Firefest IV Review

[Lee]

What an awesome show ;D

The place was heavin'...packed to the rafters, I tell you!!

Jaded Heart, Valentine, Jorn, Harem Scarem and Tyketto were immense. Lots of energy, passion, enthusiasm and above all else.....FUN

The guys in Valentine looked totally blown away by the response from the crowd, and it was great to hear they may record a new Valentine cd.

Thought Crunch were a let down. The fact that most people have hardly heard any Adriangale or Crunch songs didn't help but, they just seemed lost on stage. The guitars were lost in the mix and Jamie Rowe looks like a cross between Pauline Quirke and Christoper Biggins...........LOL Great voice tho' ;D

We didn't hang around to see FM, I've never been the biggest fan, although by all accounts they were fantastic!

Band(s) of the day for me.......Jaded Heart and Tyketto.

Also like to say that Jorn Viggo Lofstadt, who plays guitar with Jorn is immense. The guy just blew me away with his style, and he looked like he was having a great time...respect!!

Nice to meet Tez, Janette, Alison, LJC(top geezer), Mr Price and Sam.
We saw Liz, Nick, Shaggy, Woody and R&A from afar. We were upstairs for the whole show.

Also nice to meet/bump into Mr Marshall and Mr Dargan outside before the show ;D

Well done to Kieran, Bruce, Tony and everyone else who helped to put on this great show

See you all next year

[Richard & Amanda In Cornwall]

We got back in the early hours,tired but it was worth it.
Highlights were Valentine,Tyketto and FM for us,Hugo was great afterwards allowed Richard to have a photo with him.He seemed thrilled with the response to the show.
Bought the new Arfm shirt(USA large so ok) and the FM cd.Really hard to meet people this year as the place was rocking to the rafters,but nice to see the Cheshire Queen and Nick with Woody in the road afterwards!!Shame we didnt meet others though.
Only minor gripe it is difficult in there for those who like a seat,Amanda was struggling near the end with aching feet,thankfully we got onto the steps going up to the VIP area which helped.
All in all a great day,thought Mr P was going to perform with Tyketto after the intro he gave them,thought he was stuck on the stage.
Well done to all concerned looking forward to next years.

[Liz from Cheshire]

My ears are ringing ;D

Friday Night - loved Stormzone..the shirt almost came off (thanks Harv ) and Soul Doctor, shame their guitarist looks like Tony M (my sympathies mate

Saturday - Thought Jaded Heart were excellent...

Crunch started badly but picked up a little as the set progressed, even if IMHO the singer looked like an extra from the Commitments.

Valentine - Could you get any more reverb on the vocals? The crowd seemed well impressed, but did they really have to finish with a cover of Carry On Wayward Son when they have so many of their own great tunes?

Jorn - oh dear, big disappointment of the day for me. I was really looking forward to seeing him as I think the albums are excellent..but on stage..sorry but I've renamed him Yawn

Harem Scarem - consummate professionals the lot of them. Regardless of what other folks may think about the setlist I admit to having a tear in my eye during No Justice..cause there certainly is, if they are calling it a day.

Tyketto - just fun, really enjoyed them, looking forward to seeing them again on Tuesday.

FM - Steve has a great voice you can't deny that, but they are a band that I've never really got my hat on with so to speak..

Lovely to see Kozzy, Shaggy, Janette, Alison, LJC, Elaine, Richard and Amanda, and Mr. P again.
An absolute pleasure to meet Debbie, Mrs Kozzy, Tez, Sam, Nigel, Wayne and Woody ;D
Shame we never found Eden..I'm blaming the strange affliction that affected mobile phones in Nottingham!

Thanks to Kieran, Bruce and everyone who made the weekend such a great success.

[Woody]

Great Day! Great Event! went by far too Quickly, really enjoyed myself!

Jaded Heart - were excellent but their set seemed really short, wished they had played more classics but still an excellent set would kill to see songs like "We'll Drag you down", "F***ing Hating You", "Healer" & "Dreams you'll never see" Live! Great kick start for the day! wish these guys could get a support or even a gig over here!

Adraingale - wasn't expecting much from these guys, but they won me over by the end of the set. Been familar with their songs probably made it easier for me to enjoy their set & It was a Adraingale greatest hits set! Still think these should have been 1st band with Jaded Heart Second!

Valentine - what can i say amazing, was blown away by these guys performance. Although its hard to take this band seriously cause Hugo is the spitting image of my brother in law (well i think so anyway!). Their was a few lulls in the set (for me) but on the whole a great set lots of energy, The crowd seemed to like em anyway! Disappointed their was No "Once in A Lifetime" but some of the Hugo solo songs like "If Your Ever Lonely" & "Tell it to my heart" made up for that omission! Excellent news these guys are gonna do another record!

Jorn - hmmmm, not impressed at all! was contemplating having a nap! I think bad song choice may have been his downfall, for the casual fan, all the songs i know Jorn for were not played. Great Voice mind, just didn't enjoy his firefest set! For me the lowest point of the day!

Harem Scarem - EXCELLENT, thes guys were amazing, first and unfortunatley the last time i'll get to see them! Not the song choices i was expecting, but still a damn great set! Kicking off with "Dagger" one of my fav HS tracks! No "Hard To Love", "How Long" or "Honestly" but their omission of these songs was made up for me anyway by a song i wasn't expecting , my favourite HS track "With a little Love" which was followed by the awesome "Killing Me"! But like the day it went by far too quickly! Some great onstage banter especially when Pete's guitar died! Not too sure about Harrys new musical direction (he treated us to a few lines to a backstreet boys song). Wish these guys would reconsider splitting!

Tyketto - for me band of the day, amazing set! only downside was some screeching coming out of the speakers towards the end of the Tyke's set. Think some one was trying to deafen me! Obviously Mr Vaughn never disapoints and delivers all those classic tunes with great showmanship! playing my fav Tyke song "Meet Me in the Night" is always a good way to make me happy! Great crowd reaction to these guys, creating a great atmosphere! "Burning Down Inside", "Wings" , "Strength In Numbers", "Rescue Me" , "Walk On Fire" , "Catch My Fall" & "Standing Alone" all going down well! Oh and ofcourse "Forever Young". Always love Dannys onstage banter & "speeches" a great ambassdor for Melodic Rock! was considering making a few phone calls and getting over to Ireland for the last Tyke gig! i was very fortunate to get to see the Tykes twice before and they have never disapointed! If you can get there GO!!!!!

Quote of the Day - Danny Vaughn " And they say theirs no fanbase for this type of music, F********** YOOOOOOUUUUU!"

I couldn't have articulated it better myself!

FM - The set was a "people pleaser", but thats not a bad thing! I enjoyed their performance, especially "All Or Nothing". These guys can be a bit too light for most fans, but i'm a big softie and likes me keyboards! GReat Set don't think FM fans would be disapointed, but i think the band were a bit rusty and it'll be intresting to see how the guys perform in 2008, hope the guys come to my neck of the woods!

Right brown nosing time, obviously big thanks to Kieran & Bruce for organising the event. All the crew and everyone who helped make this show happen and work. Shows like this reaffirm why i love this type of music it was a great day and i enjoyed myself immensely! So Thanks have to go to all involved behind the scenes!

only downside for me personally was the venue, not a big fan of the place, its not a very me freindly place ahhh well can't have everything can we and i know the the state of the venue has absolutley nothing to do with anyone involved with Firefest! So please don't take this as a moan, just stating a fact! although don't be surprised if when FFV is announced rock city doesn't have an accidental collison with a wrecking ball and some blueprints from a mystery source drop through the distraught owners letterbox! hahaha!

Woody

[arenean]

Awesome show indeed - and some interesting rumours at breakfast in the hotel about who might be lined up for FF5!

Well done to Kieran and everyone else involved for finally getting the payback of a full house, enthusiastic crowd. Highlights for me were Valentine, Tyketto and FM. I was just blown away by Hugo's voice, and I've just watched the video I made of them again before I put it on Youtube, and even through the low quality microphone I recorded it on, he STILL sounds awesome! Come back soon guys!

Tyketto were seriously good, and I'm thinking of a trip to Ireland now.... It wasn't really a surprise though, as Danny's shows are nothing less than excellent. It's a pity that their set didn't seem to be videoed though, as it'd be a great show to have, along with the other DVD's that'll be coming out of the festival. Did manage to bag a copy of the Tyketto CD though, which were selling like hot cakes at the merch stall...

FM were great - like they'd never been away (although the FM promo videos being shown on the screens showed that a bit of time has passed since the 80s!) Steve's voice is top quality, and his reaction (along with Valentine's), showed that they weren't quite expecting such a reaction!

So, a superb time. One thing though, are there any 'rock-friendly' venues which could accomodate a slightly bigger crowd (2-2500?). Firefest yesterday did seem like it had outgrown the venue, and hopefully we'll have an even bigger crowd for FF5....

[tangocharlie]

Great festival again!!
Jaded Heart were a great opening band! Good songs and heavy enough to wake the early crowd!

Crunch were good, great voice despite the funny dress sense!

Valentine, were good as expected. Good to see them!!

Jorn was lunch time but caught a great version of 'Stormbringer'!

Harem Scarem were good...Ive never seen them before. Quite varied arent they?! Love the harmoinies! I thought their last (ever?) song was not a great choice though! Why no 'Honestly'?!!

Tyketto..what can you say?! Great and good to see a fired-up Danny!

FM were good too. Nice songs. Never really my cup-of-tea, could never see what people see in them really (I prefer Thunder or The Quireboys) but good voice and good three minute songs!
And the beer didnt run out this year..but the bleeding Tyketto cd's did!! Sold out in 40 minutes!!
Anyway, thanks to all concerned for a great day! Makes leaving my wallet in the hotel worth it!!

Please check out my VALENTINE photo...
farm3.static.flickr.com/2416/1792389491_1642d08a45_b.jpg

More to come!!

Tc

[jacqui]

My thoughts on the day:

Jaded Heart - Epitomised passion, commitment, great showmanship and great style. Loved it, it was criminal to put them on first.

Crunch - Didn't really enjoy it at all. Thought they were a bit of a strange mix and I got bored very quickly.

Valentine - I thought they were technically very good, but way too sickly sweet and fluffy for my taste. I was left a bit non-plussed by them and don't get what all the fuss is about.

Jorn - Despite the posing, I loved loved loved their set. Jorn has got such a great voice, and Tore and Jorn Viggo are both sublime guitarists. Them and Jaded Heart were the reason I was there and I wasn't disappointed at all. Superb stuff.

Harem Scarem - I was pleasantly surprised by them. I'm only a casual fan but they caught my interest.

Tyketto - Brilliant.

FM - No idea, as we left after Tyketto.

It was nice to see Steve P., LJC, Alison and Janette again, and to meet Tez and Sam. We secured our spot on the balcony early and didn't move til home time, but spotted Liz, Nick, Shaggy and Woody from on high. I'm sorry we didn't come down to say hi, but our little vantage point was too good to give up.

A special thanks must go to the creator of the Nottingham Tram system, which delivered us from hotel to Rock City in little over 5 minutes for the princely sum of £2.40 return. Better than a cab any day.

[Woody]

Oh and it was great to meet some arfm regulars!

Great to get speak To Steve Price! I know you were very busy so it was great you came over to say hi!

Good to see Janette & Alison again, thanks for coming over and saying hello it was good to see you again albeit briefly. Sorry i didn't get chance to be a bit more socialable, as you know not the easiest venue for me to get around in & I was getting my full £50's worth ;D, hopefully next time i'll give myself time to say more than hello! The day sped by! Hope you enjoyed yourselves!

Big Thanks to Liz and Nick for making what would have been a very stressful and frustrating day for me into a stress free and great day! Its greatly appreciated! see you @ JB's! a far more Woody freindly venue! hahaha!

To anyone else i met via Liz & Nick good to meet ya!

Woody

[arenean]

TC - they brought another bag of Tyketto CD's out later! By the way, I'm short of photo's to stick in my Firefest video on the PC, would it be OK to 'borrow' your most excellent Valentine photo?!

[Alison]

Wow!!! What a weekend!!

I had a fabulous time! A great atmosphere on the Friday night and enjoyed hearing the bands (even though I didn't see all of them!)

I'm not alone I know in saying that Valentine, Tyketto and FM were the ones that stood out for me -FM especially! I thought they sounded great and really hope we see more of them in the future and I swear that Steve Overland could sing My Old Man's A Dustman and make it sound sexy LOL

Venues....I thought the Friday night venue was excellent, it was a definite plus that it had a seating area and fully functioning, spotless toilets! As for Rock City, well I really think the owners of that establishment could try harder in both those departments!

Lovely to see Janette, Liz, Nick, Woody, Shaggy, Jacqui, Lee, SP, and to meet Elaine, Sam and Nigel for the first time. Sorry I didn't get to see Richard and Amanda, and that that there were others I only saw from afar but didn't get to speak to! There's always next year! ;D

A big thank-you to the organisers and all their helpers for putting on such a great event. ;D

[arenean]

Well Alison, if the ladies was as bad as the gents, then things must have been bad!
I popped my head round the door of the gents, and then backed out and decided to hold on. I thought to myself, "Things are going to get a lot worse in there before they get better" !

Mr P is a bit 'hoarse' again tonight! I blame the dry ice they pump into the venue...it even smells a bit funny...

[Janette]

Missed Jaded Heart and Crunch due to a threatening migraine Rather annoying as I keep being told how wonderful Jaded Heart were! I decided it would be better to miss the first couple of bands and try and sleep it off as opposed to risking it and missing Tyketto.

Valentine - pretty good

Jorn - yeah, thought he was ok Loved the guitarist's boots! LOL

Harem Scarem - excellent (but we knew they would be)

TYKETTO - ;D absolutely bloody amazing, superb, wonderful, fantastic, band of the day without a doubt (IMHO anyway!) Can't wait to see 'em again in Belfast on Tuesday - WOOOOOO! ;D

FM - yeah pretty good, didn't know any of their stuff tho but what I heard was good.

Lovely to see Liz & Nick, Alison, Shaggy & Elaine, Woody, LJC, Lee & Jacqui (albeit briefly!), and to meet Sam and Nigel R & A - never even saw ya! (eek I hope I haven't forgotten anyone ) Oh yeah, & busy bee Mr P.

I actually enjoyed Friday far more TBH The venue was *miles* better than last year, room to see the bands, move around, have a chat and socialise, no pressure blah blah. Good fun and Stormzone were *the* band of the night........ fantastic!

Whilst I'm really pleased for Kieran and Bruce that the place was full on Sat and it shows our music scene is still really popular, speaking as a punter it was absolutely horrendous You couldn't move in there, it was really hot and claustrophobic, last year was much better with 400 odd people less in the place! It was *too* full for me, indeed I had a bloody panic attack near the end of Tyketto's set and had to leg it from the building PDQ! Just my opinion, it may not bother some people, but it kind of spoiled the day for me - I enjoyed last year far more.

The above doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it BTW! I just think it was much too crowded. Lasted about 3 mins in The Rig too LOL Maybe I'm just getting too old for all this rock stuff ;D

Now where's me pipe and slippers? ;D

[Janette]

Just realised I forgot Tez! Sorry luv!

[Karen (kazbaz)]

Had a fantastic time yet again, although, I too thought it was too damn crowded!!! I still prefer Bardford (the first Firefest) to Rock City. As for the bands..............

Can't comment on Jaded Heart as we missed them!

Crunch.........Not my cup of tea, but ok.

Valentin......thought they were great but couldn't help thinking about Steve Perry!

Jorn......Sorry not impressed.

Harem Scarem.....Fab!

Tyketto.......Fantastic as usual, and may I say Brook is looking good!!

FM......They ROCK (softly)

Sorry I didn't get to speak to anyone but it was too crowded and I was clinging to the stairs all day due to the fact I stupidly wore high heels! Could I also just apologise to Richard and Amanda (didn't realize you were behind me until I read your post, think it was you anyway) as my friend was rather lively on the stairs and kept thrashing her body and hair around a lot!! She's a complete headcase even when sober, sorry about that. Can't wait for next year, it'll be a cracker I'm sure.

Karen x

[Tez Noriega-Durrant]

Just got home after a great show. Foot & feet ache from being down the very front just off centre for all the bands except Jorn & FM.

For me top three bands were Tyketto, Valentine, & FM.

Tyketto & Valentine as well as fantastic performances just so enjoyed being on the stage it was a pleasure to watch them have fun.

FM - great having them back, and they put on a good solid polished performance despite all the years away, and also just to show how professional they are when they lost power, joked with each other & the crowd ... and when power came back on finished the song where they left off ( so it can be edited on the DVD !). I would have stayed down the front for FM but having been queuing from about 10:20 am ... my 'old' legs had had enough so retired to the back where I could lean on something !! Balcony for me next year !!

I was looking forward to the Harem Scarem, and while it was good polished & professional they suffered from having a very shortened set-list ( not helped by Petes amp blowing ). The downer for me is there just didn't seem the enthusiasm to play that the other bands had.

I wasn't expecting much of Crunch, but in the end really enjoyed the set ... it took a little while to get going ... but again I thought it was a fun set. Can't comment on the dress sense though .. LOL

Jaded Heart - The new singer has got a great set of pipes and performed the old numbers very well. I've got all the Jaded Heart Cds ( apart from the latest ) so was pleased with that ... however the songs from the latest cd have strayed form their previous efforts and have kind of moved away from the stuff I like. Bit too dark & hard for my personal tastes.

Wasn't expecting much from Jorn ... and basically didn't get much so no surprise for me ... just a big 'yawn' for me.

Only other downer for me was the FM CD. Cd wasn't in stock when I first went to the stand, still wasn't in after Jaded Heart, but by the time I'd managed to squeeze out from the front ( the venue was packed even early on ) after Valentine ... all sold out ... gutted. However the whole reason I queued so early was to get my Tyketto cd so I'm happy with that.

Nice to meet Liz 'aka ARFM Den Mother', Nick, LJC ( & mate ), Janette,& Allison & of course Mr P !!! Thanks for the company & chat.

Well done to Kieran, Bruce, Tony and everyone else who helped to put on this great show ... next time its the balcony for me.

See you all next year

Cheers

Tez