Vaughn

That Vaughn's particular set at Firefest was much anticipated was evidenced by the hordes of people pushing to the front of stage even before the house lights went down. Mr. Vaughn has always been a popular draw on this side of the pond and, with the ghost of Tyketto perhaps temporarily laid to rest thanks to last years reunion tour, this was a chance for the man to explore his repertoire in more depth and in this he certainly did not disappoint.

Opening with 'Feel The Power' from the Flesh & Blood album Vaughn and his British cohorts covered every aspect of the mans career from Waysted (Black N' Blue, Heaven Tonight) to the more recent From The Inside material (Blessing In Disguise, Nothing At All). Indeed so confident in the material were Vaughn that the hour long set only featured three Tyketto songs, Wings & Rescue Me being the first two to get an airing.

If one felt like being harsh then you could say that the band were perhaps not as tight as some others on show, indeed at times they seemed a tad under rehearsed and perhaps even a little sloppy in their delivery, but what was evident was the sheer enthusiasm and enjoyment, not only from the audience but from the band themselves. To be honest when you can close out a set with a song as classic as the third Tyketto number, Forever Young, then you can be forgiven almost anything and by the cheers and clapping following the band offstage Rock City, if only for a little while, belonged to Vaughn.

Danger Danger

The pre show publicity for Firefest claimed that Danger Danger are the ultimate Saturday nite party band and based on the set list and performance it would be very hard to argue with that statement.

Much as Firehouse had done at the previous Firefest D2 took the bull by the horns and rocked hard and long. Every song, from opener 'Rock America' to closing number ' Naughty Naughty' was an invitation to a crowd sing-a-long with ringmeister Ted Poley conducting proceedings, throwing salutes and posing for all his worth.

The set wasn't massively different from the one the band toured round the UK earlier this year - there was still room for the likes of Bang Bang, Monkey Business, Beat The Bullet. Indeed with a restricted time allowance it effectively meant distilled D2 mayhem with only best being good enough as the saying goes and with the long established rhythm pairing of Bruno Ravel and Steve West driving things along behind the frontman, D2's secret weapon of the day was without doubt guitarist Rob Marcello. Boy can he play, shredding wildy one minute and then wringing out more melodic solos the next in the likes of 'I Still Think About You'

Love 'em or loath 'em Danger Danger took the crowd at Firefest to another level.

This was the main reason for attending Firefest 2 as far as I was concerned, the combined draw of Power Quest and Danny Vaughn would have been enough but Harem Scarem sealed the deal. HS are one of those bands that feature in all of my “pub-talk top tens”, Guitarist, Lead Singer, Band, CD (Mood Swings) etc. This is a band we see too little of in this country and it’s a crying shame, I missed the 2002 performance at The Gods and was eager to see if they could do the business live. 

From the opening barrage of “Change Comes Around” it was a blistering display, as a band they were tight, vocal harmonies were bang on and individually they looked well up for it. Guitarist Pete Lesperance was on fire and is one seriously talented player. Broad smiles in the rhythm section from Barry Donaghy (Bass) and Creighton Doane (Drums) as they thundered out the backline and then enter Mr. Harry Hess, one of the best singers I’ve ever heard. This guy was in another class, both as a voice and as a songwriter. With a set-list not dissimilar to The Gods show, the band showcased their recording career with class and a fair amount of humour. Tunes like “No Justice” and “Higher” demand to be sung along to and the Rock City crowd were equally up for the task. Without a doubt the band of the day for me, which is high praise as all the bands were on top their game all day. We must have Harem Scarem back in the UK very soon. Please.

To call this show brave would perhaps sound a bit patronizing, however as promoter Kieran Dargan announced just prior to HoL taking the stage, lead singer James Christian had suffered an accident at home only days prior to the show and yet, when the easier option may have been simply to cancel, the band had vowed to perform.

If not brave, then this is surely a testament to their professionalism. Christian was clearly not 100% and at times seemed visibly in pain but yet he still managed to delivered a vocal performance that rivaled anything  heard all day. For a band that hasn’t performed together live for something like twelve years, and with limited rehearsal time they were tight, loud and clearly enjoying themselves.  

A well-chosen set list featured songs form the early HoL days such as  “Pleasure Palace”, “Slip Of The Tongue” and personal fave “Sahara” as well as newer material from 'The Power & The Myth CD such as "The Rapture" and all were delivered in classy fashion with each member of the band playing their part.

Having read a couple of threads on “other” sites there seems to be rumblings of discontent about the extended instrumental breaks, but as I see it, if they extended a few bits to give JC a breather, it really didn’t detract from the overall show. Chuck Wright and Ken Mary drove the rhythm leaving Lanny Cordola room to fill the gaps with some tidy guitar work. Professionalism and musicianship in equal measure topping off, what for me has been the best assembled line-up, best organised, best vibe festival I’ve seen for some time. Top Job.

So there we have it Firefest II over and done with. The big question is how was it compared to the first Firefest. Well in terms of organization and time keeping a million miles better. The change over times between sets were kept to a minimum and there were no hour and half wait between bands, obviously lessons well learned. The change of venue from Bradford to Nottingham also worked well on the whole. The bigger city affording more choice in terms of accommodation, food and shopping etc for the time both before and after the show. If there was a downside at all to the move then it was with the lack of seating in Rock City that, in a ten hour festival, led to a lot of sore feet I would guess, mine included.

The other slight niggle was in the lack of crowd circulation. In Bradford there seemed to be more movement of people between sets thus allowing punters who may have preferred one band to another to get down the front to see there own particular favs but move back when less favoured bands took to the stage. In Nottingham, perhaps due to the restrictive view from further away and the slightly smaller nature of te venue, people seemed to get down the front and stay there.

More important than all of the above however is the music and the quality of the bands on offer. In this Firefest II could not be faulted in any way shape or form. Every single act gave there all and  performed above and beyond and were well appreciated by those in attendance, the sound quality was generally good, bar a few small difficulties early in the day and the light show equally impressive.

As Mr. Atkinson said above. Top Job. Congrats t all concerned and here's to Firefest III next year.