LIVE REVIEW: Melodic Rock Fest 2020 - Melbourne, Australia

Well I guess there there are a million ways you could start this review and I guess over the next few days a whole heap more will be said about the events surrounding this year’s Melodic Rock Fest in Melbourne. And yes I know there are a huge herd of elephants in the room but for the purposes of this review I’m gonna talk music, just music and that’s all. All I can say it that it was an emotional time for all concerned in the lead up, but on Saturday 7th May 2020 a show happened at The Croxton Park Hotel (a lazy hour’s tram from my St Kilda Hotel) that made a lot of people smile.

We were promised 13 international acts and we got 6 and the 12 locals turned into 3 but in the end it all fitted nicely into a more than memorable 12 hours of top notch rock and roll.

Sadly for openers ‘Saint Scarlett‘ the room was still filling when they got their shot on the main stage but their short, sharp four song set was pretty cool, nice and melodic with an 80’s vibe and a great attitude.

To put distances into context Ragdoll, one of the other two ‘local’ acts that made the final event actually traveled from Perth Western Australia, which as I told those over from Europe and further afield was more than the distance from London to Moscow (2122 miles as opposed to 1784 miles) and only just less than a trip from Los Angels to New York (2789 miles). Their brand of muscular modern melodic rock went down well with the growing crowd and some even cited them as one of their main reasons to be there having seen them on one of their Stateside jaunts.

The final local act ‘White Widdow‘ has a strong local following too and easily could have hooked a bigger crowd (as could Ragdoll) had it not been for taking the stage at 2.30 pm local time whilst the venue was still filling. They did put on a crowd pleasing set though and their set ensured the room was already lively despite the early hour.

Judging by the huge influx before Midnite City though it was clear that many of those that had made it to the rearranged one day event were here to see the boys from the UK. After having seen them play the Thursday night show with Reckless Love, White Widdow and Warbirds (who though advertised did not appear) I knew we were in for a treat but it surpassed all expectations with Rob Wylde and co tearing up the stage and by my estimations pulling the biggest audience of the entire day.

It’s not every day that you can say a band pulled off the perfect set but Midnite City were on fire from the very first note to the last. With two classic albums behind them and despite a few technical delays they ruled the Croxton Park stage like a band made to play far bigger stages. The setlist was flawless and just seeing the joy on people’s faces as they sang along to literally every word showed you how appreciative the crowd were of these relative newcomers.

Later this week I’ll be reviewing each of the acts that appeared at this year’s event in more detail with extended photo galleries and set-lists but until then in terms of numbers and audience participation I’d say that for many Midnite City stole the show, but it was with some tough competition.

Before five o’clock when most people would normally be knocking off work and thinking about a night out Janet Gardner took the stage to a similar size crowd, and it was this one-two pairing that just shaded the numbers. Sat in the pit I was enjoying the show so much I think the opening song had finished before I even remembered to click the shutter on the camera. The band knew how to work the stage and the audience knew how to show their love and perhaps the best thing about the set for me was that the wonderful new material went over just as well as the old Vixen classics, and even the cover of Collective Soul’s ‘Gel’ worked to perfection (I know some will get the connection there).

Janet’s is another set of course that we will be covering in more detail later this week and by the end of it everyone local I spoke to who hadn’t seen her sideshow on the previous Wednesday night was kicking themselves. Some bands just have that ‘X’ factor on stage and these guys had it in spades.

Ron Keel, what can you say about that guy? I’ve never met anyone who is so overwhelmingly positive and who has time for absolutely everyone. I first bumped into him on Thursday checking out Midnite City at the Prince and every time thereafter he’d always take the time to say ‘hi’ and chat. Backed by part of White Widdow on stage he is the consummate performer and he mixed his set up beautifully with Steeler, Keel and Ron Keel Band classics and some choice covers – from the iconic ‘Because the Night’ and the crowd-pleasing Rose Tattoo cover ‘Rock and Roll Outlaw’ the the show-stopping cover of ‘Heaven and Hell’ that closed. Again more on Ron later this week.

If you wanted to see something truly memorable then Kip Winger‘s ‘acoustic’ set was something to behold and something that broke up the night wonderfully well. I, like many I’m sure, was mesmerized by the talent of the man and his percussionist. Whether he was taking the old Winger classics and twisting them or opening your eyes to his sublime solo work he held the crowd in the palm of his hand (and even appeared later to supply backing vocals for Enuff Z’Nuff). It was a set that just left you wanting more.

The final two acts of the night had to be at the top of their game just to compete and they were. On a night of many firsts (Midnite City, Janet Gardner, Reckless Love and Ron Keel all played their first shows in Australia this year) another Australian debut came in the form of Enuff Z’Nuff.

As a huge fan of the music what has happened between Donnie Vie and Chip Z’Nuff over the years is of course a matter of record and of course no one writes or sings like Donnie Vie. Saying that Chip has a great band behind him and the two guitars really does work a treat as it did with Donnie and Derek back in the day. This music of course was sublime, and Chip was as endearing as you might imagine and the crowd loved it. Hearing the songs tonight brought back so many memories for me and that opening salvo of songs from ‘Strength’ was breathtaking.

Tonight’s headliners Reckless Love I really can’t say enough wonderful things about – when I saw them on Thursday night I was blown away by the sheer relentlessness and stage presence of the band and particularly Olli who I think reminded a lot of people of a young (and even more beautiful) David Lee Roth, even down to the trademark high kicks.

Getting Reckless Love down to Australia to play the first dates of their Tenth Anniversary of the first album tour was perhaps Melodic Rockfest’s greatest coup and I’d challenge anyone who saw these guys to be unmoved. In all my years of attending shows I’d have these guys close to the very top and with a flawless setlist, crowd-participation and the headlining slot things ended on a real high.

There will be more on Reckless Love and many of the other individual sets and loads more photos later in the week.

I know that there has already been a lot said about the Festival and the organisation and there will be a lot more said no doubt in coming weeks, but at the end of the day that’s another conversation entirely. What matters is the music. Today the music won.

The bands that came and played today should be immensely proud of what they did and the performances they put on. It was a glorious day of great music and lots of smiling faces. Of course it wasn’t what was promised though and I can full appreciate that a lot of fans traveled a lot of miles to get here to see a shadow of the line-up they had hoped for. It was perhaps best summed up by a couple I spoke to from the US who told me that today had been one of the best shows they had ever seen, but then added that if this was the line-up that had been advertised when they bought their tickets, especially with the late cancellation of FM they would probably never have stepped on the plane.

Whether Melodic Rockfest takes place next year or not we will have to wait and see. I’m sure a lot of lessons have been learned. I just hope that we get to see more of this music we all clearly love Downunder however and whenever it arrives.

PHOTO GALLERY