REVIEW: Friday at Planet Rockstock 2024 with Robert Jon & The Wreck, The Sheepdogs and Philip Sayce

Friday at Planet Rockstock 2024 at Trecco Bay, South Wales:

Somerset rockers Rizen may never have started a gig at 11.30am but rise to the challenge they do, full throttle rock style, before the remarkable Pyrogaric demonstrate one of the hardest things to do in music – Jamey-Leigh Butcher plays drums and sings lead vocals at the same time!

It sets the Graham Harding Stage up nicely for Beth Blade and The Beautiful Disasters. If you’re reading this, you’re probably a bit like Beth – a lifer. She has Paul Stanley’s face tattooed on her right arm and you don’t do that unless you’re in this for the long haul. Now boasting bassist Berty Burton (City Kids and Tigertailz), Beth and band fire out hard rocking bullets like ‘Give It All You’ve Got’ and Lemmy tribute ‘Jack and Coke’. As ever, her galactic-scale voice hits the big notes and you know you’ve been at a show.

There’s more raucous rock goodness from the riff-and-hook powered The Kut, before The Jokers’ seasoned, funk-fuelled rock n’roll elicits some decent AC/DC and Black Crowes vibes. ‘Slapback’ has the type of sass and sauce that can only have come from a band this experienced, a unit that has been on a serious journey.

The only journey that matters today, however, is that completed by Planet Rock’s Wyatt. At around 4:10pm our noble colleague completes his 185-mile walk from the Planet Rock studios in London, reaching Trecco Bay as the dark-clouded heavens open. His epic trudge (and Wyatt has given everything, he’s beyond exhausted) has raised more than £46,000 for Cash for Kids, Planet Rock's official charity that helps young people who are struggling with their mental health.

It’s then down to main stage debutantes The Hot One Two to demonstrate their own distance travelled. But for the lack of keyboards, there’s much about them that reminds older fans of Little Angels during their formative years, not least Simon West’s versatile, ceiling-bothering voice. The Cambridgeshire quintet will need to ride a similarly upward curve, but on the strength of tonight’s performance – and particularly songs like ‘The Fray’ and ‘Is It Hard’ – it’s not beyond them.

Known to us for his stints with such greats as Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake and Ted Nugent among a list as long as your arm, bassist and vocalist Marco Mendoza’s own musical roots are allowed to shine as he heads up a funk and rock-fuelled power trio. Kudos to British drummer Chris Allan for his spot-on backing vocals, that foot-tapping soul underpinning this smooth as silk outfit’s bluesy lifeblood. ‘Hole In My Pocket’ is the sort of thing you’d listen to while sipping tequila beside a sun-kissed Spanish swimming pool – Trecco Bay in November can’t quite compare, but Marco’s cool runnings take us briefly there.

Passion? The sweat is literally dripping from blues maestro Philip Sayce’s head by the end of first song ‘Out of My Mind’. Indeed, his flurries of fiery note-making are matched in intensity only by his contorted facial expressions. Born in Wales and raised in Canada, he’s performed with Jimmy Barnes among others, but with several albums to his own name, he’s a proven, instinctive guitar man with his own stamp. Tonight, Sayce plays like his family’s life depends on it, and most of us just look on agog as his dextrous fingers blur across those magical strings.

Much like this country’s equally impressive These Wicked Rivers, all five men in Canada’s The Sheepdogs look as if they were born to do this thing, to the point that it’s impossible to imagine them doing much else. Like a time-travelling Creedence Clearwater Revival or a resuscitated Allman Brothers Band, there’s that rarest thing in their characterful engine’s sound – an actual sense of space. You can listen to them collectively or individually if you please, but it’s the songs – the gentle ease of ‘Southern Dreaming’ and the infectious camaraderie of ‘Take Me for a Ride’ and ‘There’s a Hole Where My Heart Should Be’ that truly bind all together. Not for the first time, The Sheepdogs are best in show tonight.

That said, headliners Robert Jon & The Wreck are a consummate slice of retro Americana. While Robert Jon Burrison may not always be the most communicative of frontmen – for the first 15 minutes he looks like he’s watching the ending of ‘Titanic’ – he plays with the seasoned professionalism of a man many years his senior, and beside him has the perfect foil in the shape of fabulously hirsute guitarist Henry James Schneekluth. To his left is perma-grinning bassist Warren Murrel, a man apparently intent on out-sweating even Philip Sayce.

As for Schneekluth, there might be stuff this guy can’t do with a six-string, but we sure didn’t spot any. ‘Waiting For Your Man’ is an up-tempo blast of interestingly troubled, guitar kissed radio rock. Elsewhere, there’s silvery slide, and dextrous fretboard trickery. New song ‘Point of View’ meanwhile is typically groovy with a sly little hook that’s busy worming its way into your memory without you even realising it. There’s also a perfectly judged ‘Ballad of A Broken Hearted Man’ and Planet Rock favourite ‘Oh Miss Carolina’. Every note has come from their collective Southern rock heart, and tonight Trecco Bay feels every beat of it.

Friday at Planet Rockstock 2024 in photos:

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