by Howard G. Keogh – Chief Correspondent and Resident Historian All right Punters, let’s start with a little history lesson before we delve into this year’s soiree. In 1979, promoters Paul Loasby, and Maurice Jones, planned a one-day festival aimed specifically at bands within the hard rock and heavy metal genre. Loasby was an established and successful promoter working that year on the Rainbow UK tour and the festival was set to be the final show of the tour with Rainbow as headliners. The first Monsters of Rock line-up consisted of a mix of British and international bands and was a success with an attendance of 35,000. After its fledgling…