Gill checks in with a report on Heaven & Hell’s moving tribute to Ronnie James Dio and there’s a headline set from the “little ol’ band from Texas”.

It is strange to be in what appears to be a field in the familiar settings of a British rock festival and see high rise blocks of flats just out of reach. We all know that rock concerts belong in racetracks, right? London has proven that it can offer what the countryside can in terms of festivals with more festivals than ever in the capital: from Hyde Rock Calling and Wireless to Rage Against The Machine in Finsbury Park and now this, the first High Voltage Festival in Victoria Park. Classic Rock Magazine brings us two days of blues, rock and heavy metal, and all under blazing sunshine.

There is no doubt that one of the most anticipated events of the festival is Heaven & Hell. The Dio-fronted band were booked to play until the tragic passing of frontman and heavy metal icon Ronnie James Dio. Despite the tragedy, Heaven & Hell announced that they would still be playing, and would perform a Dio tribute set with Glenn Hughes.

The band hit the stage and the reception is the most rapturous yet today and thousands of sun-baked rockers welcome their heroes to the stage. As well as Glenn Hughes taking the microphone duties, the band are joined by Jorn Lande of Swedish power metallers Masterplan, whose relative youth and power steals the show from Hughes: Lande has the heavy metal swagger and grit that the songs need and that Ronnie brought by the hundred weight.

The band headed through a set of classics like set opener ‘The Mob Rules’, ‘Children Of The Sea’, ‘Bible Black’, ‘Heaven And Hell’ and ‘Die Young’. A rumour goes round that ex-Pantera/Down frontman Phil Anselmo is watching from side stage and will be joining the band for a song. While we assume that it was just a rumour, as the band would probably close on their name-sake anthem, Heaven and Hell, we’re wrong, and Phil steps onto the stage for an awesome version of ‘Neon Knights’ with both Glenn and Jorn.

In the middle of the set Ronnie’s wide and manager, Wendy Dio, steps onto stage and delivers a truly moving speech as she holds back tears.

We may be 17,000 hardened rockers, but the speech and the occasion chokes even the biggest bikers. The whole set is a fitting tribute to a man that while mortally absent is immortal in our hearts and stereos. Ronnie James Dio RIP.

After such a moving performance, it’s hard to imagine what headliners ZZ Top will pull out of the bag. But they waste no time in scoping it out as they launch headlong into ‘Under Pressure’. The sun is gone and the elaborate backdrop with its lights and projections light up the park and draw the eye. The bearded pair (in fact trio, it appears that even Frank Beard now has a beard too!) rip through a classic-laden set with much culled from the career-defining Eliminator – Sharp Dressed Man, Bad Girls etc.

That said there are still greats from other eras, Cheap Sunglasses proven popular with the now drunk and rowdy crowd. While their solo shows at Wembley saw Billy Gibbons indulge in the kind of casual banter that you can do with your own crowd, tonight he reins it in and – save the third-hat performance which sees Billy joined by two head-dress-wearing lovelies – the set is a non-stop hit factory. ZZ Top may not have the gymnastic physicality of younger bands, but the subtle symbiosis of Billy and Dusty and the overall tractor-beam intensity of the show beats any amount of running around.