Winter's End 2022 review with Smith/Kotzen, Phil Campbell and Wayward Sons

WINTER'S END

FRIDAY 4TH - SUNDAY 6TH MARCH 2022. THE ASSEMBLY, LEAMINGTON SPA

The name Winter’s End conjures up many an image of growth and renewal, but this year the words seem more loaded than usual. So let’s just come out and say it, shall we? It now appears – finally – that our world is opening up, and the things we know, need and rely on are returning. In short, the music didn’t die.

Not only is it genuinely life-affirming to be back among friends and like-minded souls doing the thing we love, but this year the three-day Planet Rock extravaganza has moved to a more accessible, centrally-located venue. Built in 1926, The Assembly in Leamington Spa is an engaging, art deco-style building with a high stage, balcony and vaulted ceiling. It’s a nice place to be, and why – after living through the hell of the past two years – should we not have nice things?

FRIDAY:

Friday openers Anchor Lane are certainly in the mood. After Planet Rock’s Paul Anthony spurs the growing crowd into action, the Glaswegian outfit hit hard with sinewy guitar muscle, cool melodies and, plainly, a growing confidence. The last few months hasn’t been easy for frontman Conor Gaffney and his men – in February the quartet was reduced to a trio, and tonight Anchor Lane must tackle the likes of 'Nitroglycerin', 'Fame Shame' and new song 'Ministry' without a bass player. It’s a big ask, but one the band is talented enough to rise to. Download Festival awaits.

A promise of summer and better days is spirited our way by The Hot Damn!, the ladies balancing rock and pop influences in pleasing style shifts. There’s a hip-swaying groove to their sound, and in 'I Didn’t Like You Anyway' they’ve got one of those songs you’re still hearing in your subconscious hours later when trying to sleep. On top of that, guitarist Laurie Buchanan impresses not just with her astute note-making, but with the tone and feel she pulls from her strings – comparable perhaps to The Chain-era Fleetwood Mac.

Vambo come from London – but might as well be from a different world. You think you have a handle on their sound, before they snare you with an immense melodic hook or a squall of semi-metallic rage. At times singer Jack Stiles looks so chilled you wonder if he’s going to fall over, but then he surprises you with the type of lingering high notes that only ‘proper’ rock stars achieve. In the middle of it, there’s a slower song called 'Running In Circles' – it’s a stunner that lives somewhere between Whitesnake’s lovesick croon and the next-level beauty of Nightwish. Vambo leave with a note-perfect take on Deep Purple classic 'Burn' – Jack lifts the mic high at the end and the crowd scream. Goosebumps.

If anyone’s epitomising the spirit of Winter’s End it’s guitar maestro Laurence Jones. Even as Paul introduces him, Laurence is grinning ear-to-ear over the Planet Rock presenter’s shoulder. And well he might – already going down a storm supporting Status Quo, Laurence immediately wins over The Assembly with his deft talents, easy charm and flair for blues-based songwriting. It’s not just about the frontman either – you’ve got to love a hammond organ player who refuses to remain seated, and Bennett Holland is exactly such a player. It’s a proper band performance, and very easy to love.

Welshmen Florence Black are a band on the rise, and it’s apparent from the very start they they’ve set their lasers to ‘kill’. In fact, there’s an underlying menace to their performance, an almost grimy, bass-heavy thickness to the always robust sound, taking the likes of 'Smoke' and 'Pierrepoint' to new places. 'The Deep End' is aptly named and imbued with heft, while their cover of Budgie classic 'Breadfan' could be a snapshot from any segment in rock history, so authentic is it. Drummer Perry Davies pounds his kit as if taking out an endless procession of enemies, simultaneously headbanging while frontman Tristan Thomas lifts his guitar high like an axe-wielding Game of Throner. Warrior class!

It just remains for part-time Planet Rock presenter, part-time rock star and full-time decent human being Toby Jepson to provide a fitting conclusion to Friday’s programme. Here with his band Wayward Sons, now deep into dates to promote third album 'Even Up The Score', Toby and his perpetually merry men present a set soaked in wit, bite and musical virtuosity. So developed are the band that you can virtually point at a Wayward Sons song from a distance – opener 'Any Other Way', 'Don’t Wanna Go' and 'Bloody Typical' all have identifiable traits, the mark of an outfit with defined character. Toby, for all his self-effacing charm (“all the right notes but not necessarily in the right order,” he claims, at one point), can summon great things from that still-mighty voice. There’s edge, there’s emotion and more than anything there’s relief to be back here, playing stages like this, playing for fans like these. It’s the return we’ve all been waiting for.

SATURDAY:

Anyone seeking a quick depiction of the depth within modern rock need only have turned up early at Winter’s End on Saturday. Sons Of Liberty and Firekind perform within the space of 90 minutes, but are otherwise oceans apart, the former hollering out gritty, Southern-friend rebel yells and the latter playing the type of expansive, progressive-minded rock you might get from Muse. Of the two, only Sons Of Liberty throw packets of beef jerky into the crowd.

Blackburn’s Bastette throw nothing around save slick little anthems – they’re an outfit that have developed their sound and stage confidence through persistent touring, with singer Caroline Eve Kenyon providing the type of on-stage presence that many a band would swap their amps for. 'Rip Me To Shreds' gains Saturday’s first real crowd traction.

These Wicked Rivers’ stage is adorned with psychedelic scarves and even two floor lamps with tasselled shades, momentarily prompting Planet Rock’s Darren Redick to think he’s regressed back in time to his gran’s front room. This increasingly magnificent band could indeed have been spirited to us from 1975 – 'Shine On' is achingly, wonderfully good, and when singer John Hartwell announces that 'Don’t Pray For Me', one of these jaw-droppingly personal, stand-and-stare songs, will be the last track, there’s a sense of disbelief that it’s already over. Guitar player Arran Day is such an authentic talent that it’s impossible to imagine him doing mundane stuff like going to Aldi, while John is a man who has overcome challenges to arrive at the doorstep of greatness. Shine on indeed.

Following that is a big ask for Welshmen Valhalla Awaits, but follow it they do via metallic riffs, immense vocals and airborne hooks. Featuring ex-members of Buffalo Summer, Revoker and The Blackout, and with cluster bombs of power as superbly marshalled as 'Slave' and 'Skin And Bone', they’ve got all the credentials for greater things. Time and a fair wind could even stand them up as the UK’s Alter Bridge.

King Herd are also newcomers – according to frontman Dave Taylor this is their “first proper gig”. They might look nervous and their stage presence might need work, but King Herd’s songs stand tall. It’s not just the mighty 'Remedy' and 'Medicine', already well known to Planet Rock listeners, but the entirety of the Birmingham band’s set stands head and shoulders above the norm. Watch ‘em go.

There’s a moment at the end of Scarlet Rebels set in which frontman Wayne Doyle places his hands on his head and offers a heartfelt thanks to fans for putting the band’s second album 'See Through Blue' in the UK Top Ten. It’s a remarkable achievement, richly deserved by this hard-working outfit, and they’re a unit clearly appreciated by this now-packed room. They bow out with an ardent 'You Take My Breath Away', guitarist Chris Jones alternately bleeding out nimble-fingered solos before leaping skywards.

Leicester’s SKAM might have seen it all before, but the power trio’s performance is every bit as impassioned. “Get the hell in!” enthuses relentlessly upbeat frontman Steve Hill, “the man in my ear monitor just told me to turn my guitar up!”. Far from telegraphing in yet another performance, SKAM seem to live every moment as if it’s their last – the rippling riffs of 'Take It Or Leave It' place it among their best, while the slow-burn build-up of 'Massacre' encourages bassist Matt Gilmore’s wondrous facial contortions.

Why do one thing well when you can do the whole lot? That’s the message from The Dust Coda – beyond being simply a very fine rock band, they’re impossible to pigeonhole. Led by John Drake, a man as muscular of voice as he is intense of appearance, the band impressively shape-shifts from 'Breakdown’s jagged, alternative-leaning rock to the subtle, heartsick intricacies of 'Sweet Love Is Gone'. The latter pulls a surprising about turn in John, a silky and vulnerable lead vocal that pulls the crowd together. After normal service is resumed the band close with a blistering 'Limbo Man'.

There aren’t many things that Iron Maiden legend Adrian Smith hasn’t done, but shouting “Good evening Leamington Spa” hasn’t been one of them – until now. The guitarist grins as he does so, clearly loving life as one half of headliners Smith/Kotzen. His partner-in-rock is of course fellow six-string icon Richie Kotzen, and it doesn’t take long for this most professional of outfits to flex their musical muscles. Adrian provides the vocal beef with Richie’s more vaulted upper range adding the required melody, and when two talents of this magnitude start sharing out the guitar solos, there’s little you can do except try to soak it in. Did we mention they have songs too? 'Taking My Chances', 'Glory Road' and 'You Don’t Know Me' are all top drawer, and if anyone’s getting weary towards the end of a long day the band’s rendition of Maiden classic 'Wasted Years' is the most welcome of alarms. Iron Maiden anthems in Leamington Spa? You really had to be there.

SUNDAY:

Watching rock bands, beer strategically in hand, is not something you normally do at 1pm on a Sunday, but early risers are fortunate to be greeted by the mellifluous sounds of Ethyrfield. This young trio play a distinguished take on progressive metal with tiny traces of Alice In Chains’ near-unique dual vocal technique. Howling Tides are a wake-up call of entirely different persuasion, Rob Baynes’ leonine roar leading the Midlands rockers through an assured set that billows with robust bruisers like 'He Told Me' and 'Crack My Soul'.

Those hunting for breakthrough artists, young bands that might just mimic that good old Star Wars leap into hyperspace, should get to know Tribeless. With one foot comfortably stretching into rock’s new wave and the other in firmer, more familiar ground, the South Wales collective bring a piquant sincerity and widescreen dynamism to all their music – not least emotive opener 'Impulses'. Lydia McDonald leads the quartet with a confidence that can’t be faked.

Far more experienced, and no less impressive, are melodic rockers Iconic Eye. Janey Smith is blessed with one of those voices that could sing the instructions to a Covid home testing kit and make it sound beautiful, but thankfully she doesn’t have to – new song 'Back From Behind The Sun' is as good as anything this finely nuanced outfit has ever done.

There are moments in life, sometimes just snapshots, that stay with you forever. One of those is provided tonight by Cardinal Black, the soulful and outrageously talented outfit built around the gifts of guitar master Chris Buck and chocolate-voiced singer Tom Hollister. And the ‘moment’ is the goose bumps raised on your forearms when Chris unreels 'Jump In's exquisite guitar motif. Perhaps two years of deprivation have made us all that bit more emotional, that bit more grateful for beautiful things – and Cardinal Black transfix even the most hardened rockers. We’re rooted to the spot, reminded of what it is to be human.

How to follow this if you’re Jack J Hutchinson? Simple; just be yourself. Jack’s gritty, relentlessly honest take on blues-based rock comes with a flourish of biker steel – guitar-heavy songs like 'Down By The River' and 'Call Of The Wild' snare the attention. Jack talks about the sense of community returning to music, and there’s a few moist eyes when he dedicates 'I Will Follow You' to his father, who is suffering from Alzheimers.

Mason Hill are a band we can surely expect to see again at Winter’s End – as headliners, that is. It’s not just the songs (which are brilliant) and it’s not merely the musicianship (which is seamless). It’s the stagecraft, the confidence and the explosive release that the young Scots inject into every moment of their 50-minute set. The crowd roars like a rock crowd should, hands high, voices raised – the best backing frontman Scott Taylor, clearly moved, could possibly have asked for. Their songs – 'DNA', 'Find My Way' and 'Against The Wall' – are tour-honed mini-classics, and the decision to close with an incredible cover of Audioslave monster Cochise sees the band leave the stage to a wall of sound.

There’s further Gallic flair in the more familiar shape of GUN. With band members having suffered badly from Covid at what we hope was the tail end of the pandemic, it’s good – and a relief – to see them in such fine form. You perhaps don’t realise how many Gun songs you know until you hear them like this, one after the other, performed as well as ever by the always affable Dante Gizzi and his men. It’s sometimes said that everything in life comes full circle, and with our world once again on the brink of incineration, Gun’s classic 'Better Days' – the song that launched their career in 1989 – has rarely seemed more apt.

If there’s one single image to take away from 2022’s Winter’s End it’s this: Motörhead legend Phil Campbell, gleaming flying vee in hand, peeling off the iconic riff to Ace Of Spades. Any fears that a tired audience might start to drift away are immediately put to bed when Phil Campbell and The Bastard Sons rip our respective faces off with an opening salvo of songs that bristle with the tried, trusted and much missed energy of Phil’s former band. New singer Joel Peters seems a perfect fit, flanked of course by Phil’s sons Todd, Tyla and Dane – a denim-clad collective firing both new songs and legacy classics with equal gusto. 'Get On Your Knees', ironically, stands tall and 'These Old Boots', a song from Phil’s 2019 solo album, also tickles audience tastebuds, even at this late hour. The curtain comes down on three days of live music in a furore of whisky-soaked, riff-heavy groove, spiked by raucous singalongs. You can bet that even Lemmy’s smiling somewhere.

Check out all of the photos from Planet Rock presents Winter's End 2022 below!

Winter's End 2022 in photos:

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• winter's end
• Iron Maiden
• Motorhead
• Phil Campbell
• wayward sons
• scarlet rebels
• mason hill
• the dust coda