Hard Rock Hell United – AOR Review; Friday March 11, 2016

Hard Rock Hell United - AOR Review; Friday March 11, 2016...

Live Review : Shane Bradley

Photo Credit Shane Bradley (Facebook)

No sooner had Day 1 drawn to a close than we were straight into Day 2. First up featured, once again, the might of Scotland. Just as Day 1 openers The Toi had kicked everything off, this time in the Scots came in the guise of Estrella.

Estrella

Estrella

This powerhouse melodic trio had the duty of being party starters and they got it started in style, opening up with the aptly named rocker ‘Rock City‘. Their set whilst being a little on the short side included ‘Let’s Do It’, ‘Whatever It Is’, We Will Go On’, all performed with energy and passion. So much so in fact that the ever increasing audience were soon in fine voice.

Welsh Rockers Kane’d were a treat, with not one but three female vocalists, each one just as delightful as the next. Not only great lookers but these girls could certainly rock, with a huge slice of sleaze blended with licks and chops that would sit comfortable on any Metallica album. With tracks like ‘Beautiful but tragic’, ‘I see you’, ‘La di da’, ‘Guilty of nothing’ and the slower paced title track to their recently released sophomore album ‘Rise‘, Kane’d were generally well received , especially from the male section of the audience [funny that!]

Kane'd

Kane’d

Blood Red Saints (2)Blood Red Saints were next up with their blend of melodic riffery, taught yet precise energy and Pete Godfrey’s harmonious vocals. With plenty of banter and humour Pete delivered the timing and precision of a seasoned stand up comic in-between tracks such as ‘Kicking Up Dust’, ‘ Dirty Little Secret’, ‘Feels A Lot Like Love’, ‘Staring At The Sun’ and there was even a brief interlude as the band played a snippet of Bon Jovi’s classic’Wanted Dead Or Alive to get the crowd pumped and rowdy. Naturally it had the desired effect. They closed their set with the keyboard driven melodic rocker ‘Better Days’

Russ Ballard

Russ Ballard

By the time Russ Ballard had made his rare stage appearance proceedings were already at least 30 mins behind schedule as Russ had been stuck in traffic behind a rather serious accident(lets all hope all involved are OK). Still nonetheless Russ came on stage and put on a polished performance with material taken from his song-writing career, which included some diverse and long forgotten nuggets like ‘You win again’ (Hot Chocolate) and ‘I Know There’s Something Going On’ (Abba’s Frida). His set, for me, was a little on the soft side given the surroundings although it was polished and well performed finishing up with ‘God Gave Rock And Roll To You’ and the one everyone was anticipating, ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’.

Tyla Pallas (4)

 

 

 

 

Just as The Quireboys rocked the stage on Day 1 it was Tyla’s turn to bring his own brand of rock this time to the sleaze stage, it was what you would expect from Tyla, 100% flat out and loud ballsy rock and roll.

Reckless Love

Reckless Love

Reckless Love

Reckless Love

Say what you will about Reckless Love but I like them. It’s good old fashioned rock. ‘Olli’ certainly has the David Lee Roth persona down to a tee from the looks, the poses and even the high kicks but this Finnish quartet are a lot more than just a tribute act. Yes they are doing what’s already been done but let’s face it, it had already been done when DLR started, so these guys have nothing to fear and they certainly put on a show. We need more of this in bands at the moment and I am all for it. Pepe’s guitar playing is sublime and is never over played even though he can. Olli as we have mentioned is not a David Lee Roth clone but more a David Lee Roth reincarnation who has the looks, the swagger, the body and he can sing as well. Men hate him for it as much as the girls love him. The rhythm section keeps things tight and running smooth which allows Pepe a little freedom to go wild but never overstep the mark. Overall their performance was yet again excellent with enough banter and high kicking even on such a small stage. They certainly warrant a move to the big stage for next year.

Finally as we start getting a little weary, it’s time for Friday’s headline act ‘Joe Lynn Turner‘ and this is one I have been looking forward to for many years. With one thing and another, I have never managed to catch Joe perform so, as we waited baited breath, the time finally arrived. JLT was straight into full flow with ‘Death Alley Driver’ and promised that “it’s going to be a nostalgic trip” and that it certainly was. The majority of tracks were old Rainbow classics such as ‘Jealous Lover, ‘Street Of Dreams’, ‘I Surrender’, ‘Stone Cold’ and ‘Can’t Happen Here”.

The hits were thick and fast with only minor pauses for the obligatory artistic stories. On one, Joe explained how ‘Jealous Lover’ was written in a toilet in 10 minutes after Joe had split with a former girlfriend who had accused him of cheating. “I Wasn’t At The Time”  Joe says with a smile and a wink!!

Joe Lynn Turner (1) Joe Lynn Turner

The band was made up of Alien bassist Ken Sandin on bass, who also handled backing vocal duties with ease. Jeff Scott Soto guitarist Jorge Salan was the master of the six string. All together the performance was polished, tight and ballsy and was well worth the wait. I personally would have liked to have seen more of Joe’s solo material of which there is plenty but that is just a minor gripe. The set finished off with Joe’s touching tribute to Ronnie James Dio with ‘Man On The Silver Mountain’ and ‘Long Live Rock And Roll’ which had the crowd jumping in delight.

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EXTREME’S UNMATCHED MUSICAL MASTERY AND ELECTRIFYING STAGE PRESENCE: A DEFINING FORCE IN ROCK HISTORY LIVE AT MARS MUSIC HALL, HUNTSVILLE, AL
EXTREME’S UNMATCHED MUSICAL MASTERY AND ELECTRIFYING STAGE PRESENCE: A DEFINING FORCE IN ROCK HISTORY LIVE AT MARS MUSIC HALL, HUNTSVILLE, AL

EXTREME’S UNMATCHED MUSICAL MASTERY AND ELECTRIFYING STAGE PRESENCE: A DEFINING FORCE IN ROCK HISTORY LIVE AT MARS MUSIC HALL, HUNTSVILLE, AL

Photo Credit: Myglobalmind

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