After visiting Steelhouse for the first and only time in 2018, it easily and quickly established itself as my favourite festival on the circuit. With one of the most beautiful and unique locations on the festival calendar, Wales’ home of international classic rock has become a staple for so many people. Once again sold out, 2023 looked to be another banner year for the festival with bands making their mountain debut, a couple of UK festival exclusives and a healthy dose of new bands and discoveries to keep an eye on.
It’s been five years since that first trek up and it’s every bit as interesting and character building as the last one. Now with a queue to get in due to the Friday expanding from a warm-up to a full-blooded day, there could be some justification to opening on the Thursday for people to settle in before the music kicks off. There’s still plenty of people pitching their tents when the first band begins. The sheer friendliness of staff, volunteers, vendors and patrons across the weekend is present from that initial ascent to the final goodbyes of the weekend and having pitched and wandered into the arena, it’s just like I remember it. There is the new addition of the sun/rain shelter where people establish themselves for the weekend in their camping chairs and its relaxed atmosphere allows you to get a close-up view of your favourite band at the barrier or watch further back with more space (and closer to the food and drink options).
For their third gig ever, Dan Byrne’s new band have an unenviable task – open a festival. But they take it in their stride and the former Revival Black singer gets the appreciative and enthusiastic crowd going. It’s classic rock with hints of blues – essentially perfect for Steelhouse. Byrne’s voice is worth every bit of hype that’s been put in his direction, running through some vocal acrobatics that the household names would envy. There’s a ballad as the second last song which Byrne has taken from his time with Revival Black and is in the perfect place in the set before they finish strong with the up-tempo rocker of “Wide Awake”.
Despite their more metal and industrial tones injected into their hard rock sound, Jordan Red don’t stand out like a sore thumb like you’d expect them to if you looked at it on paper. There’s not much time used for talking between songs, allowing the music to do it for them. As more people begin to filter in, they’re a band clearly loving being on a big stage and those who can move, make the full use of it and drummer Paul White is, as always, a hypnotic machine. Hammering through songs from their album, they’re definitely a band who have to be experienced live as they had a great album last year but as a live act, the songs sound far more dynamic.
The Karma Effect are one of the several bands on this weekend’s bill who supply retro classic rock from the 70s by people who weren’t even thought of when it happened first time around. But like so many of the contemporary ones, they’re damn good at it. Taking all the best bits of those hairy bands from the classic decade, Zeppelin being one of the obvious touch points without being pastiche, they’re a well put together outfit. As “Testify” closes their all-too short set, it’s full of bright, muscular tones against the backdrop of honeyed vocals of Henry Gottelier to make for that perfect festival song. The UK may have its own answer to Dirty Honey in this band.
If you like what we do, consider joining us on Patreon for as little as £1 per month!
A band I’ve heard lots about for a few years now and never had the chance to see, When Rivers Meet combine bluesy and soulful tones together, along with a smidgen of fuzz for something a bit different on this weekend’s bill. And different is always welcome, especially when they’re as slick and polished as this outfit. Excellent and very obviously well-rehearsed vocal harmonies are very much part of this band’s identity and you’d be hard pushed to find a band this weekend who do it better. Elsewhere, there’s some incredibly proficient guitar work on display, searing hot, full-bodied licks are rattled off at one moment and the next, there’s some delicate understated work going on, serving each song as required. There’s an outing of their new single, “Perfect Stranger”, which brings in more fuzz, the drums and bass combining to bring in a hint of doom of Ozzy-era Sabbath. But it all works and that’s the main thing.
Time now for Ginger Wildheart and the Sinners. Having seen them the previous night in Brimingham, I knew what we were in for – good time rock and roll. It’s another unique booking for the weekend as no-one else seems to fill that niche. More importantly, everyone’s favourite ginger Geordie, the band’s namesake, is missing due to ill health, much like last night. However, Ginger’s guitar is present on stage and Neil Ivision leads The Sinners through much of their debut album as well as a couple of numbers expected on their next one. They’re a band whose music and show is to provide people with a good time and all throughout the crowd, people who don’t even know the music are dancing and joining in. Ably assisted by Sam Wood (Wayward Sons/Black Star Riders/Oli Brown & the Dead Collective et al), the band play for Ginger whilst he can’t and a glass is raised to him early in the set. There’s jokes aplenty from Ivison and whilst they’re most rehashed from the previous night, they’re still funny. Despite the cloud hanging over the show, they make the most of the situation and are Sinners of their word, providing people with a good night and their slot comes at a perfect time for everyone.
Last and, as the next seventy-five minutes will show, by no means least, the Kris Barras Band take the honour of closing the first night of Steelhouse 2023. Meaning business from the start, Barras and his band take no prisoners. Having been on an absolute tear since their appearance in 2021, Barras, there’s no denying that hard work for this band has paid off. Taking the vast majority of the set from their most recent album, Death Valley Paradise, it shows the strength of the material and the progression and direction they’re wanting to take the band for the future.
Despite that, they start with something far more familiar in “Hail Mary” for the crowd to literally loosen up to with two people in front of me dancing as if their lives depended on it and by the second round of the chorus, I found myself already familiar with it. There’s also a couple of covers, one from Lewis Capaldi in “Forget Me” and Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll”. Whilst the latter has been done to death, they do the song justice and admittedly, it has even the more reticent among the crowd to sing along due to the familiarity. There’s an opportunity to mingle with the crowd and there’s even moments where Barras is truly able to show his frontman chops by opting not to hide behind a guitar. As punk, blues and metal are all filtered through a rock lens, they’re a band who are sure of themselves without the arrogance. Much like the vast majority of the bill, they’re polished to a ridiculously high sheen which can be seen up close and from further back.
However, the highlight comes on the final number – “My Parade”. It’s a song built for closing a set but more than that, it helps create a moment. A handful of which we’ll see from other bands over the course of the weekend. Joining the crowd for the finale of the song, Barras has the crowd work some call and response on the song title and the mingling, the interaction combined with the song’s meaning and structure, it’s a goosebump-inducing time for this new convert. For a name that I’ve somehow continuously missed through bad luck and have seen on countless tour posters and festival bills, I’m grateful this is where I was able to right the wrong and I can’t wait to delve into the catalogue and catch Kris Barras again.
First nights at a festival don’t get much better than this and as a way to reunite with it, it’s such a high standard that so many bands have to meet which many of them do over the course of the next two days.
Don’t fancy Patreon? Buy us a one-off beverage!
Photos by Paul Hutchings
