Steelhouse Festival 2024 – Saturday. Following Phil Campbell And The Bastard Sons’ high-level, high-intensity set, we hit another level of performance as the legendary Accept takes the stage. There were a few questions about the wisdom of signing this iconic band for the festival, but there is not anyone in the field who can ask a single question by the end of possibly the best set of the weekend.
Steelhouse Festival 2024
Hafod-Y-Dafal Farm, Ebbw Vale – Saturday 27 July 2024
Words: Paul Hutchings
Photography: Manuela Langotsch
Accept
Accept have a catalogue that stretches back to their self-titled 1979 debut, and in Wolf Hoffman possess not only one fine guitarist, but a bit of a role model. The man is in epic shape and is grinning throughout the set. 
They hit the stage, with their Humanoid backdrop, the most impressive effort of the weekend, and blast through the title track and The Reckoning before the first of the old school tracks, Restless And Wild, get those fists in the air.
It is military in precision and execution, with vocalist Mark Tornillo’s gruff roar soaring high in the evening sky. Alongside Hoffman, the incredible Joel Hoekstra is filling in for Philip Shouse. He slots in perfectly with Uwe Lulis and bassist Martin Motnik, and the quartet throw some expertly choreographed moves to the delight of the fully engaged crowd. 
Tornillo introduces us to the “riff orgy” as the band rips through a medley of songs from the old school. Demon’s Night into Starlight into Losers And Winners and then Flash Rockin’ Man transport those of us old enough back to the early ’80s, much to our delight.
It is all delivered in phenomenal style, a Metal pantomime to some extent, but for those who love their Metal in the Germanic style that Accept has delivered for over 40 years, this was a set to die for.
Curious faces of the uninitiated greet the Folk song that starts Fast As A Shark, but the double bass kick of Christopher Williams stirs memories in many as its blistering triple guitar assault bludgeons. The track often credited, along with Overkill, as part of the Proto Thrash Metal origins, still sounds brilliant today.
They finish with the mandatory Balls To The Wall, which sees fists high and sets the bar not only for 2024 but for every festival to come. This was an epic set.
Skindred
They don’t live far away, but these days Newport’s Ragga Rockers Skindred are as likely to be abroad as they are at home, such is their popularity. Their first headline show here was seven years ago, in a field absolutely drenched by more regular weather as the audience huddled under wet weather gear.
Not so this time, for though the temperature has dropped after the sun decided to call it time, it is more akin weatherwise to the vibe that Skindred brings to every show.
Skindred do not know the meaning of a bad show. Tonight, it is a slightly haphazard start, with a long intro before Set Fazers and Rat Race get the crowd jumping. It’s a little reliant on backing magic, and with the big screens lagging all weekend, it’s a bit jumbled for the first 20-minutes, and the Jump / Jump Around part is clunky, but then everything clicks, and the juggernaut rolls out.
By the time the band get to the blistering Kill The Power, Benji Webbe is in full flow, his potty mouth banter bringing roars of laughter throughout the arena.
Unsurprisingly, the band take nearly half the show from their latest release, Smile. It is segued / interspersed with tracks from five other albums, including a fine Nobody from Babylon.
Costume changes, you want it, you got it. Platitudes for others? Absolutely. For all the chaos that unfolds, Skindred is one slick unit, with the riffs of Mikey Demus, the bass and programming of Dan Pugsley and drummer Arya Goggin’s solid backbone providing Webbe with the freedom to lead from the front.
But you’ll know about Pill’s Benji, and it’s impossible not to be charmed even if the band’s music is not your thing.
Of course, the moment everyone at a Skindred show wants these days is the Newport helicopter, and it duly arrives during Warning, sending thousands into a shirt-swirling frenzy that never seems to get old.
It’s a set that grew in stature, and whilst, for me, they did not hit the heights that the Germans before them did, it is still a fine show by a band that is proud of their roots and who focuses on the good things in life.
As Carly Simon’s Nobody Does It Better rings around the arena, you cannot help thinking, be a good person. Be like Benji!
You can read all of MetalTalk’s Steelhouse Festival 2024 coverage at MetalTalk.net/steelhouse.
For the Steelhouse Festival 2023 edition, click here.
