For a decade through to 2014, Firefest built a reputation that most festivals would kill for. It wasn’t just the stellar line ups of melodic hard rock acts, from the rising stars through to long dormant bands from the eighties making emotional and never foreseen comebacks, but the special atmosphere among like minded fans from all over the world, knowing that the organisers were people like us helping that dream happen.
All good things come to an end, though Rockingham Festival emerged to make a very good fist of the same winning formula for a few years. Until Bruce Mee, editor of Fireworks magazine and co-promoter both of Firefest and its predecessor The Gods, resurrected the festival with a strapline of ‘ten years later’.
There were some key differences however. The location had moved from Nottingham to Manchester. It still boasted an international line up but relatively fewer from ‘across the pond’, or indeed Scandinavia. And, just as our favourite bands have line up changes, the other key figures behind the original Firefest decided not to be involved this time.
There is no way of sugar coating this, but the result was something of a split among our community of melodic rock fans, which is small enough anyway. Allied to the fact that people’s family circumstances have changed in the intervening decade, and the increasing costs of travel and hotels, ticket sales were more sluggish than expected.
With ticket prices slashed, Bruce revealing the likely scale of his financial loss for this labour of love and the balcony area closed, there was too much of a sense of doom and gloom amongst what should otherwise have been a sense of anticipation.
In fact the set up was very impressive- in the extra space of the Academy, it still felt full but comfortably so near the front, if less so further back. The stage set up was very professional with an image backdrop that rewarded the bands that put more effort into it and the lighting, courtesy of Lee Foster, outstanding.
The one downside all weekend was a chill straight out of Ice Station Zebra in a venue with loading bays and front doors open for long periods. How we needed the late Larry Grayson to mince through and command ‘shut that door’. The usual pleasure at these festivals of spotting obscure t-shirts was foiled with people wrapping up in coats and hoodies. However the quality of acts proved to be very high, helped by sets of almost unprecedentedly generous length for a festival.
DAY 1- HEAVY PETTIN, CONEY HATCH, LIONHEART, OLIVER’S ARMY
The Friday had a theme of traditional melodic heavy rock to delight those of us who cut out musical teeth in the first half of the eighties. The opening act was one who would never have been considered for the original Firefest in Oliver’s Army, the latest incarnation of former Saxon guitarist Graham Oliver’s incarnation of the band. Sadly he was recently diagnosed, like so many of his age, with Parkinson’s but plugged on gamely and as the set wore on played some still decent solos.
It was good to hear a few songs that the official Saxon rarely play these days like opener ‘Rock and Roll Gypsy’ and ‘Frozen Rainbow’, while the way fists punched to those favourites most of us grew up on like ‘Strong Arm Of The Law’ and ‘Denim And Leather’ justified their presence on the bill.
Curly haired singer Brian Shaughnessy did a respectable Biff mixed in with a bit of Noddy Holder but his Northern humour was straight out of the Wheeltappers and Shunters Club. In surreal fashion he introduced ‘Dallas 1pm’ as being about the assassination of Nigel Kennedy, and goodness knows what the foreign contingent made of his old fashioned British cultural references to Fred Dibnah and Bullseye !
It was classics all the way as a very fine version of ‘Crusader’ led into Brian dedicating ‘Princess Of The Night’ to any trainspotters then a trio of much loved Saxon signatures in ‘747 (Strangers on the Night)’. ‘Motorcycle Man’ and ‘Wheels of Steel’. In terms of power and musical class they were some way off the current Saxon Iine up, yet they were the perfect aperitif to get the festival up and running.
At the tail end of Saxon’s NWOBHM heyday, a new band Lionheart was formed by former Iron Maiden guitarist Dennis Stratton, but by the time their debut ‘Hot Tonight’ finally emerged in 1984 they had transformed into an AOR beast. After a shock return at Rockingham Festival in 2016 their second coming has proved longer lasting with a further three albums released.
After abruptly breaking from what sounded like a sound check into the real thing, they opened with one of the ‘old’ songs that only made it on album more recently in ‘Give Me the Light’. On ‘Hot Tonight’, Lee Small, who has grown dreadlocks since I last saw him, showed what a brilliant vocalist he is – owing something of a debt to Glenn Hughes – and arguably underused in his current main day job in the Sweet.
The twin guitars of Dennis Stratton and Steve Mann gave them a classic hard rock feel, though never less than melodic, but the band’s real strength are the mass backing vocals of the pair and bassist Rocky Newton, particularly in evidence on ‘Angels With Dirty Faces’ and ‘30 Years’.
The edge was marginally taken off my enjoyment by noticeable sound issues which plagued the band on stage. Nevertheless I loved hearing ‘Die For Love’ from the debut while recent albums including the concept album ‘Grace Of A Dragonfly’ featured heavily. With the exception of the more commercial ‘Overdrive’ they were less instant while still having the hallmarks of Lionheart.
The set ended in style with their rocked up cover of Chris De Burgh’s ‘Don’t Pay The Ferryman’, debut favourite ‘Towers of Silver’ with those big backing vocals at their best and the impressive ‘V Is For Victory’. It was a particularly praiseworthy set given the sound issues and considering that, scarcely credibly, it was their first live show in six years.
There was a neat symmetry as Coney Hatch also graced the last Firefest a decade ago. The sole Canadian visitors opened decently enough with ‘Blown Away’ and the AC/DC ish ‘Heaven’s On The Other Side’. However an old Firefest hallmark of special one-off shows was repeated with a performance in full of ‘Friction’, the third and last of the original band’s albums and one which saw them head in a more AOR direction.
They chose to play the album in exact order and with few embellishments from the original. It was a great mix of rockers reminiscent of Foreigner’s harder edged moments such as opener ‘This Ain’t Love’ and ‘Coming To Get You’ with the pure AOR lyrical matter and choruses of ‘She’s Gone’, ‘The Girl From Last Night’s Dream’ and ‘Fantasy’. However outstanding new lead guitarist Sean Kelly, in tandem with Carl Dixon, created those very melodic sounds solely on guitar without the aid of keys.
It’s also the odd man out in Coney Hatch history in that rather than lead vocals being shared equally, Carl’s more melodic voice led on all but one. However they joked that only Andy Curran had the lived experience to sing the ‘Wrong Side Of Town’. That was the song with the greatest embellishments to the original with more brilliant playing from Sean.
Written about Muhammad Ali apparently, the booming chorus, allied to a harmony guitar lead, of ‘He’s A Champion’ was a personal highlight before ‘State Line’ and ‘Burning Love’ ended a memorable and probably never to be repeated segment.
It was far from the end of the show though as Andy took back centre stage with a sleazy ‘Fallen Angel’ complete with a snatch of ‘Radar Love’, and again- after a bouncy ‘Hey Operator’- a cover of the Angels ‘Marseille’ where the band were on lively form, jamming out with plenty of on stage movement. The riffery of ‘Devils Deck’ took us all the way back to where the band started and though set closer ‘Monkey Bars’ has never been one of my favourites, a superb display by such an accomplished stage act was the best of the night and would be hard to top for the rest of the festival.
They would have been suitable headliners but the point is moot, as I understood they requested to go on earlier with a show in Europe the next day. Instead the final slot was filled by one of their contemporaries as early to mid eighties hopefuls in Heavy Pettin’, reformed in recent years albeit with singer Stephen ‘Hamie’ Hayman now the only original member.
They took the stage close to 11 to a significantly thinner crowd with many giving up in the cold, but would certainly have blasted the frost off those left with the speedy high intensity energy of ‘Victims of the Night’, followed by ‘Rock Ain’t Dead’.
They were definitely not as polished as the two bands before them, but a highly entertaining live act. In particular there was plenty of stage movements from the pair of guitarists, Davo Aiken, sporting a spectacular mullet, and ex-Dare man Ritchie Dews, pulling some great facial grimaces, though both were also very decent players.
The first surprise was to hear an unreleased song in ‘Mother Earth’, much darker and deeper lyrically and musically than their vintage stuff. However it was the oldies from debut ‘Lettin’ Loose’ that went down best with plenty of fist pumping to ‘Love Times Love’ and ‘In And Out Of Love’, though ‘Shout It Out’ and ‘Rock Me’ could not escape cliché.
Over the set we had at least three other songs from that forthcoming album ‘Raw Generation’ in ‘Brother Sister’, ‘Mea Culpa’ (the pick for me) and ‘Faith Healer’, whetting the appetite for a more sustained return next year. What was also notable was that Hamie’s voice, whose helium-fuelled rasp divided opinion back in the day, has acquired more depth without sacrificing that high pitch.
‘Sole Survivor’ was one of my favourites of the set and ‘Hell Is Beautiful’ another oldie as a near hour and a half set neared its conclusion. ‘Throw A Party’ did rather drag on with audience participation and lengthy band intros and by the bitter end of an exhausting day the crowd had dwindled substantially, but nevertheless all four bands had got the festival off to a good start.
DAY 2 – ROBIN MCAULEY, TOUCH, CATS IN SPACE, SKAGARACK, KINGDOM OF MADNESS, MAD MAX, ATLANTIC, LOST WEEKEND
There was a link to the past with day two openers Lost Weekend. My last sighting of them was at Firefest in 2009 but they were mainstays of its predecessor festival The Gods. They’ve not been active for a few years but not only did the affable Yorkshiremen reassuringly look hardly changed, but the music was way better than I remembered.
They were helped by a new band member in Andy Jowett who alternated between guitar- on the UFO-ish opener ‘Run Tonight’, even including a snatch of twin guitar, and ‘Back Seat Livin’- and keyboards, such as on the intro to the mid-tempo ‘Forever Moving On’, or the heartfelt ballad ‘Angel Sublime’.
Paul Uttley’s baritone tones, a little like Ten’s Gary Hughes, can never have sounded better and even if he has turned down his shape pulling slightly, David Thompson’s soloing was uniformly excellent. ‘Life With The Lid Taken Off’ was heavier with solos from both guitarists and ‘Stone Hearted Woman’ completed a good start to the day. Having been rather lukewarm in the past, they were a revelation and I hope this just wasn’t just a one off reunion.
One of the cult names of British AOR were next in Atlantic, who released a classic album that sank without trace in 1994, the worst possible year for this style of music. As far as I am aware this was their first ever show and they were added to the original line up when Jaime Kyle was unable to perform.
They opened with one of my favourite songs from that debut in ‘Can’t Hold On’, but sadly some early gremlins meant the words weren’t coming out of Mark Grimmett’s mouth. Fortunately the sound sorted itself and this part of a famous singing dynasty was very impressive with a very physical vocal style, putting his heart and soul into his delivery.
There was amusement however at the sheer number of people on stage with tidy lead guitar solos from Nick Burr and Andy Margrett and bespectacled band leader and sole remaining member Simon Harrison sporting one of the more unusual fashion choices in a National Sarcasm Society T-shirt.
The bulk of the set was taken from this year’s comeback album ‘Another World’ though, as on record, the likes of ‘Without Love’, ‘Missing You’ and ‘Dream About You’ were all rather one-paced if pleasant, before ‘Whole Lot Of Love’ was somewhat more upbeat. ‘Nothing To Lose’ was a welcome trip back to that debut as was ‘Its Only Love’ while ‘This Ain’t Love’ and ‘Hold On To Love’ surely completed a Guinness World Record for the most songs in a set with the same word in the title (five out of ten!).
Though I thought another from the debut would have made for a more balanced set than actual closer ‘Ready Or Not’, Atlantic’s set was a very welcome surprise and you could see an initially tentative band growing in confidence. We need more touring AOR bands in the UK so I hope this was merely the belated start of something.
Our host is well known for his love of Germanic hard rock (he even named his magazine after the landmark Bonfire album) so Mad Max provided a welcome counterpoint to Atlantic and Lost Weekend’s lusher sounds. I’d only seen them a couple of times before on the early 2010s and sadly Michael Voss is long departed, leaving only one original member in guitarist Jurgen Breforth. However the youthful baseball capped Julian Rolinger was a decent singer with an engaging stage presence.
Remarkably they have been releasing albums for 45 years, so had plenty of material though I didn’t think the likes of opener ‘Burning The Stage’, ‘Starcrossed Lovers’, ‘Rollin’ Thunder’ or ‘Days Of Passion’ particularly rose above the ordinary. Nevertheless they were delivered with that archetypally German onstage enthusiasm.
‘Heroes Die Lonely’ saw them carry off a singalong while ‘Fly Fly Away’ was one of my favourites of the set. ‘Hearts On Fire’ was more commercial but I enjoyed it despite, or maybe because of Julian describing it as ‘cheesy’. I sensed we were nearing the end of the set but they slipped in ‘Losing You’ and ‘Too Hot to Handle’ before closing with their best known song, dedicated to Bruce as his favourite in ‘Night Of Passion’.
Like Oliver’s Army there was a departure from Firefest tradition in Kingdom Of Madness. To call them a Magnum tribute is to do them a disservice as they have a number of ex-band members in band leader Mark Stanway, his predecessor as keyboardist Richard Bailey, and Mickey Barker whose drumming and expressive eyes were a delight to watch.
A set based around the first half of Magnum’s career before their 1994 hiatus was always going to appeal to me but I was discombobulated by a very obscure choice of opener on ‘So Cold The Night’. Since the previous time I saw them they have a new singer in Chris Dando. He neither sounds like Bob Catley (who could?) nor looks like him in shaved head and what looked like a death metal T-shirt, and certainly doesn’t try and copy his mannerisms, but had an excellent voice that made the songs work.
One Magnum classic followed another in ‘Back To Earth’, ‘Vigilante’ and ‘Wild Swan’ while ‘The Prize’ was another welcome reminder of the olde worlde Magnum I first fell in love with. From Richard there was added acoustic guitar from time to time and even the return of some flute playing – sadly initially inaudible.
Backing singer Mo Birch, who would have won any award going for the most stylish clothes of the weekend, provided some variety by singing lead on ‘Les Morts Dansant’ in a soulful and powerful way that even called to mind Tina Turner while Chris was a revelation when his usually powerful voice became a lighter falsetto on ‘Love’s A Stranger’.
Among favourites like ‘All England’s Eyes’ and ‘On A Storyteller’s Night’, again sung by Mo, ‘Only In America’ which I never cared for in the day came alive, but it was the titular ‘Kingdom Of Madness’ that most got people shouting along. Poignantly dedicated by Mark to the songwriting genius of the late Tony Clarkin, Mo again excelled on ‘The Lights Burned Out’ before Mark’s piano intro could only mean ‘Sacred Hour’. It didn’t quite have the pomp I expected, but was a great end to a set breathing new life into those classics many of us grew up on.
Next up was a bucket list band for me in Skagarack. It was my first time seeing the Danes since a show at the Marquee in 1986, after which point their first three albums marked them alongside the likes of Europe, Fate and Treat as standard bearers of a Scandinavian melodic rock movement, which many years later inspired the new generation we see now. However the warning signs were there last year in a disappointing comeback album ‘Heart and Soul’ with the band and in particular vocalist Torben Schmidt sounding rather tired.
He came on stage in very casual manner, grey hair poking from underneath a cap and scarf around his neck as if he was walking in from a gentle afternoon stroll, and what should have been a great opener in ‘Open Your Eyes’ was ruined by faint and almost inaudible vocals. The sound did improve but on the likes of ‘Move It In The Night’, ‘Damned Woman’ and ‘Lies’ his voice was still thin and strained, and even the enthusiasm of the younger band members could not rescue the set.
I later discovered he was struggling with a cold picked up on the flight which explained much, but in that particular moment two new songs, ‘Heart And Soul’ and ‘Peace Of Mind’, sandwiched by ballad ‘Angel Eyes’, were a low point totally devoid of any energy, and the singer even took out his phone – was he checking the time, reminding himself of lyrics or checking the football scores?
Mid-set he left the stage to fellow original member Jan Pedersen, looking like an off duty university academic in his glasses and neat hair and beard, for a solo guitar slot which showed off his tasteful and underrated skills. In fact that was something of a turning point with the second half much livelier, helped by the fact one vintage up tempo hook followed another in ‘I’m Alone’, ‘Always In A Line’ and ‘Anytime Anywhere’.
‘My Way Or The Highway’ threatened to wrap things up, so I was mighty relieved to hear the intro to my favourite song of theirs, indeed one of my all time favourites, the ode to roulette playing that is the title track of their strongest release ‘Hungry For A Game’ (itself underrepresented in this set). The band successfully carried off those bouncy hooks to ensure that Torben’s vocal limitations failed to spoil a moment I’d been waiting for a long time. All in all though a big disappointment – even though allowances have to be made - this was one reunion that did not really work.
From the early days of the original Firefest, bands were expected to perform UK exclusive shows. There was another change this time as Cats In Space performed less than 48 hours after playing a theatre show in Stockport not ten miles down the road. Full disclosure – as one of my very favourite bands in the current scene, this was always going to be a highlight.
Neatly the opening pair bookended their whole career in the lush pomp sounds of the debut album title track ‘Too Many Gods’ and the same from the about to be released ‘Time Machine’. The latter had a distinct Who vibe in places and indeed overall my impression was they had chosen a more straight ahead, rocking setlist with their more whimsical seventies inspired songs kept to a minimum.
‘Teenage Millionaire’ was an example of this approach though there was still time for the lavish sounds of last album title track ‘Kickstart The Sun’, with Andy Stewart’s lengthy keyboard intro and some wonderful singing from Damien Edwards. They brought back some songs absent from recent sets in ‘Clown In Your Nightmare’ (though I can’t get Manfred Mann’s Earth Band’s ‘Don’t Kill It Carol’ out of my head) and ‘Revolution’.
There was also a pair of new songs in ‘Immortal’ and ‘Occam’s Razor’, both out and out rockers with the latter particularly impressive even on first listen with a sweet solo from Dean Howard and its ‘not the end of the world’ refrain. The disco pastiche ‘Thunder In The Night’ always gets people going (though it wasn’t till I saw him a couple days later I realised quite how it was influenced by Leo Sayer’s ‘Thunder In My Heart’) and segued into the ‘Mad Hatter’s Tea Party’.
A finely judged set rocked to a conclusion with ‘Hologram Man’ with guitarists Greg Hart and Dean swapping solos, and a true epic in ‘I Fell Out Of Love with Rock’n’Roll’, borrowing from Queen as a symphonic and piano led first half led into a full on rock out in the second, all to a video backdrop of these seasoned musicians as young hopefuls, with fashions of the time that have not dated as well as their timeless seventies inspired sound. I hope the overseas contingent who rarely see them enjoyed as much as I knew I was going to.
The second of two Saturday bands on my bucket list were Touch. I’m too young to remember them being the very first ever band at Donington when they opened Monsters of Rock in 1980, but their self titled debut is in my all time top 10 melodic rock albums (ironically with a sound I hear from time to time in Cats in Space). In fact Touch played the Firefest Final Fling in 2014 but it was essentially keyboardist/vocalist Mark Mangold and the cream of hired Swedish players.
On this occasion we were promised the full original quartet who reformed to make the excellent ‘Tomorrow Never Comes’ in 2021. Sadly, chatting in the hotel to probably the only bigger Touch fan in the UK than me, I heard the sad news Doug Howard, one of the three co vocalists, was recovering from a severe fall, and unable to fly.
Sporting a silver ponytail, guitarist Craig Brooks’ high voice was intact and the old magic was there despite the usual first song sound gremlins on ‘Listen (Can You Feel It)’. ‘Black Star’ was a reminder that pomp rock straddled both AOR and prog with the latter musical form very much in evidence as Mark and Craig traded solos, while one of my all- time favourites ‘When The Spirit Moves You’ had the keyboardist playing those wonderful parping sounds.
After ‘My Life Depends On You’, another pomp classic in ‘So High’ and one I was less familiar with in ‘Never In Love’ saw Mark taken the majority of vocals . ‘Yes You Need to Rock n Roll’ was dedicated to Doug, but only halfway into their scheduled hour and half there was a shock as I could hear Craig cranking the opening riff to ‘Don’t You Know What Love Is’, their signature song which I assumed would come last. The atmosphere was very special and to find myself among a group of southern Europeans, young and old, all going spare, was a moment of the festival to cherish.
However it begged the question whether they had climaxed too soon and where this rather oddly paced set would go. The answer was in a selection from ‘Tomorrow Never Comes’ in the title track, ‘Try To Let It Go’ – a bit un-Touch like but one of the few where stand in bassist Rob DeMartino took a lead vocal line – and ‘Fire And Ice’.
The music sounded fine and the evergreen drumming of the silver moustachioed Glenn Kithcart a delight to watch, but the band seemed unsure of which songs they were playing next and lacked an obvious frontman. Additionally Craig seemed to be claiming his voice had gone, not that I noticed during ‘I Found Someone’, famously penned by Mark with Michael Bolton and a massive Cher hit years later.
The jam on ‘Little Bit Of Rock and Roll’ was not as exciting as I expected from hearing the studio version, at which point Mark diplomatically said they were out of time even though there was 10 minutes to go. So despite some memorable musical moments, they had to go down as a relative disappointment, as the fact they rarely play live showed when compared to the consummate stage craftsmanship of the acts before and after them.
Just as with Touch, the Saturday headliner was notable for its rarity value and therefore in the best Firefest tradition. I had seen Robin McAuley front Michael Schenker shows both back in the day and more recently, and even when the Raiding The Rock vault show came to London, but never doing a set under his own name.
The biggest crowd of the weekend was in attendance and a rollicking opener in ‘Save Yourself’ was proof that a) we were going to get a generous helping of McAuley Schenker songs that the German axeman prefers not to play these days and b) he had assembled a crack band of players, led by Keith Atack, who was superb on guitar without attempting to exactly replicate that unique Schenker tone.
It was a set that also covered newer material from what has been a prolific recent period and I found the title track ‘Generation Mind’ from the second Black Swan album very impressive along with solo song ‘Standing On The Edge’. On the McAuley Schenker Group ballad ‘This Is My Heart Calling’ Ged Rylands showed the value of what fans of the UFO family tree will always call the Paul Raymond role, switching from guitar to keys, but even better was to follow.
Saying he wasn’t one for stories, but musing on the days of the NWOBHM over 40 years came a total surprise, to me anyway, as Robin was joined by two ex -Grand Prix colleagues in Phil Lanzon – hard to see him not behind a keyboard as he has been for so long in Uriah Heep – and the hippyish looking Michael O’Donoghue, adding a bit of acoustic guitar. With their backing vocals supporting Robin’s ageless delivery, it was a real thrill to hear ‘Keep On Believing’ and ‘Shout’, having only discovered Grand Prix after they split.
‘Anytime’ and later on ‘When I’m Gone’ were exquisite ballads, the edge taken off by the fact Robin was clearly not a fan, explaining the commercial pressures and saying they had got out the box to paint by numbers. In contrast ‘Love Is Not A Game’ saw Keith letting rip with an extended guitar then after break, then after some more solo cuts in ‘Alive’ and ‘Say Goodbye’, there was a great reception for that MSG’s debut single and attempt to update their sound in the late eighties with ‘Gimme Your Love’.
However the moment I’d been waiting for was the return of his Grand Prix buddies for the epic seven minute ‘Samurai’, Ged and Keith in particular providing the perfect support and Robin’s voice barely changed. I was slightly puzzled when his encore was a cover of ‘Don’t Fear The Reaper’, but the quality of the band’s delivery meant this was no anti-climax, and I later discovered it was a request from Bruce for very personal reasons.
I would never class Robin McAuley among my all-time favourite singers, yet my admiration was unmatched for such a consummate professional who commanded the stage in a simple manner, hit the notes every time and despite now being in his seventies makes those songs sound as fresh as the original. He also won added points for coming out to meet fans in genial fashion just a few minutes after his show, which just shaded it for me as the very best of the whole festival.
DAY 3- HURRICANE, OVERLAND, JELUSICK, MIDNITE CITY, MICHAEL BORMANN’S JADED HARD, GABRIELLE DE VAL, SUPREMACY
Sadly, Edge Of Forever had to pull out with a family emergency so we were down to seven bands on the Sunday. This made for a slightly more relaxed timetable compared to the previous night’s marathon, and I rolled up what I thought was bang on time at 1245 to see Supremacy, the Colombian quartet symbolic of the growing South American scene. Unfortunately the start time had been 1230 all along and my vow to watch every single minute of every band was stymied by a schoolboy error.
When I came in powerful singer Gus Monsanto was also playing acoustic guitar and helping give songs like ‘My Time’ a more melodic hard rock feel, but ‘Serious’ and ‘Mr Big Shot’ were cut from a more intense cloth, and outstanding technical playing from guitarist Danny Acosta who it is fair to deduce from his Winger T-shirt is influenced by Reb Beach.
As time ran out I would have preferred one of their own songs, but their cover of Ozzy Osbourne’s ‘Shot In The Dark’ was very accomplished, and hopefully one of our later guests Steve Overland picked up the PRS royalty he deserved! They closed with ‘Indigo Children’, one of the heaviest songs of the weekend, but even my truncated viewing marked them as a band to watch.
Gabrielle De Val was an artist I’d already seen this year in Manchester at the Tower of Fire festival, doing an acoustic set, but this was a full electric set. Clad in leather jacket and skirt, her pleasant voice was a little drowned out by her excellent band on ‘Natural High’ and ‘Fuel To The Fire’, but the personable Spaniard hit her stride on ‘Candle In the Window’ with prominent keyboards from Gustavo Di Nobile. That was a James Christian song and my one criticism was that there were too many covers including Abba’s ‘Tiger’.
She modestly shared the limelight with friends for much of the rest of the set and introduced Tanya Rizkala from Epic who brought a bigger voice and stage presence to ‘Love Is Tough’ and Europe’s ‘Girl From Lebanon’, bringing on guitarist Robert Sall for his first of two appearances. The other Gustavo, guitarist Martin excelled on the solo of their cover of ‘Moonlight Shadow’, a song I played to death in the hot summer of 83.
The mystery of why Robin McAuley was seen in the building the night after his own show was solved as he joined Gabrielle to duet in ‘Kiss From A Dragon Night’, and for dedicated fans there was the bonus of a Japanese only song ‘Think Like A Man’ and ’Cry Wolf’, off her upcoming new album. She finished with ‘Take On The World’ written by Steve Overland though he was the one guest who did not appear on what had been a fascinating set.
Michael Bormann played Firefest with Redrum but is best known for being the original singer with Jaded Heart. His time with them ended long ago but forming a new band with the title Jaded Hard was a symbol that he sees himself as the guardian of the spirit of the original band.
A Jaded Heart oldie in ‘Heaven is Falling’ got the set off to the right start while ‘It Feels Like Yesterday’, with its references to 1989, tells you why he and his former band have moved apart musically. He gave a brilliant rendition of the Beatles’ ‘Help’ and ‘The Dream Is Over’ was another great Jaded Heart song. Indeed, with a few exceptions such as ‘Heaven’, rather than Jaded Hard compositions the bulk of the songs were from his old band down to ‘Anymore’, off the last album he made with them.
As well as having a strong voice with as good a range as ever, he was also a charming frontman, showing a genuine and humble gratitude towards the audience. The smile of guitarist Andreas Rippelmeier was nearly as big as his mop of curly hair though I could not get out of my head the comparison of bassist Christoph Baumeister with the pre-eye surgery Jürgen Klopp!
What had been (to me perhaps, but not other confirmed fans) an unexpectedly brilliant set ended in fine style with the children’s choir that leads onto the mighty chorus of ‘Live and Let Die’ and fists were punching to one of Jaded Heart’s trademark oldies in a stirring ‘Inside Out’.
Unlike the overseas bands so far Midnite City were more than familiar to me. However this was to be a special show in that for years at their London shows I have bemoaned the fact their colourful stage act has been constrained by small stages and dingy venues. Now finally they had that big stage to do their high energy show justice.
Opening with ‘Ready To Go’, their originality might be faulted but not the style with which they retool the great ‘hair metal’ acts (as it wasn’t known at the time) with infectious joy, be it on the Poison-like grooves of ‘Atomic’ or the big hooks of ‘Girls Gone Wild’ and ‘Someday’, sounding like missing tracks from Danger Danger’s ‘Screw It’ or Bon Jovi at their peak.
‘Hardest Heart to Break’ and ‘You Don’t Understand Me’ showed charismatic singer Rob Wylde’s way with a ballad, and ‘One Step Away’ and ‘Summer Of Our Lives’, both off their debut, sparked a substantial amount of crowd movement. After ‘Like No Tomorrow’ and a rare heavier song in ‘Raise the Dead’, ‘They Only Come Out At Night’ was a personal favourite especially with its ‘na na nas’.
It is hard to resist playing ‘spot the band influences’ with ‘Girls of Tokyo’ reminding me of Reckless Love and even some lyrics familiar from other songs (‘I’m just a loser in these games you play’). Either side of the marginally less impressive ‘Give Me Love’, the irresistible feel good anthems of ‘Can’t Wait For The Nights’ and ‘We Belong’ had me and others rocking out, and despite that familiarity it was my favourite set of the day and among the top ones all weekend.
To coin a phrase, and now for something completely different. The poster that was the backdrop between bands advertised Fireworks as a rock and metal magazine and Jelusick were by some distance the heaviest act in the bill. Eponymous singer Dino was of course headhunted to assist David Coverdale on the last Whitesnake tour and his mighty powerful roar takes the best of his mentor and Ronnie James Dio and amps them up even further.
As they opened with the likes of ‘Reign Of Vultures’ and ‘Fade Away’, from previous band Animal Drive, it was obvious his band are also exceptional musicians though my thought as Dino likened guitarist Ivan Keller to Messrs Vai, Slash and Bettencourt was ‘no pressure there then!’ Drummer Mario Lepogalevec was also good enough to sing the first verse on ‘Healer’.
There was no Whitesnake as such but those talents, including his keyboard playing, were well in evidence on a cover of ‘Burn’, much attempted but few can carry it off so spectacularly. ‘The Great Divide’ was a more melodic moment while the title track of ‘Follow The Blind Man’ was an overwrought epic, and ‘Chaos Master’ was one of a number where, Axl Rose style, Dino took to electric piano for long periods.
Most of the set came from his last album alongside a taster from the upcoming Jelusick album in ‘Groove Central’. However songs like ‘What I Want’ and ‘Fly High Again’ were perhaps better suited to a more metal festival.
It was an extraordinarily generous hour and a half set but – at least for those of us not previously familiar with the material- a rather sprawling one. The effects of being on our feet three straight days were beginning to tell and when a bass solo was introduced a few minutes from the end it was hardly surprising people took that as a pause for breath. Unfortunately Dino took umbrage at people chatting while Luka Broderick was ‘playing his arse off’ and angrily chided the audience which was an unfortunate end to a set which showed he and his band’s immense talents, but I suspect overwhelmed many of this audience, myself included, with its heaviness.
Once again we moved from one end of the melodic rock spectrum to another with one of the very special coups of the festival. There was also a link with Firefests past as it was for one of these shows in 2007 that FM were persuaded to reform and have stayed together, as good as ever, to this day.
However despite releasing several albums under his own surname vocalist Steve Overland had never played the material live – till now! Even his memorable appearance at the Just Say Yes fundraiser in Derby a few years back saw him bring along his bandmates for a set either of FM songs or covers. On this occasion the only link with FM was erstwhile band mate Didge Digital (Phil Manchester), less the otherworldly figure of old than Roy ‘the Professor’ Bittan, seated at a big bank of keyboards in his shaved head and tidy silver beard.
They opened with the pure AOR of ‘Train Train’ and ‘I Hear Your Voice’ before ‘Doctor My Heart’ had an even smoother R’n’B and soul feel. ‘Disconnected’ featured a fine solo from his latest collaborator, the understated Robert Sall, and there was a song from one of his other side projects Lonerider in ‘Getting Closer’ which had a looser groove to it and another from his early solo albums in ‘Like A River’.
His specially assembled band had an immaculate pedigree from Bob Richards on drums to Neil Fairclough, Queen’s touring bassist. His backing vocals together with a pair of backing singers including noted session singer Sonia Jones added further richness to Steve’s usual superbly soulful warble.
Class wise there was nothing to touch it all weekend and the set also differentiated itself from the FM sound in a way I hadn’t previously appreciated with the Overland albums. ‘Edge Of The Universe’ included a bit of a clapalong: however the likes of the laid back ‘How Does it Feel’, ‘If Looks Could Kill’, the languid ballad ‘’Liberate My Heart’ and ‘Together Alone’ were songs to soak up and admire, rather than the high energy and audience participation of an FM show. They were better suited to a seated club show, maybe enjoying a pizza and wine, than to a tired audience standing in an increasingly drafty hall.
‘Radio Radio’ was much livelier, though by that stage I had moved away from the front as someone decided telling me their life story was more interesting than watching this unique set. Steve radiated a relaxed bonhomie but, nearly choking up, his final remarks were to introduce one of the first songs he wrote with late brother Chris for FM and which put them on the map I didn’t realise the genesis of ‘Tough It Out’ was that old, but it was as strong an anthem as when his day band do it. It had been a fascinating and refreshing set, albeit probably a one-off given the extent of his other commitments.
It would have been a worthy headline but instead the Sunday honours went to Hurricane, which I thought was somewhat generous given that they never rose above second division status in the day. Moreover original singer Kelly Hansen has of course been fronting Foreigner for the past 20 years and they were now down to one original member in bassist Tony Cavazo. On the other hand they fact they were one of the few bands to fly over from North America did give them added status.
From recent album ‘Reconnected’, opener ‘Rock Star Cheater’ was very generic but a superb version of ‘Over The Edge’ with its big chorus hook was first proof that young, fashionably cropped singer Daniel Schuman had a strong voice, also shown on ‘You and I’.
The four piece band were impressively tight with some tidy work from the flying V sporting Carlos Cavazo, but the first sign this wouldn’t actually really be a Hurricane set came when the brothers played a pair from their mega obscure original band Snow in ‘Don’t Want Anymore’ and ‘Crack The Whip’, including a bass solo.
A ballad ‘Behind Your Shadow’ and ‘Dance Little Sister’, very much of its late eighties time were decent enough, but the last we heard of Hurricane for a while. Instead because of Carlos’ history they detoured into some old Quiet Riot numbers including ‘The Wild And The Young’, significantly rawer than the original, the rapid fire ‘Run For Cover’ then after a drum solo which was not welcome this late into a long day, ‘Don’t Wanna Let You Go’ .
Finally Hurricane’s near hit ‘I’m Onto You’ sparked a lively response to its ‘who-oahs’ from those left but after- but of course- a guitar solo, we had a cover of a cover in ‘Cum On Feel The Noize’. However I did decide to cast my cynicism aside and join those who remained at the front rocking out to the dumb fun of ‘Metal Health (Bang Your Head)’.
Quite apart from the fact of being misled with a Hurricane set comprising over 50% of other bands, it felt rather a cookie cutter of a set they would deliver on a cruise or at a state fair. There was no sense they realised the unique nature of this occasion with no reference to the festival, nor thanking Bruce Mee and his team from the stage.
It was a particular shame as the latter deserve the gratitude of us fans. Despite the final headliners being a letdown, over three tiring days there had been a series of memorable moments and pleasant surprises to deem the festival a musical, if not economic, success.
Review and Photos by Andy Nathan
Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK
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Power Plays w/c 11 May 2026
BREITLER Sentinel (El Puerto Records)
FIRE IN HER EYES Too Late To Change (indie)
KING FALCON Wait (indie)
BEAUTIFUL SKELETONS Come What May (indie)
KARIN PARK Shadow (Size Records)
HARSH Don’t Mess With Me (indie)
Featured Albums w/c 11 May 2026
09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)
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