Thursday review at Planet Rockstock 2023 with Phil Campbell, Florence Black and FM

Ten years can seem like the longest time or it can flash past in the blink of an eye, depending on so many factors. The history of Planet Rockstock, celebrating its first decade this year, is certainly among the latter – and that success is largely down to you, supporting this event by buying up every ticket with months to spare.

Having been staged for nine years at Trecco Bay in Porthcawl, it seems apt that a local (ish) band get to kick off proceedings on the Graham Harding Stage, this year built within a marquee and somewhat warmer than previously. WYNT, who also won a few hearts at Planet Rock’s Winter’s End earlier this year, play earthy, rootsy homegrown rock n’roll, which is never less than welcome, while The Now’s sparky alt.rock also impresses. The heavy rock, verging on metal, delivered by the portentously named Valhalla Awaits, completes an all-Welsh opening package, before the main event on Rockstock’s Bernie Marsden Stage gets under way.

One wonders what the affable but famously straight-talking Marsden would have made of openers The Bites, a band who not only hail from Hollywood but have time-warped a slice of late 80s California sleaze-glam to the Planet Rock table. Fronted by Jordan Tyler, a man with a permanent glint in his eye and a mullet humungous enough for a young Chris Waddle to have hidden beneath, there’s a sense that The Bites are not taking themselves – or anything – too seriously. Sometimes, that’s exactly what you need.

Of a different hue altogether is Matt Pearce & The Mutiny. His is a bluesy, soulful and occasionally funky ride that pleases the ears without offering anything too challenging this early in the evening. ‘Got A Thing Going On’ mixes sweet harmony vocals with a classic organ sound, while Matt dedicates ‘Ordinary Blues’ to the late Mr Marsden, adding that “he never played anything ordinary.”

Our first glimpse of exactly which table heavy rock is sitting at right now comes to us via a pin-sharp, committed and heavy-as-hell performance from Welshmen Florence Black. With the release of new album Bed Of Nails postponed till February, it’s almost as if the trio has something to prove – and prove it they do. ‘On The Ropes’, featuring vocals partly sung by drummer Perry Davies, and ‘The Deep End’ are as weighty as ever, while new song ‘Look Away’ vibes on a flyaway goodtime vibe that should please venues everywhere. The segue of ‘Breadfan’, their popular cover of the Budgie classic, with ‘Zulu’ is utterly thrilling.

It isn’t FM’s style to fight fire with fire, so their set floats along with a very different vibe. It’s the Brit hard-rockers’ fourth appearance at Rockstock, some measure of their aptitude and quality. There’s a sheen to their sound, a professional gloss underpinning some of the most astute hooks in homegrown AOR. Steve Overland’s melodious voice remains the star of their show – it’s where their stock lies, and is the starting point for songs as harmony-laden as ‘Tough It Out’ and ‘Bad Luck’. Jem Davis produces that most rarely seen of things at a rock festival – a keytar – for a fun ‘Other Side Of Midnight’ from their classic 1986 debut ‘Indiscreet’.

That Phil Campbell And The Bastard Sons have made an immediate return to Rockstock having headlined Trecco Bay only last year says a lot about how powerful this mostly family-run unit is. ‘Powerful’, in fact, is an understatement. Having been Lemmy’s wingman for decades, Phil’s own band now sounds colossal. Partly due to Rockstock’s stellar sound, and partly due to the sheer cohesion of their own practised brutality, The Sons are a perfect first night headliner.

Frontman Joel Peters, the only non-Campbell in the band and a perfect choice, is the ringleader, the crowd eating from his proffered hand during ‘Born To Raise Hell’s raucous singalong. The band’s own material, the rapidfire ‘Hammer And Dance’, during which Phil riffs on a Flying Vee, and ‘Strike The Match’, virtually equal ‘Ace Of Spades’ in terms of firepower, while Joel sings ‘Heroes’, a David Bowie cover, in exactly the way Lemmy did, shortly before the icon passed. It’s an incendiary conclusion – and it’s still only Thursday.

Thursday at Planet Rockstock 2023 in photos:

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