For those who’s tastes run towards progressive rock and metal, Sunday was always going to be the day to be looked forward to the most.

The weather turned nasty at the beginning of the day courtesty of Hurricane Bertha. Amidst some doubts over whether this would go ahead the main stage marquee didn’t open up until the first band were already standing on stage waiting for the audience to file in. They were Norway’s The Windmill, and they proceeded to play some epic symphonic prog. There were echoes of Renaissance and fellow Norwegians ÄnglagÃ¥rd, and their music went from pastoral atmospherics to heavier guitar-led passages. It featured heavy use of flute, and some great three-part vocal harmonies, their set climaxing with the swirling twenty-minute epic “The Gamer”.

Credo followed that with another entertaining set With ornate synth runs, fluid overdriven guitar solos and a singer with a touch of Fish’s vocal mannerisms they tick all the neo-prog boxes. But even through they’re not doing anything stunningly original, the strength of their songcraft and the passion of the performance meant they went down well with the crowd.

Apocalyptic weather swirled outside during Winter in Eden’s set, such that the wind speeds were getting the stewards worried. But inside the tent the most metal act on the main stage so far kicked up such a storm themselves that many people didn’t even notice. They rose above some rough sound early on with a powerful set, their British take on Euro symphonic metal eschewing choirs and kitchen sinks in favour of neo-classical keyboard flourishes and good old-fashioned lead guitar, with Vicky Johnson the first of several great female vocalists to grace the main stage on the day.

Heidi Widdop seems to make a habit of Cambridge Rock Festival debuts. Back in 2010 the main stage saw her first gig as the new lead singer of Breathing Space. The following year marked the very first gig for the short-lived Stolen Earth. 2014 saw her new project, Cloud Atlas, playing only their second gig. Despite having a stand-in rhythm section, they turned in another strong performance, with Martin Ledger’s evocative guitar tones dominating the band’s rich and atmospheric sound, and Heidi herself on great form.

Mr So and So just get better and better as a live band. Another regular act for the festival, they followed up their 2011 and 2012 appearances with one of their best shows yet. They’ve gone up a gear since the release of their fifth album “Truth and Half Lies”, far darker and heavier than what had gone before, and that album featured heavily in their set. The hugely melodic dual male/female lead vocals of Shaun McGowan and Charlotte Evans and shredding lead guitar of Dave Foster give them a distinctive identity. This gig marked the farewell appearance of drummer Stuart Browne with hints that the band may take a radically different direction without him. He certainly went out on a high.

Mostly Autumn have been on top live form this year, and their festival performance was no exception. Aside from the two standards “Evergreen” and “Heroes Never Die” from the band’s early years, the rest of the nine-song set all came from Olivia Sparnenn’s tenure as lead singer, drawing heavily from their latest, “Dressed in Voices”. They’ve evolved a long way from their celtic-folk origins towards a harder-edged rock sound, but there’s still a lot of emotional depth, as evidenced by Olivia’s signature number “Questioning Eyes”. Another highlight was “Skin on Skin” with Alex Cromarty’s spectacular drum pyrotechnics. Much like Chantel McGregor on Friday, this was a headline level performance.

Mostly Autumn’s set was going to be a hard act to follow, and the task fell to Norwegian metal act Jorn, fronted by Jorn Lande. Yes, the whole thing was as melodramatic as hell, and yes the songwriting did sound a bit too close to that of the late, great Ronnie Dio for comfort, but Jorn still put on a great show. At a time when a lot of metal bands are fronted by either cookie monsters or opera-trained sopranos, it was good to hear a top-class old-school hard rock vocalist. Though we could have done without the Tufnelesque solo spot from his guitarist; somebody needs to tell him it’s 2014, not 1982!

Headliners Wishbone Ash are one of those classic rock veterans down to one original member, guitarist Andy Powell. Weilding his signature Flying V he led the band through a mix of standards from their early heyday and newer blues-rock workouts. While it might have been nice to have heard more of their highly melodic 70s material, they kept, perhaps wisely, to the songs that Andy Powell could do justice to vocally, and the emphasis was more on the twin lead guitars, with highlights including “Engine Overheat” and the epic “Phoenix”. Even though they were nowhere near the best band of the day, that was more a reflection on the strength of the rest of the bill, and it was still an enjoyable performance.

And so ended the eleventh Cambridge Rock Festival. As is often the case the veteran acts topping the bill pulled in the punters while the newer acts lower down the bill ended up giving the best performances. One can’t help wondering if the festival might have worked better for those attending the whole weekend if the acts had been mixed up a little more rather than seperate blues, rock and prog days. But on the other hand that format may have sold more individual day tickets. Indeed, I was told that the Thursday night, which was very well attended, actually sold out with many people coming to hear the tribute acts, and that subsides the rest of the festival.

And finally, the beer! The festival began life as a beer festival, and was called the RockandBeerFest until a few years back. But real ale is still a major part of what the whole thing is about, and an awful lot of beer was drunk over the course of the weekend.

HRH Prog 2 is a residential rock festival held in this year the former Butlins holiday camp at Hafan-Y-Mor just outside Pwllheli in north Wales, following on from the successful first festival held in Rotherham a year ago.

It’s certainly a long way from anywhere, at the end of miles and miles of single-carriageway roads winding through the Welsh hills, or an equally winding single-track railway line, and it certainly wasn’t the organisers’ fault that part of the train journey was by replacement bus because the tracks had been washed away in a storm. There were complaints from some quarters that it was an inconvenient location. But it was an equal opportunity inconvenience; it takes just as long wherever you’re coming from.

The festival proper began on the Friday, but Thursday night saw a warm-up featuring four bands.. Proceedings opened with the melodic rock of Sankara, who played a solid set despite a stand-in rhythm section, and again showed how much better they’ve become in their expanded twin-guitar form. The only problem was when Gareth played keys he was hidden away in the shadows at the back of the stage.

Jump are always entertaining as a live band. Frontman John Dexter Jones comes over as a cross between Fish and Morrissey, with his storytelling style and music that owes as much to folk and blues as to prog. A particular highlight was “Down Three Times”, a song about a relative in the Merchant Navy during World War Two, who ended up as a beachcomber after being the victim of three sinkings.

Next up was Synaesthesia, playing keyboard-heavy symphonic rock with plenty of vintage analogue keyboard sounds including mini-moog solos and squelchy bass tones. For a very young band playing their second ever gig they delivered a remarkable performance. This is a band we’ll almost certainly be hearing a lot more from the coming months and years.

It fell to Credo to top the Thursday night bill. Their rather old-fashioned neo-prog doesn’t always make that strong an impression on record, but live it’s a different story, and their passion and energy made a good conclusion to the night.

The festival proper opened with The Custodian at noon on Friday, a largely instrumental act, with the drummer singing much of the lead vocals. They displayed an undoubted level of technical skill with a jazz-metal flavour and more than a hint of the late Frank Zappa, though their instrumental virtuosity ultimately exceeded their compositional ability. They could have done with a proper frontperson.

The Physics House Band were phenomenal for a band so young they looked as though they were still at school. They’re an entirely instrumental power trio, with Sam Organ swapping between guitar and keys. It was the rhythm section that really impressed, with Dave Morgan’s drums as a lead instrument. Indeed, when the guitarist took of on a soaring effects laden solo you often find yourself listening to the inventive bass riffs rather than the guitar. All completely bonkers stuff, and the sort of music to give “prog” a serious kick up the arse.

Luna Kiss were less impressive. They have a more modern streamlined sound without much in the way of flashy instrumental showboating, but weak vocals and lack of memorable material held them back, and they failed to make a particularly strong impression. The prog-metal of Shattered Skies was rather better, with the first proper lead singer of the day, though their use of programmed keys rather than a flesh and blood keyboard player was irritating at times.

Chimp Spanner were another all-instrumental act, a prog-metal trio made up of a drummer and two guitarists wielding matching eight-sting axes. With no bass player, one guitarist soloed with remarkable fluidity while the other played hammered riffs. But while they were interesting for a couple of numbers, ultimately they were lacking in variety or dynamics.

The Pineapple Thief were one of the most eagerly anticipated acts of the day, and they did not disappoint. Their widescreen atmospheric music combines progressive rock with elements of indie and electronica to give them a very contemporary sound, and it all comes over very strongly live. With a set drawing heavily from their most recent album “All The Wars”, their intense performance was head and shoulders above everyone who’d been on stage before them, with big soaring melodies and a strong sense of dynamics that previous acts had lacked.

Dutch veterans Focus were the only out and out nostalgia act on the bill. They’re been a regular act at classic rock festivals in recent years, and sometimes they’ve come over as marking time until their big hit. This time they came over rather better, and their set was enjoyable if predictable. At heart they’re a jazz act rather than than a rock band, led by Thijs van Leer on his battered Hammond held together with gaffer tape. The set included the lengthy “Eruption” and of course their other hit “Sylvia” before the inevitable yodelling conclusion of “Hocus Pocus”.

Sweden’s The Flower Kings are an established act with a strong reputation, enhanced in recent years though guitarist Roine Stolt’s involvement with the prog supergroup Transatlantic. But from the strength of performances like this it’s very difficult to see what all the fuss is about. Their directionless set lacked any kind of focus or sense of pacing, and while they’re undoubtedly great musicians much of the material felt like loose, unstructured jams. Sonically they were great, with the interplay of guitar and keys reminiscent of Barclay James Harvest. But unlike BJH, they lacked anything in the way of memorable tunes, and there was little energy either. For a festival headliner this was a very disappointing performance.

The bill was set up with the nominal headliners as the penultimate band of the day, so it was left to Deadly Circus Fire to close the proceedings. Their brand of in-your-face metal dressed as zombie clowns in greasepaint was an unfortunate case of the wrong band in the wrong place at the wrong time. They’re good at what they do, but they weren’t what the thinning crowd really wanted at that time of night, and they could only be described as “room-emptying”.

Friday had been a bit “Desolate Shore” (With Theydon Bois on guitar, and Clam on bass), but Saturday’s lineup promised bands with a more song-centric approach. Proceedings opened with September Code, from Greece, whose melodic hard rock flavour of prog focusing on songwriting and a proper lead singer. Some flamenco-tinged guitar leads gave them a distinctive edge.

Because DeeExpus had pulled out due to illness, Crimson Sky came on earlier and played a longer set than planned. They started out with a few wobbles, but soon rose to the big occasion. Their sound is an interestingly quirky mix of 70s prog and 80s new-wave, and setlist drew from the EP “Dawn”, some favourites from the earlier album “Misunderstood”, and two brand new numbers, the Uriah Heep-like “Catching On” and the ambitious “The Signifier and the Signified”. Jane Setter came over very strongly as a frontwoman on a big stage, with a presence that held the attention of the crowd, perhaps showing some transferrable skills from her day job as a university professor. An interesting fact; Jane Setter is probably the only prog singer who is fluent in Klingon. How prog is that?

Purson were one of the most visually striking bands on the bill. Unlike many other bands who go on stage in jeans and t-shirts, Purson put a lot of effort into their stage outfits. Their late-60s hippy look exactly matches the psychedelic rock of their music with its swirling organ and fuzz-toned bass grooves. Their retro sound and dark lyrical themes recall Blood Ceremony, but with hints of Curved Air and early Pink Floyd. Despite some early technical problems with lead singer and lead guitarist Rosalle Cunningham’s pedal board, they rose above those early difficulties to deliver an impressive performance.

Panic Room also suffered some sound problems early on, but still made a very strong impression with a powerful and professionally-delivered set. In a bold move the vast bulk of the songs came from their newly-released album “Incarnate”, with just two older numbers, “Song for Tomorrow” and the anthemic “Satellite” at the very end of the set. The new material came over well live. The layered atmospherics of “Into Temptation” made an interesting choice of opener, and the stripped-back “Start The Sound” featured some inventive rhythms from Gavin Griffiths. New guitarist Adam O’Sullivan is still finding his feet to some extent, but he’s slowly growing into the role, and of course Anne-Marie Helder’s vocals were in a class of their own. The choice of setlist showed a band taking aim at the future rather than relying on their past, and they deserved to win over plenty of new fans.

Arcane Roots were something completely different; a prog-metal power trio, relying on a combination of technical virtuosity and sheer raw energy rather than songcraft. There were a bit “Theydon Bois and Clam go metal” at times, and clearly weren’t to everyone’s tastes. They were good at what they did, but ultimately suffered from a lack of variety.

Hawklords are essentially a Hawkwind tribute act including people Dave Brock has sacked from Hawkwind over the years. With their mix of classic ‘blanga’ and poetry readings accompanied by electronic effects they sought to evoke the legendary “Space Ritual” sound. They started and ended well, bookending with the Hawkwind standards “Master of the Universe” and “Damnation Alley”, but their rather self-indulgent set flagged badly in the middle. Adrian Shaw did a passable impression of the late Robert Calvert, and one highlight was a lengthy and surprisingly melodic instrumental piece that eventually morphed into “Uncle Sam’s On Mars”. Unfortunately their overlong set overran their slot, throwing out the timings for the rest of the day.

There is nobody else quite like The Enid. Robert John Godfrey is closer to a classical composer working within the rock world than a conventional rock musician, and they augment rock keyboards and guitars with an impressive array of orchestral percussion instruments including some massive kettle-drums. They’ve moved away from the over-ambitious large-scale choral works of a couple of years back that didn’t work at festivals in favour of their more melodic and accessible material. Rather than the fully-instrumental form of earlier years they’ve added a lead vocalist in the shape of Joe Payne whose falsetto is quite unlike any other singer at the festival. They were yet another victim of technical problems, this time with a wind synth that refused to behave, but like others before them rose above it to deliver another strong set. They ended with what Robert John Godfrey described as the closest thing they’ve done to rave music, the dynamic groove-orientated “Dark Hydraulic”. This is a band that does tend to divide opinions, but for every person who they leave scratching their head in bafflement there’s another who’s absolutely mesmerised by what they do.

Fish has experienced a strong renaissance as a live artist in the past couple of years, as anyone who saw his tour in 2013 will know. But this festival crowd contained a fair number of sceptics who last saw him several years back when persistent voice problems resulted in very hit-and-miss performances. Almost as soon as he hit the stage he proved beyond doubt that he was back on form, and had the audience eating out of his hand, especially when he launched into a very intense rendition of Marillion’s “Script for a Jester’s Tear” early on. The setlist was a cut-down version of that played last year, with no surprises for anyone who saw him that tour, and the whole thing, from the epic brooding opener “Perfume River” to the medley of oldies at the end flowed beautifully, and built in momentum as the set proceeded. One ‘festival moment’ was the end of the acoustic “Blind to the Beautiful” when he handed the microphone to Panic Room’s Anne-Marie Helder in the photo pit. As an elder statesman of prog, his career has had its up and downs, and at the moment with a highly-regarded new album and live shows like this he’s definitely on an up. This was the performance of the festival.

It was left to 80s prog-folk veterans Solstice to close the show. After Fish it could easily have an anticlimax, but they proceeded to play an entertaining and uplifting set. Andy Glass is a phenomenal guitarist, Emma Brown delivered a great performance on lead vocals, and Jenny Newman’s violin added another dimension to the sound. It was a shame that it was cut slightly short due to Hawklords overrunning their slot earlier in the day.

The main part of the festival turned out to be an event of two halves. With a couple of notable exceptions Friday was a day of shredding virtuosity rather than songs, with a very noticeably all-male bill. Saturday was the reverse, with a lineup of bands emphasising composition where technical ability was a means to an end, and half the acts featured female lead vocals. I know which I prefer.

Overall the festival was well-organised, the sound was good, and everyone involved did a professional job. The fifteen-minute turnovers between bands kept the music flowing, but at the expense of the technical problems that plagued almost every band on the Saturday.

A couple of recommendations for next year. First, it’s an established fact that given a choice many prog fans prefer to drink real ale. After the Hobgoblin ran out early on Saturday the bar was just generic lagers; a day spent chilling out in Porthmadog after the festival was a reminder that there are some superb local beers in this part of the world, and it would be nice to have one or two of those on sale at the venue.

Second, it wasn’t easy to buy merch for many of the bands. Bands didn’t have their own merch stands, and the only source of CDs within the hall itself was an independent trader who carried only limited stocks of music by the bands on the bill, which rapidly sold out. There was some merch on sale in another building several minutes’ walk away, but again, only a limited selection.

But those are only minor issues. It was a highly enjoyable event held in a beautiful part of the world. It’s a long journey to get there, but the whole trip was thoroughly worthwhile.

Jebo weren’t quite as good; another melodic hard(ish) rock band they started well but soon got a bit predictable. Although good musicians with a great guitar sound, they suffered from weak vocals and a shortage of memorable songs. Crimes of Passion were a little better, but having seen Kyrbgrinder on Friday, their brand of 70s metal came over as very dated by comparison.

Credo, on the other hand, were a lot better. Again, there was nothing stunningly original about their brand of neo-prog, but they did it well. Their combination of very strong melodies, tight playing with a lot of fluid symphonic guitar went down well.

I enjoyed the John Young Band set too. I’ve seen him before as a support act, using just keys and backing tapes and was quite impressed. His full band including former Fish sidesman Robin Boult on guitar opens out the sound a lot more. He played another very prog-flavoured set, although this time more focussed on impassioned songwriting rather than showcasing instrumental virtuosity.

I was starting to suffer from neo-prog overload by the time Mr So-and-So came on stage. Yes, they too were good, but for me they suffered from sounding too similar to the preceding bands on the bill. One significant difference was the presence of Charlotte Evans on vocals, even though she largely sang harmonies and only sang lead on a couple of songs.

Good as many of the previous bands of the day had been, Mostly Autumn were in a completely different league, and it showed. This was the fourth consecutive year they’ve played this festival. Last year they’d headlined, though good, they didn’t really reach the heights that they’re capable of and special guests The Enid rather stole the show. Not so this time around. Now the band have finally manage some lineup stability they’ve been on consistently great form all year. Over the past year and a half Olivia Sparnenn has had time to grow into the role of frontwoman. Two weeks ago they owned the Classic Rock Presents Prog stage at the High Voltage festival in London and won over a lot of new fans; this performance had the same level of intensity, and finally showed the Cambridge Rock Festival just what this band are really capable of.

On form like this their mix of melodic hard rock with celtic-tinged progressive rock makes for a great festival band. The set was a mix of old and new, standards like “Evergreen” and “Heroes Never Die” alongside newer songs like “Deep in Borrowdale” and “Ice”. High spots for me were Anne-Marie’s flute solo in “The Last Climb”, and a very powerful performance of the former Breathing Space epic “Questioning Eyes”. Yes, I know I’m a big fan, and therefore biased, but I’ve seen them enough times to tell a great performance from a merely workmanlike one. That was truly memorable set, for all the right reasons.

Caravan, veterans of the 1970s “Canterbury Scene”, had also played an excellent set at High Voltage. Like Mostly Autumn before them, they were every bit as good as they had been two weeks ago, a superb set of jazz-flavoured progressive rock, keyboard-led with added violin, flute and spoons(!). They pulled off the seemingly impossible feat of sounding mellow yet full of energy at the same time, and lengthy instrumental jazz-rock workouts seldom sounded as good as this. Not that they don’t do pop as well, as the bouncy rendition of “Golf Girl” proved. High point had to be the lengthy “Nine Feet Undergound” played in it’s entirety.

And finally, headliners The Enid. Last year they played a mesmerising set focussing on their rockier material, and while not everyone really got what they were doing, some of those that did felt they were the band of the weekend. This year, accompanied by a male choir and a twelve-piece brass section they went for something a lot more challenging. For the first part of the set, Robert John Godfrey was behind the choir, visible on the large screens but hidden from view when you tried to find him on the stage, which was a little disconcerting. The sound was huge and symphonic, but came over as perhaps just too ambitious for it’s own good. I did get the impression it was the sort of performance, which while good, seemed to me geared more towards the dedicated fan rather than a festival audience. I can imagine a lot of people not familiar with their rather unique blend of rock and classical music struggling to make sense of it all. It certainly didn’t have the energy level than made the closing stages of last year’s set so exhilarating. Perhaps to compensate they closed with their famous “Dambusters March/Land of Hope and Glory” medley they used to play back in the 1980s, to end the set on a high.

And so ended another great festival, probably the best Cambridge Rock Festival I’ve attended to date. Although Saturday turned out to be by far the best of the three days bill-wise, there were more than enough good acts on Friday and Sunday to make the whole weekend worthwhile.

Although it’s never easy to estimate numbers, I thought attendance was well up on last year; certainly the main tent was very full on both Saturday and Sunday nights, and even Thursday night drew a big crowd. It shows a festival doesn’t need big-name headliners to be a success, and provided a far more enjoyable experience than a big corporate festival, a great example of the little niche festivals up and down the country that take place below the radar of the media. And while some may criticise the lineup for being dated and retro, that’s surely part of the appeal; a good festival is one that knows it’s audience. It’s got a great vibe; no rock star egos or VIP areas; you find many of the artists wandering around the site or watching other bands all weekend; I even spotted the lead guitarist of one band enthusiastically playing air-guitar in the front row at one point.