FOUR DAYS OF RIFFS, CHAOS & PORTHCAWL MADNESS, MUN!
Planet Rockstock 2025 was a 4-day riot of denim, riffs, late-night caravan gatherings, questionable decisions, and the kind of hangovers that could bring down a mammoth. From Thursday 27 to Sunday 30 November, Trecco Bay once again turned into the noisiest holiday park in Wales — and your pals at The Riff Report were front and centre like the gremlins we are. 🍺🏴
To keep this beast tidy, here’s our full breakdown, split into Wednesday to Sunday, because Rockstock always starts early and ends emotionally. Let’s go, butt! 🤘
🌶️ WEDNESDAY – CURRY, K.K. DOWNING & “HERE WE GO AGAIN, MUN”
Technically not part of the official weekender, but anyone who’s ever done Rockstock knows Wednesday is the real start. Trecco Bay was already buzzing like a half-broken Marshall stack.
🎡 Arrival Vibes
By mid-afternoon the site was crawling with rockers dragging wheelie suitcases, clutching crates of lager, and doing the classic caravan-hunt:
“This can’t be ours… these steps weren’t here last year… were they?”
Merch queues? Already forming.
Fridges? Already overstuffed with cider and sausage rolls.
Everyone? Already pretending they’d “take it easy this year.” (A lie.)
🍛🔥 K.K. Downing’s Legendary Curry Night
The first big communal meltdown of the weekend came courtesy of Judas Priest legend K.K. Downing, who rocked up for his now-iconic Rockstock Curry Night — a mix of great food, pint-heavy bonding, and some of the best metal stories you’ll ever hear.
It wasn’t a Q&A… it was a fireside chat with a riff wizard:
- Tales from the glory days
- Guitar nerdery
- Jokes he definitely hoped weren’t being recorded
- That exact “metal uncle” energy we all adore
If you weren’t hyped before, you left this curry night vibrating like a cymbal in a hurricane.
Rockstock 2025: officially ON.
🍻🔥 THURSDAY – THE QUIREBOYS TURN TRECCO INTO THE WORLD’S BIGGEST PUB
🎶 Day 1 Mood:
“WORK TOMORROW? NEVER HEARD OF HER.”
Thursday is always feral. Half the crowd is on “sick leave”, the other half is “working remotely” despite mysteriously having no laptop — tidy.
🎤 BERNIE MARSDEN STAGE – BLUES, SOUL & BIG SINGALONGS
Line-up:
- The Quireboys (Headliner)
- Bywater Call
- Dan Patlansky LSS
- Steve Young & The Real Time Players
Steve Young & The Real Time Players gently warmed us up — melodic, feelgood, and perfect for that “first pint is kicking in” moment.
Then Dan Patlansky LSS arrived and basically played solos hot enough to fry an egg. Blues-rock wizardry, big tone, big applause.
Bywater Call? Holy hell, they blew the roof off. Soulful, cinematic, and absolutely huge vocals. You could feel people Googling them mid-set.
🍺 Headliners: The Quireboys – A Proper Rock ’n’ Roll Lock-In
The Quireboys know exactly what they’re doing at this stage of life — and that’s why they’re perfect Thursday headliners. Raspy vocals, swagger, banter, and choruses that felt like being back in a sticky-carpet pub in 1989.
Everyone: arms around each other, yelling every lyric
Us: crying into a pint of Trooper
THE perfect way to say: Rockstock is here, mun.
🎸 GRAHAM HARDING STAGE – FUTURE LEGENDS IN THE MAKING
Featuring: Departed, Doomsday Outlaw, Stone Angels, Thieves of Liberty.
Thursday’s second-stage bands came out swinging:
- Departed – stadium-ready hooks
- Doomsday Outlaw – chunky grooves
- Stone Angels & Thieves of Liberty – the kind of sets that make you buy a T-shirt without thinking
Thursday ended the way it always does: with someone shouting
“ONE MORE!”
and someone else shouting
“CHIPS!”
🚛🔥 FRIDAY – MASSIVE WAGONS & MASSIVE HANGOVERS
☠️ Day 2 Mood:
Coffee → Trooper → Repeat.
Friday morning looked like the aftermath of a zombie movie, but once the amps fired up everyone suddenly remembered why they were here.
🎤 BERNIE MARSDEN STAGE – PARTY MODE: ACTIVATED
Line-up:
- Massive Wagons (Headliner)
- Beaux Gris Gris & The Apocalypse
- The Virginmarys
- The Hot Damn!
- Gypsy Pistoleros
Gypsy Pistoleros burst in wearing more colour than a Spanish carnival and instantly had the room bouncing.
The Hot Damn! followed with neon, hooks and absolute power-pop carnage.
The Virginmarys brought the grit — raw, honest, cathartic.
Beaux Gris Gris & The Apocalypse then turned the whole room swampy and cinematic.
🤘 Headliners: Massive Wagons – Arena Energy in a Holiday Park
Massive Wagons have become the British festival band who give 110% every night. Tight band. Huge charisma. No filler.
By the time they hit the big tunes, the room was a singalong tsunami. Proper “my voice is gone but I don’t regret it” energy.
🔥 GRAHAM HARDING STAGE – WELSH FIRE & RIFF BRUISERS
Featuring: Autumn Killers, Häxan, Honeybadger, Voltstorm.
Autumn Killers + Häxan repped Wales like absolute champions, while Honeybadger and Voltstorm proved Friday night is the perfect time for the heaviest riffs of the weekend.
🤡🔥 SATURDAY – UGLY KID JOE & PURE CHAOS
😈 Day 3 Mood:
“I’m too old for this… but also absolutely not going home.”
Saturday was STACKED — and it showed.
🎤 BERNIE MARSDEN STAGE – MODERN POWER MEETS ’90s CARNAGE
Line-up:
- Ugly Kid Joe (Headliner)
- Kris Barras’ Hollow Souls
- Dan Byrne
- LN
- Black Orchid Empire
Black Orchid Empire opened with sharp, precise riffing — musicians AND moshers loved them.
LN delivered melodic, atmospheric rock that surprised everyone.
Dan Byrne? Future star written all over him.
Kris Barras’ Hollow Souls went darker and heavier than ever — absolute storm.
🤡 Headliners: Ugly Kid Joe – The Unhinged Saturday Maestros
Ugly Kid Joe don’t do subtle. They do:
- Mayhem
- Monster singalongs
- ’90s nostalgia
- Riffs you forgot you loved
Saturday was the most rowdy crowd of the weekend. Pits. Surfing. Chanting. Chaos.
They smashed it.
🎸 GRAHAM HARDING STAGE – SIX BANDS, ZERO BRAKES
Attic Theory, Black Dog Moon, Bobbie Dazzle, DeVere, Sweet Electric, The Heavy Souls.
Every band brought the goods.
Sweet Electric and The Heavy Souls in particular? Filthy in the best way.
🎄🔥 SUNDAY – SLADE, DANKO JONES & THE EMOTIONAL FINALE
🥹 Day 4 Mood:
“Please don’t make me go home.”
You could feel the Sunday blues creeping in, but the line-up slapped that right out of us.
🎤 BERNIE MARSDEN STAGE – BIG TUNES, BIG HEART
Line-up:
- Dave Hill’s Slade (Headliner)
- Danko Jones
- Danny Bryant
- The Karma Effect
The Karma Effect kicked the day off beautifully — glossy, melodic rock.
Danny Bryant absolutely melted frets.
Danko Jones? No banter, no filler. Just riffs. Exactly what the crowd needed.
🎄 Headliners: Dave Hill’s Slade – Christmas Came Early, Butt
You haven’t lived until you’ve heard:
“IT’S CHRIIIIIISTMAAAS!!!”
…screamed by 3,000 hungover adults in a holiday camp in November.
Pure joy. Pure nostalgia. Pure Rockstock.
🎸 GRAHAM HARDING STAGE – ONE LAST BLAST
Athena’s Revenge, Burnt Out Wreck, Caitlin Krisko & The Broadcast, Global Burn Theory, Pips, Tuk Smith & The Restless Hearts.
Caitlin Krisko delivered one of the vocals of the weekend, while Tuk Smith & The Restless Hearts closed the stage with swagger and polish.
🍻 THE LAST PINT PARTY – SEE YOU NEXT YEAR, MUN ❤️
The unofficial final event of Rockstock is always the Last Pint Party — a sea of emotional wrecks promising to come back next year, swapping stories, comparing bruises, and hugging strangers like long-lost family.
It’s the kind of festival ending that sticks with you.
🏁 FINAL RIFF REPORT VERDICT
Rockstock 2025 was:
⭐ Thursday: A pub karaoke fever dream powered by The Quireboys
⭐ Friday: Massive Wagons proving they belong at the top
⭐ Saturday: Chaos unleashed via Ugly Kid Joe
⭐ Sunday: Slade gifting us Christmas three weeks early
Four days.
Dozens of bands.
Hundreds of pints.
Thousands of memories.
Rockstock remains one of the most charmingly chaotic festivals in the UK — a beautiful mixture of riffs, friendship, caravans, curry, glitter, and questionable decisions.
Tidy weekend, mun. 🤘🔥🎄
Michael is the founder, editor, and chief riff wrangler behind The Riff Report, an independent Welsh rock and metal publication built by fans, for fans. With a lifelong passion for loud guitars, unforgettable live shows, and the incredible community that surrounds rock and metal, he created The Riff Report to celebrate everything that makes the scene special—from legendary headline acts and grassroots venues to rising bands that deserve to be heard.
A familiar face at festivals across the UK, Michael spends much of the year covering events including Download Festival, Bloodstock Open Air, Steelhouse Festival, Firevolt, Plumpton Revival, and many more. Whether he’s battling the Welsh weather on a mountainside, surviving a weekend in a muddy campsite, or squeezed against the front barrier with thousands of fellow fans, he’s always searching for the next great story to share.
As editor of The Riff Report, Michael writes festival guides, breaking news, album reviews, gig reviews, interviews, opinion pieces, nostalgia features, and behind-the-scenes stories from across the rock and metal world. His writing combines honest opinions, humour, and a genuine love for live music, bringing readers closer to the bands, festivals, venues, and people that keep the scene alive.
Michael is particularly passionate about supporting independent artists, local venues, charities, and the wider UK rock and metal community. He believes every band deserves a chance to be discovered and every festival has a story worth telling. Through The Riff Report, he aims to shine a spotlight on both the biggest names in rock and the future stars waiting to break through.
When he’s not writing or interviewing artists, you’ll probably find him exploring festival campsites, photographing live shows, chatting with fellow fans over a pint, or planning the next road trip in search of more riffs, bigger crowds, and unforgettable moments.
Above all, Michael believes rock and metal are about more than music—they’re about community, friendship, and creating memories that last a lifetime. That’s exactly what The Riff Report exists to celebrate.
Proudly Welsh. Proudly Loud. Always chasing the next great riff. 🤘
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