Steelhouse Festival 2023 – Sunday. There were gasps when Steelhouse announced that they had secured Black Stone Cherry as their Sunday evening headliner. A band as comfortable in a club as they are strutting the main stage at Download, this was an inspired booking.
Steelhouse Festival 2023 – Sunday
The Kentucky quartet may have moved slightly away from their earlier, harder edge, but they can still rock out with the best. As the rain maintained its mission to soak everyone to the skin, Chris Robertson, Ben Wells, John Fred Young, and Steve Jewell roared through an 18-song set that made you forget it was even wet!
Opening with Me And Mary Jane got the crowd on board early doors, although Rain Wizard would have been inspired! New tracks Nervous and Out Of Pocket from the forthcoming release Screamin’ at the Sky allowed BSC to showcase new material, whilst Hell And High Water and set closer Lonely Train sated the older school.
There’s an ease that only comes with experience, and BSC have it in spades. Robertson is front and centre, whilst Wells and Jewell are like toddlers on Haribo as they race around the stage.
By the time they hit the home straight, everyone has forgotten the rain, and a cover of ELO’s Don’t Bring Me Down is followed by their singalong songs, White Trash Millionaire and Blame It On the Boom Boom, are just triumphant.
It is the ending the festival demanded, and despite the weather and the mud, this was another triumphant weekend for one of the best events on the calendar.
As the fireworks lit up the damp Welsh night, talk was already centring on the acts that could be on the bill in 2024. We shall see you there!
Steelhouse Festival 2023 was held over the weekend of 28-30 July 2023. MetalTalk’s Paul Hutchings reports from Ebbw Vale.
All Photography: Georgia Brittain and Paul Hutchings
Early Bird tickets are available for next year’s festival, which begins on Friday, 26 July 2024. Tickets are available from here.
All MetalTalk Steelhouse Festival 2023 coverage can be found at https://www.metaltalk.net/tag/steelhouse-festival-2023
