It’s been a very emotional week for us all. We’re all grieving and we wanted to come here and celebrate his life . . . the majestical magic of Ronnie. He was a dear, dear man.”
Next up, topping the bill, were dirty blues-rock trio ZZ Top. Playing across USA and Europe this year, the High Voltage show marks the only UK appearance from the band this year as they hit the road for another world tour. Delivering a masterclass in cool, the trio of Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard (he’s the one without the beard!) thrilled the crowd, which also included Jimmy Page stage side, with fan favourites including “Gimme All Your Lovin’,” “Sharp Dressed Man,” “Cheap Sunglasses,” “Legs,” and “Tush”.
“We’ve been coming here for four decades,” singer Billy Gibbons announces to the crowd. “Same three guys. Same three chords,” he continues with a sly smile. Appearing in the usual attire of trademark shades and hat, the guitar duo still have the full-beards while drummer Frank Beard also appears to have maintained his fuzz-free face. Together they groove through an electrifying set with Billy Gibbons now possibly the coolest guy I have ever seen. “Are we all having a good time? …Hell yeeeeeaaaahhh!”
Other bands at the festival included the reunited Emerson Lake and Palmer, who, celebrating their 40th anniversary, closed the event on Sunday night. There were also appearances from UFO, Saxon, who played a roaring set over on the metal stage as well as Zakk Wylde’s Black Label Society. Asia and Uriah Heep both played great sets over at the Prog stage too.
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