Rock Regeneration

Jun19

Loverocks Festival 2025 – Day 1

on June 19th, 2025 at 18:43

St Leonards Farm, Dorset

Featuring: XIII Doors / Zac & The New Men / The Outlaw Orchestra / Shiraz Lane / South Of Salem

This weekend is going to be a scorcher if the weathermen are to be believed. After a long weekend last week at the Download Festival, I’m staying local in St. Leonards. One of my favourite events on the outdoor festival calendar is Loverocks Classic Rock & Blues Festival. An event with a real intimate feel to it and one that is now in it’s eighth year.

This year there is a slight change in the format with just one stage and after a quick check of last years line-up shows there are no less acts. The event officially starts on Thursday evening with 5 bands to wet the appetite for the days ahead. I have been fortunate enough to attend virtually all of the festivals and I have made lots of friends along the way. The first part of the weekend is getting reacquainted and catching up with a host of familiar faces.

The festivals instigator is Jim Love, a real music fan who throughout the year is always on the lookout for new acts to play here. Jim and his partner Jo can be found at a host of local venues checking out what’s on offer on the local Rock scene. When Jim and his team put a line-up together you know it’s going to be good with plenty of new discoveries too.

The event is situated on a campsite and the main stage is within a short walking distance of all the pitches. There is a brick built multi-cubicle toilet with showers within shouting distance of the stage. There are a host of food stalls to choose from including Chinese, Pizza, Wraps, Burgers and Crepes as well as a coffee bar. Also more importantly, there is a well stocked bar that sells a host of local beers and ciders run by a friendly bunch of volunteers.

XIII Doors 1–2–3–4–5–6–7–8–9

After copious amounts of chat and banter on this warm midsummer evening, it is time for the first band. XIII Doors are a Hard Rock quartet from the West Coast of Southern Ireland and as they kick off, the sound of their considerable Flying V and Gibson Les Paul twin guitar is joy to our ears. These debutants to this festival released their debut album back in February entitled “Into The Unknown”. The band appear to have influences from many of my favourite band include Alter Bridge, The Cult, and Alice in Chains. Their instrumentation is impressive and the four make one hell of a great noise together and certainly start things off on a high.

With a job to keep the momentum going South Wales band Zac And The New Men take to the stage at 6pm. These four 19 year old friends bring the energy and an armful of tunes. With their typical two guitar, bass and drums approach they show once again that the Loverocks booking agents have a keen eye for talent. Zac’s soaring vocals; coupled with some creative hard-hitting atmospheric, melodic guitar riffs, coupled with significant rhythms encapsulate the crowd. The infectious “Take Me Away” and ethereal track “The Lesson” show what these youthful enthusiastic guys are capable of and I enjoyed every second.

Zac And The New Men 1–2–3–4–5–6–7–8–9

The Outlaw Orchestra are always a great addition to any festival, the three-piece from Hampshire comprise of Dave Roux (lead vocals and guitar), Ryan Smith (vocals, drums and percussion) and Pete Briley (banjo, lap steel and bass). Firstly you always get some priceless banter from them, Dave’s Mum is in the audience and he promised not to swear – that lasted all of about 2 minutes! The Americana influenced veins pulsate with some remarkably infectious tunes and it takes no time to get the audience on their side. They fly by the seat of their pants with no set list, but who cares when a band are this great. Tunes like “Born to be a Thief”, “Bag Of Bones” and “Back to Georgia” keep the Fiesta atmosphere right until the end.

The Outlaw Orchestra 1–2–3–4–5–6–7–8–9

The penultimate band of the evening are Finnish Rock act Shiraz Lane who arrive on stage with copious amounts of long hair and leather. The five-piece are a confident act with plenty of energy and show some great musical traits. It’s their debut here and the band fail to connect with the crowd in the way some of the previous acts have, despite a sterling effort. Tracks like “Keep It Alive” and the uplifting “Harder To Breathe” show off their fine creativity.

Shiraz Lane 1–2–3–4–5–6–7–8–9

Tonight’s headliners need no introducing; they are Bournemouth’s South Of Salem who only formed in 2018, it feels like they have been around so much longer. Their many achievements are just being ticked off one by one and to date they are one of Dorset’s most popular Rock acts. Tonight their fans are out in force and the atmosphere and anticipation can be felt as they take to the stage. With two albums worth of material to pull from, along with another in process the band have a lot of material to choose from to bewitch their audience.

Lead vocalist Joey is a proper visual front man and at every opportunity is whipping up the audience, not that they need much encouraging. The rest of the band are also engaging with Kodi – Guitar, Denis – Guitar and Dee – Bass pulling some fantastic rock n’ roll poses at the front of the stage.

South Of Salem 1–2–3–4–5–6–7–8

Tonight the bands production has additional pyrotechnics that include sparkling fountains and flames shooting high into the air, as the night draws over us the effects get more spectacular. This combined with an awesome light show, a fabulous Dorset Sunset and this highly visual band make the evening something quite special. The epic track “Demons Are Forever” with it’s timing just hit the right moment between light/dark. “Pretty Little Nightmare” with it’s Neon Pink lightshow pretty much did the same.

We are gifted a brand new song called “Fallout”, which opens with some epic drummimg from James, before the big sound of the melodic guitars joins along with Dee’s significant basslines and Joey’s powerfully delivered vocals. We also get for the second time tonight a cover of “Savage Garden’s “To The Moon and Back” and to be fair SOS’s version just edges it.

A great conclusion to the first day of this fantastic festival, the weather forecast still looks amazing for the rest of the weekend so it’s good night from me to all you happy campers and we will be back tomorrow for more of the same.

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