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A new venue, a new
city, and another FIREFEST. The venue Nottingham Rock City has
always been the Mecca for rock fans since its early beginnings, and it's
only appropriate that the second FIREFEST is brought to Nottingham.
The city itself is easier accessible and has a larger variety of hotels
to suit most budgets. The venue itself was purpose built for such an
event, there were only a few flaws with the day but more of that later,
it's time for the show.
With each band on the day limited time wise because of the 10.30 pm
curfew imposed by Rock City due to its highly popular rock & metal
nights. The whole day had to be timed to perfection if the organizers
were going to pull it off successfully. And by god they did just that.
At times it was like a military manoeuvre, everyone knew what had to be
done and they stuck to their task and credit goes to all involved
backstage to making it run with only the minute of problems.
Power Quest
Opening up the day were
the mighty Power Quest, who got the day off to one hell of a start.
With barely a chance to blow the froth of my beer their intro was
starting.
Opening up with 'Find My Heaven', a track that had a few of the more
sedate melodic rock crowd agog. The sheer tempo of the track had them
stunned for a few moments, but as the band went into the more melodic
'Children of the Dream', they soon started to warm to the band.
The band themselves were up for the gig from the off and didn’t seem
overwhelmed by the fact that they were opening up for some of the
biggest names in Melodic Rock business, both past and present, and
actually seemed to feed off each others enthusiasm. The band
looked like they were having a great time and by the looks on the faces
of those crammed down the front against the barriers, they weren't the
only ones.
'Children of the Dream' also saw Steve Williams don the infamous Key-Tar
for the first time in the set. Fans of the band will know what I'm on
about. The introduction of this new instrument to the bands set
allowed fans to see a lot more of Mr Williams then just his bobbing
head, which is so often the case at their gigs.
The set continued at lightening pace with 'Sacred Land' off the bands
Neverworld album. By this time they had more than a few heads
nodding along to the song, and they were definitely winning the crowd
over.
Then it was back to the bands latest album 'Magic Never Dies' and the
thunderous 'Edge of Time'. Latest addition to the band, drummer
Francesco Tresca, provided some pulse racing rhythms to the song while
looking as cool as a cucumber behind his drumkit. How anyone can
provide such an impressive wall of sound without so much as breaking
into a sweat is beyond me.
This was quickly followed by the title track 'Magic Never Dies', which
blended well with the previous offering. 'Hold on to Love' once
again saw Steve Williams step out from behind the keyboards with the
Key-Tar and together with bassist Steve Scott and guitarist Andrea
Martongelli they indulged in their own version of the Quo guitar sway.
The bands final track of their 45 minute slot was 'Neverworld', the
title track off the bands second album. By now the crowd was well
and truly hooked and when the band took a bow at the end of the
performance they received a rousing and much deserved cheer from the
crowd.
I've been to quite a few of these types of festivals and Power Quest
have got to be the best opening act I've ever seen. I hope this
festival gets the band all the good publicity they deserve and sees them
go on to bigger things. Definitely one of my favourite
performances of the day.
Setlist:
Find my Heaven, Children of the Dream, Sacred Land, Edge of Time, Magic
Never Dies, Hold on to Love, Neverworld
Balance
of Power
Second up on the bill were
Balance of Power, a band that I knew little about before today, but a
band that I will most definitely be checking out after today's
performance.
Apart from a few technical problems new vocalist Corey Brown was having
with his front monitors, something a few of the bands seemed to
experience throughout the day, the band gave it their all.
Starting the set with 'Heathen Machine' they continued where Power Quest
left off with a more metal orientated rock. Where PQ are a fast
drum beat band, BOP are a more keyboard based band along the lines of
Dream Theatre, but maybe not as epic.
While the problems persisted for Corey, the band soldiered on with
'Chemical Imbalance' and the storming 'Shelter'. It might have
been Corey's first time in the UK, but he showed what a quality vocalist
he is, and never let the sound problems deter from the bands
performance.
Corey explained the band were trying to include as many songs in as
possible into the short time slot they had been allocated, and continued
with 'Blind Man' and 'Day Breaker', before finishing off with 'Beneath
The Low'. A simply stunning track that rounded off a far too short
set, but hopefully we will see more of this band very soon.
Setlist:
Heathen Machine, Chemical Imbalance, Shelter, Searching for the
Truth, Blind Man, Day Breaker, Beneath the Low
Shy
Next up were Shy who were
a late addition to the bill after Saracen had to drop out. I must
admit that I have never been a great fan of the band, but I was willing
to persevere and stay to watch their set.
The first thing you noticed as the band hit the stage was the
transformation of Tony Mill. Long gone is that bouffant hair, he
has gone completely for the Zack Wilde look, and wouldn’t be out of
place in some greasy biker gang. But looks aside Tony does have
one of the most distinctive voices on the AOR scene.
The band opened up with 'Breakaway' and from this it was plain to see
the band were totally focused. Tony's stern face was there for all
to see as he made the centre stage his own domain.
Then it was time for 'Skydiving', a track that really impressed me and a
personal favourite of our dear editors. I've seen the band a few
times now at one festival or another and this for me has to be their
finest performance to date.
They went from strength to strength and rolled back the years as they
went into 'Emergency' and 'When Love Is Over'. Both tracks
sounding fresh and new. At this point Tony nearly broke into
a smile, but then suddenly remembered himself before the corners of his
lips could curl, and got back to business with 'Cant Fight The Night'
and 'Soul Searching'. The biggest cheer of the day came when
'Break Down The Walls' was announced. The set was ended in epic
style with 'No Other Way', which capped off a great performance and one
I'm glad I never missed out on.
Setlist:
Break Away, Skydiving, Emergency, When the love has Gone, Can't
fight the Night, Soul Searching, Break down the Walls, No other Way
With all the bands
keeping their sets within their allotted time scales everything was
running smoothly.
Blue Tears
Next up were Blue Tears, a
band that are a bit of a mystery to me. All I knew about the band
was that they had one album back in 1990 and that they were a firm
favourite of Kieran Dargen, who during a recent interview with Steve
Price of ARFM, was very excited about bringing the band over to play
FIREFEST 2.
The band had played the pre-show party the night before and although I
couldn’t see the band from where I was seated, they sounded OK.
Very Bon Jovi meets Bruce Springstein. I was also told that a
certain Paul Hodson was playing keyboards that night, who apparently had
only been asked 6 hours beforehand if he could come up and play.
With only an hour's practice before standing in for the band he taken on
this mighty task. So it came as no surprise that he walked out on
stage after a short while to join the band for the main event.
They opened up with 'Rock you to Heaven', a track that had a few of
their fans down the front jumping about. It's was a promising
start to the set but there was something missing. The band lacked
a physical presence on stage. Although vocalist Greg Fulkerson did
try his best, they just seemed to be lacking that certain spark.
The set continued with 'Life Is For Living' and 'Cant Get Enough', both
of which had me hoping for more of the same. Things started to
pick up with 'Fight For The Right' and the band finally started to win
me over. 'Let It Rain' followed, but the crowd favourite had to be
'Rocking With The Radio, which was also my favourite track from their
set.
The final track 'One Step Over The Line' rounded off an overall OK set.
The only criticism I have was the fact that the band didn’t announce
Paul Hodson to the crowd. Paul did a sterling job on keyboards and
it would have been a nice touch to both introduce him and thank him for
helping them out at such short notice.
As the day went on the hunger pangs had started, but the lack of food
available onsite meant that in between bands there was a mass exodus
from the venue as people went searching for something to eat. By the
time Blue Tears had finished their set I too was stating to feel hungry
so out we went in search of nourishment.
Setlist:
Rock you to Heaven, Life is for Living, Can't get Enough, Fight for the
Right, Let it Rain, Blue Tears, Rocking with the Radio, One step over
the Line
Vaughn
Having nipped out for
something to eat meant that I missed the first part of Vaughn's
performance, but what I managed to see was another fine set that mixed
tracks from Danny's career from Waysted - Tyketto - Vaughn, plus various
projects that he has been involved in throughout the years.
The line up that Danny uses now is one that is familiar to most of the
crowd and is probably one of the strongest he's had. With the
inclusion of Pat Heath and Tony Marshall on guitars, Steve McKenna on
bass, and new boy Lee Morris on drums, the band were as tight as a
drumskin, and together with Danny gave us a great show. Let's hope
that the band can get together as a unit and get in the studio to put
out an album together.
I've seen Danny perform on numerous occasions and with the exception of
the recent Tyketto reunion show at Trillians in Newcastle I've never
seen a bad show. He is a true professional and always gives 110%
on stage and is always a crowd puller, today being no exception.
Such is the mans pulling power he could have just sat up their on his
own and did an acoustic set and still got the same crowd reaction.
With songs like 'Rescue Me' and 'Heaven Tonight' still firm crowd
favourites, what set wouldn’t be complete with the awesome 'Forever
Young'. What can I say about the set but JOB WELL DONE.
Setlist Included: Singing
to the Night, Is that all there Is, Haunted, Blues for Daze, Rescue Me,
Riverside, Nothing at All, Heaven Tonight, Forever Young
Danger
Danger
Next up was the much
anticipated Danger Danger, who were kindly introduced by the one and
only Dave Reynolds.
With Bruno Ravel and the rest of the band taking their places on stage,
the crowd were eagerly anticipating the entrance of one Mr. Ted Poley.
Who when he did come on stage to the opener 'Rock America', his mike
wasn’t working and promptly threw it too the ground and stomped back
off stage. Not the start he wanted and certainly not the start we
wanted either. But the problem was soon remedied and he continued
like the pro he is before continuing on with 'Beat The Bullet'.
Today's set was more of a best of set from the band and to be honest
that what most people had come to hear. With Poley on top form the
whole set just steamed along.
Next up was the outrageous 'Slip Her The Big One' and 'Bang Bang' with
more sexual innuendoes flying around the room than a Carry On film,
combined with a 1000 screaming melodic rock fans the atmosphere was
electric.
Quickly followed by 'Shot of Love' and one of my favourite Danger Danger
tracks 'I Still Think About You', this was sharp turning into one hell
of a show. With limited time the band went into 'Don't Blame It On
Love' and the show stopper 'Monkey Business' before leaving the stage to
rapturous applause.
There was a little mix up as the backing music started to play, there
was confusion as to whether the band were coming back on stage or not.
Whether the crowd thought that there wasn’t going to be an encore by
the band as none of the other bands had done one earlier or what, they
started to leave the front of the stage and meander back to the bar.
Just as they started to do this Bruno Ravel came back on stage and
explained that that had been a first, performing to a crowd who didn't
call out for more. But after all the confusion the band came back
on and finished off with 'Naughty Naughty'. Despite the confusion
at the end of the set they had been the band of the day so far for many.
Setlist:
Rock America, Beat the Bullet, Slipped her the big One, Bang Bang,
Shot of Love, I still think about You, Don't blame it on
Love, Monkey Business, Naughty Naughty
Harem
Scarem
Next up were Canada's
finest export, Harem Scarem, for only their second UK appearance ever.
Their first being at the Gods festival in 2002 and I'm proud of the fact
that I have had the privilege of being at both shows.
Having been out of the country for the past week enjoying a well earned
rest with my good lady wife soaking up the sun in the Maldives, I was
shocked to see some of the reports of the Harem Scarem set, because as
far as I'm concerned they put on a hell of a performance with Harry Hess
and the rest of the band in fine form. Rarely do you see a band
make a performance look so easy when we all know it's not, and actually
look like they are having as much of a blast as the fans who are out
there watching them. Beaming from ear to ear they really seemed to
be enjoying themselves.
The band opened up with 'Forgive And Forget' off the new album and from
this point on things just got better and better. 'Weight of
the World' was next and the flow of the songs was superb with 'Don't
Come Easy' off the new album Overloaded and 'Higher' getting rapturous
applause.
The awesome 'Outside Your Window' was just monstrous live. With
Kieran bringing on pints of Guinness to the various band members, the
atmosphere back stage was obviously relaxed.
The set continued with 'Torn Right Out' and 'Change Comes Around' and
one of my favourite Harem Scarem songs 'Honestly'. The next track
'Candle' was dedicated to Bruce Mee who is the silent partner when it
comes to Firefest and who seems to stay mainly in the background.
'Voice of Reason' a personal favourite of the band was next, closely
followed by the closing song 'Saviors Never Cry', to which a certain Mr
Poley jumped on stage for an impromptu jam. Mr Poley being a long
time fan of the band himself it must have been like a dream come true to
get such a golden opportunity to perform alongside them on stage today.
Unlike Danger Danger, the crowd didn’t leave the front of stage and
let it be known that they definitely wanted more. And more what
they got with 'Hard To Love' and the classic 'No Justice', which nearly
brought the house down and capped off a great show. No matter what
others may think, Harem Scarem are one hell of a live band and up until
this point they were the only band to receive such deafening applause
after each and every song from their fans.
Setlist: Forgive
& Forget, Weight of the World, Don't come Easy, Higher, Outside your
Window, Torn right Out, Change comes Around, Honestly, Candle, Voice of
Reason, Saviors never Cry, Hard to Love, No Justice
House of
Lords
Now on to the headliners
House of Lords. Before things got started Kieran came on stage and
told us that he had received a phone call a few days previous from Robin
Beck, James Christians wife, telling him that James had had and accident
at home and had fallen off a ladder. It wasn’t looking good for
him to perform at the show. But being the true professional that
he is he refused to cancel and had said come hell or high water he would
be here.
The bands opener
'Sahara' soon set my heart pumping, as this had been one of the bands I
was really looking forward to see today, and I certainly wasn’t
disappointed. Despite all the health problems James Christian was
having, he still has one hell of vocal range on him, and he made the
years come tumbling back with the old classic House of Lords tracks,
but he also showed that the new album The Power And The Myth sets up to
standard of the more newer AOR bands out there.
'Chains of Love' just sounded superb and is a much better live track.
The set continued with 'Love Don’t Lie' and 'Pleasure Palace' both of
which were immense.
The set may have been restricted because of James's accident, but this
didn’t stop the rest of the band giving it all they had.
Especially Lanny Cordola who was just ripping away at the guitar and
pulling out riff after monstrous riff, and at times seemed to be totally
lost in his own guitar frenzied world.
'Talking About Love' and 'Edge of Your Life' both rocked good style. The
next three tracks 'Mind Trip', 'All Is Gone', and 'The Rapture' feature
on the band latest release The Power And The Myth and all sounded great
live.
The next track is the one I thought would end the show 'Wanna Be Loved'
was just great to hear live once more. But when James Christian
slapped on the guitar and the played the Eric Clapton song 'Cant Find My
Way Home' my knees nearly buckled.
With a drum solo from Ken Mary just before 'Slip Of The Tongue' which
turned out to be the final track it was plain to see that despite James
Christians obvious battle with pain, House of Lords were definitely back
with a vengeance.
Setlist: Sahara,
Chains of Love, Love don't Lie, Pleasure Palace, Talking bout Love, Edge
of your Life, Mindtrip, All is Gone, The Rapture, I wanna be
loved, Can't find my way Home, Slip of the Tongue
To sum up FIREFEST II
in a few words GREAT STUFF and let's hope that the success of the
day will prompt a FIREFEST III next year. If so then I'll see you
all there without fail. Excellent bands, excellent day and
excellent value for money. When the only low point of the day is
your feet aching from standing up all day that can't be bad.
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