Monsters of Rock - Milton Keynes Bowl

Roadstar

At last the wait was nearly over, the sun was shining & Monsters of Rock was about to rear it's head over the rock world again. Opening act Roadstar have had a strange few weeks with the release of the superb debut album Grand Hotel and the recent departure of Kreepy from the band. This meant the debut for 'Young' Andy Glover at 18 on the Monsters of Rock Stage.

Right from the start vocalist Ritchie Hevanz appeared to have the crowd eating out of his hand. Opening number, 'Killer', powered straight into 'Get This' and nerves did seem to be a problem to any of the band considering they were only confirmed for this gig 3 weeks ago. Guitarist Jonny Rocker & bass Rob Randle teamed up superbly throughout 'Ready To Go' and Hevanz's vocal's come to the fore during 'Last Survivor' & the whole band rocked with 'Let's Get It Started'. The real crowd pleaser of the day though was the band's signature tune 'Roadstar' which saw drummer Chris Rivers excels while the rest of the band went crazy on stage. 'Steam' brought the superb set to a close, definitely leaving the crowd wanting more. A great way to start the day. A measure of Roadstar's success was the fact that every single t-shirt & CD was sold out on merchandise stalls in the arena & large queues formed for them at the signing tent.

Ted Nugent

Love thy neighbour, Benny Hill & Ted Nugent. All big in the 70's and only Ted is still at large today. Has he mellowed to be a man for the new century? Has he fuck! The crew unveiled a giant Stars & Strips flag as his backdrop and the assorted boos from the crowd probably never reached his ears as he opened with Star Spangled Banner. Friendly advice followed for his bass techs 'Get this bass working or I'll come over there & skin you alive you cocksuckers' Suddenly the bass sprung into life & we were away into 'Storm Trooper', 'Wango Tango' & 'Snakeskin Crazy'. The self confessed Davy Crocket of the guitar constantly reminded anyone with no programme who else was appearing that day & there was even time to wish Paul McCartney a happy birthday. The songs you would expect from Ted live followed such as the 'Love Song' 'Cat Scratch Fever' & finally 'Stranglehold'. Nugent even made time to praise the special relationship between the USA & the UK as 'we don't give in to assholes' cue more crowd displeasure. As he left the stage the Ted Nugent fan next to me left looking happy at what he had seen however I suspect that not many new fans were found today as many were already at the merchandise stand buying Roadstar goodies.

Queensryche

The technical hitch at the start of the set saw the intro break down three times and left an embarrassed looking Mike Stone at the front of the stage wondering what to do next. Eventually he was told to get on with it and the rest of Queensryche joined him for a set that was centred entirely around the two ‘Operation Mindcrime’ albums.

‘Revolution Calling’ was a reasonable enough start but overall this was something of a let down. Geoff Tate indulged in some theatrics with Pamela Moore during ‘Suite Sister Mary’ that, considering the video screens remained turned off, would have been completely lost on the majority of the crowd who were not close enough to appreciate what was going on. He also didn’t acknowledge the audience until the close of the set with a brief “Thank you England” and this was a flat performance from a band I had expected a lot more of.

Four consecutive songs from ‘Mindcrime II’, ‘I’m American’, ‘The Hostage’, ‘The Hands’ and ‘Sign Says Go’ was also a mistake and even those near the front of the stage seemed largely unfamiliar with the new material. They closed the set with ‘Eyes of a Stranger’ but this was not enough and Queensryche left to muted applause and general disinterest. In fact, a number of people near where I was stood (about half way between stage and mixing desk) had sat down during the set and one or two had even tried to fall asleep…!

This can be put down as an off day then from a band that many people seemed to be looking forward to. On this evidence Queensryche are simply not best appreciated in the festival environment.

Thunder

The sun was blazing as Thunder took the stage to the theme from 'The Magnificent Seven'. A lot has happened since they triumphantly opened the 'Monsters of Rock' at Donington in 1990 and when they called it a day in 2000 you would not have predicted they would have made such a strong return. Last years second self-released album 'The Magnificent Seventh' has given them something of a career renaissance, enabling them to return to the levels of playing the Hammersmith Apollo and there were plenty of Thunder t-shirts in evidence at Milton Keynes today.

His hair might be considerably shorter and greyer but Danny Bowe's voice still soars and he hits all the right notes, notably on old favourites such as 'Low Life In High Places', 'Higher Ground' and 'River of Pain'. Their 60 minute set includes a good spread of material from throughout their career and the highlight for me is the quality power ballad 'Love Walked In' from the impeccable debut album. The inclusion of last years Top 30 hit 'I Love You More Than Rock n Roll' proves that Luke Morley still knows how to write a good riff with a catchy chorus.

Thunder get what is easily the best reaction of the day so far with plenty of sing-a-long moments and Danny revels in the opportunity to inform us about England's six-nil trouncing of Jamaica. This would have been a good opportunity to have played 'Englishman on Holiday', especially with the amount of sun cream that we needed, but instead the set concludes with 'Dirty Love' and the crowd are swaying from side to side with arms held aloft. With the show running to a tight timescale there is no time for an encore, although they fully deserved one, and all too soon they exit the stage. This was an excellent performance and it really is great to have them back.

The days of large album sales and front covers might be behind them but this was undisputable proof that Thunder remain a great live band and are perfect for the late afternoon slot at a festival such as this. They have just announced a full UK tour for November and with any luck they will be still around for some time to come.

Journey

When the cherry red grand piano was manoeuvred front of stage it confirmed that the impossible was about to happen…Journey were back. It was pretty clear that they were the most anticipated band of the day and you could feel the excitement building in the crowd as the minutes ticked down until they finally appeared and launched into ‘Separate Ways’.

Quite simply, Journey were stunning. This was a near faultless display and they received a tremendous response. Neal Schon and Ross Valory seemed to be having the time of their lives, Jonathan Cain showed his versatility on both keyboards and guitar and ‘new boys’ (since 1998) Steve Augeri and Dean Castronovo were outstanding.

With only an hour or so this was pretty much the ‘Greatest Hits’ (with the exception of ‘Who’s Crying Now’) and they reeled off ‘Lights’, ‘Wheel In The Sky’, ‘Open Arms’, ‘Faithfully’ and made it seem effortless. The band were positioned very closely together on stage and this made them seem even tighter musically. Castronovo took over on vocals for ‘Where Were You’ and proved himself to be more than capable, indeed some have suggested he is a better vocalist than Augeri although from my perspective the latter was flawless, interacting with the audience straight from the start and delivering a professional and inspired performance.

As the set began to draw to close with ‘Anyway You Want It’, ‘Don’t Stop Believin’ and ‘Be Good To Yourself’ it was clear that Journey had the majority of the crowd on their side and a lot of people were realising a dream by finally getting to see them live. The set closed with ‘Keep on Running’ and all too soon they were gone.

This was without a doubt the highlight of ‘Monsters of Rock’ and Journey proved they are still the best AOR band around. My expectations before the day were high and Journey rose to the occasion and exceeded them by a long way. Just one thing to add….don’t leave it so long next time…

Alice Cooper

Considering this was the third time I had seen Alice Cooper this week I pretty much knew what to expect. I was pleased to see that the band decided to drop the wearing of the mask for the The Department of Youth as I don't think this would have gone done well with a festival crowd. One thing you can always rely on Alice for is showmanship & the festival set up is well suited to his stage show which was helped by the slightly fading light. Alice has a great back catalogue of songs from the crowd pleasing, No More Mr Nice Guy, Dirty Diamonds, Billion Dollar Babies, Lost In America & Woman of Mass Destruction. The full stage show commenced with the appearance of his daughter during 'Welcome to My Nightmare'. and was greeted by the cries of 'Kill her' straight away, as usual though it was never going to be immediate. During the theatrical montage Only Woman Bleed proved powerful and of course the guillotine appeared late on in the show followed by the reincarnation for the classic School's Out. A nice touch was the crowd chanting 'We're not worthy' to which Alice held out his hand to be kissed. Poison gave a rapturous start to the encore for the final climax of I wish I were born in Beverly Hills & Under my wheels.

As always Alice Cooper was backed by a very professional tight unit of musicians which included new guitarist Keri Kelli who showed what a versatile player he is filling Ryan Roxies shoes. The bands movements appear well coordinated & all seem to know exactly what the other is going to be doing at any time. I cannot see how an Alice Cooper fan would not have been very pleased with the show that was put on here tonight & the crowd was right, 'we are not worthy'

Deep Purple

The video screens are switched on for the first time today, lest we should forget this is a Deep Purple headline show. When they played Knebworth in 1985 it had rained from morning until night but today the conditions had been perfect and we looked forward to a strong headline performance and the opportunity to hear all of their classic songs one more time.

There is a noticeable confidence and swagger about Purple at the moment that has been absent for some time; Ian Gillan, in spite of what seems to be a bad cough, looks fitter and leaner than he has in years and wears a permanent smile. He spoke a few times about the 'positive vibes' the band were getting from the audience and from where I was standing the vibes were coming back even stronger from the stage. Kicking things off with 'Pictures of Home' this was immediately followed by 'Hush' and the band are off and running. This was definitely not a case of them going through the motions; 'Strange Kind of Woman', 'Fireball' and 'Highway Star' reminds you just how many great songs Purple have at their disposal and the sublime 'When A Blind Man Cries' is simply exquisite. Anyone who suggests that Gillan can’t sing well anymore should have heard his vocal delivery on this underrated track.

Within a compact 80 minute set there is only time for the Eastern-influenced title song from the current album, 'Rapture of the Deep', which is a pity as this is a definite return to form and has seen the band expand their horizons still further. Don Airey gives a fine display; his short solo heralds the start of 'Perfect Strangers' with its pulsating riff and opening line of "Do you remember, remember my name?" Roger Glover and Ian Paice still provide a solid backbone and Steve Morse is simply fantastic, getting plenty of opportunities to shine, particularly during 'Lazy' and 'Space Truckin'. Not only is he one of today's most accomplished guitarists but he also looks the part...complete with shocking purple shirt.

There is a great feeling of camaraderie amongst the band members, evident as Gillan sings the opening lines of 'Smoke on the Water' with his arms draped around Glover and Morse and the crowd responds by giving them a great reception. There was only time for one encore, an extended version of 'Black Night' and all too soon the set was at an end and the band are leaving with plenty to smile about and pats on the back all around.

Deep Purple return to the UK for a full arena tour in April next year. They are on fire at the moment and you should definitely try not to miss them. They remain one of the few remaining British classic rock bands worthy of the status 'legendary'.

And so the first proper UK 'Monsters of Rock' festival for a decade comes to a close. Milton Keynes Bowl might not be everyone's first choice as an alternative to Donington but it served its purpose. There was a positive, friendly atmosphere about the whole day and the promoters should be congratulated on a well run festival and for trying to come up with a line-up that would appeal to a broad spectrum of rock fans. They also pulled off something of a coup by getting Journey to make a visit to these shores for the first time in 26 years.

The Bowl was by no means full; in fact if there were more than 20,000 there I would be very surprised. But hopefully those that did make the trip felt, like I did, that they got good value for money and enough of us turned up to make sure this can go on to become an annual event to rival those across Europe.