The British Metal music festival scene continues to go from strength to strength with Bloodstock heading towards its 20th anniversary and now the new kids on the block duo of Call Of The Wild and Stonedeaf are also chipping away at the bigger more traditional “Rock” festivals. On a rain then shine etc August Sunday you find no queues, decent food, very fair beer prices, passable toilets and friendly staff all helping to make Bloodstock a Metal fans favourite, oh and the campsite is next door to the arena, seriously, what’s not to like.
Three years ago American Rockers TWISTED SISTER said farewell to the UK with a breathtaking headline set at BLOODSTOCK 2016. That memorable night the band left it all out on the stage with frontman Dee Snider literally on his knees as the last notes of the band’s insider anthem ‘S.M.F’ drifted off into the lit-up, firework kissed sky.
Three years on and armed with a brand new solo album, ‘For The Love Of Metal’ under his studded belt Dee returns to the UK and Bloodstock’s main stage for a late afternoon set of Snider led shenanigans.
I honestly thought my Twisted-Esque live days were over back in 2016 and as a long time fan/follower I was happy to leave it there knowing that the memories that stretched back from Hammersmith Odeon in 1986 up to Bloodstock in 2016 would hold me in good stead for the years to come. However, the draw of seeing Mr Snider live one more time was just too much for this forty-eight-year-old SMF to resit and so we booked a hotel close by and headed up the M42 for one last waltz with Captain Howdy.
I was first introduced to Twisted Sister on a school trip waaaaay back in 1985 when someone chucked me a blank TDK cassette with ‘Stay Hungry’ scrawled on one side and Twisted Sister in fluorescent marker on the other. One listen in and I was pretty much sold. I must have played ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’ a thousand times over mainly because it moved my fifteen-year-old self, unlike any other song, it still does but in a more nostalgic, rose-tinted kind of way than I ever dreamed possible. Six months after first being exposed to said TDK tape I traipsed up to Hammersmith Odeon to witness my first ever “proper” gig on the bands ‘Come Out And Play’ tour. I stood open-mouthed as Twisted Sister ripped my concert cherry a new one. I sat, I stood, I stood on the seat and eventually, I stood on the arms of my seat, hands in the air screaming ‘Rock’ just totally lost in the moment as TS pushed the sold-out crowd for one last ‘I Wanna’ sing-a-long effort. As frontmen go I truly believe Dee to be the best in the business and I’ve seen more than a few. His attention to detail, energy and knack of connecting everyone (whether they want to be involved or not) is a hard-earned gift that he still has in spades, his fire, it seems, still burns.
So what was I expecting from Dee Snider circa 2019, well his new solo album is his most Metal since (the desperately underrated) Widowmaker released ‘Stand By For Pain’ back in 1994 so my guess was he’d be pushing that and he did while managing to keep everyone happy and engaged, like there was ever a choice.
At ten past four with the rain starting to fall the backing tape was cut and two bars into ‘Lies Are A Business’ Dee appeared looking every inch the Rock star wearing dirty white jeans covered in skull black patches, Lennon shades and a cut off T-shirt. His voice is still robust and although some of the Twisted screams are wisely averted Dee can still hold and deliver a Rock/Metal tune. The new over the old spine of the set continues with a bruising ‘Tomorrow’s No Concern’ which accelerates into the Metal fast lane as Dee’s voice drops an octave. The intro to ‘You Can’t Stop Rock ‘N’ Roll’ brings a massive lump to the throat, not because it’s a song that means a great deal to me nor is it one of my TS favourites but it’s just hearing it live again is like a punch to the musical solar plexus. It kicks open doors I’d long since closed. Always one to interact with his crowd Dee explains that there will be new tracks and no-one is to take a piss break when he plays these, no we can “wait for the drum solo!” ‘American Made’ is greeted by a few hearty “Fuck Yeah’s!” before the track’s pounding backbone shakes the soggy ground. Twisted’s early days are represented by their debut album title track ‘Under The Blade’ which is proceeded by a jabbing ‘Become The Storm’. MTV’s 1984 (wtf!) most requested ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’ is now somewhat depressingly relevant in 2019 as the world seems to be heading for political oblivion, snot-nosed (kid) rebellion has morphed into despairing adulthood. The Eighties mega-anthem does induce Sunday’s biggest sing-a-long as the Bloodstock crowd embraces Twisted Sister’s best-known hit as from the front to the back, the celebratory clapping in time while chanting “WoHoa” is a bona fide goosebump moment. The sun is out and Dee apologises to mother nature for calling her a c**t before the current albums title track ‘For The Love Of Metal’ is dispatched with metal aplomb. ‘Burn In Hell’ is a ‘Stay Hungry’ classic album cut but it loses a little of its late-night fear in the five ‘o’ clock sun as Dee adds some death metal vocals for added evil effect. The grand finale is/has to be ‘I Wanna Rock’ which is devoured and then spat back to the stage as the bouncing frontman milks it for all its crowd participation worth. The end of set reception obviously moves the beaming Snider before he laughingly added: “There’s no drum solo, you fucked up, you trusted me!”
As I returned from the squelching standing area to the sanctity of my camping chair (with a fresh beer in hand) I took a moment and reflected on what this man (and former band) really means to me and without shedding a tear, its memories. Memories of friends, family, pets, past houses and some troubled but ultimately fortunate teenage years that were in part made more bearable by the music of Twisted Sister. If Bloodstock 2019 was to be my final ever Twisted Snider time then this SMF’s gonna gratefully take it.