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Monsters
of Rock 2006
Milton Keynes Bowl 3rd June Review by Sam Thomas and
Steve Green. Photos by Steve
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| The day started in farcical fashion, with sat nav refusing to recognise the National Bowl, or any variation that we could dream up as a potential destination. This meant that we were back to good old twat nav
(ie Steve) which led to a mega diversion round many of Milton Keynes’ most scenic roundabouts. We’d just about started to panic when we arrived at the car park, and from then on the day improved dramatically.
The organisation of the festival was absolutely superb, in every respect: good layout, friendly, helpful staff, free drinking water and plenty of toilet paper.
Even the police were helpful. Unheard of!!!!!!!!
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The first band to hit the stage were Roadstar, formerly known as Hurricane Party. Couldn’t fault them at all as
openers as they stormed out and produced a good old rockin’ set which had the crowd singing along right from the start. Good to see that the art of synchronised headbanging hasn’t died out, and that the throwing of rock shapes is still practised. These guys weren’t lacking in confidence at all, and more than a few people were muttering that they must check out the new album, “Grand Hotel”.
(Sam)
I wasn't surprised to see the Stars and Stripes as Ted
Nugent's backdrop. He's your typical loud mouthed
damn Yankee that gives Americans a bad name right across the globe.
I'm not a fan of The Nuge in the slightest. He's loud, he's
obnoxious, and to be honest, apart from Cat Scratch Fever, he
bored me rigid. But that's just my opinion as the crowd gave him
a very warm reception. And to be fair, unlike the headlining
band, he did put on a show despite his mouth running at 1000mph
for the duration of his set. I know I swear like a trooper, but
I wouldn't describe it as an art form. His in between banter
consisted of the following words: Shit-fuck-fuckshit-yeah-detroit-fuckyeah-woah-
shit-shit-monstersoffuckingrock-greatfuckingbritain-shit-shit-detroit
and some shit about the UK and US kicking bad guys asses that
had me wondering if he was related to George Bush. Sorry, the
man should wango tango his ass back to the good ol' US of A and
stay there. (Steve)
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I’ve only recently got into Queensrÿche, so this was going to be a highlight of the day for me. Needless to say, technical problems led to the “I Remember
Now” intro being screwed up (twice), leaving us all wondering what was going on, but eventually things got going with
“Revolution Calling” and “Operation: Mindcrime”. Both guitar and vocals were awesomely powerful at this stage, and I was really getting into it. Then the rot set in, with the advent of a female
(Pamela Moore) onto the stage. We then were subjected to a lot of cheesy theatricals, the like of which I haven’t seen since Pain of Salvation. This lost all sense of momentum, and I was left standing in the blazing sun wondering if this was some kind of rock mirage. Queensrÿche recovered to deliver up a brilliant version of “Eyes of a
Stranger”, and then left after 50 minutes of patchy performance. Shame they didn’t spend as long on stage as Mr Nugent, but then again, if it cut down the theatricals, so much the better.
(Sam)
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An old western theme boomed from the PA (I think it was the
High Chaparral theme or Bonanza, or something from the same era) and
it was party time. I'm not sure when Thunder
last played live, but they were more than a little revved up for
this one. Singer Danny Bowes was like an unleashed beast (albeit
a very happy one) and worked the crowd for all he was worth.
From the photo pit I could see that the bands grins were huge
and genuine and boy was there a lot of love on that stage. They
may be a little older and a little greyer, but they still know
how to rock.
One thing that really hit me mid-set, was the vocal talents of
Danny Bowes. I've always associated Thunder with the goodtime
party vibe and never really thought much more about it. But
during I Love You More Than Rock N Roll, I couldn't help compare
him to Paul Rodgers, probably the UK's greatest ever soulful rock
vocalist. The man really is a talented singer. For the remainder
of the set, we sat in the sun with our ice creams (with flake of
course) and enjoyed a thoroughly enjoyable finale. The climax of
Dirty Love had the crowd clapping and singing on cue and all
around us kids were dancing with their parents. This was a set
for all ages and was a perfect example of what a festival is all
about. Fun and a bit of good old fashioned Rock N Roll. |
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The changeover for Journey
was the first one to over-run. But it wasn't a problem as in
between each set was a Rock Block, a selection of tracks chosen
by the listeners of Planet Rock. (Which if you haven't listened
in yet, is probably the best radio station ever - tune in on DAB
or on Sky channel 0110) Anyway, I wasn't sure about seeing
Journey without Steve Perry in their ranks, but I needn't
worried as Separate Ways was note perfect as was Steve Augeri.
The man's voice is amazing and he's a dead ringer (sound wise)
for Perry. It's just a shame Journey were so horrible to watch. Augeri
is camper than a Friday night in Soho and fancies himself so
much it borders on homo-erotic. The perma-fixed grin on Ross
Valory's face was scary, as was his drunken ambling impression
of a man not able to clap his hands as he misses every time.
Great stage presence, NOT. With only 3 songs to get our snaps
in, the last thing you need is a guitar solo after only one
song!!! But Neal Schon's ego had most definitely landed. The
only band member that came across as ego free was Jonathan Cain
(well I couldn't see drummer Deen Castronovo from my view point)
who looked relaxed the whole time.
The hits kept coming and I'm
not denying the likes of Wheels In The Sky and Don't Stop
Believing sounded out of this world, it's |
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| just a
shame that I
couldn't bear to watch the band on stage. We ended up behind one of the chips
vans tucking into veggie burgers and chips instead. And I've
just realised I've mentioned food in two separate band reviews.
Yes, I admit it, I'm a greedy fat bastard.
And while we are on the subject of food, the food stalls at the
festival catered for everyone. Great food and at realistic prices.
The beer too, at only £3 a pint was cheaper than in London. I
know we've had a little moan about some of the bands, but the
day itself was amazing. The security were friendly, the queues
whether it be for toilets or refreshments were always minimal
and the vibe was very relaxed. Helped no end I'm sure by the
ever-present sun which shone all day long. (Steve) |
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Even before he began his set, it was obvious that we were in for a visual treat from
Alice Cooper. He strode onto the stage, dressed in a black tail-coat with studs glittering in the lights, twirling a cane like a malevolent cheerleader on speed, and proceeded to have us all spellbound throughout his set. Most of the old favourites were there: “No More Mr Nice Guy” came out early on, followed by “Dirty Diamonds” which saw Alice chucking enough paste jewellery into the crowd to make your average chav very happy. The theme of showering the audience with goodies continued with dollar bills being pulled off an epée during “Billion Dollar Babies” which was finished by Alice demonstrating that Bruce Dickinson isn’t the only man in rock who can fence.
The fun continued with Alice effortlessly letting us know why he is still such a great artist; he wiped the floor with everything that had gone before. He really is the consummate showman, and yet it doesn’t detract from the music in any way. We were treated to a gothic looking young lady whipping Alice, then helping him into a straitjacket (of course he performed an entire song thus attired). Obviously the next thing to do was to decapitate him, with the help of a guillotine that had been quietly sitting in a corner of the stage from the beginning. His severed head was held up, and blood spurted everywhere. |
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Another costume change saw Alice back in white for a brilliant rendition of “School’s
Out” which prompted the biggest sing-a-long of the day. Huge multi-coloured balloons were being hurled over our heads by this stage, and it was all getting a bit surreal. There was an anxious wait for an encore, and then we were treated to “Poison” which had the whole crowd joining in. This was followed up rather surprisingly by “Wish I was
Born in Beverly Hills” and “Under my Wheels”.
It was a shame that the encore wasn't played in reverse as Poison
would have been the perfect way to end proceedings. But this was
unquestionably the performance of the night for many people, and I can only describe it as awesome. Definitely matched up to the title “Monsters of Rock”. |
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Deep Purple have been one of my favourite bands since I was 14 (and before Steve gets in, yes, that was a very long time ago). I’ve never seen them live, and I’d been anticipating this for weeks. The video wall was active for the first time, and an intro clip played. Then the long-awaited moment had arrived. Deep Purple were on stage. That was the height of the festival for me, because as soon as they started it was obvious that this was a less than stellar performance.
Right from the opener, “Pictures of Home”, it was clear that Ian Gillan’s vocals were nearly as far past their sell-by date as most of the items in my fridge (I’m not known as Salmonella Sam for nothing!) This was a band who were being wheeled out to cynically make as much money as possible. There was no interaction with the audience, smiles were false grimaces and the links between songs might as well have been written on an autocue. Keyboards were developing into a complete
wankfest, and people were beginning to look confused. “Things I
Never Said” came next, followed by a semi-decent version of “Hush”. The guys on stage looked so wooden that they could have auditioned for Crossroads, and I’m not sure they would have got the part! “Fireball” and “When a
Blind Man Cries” were mangled |
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next, and at this point we decided to leave, before they reduced things to a complete travesty by attempting “Smoke on the Water”. No way did Deep Purple match up to my hopes, and they didn’t even come close to delivering anything that
held a candle to Alice Cooper, who for me, and many others, was absolutely the star of the night.
(Sam)
I know Sam has put the boot in on Deep Purple, and I gotta say I
agree with her 100%. From the off, the once great Deep Purple
looked embarrassed to be on stage. Especially Steve Morse. His
(false) smile was one of total mortification and I'm sure he wanted to
get out of there as quickly as we did. To headline a gig of this
magnitude requires a band that plays it's greatest hits and lets
the crowd interact with them. Ian Gillan's bullshit about the
crowd being amazing and the atmosphere being so special
was completely pre-planned and insincere to say the least.
About 20% of the audience went home after Alice Cooper and I
can't say I blame them. I hope there's another Monsters of Rock
next year because the execution of the festival itself was near
faultless. But this time around can we have a headline act that
will entertain us. I'm sure AC/DC or Queen with Paul Rodgers
would fit the bill nicely. And how about a line-up that also
includes: Rush, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Dio, Saxon, W.A.S.P. or even
Meat Loaf performing the whole of Bat Out Of Hell. (Steve) |
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