Firefest, Manchester Academy, 2024

Never a man to shy away from a challenge, despite the cost of living crisis and spiralling costs of pretty much doing anything in the UK, Bruce Mee of Fireworks Magazine revived Firefest after 10 years with the biggest bill of entirely melodic Rock and Metal I can think of in recent memory. Nineteen bands over three days in central Manchester, a decent sized venue and passionate fans from all over the world, Europe, South America, Japan and others. It’s no secret that ticket sales are down across the board in the UK for Rock concerts as many people struggle with the economic aftermath of the Pandemic, Brexit and the energy crisis, but with much of the merchandise sold out within an hour of open doors the commitment of all those that took part was never in doubt. Plus every band was given a decent set time even those at early doors, so no one was short changed.

Friday

Friday was a taster of things to come with four bands in the evening. Proceedings began with a band I have never seen before Graham Oliver’s Army performing Saxon classics (all eleven songs). Obviously the vocals had to be right and singer Brian Shaughnessy really sounds like Biff and has great pipes, so that box was ticked from the off. He also worked hard on crowd engagement constantly geeing up the crowd “You better go absolutely nuts!” As the gaffer Graham Oliver brings a quiet experienced air, constantly eyeing the crowd in that Northern manly way, occasionally nutting his guitar in case you hadn’t noticed he’s not to be messed with. Huge songs such as ‘Denim and Leather’, ‘Princess Of The Night’ and ‘Wheels of Steel’ brought a stadium rock feel and packed a much greater punch than a typical opener doing originals would likely have done. The classic foundations are solidly set and we’re off!

Next up was Lionheart. Bruce Mee loves his AOR and this band bring the silky smooth all the harmonies, great voices and enthusiastic delivery. It’s apparently been about 7 years since the band played. Known also for his work with Shy, Phenomena and The Sweet Lee Small’s voice is high and clear, perfect for the job! A rocked up version of Chris De Burgh’s ‘Don’t Pay The Ferryman’ united the crowd in a singalong and gave an epic feel to the set. The question “Shall we do it in another 7 years?” Gets a suitably positive response. Finishing with ‘V For Victory’ the band acquitted themselves well.

Next up is Coney Hatch, drawing a pretty huge crowd for a set including all songs from their ‘Friction’ album which, although not considered a commercial success in America, is a cult classic here in the UK. Largely the original line up, supplemented by Sean Kelly (also of the Lee Aaron band who has just been made a permanent member). This is the lush kind of AOR which is the core focus of this festival and Fireworks Magazine, its sister publication and this band is a jewel in the crown. Hearing the catchy eighties numbers like ‘She’s Gone’ and ‘Girl From Last Night’s Dream’ is a very welcome blast from the past and the band were in tip top form, looking and sounding great. Carl Dixon on vocals reminds me a bit of Dave Meniketti of Y and T. He takes time to tell some stories including how he came to write the song ‘He’s A Champion’ about Muhammad Ali. Songs like ‘Coming To Get You’ have not been played since 1985 and are being heard live for the very first time tonight in Europe. Definitely one of the highlights of the festival.

Last up tonight are Heavy Pettin’ with the smiley, bear-hugging Hamie who is a natural frontman. It was great to hear the band’s classics like ‘Love Times Love’ and ‘In and Out of Love’. Dave Boyce on bass has had some health challenges lately, but is looking great, and it was good to hear he is on the mend. It was also fantastic to hear new material like ‘Brother, Sister’, ‘Mea Culpa’ and my favourite ‘Faith Healer’ from an album which will be out next year, showing the band is still a living and breathing force. A victim of eighties production on the classic albums, Hamie’s voice still has its distinctively edge, but sounds much deeper and more powerful live than on record. There’s also a chance to hear tracks that never made it onto the early albums like ‘Breakin’ Down’. Hamie’s affable, friendly personality brings real warmth to the stage and the band brought a ‘take no prisoners’ attitude.  Finishing with ‘Throwing A Party’ the stage has not so much been warmed up, as roasted, made toasty for the next day!

Saturday

First up was Lost Weekend from Southampton with great lyrical, soulful guitar with endless licks provided by “gaffer’ David Thompson. Paul Uttley provides the excellent vocals with a Bad Co. Feel. He took the time to explain that ‘Angel Sublime’ was written following a documentary where the band witnessed the grief of the father of Claudia Lawrence who famously went missing and was murdered.

Atlantic with remaining member and founder Simon Harrison and its new titanic singer Mark Grimmett loomed large and provided a slick set of mid tempo Classic Rock drawing a few tracks from their original album ‘Power’ but mostly devoted to their new album ‘Another World’. With a completely new line up apart from Harrison when introducing ‘Nothing To Lose’ Grimmett joked, “we hope you know it better than we do”. In fact it went extremely well, with many commenting it was another highlight of the weekend.

Mad Max from Germany are a bit of a wild card as a vaguely Nineties metal act with classic rock guitars. The core is melodic rock, but they’ve obviously tried to make it heavier to suit a more modern taste. The singer attempts to build a rapport by getting the crowd to speak German, but not sure how effective a tactic THAT was. They are nice and friendly, but were probably the band the furthest away from my cup of tea on this bill.

The next band were probably my favourite of the weekend for a very unexpected reason. It’s Kingdom of Madness performing classic Magnum with former members like Mark Stanway on keys plus two extraordinary vocalists Mo Birch (Stanway’s wife) and Chris Dando. I love a bit of Magnum and following the sad death of Tony Clarkin it was lovely to hear a number of my favourite classics again .. with a twist. Looking like Bianca Jagger or a female version of Steven Pearcy, Birch completely killed it with her deep rich vocals, the pipes of a real Rock ‘n’ Roll diva (that reminded me at times of Tina Turner) when she soloed on songs like ‘One A Storyteller’s Night’ and ‘Les Morts Dansant’. Dando provided a more modern operatic or choirboy high vocal for contrast and a more metal feel. Overall not a tribute at all, but an energised vital performance that I would definitely queue up to see again.

 

When he first started the vocalist of Skagarak Torien Schmidt could not be heard and he appeared to have laryngitis. There were many die hard fans in the audience though, that nevertheless rapturously received the band. I reserve judgement till the next time I see them play as this was clearly not them at their best.

This was the first time I had seen Cats In Space since they have had a major line up change (founders Greg Hart and Steevi Bacon are still around). They have proggy leanings, of course, and Prog is off my radar. So I am not a huge fan, although I do not find them disagreeable. My first impression is that new singer Damian Edwards has a great voice, but maybe needs to work on his charisma to replace Paul Manzi. The old pictures of the band as Glammys provided an amusing backdrop to final track ‘I Fell Out of Love with Rock n Roll’.

Although I managed to get a picture of Craig Brooks of Touch smiling they seem in a very serious mood. I know of the extensive preparations they made prior to the show to make sure it was the most professional and well performed set they could provide and when you are coming over from the States it no doubt is a big deal.. and so were they. Flawless performances of their classic material such as ‘When The Spirit Moves You’ and ‘Don’t You Know What Love is’ warmed my heart to see. Craig Brooks still has an age-defying piercingly strong voice like a siren. The guitar and bass work was pretty amazing to see and reminded me of Kotzen or Sheehan. Mark Mangold delivered the goods, sweeping his keys like the old school musicians they are and coolly playing with one hand in his pocket to face the audience when not actually taking over vocals mid set. The song they wrote for Cher ‘I Found Someone’ was a fun addition towards the end.

Robin McAuley blew the roof off with his set of MSG, Black Swan, Grand Prix and solo songs. Pumping his mike stand above his head he looked powerful and in control befitting the seasoned professional he is and his voice sounded immense. A couple of members of Grand Prix Phil Lanzon and Mick O’Donoghue got up to assist notably on ‘Samurai’ towards the end, but also on ‘Keep on Believin’ and ‘Shout’ mid set. McAuley joked with them “we should form a band!”. Ged Rylands from Tyketto did double duty on guitar and keys. The drummer was borrowed from One Direction and let loose his wild side for the occasion. McAuley has been working with Bruce Mee the Festival organizer on his Circle of Friends albums and a very rare performance of Blue Oyster Cult’s ‘(Don’t Fear) The Reaper’ from ‘The Garden’ album rounded off the night in fine style.

Sunday

Supremacy based in Europe, but with South American heritage from Columbia and Brazil opened up with a classic metal set. They express how delighted they are to be involved, indeed they seemed to be around the festival hanging out for all three days. Singer Gus Monsanto is known for his work with a lot of Rock and Metal bands. Guitarist Danny Acosto reminded me a little of Nuno Bettencourt and along with bassist Pauly Saint-Lyonne had all the shapes onstage. It’s pretty straightforward metal with big riffs and head banging, and was certainly a kick in the pants for a Sunday lunchtime! A cover of ‘Shot In The Dark’ mixed things up. (Best wishes to Jake E Lee the original guitarist who was creepily shot several times while walking his dog in the early hours of the morning a few days later.)

Next up was Gabrielle De Val bringing some eighties style rock chick feminine energy, she has a great voice and looks the part to the max. Female AOR/soft Rock was a huge part of the Rock scene way back when so it’s great to see this genre represented on the bill. Songs like ‘Cry Wolf’ were being played for the first time this tour in the UK and she did the song written for her by Steve Overland of FM ‘Take On The World’. This was supplemented by the surprise appearance of Robin McAuley on ‘Kiss In A Dragon Night’ reflecting the fact that he sang on this song on her album, and Tanya Rizkala from Epic doing ‘Love Is Tough’ from the original Circle of Friends album. Rizkala stayed on to do a cover of Europe’s ‘Girl From Lebanon’ with Robert Sall of Work of Art and she certainly had a powerful voice and compelling stage presence. De Val mixed up the set with a cover of ABBA’s ‘Tiger’ and Mike Oldfield’s ‘Moonlight Shadow’. All of this made an interesting and engaging set.

Edge of Forever didn’t make it due to a family emergency and so Jaded Hard were next. Known for his work with Bonfire and Jaded Heart, Jaded Hard is a reimagining with new members designed to bring the old stuff and the big hair back to the stage, but also to showcase new songs they are putting out under the adapted moniker Jaded Hard. Vocal gymnastics on new track ‘It Feels Like Yesterday’ show Bormann’s still got the voice to do it!

Rob Wylde of ‘Midnite City’ always brings huge energy to any of his performances and with songs like ‘Girls Gone Wild’, ‘Girls of Tokyo’ and ‘Can’t Wait For The Nights’ they brought a little sunset strip glamour to proceedings while totally delivering on the musical front. Everything went like clockwork, and they went down so well they sold hundreds of pounds of merch afterwards.

Jelusick, on the other hand, were beset with technical issues: the in ear monitors and keys did not work. They soldiered on, but rather than meet the situation with humour and use it as a chance to further engage with the audience, the main man got increasingly clearly wound up by the situation, pulling a string of strange faces so no one could miss what was going on. On top of that by singing and playing keys and cutting between the two, the frontman situation was left hanging, so that they lost the connection with the crowd despite being extremely talented and the guitarists trying to cover as best they could. This culminated in Jelusick telling off the audience for talking during an extended bass solo which was technically very good, but the audience weren’t being managed well. I seriously suggest that he gets another keyboard player or an alternative vocalist for when he plays keys, not least to make sure that on nights when gremlins strike, and it happens to everyone, they can still keep the audience with them.

Steve Overland with his magnanimous smiley, dare I say it grandfatherly presence, brought things back with his years of stage experience and got back on track even though I think the in ears were still not working. The disruption had, however, taken its toll and some of the audience appear to have left during Jelusick never to return. Undeterred Steve delivered his set and those that stayed were die hards giving him the devoted attention he deserved. There was a long queue to talk and take pictures with him afterwards. He delivered a rare set of solo material, with one Lonerider song ‘Getting Closer’ and a finale of FM’s ‘Tough It Out’ dedicated to his dearly departed brother. True class!

I felt a little sorry for Hurricane as they had come a long way and as it was the end of three very long days following the Jelusick technical difficulties an’ all, the crowd had thinned out. Furthermore, since they did not do a purely vintage Hurricane set, cutting it up with new Hurricane tracks and tracks from the lesser known Snow, the audience did not recover in numbers. Things livened up though for those who had stayed to party with the famous Classic Hurricane number ‘I’m Onto You’ and Quiet Riot numbers, the Slade cover ‘Cum On Feel The Noize’ and ‘Bang Your Head’. To their absolute credit the band were truly professional, Rockin out to the end and despite joking “since it’s past our bedtime we’ll get on with it” you would not have known that they weren’t playing to a Stadium.. and that’s of course the way a true blood headliner should be. I, for one, was delighted to hear the old Hurricane favourites live for the first time ever as Hurricane have never played the UK before.

And Firefest remains the place where you can see stuff you won’t see anywhere else. This was the first festival in ten years and despite technical problems for one set, it ran to time and 95 percent of the bands turned up and did what they were supposed to do. There was a dazzling display of talent on display. Thanks to owner Bruce Mee who made sure it worked even though it is in doubt if he will ever break even. Because of that it is by no means certain that the event will happen again. I am glad I didn’t miss it.

PS Luckily merch continues to sell well after the event, go to the web site if you still want your T if it was sold out.

 

Dawn Osborne