The Big List's Metal Correspondent, Mark Ashby, takes in Pat McManus, Therapy?, Million Dollar Reload, Sweet Taste and Simon McBride during the Hard Rock Hell V festival in Prestatyn Sands Holiday Village in Wales. This past weekend, Fermanagh’s favourite son proved – as if he needed to – that he just loves playing music, and will do so anywhere, at any time and to anyone. Added to the bill of the last rock festival of the year at just 24 hours’ notice, Pat and his band drove across England to step into the one o’clock Saturday afternoon slot vacated at the last minute by US rockers Little Caesar – a fact the guitarist picked up on when, with his characteristic humour, he introduced himself as “Little Pat”. Wreathed in smiles, Pat proceeded to deliver what many people agreed was one of the best shows of the weekend with a stunning hour of Celtic-infused blues and rock. Unlike many of the other acts, Pat (who, over the last three decades, has probably played more festivals than most of the rest of the 60+ bands on the bill) took time to talk to his audience, swapping jokes and telling stories about his songs. Solo tracks such as Back In The Saddle, the instrumental Juggernaut and the evocative Diamond In The Rough were well received but it was three older songs, which brought the house down. His acoustic rendition of Leadbelly’s classic Out On the Western Plain – dedicated to Rory Gallagher and Gary Moore (“Rory was born 30 miles north from where I live, and Gary 70 miles in the other direction, leaving me stuck in the middle with no fuckin’ chance,” he joked on his intro) was sublime, while the perennial Mama’s Boys favourites of Runaway Dreams and Needle In The Groove lifted the roof, with the former in particular turning middle-aged men into teenagers again as they bounced and sang along. All too soon, it was over and both Pat and the couple of thousand people in the audience left with warm smiles. He won over many new fans, as the merchandise and record stalls were immediately swamped with people looking for memorabilia and recordings: he also demonstrated his genuine humility when, again the only person to do so and despite having to rush off to drive to Scotland, he stopped to chat to fans and sign autographs. Pat was the fifth and final act from Northern Ireland to grace the stage of Hard Rock Hell over the weekend - in fact, pro rata, there were more acts from this part of the world than anywhere else apart from England (the USA was edged into third place by virtue of the fact that Quireboys guitarist Paul Guerin is also from Belfast!). Therapy? had headlined the main stage on the Friday night, and, although maybe a surprising choice for a line up that also featured pomp rockers Magnum and masked US shock rocker Lizzy Borden, delivered a stomping set, which really got the crowd jumping and singing along, with the volume of James Joyce in particular threatening to bring in the ceiling of the cavernous arena. Indeed, the Larne lads would have won the award for Loudest Band Of The Weekend, if there had been one, after peaking at an ear-shattering 121 decibels in soundcheck. Simon McBride had opened the festival’s second stage on the Thursday evening, and his blues set was greatly appreciated by the assembled music cognoscenti – although he is morphing into the late Gary Moore – while youngsters Sweet Taste made their festival debut on the ‘Young Blood’ stage on Saturday afternoon, delivering a strong and passionate set to a surprisingly large and very enthusiastic audience. Later on Saturday,Million Dollar Reload were in fine form and had the second arena jumping and jiving with their energetic blues-fused rock ‘n’ roll mayhem. All in all it was a brilliant showcase for the wealth of rock talent that we have in this little corner of the world and a fitting reward for the small legion of NI fans who have faithfully made the trek to this corner of north Wales every year.
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