Following on from my festival overview, here’s a runthrough of most of the bands we were fortunate enough to be regaled by over the three-day event. Apologies for anyone I miss out or seem to skip over. There was so much talent on show, and every single act was superb, and I don’t want these article to run on like the missing volume of Game of Thrones.
Shape of Water had the unenviable task of getting the festival ball rolling. Despite this being the half-day / evening kickstarter to the festival, Whittles was definitely busy when we arrived and they did well. I saw a few people around later wearing their logo pendants! Hopping outdoors into the rain, Yesterday’s Gone were keeping the crowd warm and testing out the sound on the Viking Stage. Some great rock and roll, they kept the majority of people out there for their full set despite the constant drizzle.
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Back indoors to see one of my first weekend highlight: Battle Born. Metal for metal’s sake, if they were any cheesier they’d need to come with a warning for the lactose-intolerant. Pure, silly fun in the ilk of Manowar but without the titanic egos. Another highlight was the chance to finally see Twister despite my hoody getting soggy during their set (which doubled as queueing time for a tasty burger and chips). They’d arrived very close to their stage time due to pretty much every road out of Newcastle being clogged for some reason or another, but like true professionals they made it and played a blinder.
The burger was chowed upon as Fahran rocked the indoor Skull stage. A chance to warm up and fuel up to the Nottingham rockers who were definitely well-liked by the now well-rammed venue. Day one headliners Gorilla Riot suffered a little due to the weather getting that bit more unpleasant as the sun dropped below the horizon. Though they had a good (and brave) crowd up against the barrier, many were squeezed into the covered area further back as the four-piece tore through a lovely, dirty rock and roll set.
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Photos by Drew Scott Photographic with thanks to SOS Fest
