Firefest 3

[blackcat]

Enjoyed the hell out of it whilst it lasted, or whilst I lasted. Big thanks to all involved except the lighting man with a strobe button and Marshall amps which work like a guitar hoover.

Nexx - vocals sounded fine but no guitar in mix, so awkward to assess
Treat - great fun, louder but still unclear guitar, good songs
WigWam - I'll leave that to Jack - bloody bostin they wuz
Fair Warning - sounded superb, great dynamics, songs vocals, guitar - must buy CDs
Bonfire - struggled to follow previous, but maybe the strobe bugged me that much that I couldn't concentrate
Gotthard - awesome awesome awesome but more bloody strobe
Winger - sorry, missed them, went outside with strobe sickness

Nice to see some new and familar faces, sorry if I couldn't hear what you were saying. Roll on Firefest 4 and throw that bloody strobe in the River Trent along with the Marshall heads

[Karen (kazbaz)]

Well I'm amazed to say that I'm not hungover.......very strange! Really enjoyed the day, the atmosphere was great and it was certainly a lot busier than last year. I have to say though that I did come away a little disappointed! Didn't arrive til 4ish so missed Nexx, Treat and Wigwam so can't comment on them. Fair Warning to me were very boring and half the band looked as though they had lost the will to live. Bonfire were good, loads of energy and got the crowd going. Gotthard.................wow, amazing, should have headlined in my opinion. Fantastic show and the crowd just went wild! Awsome vocals from Steve Lee yet again. Love em! Winger were very disappointing. They didnt seem to make any effort at all and no encore! After being "lifted up" by Gotthard I felt as though Winger were a bit of a let down. Roll on FF4 x

[Nick from Cheshire]

I`ll leave the in depth stuff to others, but in a nutshell...WigWam and Gotthard were excellent, and Winger were sh*te. I know I`m not alone in this opinion, as I`ve never seen such a large proportion of an audience leave during a "headliners" set. Up their own bottoms, they were.

On a positive note, the new Harem Scarem sounds excellent...pity Winger soundchecked over it

And great to meet up with the usual people and a few unusual ones ;D Special mentions to Scooby Doo (wait for the photos ), Lindsay (stuntman extraordinaire!) and Geo (the reason Rock City ran out of beer at 6pm ;D)

[Alison]

Treat, Wigwam, and Gotthard stood out for me on the Saturday. I was looking forward to seeing/hearing Winger but found them very disappointing. Their set didn't seem to have a start, they kind drifted from a soundcheck into the first number, looked bored...no,not impressed! Wigwam on the other hand really engaged with the crowd and were great fun. Gotthard deserved to be headlining, they were fantastic.
Like Blackcat, I wasn't impressed with the sound quality overall, but I'm never sure if I'm hearing correctly -my ears have taken a battering over the years!

Lovely to meet you Gindsay and Leo, Kazbaz, Shaggy, LJC, Tim, Yvonne, Tug, Lee, Jacqui, Eric and Tim R (who, apparently, lurks here but doesn't post! :

See you all next year (if not before!!) ;D ;D

[Lightninjackcane]

First of all i`d like to say a BIG thanks to Kieran for making a great day just that little bit better, very much appreciated Kieran
The turnout was excellent, right from the word go it was a fullhouse, was it a sell out ? if not it must have been damn close

NEXX unfortunately i misssed them due to a need for food & beer & an earlier than advertised start time

TREAT were the biggest suprise of the day for me, never really enjoyed any of this bands albums but live they were sumthin completely different

WIG WAM were absolutely stunning, amazing performance & my band of the day by miles without a doubt, talking with Glam backstage after the gig it seems it won`t be long before they are back in the UK as a part of what will be an excellent bill( ssshhhh) I Just can`t wait to see them again

FAIR WARNING never saw much of the set & what i did see was watched from the backstage area,enjoyed what i saw but was not best situated to give an account of the whole set

BONFIRE very entertaining set & they worked hard & looked to be loving every minute of it

GOTTHARD Consumate pro`s, i watched the whole set from the balcony & the crowds response was great to see from high up, in terms of crowd favourites Gotthard defintely took that accolade

WINGER absolutely terrible, i have no idea about Kip Wingers frame of mind, but what i was hearing just sounded disjointed & dull, they just didn`t gel at all, truly awfull & in fact after 40 mins i'd had enough & left

nice too meet for the first time( in order of appearance...lol)
Gav Bolton
Mike Newdeck
Alison
Lee
Geo
Lyndsey
Andrew Mcneice
Kieran Dargan
Tony Marshall
Bailey Bros
Kozzy
Wig Wam
John Kivel
Bob Catley
Kazbaz

& to all those i`ve met before , good to see you again & here`s the next one \m/

[Liz from Cheshire]

Well I agree with most thats been said so I`ll tell you about the Pre-show....

We missed Alibi due to the fact we`d been having such a good time in TGI Fridays (big thank you to Heather our waitress for her patience!).

Bad Habit..an acoustic set which I enjoyed very much.

Bombay Black..very good set, great band, really enthusiastic, pity I didnt know more of their tunes

Newman..oh dear..sorry but they couldnt hold a tune in a bucket..it was appalling!

Firefest itself...well highlights..Wig Wam and Gotthard, nice to meet Glam too...he`s tiny without them boots on ;D one day I`ll tell ya about the plastic bag ;D

Lovely to see Uncle Bob Catley again and you should have come Prog Paul....Nexx did an Alan Parsons cover

Lovely to meet Scooby Doo, Lindsay, Geo, Tug, Kazbaz, Kozzy, the nice young man from Ireland who sat next to me (not saying Lindsay and Geo arent nice )

and the rest of you I`ve met before...wasnt it fun



oh yeah...Winger were sh*te!

[Richard & Amanda In Cornwall]

Newman!!!! they are really good on cd what a shame,shocked!!!

[arenean]

I think most of what everyone's said so far is bang on.

Missed Alibi on Friday night after going round and round the Wollaton St area, and not finding Rock City for an hour....should have stayed in the Crown Plaza like last year. No getting lost there....

Caught the last part of Bad Habit. Did very well cosidering the lack of a drummer (usually quite important for this type of event).

Bombay Black were excellent. Great energy, and I ended up buying the CD. For a fiver? - can't go wrong.

Newman. Hmm, it didn't really get going, did it? Pity, as Steve is such a nice bloke!

======

Nexx - I really like this band,and I thought the volume was just right at this point. Great to hear Alan Parsons Project's "Eye In The Sky" too! Bought the CD.

TREAT - I bought the Greatest Hits CD a couple of months peviously to familiarise myself with them, and it quickly became a favourite. The live set didn't disappoint! Also, I don't think I've seen a drummer with so much energy - he reminded me of "Animal" from The Muppet Show! I made the mistake of standing behind him when Gotthard were playing, and my pint nearly went flying...

WIG WAM - Wow! Highlight for me! I go to Firefest to be entertained. I want a "Danger Danger" moment, and Wig Wam did it for me this year. Couldn't get the CDs at Firefest, but I'll definitely be buying them.

FAIR WARNING - OK, but I was a bit spoiled from what went before. Nothing wrong with the set at all, but wasn't as special as it could have been.

BONFIRE - OK, but the "Judas Priest" sound isn't my favourite, so I'll let others comment on their set.

GOTTHARD - They were fantastic, and should be huge the world over. Definitely up there with Wig Wam as the highlights.

WINGER - I don't know what happened there. Am I right in thinking there may have been an attitude on Kip Wingers part? He seemed more concerned that we should impress him, rather than the other way around. The technical probelms with "Rainbow in the Rose" didn't help his mood, and it was all over the place. There were a couple of points where things improved, but like others, I thought the other bands had much better passion and attitude. I didn't walk out like some, and I wanted it to improve, but it was ultimately disappointing.

BAD BITS:
1) The lack of seating again. I didn't notice it last year, but my feet felt like they'd ran a marathon by the time of Gotthards set. AND security moved us off the outside steps. Not impressed. Anyway, if the attendance keeps improving at this rate, FF4 will be looking for somewhere bigger!

2) What was with that bloody awful hip-hop nonsense played at full volume between sets early in the day? I remember last year that the music was played too loud between sets last year (my ears need at least 5 minutes without a pummeling!), but at least it was rock. Anyway, at least someone had the good sense to realise their mistake later!

All in all though, another fantastic day. Well done to all involved, and it seemed very successful (I'll wait to hear what Steve has to say about that...)

Darren

[Karen (kazbaz)]

I'm so glad I'm not alone in thinking Winger were s****e!!! Could tell it was going to be rubbish cos they weren't even introduced. Kip's obviously become a Diva in his old age! Shame cos they used to great live. Forgot to say hi to everyone i met for the first time last night............Alison, Liz, Nick, LJC, Janette and Geo, great to see you al xx

[jacqui]

Sore ears, sore head, sore throat. I'm on my sofa and I ain't moving til I have to go to work on Tuesday

This, however, is a good thing, as I'm also sorting through my photos, deleting the crap ones and will post the best when I can.

Nexx - didn't see them, unfortunately.
Treat - Great stuff.
Wig Wam - Can't wait to see them again. Thought the full Red Indian head-dress added a subtle, understated touch ;D
Fair Warning - balls.
Bonfire - Great.
Gotthard - Brilliant. Band of the day.
Winger - Enjoyed it. Am I weird?

[metalhead]

Had a great time, and it was nice to meet all the usual faces, and some new ones. Nice to finally meet Lindsay, Geo, Alison, LJC and Shaggy, if only for short time.

Nexx - Missed the set due to arriving late

Treat - Very impressed by these guys. Excellent songs, great sound and a fantastic singer.

Wig Wam - Only ok I'm afraid. It was a good show,but I'd loved to have heard a few other songs rather than the AC/DC covers.

Fair Warning - Utter shite. They looked totally uninterested, and each song just morphed into one another. Worst of the day for me.

Bonfire - Fantastic, and band of the day for me. Fantastic sound, great song choice and a great lead singer. Also, they looked genuinely touched by the crowd reaction, which was nice to see.

Gotthard - What a show these guys put on. A few technical problems at the start, but once they got going they were flawless. Pushed Bonfire for all the way for band of the day for me.

Winger - Hugely disappointing. Technical problems, Kip looking thoroughly pissed off, and havingto cut short their set, just made it a bit of a damp squib for me. They did show glimpses of brilliance, notably, 'Down Incognito' and 'Madalaine', but overall very poor.

[shaggy]

good afterdood evryode. Yes I am full of cold. Hit me like a brick about 9.30pm and just got worse (but nowhere near as bad as Winger's set). I braved it for about 30 minutes and found myself losing the will to live so I headed back to my hotel room and continued my misery by watching Match Of The Day and saw highlights of Liverpool handing out their annual Anfield drubbing to the Villa (stop laughing Mr Geo or I'll confiscate your beer money for the next year).

Friday night highlight Bombay Mix (oops sorry Bombay Black) put me in mind of Nickleback - heavy riffs but plenty of melody. Lowlight of Friday night Newman... a very Wingeresque performance. Kudos to the dj afterwards who cranked out some corking tunes afterwards to get us all back in the mood for the Saturday.

Saturday highlights. Treat were excellent and I shall be investing in their back catalogue for sure. Wigwam were there to party and luckily we all got an invite. I have been reserving judgement on these guys until I had seen them live, and from the outset, they had me transfixed. When the singer stormed on in his Indian headress, I thought "OMG!! It's the Village People!!!!". But they rocked the place and had everyone bouncing off the walls with their infectious energy. It was The Sweet and Poison rolled into one. Great songs delivered with more cheese than a gorgonzola factory, absolutely terrific to see. Was I singing along?bet your ass I was. Bonfire were great too. Classic tunes and delivered with gusto. And then there was Gotthard. I think the majority of fans were here for this band and they nailed it. It helps when the crowd are on your side from the word go and there set just seemed to fly by - a telltale sign of just how energised and enjoyable their set was. No encore sadly but on crowd reaction alone they won band of the day, but close second was Wigwam. I enjoyed Nexx and thought they did a great job of kicking off the whole day. Fair Warning's singer had plenty of energy but sadly his bandmates seemed about as animated as a stuffed toy (although Scooby certainly never stayed still all day). The music was great but I could have just as easily played a cd and got the same amount of joy from it. No prizes then for guessing the winner of Turkey Of The Day - Winger won this particular accolade hands down. As Nick so astutely put it - it spiralled into a jazz session and the crowd wandered off in search of beer, sex, rock music and maybe food - basically anything that would take their mind off what was going on on stage. Best moment of this instantly forgettable performance was when one wag in the crowd yelled out "Bring back Gotthard!" To which Kip said "Who said that?" I'm sure the entire audience were supressing the urge to raise their hands in unison.

Special mentions section. Janette for her excellent Cant Get Out Of The Taxi performance on Friday afternoon. To the coughing and hacking barmaid in The Tap pub across from the hotel. The very sexy Heather in TGI Friday's. The Crowne Plaza kitchen for burning my hands when I picked up the plate to put put my breakfast on it. Geo for his fantastic attempts at trying to drink Nottingham dry in one day. And Lindsey's gymnastic performance on the Rock City Steps. Never before have I seen anyone do a full flight of stairs with such grace and land in a crumpled heap. Hope the bruises arent too bad mate.

[shaggy]

oh yeah and also a special mention to Tim for demonstrating the art of beer juggling with one hand, something I know he is very adept at doing cos I've witnessed it on many a night at Ferry Inn. He also does an amazing "send the beer glass across the room" thing cos he always leaves his glass near the cd draw so when he presses the eject button, the draw comes out and the power of gravity takes ahold and said beer and glass as they hurtle at speed to the floor or nearest wall.

[Janette]

Ooh just realised I haven't put my two penn'orth in.....

Friday night:

Missed Alibi and half of the second band cos I was getting ready ;D (takes ages! ROFL) Liked what I heard of the second band tho. Really liked Bombay Black, nice guys too, was chatting to some of 'em a bit later on and managed to successfully hide in a group shot that the singer took of some of us ;D Oh and I had to take a pic of them by 'The Rig' sign. Newman I can't really remember! I wasn't drinking but think I was off chatting to various peeps so didn't really notice 'em.

Saturday:

Nexx - very good, not a bad choice for openers
Treat - EXCELLENT! Really really thought they were great
WigWam - Ok, I can see why everyone loves them, they don't 'grab' me particularly but yeah they were good.
Fair Warning - Only saw half as my feet were killing me and I had a bad headache (not booze induced strangely enough LOL) so I went back to the hotel for a lay down & some paracetamol - god what an old biddy LOL
Bonfire - Missed them due to above
Gotthard - Absolutely bloody *amazing* !!!!! Band of the day without a doubt.
Winger - Shite. Not musically, that was ok, but they were boring, and Kip Winger had an attitude.

A great weekend, had great fun ;D This time last week.............*sigh*

No more gigs oh for........at least two weeks when I'm off to Oxford to see Thunder!

PS Shaggy - how's the RTFM Diver? ;D

[Janette]

Forgot to say 'hi' to all the new peeps I met, even the lurkers (TIM!!!!!!!!!! ), and was lovely seeing all the oldies - not that they're old, erm........where's me shovel cos I seem to be digging meself into a huge pit here ;D

You all know who you are! "Do you know who I am?" ;D