Rock and Roll at Vauxhall!

Last weekend, Vauxhall Holiday Park hosted the Hard Rock Hell Prog 14 Weekender, visitors from the UK (and further) were treated to a celebration of Progressive Rock, featuring bands such as The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Krankshaft, EBB and Sweet Pool.

The festival started Wednesday evening with the HRH Prog Awards Ceremony, which honoured both long standing artists and new talent alike.

Thursday started with the HRH Radio DJ’s Prog Session and later the ‘The Great Big HRH Quiz’ hosted by Jonni Davis, the owner of HRH. There was plenty of ribaldry and a whole host of impressive questions (and team names, some of which were unprintable). This led nicely into the first performance by the popular John Hackett Band, they were a great choice to help launch the festivities and the fun didn’t stop there.

Following on, the evening didn’t disappoint, with performances from Kingdom of Madness (they lived up to their name), Caravan and a much awaited final set from The Crazy World of Arthur Brown who put on an incredible show with costume changes, dancing and classic hits (including Fire, of course). The night ended with an Aftershow Jam hosted by Hats Off Gentleman It’s Adequate.

Friday dawned with both stages hosting a multitude of bands which included Sweetpool, Pendragon (who often perform at HRH events) and an incredible performance by EBB who won the ‘Best New Act Embyro’ award at the HRH Prog Awards Ceremony on Thursday.

There was also a VIP Meet and Greet session with the American rock band Iron Butterfly and another Aftershow Jam hosted by Hats Off Gentleman It's Adequate.

Alongside HRH Prog 14, Hard Rock Hell also host regular events at Vauxhall which include Hard Rock Hell XVII November, Hard Rock Hell Spring Break and a SCIFI Weekender.

The HRH Logo

Jonni Davis, owner of HRH is pleased to be working with Vauxhall and works hard to make sure that the events “bring people out of their bubble and generate positivity”, the visitors always enjoy supporting Yarmouth attractions also which is wonderful, especially as most of these events occur out of the summer season.

 One of the most impressive elements of this festival was the mixture of bands and it is something that brings visitors back year after year. I spoke to David Davies, 65 and Gill Davies, 70 from Cleethropes in Lincolnshire who are long term attendees of HRH events. This year, they were particularly excited to “Watch Black Heart Orchestra”, had “enjoyed Arthur Brown’s set” and “are already excited for the next SciFi weekender”. They also mentioned how impressed they were with “the varied bands” and there is something “to suit all tastes”.

All too soon the final day arrived and with fifteen performances on offer, visitors were spoilt for choice. With the promise of a performance by Iron Butterfly to end the evening, there was a palpable sense of excitement throughout the day and each of the performers were greeted with delight.

A special mention to the lady who lost her boot while dancing, I hope you found it in the end!

My particular favourites from Saturday included Krankschaft, Deviant Amps, The Emerald Dawn, Argham and Iron Butterfly.

Iron Butterfly ended the festival with a fantastic set which included many of their most popular hits and were later presented with the HRH ‘Hero Past Present Future’ Award.

Iron Butterfly

Whilst walking around the venue and chatting to bands and visitors, it was clear everyone had been enjoying themselves. Of course there was some sadness that the festival was almost over, but sadly all good things do have to come to an end.