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What had been hailed by many, myself
included as the weekend of the year saw the return of Firefest and with a
top notch line-up that would be hard to beat anywhere this year.
As weekends go things didn’t get off to
an auspicious start with nightmare traffic on the trip down to Nottingham,
which saw a two and a half hour journey turn into a four and a half hour
nightmare, thus resulting in our late check-in to the hotel and
subsequently after a quick turnaround, a late arrival at the pre-show
event.
The pre-show events in the past have
always been for me an event where I met and caught up with old friends and
acquaintances that I hadn’t seen for some time. It was also an event
that I never reviewed, but with four superb bands due to play this
particular pre-show party, I thought I would give the bands a little
exposure as none of the bands would feature in the main event.
I had been pre-warned about the poor
quality of sound for gigs at The Rig and told not to expect too much.
As we arrived Alibi had already started their set
so my apologies to Vince and the boys, but the four songs I did catch
sounded good despite the poor PA. With Rick Chase given a chance to
provide us with a taste of what had been missing from the Double Cross
material, that hard edged sound, Vince O’Regan on guitars as steady usual,
together with his usual cohort Andy Mills on bass, the solid band base was
completed with A J Mills on guitar and James Wright on drums.
The four songs I caught were ‘Who’s
Foolin Who’, the fantastic ‘Out of Love’ and ‘Never Let Me Go’, then to
finish off the set the band put their own twist on ‘Rock In The Free
World’.
Next up were Bad Habit, who despite not
having a drummer present made the best of things with an acoustic set,
which sadly once again was hampered by poor sound quality. This is
how bad the sound was, if you walked to the toilets not more than fifty
feet away from the stage, the sound was muffled and distorted beyond
belief. So those who had arrived later than we did and were forced
to the back of this tiny inappropriate venue could not only not see the
band, (mind you we were about ten feet away and we couldn’t see them
either), but couldn’t even hear what was going on.
Enough raving on back to the bands.
This was Bad Habit’s first time in the UK and they deserved better than
the Rig to showcase their material, but being the professionals that they
are they soldiered on with a set featuring old material and tracks from
the bands new album 'Hear Say'.
Next up were Bombay Black who brought
their rock n' roll attitude to the Rig and were going to blow the cobwebs
away with their high-octane rock show.
With two albums already under their
belts, the boys set about their task to rescue the pre-show from sound
hell with tracks like ‘Every Time I Miss You’, ‘Who Do You Think You Are’,
the excellent cover of ‘Don’t Tell Me You Love Me’, the down trodden metal
of ‘Crazy’, and my personal favourite ‘Get Out’. To sum it up they came,
they rocked, they conquered, enough said.
Next up were Newman who had been bumped
up to the main slot after the news of Bad Habits drummer Jamie Salazar
couldn’t make it.
After the rock onslaught of Bombay Black
it was an uphill task for Steve Newman and Co to follow that, but they did
their best, although due to continuous technical problems once again the
set didn’t live up to my expectations. Such a shame as I really
wanted to see Newman as I really liked the new album 'Heaven Knows' and
wanted to hear the played songs live.
It's been a long time since Steve Newman
has performed live in the UK, something like seven years and yet again he
deserved a better venue than this to make his return.
But once again a band showed its
professionalism by putting up with the bad sound and completing a solid
set that opened up with the title track off the new album ‘Heaven Knows’
and continued with tracks both old and new.
Highlights of the set had to be the
opener 'Heaven Knows’, ‘Last Known Survivor’, ‘Aint Gonna Cry Forever’,
and the surprise package of the set the Osmonds cover ‘Crazy Horses’!
Once again like all the bands I would
have liked to hear them all on a bigger stage and with better sound as
this venue didn’t do any of the bands justice and I would seriously
consider missing the pre-show next time if it were to be held at the same
venue. Maybe the organisers should try to get the Rescue Rooms next
door for next time as they are more suited to the live bands, unlike the
Rig which is more suited to just a DJ playing tracks.
Now for the main event, after the
disappointment of the pre-show I was really looking forward to the days
proceedings to rescue this weekend and things were looking up from the
start with Madrid’s own Nexx, who started some thirty minutes earlier than
scheduled! So people who were looking forward to seeing them had to
be one of the early birds like ourselves who arrived at the venue early to
queue in anticipation of the days events.
NEXX
The opening slot for these events has always been a daunting task but
Patricia and Co were definitely up for the challenge, with a set featuring
tracks from both their highly acclaimed albums 'Colours' and their new
opus 'Another Dawn'.
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With Patricia her usually animated self
as she covered every available space on the stage, (with a full photo pit
with all lenses pointed at her there were more camera’s there than in
Jessop’s front window), as she gave another sterling vocal performance
with songs like ‘Arches of Faith’ and ‘Remember’ from the bands debut
release 'Colours', two songs for me that capture the full Nexx sound.
The set also featured songs from the new
album such as ‘Critical’, the first single off the new album and the
excellent title track ‘Another Dawn’.
This was a well put together
set and one that I believe will be available on a DVD later, as will many
of the bands performances.
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TREAT
Next up were Swedish rockers Treat who
were making their debut appearance in the UK like a number of bands on the
bill today.
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To be honest I was very unfamiliar with
this band, but had heard such good things about them from a friend that he
had really built them up, so much so I really didn’t know what to expect.
The band led by Robert Ernlund really got
the party started with a great hard rock set that rocked from the opener
‘Changes’, from the bands 1985 debut release 'Scratch and Bite' and from
this great start I was hooked.
The set continued with ‘Whole Lotta
Shaken’ before the only new song of the set 'I’ll Pray For You’, a track
that features on the bands hits album. Speaking of hits, it was time
for ‘Lovestroke’, an obvious crowd favourite as they just erupted into a
frenzy of activity.
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Things were really starting to pick up as
the band went into ‘Too Wild’, ‘Sole Survivor’, but it was ‘Conspiracy’
and ‘Get You On The Run’ that really did it for me. On a set that
made me wonder why I haven’t been into this band in their heyday as they
are certainly one I’m gonna check out further.
WIG WAM
Now for a band that I must admit was one of the main reasons for my
attendance at this years Firefest, and one that I’m sure lots of people
were dying to check out after their Eurovision performance a few years ago.
This is the band that I think paved the way for Lordi. I’m talking about the
glam rock phenomena that is Wig Wam.
As the lights went out four stars lit up
the venue with Teeny, Flash and Sporty leading the way before the entrance
of the day as Glam came on stage complete with the biggest native American
headdress you’ve ever seen. I tell you, it made Ted Nugent’s look
like a sparrow feather in comparison, and if your wondered what Justin
Hawkins has done with those black and white jumpsuits, well it looks like
he has sold them to Glam!
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The set was pure rock n' roll showmanship
of the highest order that just whipped up the crowd up with tracks like
‘Bless The Night’, ‘I Turn To You’, the excellent ‘Kill My Rock ‘N’ Roll’
and ‘Bygone Zone’. The band also showed their versatility as they
gave us a couple of AC/DC covers, the first being the thunderous ‘Highway
To Hell’ and the second being a firing on all cylinders ‘Black In Black’.
Then it was time for the bands showstoppers ‘Hard To Be A Rock N' Roller’, which
saw Teeny get a baptism of rock n' roll with a bottle of water being
poured over his head by Glam, plus the one that got us all interested
in the band in the first place, their Eurovision entry ‘In My Dreams’.
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All of which ended a quite remarkable set from a band that you just have
to love for all the right reasons, the showmanship, the sense of fun and
their ability to rock n' roll despite all the glitz and glamour.
FAIR WARNING
The job of following the superb Wig Wam
had fallen to Fair Warning who to be fair did their utmost best.
This was another band that for some unknown reason had failed to visit
these shores before now, but now their time had come.
Sadly though
it was now getting into the late afternoon and a fair number of the crowd
had taken this time to get something to eat, which due to the total lack
of suitable facilities, meant having to leave the venue and either
visiting the burger bar a few doors down, (not an ideal choice especially
if you’ve been standing all day), or visiting a nearby pub or fast food
place to at least have a slightly more civilised sit down lunch. |
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I’m ashamed to say that I was one of those who used this bands slot to get
food before I started to faint from hunger. I didn’t leave straight
away though and did manage to catch at least half of their set, which I
must admit I liked, and as a fan of the bands comeback album 'Brother’s
Keeper', I had actually been really looking forward to checking out the
songs live. I did manage to catch a couple of my favourite tracks of
the album though, ‘Generation Jedi’ and ‘The Cry’.
BONFIRE
After being suitably nourished it was time to return to the venue for what
was one of the performances of the day from German rockers Bonfire.
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I had sadly thought we were going to miss a fair chunk of their set due to
going out for nourishment, however as it turned out I was delighted to
find out we'd just missed the first two songs, which of course meant that
the event was now running behind schedule, something that didn’t happen
last year, so were the lessons learned from last year totally forgotten?
What I caught of Bonfire’s set I loved, as did most of the crowd who had
grown considerably since Fair Warnings set.
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The band rocked big style with songs like ‘Under Blue Skies’, ‘Hot To
Rock’, the excellent ‘Don’t Touch The Light’, and ‘Give It A Try’. |
The relentless rock just kept on coming as the band went into overdrive
with ‘American Nights’ and the classics ‘Hard On Me’ and ‘Sweet
Obsession’, before the powerhouse ‘Ready 4 Reaction’. The band left
the stage to rapturous applause before returning to put the icing on the
cake with ‘Bang Down The Door’, which rounded of a great performance and
one of the highlights of the day for me, it's just a pity I failed to
catch the full set.
GOTTHARD
Now for what was about to come may we be truly thankful, because up next
were Gotthard who impressed me so much when I caught them at Bradford
Rio’s in October last year, that I was really looking forward to this set.
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The band opened up with ‘Are We Are’ and from the off Steve Lee had the
crowd in the palm of his hands; you could tell straight away that this was
going to be a monster. The set continues with ‘Dream On’ before the Swiss
quintet put their own spin on the classic ‘Hush’, then it was back to
their own material with the excellent ‘Mountain Mama’ and ‘Top Of The
World’.
Things just got better and better as the set went on. This was what
we’d been waiting for all day. The band continued to impress with
tracks like ‘When All Is Said And Done’, the storming blues ridden ‘Sister
Moon’, and the majestic ‘Let It Be’. It's not often that you can say
a cover version is better that the original, but Gottard came close with
an excellent rendition of ‘Mighty Quinn’, although it was the likes of ‘Firedance’,
‘Anytime Anywhere’, and ‘Movin’ On’ that really set my heart pounding.
These three songs are just fantastic on album, but live they totally blew
me away.
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This was indeed the top band of the festival for me, even before
Winger came on stage. It just goes to show that there’s more to
Switzerland than chocs and clocks, it also ROCKS!
WINGER
Now for Winger, well with time getting on there seemed to be a few
problems on stage with the keyboard set up, which by the time it was
sorted out, Winger didn’t come on stage until 21.35, which meant that we
were now 35 minutes behind schedule, and I for one was thinking about the
ridiculous curfew that is imposed by the venue, which as a result would
mean Winger would have to cut their set short. I can’t see why for one
night that the curfew is extended for such events.
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But back to Winger, with Gotthard stealing the day it would be hard for
any band to follow them and with the added pressure of time getting on
Winger would have to pull out all the stops. I’m afraid they failed
to do so and the crowd started to dwindle due to lack lustre performance
from Kip and the boys. That and the sheer pain of standing for
almost eleven hours, I’m afraid I was also one of the evacuees from the
venue just five songs in. What I did hear didn’t justify the
headline spot for Winger and I later heard from friends that did stay that
Kip wasn’t happy with rushing a much shortened set, which was plagued
further with technical problems. By which time more than half the
crowd had now left. Once again if the curfew had been lifted, or if
the venue was different maybe things would have been different, who knows. |
Too sum up a great show by Wig Wam and Bonfire and an outstanding
performance by Gotthard, easily the best band at this or any Firefest to
date. Good performances by Nexx and Treat. Sorry I didn’t
catch all of Fair Warning but Wig Wam were a hard act to follow, maybe if
they had been before them then things would have been different.
Shame about Winger, I suspect maybe Gotthard should have headlined as they
and Wig Wam were worth the forty pound entry fee alone in my opinion.
As for the
venue, not really suited to all day events. Lack of seating, lack of
food, lack of draft beer from late afternoon onwards. Impossible to
get to merchandise stand in between bands because of where it was situated
between bar, exit and toilets and with Firefest IV being announced for
next year at the same venue things have got to get better. I thought
the organisation last year was much better. There were less hiccups
on stage, bands stuck to time slots, but this year everything learned seem
to be forgotten, so let's see what next year has to offer.
My only
regret is that it will be at this self same venue, which given the age
group of most of the punters that attend these events, will put off a lot
folks due to lack of seating and poor layout and facilities onsite.
At least at Penningtons you had room to mingle and meet the bands, or just
chill out and sit down in between bands if you wanted.
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