Golden Age Rock Festival - Centre Cultural de Chenee Liege, 1 October

Golden Age Rock Festival had it's third edition. I can't call this a review of the festival as I only saw 4 of the 14 bands playing. I picked the Sunday because of two bands White Spirit and Legs Diamond. Two bands I loved over 40 years ago, but never saw playing live. With Progpower Weekend coming up, I decided to drive up and down on the day, which made it a hefty 550 km. Luckily enough both bands made it worth every kilometer.

I attended the first edition of GARF as well. Than also one day only, but with a stay in Liege overnight. The first edition had three days and I attended the Sunday to see Angel, Heavy Pettin', Dee Snider, 220 Volt and a local drummer who played with the Scorpions early seventies , so we got some Scorpions as well. Last year the lineup was good again, but Dynamo had a great Saturday program as well and on Sunday I attended the best band of the festival Angel in Baroeg. Also Alcatrazz and Girlschool would play Musicon a week later. So the set-up of the festival is bands from roughly 1968-1985 that rarely play Europe. Since attendance is relatively small, there must e some heavy sponsoring going on. Maybe as a result the guy introducing bands takes his time to tell a story on each band. He does so in French, so half the audience coming from Germany, Holland, England or further away had to pick their schoolboy French to get the point.  This year the event moved to the cultural centre, which was nice and small to fit the crowd perfectly. You could sit at the back, which came in handy if a certain band was not of your interest. Local brewery BestiAle had three beers on tap, and as I was my own designated driver I only tried the blond and the IPA in the afternoon, both approved. I drove alone, but knew I would bump into some people here. So basically time flew by in sunny Liege.

Since Liege is further away than hoped, Dutch highways only allow you driving 100 km/hour and I had a snack stop at a gasstation I missed the tribute to local guitarist Miche LeClercq. Ron told me that this sounded fine. My opening band were Highway Chile/Helloise. So I probably drove some 2 a 3 hours behind them on similar roads to Liege. I saw them in the eighties both Highway Chile and Helloise, so I knew most songs. Well they played two new songs noone knew obviously. I have a slight favor towards the Highway Chile songs and Jesse James plus Carol hit home. Actually For a Moment and Gates of Heaven sounded fine too. The bands looks solid and if you want to relive the eighties in Dutch hardrock they are the go-to band. 

Satan Jokers from France came on next. The only thing I knew about this band is the article in De Nieuwe Aardschok 5 (?) on French Metal. Satan Jokers actually played hardrock with a strong guitarist. The bottleneck for me came with the language. I did not know any of the songs, but the mix with French lyrics did no wonders. A bigger problem was the vocalists feeling the need to keep bantering on in French inbetween songs. It took the speed out of their set and was pointless for those not mastering French. When they played covers it became clear that English was no option either. Highway Star and Whole Lotta Love arenot the most original covers. When the last turns into some hoelattaheloe it becomes almost funny, which can never be the point. So I left before they finished finding an empty food stand to experiment one of the burgers on offer. Well Roosendaal Open Air did set the standard very high, but this one was pretty OK too.

Next band were White Spirit from England, which turned out to be partially France and Germany today. In 1980 they released their self titled debut album, which Gerrie and I agreed is an absolute Classic from the NWOBHM era. Their second album was released last year, only 42 years later. Right or Wrong was dedicated to Brian Howe who passed away in 2020. He sung on the songs of this album, but when the tapes were found a re-recording was needed. This year a new version was released and the band already announced they were going to play that album during this day. For those not knowing this in advance their T-shirt told the story. Rarely do you see a band who prints T-shirts for one show and does such a great job. The back had the festival and band logo, date and album to be played. So I secured my XXL version fast before they sold out. The gig itself than? Well for a band who had not played for 4 (four!) decades I thought they sounded pretty tight. From the debut album line-up only Keyboardist Malcolm Pearson is still present. Further guitarist Mick Turner was in the band in 1981 already. On drums they had Russell from Uriah Heep, on Bass someone from Nottingham whose name I forgot sorry (was it Wayne?) and on vocals Alexx Stahl from Germany. As from Right or Wrong this band sounded fine and maybe nervous at the start they sounded better by each song. Was it during Don't Say No, that the keyboard/guitar double solo was a highlight? Better Watch Out also live sounded like their tribute to Joe Lynn Turner era Rainbow. For those who waited for songs from the debut , the new version of Right or Wrong holds a re-recorded version of Midnight Chaser. I believe that the audience reaction went even a notch up after this one. Than Rock and Roll (Is Good For You) closed the set. Only to find out they had time for one more song, but not rehearsed any So we got Midnight Chaser again to loud approval of the fans. They promised to tour more from now on, so the obvious request is adding some more from the debut album, or Cheetah from compilations. If they come in the area I shall be back. A great melodic hard rock set they gave us.  I might have been considering inviting them to play Musicon one day, but as I host bands in such a cse and they brought a whole army I guess that will be hard. Glad they are back 42 years later though.

As if one first time live in a lifetime was not enough, Legs Diamond would be on next. Last week I played all their albums and ranked same. Thsi was good as I now recognized all teh songs a bit faster. Legs Diamond come with three original members who were in the band since their debut album. Roger Romeo on guitars, Michael Prince on keyboards and guitar and Jeff Poole on drums. The latter having amounts of long hair at his age, that are an insult/slap in the face to all bolding men in the audience. Bassist Adam Kury (since 1992) and I guess this was Keith England on vocals completed the band. If we take the sound issues and techical problems aside Legs Diamond gave us a Masterclass in Classic Hard Rock. While watching the more I saw the more I wondered why they arenot a huge band headlining rock and general festivals worldwide. It can't be the songs, nor the playing as both are top notch. The setlist was a real trip through their discography 1976-1990. I loved every minute of their set, even if the balance between guitars and rest of the band was at times a bit too heavy on the guitar end. I almost started to think they would ignore their sophomore album A Diamond is a Hard Rock. Well they not when at the end of the show I Think I Got It came to us. And of course they could not skip Woman. Their ballad of the Uber category (think Y&T I Believe in You) If we thought ending on this high Rat Race from the debut was still to come. A missing microphone on stage, a broken drumset, bass issues and loud guitars could not stop this from being the second memorable show of the evening for me. 

And then it was time to drive home. I probably would appreciate seeing Arthur Browne once, but the drive was long and today I have to be fit for Flotsam and Jetsam in Musicon. Also experience tells me, attending an unknown festival show after two absolute highs does not work for me. So a big thanks goes out to organizers. What a great festival they have put together and I guess this venue stays now. Not sure if I can put is some requests for next year. On the melodic NWOBHM corner I can always see a Stampede show again, or get Shiva together again. From the USA Lillian Axe are always welcome and a band like Drive She Said might be suiting just fine as well. Who knows what GARF will bring, but if timing suits I shall be back, even if it is for 4 out of 14 bands again.