Hard Rock Calling 2012 – Friday

Cold Chisel’s first trip to the UK in over thirty years included a rocking set a Hard Rock Calling. The Aussie legends were on fine form, and despite the rain and Hyde Park being practically deserted when Barnesy and co. took to the stage, the boys were in good spirits.

It seemed like the majority of the crowd who had got there early were Australia, and they all sung along loudly with everyone of the Adelaide rockers hits, while a small minority of the crowd looked slightly bewildered.

The band played a variety of hits that spanned over their career including ‘Bow River’, ‘Cheap Wine’ and the raw and emotional ‘Khe Sahn’; which pays homage to an Aussie war veteran. Cold Chisel also played a number of songs from their latest album ‘No Plans’.

Cold Chisel are one of only a few Australian bands who have been honoured with a tribute album, and their set at Hard Rock Calling proved why they were worthy of such an honour.

Next up was the wonderfully energetic Iggy Pop, who at 65 years of age, puts some of today’s artists to shame with his relentless energy. Unfortunately for Mr. Pop despite being surrounded by speaker stacks, the sound levels were terribly low. When talking he was practically inaudible, however, at one point I did manage to hear him instructing the crowd to “wake up”, unaware of how deathly quiet his set was; through no fault of his own.

Iggy and The Stooges knocked out classic tracks such as ‘Johnna’,  and ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’. Iggy’s set was being watched by Led Zepplin’s Jimmy Page, and the crowd let out a massive cheer when a shot of Page stood on the side of the stage appeared on the big screen. Despite the sound levels Iggy and The Stooges got a moshpit going which didn’t stop until they were departing the stage.

It wasn’t long until all the ladies (and some of the men) got overly excited as Chris Cornell stepped out onto the stage.  For the first fifteen minutes or so of Sound Garden’s set it seemed like the nineties grunge heroes, were simply going through the motions, but as the rain started to fall Sound Garden came into their element.

Sound Garden knocked out hit after hit, songs like ‘Pretty Noose’, and ‘Fell On Black Days’ whipped the crowd into a frenzy,  with everyone happily singing and dancing along in the rain. As with Iggy, Sound Garden was faced with low volume due to the sound restrictions at Hyde Park. But, low volume and rain didn’t put a dampener on the opening day of Hard Rock Calling though, that said, I am hoping I get to see these bands in a louder arena soon.