Traditionally the beginning of July marks the halfway point in the year, however modern traditions denote it’s also time for SOS Festival. This year is the 15th edition of this annual celebration of rock and metal music in North Manchester, an independent festival run by Lynne Hampson, Mark Appleton, Luke Appleton, Chris Appleton and an army of loyal volunteers.

The festival has had a few venues over the years but seems to have found a home at the wonderful Whittles in Oldham, offering both indoor and outdoor stages. Catering facilities are on site too, the bonus this year is the wood fired pizzas, all made to order, providing hungry festival goers with much needed sustenance for a two and a half day festival.

Friday sees the doors open at 6.00pm, giving people time to finish work, get home, get changed and head over for an evening of live music to banish away the blues of a working week. 

So how do you open such a festival…the answer in this case is Damnation’s Hammer, a four piece thrash band hailing from Lancashire, comprising of drums, twin guitars, growly vocals and an absolute bass monster. They kick their set off with ‘Temple of the Descending Gods’ from the 2019 release “Unseen Planets Deadly Spheres”, the set draws down two other tracks from the album, the rest of the set comes from the 2023 album”…Into the Silent Nebula”. Damnation’s Hammer power through their 40 minute set with gusto and are well worthy openers to the weekend’s proceedings.

Next up to open the outdoor stage are VMBRA a four piece hailing from Manchester who are quite melodic and progressive. Even though it is a unique sound, they still manage to deliver a riff driven indie feel to their music, there are nods to Bowie, Nightwish, Kings of Leon and Evanescence. They are led by Ai’s silky vocals and keyboard playing, who announces that this is their first ever festival. After witnessing their set at SOS it’s sure to say they will be back at many more festivals soon.

We return to the indoor stage for a well deserved welcome back to Dead Demons, who last graced this stage two years ago, they hail from South Yorkshire and consist of Mark Hale, Chris Weatherall, Pete Harriman and Jon Booth. A classic straight up no nonsense heavy metal band, reminiscent of an early punky Iron Maiden. Frontman Mark is energetic,  strutting up and down the stage, encouraging the audience to get involved, to which the crowd duly oblige.

Giant Walker are next to take to the stage, hailing from Newcastle, they released their debut album in 2022 taking the accolade of ‘New Noise’ from Metal Hammer. This powerful four piece band deliver their 40 minute set with some tremendous heavy riff driven grooves matched with some great vocals courtesy of frontwoman Steff, definitely ones to watch out for in the future

Blackballed deliver some hard hitting rock riffs and filthy blues grooves, exploding into one huge melting pot of highly tuned, well oiled musical mastery. This three piece are on form tonight, looking dapper in their sharp suits matching their smooth and slick set. The rhythm section of Alex on drums and Tom on bass provide the perfect foil to Marshall on guitar & vocals, a ‘cheeky chappy’ with the patter to charm and engage the crowd.

As the Friday evening draws to a close we only have one band left to play…The Hot Damn!, hailed as rock’s answer to ‘colourful chaos’ and recently signed to Fat Earth Records. The band are currently on tour promoting their soon to be released new album…”Dancing on the Milky Way”, they have definitely brought the party to SOS Festival tonight. Huge hooks, big chorus’ and we’re all soon dancing along with each and every song. The whirling dervish that is Josie smashing out the drums drives the band forward furiously, Lzi pounds out the bass lines to complete the rhythm section. Laurie on guitar and Gill on vocals & guitar round out band, except tonight where there is a special presence on stage… a full size inflatable unicorn! We are definitely in downtown party central and the girls are rocking SOS Festival tonight. The Hot Damn! have recently had airplay on Planet Rock with ‘Jukebox on the Radio’ & ‘Damn!Damn!Damn!Damn!’ which of course are both in the set tonight and show why they are hot property at the moment, a great way to draw a close on Friday night’s proceedings, leaving everyone singing, dancing and ready for day two…

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!
The Hot Damn! + Blackballed + Giant Walker + Dead Demons + VMBRA + Damnation’s Hammer