CategoryGigs

Loverocks Classic Rock & Blues Festival – Day 1

June 1, 2023 Off By Jon

Featuring: Elles Bailey, Brave Rival, DeadBlondeStars, This House We Built & Black Water Redemption

The weather forecast for the coming days could not be more perfect for the beginning of the Loverocks Classic Rock & Blues festival at St Leonards Farm in Dorset. The festival is now in the 6th year with organiser Jim Love and his team putting together a mouth-watering line-up, featuring some of the top bands on the live Rock/Blues circuit today. The festival has certainly grown since its inception in 2017 and it has now become a staple part of Rock music festival season.

The event has two stages built by Simon James and his team at SJ Hire. The larger main stage and the hooded inflatable second stage. There is a reasonably priced bar with pub prices; stocked with plenty of locally sourced ales and ciders; as well as a collection of food stalls that should suit a host of different pallete’s.

The Thursday evening is generally the more chilled part of the event with entertainment put on in the evening. Tonight we have five acts to get us warmed up for the weekend ahead. The first of these are local 4-piece Southern Rock-styled band Black Water Redemption, who were formerly known as Western Sand. With the beautiful late spring sun still high in the sky the band take to the 2nd stage at 5:30pm with a sizable crowd here to watch. The band were formed by two lifelong friends: Jimmy Bradshaw and Tyler Hains and features ferocious sticksman Zoot Hill-Valler on drums and the dreadlocked rock solid Dan De Vries on bass.

Black Water Redemption 1–2–3–4

These guys are straight out of the traps with some serious riffage and rhythms, testing out the more than capable sound system. I have seen this band more than most others and I’m almost running out of superlatives to describe how good they are.

With tracks like the rip-roaring “Welcome to the Badlands” and the powerfully moving ballad “Fly like the Crow”; these guys display to the audience their considerable creativity and musical prowess. Needless to say the Loverocks family gifted them plenty of positive support as they left the stage after their brilliant festival opening set.

Next up is a new band on me from Yorkshire; This House We Built and my initial impressions are that they look like a bunch of roadies who have formed a band, though I have been made aware over the years that most of the roadies are better musicians than the bands that they are supporting. They feature Scott Wardell (Guitar/Vocals), Andy Jackson (Guitar/Vocals) with Wayne Dowkes-White (Bass) and Oz Ward (Drums). Together they make a great sound with more than a passing influence from the hair metal days of the 1980’s.

We are treated to “Fly Me up To the Moon” which shows off the fine vocals, along with some creative melodic guitars. We also get their forthcoming single “Walk the Line with Me” and the powerful twin-guitar attack of “Dead Man’s Shoes”. They end with possibly their best number “Fairweather Friend”, which boasts some Richie Sambora-style talkbox sounds and its rousing chorus that gets plenty of approval from the crowd.

This House We Built 1–2–3–4–5

It’s honestly great to be here, Sat in the late evening sunshine drinking cider and chatting with many of the Loverocks family. It is such a chilled friendly festival that sees many people returning year after year; couples, families and groups of friends all mix willing to make for a great atmosphere.

The next band is DeadBlondeStars from South Yorkshire who have cultivated a Alternative/Grunge-style sound since forming in 2012. They released their sophomore album “Metamorphosis” earlier this year; they treat us to a few tracks from the record including “Worlds Apart”, “Alaska” and the emotive “Friend Like You”.

They are all dressed in black except the drummer who didn’t get the memo and wore orange, but then drummers are normally a law unto themselves!

The band make a huge sound with their three electric guitars and powerfully creative rhythms, that coupled with Gary’s big vocal range make for something special. Their Darkness-tinged material is atmospheric, heavy and impactful; that keeps the audience absorbed until their final note.

DeadBlondeStars 1–2–3–4–5

After a quick and efficient changeover it’s now time for the penultimate band of the evening and it’s the Rock/Blues quartet Brave Rival, who have just made the short trip along the M27 from their homes in Portsmouth. The band bring with them a huge amount of infectious enthusiasm and their excitement radiates out into the audience as they begin to play.

The main focus is on the band’s two singers Chloe Josephine and Lindsey Bonnick who impressively mesmerise us with their unique voices, that feature both character and power. They are skilfully accompanied by Ed Clarke (guitar) with Billy Dedman on bass and Donna Peters on drums. Since forming in 2019 they have gained themselves a host of accolades including being named as one of Joe Bonamassa’s “favourite discoveries this year”.

Brave Rival 1–2–3–4–5–6

It’s hard not be drawn in to all this band have to offer with some great music on offer including the personal experience-influenced “Guilty Love” and a wonderfully reworked cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love”; where the singers show off their abilities to hold on to vocal notes. It is certainly unexpected to be drawn into and enjoy so much a band that I have not seen previously, let alone heard before. They all have plenty of musical capabilities in large amounts and certainly know how to tame and entertain a festival crowd.

Tonight’s headliner needs no introduction for this crowd, she has performed here twice before and to be coming back as headliner is in recognition of her previous support and great performances. Elles Bailey is an award winning singer/songwriter whose popularity has grown over the last couple of years after she released the album “Shining in the Half Light”, which introduced her to a much larger audience. Elles is also now a regular DJ and music influencer with her own show on Planet Rock Radio. Elles arrives on stage dressed in a flowing tiger striped jumpsuit and gets s fantastic warm welcome from the crowd.

She has surrounded herself with a collection of great musicians including Joe Wilkins on guitar, Demi Marriner on vocals/acoustic guitar, Jonny Henderson on keys, Matthew Waer on bass with Matthew Jones on drums.

It is now virtually dark and as the sun has gone down and the wind has whipped up, it has got quite cold. The dry ice on the stage is being whipped around by the wind, creating quite a unique effect and this is the ultimate backdrop when the band launch into “Perfect Storm”.

The band’s combined skills create a wondrous backing for the huge vocal skills that Elles has to offer. It really is a joy to watch and be entertained by such dedicated musicians. The set is full of crowd pleasing numbers from originals to a host of specially selected covers, including John Martyn’s “Over The Hill” and Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Long as I Can See the Light”.

Elles Bailey 1–2–3–4–5–6–7–8

The last time Elles played here she had recently given birth to her baby son and had what she described as “Baby Brain”. That performance gave her massive inspiration as being the first one after giving birth and the reception from the audience that night was also very special. Tonight’s set just gets better and better with all the stops being pulled out to make it a really memorable night, especially with great versions of original songs like “Cheats & Liars”, “Gypsy Heart and “Hole in My Pocket”.

The encores arrive far too soon and a further unique treat is gifted with the arrival of Brave Rival’s two sassy vocalists Chloe and Lindsey, who join Demi on backing vocals during an impromptu extended version of “Howlin’ Wolf”. There is a huge mutual respect between these two bands and it’s great to see the support that they give each other. What an absolutely amazing ending to the evening and this is only the first night of the festival……I’ll be back tomorrow to tell you all about Friday night!!

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