HRH AOR 4 @ Hafan Y Mor, North Wales - 10th March 2016

Review by Woody

It’s that time of year again to make the pilgrimage to the middle of nowhere in the North Welsh wilderness! The line-up this year, which has been much discussed in melodic rock circles has left many feeling a little disappointed as the strength of this year’s line-up isn’t a patch on last years as a whole and finding a headliner to match Night Ranger was always going to be mission impossible! But like most people I was determined to have a good time and enjoy the bands I was enthusiastic about seeing.

As the world’s worst traveller, I’m always going to moan about the three-hour journey to Hafan Y Mor, but that’s a short distance in comparison to most attendees! So, I get there nice and early and in plenty of time to make sure I can enjoy the full pre-party line up and I’m bang on time to witness the first band. But the stage is still being constructed and the venue is extremely quiet so as I’m slowly supping on my pint, I’m starting to wonder what the hell is going on! Luckily for me a friend popped in and informed me that the pre-party was actually on the main stage not the second stage as it was the previous year!

So, after some socialising and me been in the wrong place I make it over to the main stage, but I’d totally missed openers Toi’s set and only caught the last couple of songs from Beautiful Strangers so can’t really make too much comment on their set.

So, the first band I catch is Ireland’s Preacher’s Son who play hard rock with strong Celtic and folky overtones. Personally, they really didn’t capture my attention and their set dragged a little bit for me. One thing I have noticed about the HRH AOR festival’s is there is a real mixed collection of people with musical taste’s many who you wouldn’t normally see at a hard-core melodic rock event like Firefest, so this meant Preacher’s Son didn’t die on their arse’s and as there was enough hard rockers and beer flowing to give the Irish lad’s a decent reaction. If you like blues flavoured rock and a bit of Irish roots thrown in the mix, I’m sure you’d enjoy these guys.

Knockout Kaine were a real surprise for me and the crowd seemed to lap them up too especially the sleaze rockers in the audience – remember this weekend also included the HRH Sleaze stage. They really cranked up the atmosphere with an energizing set that got the crowd pumped and bouncing along. Their highly melodic brand of sleaze seemed to go down really well with everyone. Making the most of the generous stage space Knockout Kaine came across as hardened veterans used to playing and entertaining large crowds frequently. I was pleasantly surprised as I’m left a little underwhelmed by everything, I’ve heard by these guys prior to this set, but live a lot of their songs take on much more energy and come across ten times better than the studio versions. The first surprise of the weekend that I wasn’t expecting!

Now tonight’s headliner’s The Quireboy’s do I need to go on? As anyone who has seen Spike and the boy’s more than once knows they are one of the most consistent live bands on the circuit and bad nights and poor shows are something that happen to other bands as they yet again prove tonight. The Quireboys are the perfect drinking and party band for most and the band themselves embrace and take advantage of that. The seemingly always half pissed Geordie and honorary Black Country man Spike always gets the crowd in the party mood with his banter and mild drinking encouragement and seems perfectly at home swaggering across the big stage. I’ve seen the Quireboys a few times in recent years on smaller stages but Spike seems just at home on the larger stage keeping the party going! They played a storming set of hard rock featuring all their big hits like ‘Hey You’ and ‘7 O’clock’. Even if you aren’t a Quireboy’s fan it’s almost impossible to not find yourself in very high spirits and rocking along to this quintessential British rock band.

HRH aren’t one’s for sticking to conventions and always seem determined to do things their own way regardless so although the headliners have played there is still more music to come!

If you’re into your metal you’ll know Benedictum’s front woman Veronica Freeman, last year she put together a heavy melodic rock solo band called The V and the album Now or Never came out too much critical acclaim. Assembling a band around her including Paul Hume (Demon/Lawless) and Nigel Bailey (Lifeline/Three Lions) they hit the stage to a smaller but still very enthusiastic crowd and their opening salvo of songs including personal favourite ‘Again’ really made a great impression and showed the band were a tight and well-prepared unit to deliver these songs as well as possible. Freeman’s backing put in a stellar performance not only backing her up but putting plenty of energy and bombast into their own stage presences too. Freeman has extremely powerful vocals and live she left me a little in awe throughout her performance delivering I would say one of the best overall vocal performances displayed over the entire weekend. The second half of the set though seemed to falter and the energy did subside a little as the crowd now starting to grow tired with the late hour and drinking too cooling the atmosphere a little. Overall, a great set, but I think the late slot dampened The V’s impact slightly!

I had fully intended to watch the late late band Captain Blackbeard but like many others after a long day of travel and perhaps one beer too many staying for the final round was a bridge too far. So, it was time to call time on an enjoyable first day!