Friday review at Planet Rockstock with Graham Bonnet, Tyketto, Laurence Jones and more

Friday’s schedule brings a host of bands to the Graham Harding stage, bluesy rockers like The Bad Day and Big River, along with the more airy, melodic flourishes provided by This House We Built. The grungy, needle-sharp alt rock of MuddiBrooke is a very welcome shift in tone, singer Harriet ‘Brooke’ McDonnell’s vocals giving real edgy grit to ‘ADHD’.

The place is packed for Harding stage headliner Dan Byrne, the eminently likable and gifted singer who twists his considerable vocal prowess around the excellent ‘Like Animals’ and several more considered, emotive songs. Everyone stays till the end – before heading off to catch Troy Redfern’s flashy slide guitar showpiece on the Bernie Marsden Stage.

He may have struggled in the rain at July’s Steelhouse festival, but Troy’s in his element tonight. In his half-hour set he dazzles with scorching six-string pyro, all well marshalled by Keira Kenworthy’s pulsing bass tones. ‘Waiting For Your Love’ is a thriller, with Troy and Keira sneering out that insidious melody, but even more impressive in this kind of setting is ‘Sanctify’. It’s an up-tempo rock n’roller that this cohesive trio break down into mesmerising swathes of windswept indie blues. You don’t know where it’s going and you don’t need to – it’s the full slide magic carpet ride.

While that’s not something Scarlet Rebels can replicate, opening with the suitably upbeat ‘I’m Alive’ is a positive move, while ‘Take You Home’ comes with one of frontman Wayne Doyle’s more impassioned vocal performances. It sparks a sense of warmth that quickly turns into a friendly clap-along – concluded by an ebullient solo from guitarist Chris Jones. It may not be challenging but it’s certainly big-hearted; connective enough to have put last album ‘See Through Blue’ into the UK Top Ten last year. More of the same will also see them continue to ascend bills like this.

‘Bad Luck & The Blues’ is the title track from Laurence Jones’ latest album – as expected he launches its groovy looping riff with aplomb, together with its neat little hook and typically airborne solo. Unusually cheerful of manner for a blues guy, Laurence is full of hooks and solos – but it’s probably fair to describe him as a singer-songwriter first and a bluesman second. Most recent single ‘Lonely Road’ is a pacey thing that could happily have sat on a Thunder album. Blues tropes aren’t forgotten though. Before he leaves the stage there have been tempo changes, swampy soul, breakdowns into gentle note-making and songs imploring you not to “leave me this way”.

About the only thing betraying Tyketto frontman Danny Vaughn’s age (62, incredibly!) is his rapidly greying locks. Nothing else about him – voice, energy, whippet lean frame – has changed since the American band’s early 1990s heyday. In a sense the band were unlucky, their finest hour coming just as grunge swept all such matter into a lower division. That said, the fabulous ‘Wings’ is a song from that era, and Danny belts it out as if was written last year. Indeed, to the uninitiated, the relatively recent ‘Reach’ from 2016 slots imperceptibly alongside classics like ‘Lay Your Body Down’ and the appropriately timeless ‘Forever Young’. Today featuring Thunder bassist Chris Childs and former Britny Fox sticksman Johnny Dee, the band deliver see-your-face-in-it perfection. Too sugar coated for some, it’s hard rock alchemy for most, and remarkably unwithered by time.

Graham Bonnet probably wishes he could turn back time – even if only by a couple of days. The veteran singer, most famous for his stint in Rainbow, is the possessor of a mighty voice and he’s rightly proud of it. Sadly he’s been knocked for six by a dose of bronchitis but gamely goes ahead with tonight’s headline slot anyway. In fairness to Graham, who apologies repeatedly and profusely for his “croaky” voice, that leonine roar of his still makes its presence known. Ably supported by his fabulously named bassist (and wife) Beth-Ami Heavenstone and uber talented guitarist Conrado Pesinato, classics like ‘All Night Long’ and ‘Since You Been Gone’ sound almost as good as ever. Graham also throws his protesting frame into a gutsy ‘S.O.S’. A lesser man would have pulled back, or pulled out altogether, but not the fruity-tongued but ever engaging Mr Bonnet. What a warrior.

Friday at Planet Rockstock 2023 in photos:

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