REVIEW: Thursday at Planet Rockstock 2025
With Quireboys, Bywater Call and more
“I don’t know about you, but it doesn’t feel like a Thursday,” Planet Rock’s Paul Anthony tells us, seeing a full house awaiting Canadian soul rock revivalists Bywater Call. “It feels like the weekend!”
There’s something about the annual Rockstock event, now in its 12th iteration and returning to the familiar environment of Trecco Bay in Porthcawl, that truly does feel like an extended weekend, a welcome departure from anything resembling ‘ordinary’ life.
The first of this year’s bands started several hours earlier on the venue’s Graham Harding Stage, Stone Angels delivering a robust, colourful set that includes handing out free fruit and a guitarist, James Innes, dressed as stunt bike legend Evel Knievel. After that, Doomsday Outlaw’s Phil Poole might apologise for “being depressing” but if hard times are the price to pay for top tunes, then the Sheffield outfit have a successful, if difficult, formula. Phil dedicates ‘If This Is The End’ is his late father.
Thieves Of Liberty play neatly managed, 80s-flavoured rock. If it feels familiar, it’s only in a way that draws you to them, and in celebratory mood, guitarists Kieran Wilson and Liam Lindsley end up playing in the crowd. Departed close out the smaller stage’s programme, and despite various setbacks in their long time together, their current iteration comes armed with a clean, serrated sound. You sense that one big song is all it will take to make their lives considerably busier.
Steve Young & The Real Time Players have the honour of opening Rockstock’s Bernie Marsden Stage. Smart in crimson hat and neck scarf, their eponymous frontman leads some erudite goodtime rock n’ roll, including the open road country twang of ‘Looks Like You’ and an interestingly chilled take on ‘Black Betty’. One thing that’s clear from the start of Steve’s set is how pristine the sound is, a huge credit to everyone working here and to the venue.
Next to take advantage of this is one-man-band Dan Patlansky, whose full-bodied voice brings sandpaper grit to some eloquent, blues-inspired six-string work. Dan uses a loop station, enabling him to record a part and then solo over the top of it. It’s a clever device, used by such artists as electric cellist Jo Quail to create oceans of sound, though Dan wryly points out that it’s “always one step away from disaster.”
Nobody today makes better use of this stage’s widescreen sound than Toronto’s Bywater Call – they’re unquestionably the band of the day, an hour disappearing in what feels like a fraction of that time. Most bands using a brass section would put it on tape; Bywater Call have brought theirs with them, leading to an extraordinary guitar-trumpet ‘duel’ as early as the second song. It’s a luxury to revel in their fulsome sounds and they’re fronted by Meghan Parnell whose emotive voice echoes soul greats like Aretha Franklin. Set highlight is Planet Rock favourite ‘Holler’ which segues – bizarrely, miraculously – into a wondrous take on Led Zeppelin classic ‘Kashmir’.
After Planet Rock’s Mark Jeeves relays some of the more playful claims made by Quireboys legend Spike in a pre-show interview, ruefully adding that “we can’t use any of it”, we know we’re in for some onstage mischief – and so it proves. It’s much later than ‘7 O’Clock’ but like that goodtime classic, it’s most definitely time for the party. Spike’s edge-pushing jocularity feeds into the outfit’s bawdy barroom boogie near enough perfectly. It’s not all japes – Spike emotes a moving tribute to his friend, the late Quireboys guitarist Guy Bailey, and ‘King Of New York’ turns out to be one of those songs that has grown wings over time and taken on a new resonance.
The band, which includes Thunder alumni Luke Morley and Harry James, plus original bassist Nigel Mogg, are more than capable of shifting mood from light to shade and back again within the same song, and it’s not just classics like ‘Hey You’ and ‘There She Goes Again’ that impress. ‘Happy’ from 2024’s ‘Wardour Street’ has so much sleaze within its funky groove that it’s almost sinister. “I’m not one to moan,” offers Spike towards the end, “but it’s just a treat to be alive, innit?” Here, here to that.
Thursday at Planet Rockstock 2025 in photos:
Quireboys
Quireboys headline The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Stone Angels
Stone Angels open The Graham Harding Stage on Thursday at Planet Rockstock 2025
Stone Angels
Stone Angels open The Graham Harding Stage on Thursday at Planet Rockstock 2025
Stone Angels
Stone Angels open The Graham Harding Stage on Thursday at Planet Rockstock 2025
Stone Angels
Stone Angels open The Graham Harding Stage on Thursday at Planet Rockstock 2025
Stone Angels
Stone Angels open The Graham Harding Stage on Thursday at Planet Rockstock 2025
Stone Angels
Stone Angels open The Graham Harding Stage on Thursday at Planet Rockstock 2025
Doomsday Outlaw
Doomsday Outlaw play The Graham Harding Stage on Thursday at Planet Rockstock 2025
Doomsday Outlaw
Doomsday Outlaw play The Graham Harding Stage on Thursday at Planet Rockstock 2025
Doomsday Outlaw
Doomsday Outlaw play The Graham Harding Stage on Thursday at Planet Rockstock 2025
Doomsday Outlaw
Doomsday Outlaw play The Graham Harding Stage on Thursday at Planet Rockstock 2025
Doomsday Outlaw
Doomsday Outlaw play The Graham Harding Stage on Thursday at Planet Rockstock 2025
Doomsday Outlaw
Doomsday Outlaw play The Graham Harding Stage on Thursday at Planet Rockstock 2025
Thieves of Liberty
Thieves of Liberty play The Graham Harding Stage on Thursday at Planet Rockstock 2025
Thieves of Liberty
Thieves of Liberty play The Graham Harding Stage on Thursday at Planet Rockstock 2025
Thieves of Liberty
Thieves of Liberty play The Graham Harding Stage on Thursday at Planet Rockstock 2025
Thieves of Liberty
Thieves of Liberty play The Graham Harding Stage on Thursday at Planet Rockstock 2025
Thieves of Liberty
Thieves of Liberty play The Graham Harding Stage on Thursday at Planet Rockstock 2025
Quireboys
Quireboys frontman Spike interviewed by Mark Jeeves in the Trooper Lounge at Planet Rockstock 2025
Quireboys
Quireboys frontman Spike interviewed by Mark Jeeves in the Trooper Lounge at Planet Rockstock 2025
Quireboys
Quireboys frontman Spike interviewed by Mark Jeeves in the Trooper Lounge at Planet Rockstock 2025
Quireboys
Quireboys frontman Spike interviewed by Mark Jeeves in the Trooper Lounge at Planet Rockstock 2025
Departed
Departed play The Graham Harding Stage on Thursday at Planet Rockstock 2025
Departed
Departed play The Graham Harding Stage on Thursday at Planet Rockstock 2025
Departed
Departed play The Graham Harding Stage on Thursday at Planet Rockstock 2025
Departed
Departed play The Graham Harding Stage on Thursday at Planet Rockstock 2025
Departed
Departed play The Graham Harding Stage on Thursday at Planet Rockstock 2025
Departed
Departed play The Graham Harding Stage on Thursday at Planet Rockstock 2025
Steve Young & The Real Time Players
Steve Young & The Real Time Players open The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Steve Young & The Real Time Players
Steve Young & The Real Time Players open The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Steve Young & The Real Time Players
Steve Young & The Real Time Players open The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Steve Young & The Real Time Players
Steve Young & The Real Time Players open The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Steve Young & The Real Time Players
Steve Young & The Real Time Players open The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Steve Young & The Real Time Players
Steve Young & The Real Time Players open The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Steve Young & The Real Time Players
Steve Young & The Real Time Players open The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Dan Patlansky LSS
Dan Patlansky LSS plays The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Dan Patlansky LSS
Dan Patlansky LSS plays The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Dan Patlansky LSS
Dan Patlansky LSS plays The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Dan Patlansky LSS
Dan Patlansky LSS plays The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Dan Patlansky LSS
Dan Patlansky LSS plays The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Dan Patlansky LSS
Dan Patlansky LSS plays The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Dan Patlansky LSS
Dan Patlansky LSS plays The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Dan Patlansky LSS
Dan Patlansky LSS plays The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Bywater Call
Bywater Call play The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Bywater Call
Bywater Call play The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Bywater Call
Bywater Call play The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Bywater Call
Bywater Call play The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Bywater Call
Bywater Call play The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Bywater Call
Bywater Call play The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Bywater Call
Bywater Call play The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Bywater Call
Bywater Call play The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Bywater Call
Bywater Call play The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Bywater Call
Bywater Call play The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Quireboys headline The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Quireboys headline The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Quireboys headline The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Quireboys headline The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Quireboys headline The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Quireboys headline The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Quireboys headline The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Quireboys headline The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Quireboys headline The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Quireboys headline The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Quireboys headline The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Quireboys headline The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Quireboys
Quireboys headline The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Quireboys
Quireboys headline The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Quireboys
Quireboys headline The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Quireboys
Quireboys headline The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Quireboys
Quireboys headline The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Quireboys
Quireboys headline The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Quireboys
Quireboys headline The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Quireboys
Quireboys headline The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Quireboys
Quireboys headline The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Quireboys
Quireboys headline The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Quireboys
Quireboys headline The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025
Quireboys
Quireboys headline The Bernie Marsden Stage at Planet Rockstock 2025