Hardcore Superstar rock out a day of '80s hair metal excess at Germany's Shout It Loud Festival

With a strong resurgence in '80s glam metal/hard rock, festivals are popping up over Europe and North America celebrating this once presumed extinct genre. Such a festival is Shout It Out Loud, now in its second year of showcasing some of the classic '80s American acts alongside the new European artists who missed the excitement first time round. A troupe of animal print spandex-clad rockers of a variety of ages descend down to the RWE-Halle in Mulheim for a day of '80s hair metal excess.

The Netherlands' Vanderbuyst formed in 2008 yet claim to play classic rock with two full-lengths to their name. Their music is a fusion of '70s and '80s hard rock and early new wave of British heavy metal, with influence from bands including UFO, Deep Purple, Thin Lizzy and Van Halen. There is minute modernisation here which, despite their genuinely vintage sound, does little to differentiate the trio from acts who played the same style decades prior. Nonetheless, their enthusiasm satisfies spectators and with only three members, these Dutchmen sustain attention.

Next up is a dual set with US glam metallers Tuff, and Germany’s own Shameless, conjoining their set with the shared vocalist of Stevie Rachelle, more recognised in his role with Tuff.

Despite both bands forming in the late '80s, the music is noticeably very different, probably due to Shameless not actually committing anything to record in the heyday of glam metal. Shameless tracks including 'Queen for a Day' and the new 'Innocence is No Excuse' receive decent applause with their playful and modern rock sound but the significantly heavier Tuff numbers secure the greater ovations with staples including 'All New Generation', 'In Dogs We Trust' and 'I Hate Kissing You Goodbye'. Rachelle still retains his vocal prowess and is quite the catty frontman with his pops at the crowd and ex-Skid Row singer Sebastian Bach. The closing number is 'American Hair Band', Tuff's homage to glam metal to the tune of Kid Rock's 'American Badass'. This is definitely a strong performance.

Perhaps a little low down on the bill in terms of popularity, San Francisco's Vain took to the stage with rapturous applause, Opening with 'Secrets', the first song from their highly-regarded '89 debut 'No Respect', voices clamour along with singer Davy Vain, his unique vocals still as robust and melodic as ever. Vain's music is markedly different to their '80s peers, still glam orientated but with an ahead-of-their-time sound which the new generation of glam bands would echo. The setlist hovers around other 'No Respect' prime cuts, including 'Icy' and the title track 'No Respect', and songs from last year's 'Enough Rope' effort, less glam metal but more modern hard rock. Davy Vain's charisma ensures that all eyes are on him, outperforming his significantly younger bandmates. The crowd begins to chant for 'Beat the Bullet', Vain's most popular track. Oddly enough, they take an encore and return to play this favourite, the audience crooning along to the chorus at full volume. Vain's persistence in the music world is obviously appreciated and they can certainly live up to their old reputation as an established glam band live.

With a noticeably smaller gathering than the more popular Vain and even Tuff, co-headliner Dangerous Toys take the stage to make their first European performance in over two decades. Opening with 'Outlaw' from their eponymous debut, the Texan quintet serves up a tasty platter of Western-infused glam metal, with throat-shredding vocals from frontman Jason McMaster. The group's stage presence is playful and despite a large portion of the audience being very unfamiliar with their music, Dangerous Toys managed to convince them to visibly enjoy themselves.

Their setlist circulates around the first two albums, with the tongue-in-cheek tracks 'Sport'n a Woody', 'Bones in the Gutter' and 'Take Me Drunk' pitted against the excellently crafted 'Queen of the Nile', 'Sugar, Leather and the Nail' and 'Ten Boots'. 'Pissed', 'Strange' and 'Hard Luck Champion' from the darker third album are included for good measure and work well depicting the versatility of the five-piece. McMasters' vocals may not be as high pitched as they were twenty years ago but he certainly delivers a formidable effort that at least does justice to the originals. The final one-two punch unsurprisingly consists of the cowboys' most popular tracks 'Teas'n Pleas'n' and 'Scared', the latter dedicated to all the attendees. The audience response is wildly more lively than at any point in the show and the band clearly appreciate this. With such an overwhelming performance, Dangerous Toys cannot return to Europe too soon and they certainly converted many to their fan base tonight.

The curtain call for the festival is Sweden's Hardcore Superstar, one of the band's at the forefront of the glam metal revival. The beer-stained crowd watching them is huge compared to the original American bands that played before them but this is unsurprising given the average age of the festival goer here. The four-piece's sleaze rock is distinctly modern, drawing more influence from pop punk and modern rock bands with a louder sound but sharing some image similarities with the glam metal acts of the '80s. While vocalist Joakim Berg does a fantastic job at exciting the fans and communicating the, the music struggles to offer much variety.

The catchy songs in the set included 'Split Your Lip', 'Someone Special', 'Wild Boys' and 'Last Call For Alcohol', with plenty of die-hard fans singing each song word-for-word. The closing number is one of the most popular tracks in the modern glam metal scene – 'We Don't Celebrate Sundays', which moves the audience to rapture. A solid performance but seems a little lacking compared to Dangerous Toys, even with the full audience support that Hardcore Superstar had. Yet, many would agree that it was a memorable way to end the festival.

Shout It Out Loud was a definite success, even with the previously announced Quiet Riot and Crashdiet pulling out. The venue could have been smaller, given the large volume of space and seats available at the most populous times of the day. However, the festival will return to the same place in October this year with Bang Tango, Crashdiet, Tigertailz and Crazy Lixx already announced.

Latest Updates