Live Review : Rockin The Bowl (Forged In Fire & Steel) – Saturday September 11th at Don Valley Bowl, Sheffield
It’s an early start after a late night as we trundle along the M62 in the campervan. The weather is looking promising, and we arrive in plenty of time to get settled in before the bands start. This event has expanded from one day to 3 this year, to make up for having to roll over from 2020, and the campsite is busy but well-organised. You can pitch your tent next to your car (which is handy) and those of us in vans just park them up in an available space. Everything is compact, it’s a very short walk to the arena, in fact there are several places where you can sit outside your tent, car or van and both see and hear the main stage pretty well. This all bodes well for a weekend without complaining that my feet hurt, and despite a bit of a delay in actually opening up and getting started everything seems well-organised and well-run.
There are a lot of bands to get through, with the main Mikey Lawless stage being outdoors and the Steel City stage in a small marquee off to one side. The timings mean that there are no clashes, but also mean that things are pretty full-on with not much time between bands. This not actually as bad as it sounds – the compactness of the site means that everything you need (bar, food, trade stalls, a bit of a lie down back at your tent) is close by, and even if you pop out of the arena and can no longer see the band playing you can still hear them. This is a reviewers dream!
Lowdrive kick things off. Back in the day we would have called them “greaser rock” or “pub rock”. Think heavy blues-based rock, gravelly vocals, a decent enough start to the day. Think along the lines of Dumpys Rusty Nuts, or Zodiac Mindwarp in his prime and that’s what Lowdrive do. Nothing special leapt out at me, but it wasn’t bad and the crowd were appreciative.
Not so much for Zero Point Zero on the second stage though. They were doomy technical thrash with clean vocals and really not my thing. Their crowd too, with it being so early in the day, was rather sparse and I felt a bit sorry for them. They weren’t really an afternoon band, they needed a sweaty crowd and a bit of a moshpit and at 1pm on a sunny Saturday that just wasn’t happening.
Back to the main stage then, for Joanovarc. I wasn’t particularly impressed with them at first, they are an all-female outfit and seemed to be full of cliches. There was even a cutesy Japanese-style song (possibly called Sayanora) that made me grind my teeth a bit. But I stuck with it, and that turned out to be a good decision because they got a lot better. They went all kind of nu-metal on me, with a nod towards the likes of Papa Roach, and I found the latter part of the set to be upbeat, uplifting and much better than the start. I’ll be happy to watch them again sometime.
In the marquee, Firegarden were a 3-piece heavy blues band with a bouncy bass player. Not my favourite genre and I didn’t stay for the full set as nothing reached out and grabbed me, but there were plenty of others in the tent by now who were having a grand old time so they must have something even if I couldn’t see it!
Back outside for Florence Black, another 3-piece heavy blues band but one who are a lot better at it! The sound is retro, the power is palpable and the crowd reaction is immense. These welsh boys are huge favourites and although I don’t really get it I can appreciate the sheer effort they put in and I think they have the potential to go far. They finish, as usual, with a beefed-up version of Budgie’s “Breadfan” and I have to grudgingly admit that they do a really good job of it.
Not so Blame The Sacred. I’m not sure if it was the band or the desk but their sound wasn’t so good and I found their generic trad Maiden-esque metal a little tedious. There was nothing there that grabbed me, and although they seemed to be decent enough musicians what they were doing just didn’t really work for me.
Can’t say that about Empyre though. Their dark, complex, technical music has really grown on me and their first album is a frequent listen in my house. I’m just not sure if they are an afternoon festival band though. Although their songs are atmospheric and beautiful they demand your full concentration and bouncing around with a zombie cocktail in your hand is not the ideal way to appreciate them. This is not music to dance to, it’s carefully crafted and interwoven sounds that demand your full attention and a field full of chattering friends makes that hard to give. Jury’s out – great band, great music but possibly needs the right setting to get the full feels from it.
A Joker Among Thieves are yet another 3-piece heavy blues band with a bouncy bass player. There’s a lot of it about today! They do go on to add a bit more variety though, throwing in a more funky sound and mixing up a couple of genres so you don’t get too bored. Not really my cup of tea but again they had a tent full of happy faces so my opinion is just that – mine alone. Don’t be put off by it!
Next up on the main stage we see the welcome return of Hells Addiction, complete with temporary drummer. Now this is more like it, powerful yet melodic hard rock. Big riffs, big choruses, this is how rock should be. Hard, heavy but with an element of fun and the opportunity to sing along and get involved. It’s great stuff, and I’m glad to see them back.
Coyote Mad Seeds are also a trad metal and hard rock mixture, and although I didn’t hear any stand-out tracks I tapped a toe or too and may have shaken a little hair too. Enjoyable and worth a watch.
Back on the main stage things are getting even better with the rock goodness that is Bad Touch. Small confession here, I love Bad Touch. They are well up there on my list of bands I’d go out of my way to see, and today they put in a great performance. You know what you are getting with these boys, and sure enough we get high-energy good-time rock that’s also just a touch soulful. We dance, and we sing along. Arms are raised, air is punched and it’s just wonderful from the first note to the last.
Shanghai Treason I didn’t actually get to see, as I was back at the van grabbing some food. I could hear them though, and they sounded pretty interesting. The sound was punky, with a bit of ska and a happy feel to it. A little Offspringy perhaps, certainly that kind of vibe. It was bouncy and fun and I was very disappointed to hear that I missed out on seeing a bit of punk banjo. Looking forward to catching them again at some point.
It’s getting on a bit now, and the lights on the main stage are starting to add to the general atmos. This is a good thing for Gin Annie, another of my favourite “new” bands. They are absolutely on fire, and tear through a set of classic melodic rock. Again the mood is lifted, there is plenty of opportunity to bounce and the whole place is now a seething mass of happy people. Gin Annie have the crowd in the palms of their by now somewhat sweaty hands, and they are loving it. Huge power chords and screeching solos give way to excellent vocals, all underpinned with a pounding backbeat and technical bass lines. Good times.
The energy continues with the return of Silverjet on the Steel City stage. They were a popular band on the circuit for a good few years, then split for a while. But they are back now, and bigger and better than ever. A packed-out tent sees them play to an adoring crowd, with some die-hards on the front row singing and air-guitaring note perfectly all the way through. I missed them the first time around, which is a shame because their sleazy, gritty style is right up my street. They do melody with a fuck-you attitude, and in fact even have a song called ‘Fuck You’ just to hammer the point home! Guitars are slung low and lovingly teased to produce some great sounds. They jump, they ooze attitude and I enjoy them very much. More of this sort of thing!
Headliner Doro has a reputation for being a bit of a backstage diva, but let’s be honest she has somehow managed to get here from Germany despite all the current unfathomable covid travel rules and regulations so huge respect to her for that. Being the Queen Of Metal is something she takes very seriously, and having done this for nearly 40 years her performance by now is as slick and professional as you would expect. I don’t think the band she has put together for this show is her usual touring band but you wouldn’t know it from the togetherness and polish of the whole performance. All the “hits” are aired, well maybe not hits but songs from every era of her back catalogue both as lead singer in Warlock and then her later years under her own name. It’s metal, none more metal. Yes it’s cliched, but that’s not a bad thing. Doro brings her own style to the party, and the crowd is right there with her singing, dancing and enjoying it. There was a drum solo (why?) but even that didn’t dampen the mood. The main set closed with the anthemic “All We Are” and indeed we were All. As an encore she was joined on stage by Paul Quinn from Saxon, and a somewhat surprising but very enjoyable version of Judas Priest’s “ Breaking The Law” ensued. The entertainment value was 100% for the whole set, and I trooped out of the arena and back to the van feeling like I had witnessed something really rather special and precious to close out the evening.
Nice & sleazy, glam & cheesy