REVIEW: Sunday at Planet Rockstock 2025

It’s probably no exaggeration to describe playing at 11am on the fourth day of a rock festival as a tricky proposition. Staffordshire metallers Athena’s Revenge, however, look delighted with their lot. “It’s the biggest crowd we’ve played to,” enthuses singer Tess McTigue, before the teasingly Nightwish-like ‘Beautifully Broken’. Hopefully a lot more is to come. There’s leftfield funky jams and breezy tunes from Yorkshire trio Pips, while through the likes of ‘Believe’ and ‘Monsters’ The Global Burn Theory proffer the type of slick melodic rock beloved by Extreme fans.

In welcome contrast, Burnt Out Wreck are all AC/DC chop and burn, hooky heaviness fronted by Gary Moat’s sandpaper vocals. More surreal by far is the sight and sound of Tuk Smith & The Restless Hearts lifting the standards on this smaller stage to new levels. The former Biters frontman is an ace songwriter, a wry raconteur with a knack for tunes and enough stage presence, frankly, for stadiums. Those heading into the venue at 3pm are treated to songs like ‘Girls On The East Side Of Town’ and the ebullient ‘Runnin’ With The Wild Ones’, a spiked Lizzy-meets-Cheap Trick vibe that soothes and lifts as much as it rocks.

Another visitor from the US, Caitlin Krisko & The Broadcast deliver a magnetic finale for this stage’s programme. Theirs is hard rock with roots and blues in its DNA, Caitlin’s soulful vocals adding unusual depth to her storytelling songs.

There’s a special thrill of vindication that comes with seeing The Karma Effect open proceedings on this fine venue’s main stage. Fronted by Henry Gottelier, simply one of the finest new voices in rock, the London band survived a troubled birth, launching their mission in that terrible year of Covid, when touring was impossible. While that’s about as unlucky as dropping your phone in the toilet, you don’t need a law degree to prove how far they’ve come since. Today they’re on fire, older songs like ‘Livin’ It Up’ and ‘Steal Your Heart’ fulfilling the potential they always had, and new song ‘Waiting On A Miracle’ pointing directly to a door marked ‘2026 - your best year yet’.

Danny Bryant turns out to be a little different to most guitar-armed bluesters. Just for a change, this talented guy realises it isn’t all about him. While Planet Rockstock’s clearly an opportunity to showcase his skills, the other musicians in his five-piece outfit also shine. ‘Razor Sharp’, though underpinned by the usual blues rock conventions, feels like a complete article and doesn’t overstay its welcome. That’s right, Danny’s a blues guy who knows his message comes through clearest when its selfless and concise. More of the same please.

Danko Jones, leader of his eponymous power trio for a staggering three decades, is the needle-sharp antidote to Sunday night festival flagging. But the great thing is, he gets it. “You guys have been here since Wednesday? I thank you for sort of, in a way, giving us your attention,” he jokes. Weary or not, the Canadian hard hitters rip out riffs as easily as tearing pages from magazines. If the lethal hooks in ‘Good Time’ and ‘Diamond In The Rough’ don’t spear you, Danko’s piercing stare sure will. After an impassioned hour of ripsnorters from his twelve (yes, twelve) albums, our man rides out in a blaze of such velocity that he might be halfway to the moon by now.

So here it is, our merry headliner Slade; Dave Hill’s Slade, that is. Celebrating some 60 years in the music business, it’s eye-popping and ever so slightly surreal to be in the presence of original Slade guitar man Dave. Now nearly 80, he’s still equipped with that toothy grin and still minces around the stage, shaking his tush, while tearing out those fabled tunes on a guitar that seems just a little too large for his small frame. Accompanied by versatile vocalists and multi-instrumentalists John Berry and Russell Keefe, both of whom admirably take on Noddy Holder’s throat-exploding vocals at different times, Dave conducts the crowd with sweeps of his arms, mouthing the words.

When those classics come, and there’s way too many to list, they’re sung back like national anthems. With Berry switching from bass to electric violin for ‘Coz I Luv You’, that song and ‘Run Runaway’ have got to be high on the list of things you never thought you’d witness. The latter was Slade’s Celtic-fused glam rock stormer – like bacon-flavoured fudge it shouldn’t work, but it just did.

From a crowd that’s been here for days, the swell of participation for barnstorming diamonds like ‘Mama Weer All Crazee Now’, ‘Cum On Feel The Noize’ and the genuinely uplifting ‘My Oh My’ is a joy to behold. That said, you’re not really beholding it because you’re swept up entirely within it. And yes, it all naturally concludes with ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’. Being both nostalgic and celebratory, it’s weirdly, stupidly emotional too.

“I can’t imagine what my life would be like not playing music to people like you,” says Dave, scotching rumours of his imminent retirement. A toast then to a true legend of our world – still up and rock and rolling with the best.

Sunday at Planet Rockstock 2025 in photos:

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