Valkyrian Music

Bands: Ravenage, Alice In Thunderland, Soulflame, Abbie Lammas, Leanne Burton, Blaming Eddie and many more.
Location: Bridlington Sports and Community Centre, Bridlington
Date: 6^th – 7^th August

Saturday

The gate opened at 6pm and few people began entering the open grounds of the Sports and Community Centre. The first band to take the stage were Remix. Their performance wasn’t impressive. They relied on sheet music, which seems like they weren’t putting much effort into the music. The vocals were louder than everything else and the female vocals were somewhat mediocre. The only redeeming thing about their set was the saxophone part in the performance of “The Love Motion”. The response from the crowd seemed half-hearted, as they seemed to be paying more attention to the cricket game that happening on the far end of the grounds.

The second band to take the stage were young pop-punk band “Blaming Eddie”. Their set was far more energetic and entertaining than the opening band. They performed a brilliant cover of Enter Shikari’s “Sorry, You’re Not A Winner” as well as some of their own stuff. The original songs they played had a very mixed sound between rock, metalcore and pop-punk – But it was a good sounding mix. Blaming Eddie are certainly a band to see if you like your music raw and energetic.

The third act of the night was none other than Bridlington’s own Leanne Burton! Her performance was simply amazing. She had a strong stage presence and a powerful voice. Her acoustic versions of “Price Tag” [Originally by Jessie J] and “Sex On Fire” [Originally by Kings Of Leon] went down well with the crowd as well. Following Leanne’s act were the mighty Cryptic Age. Their set began with a metal version of the “Game Of Thrones” theme into “Homeland”. The rest of Cryptic Age’s set consisted of songs such as “On The Cold, Bare Ground”. The crowd certainly enjoyed Cryptic Age’s set – Even the kids were dancing to the music, with some of them imitating the bassist’s every move.

Soulflame took the stage afterwards, performing a great set which included songs such as “You’re Safe”, “Last Cowboy” and “Get a Grip”. Their music certainly had a very Black Stone Cherry sound and feel to it, which certainly entertained the crowd. Epic Yorkshire Viking metallers “Ravenage” ascended to the stage afterwards. They performed a great set, which included songs from their upcoming album “Fresh From Fields Of Victory”. One of the most entertaining songs of the set was “Northbound”, a song inspired by Bernard Cornwell’s “Lords Of The North”.

The last band of the Saturday night were Led-Zep/DC, a Led Zeplin and AC/DC tribute band. They were probably the band that the crowd loved the most on the Saturday night and it’s no surprise since they performed each song, such as “The Immigrant Song” and “High Voltage” flawlessly.

Sunday

The first artist to begin the Sunday was Bridlington’s own folk-pop punk singer-guitarist Ben Parcell. He performed mostly his own material, except for one cover. The highlight of his set was “Imaginary Girl”. Ben Parcell demonstrated strong vocals and brilliant guitar playing skills, though it must have been somewhat disheartening for him due to the small size of the crowd. Loose Coverz followed after, performing songs such as “Brown Eyed Girl” and “Mama Mia”. Tom Burgundy performed soon after with Frank Sinatra styled songs.

The acoustic trio known as “Crush” took to the stage with a mixture of calm acoustic riffs and strong and raw vocals. They performed original songs such as “Slow Boat To China”. Bridlington-based cover band “Castles Made Of Sand” impressed the slowly growing crowd with their energetic performance and brilliant covers of old classics such as “Black Magic Woman”. Coz Commando joined them for a few songs on the keyboard as well. Rat pack styled material was performed by the powerful-voiced Frank Martin. East American country music was performed by the likes of Whiskey Dogs, who brought a very country and blues feel to the stage when they performed.

Stranglers tribute band “96 Tears” impressed the crowd with their impressive renditions of old Stranglers classics. After their performance, the frontman of 96 Tears performed a couple of songs with his son, including a Green Day cover. Three piece mod band “The Sonnet” brought an interesting sound to the event. They performed a very tight set and the vocals were outstanding. More covers were brought to the stage by Go Kommando who performed some brilliant versions of songs such as “Rebel Yell” [Originally performed by Billy Idol] and “Enter Sandman” [Originally performed by Metallica]. The crowd certain enjoyed their set.

Bad Panda brought a lot of interest to their set as they performed in panda-styled make up and some of the crowd were even donning the panda faces. They brought with them a very positive stage presence and a brilliant sound. They did a great cover of “White Wedding” and their original song “The Monkey Song” went down well with the crowd. Young band “First Principle” followed after, shocking the crowd musically with a mixture of soft and hard rock riffs. The frontman sang with a very distinctive voice and performed some amazing solos. The bass and drum work were very tight as well – Which is amazing, considering that the musicians are young. Songs they performed include “Not Coming Home”, “Possession” and “Astronaut”.

Classic rockers Alive In Thunderland dominated the stage with their strong, melodic vocals and thundering riffs. The solos were awesome and the drum work was great. They performed three songs from their third album which included “Into The Darkest Night” and “Hush Now” as well as two new songs which will be on their next album. Edge Of 13 were the second to last performance of the night, performing a very energetic set. The night was finished with the majestic performance from “Children Of The Mist” who performed songs such as Amazing Grace and Scotland The Brave on the bagpipes and they never did an immense cover of Queen’s “We Will Rock You”.

Brid Rocks was certainly an interesting event, though the turn out was slightly disappointing due to the weather constantly changing from cloudy and rainy to warm and sunny and vice versa. Some of the acts weren’t as impressive as expected but most of the acts were brilliant. Hopefully, Brid Rocks will be on again next year.

Nico Davidson

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