This year’s Ramblin Man Fair didn’t have the epic line up of previous years and as such the crowd wasn’t as large but that just meant it was easier for me to get a little closer to the acts that we watched and hopefully get more pics…
The sun was shining and on the very open ‘Country’ stage, Myles Kennedy performed tracks from his solo album along with an Alterbridge track and a cover of Maiden’s Trooper. With the exception of a couple of songs where he was assisted by the rather able ‘Timmy!’, Myles not only played the guitar but also the stomp-box and sang for the whole set – pretty fine it was too.
Definitely my highlight of the first day, and possibly the whole weekend, were Therapy? who blasted through a set of their classic tunes on the main stage.
Steel Panther were as rude and as funny as ever. More of a sketch show than a gig at some points, they still played superbly and delivered many of their now classic tunes – with the crowd (and me) singing along the whole way.
Without meaning to, we stumbled across The Last Internationale and didn’t just walk on to a food stand. We stopped and watched for a bit and then decided to stay, an energetic three-piece with a great frontwoman, Delila on bass. They were joined at the end of their set by none other than Billie Sheehan who took their sound up a level, allowing Delila to be even better at the front!
Adding some eye candy for the ladies (apparently) was Kris Barras and his band on the blues stage, a cool guitarist with a great voice. We’ll definitely be checking out his album (so I’m told by my wife!).
One of the three main highlights for me this year, was seeing The Sons of Apollo. Billie Sheehan, Jeff Scott Soto, Ron Thall, Mike Portnoy and Derek Sherinian ripped it up on the main stage, outperforming everyone (except maybe the Panther!). I’d made sure I was right at the front for this one and I wasn’t disappointed. The songs really came into their own in a live situation – a really rather splendid show.
Blackberry Smoke played a good set, not as full-on as some of the other acts but still entertaining enough to keep us watching.
Lzzy Hale has got some pipes! Playing some rather sexy guitars, Lzzy and her band ripped through classic tracks like there was no tomorrow. Red dress and sexy guitars aside, it was still difficult to stop watching her brother, who for a drummer, commanded a lot of attention on the stage. A great gig, helped by the fact that we were still planted firmly at the front of the stage and having a whale of a time.
The Cult closed this year’s festival and played a tight set including most of their hits.
