The Maid of Stone Festival Makes a Triumphant Return to Mote Park!

The Maid of Stone Festival Makes a Triumphant Return to Mote Park!

The lighting was a little lacking at times, but the music was victorious and when Rock Royality ‘Mr Big’ came to town in a literal blaze of glory as you’d expect in true rock’n’roll style, the crowd hit apocalyptic! But what made this even more incredible was that ‘Mr Big’ frontman, Eric Martin had a mere hour before he was due to go on stage been in A&E with a suspected broken back after a fall on the tour bus! But never a man to fall in the face of adversity, Martin (a true Rock God to his very bones!) arrived at the venue just 20 minutes before they were due to take to the stage, paramedics on quadbikes in tow. He then proceeded to put on the performance of his life, with all the vigour and energy of a man 20 years younger!! A true professional in every sense! By the time they closed their set on the Phoenix Stage with ‘The Who’ classic, ‘Baba O’Riley’ the audience were on cloud 9!  But ‘Mr Big’ weren’t the only band thrilling the crowds on the third and final day of this intimate festival as the entire day was bursting with incredible performances. The likes of ‘Brake Loose’ who played the smaller ‘Firestarter Stage’ were certainly a high point! Enigmatic frontman Alex Murillo was a formidable force as he strutted around the stage. Their music was seriously catchy and despite their early stage time, they went down a storm.

American southern rockers ‘Preacher Stone’, all the way from North Carolina had the audience up and dancing as they brought their own brand of southern rock’n’roll to The Inferno stage bringing a chilled deep south vibe to the proceedings.

It was no exaggeration to stay that the organisers had seriously upped their game in their second year of this super friendly festival in the beautiful Mote Park, as the three-day festival was an absolute triumph and far exceeded the expectations of many of its ecstatic festival goers. Hosting a music festival on the same site as the much loved and certainly not forgotten Rambling Man Festival was always going to come with high expectations and never ones to shy away from a challenge, the organisers pulled out all the stops. Although still a small festival compared to some of the others, the crowds far exceeded last years reasonable turn out. The eclectic line-up really packed a punch with not only the rock Royality crowd pullers that you’d expect at a music festival, but also many emerging rock bands spread across it’s three stages. Another Sunday crowd pleaser was the energetic ‘Seething Akira’ who were like an explosive powerhouse and had an incredible dynamic with the crowd.

A special mention has to go to ‘Oli Brown and The Dead Collective!’ Oli and his band stepped in when ‘These Wicked Rivers’ had to pull out suddenly due to an emergency within the band. With no rehearsal or time to prepare, so much so, that Oli could still be found working at his jewellery stall, ‘Black Feather Design’ before taking to the stage and giving the performance of his life!! With Sam Brown on guitar, their performance could only be described as an absolute masterpiece!!

Oil Brown had barely left the stage when the thrilled audience hot footed it over to the Pheonix Stage for ‘As December Falls’! The Nottingham based pop punk rockers were like an explosion of pure joy with driving guitars and Bethany Curtis’s powerful vocals!

Another artist who had charisma literally bursting out of his blues-soaked veins was blues maverick ‘Jared James Nichols’. Nichols performance could only be described as absolutely mind-blowing! If his guitar had burst into flames at any given moment, the audience wouldn’t have batted an eyelid and they were so transfixed on his incredible performance! Nichols is an artist who is surely on the way to stratospheric success and recognition!!

Ahead of the release of their phenomenally successful single, ‘Dark Skies’, the timing of ‘Massive Wagons’ performance couldn’t have been better, bringing a perfect mix of rock party, absolute chaos and catchy as hell lyrics to the Pheonix stage. When vocalist Barry Mills flipped the bird to the audience, they absolutely loved it! Proper rock’n’roll rebellion!

And the great music just kept on coming!!! ‘Living Colour’ put on one of those performances on the Inferno stage that the audience will talk about for years!! Despite it being forty years since this ground breaking band burst onto the New York music scene, they were just as slick and hot as ever!

The Karma Effect were like a breath of fresh air as they took to the Firestarter stage, their sound full of 70’s nostalgia, they looked like they’d just stepped out of Carnaby Street in 1975!

Prior to ‘Mr Big’, Larkin Poe played a set that could only be described as spellbinding. The Nashville based duo delivered a slice of slide guitar heaven with beautiful storytelling that left the crowd captivated! They effortlessly blended southern rock, blues and even folk rock. Delivering a unique sound that is very much their own. It’s no surprise that Larkin Poe are one of the hottest and most sort after acts on the music scene right now, which made seeing them lighting up the stage at this intimate festival even more impressive.

The opening night of any festival is always telling and often something that festivals scrimp on, but this wasn’t the case with Maid of Stone as they had three great band gracing the Phoenix Stage on an incredibly hot Friday night!! The first of which was heavy melodic rockers ‘White Raven Down’ closely followed by ‘Blaze Bayley’ singing Iron Maiden and headliners, Glasgow’s finest, the wonderful ‘Gun’.

‘Blaze Bayley’s voice was absolutely incredible! The power in his vocals had to be heard to be believed and the audience absolutely loved him. Of course, the fact that he was singing many of Iron Maidens most loved songs didn’t hurt!!  By the time Gun took to the stage, the audience were warmed up and some! Hot off the heels of their critically acclaimed new album ‘Hombres’, Gun played a brilliant set comprising of their much-loved earlier material as well as tracks from their new album. It was an outstanding beginning to a thrilling festival weekend!!

After Friday’s tremendous start to the weekend, day two had a lot to live up to!! But if the festival goers where worried (and they weren’t in all honestly), they didn’t need to be because it was just the beginning of a musical rollercoaster of first class acts, happy vibes, festival shopping and a few drinks or two! Despite a few sore heads, when the first band of the day took to the stage, the 80’s hair metal animal print neon clad ‘Spyder Byte’, they had a pretty good turn out! No doubt in large part because they have festival fun written all over then! In contrast to ‘Spyder Byte, ‘Blind River’ delivered good old fashioned hard rock. Edgy, cool, fun and proper festival fare! And the rock kept coming thick and fast as ‘Scarlet Rebels’ took to the Inferno Stage. The five piece Welsh melodic rock band created a frenzy of excitement ahead of the release of their new album ‘Where The Colours Meet’.

‘The Commoners’ performance on the Phoenix Stage was absolutely dazzling! Oozing with soulful bluesy rock, the dynamic between the Canadian five piece was absolutely seamless. Their smooth soulful sound was reminiscent of ‘The Black Crowes’ and full of summertime vibes. They were the musical equivalent of sipping the smoothest bourbon.

In contrast ‘South Of Salem’, brought fire, theatrics and the kind of stage set that looked like it would belong at a celebrity Halloween party!! They were absolutely brilliant.

Occult rock band ‘Crowley’ delivered pagan rock and again were a band who had an amazing dynamic on stage. Vocalist Lidya Balaban had an incredible vocal range and blew the crowd away!

‘Tyketto’ were next up on the Inferno Stage and they were sensational. Vocalist Danny Vaughn proved to have a voice that seems to defy the laws of aging! Every note was pitch perfect and the crowd absolutely loved them!!

‘Wayward Sons’ with ‘Little Angels’ frontman Toby Jepson on lead vocals and guitar maestro Sam Wood on lead guitar were another crowd pleaser and their performance look absolutely effortless.

Since their critically acclaimed performance at Download 2023, Mexican rockers ‘The Warning’ have skyrocketed in popularity and it’s not hard to see why!! They literally bounce off each other. Their music was vital, vibrant and brilliant!

Those Damn Crows were as usual on top form! Hilarious on stage, musically magnificent and they enthralled the crowd as they always do!!

If Alice Cooper and Rob Zombie had a love child in an 80’s circus that child would be the metamorphosis of ‘Ward XVI’! Ward XVI took the crowd on a chainsaw wielding, murderous rampage through a terrifying insane asylum and the music was pretty damn good too!! If Alice himself doesn’t drag this incredible band off on his next tour then someone needs to have a word!! ‘Ward XVI’ were given the small stage, but they didn’t hold back for even a second! Shock horror rock homicidal mastery at it’s very best!! Next year, lets hope that we see them on the main stage where they belong!!

The headliner on day two was the wonderful ‘Wolfmother’. It might be twenty years since the Australian rockers formed, but they were just as captivating and musically brilliant as ever! Playing on his birthday, vocalist Andrew Stockdale was clearly doing what he loved to do best!! It was impossible to not be carried along by his incredible energy and cool 70’s vibe that seemed to radiant from Stockdale’s every pore!! When the band played their track ‘Woman’, the audience literally exploded into a mass of dancing writhing bodies, I don’t think anything is more rock’n’roll than that!!

If the Maid of Stone organisers continue to put on a festival of this calibre, then the festival big guns like The Download Festival and The Reading Festival might have a bit of competition on their hands! For a festival still very much in its infancy this takes impressive to a whole new level and I for one can’t wait to see what next year brings!!

Review and photos by Louise Phillips

All photos are owned by Louise Phillips Music Photography

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