Hard Rock Hell XI – Thursday 9th November Overview

After Wednesdays award ceremony shenanigan, my colleague and I awoke at a very respectable hour (before midday). Hangovers fully intact from the copious amounts of Cloven Hoof, Krakken, Jager & many other alcoholic beverages that we imbibed. 

In traditional Hard Rock Hell circles, Thursday is opening night. Sadly, due to circumstances beyond HRH & my control we were decamped that morning from the usual HRH camp to a closed one a few miles away. This caused us to sadly miss the opening ceremony itself and Ryders Creed.

Although they had already played the Awards on the Wednesday, it was great to see Idlewar play a full 50 minute set. The crowd was certainly very responsive considering Idlewar are a relatively unknown band in the UK, but with this performance along with the new album should catapult them into a household name soon.

They were incredible and so much tighter than the last time I had seen them play a full set. If you like your stoner doom rock you have to see these Californian boys live.

Killcode and Black Aces followed closely behind Idlewar. Having, once again seen them the night before. 

Ex Little Angels, Toby Jepson’s band Wayward Sons take to the stage and immediately proved that they’re not going to take any prisoners. This is a band that rocks as hard as they look. 

The legend in his own lunchtime, Dee Snider headlines this night and blows not only every other band off the stage, ripped Hard Rock Hell a new one but also made it incredibly difficult for ANYONE to follow that performance, not just this weekend but for the foreseeable future of Hard Rock Hell.

The set was littered with original tracks, Twisted Sister songs as well as cover versions of Nine Inch Nails, Soundgarden and AC/DC.

Despite what’s been going on in Mr. Sniders personal life, the man played an absolute belter of a show. Dee had the audience eating out of the palm of hand and when he mentioned that he was flying home in the early hours of Friday Morning to be with his mom, there was a massive round of applause that brought the giant to his knees. 

This was one hell of an emotional show not just for Dee but also the crowd.

This set is responsible for my voice sounding as rough as a badgers arse for the entire weekend. Although there are a few other bands that helped me blow my voice out completely (however that’s for another article)

Sniders voice was blown by the time of the encore of Highway To Hell but he was hell-bent on blowing it out completely and he made damned sure the audience were going to do the same.

What a way to finish the opening day of 3 days of rock and metal.

Set List:
We Are the Ones
The Kids Are Back (Twisted Sister song)
Close to You
You Can’t Stop Rock ‘n’ Roll (Twisted Sister song)
Crazy for Nothing
Head Like a Hole (Nine Inch Nails cover)
Rule the World
We’re Not Gonna Take It (Twisted Sister song)
Outshined (Soundgarden cover)
The Price (Twisted Sister song)
So What
Burn in Hell (Twisted Sister song)
Drum Solo
I Wanna Rock (Twisted Sister song)
Highway to Hell (AC/DC cover)

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