So we’re onto Day 3 (Sunday) at Maid of Stone (MoS)! ….. Saturday really was excellent!

The weather is looking promising for today, which materialised into just a few showers and then it all settled down and the sun came out in the early afternoon!……. hoorah!

Another ‘Rock-packed’ day ahead for us today, with some eagerly anticipated acts across both stages.

Paul Anthony of Planet Rock is comparing/introducing on the Main (Inferno) Stage again, with the Emerging Rock Bands (ERB) team handling the Second (Firestarter) Stage.

Absolva kick-off the Inferno Stage’s schedule today, with their Hard-Rock/Metal cross-over, and really energise the ‘early-birds’ who have come in force to see them. They pull a good-sized crowd and go down really well. This is a great start!

Unfortunately, the first Band due up on the Firestarter stage, Queen Horizon, are unable to make it today, but local band Karobela ably step-in, to give a really enjoyable show of their Alt-Indie genre-blending sound to wake everyone up on this Sunday morning!. A most enjoyable set. Thanks.

Second-up on the Inferno stage are Parker Barrow, the Powerhouse Blues Infused Southern Rock Revivalists……. think Bonnie Parker & Clyde Barrow for naming inspiration. This is a much-anticipated set from a high-energy, powerful and soulful band from the United States, based out of Nashville, who have been making wave after wave everywhere they go. They are coming to the end of a US/ European tour, and Mote Park/Maidstone will be in for a real treat today! What a storming performance they gave, filled with energy, passion, and just some damn fine playing. They played a great mix of their songs. It was a sight and sound to behold and the band pulled in a significant number of new converts today. One of the sets of the day had just been just witnessed. The WRC also had the pleasure of interviewing the whole band after their set, and this will be available in a short time on our website, so please check this out for much more detail on the band, led by Megan Kane and Dylan Turner. At the same time, Parker Barrow were presented with a 2024 WRC Award, ‘Winner of Video of the Year for ‘Don’t Tell Mama’, which is a fabulous song, captured in an Old-Skool ‘staging’ environment, with fantastic lighting. Congratulations and well done Parker Barrow! Make sure to catch them on their UK tour, in November of this year, supporting The Damn Truth!

We’re now back up at the Firestarter Stage to see ‘The Heat Inc.’ ….. ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll by London’s Loudest’. The last time the writer saw this band was at this year’s Bonfest in early May, in the Town Hall in Kirriemuir, Scotland. They have influences across The Rolling Stones, The Ramones, and The Doors, to name just a few, and this is evident in their eclectic sound. This was a solid and great performance. Top class.

For Marisa’s second appearance at this year’s Maid of Stone, Marisa and the Moths play on the Inferno Stage. Their Grunge influence Alt-Rock, fronted with Marisa’s superlative vocals, is lapped up by the large crowd drawn to the stage. Marisa is a big supporter of Mental Health awareness, and she covers this during the set. The writer was left with sonic flavours of Julianne Regan of All About Eve fame when listening to some of Marisa and The Moths’ songs, especially in the soaring vocals. Thoroughly enjoyable and excellent to boot!

In another band switch, Battle Born were unable to play today, so Beth Blade and the Beautiful Disasters (BB&TBD) stepped in to save the day!, as they were onsite, having played the VIP area yesterday! Great result! BB&TBD play what can best be described as Melodic Hard Rock with attitude! From the off, the set is fast paced and fun to be at. A great show at short notice. Thanks.

The Inferno Stage is now in for a real treat, in the guise of Sari Schorr and her excellent band. Sari’s Bluesy and soulful voice as well as the band’s perfect playing take the MoS festival to the next level. The set is comprised of many originals, and a few absolute banging classic covers! You could not find a more quintessentially lovely person than Sari, and this is manifested on stage, just into the Set, when Sari’s microphone cut-out, with the band still playing on! Sari took this in her stride, and kept going, whilst trying to recover the situation (which was rectified quickly). Sari also dedicated ‘Ready for Love’ by Bad Company to Des, (WRC editor AJ’s Dad), who’s sadly passed away on Friday. What a really lovely gesture, thank you so much Sari. We were given a brilliant cover of the Zeppelin classic too, ’Rock ‘n’ Roll’, which was superb. Overall, this was just a brilliant show. Thanks to the whole band.

Less Than Hollow are next at Firestarter, with a good heavy dose of Alt-Rock. They gave an intense and thundering performance, which went down a treat with the audience.

These Wicked Rivers, best described as ‘Modern Blues infused Rock’, bring the Lounge with Lampshades to Mote Park, on this lovely sunny afternoon. But there’s no lounging about here, they have taken their offering and really honed it, so much so, it’s at the next level now. This was a superb performance today, delivered with energy, fun and charisma. The finale and highlight being ‘Don’t Pray for Me’, with a double-neck guitar solo to up the impact. A great performance and a real crowd pleaser too!

This House We Built are really difficult to define, and categorise, and the better for it. They have been and will continue to be a revelation to many, with their infectious melodies and tunes, leaving everyone who sees them being uplifted as well as wanting more too! This was a master class in the delivery of ‘good-times’. Fantastic set. Get them back next year!!

Stone Broken, the Hard-Rock band from Walsall, with their ‘chunky-rock’ and ‘huge-choruses’ are on the Inferno Stage next. This is their penultimate ever gig, and there’s a large part of the crowd feeling quite emotional about it. They give a great performance and will be missed by their many fans. A sad day.

Blue Nation on Inferno! These guys are a growing sensation, with their riff-based Melodic Blues Rock. It was a fabulous set, including of course, ‘Echoes’. Every Blue Nation show comes complete with the band interplay chats too! They too have an unwavering support of Mental Health awareness and related charities as well. If you haven’t seen these guys, go and see them, you won’t regret it. Brilliant.

Sweet… what can be said, bar ‘We Want Sweet, We Want Sweet……..’. The Inferno Stage is just about to ignite! The Kings of Glam Hard Rock are here! They played all the hits and more, so much more. We get ‘Set Me Free’ too! Andy (Scott) is back after his continued health problems late last year, and that guitar sound and tone, plus the voice, just gives them their absolute uniqueness! Fantastical stuff and so many revellers said ‘wow, how good were they, I never thought I’d say that’. Catch them on tour in late November/early December this year, with the one and only Bobby Dazzle in support too!. Magical!

Empyre deservedly headline the Firestarter Stage to close out that tranche of MoS for this year. Their sound was superb, the best of the weekend up on Firestarter, and their set was fabulous too (in a sort of down-beat way of course!). The lighting was staged to suit the atmospheric nature of their sound… perfect. There were die-hard fans and newbies in evidence in the crowd, and here’s guessing that Empyre gained another layer of supporters and followers today. Really enjoyable set, emotional and uplifting on both counts. The WRC were also able to chat with Empyre earlier in the day and that will be on our website in due course.

Now, for many, we’re about to experience the main event of the day and weekend….. Michael Schenker and his UFO Years in this 50th anniversary event. There’s no need to describe Schenker, he was and is just brilliant in The Scorpions, UFO, MSG, Solo, etc. What we experienced, together with Schenker and his great band, was a master class in Sonic Guitar Rock paired with the unbeatable UFO anthems from the 70’s …. really a ‘Strangers in the Night’ live album gig, with a couple of bonus deeper UFO cuts, the band played 15 absolute bangers with guitar work to be in awe of…. the ‘Rock Bottom’ solo was just superb. It was like travelling back in a time-machine, to one’s youth. Just fantastic and happily emotional. Erik Gronwall, formerly of H.E.A.T and latterly Skid Row, gave a superb vocal performance, especially as he’s in the shadow of Phill Mogg, which is really quite a difficult place to be. It was truly epic, and for the faithful, a defining moment. A proper ‘Schenkering’ to plagiarise Daren Redick of Planet Rock!

In addition, there were two excellent stripped down sets in the VIP area today, unfortunately, not experienced by the WRC), but reported as excellent by those that were there! These were by Empyre and Tygers of Pang Tang.

What a day!, some seriously big hitters were in the Park, and everyone delivered!

A final thank you has to go to Chris Wright and his team, and all the people involved in making this festival happen….. it is a truly great event in the yearly calendar, and long may it last.

Early Bird tickets for next year were announced as on sale today (Sunday 20th July), so get ‘em quick if you want a true bargain for a three-day festival!

We all just can’t wait until next year now!

Review: Oz
Photos: John Bull and Oz