Review: Steelhouse Festival 2021 – Sunday

Steelhouse Festival 2021 – Sunday
Hafod y Dalal Farm
Review and Photos – Rob Wilkins

A much quieter night from the weather meant that Sunday’s entry to the arena was quick and easy and the forecast looked good (Steelhouse really is a festival where the weather is the stuff of legends, hence the constant references) so we prepared ourselves for another full day of intriguingly contrasting bands.

Opening the day was Empyre and what a great way to open the day it was. There was something ethereal and complex about their sound as it swirled and drifted around the mountains, that somehow fitted perfectly. Vocalist Henrik Steenholdt sings in a much lower register than most of the other vocalists on display over the weekend and it was a sheer pleasure to relax in the morning sunshine letting their music wash over me. Definitely a band to watch and several songs now feature on my drive-to-work playlist.

I have seen Collateral several times and each time the band gets bigger and bigger, numerically as well as sonically! Cruelly denied the chance of a major tour by covid that could have broken them on to a much bigger stage, they bring a mid-Atlantic, classic rock sound that is polished and very mature. Angelo Tristan is a born performer with all the poses but also the voice to back up the stage persona, and the songs are catchy and memorable. The set goes down wonderfully with the crowd which grows noticeably over the course of the performance.

Shit-eating grin of the weekend award next.
The Winner is……..
Scott Taylor of Mason Hill

Seriously, I have never seen a guy look so damn happy to be back on a stage playing to a crowd. He almost has to be physically removed from the “ego ramp” when the band takes to the stage to a rapturous reaction and stands there beaming. Mason Hill have had a tough time with setback after setback but today shows that now, finally, they may get to realise their potential. A tour has just been announced. Get tickets!

Following the swap from Saturday, Toby Jepson’s Wayward Sons (Toby becoming 2021’s Bernie Marsden with his multiple sets) provide an energetic and polished set. Visually I love watching their energy on stage with Nic Wastell a blur of movement, Sam Wood pulling all the poses, and Toby rearing back from his mic between vocals to rip out riffs. Behind them, Phil Martini effortlessly drives the rhythm from the back. Favourite song of the set ‘Until the End’ is one of the best riffs around and showcases Toby’s hard-hitting lyrics wrapped in a great tune.

Stone Broken, added to the lineup in place of the covid restricted Black Spiders are always a great watch and listen and today is no different. With the “Broken Army” singing every word at the front, Rich Moss leads them through a set of by now well-known songs with just a couple of glimpses at what is coming from the soon-to-be-released new album. Always good to watch with Chris and Kieron (guitars and bass) constantly swapping from side to side to pose on the risers and Robyn at the back a whirl of brightly coloured hair and infectious grin (not to mention seriously powerful drumming) they show just why they are another band of the current era that has great potential.

If Those Damn Crows have a relationship with Steelhouse then Bernie Marsden is even more of a fixture following “Berniefest” a few years back, where he played on every single day. Today he comes along with a group comprising Nev MacDonald on vocals and members of Hand of Dimes and FM, to treat us to a selection of Whitesnake tracks. It is one of those sublime Steelhouse treats. I stand in the sunshine singing along with tracks from my youth. Nev’s voice beautifully complements the music, more Coverdale than Coverdale in many ways, but Bernie himself occasionally takes the mic. On two occasions he provides my highlights of the weekend. First, with his tribute to the late Peter Green with ‘Oh Well’ and secondly with his seemingly unrehearsed addition to ‘Aint no Love’ where he adds new lines about how much love there was on the mountain. Absolutely spine-tingling moment! Always humble and understated Bernie announced he had a bad back and sat down, but couldn’t stay seated for more than a few minutes at a time before effortlessly wringing out solo after solo. He even made the sales pitch for his new album “Kings” into a highlight as he cheekily urged the camera closer to show the cd off in all its glory. A set of covers may sound like an odd highlight, but you had to be there!

There are times when reading Ginger Wildheart’s Twitter feed can be really difficult. It provides an outlet for his mental health challenges and after the sound issues the band faced at Download he reacted to the social media response by posting how he could happily never play live again. Not long before The Wildhearts last appearance at Steelhouse, he spoke about how deep a struggle he was in at that time and then played one of, if not the best sets of the weekend whilst ripping the absent Dead Daisies to shreds, so I hoped he would find a way through his troubles again and show Download what they had missed.

Did. He. Ever!

This was rock and roll at its finest. The setlist contained everything you would want to hear and it was clear from the opening notes that the band were up for it. There was humour too as Ginger commented that he had been determined not to use the ego ramp but it lasted no time at all before he did. He and CJ exchanged grins and then ran to the front to pull a series of cheesy poses for the crowd and photographers. We got leaps. We got infectious tunes. We got a lesson in songwriting. It was loud. It was proud. It reached that place where the crowd reacted so the band played harder, so the crowd reacted more, so the band played harder and that energy just kept growing. It was bloody fantastic!

Uriah Heep went down a storm at the last Steelhouse to take place and clearly have the catalogue and experience to step up to headline status, a task they take on effortlessly. They have just celebrated 50 years of existence and know their way around a stage!

Watching Mick Box play is an education as he coaxes notes from his guitar with waves of his fingers as if having some magical influence over the strings. Bernie Shaw’s vocals are smooth and note-perfect as he covers the stage and the sound is thick and rich. There is an incredibly touching moment mid-set where a table is bought out to the stage. A tiny guitar case opened and the band pours measures from a bottle of Jack contained within to toast the memories of those members no longer with us. It is a set to savour with the only negative being perhaps a few too many overlong solos to keep things moving along (however they are technically impressive in their own right). Finishing off with ‘Easy Livin’ they take a bow to ‘Land of Hope and Glory’ and fireworks fill the sky to light the way back to the campsites whilst the volunteers stay on to enjoy a well-deserved party to celebrate an extraordinary effort.

Friday review here, with Saturday’s review, here.