Review: Maid Of Stone 2026 – Day 3

Mote Park, Maidstone – July 19^th, 2026

Reviewer – Phil Honley

Photographers – Phil Honley & Dan Mann

Sunday was always going to be a ‘what if’ day because kicking off at 8pm we had the 2026 World Cup Final and what if the England team had reached those heady heights in the tournament. I believe the music would have prevailed over the football if England had been successful in securing a World Cup final berth but……perhaps next time. 

I do believe this was the very first appearance of German rockers Velvet Rush in the UK and it wasn’t a stress free experience as the band’s instruments and merch had gone missing in airline transit, courtesy of British Airways. Fellow musicians came to their rescue, lending them the required equipment and the show went on. Such was the professionalism of the stage crew one would not have appreciated the band’s problems if Planet Rock’s own Paul Anthony hadn’t got us up to speed.

Hamburg-based Velvet Rush certainly made the most of their inaugural visit to these shores and frontwoman Sandra Lian on lead vocals was an instant hit, James Moncur on guitars, Tim Black on bass, and Daniel Rothe on drums were equally impressive.

I look forward to seeing these guys back in the UK real soon but in the meantime will rely on the debut and only album to date, ‘Trail Of Gold‘.

Velvet Rush

A switch to The Firestarter Stage for Local alternative rock band Queen Horizon. Chris Wright will always give a few local bands the opportunity to make an impression on a sizable audience and Queen Horizon from Folkestone made the most of this opportunity.

 Queen Horizon

Nashville-based Tuk Smith & The Restless Hearts took things up a few levels. A feel-good rock band and one of the highlights for me over the weekend. It was nice to see Ginger Wildheart standing backstage enjoying the performance with his beautiful constant companion, his border collie Maggie.

Tuk Smith & The Restless Hearts

The first of two clashes on the day, Square Wild on the Firestarter Stage or Parker Barrow on the VIP stage. There was no way I was going to miss out on either so first three numbers from the excellent Square Wild before catching some of the Parker Barrow set.

Square Wild blend a number of styles, rock, funk, reggae, jazz, ska to create something truly unique. Strangely enough the two genres that are not obvious in the mix, metal and prog have led the band to winning Manchester’s Metal To The Masses and playing Bloodstock and winning Prog Magazine’s Best Unsigned Band of the year in a readers poll.

Lucy Shevchuk has a far rangeing voice that is more than capable of lending itself to each of the aforementioned genres and is a pretty tasty guitar player to boot. 

Square Wild

Nashville-based Parker Barrow are a must-see band and are welcomed back to the UK for only the second time. A band definitely on the rise and I look forward to seeing the full band tour later this year. In the meantime, it’s just the beautiful voice of Megan Kane with Alex Bender on acoustic guitar on the VIP stage. This is a tight knit family and the rest of the band are hanging loose in support of the duo.

The scene is perfect, the weather is glorious and Megan and Alex present us with a most beautiful rendition of ‘Where The Bluebird Goes‘……fabulous.

Parker Barrow

Heavy Pettin’ are a Rock Band that you can be excused for not remembering. They came out of Glasgow in the early 1980’s and enjoyed a little success They disappeared pretty quickly and have only recently got things together again. They received a good welcome and there were many who remembered the old stuff and welcomed the new material from the forthcoming new album ‘Rock Generation‘ due in October.

Heavy Pettin’

Silveroller are a band from Liverpool that have been gaining popularity for some time now, like a rolling snowball they pick up more fans wherever they play. I first became familiar with frontman Jonnie Hodson from his time with The Head Hunters Blues Band. He formed Silveroller in 2019 with Aaron Keylock who has since left and replaced by lookalike Joey Smith on lead guitar. 

They celebrated their recent new record contract with Frontiers Records by signing the Contract on stage with the gathering audience bearing witness.

A great set.

Silveroller

Hannah Wicklund surprised me and many others I believe as she gave us a heavier than anticipated set. She had a really tight rhythm section behind her and the only flautist on show over the weekend.

There aren’t many that are anywhere close to covering the great Janis Joplin and Wicklund gave us a brilliant cover of ‘Piece Of My Heart‘ together with a mighty fine cover of Neil Young’s ‘Southern Man‘.

Hannah Wicklund

Another clash with Anchor Lane on the Firestarter or Brave Rival on the VIP. Glaswegians Anchor Lane it is then.

Anchor Lane had to await the slightly overrunning Hannah Wicklund set. Frustrating for the band as they only get a short set.

They delivered a classy hard rocking set which included a mix of old and new material and I must check out the new album which is currently coming together.

Anchor Lane

Brave Rival

The Wildhearts are always a good fit on a festival billing but on this ocassion it was always going to be somewhat emotional in view of Ginger‘s heath diagnosis. Ginger has accepted that he is on borrowed time and is going to make the most of every minute of it. “We’ve all been through a lot to be here today, and this is a celebration of life“, he says. He and The Wildhearts then indulge in a riff laden set and why not he is fully entitled to play wtf he likes at the expense of many favourites.

The Wildhearts 

I had seen the name, Aethoria, but never really investigated them further. Hailing from Suffolk, they were the penultimate band on the Firestarter Stage so I was pleasantly surprised and they were certainly worthy of  this high billing. 

A five-piece relatively heavy rock band that won over the crowd and I look forward to checking them out again at some stage.   

Aethoria

Many people were here to see The Almighty, after all they were co-headliners on the day. 

A great greeting from Ricky Warwick with “You look fabulous. What’s your secret? Drinking all weekend?“ 

We don’t get to see The Almighty very often but with Ricky Warwick you know what exactly what you’re going to get….90 minutes of power rock.

The Almighty

I have seen Chez Kane on a couple of occasions recently and have been very impressed by the powerful band she has behind her, which includes of course Tyketto guitarist Harry Scott Elliott. Playing on an outdoor stage may have something to do with it but for me, the power was not there and I feel that the intro music ‘Fame‘ was a prelude to what followed, pop rock.

Chez Kane

It is the job of co-headliners, Uriah Heep, to bring this fabulous three day, sun drenched, musical feast to a fitting climax. We have had the opportunity to enjoy, some more than others, 43 bands over the course of the weekend. There have been bands that have allowed me to revisit my youth, bands that I haven’t seen in ages and some very good new bands that require further investigation.

Uriah Heep were always big favourites of mine in the 70s and for some reason I have three copies of one of my favourite live albums from 1973. Many favourites on the setlist but a few that were missed. I even spotted someone wearing a ‘Look At Yourself‘ t-shirt but not on the set list.

These guys have been ruling the prog stages since 1969 and unless I am mistaken, have remained active throughout the 58 years. That really does take some beating.

Shortly after Uriah Heep was announced for this years festival, the only remaining original member, Mick Box, became unwell. A concern at the time but at 79 years of age Mr Box still retains his youthful look and still plays with a constant smile on his face. Bernie Shaw has been knocking out the vocals for some 40 years in keeping with Dave Byron‘s original style.

Uriah Heep

Chris (Wright) and his entire team do a fantastic job, and many thanks go to them all for their effort and commitment. As I have said before, Chris is always looking to improve and, unlike many of his cohorts, will listen to punters requests and implement changes where possible.

See you all next year on Friday 16^th to Sunday 18^th July 2027…. and tickets are now available here.

A special mention goes out to Macaulay Cassidy as he spent the entire weekend, in the searing heat in his badge laden overcoat. I do believe he queued to see every single artist appearing in the signing tent…..rock on Macaulay.

Until next year..

©All photographs are copyright of Phil Honley – Gigsnapz & Dan Mann – RPR Photography. They may not be altered or used without express permission.