Still held in the gorgeous surrounds of Mote Park, this warm July weekend saw Maidstone become the epicentre of the rock universe with the staging of the fourth Maid of Stone festival. Coming in a summer that has seen a number of smaller festivals either scale back or, sadly, cancel altogether, the fact that Maid of Stone continues to thrive is cause for massive congratulations to everyone involved in its staging, not to mention the several thousand ‘Moteheads’ who make the annual pilgrimage to Kent so enjoyable.
FRIDAY
Friday’s fare offered a mix of bluesy country rock with a touch of hard rock thrown in, though, with most bands, the emphasis was very much on the rock.
Opening act Cassidy Paris came and went, as, attempting to resolve a ticketing mix-up, I missed her entire set. Regional One brought their ‘genre-defying rock’ to the park but, sadly, were plagued either with guitar malfunctions or poor sound, with the gremlins eventually cutting their set short. What they were able to put across, however, was well received.
Blues rock artist Anthony Gomes, with his white flying V guitar, put the emphasis mostly on the rock, which he performed admirably. ‘One Last Time’ was his main bluesy track, and he got the crowd moving with numbers like ‘White Trash Princess’ and ‘Praise The Loud’, concluding a very lively set with Led Zeppelin‘s ‘Whole Lotta Love’.
Billed as London’s loudest band, Devere did their utmost to live up to it with lots of loud riffs and attitude. They rock hard in the mid-afternoon sun and show why they’re a band making their way, with tracks such as ‘Empire’ and ‘Until The End’.
German band The New Roses were an unknown quantity to many, but they went down well with a set of well-performed hard rock. ‘Hydration’ was dedicated to the fans standing out in the warm mid-afternoon sun, and they got the crowd moving with rockers like ‘Usual Suspects’ and ‘Down By The River’ (not Neil Young’s song).
After this, Texas’ Sam Morrow played a gorgeous set of southern rock boogie, opening with some quite delicious slow blues. The influence of ZZ Top was evident on tracks like ‘Saturday Night’ and ‘South Texas Women’ before he concluded a fine set with a surprisingly bluesy version of Pink Floyd‘s ‘Have A Cigar’, which he nailed superbly.
FM follow on and, from the cheer they receive coming onstage, it’s clear they’re amongst friends, and they’re the first band Friday to feature keyboards. They also play songs rather than guitar riffs, and their brand of melodic rock goes down well. They don’t rock the Mote, but they make their mark with pieces like ‘Digging Up The Dirt’, ‘Killed By Love’, ‘Synchronised’ and ‘That Girl’, which are all performed well, and they merit the reception their set receives.
Morganway give the crowd their take on US west coast rock with a decidedly UK folkie edge, and they do it really well. From the opener ‘Devils Canyon’, they rock and reel and get a real buzz going in the crowd, with violin and guitar mixing together nicely. It was surprising to hear Alanis Morissette’s ‘You Oughta Know’ performed, but it was carried off well. Little wonder they’re favourites with legendary DJ ‘Whispering’ Bob Harris.
Nashville’s A Thousand Horses make clear their delight at playing in the UK, and their set of hard-hitting Americana is played with real swagger. They give us a number of songs from their latest album, White Flag Down, such as ‘Shadows’ and the heartfelt ‘Part Of My Story’, plus tracks like ‘First Time For Everything’ and ‘Dead Man Walking’, before concluding a fine set with ‘Highway Sound’ and its occasional nod to the Allmans.
If you can get past their name, blues rock band Crow Black Chicken (“we’re from the deep south … of Ireland”) performed what was, for this reviewer, possibly the set of the day, with a superb selection of mainly slow, mid-tempo rootsy blues tunes. Apart from the concluding piece, a souped-up version of bluesman Blind Willie Johnson’s ‘John The Revelator’, I didn’t know any of their songs, but the ‘feel’ that guitarist and vocalist Christy O’Hanlon, who resembles Canned Heat‘s Bob Hite from a distance, injects into his music makes this a very enjoyable set.
The opening day was closed by The Temperance Movement, now back after a four-year hiatus. They open with ‘Ain’t No Telling’ and mix new songs like ‘Always Been Love’ and ‘Silverlight Blues’ with older pieces like ‘Caught In The Middle’ and ‘Smouldering’, before closing with ‘Midnight Black’. Good to see them back again.
SATURDAY
If Friday was loaded with country rock, Saturday was definitely the ‘Headbangers Ball’, with a series of bands intent on rocking the park to its core.
It’s a thankless task for any band to open proceedings just before midday, fans still queuing to get in, people queuing for the first beers, and so on, but opening acts Haxan, who thanked the crowd for inviting them to breakfast, and Untamed Silence proved they were up for it with quite lively sets, both making a mark.
Xander & the Peace Pirates changed the pace with a set of slow, bluesy, soul-infused countrified tunes. Keith Xander was born without a right arm below the elbow, so plays with a prosthesis and hook with a pick attached and, to see him play, you’d never know it. Tracks like ‘Let’s Go’ and ‘Dancing Around The Light’ warm up the early-afternoon crowd nicely.
Armed with only ‘three chords and the truth’, the truth being that they believe in ‘keeping the music real, without the use of gimmicks or backing tracks’, three-piece band Kit Trigg followed on and gave a set of high-energy rock, concluding a rousing turn with the throbbing ‘Going For Glory’.
Up next, one of the best sets of the entire weekend. The UK’s longest-running all-female rock band Girlschool took to the stage and blew a huge hole in the afternoon with a coruscating set drawing on songs from right across their long and storied career. Opening with ‘Demolition’, they rock out with a vengeance and show that their many years on the road have turned them into a force to be reckoned with onstage. ‘Screaming Blue Murder’, ‘Out To Get You’, ‘C’mon Let’s Go’ and the sing-along ‘It Is What It Is’ follow before ‘Race With The Devil’ and Motörhead‘s ‘Bomber’ round off a superb set of well-played classic rock. Larry deps on drums for Denise Dufort, who was ‘feeling poorly’, and he slots in effortlessly.
Any band following this would have been up against it, but The Rattlesnakes gave it their best shot, with a high-energy set that fluctuates between thrash metal and hard rock, showing they’re capable of following. They literally ran onto the stage and hit the ground running with the very lively ‘Firestarter’, and they keep up the momentum with tracks like ‘Love Me Harder’ and ‘Forever’, concluding with ‘Crazy For Vengeance’.
Following his tragic passing earlier this year, there’s a huge outpouring of love, sympathy and goodwill for Phil Campbell’s Bastard Sons, and they did full justice to their late father’s memory. Phil’s taped voice began the set, introducing Bowie’s ‘Heroes’, before they began rocking with ‘We Are The Bastards’ and ‘Going To Brazil’. They perform ‘These Old Boots’, from Phil’s solo album, before giving us ‘Ace Of Spades’ and ‘Born To Raise Hell’, finishing with a full-on, blistering version of Motörhead‘s ‘Killed By Death’. Todd Campbell tells the crowd, “our father taught us many things, including how to rock.” Happily, Phil’s legacy lives on.
Being honest, I found pagan Viking metal band LN a challenge that, I’m afraid, I didn’t rise to. The growly vocals and distorted guitars didn’t sound like my thing, so this was my cue to stroll around the arena, get a beer and check out the merch stand. Good luck to LN in their career, but count me out.
Canadian hard rock band Danko Jones were certainly entertaining. Guitarist and vocalist Danko follows in the same tradition as fellow Canuck Devin Townsend, in that he isn’t short of a comment or an opinion, but he walks it like he talks it, and he can certainly play, as he proves on pieces like ‘Do You Wanna Get High’, ‘I’m In A Band’ and ‘Every Day Is Saturday Night’.
Beginning with an apology for being a year late in arriving, they’d had to cancel at short notice in 2025, Battle Born were clearly determined to make up for lost time and rocked hard, and sometimes fast, with an up-tempo set. Judas Priest‘s ‘Electric Eye’ was impressively covered, and they also perform ‘Powerforce’ and ‘One More Night’ before informing us they were ‘Born To Battle’.
Special guest on the Inferno stage was legendary German rock goddess Doro. Introduced as the ‘reigning queen of heavy metal’, her set demonstrated just how she’d merited the sobriquet. She and her band rocked hard and got the crowd going with ‘Burning The Witches’, ‘Raise Your Fist’ (we did) and the slower ‘Deep Inside My Heart’. ‘All We Are’ got the crowd singing along before she closed a rousing set with Judas Priest‘s ‘Breaking The Law’. Her voice sounded a little raspy in places, but she’s still got ‘it’, and Doro’s still the queen.
English rock duo The Virginmarys consist of just two guys, one with a guitar and the other with a minuscule drum kit but, despite this, they demonstrate you don’t need batteries of amps to get things rocking. The last band I’d seen with so little equipment who really rocked it up were The Stray Cats. The Virginmarys flit across the genres, coming across as rocky, then occasionally punkish, and they close the day on the Firestarter stage with a rousing set that was very much enjoyed.
Headlining a splendid day in the park were classic rock legends, the mighty Saxon. Any dictionary definition of classic rock should simply show a picture of Saxon and, tonight, they showed exactly why. Coming onstage to a backdrop of flames, they open with ‘Hell Fire And Damnation’, after which the pace never relents and, from the crowd’s viewpoint, they can do no wrong, with Doug Scarratt and Brian Tatler a formidable front line. There were Saxon classics galore: ‘And The Band Played On’, ‘The Eagle Has Landed’, ‘Sacrifice’, ‘Denim And Leather’, ‘Motorcycle Man’ and ‘Heavy Metal Thunder’, before they close with ‘747 (Strangers In The Night)’ and ‘Princess Of The Night’.
Before ‘The Eagle Has Landed’, Biff tells the crowd they’d brought the Eagle with them but the stage’s slightly too small, “maybe in a couple of years …”. Were we being teased, or is Biff dropping hints?
SUNDAY
From Sunday’s mix of bands on the bill, the theme seemed to be ‘there’s something here for everybody’, unless you’re a prog rock fan!
Unavoidably held up, I miss the opening two acts and arrive halfway through Tuk Smith & the Restless Hearts‘ set and, from what I heard, they sounded good. I hope they return, as I’d like to hear more from them.
Square Wild followed on. They’re an indie rock band with a female vocalist who sounded eerily like seventies chanteuse Noosha Fox. They mix several styles in their music, but they can also be hard-hitting. They galvanise the early-afternoon crowd with some powerful music and show why they were recently voted ‘best unsigned band’ by Prog Magazine.
Up next on the Inferno stage was the reformed Heavy Pettin’. On and off, they’ve been around the scene since the mid-eighties and, after a lengthy hiatus, are now back together, with a new album out later in the year. They open with its title track, ‘Rock Generation’, and show they’ve not lost their rock edge. They give us a couple of oldies in ‘What Time’s Love’ and ‘Sole Survivor’, as well as ‘In And Out Of Love’, before telling us to ‘Keep On Rockin”, as if we needed reminding. Maybe they’ll stay longer this time.
British rock ‘n’ roll band Silveroller follow. There are no big riffs with them; they have keys well to the fore, the vocalist sang rather than shouted, and they perform a very enjoyable set that was lapped up by the crowd, with tracks like ‘Black Crow’, ‘Oh Mama Go With Grace’ and the more rocky ‘Freedom’s Got A Hold On Me’. They make an event out of telling the crowd about having to sign a contract with a record label, and would we all be their witnesses?
South Carolinian blues rock artist Hannah Wicklund opens with a long, slow guitar intro before playing ‘Bomb With The Breeze’. Her three-piece band are very tight, and she plays some delightful guitar touches on tracks like ‘Don’t Say Goodbye’ and ‘Do You’. She brings on a flautist for her final numbers, which include Janis Joplin’s ‘Piece Of My Heart’ as well as a riveting take on CSNY‘s hard-hitting ‘Ohio’ which, given the current climate, was well received. She’s returning in the autumn; look out for her.
Similar to the Bastard Sons, there’s an enormous wave of love for The Wildhearts, as it’s known Ginger has a terminal strain of cancer but, eschewing treatment, he’s determined to rock on till the bitter end, and rock he does. Coming onstage to a great reception, the band’s mix of aggressive hard rock tinged with a pop sensibility is well received. Songs like ‘Nothing Ever Changes But The Shoes’ and ‘Slaughtered Authors’ go down well, and their version of the Cheers theme, ‘Where Everybody Knows Your Name’, is a delight. Who knows if we’ll ever see them again, but they’ve left their imprint.
Aethoria have a hard-hitting rock sound and a powerhouse vocalist in Mecia-Jade Holden, who can really project herself onstage. ‘Bring Me Home’ is a fast, almost thrash metal rocker, and they have some pulsating riffs in tracks like ‘Stepping Stones’, concluding a fine set by telling us not to take life so seriously on the track ‘Popcorn’.
Special guests on the Inferno stage are Scottish hard rockers The Almighty, who perform one of the day’s longer sets. They reformed a couple of years back, so maybe this time around it’ll be third time lucky. Whatever the case, it doesn’t seem to have hampered their style, and they can still rock up quite an atmosphere, with opener ‘Power’ followed by ‘Jonestown Mind’, ‘Over The Edge’ and ‘Full Force Loving Machine’, plus the acidic ‘Jesus Loves You But I Don’t’ and ‘A Little Lost Sometimes’, before concluding with ‘Free And Easy’. Maybe this time they’ll stay for longer.
Chez Kane couldn’t be more different from the previous act. She’s a Welsh singer with a band reminding me very much of Heart, and Chez is buzzing when she thanks Maid of Stone for allowing her to headline a festival bill for the first time. She’s an energetic performer and certainly doesn’t appear to lack stage confidence. ‘Too Late For Love’, ‘Wreckless’ and ‘Night Of Passion’ are all played well, and they conclude with a rousing ‘Powerzone’.
Another superb weekend in the park was closed by rock legends Uriah Heep, who’d only flown in from Germany earlier in the day and, like the previous night’s headliners Saxon, proved, to use a football cliché, that form is temporary but class is permanent. With fifty-plus years of material to choose from, their set is a judicious mix of newer songs, such as opening numbers ‘Grazed By Heaven’ and ‘Save Me Tonight’, and older songs like ‘Sweet Lorraine’ and ‘Stealin”. There’s an airing for ‘The Magician’s Birthday’, which sees Mick Box go into guitar hero mode for several minutes, as well as time-honoured, evergreen Heep classics like ‘Gypsy’, ‘July Morning’ and ‘Lady In Black’, before they conclude with ‘Sunrise’ and the classic ‘Easy Livin”. A set well worth missing the World Cup final for!
And then, all too soon, another weekend at Mote Park has flown by, and ‘Moteheads’ head off back to their tents or, in my case, home, all rocked out but ready to do it all again in ’27.
