By Oscar Trott, Ft. Tom Postance

On Friday 11 November, 4 RGS rock bands took to the Auditorium stage for Lockefest (*There was some confusion over the name of the concert but, despite what some of the posters said, it was known officially to be Lockefest) 2022. This was to be the first RGS rock concert of this calendar year and was the perfect opportunity for these RGS groups to perform in front of an eager crowd.

“A great evening”, “amazing energy and musicality” were just some of the words used to describe Lockefest when it happened last time in April however this Lockefest certainly wasn’t going to disappoint.

The crowd was ready, albeit slightly more sedate than last Lockefest, and the bands were just as ready to play, following some quick sound checks earlier that day, so Lockefest: November Edition commenced.

First to the stage was a brand-new third form band. They performed “Yellow” by Coldplay, a calm way to open up the evening. Their next song was “Radioactive” by Imagine Dragons, offering an excellent performance of this dystopian song. Their 3^rd song was “Use Somebody” by Kings of Leon with a lively cover of this optimistic song. While being 4 years younger than the oldest band there, every member brought some clear talent to the stage.

Next up was Mr Ng’s Minions, a 4^th form band yet to perform in front of a Lockefest audience. They kicked off their set with the song “Believer” in a performance full of energy. Then they played an AC/DC classic, “Highway to Hell”, a loud and exciting rendition of this famous song with a great guitar solo and some great drumming throughout. This group played impressively –  especially considering it was their first time on the Lockefest stage  – and are certainly one to watch in the next concert.

The third band was a range of year groups and performed an excellent rendition of jazzy classic “Baker Street” (you know that song with the saxophones in it). The song also saw Miss Eaton, of RGS Music Department fame, take to the stage for the piano part. This band was the largest performing at Lockefest and this allowed to utilise a wide range of instrumentation throughout their set including flute, saxophone, piano and some backing vocals.

The 3^rd group onto the stage were the Advocates, a band returning from April’s Lockefest, back with a bigger and better set than ever. Starting out with “I Predict a Riot” by the Kaiser Chiefs and following up with “Parklife” – The Advocates soon had the whole crowd chanting along to this Britpop classic. They then continued with some neat guitar work on Lenny Kravitz’s “Are you Gonna Go My Way” and a performance of Muse’s “Hysteria” with its iconic bassline. It appeared to be the end of their set but to the audiences delight, they decided come back on stage to conclude with a rendition of “Message in a Bottle” by The Police. While it was unclear what exactly they were advocating for, front man, Olly Godkin’s stage persona and banter with the crowd built up a great atmosphere throughout their performance.

Finally, it was the turn of Setonix – a band returning to Lockefest again (following a quick name change and a new lead singer). The band kicked off with a high energy performance of “The Pretender” by the Foo Fighters. They then set up to play “Invincible” by TOOL, easily the most ambitious performance of the night, a thirteen-minute-long song which included some incredible drumming from Noé Findji and Jack Fuller’s unparalleled stage presence – one of my highlights of the night. The band then launched straight into Muse’s “Starlight”, a complete contrast to their previous song, and one that saw the crowd immediately start clapping along. Their final song, “Lazarus” was a slow way to end the concert and was accompanied by iPhone torches swaying side to side from the back of the auditorium, a moving end to an excellent set.

As the concert finished some of the crowd were ready to give their enthusiastic reviews. This included Progressor of Rock and namesake of the event, Dave Locke raved that the night “looked and sounded great”. Another ringing endorsement came from legendary guitarist Russell Jarrett, calling it “excellent” and commending some of the “fab guitaring” on display. The RGS Instagram went on to describe how the “Auditorium rocked to a succession of great acts”, applauding “the genuine musical talent on display”. It is fair to say that the concert was widely enjoyed by the audience there and by the bands playing. Overall, it was a great success and promised some great acts to look forward to in Lent term’s Lockefest.