An education for the old and cynical
Marya Roxx are a brave choice for an opening act, and one that personally I wasn’t sure I was going to hang around and watch. The choice was made for me as soon as the band arrived on stage. For those who are still vaguely cynical about the slew of female-fronted rock groups on the scene recently, apart from being in the wrong place this weekend, Marya Roxx are an education.
It’s all very slick without feeling choreographed, and packs one hell of a punch. The band specialise in modern sounding classic metal, with anthemic choruses and an earth-shaking sound. That main stage is a large and lonely place for a first band starting with no announcements and hardly any crowd. Marya Roxx rise to the challenge and soon there’s a decent enough crowd building up to see what they’re all about. Marya herself works the stage with massive gestures and plenty of attitude without drawing attention to just how difficult it is for a tiny girl on a big stage. She’s completely at home waving the crowd on through ’21?!’ and their cover of ‘Nothing Going On’, the two stand-out tracks from the set.
One guy in the crowd yells “I want your babies!” as Marya bounces to his side of the stage, to which the bassist laconically replies “now that I’d like to see!” Full of surprises, this lot. And they barely stop, from song to chat to blitzkrieg guitar to drum solo. It’s a great, heavy, loud crescendo as they work through ‘Loverboy’ and ‘Rebel’. And then it just stops. There’s a quick “Thank you!” and then the stage is empty and you’re left wondering whether you actually saw it.