The The Drill Hall, Chepstow
Sunday, 14th April 2024
Aka Hugh Carter, founder member of Abel Ganz. His side project with solo keys and fellow Abel Ganz guitarist Malcolm McNiven was a lovely way to start off the Sunday. Delicate heartfelt songs, delightful warm themes, good humoured between-song chatter, a slightly wayward keyboard for our and Hugh/Malcolm’s amusement, but most importantly a whole poignant but positive backstory to it all, which has been documented already and which can be found in TPA’s review of (Still).
Dagenham’s finest trio were up next with full-on crowd-pleasing neo-prog fare. They were clearly heavily Rush/ELP influenced but The Alarm also came to my mind, and perhaps a tiny smattering of Big Country too. Comprising the same line up as in 1983, this festival engagement came off the back of their 40th anniversary reunion gigs last year.
Creating an absolutely stonking series of classic prog performances with expected solo meanderings revealing the impressive talents of the trio. My goodness, Paul Dennis certainly had to concentrate impressively hard for the triple duties of lead guitar, mega keyboard stack, plus occasional vocals! While the visual focus was on him, as he mastered playing both keys and guitar alternately, the melodies were effortlessly swelled by Mark Bloxsidge supporting on full-flowing melodic bass, and Nik Szymanek battling away on drums to the very core of this fast paced, head-banging inducing, anthemic metal, super-tight, most enjoyable racket! Considering the casual throwing into the mix of a few intricate twiddly bits here and there, this was impressive stuff!
As replacement for the sadly unavailable Alex Carpani Band, HeKz looked and initially sounded ominously as though they’d been transported straight from the entertainment wing of a modern Transylvanian Castle after Dracula had retired early for his daily nap! The opening doom-laden chords made way for exuberant anthemic prog-metal bombast with macho posturing to match! Singer/bassist Matt Young‘s stunning vocal range and the overall superb musicianship, incorporating smiley violinist Lucia La Rezza adding to their USP of straightforward quality uplifting rock songs. The positive vibes and on-stage communication between all players was a real tonic to our ears and eyes!
Attempting a sit-down, I couldn’t resist, and found the energy to propel myself back into the standing audience. This theatrical band of prog-metal troubadours, with super-shredder Mirko Fadda sporting the pinkest and glitteriest guitar ever, could have taken me, plus seemingly the entire audience anywhere and we would have followed in joyful triumph. In my mind, a pioneering route could even lead to the Eurovision Song Contest for future UK representation – or Italian as two members originate from there – which would most benefit from their presence in the wake of recent years popularity of rock/metal participants. Such fun!
I mused on this during their set and semi-joked with them about it afterwards, and to my relief they didn’t appear to take this the wrong way, or at least were delightfully polite to my enthusiastic utterings. Really lovely people to talk to too. Totally professional, and not taking themselves too seriously.
The extended break ensued thankfully – we all certainly needed a sit down by then!
Shelby Logan-Warne’s infectious keys/synth/keytar-led songs got us all up bouncing again! Amid a stage adorned with garlands and shop window dummy references to the latest album Mannequin, this was prog-glam-euro-dance-rock at its finest! Shelby’s clear vocal tone ensured the clever lyrics shone out, and her enthusiastic stage presence, zipping out from behind the fixed keys to wow us all with the keytar, along with a nice bit of subtle group choreography emphasised the songs’ intriguing subjects. In suitable moments she thoughtfully directed her, and thereby our gaze on to Joey Frevola’s brilliant but understated guitar playing. Cool bass funkster-extraordinaire Charlie Cawood’s fab new stage jacket complemented Shelby’s glitter/sequinned jumpsuit, and genial-mood drummer Robin Johnson’s impressive sticks-a-twirling accompanied his natural seemingly effortless technique! We and they all had a whale of a time!
Another supergroup line up to headline, this impressive bunch showcased Anam Cara, the very recent and latest of Oliver’s many studio productions. A kind of return to the idea of the prog rock concept album, this was being played in its entirety. In command behind the duo keyboards composer Oliver Wakeman, long locks swishing, leads proceedings, with Oliver Day assisting on the extra key or two here and there, but mainly stunning us all with his fluid and flexible guitar-playing, plus his acoustic ready on a stand to be played at a suitable cue, while the electric hung around his neck.
Dan Nelson (from Magenta and Cyan) on bass, and Hayley Griffiths’ stunning clear high soprano vocals perfectly suited this collection of narrative, Celtic-laced, most accessible of atmospheric folksy ballads and prog rock epics. It was a faithful rendition of the album which comprises a mix of styles for a compilation of songs under the banner of, loosely translated, ‘a companion to the soul’ – highlighting aspects of life, understandings of fate versus causality, and death, that are most necessarily relatable to the human condition, individual and collective. A great finish of beautiful melodies, played superbly by a most accomplished set of brilliant musicians to round this festival off perfectly.
[All photos by Rosamund Tomlins]
Huge thanks are due to Stephen Lambe & Huw Lloyd-Jones! Another triumph! One more feather in each of their caps and in those of everyone behind and in front of the scenes of this lovely festival! In addition to those mentioned earlier, particular plaudits must go to the lighting designers and operators, the genial good natured and super-efficiency of stage manager and tech lord Graham Harris, plus stalwart Astrid Faber in charge of, or helping out with, everyone’s merchandise.
[All photos by Rosamund Tomlins]
DAY TWO REPORT: HERE
DAY THREE REPORT: HERE