If Maid of Stone 2025 offered any profound truth, it was surely this: the universe possesses a mischievous sense of humour. For weeks, the sun had reigned supreme, only for the heavens to open precisely when thousands of music lovers gathered. Rain, thunder, and lightning, a dramatic trio, swept across the festival grounds, offering not just a cool reprieve from the sweltering heat, but a memorable, albeit damp, backdrop to the weekend’s festivities.
Friday
After lively and entertaining opening sets from Hillbilly Vegas and Leadfeather, up next came the worst-kept secret leading up to Maid of Stone, which was the identity of who the ‘secret set’ was going to be. It was the debut of Kris Barras’ Hollow Souls. Kris is, of course, no stranger to Mote Park, having played the Risin’ stage at the very first Ramblin’ Man a decade back, and how far has he travelled since then?
However, the gremlins came out with technical issues, which meant a 20-minute delay before he could start, which had a knock-on effect down the line, meaning several bands were asked to lose one/two songs so headliners Gorilla Riot and Dirty Honey could start on time. Once underway, Hollow Souls were riven with all the blues-drenched rock ’n roll his previous band was known for. With the excellent Phoebe Jane out front, they ran through ‘Borderline,’ ‘Strange Things’ and Led Zeppelin’s ‘Rock ‘n Roll’.
We Three Kings followed and were loud and raucous, with a singer sounding like young Brian Johnson. Myke Gray, rockier than expected, produced a lively set of Rock ‘n Roll with tracks like ‘House of Love,’ ‘Look But Don’t Touch’ before urging us to “stand up for rock ‘n roll”.
Up next were Muddibrooke who were a very pleasant surprise, being the first band to lower the volume and play something not quite in the rock tradition, such as Lesley Gore’s early sixties hit, ‘You Don’t Own Me,’ one of the first feminist rallying cries.
Introduced as ‘living legends,’ Quireboys strolled onto the stage ready to blow a hole in the proceedings, which they do, and are followed by Sweden’s H.E.A.T. who took the stage to the strains of ‘the heat is on,’ and to an amazing reception. Their take on hard rock/AOR went down well, performing tracks like ‘Hollywood’ and ‘Beg Beg Beg,’ with an extract from ‘War Pigs’ thrown in.
Joanne Shaw Taylor was, for this reviewer, the best act on Friday with her blues-soaked rock. It was lovely hearing keyboards not being smothered by guitars and, with songs like ‘All My Love’ and Albert King’s ‘Can’t You See What You’re Doing To Me?’, she was well received by the crowd. Gorilla Riot showed how much they’d improved as a band since I last saw them, and they caught the vibe perfectly with tracks like ‘Who Do You Love,’ ‘Wrong Side Of Town’ and ‘Bad Son’.
It was left to Dirty Honey to close Friday. Entering with AC/DC’s ‘Rock ‘n Roll Damnation,’ they kick off with ‘Gypsy’ and continue with ‘California Dreaming’ (no, not that one), ‘Won’t Take Me Alive,’ amongst others, and they conclude Friday in some style.
Saturday
Proceedings begin with Fury. Alas, I arrive slightly late (traffic) and they’re closing their set with ‘Breakdown’. They rock hard and sounded like a great way to begin the day.
Rosalie Cunningham was simply amazing, one of the best sets of the entire weekend. She oozes class and fronts a band as tight as it gets. She opens with ‘To Shoot Another Day’ and Timothy Martin’s ‘Conditioning School’ and they proceed not to put a foot wrong. We get a new song, ‘Rabbits Foot,’ as well as ‘Donovan Ellington,’ ‘The Smut Peddler’ and ‘Ride My Bike’. This was a stunning set, and it’s just a pity she was placed so far down on the bill when she deserves to be much higher up.
Kim Jennett follows and gives a very energetic performance with her take on rock-based blues. She has a powerful voice and is beginning to be noticed on the scene. Her take on Led Zeppelin’s ‘Immigrant Song’ was impressive.
Welsh three-piece Florence Black arrive onstage chomping at the bit, and they get the crowd moving with their grunge-infused, high-energy classic rock, performing tracks like ‘Blow The World Away’ and ‘Get Down,’ as well as a superb version of Budgie’s ‘Breadfan’.
Playing a short acoustic set in the VIP area as only a four-piece, South Of Salem singer Joey Draper states how weird it is sitting down to play, so he stands. But, even acoustically, they still come across, and the small crowd in the area sings along to ‘Pretty Little Nightmare,’ ‘Hellbound Heart’ and ‘Jet Black Eyes’. It’d be good if the full band were back next year and playing on the main stage.
Sophie Lloyd is up next on the main stage, aided by a couple of special guests, one of whom was Marisa, from The Moths. Sophie can guitar shred with the best of them, and she goes down well in the late afternoon sun, especially her take on Metallica’s ‘Sandman’.
Revenant are a little more low-key after Sophie, but they’re still a high-octane band whose influences range right across the board. They perform good versions of ‘She’s The Best Medicine,’ ‘Coming Back To Life’ and ‘Time Is A Healer’. They’re followed by In Search Of Sun, who comes across like a cross between hip-hop and metal with what looks like a mosh pit occurring at the front.
Ugly Kid Joe continued the mood with their infectious brand of hard/classic rock, which the crowd responded well to. They rock out with tracks like ‘Goddamn Devil,’ ‘No One Survives,’ a splendid version of ‘Cats In The Cradle,’ a manic, very fast ‘Ace Of Spades’ before concluding with ‘I Hate Everything About You’.
Performing what they say is their “wham bam, thank you ma’am” set, due to limited time, Beaux Gris Gris & the Apocalypse (pronounced Bo G G) are a pleasant surprise and are ideal for mid-Saturday evening with their mix of soul, blues and rock. Fronted by charismatic frontwoman Greta Valenti and guitarist Robin Davey, their cocktail of sounds had the crowd moving. ‘Wild Wild Woman’ and ‘Trouble Is Coming’ are high spots of the set before they get the crowd singing along to the closing song, ‘Beaux Gris Gris’.
Headline Act Black Stone Cherry can do no wrong for this crowd ..“this is the only country we’ll fly the Atlantic to play just one gig,” they exclaim, and they start with ‘Me And Mary Jane,’ followed by many of their well-known pieces, including ‘Like I Roll,’ ‘Hell And High Water’ and ‘Burnin’. They’re a lot better than when I last saw them, and they rocked harder, closing out the day with style.
Sunday
Sunday begins in the rain, which doesn’t relent for the first couple of hours, so opening acts Parker Barrow and Queen Horizon play to slightly smaller, drenched crowds. But, by the time Heat Inc perform, the rain stops, the sun makes a welcome appearance and hangs around most of the day. They sounded like a rockier Ramones in places, but they give a good account of themselves, including a new song, ‘Dead Pony Club’.
Marisa & the Moths follow and her effervescent personality, soaring vocals and edgy alt-rock helped brighten the afternoon even more. Her lyrics address contemporary social issues, but on a personal level, with her diatribe about mental health, and how we should look after each other, being received warmly, as were songs like ‘Get It Off My Chest’ and ‘What Are You Waiting For’.
American singer Sari Schorr has a fabulous, dark, bluesy voice, with her set being one of the day’s highlights, even if the brief return of sound gremlins meant her voice wasn’t heard during her second number. She injects real passion and ‘feel’ into tracks like ‘The New Revolution’ and ‘Damn The Reason’. Her slow, bluesy version of ‘Black Betty’ was a delight, as was her take on Led Zeppelin’s ‘Rock ‘n Roll’.
It was the third time lucky for These Wicked Rivers. Covid had earlier stopped them from performing here, and in 2024, family illness meant they had to withdraw, but in 2025 they finally appeared with their blues-infused modern rock. They give rousing versions of ‘Force Of Nature’ and ‘Evergreen,’ concluding with a snippet from Neil’s ‘Hey Hey My My’.
It was a bittersweet set from Stone Broken, who declare they’re stepping back from performing, and this’ll be their last appearance for some while, but they play out as the ‘cool relatives’ to family at the front with tracks like ‘Remedy’ and ‘The Devil You Know,’ plus an acoustic ‘Wait For You’. The amusing onstage repartee between members of Blue Nation suggested they were really enjoying performing. Their connection with the crowd was apparent, and it was nice to see a three-piece band playing tunes rather than riffs, and their style of melodic blues rock was there in ‘Ordinary People,’ ‘Echoes’ and ‘Down By The Riverside’.
Up next were, for many people, the set of the weekend. National treasures Sweet. Apart from Suzi Quatro and the occasional Slade gig, Sweet are the last men standing from the 70’s glam rock era .. which those of us long in the tooth remember well .. and they’re still gigging around the world, playing to crowds who aren’t there just for nostalgia. Sweet can play and they can rock. All the faves were there, including ‘The Sixteens,’ ‘Love Is Like Oxygen’ and ‘Fox On The Run’ before climaxing with THAT song, which saw the whole crowd singing along. Sweet should have been headlining one of the stages.
Instead, Empyre have to follow Sweet, no easy task, but their style of thoughtful atmospheric rock doesn’t attempt to compete with what’d just gone before; they take things slower and tracks like ‘Only Way out,’ ‘Relentless’ and ‘New Republic’ go down well.
So, it’s left to Michael Schenker to wind up the proceedings with a set drawn from his ‘fifty years of UFO.’ He can still play fast and demonstrates he’s lost little of his stagecraft, performing many of UFO’s more popular songs .. ‘Doctor Doctor,’ ‘Only You Can Rock Me,’ ‘Mother Mary,’ ‘Hot ‘n Ready’ and ‘Lights Out,’ concluding with ‘Too Hot To Handle,’ dedicated to lost UFO members Paul Chapman and Pete Way.
And then the curtain comes down, it’s all over for another year and ‘Moteheads’ leave the arena after yet another splendid weekend in the park, the quality of which has set the bar high for next year. See you all in 2026!!
