Overview

After a ten year gap Monsters of Rock finally returned albeit at Milton Keynes Bowl instead of Donington Park - which has now earned its place in many rock fans hearts as the home of rock music!! As a veteran of quite a few Monsters Of Rock events it was going to be interesting to see if Milton Keynes Bowl could even come close to the events held at Donington previously.

Upon arriving at the Milton Keynes Bowl we were immediately robbed of five pounds for parking, which in all fairness is probably reasonable in comparison to some other venues.

Once we had parked up, we trundled our way to the security gates to get into the main arena only to find that the security team were telling the crowds that no bottles or cans or food are allowed to be taken in to the venue. OK, I can understand why they issue that, but when security take a bottle of water off a female, who required water to take her prescribed medication at a certain time they could have used some discretion instead all they could say is that she can buy some water in the venue!! Absolute imbeciles!!!

Once inside the arena, we went looking for something to eat; again I’m used to this type of big outdoor events and so I wasn’t expecting anything to exciting - however I do like to be able to see the prices of things displayed clearly, which simply was not the case at this event - most of the burger vans just listed the items for sale without putting the price up which in effect caused you to order things then faint when they totalled up the price!! But it wasn’t the inflated price, it was the level of hygiene that really bothered me - numerous catering staff were using their fingers to pick up burgers and numerous other food items instead of using the proper equipment.

The venue itself is just a massive field in the shape of a bowl - hence its name! There is absolutely no shade whatsoever, so suntan lotion is an absolute must. Looking around the arena there were plenty of lobster red people who had clearly caught the blazing sun.

There was plenty of room to move around, the bowl looked like it was only half full, but then again with the Download Festival at Donington being a week after this event it was quite an achievement to manage a half full venue.

The old Monsters of Rock made a name for itself by securing some of the top names in the world of rock to play and this was no different:- Deep Purple, Alice Cooper, Journey, Thunder, Queensryche, Ted Nugent, and RoadStar all on the same bill. Admittedly most of the bands on this bill are veterans of the rock world, but these artistes can still kick ass and show the younger bands a thing or two when it comes to live music.

Roadstar or Hurricane Party as they used to be known opened the proceedings, and even though they did well the lack of audience just ruined the atmosphere. Ted Nugent again suffered with the same problem with the lack lustre crowd.

Things seemed to get moving once Queensryche arrived with their theatrical stage act. Finally there was a flicker of life amongst the sunburnt crowd as they belted out some of their old material from ‘Operation: Mindcrime’ and we were even treated to some material from ‘Operation: Mindcrime 2’- which at times is as melodic and anthemic as some of Pink Floyds music, yet at the same time meaty and raw like Iron Maiden's classic material.

Now that things were starting to swing, the momentum kept gaining pace during Thunders set, and over the years Thunder have certainly perfected their live performance. Vocalist Danny Bowes knows all the right buttons to press to keep the crowd entertained - especially during their classic hit ‘Love Walked In’, a guaranteed crowd-pleaser everytime.

By this point there was a definite buzz circling around the Bowl in anticipation of Journey - it has been a very long time since these have played live in the UK, 26 years ago was the last time they played on British soil, if my memory is correct! Well, they certainly made up for lost time with an outstanding set.

From the opening track ‘Separate Ways’ until the moment they left the stage time just seemed to hurtle by, but time always goes a lot faster when doing something you enjoy. the happy smiles and tears on some of the punters faces in the audience made it blindingly obvious that this was one of those very special moments as tracks such as ‘Don’t Stop Believing’ and obviously ‘Anyway You Want It.’ Fingers crossed that Journey don’t leave it so long next time to come and play in the UK.

As the sweltering heat slowly started to fade the stage was set up for the original shock rocker - Alice Cooper - with all the usual gimmicks that we have come to associate with Alice - coffins, ghouls, swords etc.

Before Mr Cooper had even set foot onto the stage part of me was beginning to wonder if he would actually be able to impress a crowd in daylight as the nature of his show relies on a lot of darkness to enhance the stage theatrics.

Thankfully Alice is such a professional artiste that he is able to play anywhere anytime and still impress a crowd. I got the impression that most of the fans who had turned up to the Bowl were only there to see Alice, and at this point the bowl looked like it had about 30,000 people in it waiting for their rock god to make his stage entrance.

Opening with ‘Department Of Youth’, Mr Cooper soon had the audience eating out of his hands, a genuine monster of rock at Monsters of Rock! Not only is Alice a superb vocalist, but he is one of those rare breeds of musicians who is also a great showman, throughout most of the songs he was doing some thing to keep the crowd entertained from throwing out fake Alice Cooper money during ‘Billion Dollar Babies’ or throwing fake diamond necklaces into the audience during ‘Dirty Diamonds.’

All of the traditional stage antics were included in this show:- lots of fake blood, snakes, and the guillotine, in which Alice ends up being beheaded, but later re-appears in the coffin on the other side of the stage.

The crowd lapped up every moment that Alice was on stage, again just like with Journeys set, the time just flew by as all of the golden oldies such as ‘Schools Out’ were belted out. The crowd even chanted for an encore from the mighty shock rocker - and sure enough he didn’t disappoint - the entire crowd jumped up in excitement as the opening guitar notes of ‘Poison’ were kicked out across the Bowl.

Alice Cooper had managed to prove that even at his age he still can rock like no one else can- one of the few artistes who genuinely deserves to be classes as a ‘Legend.’

The crowd started to shrink in size quite dramatically as the punters who had only come to see Alice Cooper decided to go home and not stay for Deep Purple. Despite the microscopic sized crowd, Deep Purple decided to put on an incredible show, and vocalist Ian Gillan seemed to be genuinely enjoying himself on the stage waving to every one that he could see.

The atmosphere was electric as Deep Purple whizzed through their back catalogue of impressive songs. All of the fan favourites were included in this set - ‘Highway Star’, ‘Black Night,’ and ‘Smoke On The Water.’

Most groups would find it difficult to follow Alice Coopers performance, but to Deep Purple's credit they just knuckled down and let their music do the talking. Obviously they wouldn’t be able to outshine Mr Coopers stage antics, and thank god that Deep Purple realised this and decided to have a show with absolutely no gimmicks - just 90 minutes of incredible classic music.

Deep Purple as band seemed to be vibrant, enthusiastic, and genuinely looked like they wanted to be on that stage and nowhere else. Musically the band were tighter than a ducks arse - Guitarist Steve Morse seemed to be so precise with his guitar notes that the U.S Army should employ him to guide their missiles to the right targets!! Deep Purple certainly proved that they were the right choice to headline this Monsters Of Rock event.

In conclusion, the bands were fantastic. Admittedly the music might not appeal to youngsters who are now into whatever NME tells them to like, but for a rock music fan in their twenties and upwards this was a superb day out.

Best of all, the organisers in their wisdom decided to make this event a one stage event so that there was no overlapping and no problems with having to decide which band to see or miss, which is often the case at some of the larger events.

So Monsters of Rock was an incredible day out - with the exception of stupid stewards who don’t know their arse from their elbow and deny water for someone who needs to take medication. Six legendary bands playing timeless classic rock music, all on one stage! What more could you ask for?

Monsters of Rock lives on!!!!!! Hopefully see you there in 2007.

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