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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’.
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.
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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
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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.
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.
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’.
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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.
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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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