Golden Age Rock Festival takes place in Liege, Belgium from September 30 – October 1, 2023. Five bands have been revealed so far and here they all are including the announcement posts taken from Golden Age Rock Festival‘s Facebook page. (translations by Facebook and Google Translate).
Join CGCM Rock Radio‘s Rich “The Meister” Dillon on location as he travels over from Toronto, Canada to cover this event!
1st Announcement: Legs Diamond
Deep Purple should have made them happy. She finally served them up: “Rick Sanford sounded more like Robert Plant.” “My guitar game is more Clapton/Beck mold,” smiles Roger Romeo, architect of this Legs Diamond, greasy, Los Angeles band. Their trademark for eternity is this hard-working, clever rock made of panache, facade (thanks Rick Sanford), fine-tuned riffs, and docked keyboards. A constant of those US bands from the mid-seventies.
Legs Diamond then crosses iron with Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, BÖC and other Montrose without reaching their seductive statuses. Legs Diamond is a breed of pure and outsiders. It enhances her appeal. Legs Diamond (1977), A Diamond Is A Hard Rock (1977 Itou) and Fire Power (1978) are world-breaking hits but they never see Olympus, a little swept away by the Van Halen cataclysm and new forms (bastardizes!) of hard rock. Very rare in Europe: “one or two festival appearances, I think” according to Romeo, Legs Diamond will create a sensation at our 3rd GARF. Aren’t diamonds forever?
2nd Announcement: Such A Noise
Rudy Lenners, ex-drummer of Scorpions and SteeLover, Jean-Pierre Froidebise, emeritus blues guitarist, Alain Pire, guitarist/singer – specialist of English psyche, and Jean-Piere Cocco, singer/bassist with Latin feeling, form Such A Noise in 1989.
Old briskard of Liege rock, this quartet carburets super on all scenes of Wallonia with perfectly mastered blues/fire rock and surgical precision. Two albums (1992 and 1994) are well in the press (and relayed by Radio 21, ancestor of Classic 21) but SAN loves the turbine and it is on the boards that he shows his quintessence and great science of a music that keeps reborn in times of less and less favourable.
Such A Noise toured with Uli Jon Roth for a tribute to the great Hendrix in 1991 and even secured the opening of Deep Purple at Forest National in 1993. The Golden Quartet has not existed for quite a few years, but since the majority of its protagonists have already played at GARF, they decided to offer us one last concert in Madeleine de Proust style. Let it be known to each other…
3rd Announcement: Teaze
Pure maple Canadians (native from Ontario), Teaze is influenced by the nearby Detroit scene. Bottled up to Ted Nugent’s Amboy Dukes, Grand Funk Railroad, MC5, Iggy Stooges, Alice Cooper, and Mitch Ryder, Teaze has it straight down his pants and is balancing shapes with power rock (a lot), rhythm ‘n’ blues (a little bit) and with a touch of glam (especially in the look!).
Teaze are sizzling, sometimes light melodies, often obvious, as evidenced by their first two sparkling albums: Teaze (1976) and On The Loose (1978).
Finally signed to Capitol (a grail), Teaze releases One Night Stands (1979). A signature piece that contains nuggets like “Heartless World” or “Young & Reckless.”
If Teaze didn’t get the fame he deserved, he wasn’t able to calibrate a hit. Whatever, Teaze is tall and excited to finally visit our lands. Featuring three original members: Mark Bradac (guitar), Brian Danter (bass/vocals) and Mike Kozak (drums). Blessed bread!
4th Announcement: White Spirit
Return of the devil Vauvert! This is the perfect expression that fits the White Spirit case. Absent from any radar screen since 1982, this UFO formation of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal rises from the ashes 40 years (!) later. What a joy to finally remember this self-titled debut album from 1980. And the gruesome performance of Reading 1980. At the time Janick Gers (future Iron Maiden guitarist) and Mel Pearson (keyboards) were the bosses of a quintet that winked at Deep Purple and the cooler Uriah Heep. 1982 is the Swan song as Janick Gers (first started with Ian Gillan solo) is replaced by Mick Tucker (future Tank) and Brian Howe (future singer of Nugent and Bad Co) substitutes Bruce Ruff.
Forty years later, Mel Pearson and Mick Tucker return with an excellent bill Right Or Wrong (a relic of the 2nd ever-released album) and with a new shouter: Alexx Stahl (ex-Bonfire). This is the appeal of an unlikely exclusivity of which we are proud of and which will, for many, be a dark object of desire. Last detail! WHITE SPIRIT NEVER crossed the continent in 43 years (only shows in England, Scotland and Wales)! They are booking this exclusive for our festival!
5th Announcement: HIGHWAY CHILE/Helloise
Two bands for one banner! Original in a world of angry bands. Cool and finally smart at the repertoire and marketing level.
Flashback: the ’80s are coming and European (continental) hardcore! shows its enormous progress and appetite for the (ultra-dominant) Anglo-Saxon world. The Bataves aftershocks (total football!) will not do wallpaper. Revenge and Picture will be in the Priest mold. Vandenberg will set sights on melodies and the USA.
Highway Chile, Rotterdam prices, will not suffer from comparisons with Def Leppard after a first opus in 1983: Storybook Heroes. Frustrated by too many things, Ben Blaauw (the guitar hero) and Ernst van Ee (the cogneur) (for example, a limited singer) quickly choose the Helloïse adventure with the super singer Stan Verbraak. After Cosmogony (1985) and Polarity (1986), doubt is no longer allowed: Helloïse is a sword of melodic hard rock with US-style but with a European sound. The presence of these overrated group(s) is a bargain. This Chile/Helloïse Highway could be the huge surprise of our 3rd GARF.
