Smiling staff and sunny skies welcomed the two thousand plus visitors to the inaugural STONEDEAF FESTIVAL at the spacious Newark Showground. The site itself is well proportioned and perfect for a gathering of this size. Okay so let’s get the housekeeping out the way. Cost, a camping ticket is £60.00 or £50.00 pp if purchased in groups of four and a standard arena only ticket is £50.00 and as with the camping ticket, the cost goes down to £40.00 if purchased in groups of four. The campsite opened on Friday afternoon and the Arena hosted a Friday night Rock show (we still miss your sultry tones Mr Vance!) and a live show from local Rockers THEIA. Also on the night was New Generation Superstars and Unknown Refuge.
Food, drink and merchandise. The biggest gripe of many gig-goers is the cost of a pie and a pint but I’m happy to report that Stonedeaf has reversed this refreshment rape of festival fans pockets. Letting punters bring in their own food and drink is a welcome turnaround and most took advantage of this rare opportunity. That said the bar was always busy and the majority of the food stalls sold out and packed up before the headliners took to the stage. Motley Brew’s coffee/tea stall did a roaring trade and a provided me with a festival first, a hot beverage served in a proper mug plus the free biscuits went down a treat.
The campsite was a minute walk from the main arena allowing punters to come and go without packing Kendal mint cake for the late night tent trek. Most people brought in their own camping chairs to chill in and the backs provided excellent hanging space for a plethora of patch-covered denim jackets. Happy to report the festival loos were clean and tidy. The £20.00, soon to be collector’s items, event T-shirts had sold out by 5 pm in every size. The demographic was mixed with families, Bikers, Rockers and a well-represented Monsters Of Rock fanbase all morphing into a 24-hour Metal loving community. Backstage was relaxed and the Press area was well catered for with a separate tent with plenty of electricity and a well organised outdoor interview space. Time to see some bands.
Openers FALLEN MAFIA kicked off Stonedeaf at the ungodly live hour of 1130am but the band still pulled out an energetic mascara dripping thirty minutes. Leicester’s NWOBHM legends CHROME MOLLY huff ’n’ puffed and received a healthy lunchtime reaction while HAND OF DIMES had Little Angel Bruce John Dickinson on guitar as a last minute substitute. ‘Bad Reputation’, ‘Jacobs Ladder’ and ‘Guilty’ (“a song you can judge us by…”) keep the ever-swelling arena Rocking. The doors, however, are literally blown off by the chart-bothering great British hope that is MASSIVE WAGONS. ‘Back To The Stack’, ‘Nails’ and ‘Under No Illusion’ give way to the bands stunning new single (the aptly titled) ‘Sunshine Smile’ this is an act with all the ingredients to make it to headliner status. THE GRAHAM BONNET BAND crank some classics and the ever youthful vocalist manages to belt out his best-loved hits. ‘All Night Long’, ‘Night Games’ (shaky video link below) and the MSG co-written ‘Jet To Jet’ are released into the sky with festival aplomb. Everyone’s waiting for it and yes ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’ can still make the hairs on your neck stand upright before ‘Lost In Hollywood’ rounds off a classy mid-afternoon set. Heavy Metal survivors ANVIL keep their devil happy flame flickering with a vibrating set of Rawk ‘n’ Roll culminating in the fist clenching anthem ‘Metal On Metal’. WOLFSBANE are just a Festival joy of wholesome British Rock and the band demand crowd interaction with a banging set of new ‘n’ old. ‘Steel’, ‘You Load Me Down’ ‘Loco’ and the brand new (and again the aptly titled) ‘Blue Sky’ get the horns in the air and eyes to the floor. With a brand new album ‘Wolfsbane Save The World’ on the way and a booming back catalogue all hell may be breaking loose for a long time yet. I’m not sure how Spike from THE QUIREBOYS does it, the man can sink a battleship and still belt out a word perfect high seas, salty dog set while twirling an almost magnetic mic stand throughout. This is Blues ‘n’ Roll at it’s finest ‘Hey You’, ‘There She Goes Again’ and ‘This Is Rock ‘N’ Roll’ all keep the hip-shaking ship swaying. Blaze Bayley joins the band for the grand finale of ‘7 ‘O’ Clock’ which sends the boys stage left to well earned rapturous applause. The first ever STONEDEAF Festival headliners SKID ROW hit the stage to piped ‘Blitzkrieg Pop’ and air raid sirens. Opener ‘Slave To The Grind’ remains a 90’s game changer and the vocal dexterity needed to tame this runaway train may have caught more than one post-Bach singer out. ZP Theart has no such issues as he ably handled the highs and lows of this screeching classic. ‘Sweet Little Sister’, ‘Piece Of Me’ and the organ shaking ‘Livin’ On A Chain Gang’ come and go in Jersey flash. The hits are all rolled out as ‘18 and Life’, ‘I Remember You’ and ‘Monkey Business’ take us bouncing down a star ‘n’ stripes memory lane.
Stonedeaf has proved that music Festivals don’t have to be pound pinching machines designed to lift as many notes out of festival goers pockets with little or no value for their hard earned. No Stonedeaf has shown that the music, fans and atmosphere all really matter and that yes less (stages) is more. Next years early bird tickets are already on sale, so until August 24th 2019 keep rocking! The Monster has returned, in style. Congratulations to everyone involved you have restored my/our festival faith.