Live Review: Riffolution Festival - Day 1
Featuring: Grand Elder, Dunes, Old Horn Tooth, Sergeant Thunderhoof, Witchsorrow, Ritual King, Wet Cactus, Dirty Sound Magnet, Mars Red Sky
28th September 2024
Words: Matthew Williams
Photos: Tim Finch
The day had finally arrived, and I was heading up to Manchester for my first trip to Riffolution Festival, which is somewhat ironic, as a few weeks earlier, Riffolution Promotions had announced that they were finishing up and this would be their last festival. This is sad for the Manchester doom/psych/stoner scene, as it will leave a big hole that somebody will need to fill.
But with a weekend of quality of music ahead of me I arrived in my usual car parking space, to find that Oxford Rd was rammed, as the University of Manchester had one of their annual open day, whereas I thought that the festival had a sudden surge of ticket sales. Upon collecting my ticket, I had seen that Weedpecker were no longer playing so that doors opened slightly later, but I headed downstairs to the Club Academy to wait for the fun to begin.
“We are Grand Elder, lets fucking do this” says frontman Chris Hodgson, and off we go. With the 5-string bass giving off an almighty sound, they want us to raise some hell and with the amount of kick ass rifts they have, it’s a great start to the day. “I know it’s early, but let’s have some fun” as they play a new song, I think called “To The Hallows”, which is really good.
They fly through their set and promise to give us “as many songs as we can fit into 40 mins” and play an oldie which has a lovely slow bass in the middle, before we get another new song about an alien encounter. “Before we really start drinking, we have a few more songs” and they unleash “Smoke Signals” and end with the excellent “Grand Elder” to get the heads banging along nicely.
With no fanfare or hello, Newcastle stoner rockers Dunes, just tune in and crack on with things, until I realise that this is still part of their soundcheck. But I liked what I heard and waited for them to return. And return they did with “Velvet” a decent opener where they just let rip. “How are you Manchester?” shouts John Davies and they head off into a great song called “Denim Casket” that got heads bopping about all over the place.
The heavy drums that accompanied new single “Riding the Low” were particularly excellent, but they show their versatility with softer moments to complement their thick grooves and have the best line of the day with “Devil’s upstairs and God’s down below” on a song called “Voodoo” I think. They finish off with “Heart of the Sun” which goes down well with the crowd and it et with loud applause.
There was then a large gap in-between bands, and with no communication as to why, 3-piece Old Horn Tooth took to the stage, for a much shorter set, 20 minutes later than advertised. But they were worth waiting for as the London based trio really brought the heavy doom sound to the festival. The riffs were fuzzed out and impressive, slow and haunting in that Sabbath-esque way.
With limited time, I think we got to hear 2 long down turned songs, with possibly “Mourning Light“ and “No Salvation” melting our faces off slowly with the hypnotic vocals. They left with the bassist turning his bass around to show the word Doom in red tape underneath and leaving everybody wanting more. A very short but impressive performance.
Then we came to one of the bands I was most looking forward to seeing, Somerset’s Sergeant Thunderhoof. With the crowd filling up nicely, and a big drum sound they ploughed straight into my favourite song, “Devil’s Whore” and that set the tone for their set. They looked composed, happy to be there and enjoying themselves. “How you doing Manchester?” says singer Dan before they kick off another great song, “Devil’s Daughter”.
The riffs are big and plentiful, and tinged with psychedelia, as they get crowd sing alongs and play some damn fine songs. With “Stellar Gate Drive” they give us one of the songs of the day and have the crowd rocking from start to finish. “This is our last song, and it’s quite long, so thanks to Danny and all at Riffolution, we’ve been Sergeant Thunderhoof” and the moody and controlled beginnings of the excellent “Avon and Avalon Pt2” rumble across the PA. Dan introduces the band as the riff continues, before they leave the stage to a chorus of “hoof, hoof, hoof” from the crowd. Marvellous stuff.
Now came the metal!!! Another band I’d waited a while to see, Hampshire’s Witchsorrow. This was pure evil from start to finish, and I bloody loved it. Drained in red light, “Maleficus” was slow and heavy, before they cracked on with the excellent “Made of the Void”. You could feel the heaviness slowly suffocating you with its crushing riff and with his fist raised, we get a “let’s go” screamed out from Nick Ruskell.
This was the set that I had waited for, and they didn’t disappoint at all. With drummer David Wilbraham wearing a fine Mistress t-shirt, they delivered “Hexenhammer” and with killer riffs and awesome bass, the superb “The Devil’s Throne”, which drew massive applause. With their mix of heavy doom and fast riffs, they thank all the fans and dedicate “To The Gallows” to all the bands, but not before presenting the drummer with a cup cake with one candle for his birthday. They end the pulsating set with the mightily impressive “Demons of the Mind”, which has the crowd head banging along in unison. Hell yeah!!!!
It’s along fitting that Danny from Riffolution has his own band playing, and with a quick “Hello, we are Ritual King” from vocalist and guitarist Jordan Leppitt, off they go, beginning with “Flow State”. The Manchester trio look like they are up there enjoying themselves and are in full swing by the time they play “World’s Divide”, even if there do appear to be a few issues with the mic. There’s a lovely little freestyle midway through before we hear that lovely bass sound on “No Compromise”.
The riffs are real with these three, and they make it look quite effortless, by the time they play “The Infinite Mirror” from the album they released last year. It shows their softer, more melodic side, but coincides with a guitar change, as you could see that something wasn’t quite right. “Sorry about that, had a few technical difficulties and played that with no pedalboards” says a bemused Leppitt, before they play their final song, the stomping “Valleys”, which goes down a treat.
I’d been aware of Wet Cactus for a while, and was excited to finally see them live. The Spanish 4-piece play stoner and slightly trippy desert rock and draw in a massive crowd. They kick off in fine style, with a heavy bass sound from Daniel Pascual Salvador but play the music nice and slow in parts. They explode with “Barren Landscape” and have great tempo changes. “We are Wet Cactus and coming from Spain” announces Salvador and they play a delicious instrumental number, full of dreamy psychedelic sounds and then play the exquisite “My Gaze is Fixed Ahead”
“You feel good? So do I” says a beaming frontman, before we are treated to more of the same wonderful music. They fill the room with so much pleasure and beautiful sounds that it almost feels that you are on the sun kissed Spanish beaches. They mix their sound magnificently well, and when they go heavy, they go heavy, and with “Jim’s Song” being played, I was a happy bunny bopping away at the back of the venue with a big smile on my face. And with their delicious bass sound cranking up again, they finish with the simply stunning “Ride the Way for Free” to end the best set of the day, to leave the crowd breathless.
Next up were another new band to me, Dirty Sound Magnet, the Swiss psychedelic power rock trio, but that description really doesn’t do them justice, as they were just mesmerising from start to finish. “We’ve been on tour for a while, and usually play a longer set, so we’ll start in the middle with Mr Robert” says frontman Stavros Dzodzos, and they take us on a journey with plenty of high and plenty of lows. It’s all very trippy, almost 70’s style, laid back prog rock, and the madness continues with the sublime “Social Media Boy”, which has the crowd dancing around.
They play a variety of songs, including “Meet the Shaman” and mix it up really well, and it all feels that we are all living in Stavros’s world and he can do whatever the hell he wants, and we are powerless to stop him. We get a bass solo from Marco Mottolini, who brings that groovy bass line, and then it feels like a Spanish flamenco number. It’s totally mad, but it’s an explosion of sound all over the place, and I bloody love it.
“This is our last song, it’s about 6 mins long” and he’s then reminded they have 20 minutes left, “ok, we’ll just improvise, is that ok?” Stavros asks the crowd, and nobody says no. They end with “Body in Mind” and it’s completely bonkers. We get a drum solo from Maxime Cosandey, where Mottolini just sits on the floor, and then they just flwo into a jam session, locked away in their own cosmic universe. It’s been a blast watching this trio, crazy, unpredictable, but magnificent.
The headliners of day one was French stoner rockers Mars Red Sky. And with their soft intro music playing, they stroll on stage to begin their set. With the crowd packed tightly at the front, the noise kicks in and the bass sound from Jimmy Kinast is just incredible and really powers the songs forward. “We are really happy to be back in Sheffield” comes the humour from guitarist Julien Pras, with a knowing look before the retorts, “no, I mean Blackpool”.
Playing a mix of songs from their latest album “Dawn of the Dusk” and older songs, some of them drift along serenely, so I was a bit lost in my thoughts, particularly during “Break Even”. They have that lovely stoner/doom groove and with echoes on the vocal, they manage to mix their tempo exceptionally well.
“We are going to play a song now from the new album” as they jump into the epic “Maps of Inferno”, which is just mesmerising from start to finish, with the heavy intro and ethereal vocals, the crowd are now fully immersed in their world. “An early one for you now” which I think was “The Light Beyond” as it has such a distinctive heavy bass line, with a touch of prog, before they end by thanking Danny and all at Riffolution and wrap up proceedings with what I believe is “Strong Reflection”.
Photo Credits: Tim Finch Photography
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