Inaugural High Voltage Festival Makes History in London

Review by Mark Taylor
Photos by LEON

History was being made this weekend at the inaugural High Voltage Festival as it was the first time a major rock festival was being held in Victoria Park, east of London, not too far from where the Olympics will be held in two years’ time.

This was also the first time a major rock festival was aimed at the older rock fan in the UK, who were being enticed with the first live appearence of Emerson Lake and Palmer in over 15 years, performances from bands that haven’t played on these shores in over three decades, a whole host of progressive rock bands as well a stage featuring some of the heaviest sounds around today to keep the youngsters happy.

Sadly this was also to be the final appearance from Heaven & Hell, featuring the Black Sabbath members playing a last tribute to the sadly departed Ronnie James Dio.

Click for more from Day One and check the BareFoot FotoBlog!

The sun was out and it was going to be a very hot day in the English Summertime, so first things first (or shall I say thirst?), it was time for some alcoholic refreshment before seeing any of the bands.

With so many bands spread across three stages, I decided to focus on the spirit of the festival and just watch the bands on the Main and Prog stages, as most of the bands on the Metal Hammer stage tour here consistently.

Touchstone were my first act of the day, fronted by the dainty Kim Seviour, who delivered an inspired heavy progressive set with a modern tinge. With a new album Live In The USA set for release I could see why they are gaining interest from both sides of the pond. 

When favourite British rockers Thunder split up, guitarist Luke Morley wasted no time in getting his new project The Union off the ground. A set of British bluesy rock won them many new fans today.

Dutch rockers Focus brought some fun to the day. Only organist/flautist Thijs van Leer remains from the orignal line up, moving waves with the delights of the big hits ‘Slyvia’ and the great sing along yodelling of ‘Hocus Pocus’ ad ded to the good spiritual vibe of the festival.

Heavily influenced by the heavy seventies sound of Deep Purple and Uriah Heep were the mad hatter antics of Big Elf. Led by the charismatic Damon Fox on the mellotron, the band recreated those sonic sounds of days gone by. Big Elf can only get bigger.

Gary Moore has been telling us the story of the blues for many years now, so I, like many others, were looking foward to seeing the guitar legend delivering a promised rock set dating back to the eighties. With former sidekick Neil Carter back on the keyboards and ex-Jethro Tull bassist Jon Noyce the band played a set of Celtic-flavoured rock.

Surprisingly, three new songs were aired that sounded like they could’ve been left over tracks from the “Wild Frontier” lp. The war themed ‘Days Of Heroes’ has strong potential. The applause from the moving “Where Are You Now?” put a rare smile on Moore’s face and “Old Wild One” could be a tribute to his former collegue Phil Lynott.

The hard hitting blues of “Walking By Myself” was out of place in this set and turned out to be the set-ender as Gazza had run out of time much to his displeasure, but he could have squeezed in another number if hadn’t done too much unnecessary doodling at the beginning of many of his songs today.

Over at the Prog Stage Dweezil Zappa Plays Zappa, the music of his father, Frank. The jazzy interpetations were a highlight for many.

Asia followed, featuring all four original members, who kept many happy by playing the entirety of the first global-selling debut with a few new numbers thrown in for good measure. Drummer Carl Palmer, who would be back on the Main Stage the day after with ELP, was enjoying his time in the heat of the moment.

Since the departure of Lou Gramm the profile of Foreigner has been at a low ebb in the UK. Back in front of thousands today, Foreigner showed why they have sold over 70 million records to date with a set full of crowd pleasers. New singer Kelly Hansen was every inch the rock star with rocking riffs aplenty from Mick Jones.

After a rocking set the juke box heroes ended with the drunken man hugging “I Wanna Know What Love Is” complete with a choir from a local school getting their fifteen minutes of fame. For many, Foreigner were the band of the day.

Heaven & Hell were orignally booked to perform here long before Ronnie James Dio was losing his battle against stomach cancer. After his sad departing, Tony Iommi announced that the remaining members would play just one last concert in a tribute to great little man with the big voice. Helping out on vocals would be Masterplan singer Jorn Lande and Glenn Hughes who has formerly worked with Iommi on numerous occasions.

Many did wonder how the band would cope with the emotions of the day and it was eerie at first watching the band, complete with the same stage set up from the last tour, where once the great Ronnie James Dio once stood.

Jorn Lande took the vocals for “Mob Rules” and “I” before Glenn Hughes made an entrance for “Country Girl.” Despite both being excellent singers, there was a subduded feeling at first hearing these numbers without Dio, but then the mood turned into a celebration of the great man’s life with Hughes leading the tributes and turning in one of the most powerful vocal performances off the weekend with “Children Of The Sea,” followed by Jorn Lande singing “Turn Up The Night,” a song that hasn’t been performed since 1981.

Ronnie’s wife and manager Wendy Dio came on to read an eulogy and to thank those who have sent kind messages and those who have made donations to the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up And Be Counted Cancer Fund. Clearly upset, it made many realise that a day of fun at a festival is not so important after all.Even the rest of Dio’s former collegues looked to be struggling at times with their emotions.

Continuing with the music, it got all the more powerful ending with the epic “Heaven And Hell’ with shared vocals. For the encore, former Pantera and current Down singer Phil Anselmo came on stage like an uninvited guest at a funeral trying to share the mic for “Neon Nights” but no one can blame him for his enthusiasm of wanting to sing at this momentous occasion.

The legend of Ronnie James Dio will live on for many years to come \m/

Ending the day’s proceedings over at the Prog stage was the progressive supergroup of Transatlantic who only performed one song in their main set, the 70-minute-long “The Whirlwind,” an encore of the Genesis chestnut “The Return Of The Giant Hogweed” featuring guest Steve Hackett sent the proggers home happy.

ZZ Top had the honour of closing the Main Stage but after what had gone before on that stage, the bearded ones had to put in a very special performance. The set was very similar to the one on the previous tour from last year and the performance became a little pedestrian after a while. That said, ZZ Top are still a perfect festival band who kept many happy with their beer-drinking blues.

We’d seen it all before and we will see them do it again. No one can argue with the classic run of those feel good factor MTV hits that ended the set. With the encores of “La Grange” and “Tush” everybody knew what they were talking about.

Click here for more and bigger photos from High Voltage Festival, Day One in the BareFoot FotoBlog

Gary Moore set list: Over The Hills And Far Away / Thunder Rising / Days Of Heroes / Where Are You Now? / Empty Rooms / Old Wild One / Out In The Fields / Walking By Myself

Foreigner set list: Double Vision / Head Games / Cold As Ice / Can’t Slow Down / Starrider / Feels Like The First Time / Urgent / Juke Box Heroes encore.. I Wanna Know What Love Is

Heaven & Hell set list: Mob Rules / I / Country Girl / Children Of The Sea /Turn Up The Night / Voodoo / Bible Black / Falling Off The Edge Of The World / Die Young / Heaven And Hell ..encore ..Neon Nights

ZZ Top set list: Got Me Under Pressure / Waitin’ For The Bus / Jesus Just Left Chicago / Pincushion / I’m Bad , I’m Nationwide / Future Blues / Rock Me Baby / Cheap Sunglasses / I Need You Tonight / My Head’s In Mississippi / Hey Joe / Brown Sugar / Party On The Patio / Just Got Paid / Gimme All Your Lovin’ / Sharp Dressed Man / Legs ..encore ..La Grange / Tush