This is my first ever life review for a 3 day festival....this review is my personal opinion about Firefest....
Maybe you won't agree with everything here but hey...it is what it is !!
Still I hope you'll like it !

Day one : Firefest friday !

When I arrived at Rock City "Serpentine" had just hit the stage.
After a short stop at the merchandise stand I rushed to front stage to watch these guys perform.
I was especially curious about the skills of their new singer "Matt Black"
Serpentine played a very interesting half hour set bringing the best songs of both the debut and their latest album.
The new singer is actually very good....you could see this guy isn't totally new to the scene.
Only the high notes were a bit out of tune....
Still a very good start for a long weekend full of melodic rock !

2nd band on stage was Swedens "Houston". I for one was very much lookign forward seeing these guys !
Their debut album is one of my top favorite AOR releases !!
In a 40 minute set Houston performed almost the entire debut album !
Hits like "Truth slips" , "I'm alive" , "She's a mystery" , these guys were amazing....
Excellent guitar playing and huge amount of keyboards !!
Hampus Erix is a great singer and outstanding performer....just maybe one thing....
Lose the cape "Hank" , you don't need a silly gimmick man....just let the music do it's work !!!
Houston finished their set with the new single "Don't you know what love is" (infact a song by the great Mark Mangold)

At 7.30 "Terry brock" went on stage to bring us his solo stuff.
He was accompanied on stage by the guys from "Valentine"
Terry was suffering from a mild cold but that couldn't stop the fun....bringing songs from his debut and the Diamond Blue album.
He also performed "Forever again" , a song from "The Sign"....
It was a pleasure seeing the guys from Valentine again....Adam Holland is one of my all time favorite guitar players !!
Terry brought us a 50 minute set...and the crowd was loving every bit of it !!
The song "Diamond Blue" was for me the absolute highlight of this set !

At 8.45 the man we were all been waiting for.....Mr. Jimi Jamison !!!
He brought us a 90 minute set full of his greatest hits...
Seeing Jimi also perform last year here at Firefest I was expecting nothing but the best....but it was even better than last year !!??
On stage he was accompanied by most of the guys from HEAT , and with the amazing Tommy Denander on guitars.
All this great musicians on stage...this was an amazing set !!
The full setlist was : Its the singer not the song , Burning heart , First night , Desperate dreams , High on you , Chasing euphoria , Dream too far , Blood on your money ,
See you in everyone , Oceans , Rebel son , Didnt know it was love , I'm always here & Eye of the tiger
This was an excellent ending of day one !!

Day two : Saturday !

Despite the fact me suffering from a major hangover due to a very late after party Friday night I was wright on time to see Talon hit the stage at 12.50
The guys played an axcellent set covering songs from all 3 albums...
I was expecting singer Shawn Pelata on stage but instead the guys were here with their original singer "Michael O 'Mara"
This was because Shawn couldn't get time of from his work in the States.
It was a pleasure seeing Michael perform....although it was just for this one gig he said !!

On 1.50 UK based band "Vega" came on stage to bring us an amazing show...bringing almost the entire debut album
Singer "Nick Workmann" is an excellent singer....you can see this guys isn't new to the scene !!
Maybe some of you do remember Nick as the singer of "Eden" ??
These young guys did an amazing job here at Firefest....Vega gave us just that what we wanted !!

At 2.50 it was time for "Silent Rage" !
I'll have to be honest that I'm not a big fan of their music....as their music style is different to the things I listen to !
Still I 'll have to admit these guys rocked !! They brought a solid show full of (hard)rock songs.
And I could see they were enjoying the response from the crowd !!
So all in all a good set played with such enthousiasm and energy !!!

When "Jeff Paris" got on stage at about 4 pm. I didn't know what to expect !? It has been a while since Jeff performed life I guess !
But as soon as the man started I knew we were in for something good !!
Just as Jimi Jamison , Jeff was joined on stage by the guys of HEAT and Tommy D !!!!
One classic hit after another were performed very good !
Tommy D proofed again what an excellent guitar player he is !! Respect !!
At the end of his set Jeff promised us he would that after 13 long years he would make a new album...together with Tommy D.
This album is set for 2012....so keep your eyes open for this one !!

At 5.20 time for "WET" !! After lots of speculation and demans for many months on the internet about this one....the moment was finally here !
WET's first ever live show !!!! So many tallented musicians on stage together with the greatest singer of all times....
This was gonna be good !!
Jeff Scott Soto and his partners in crime Eric Martensson (Eclipse), Robert Sall (Work of art) & Magnus Henrikson (Eclipse) perfomed an amazing set !!
Covering almost the entire debut album....
Eric also performed two songs ; 1 from his band Eclipse and 1 from the latest Work of art !!
Half way the guys gave us a semi accoustic tribute set to remember all the great artists that has past away last year !!
A medley with songs from Dio , Garry Moore , .... and ofcaurse the ultimate tribute to his best friend Mr. Marcel Jacob by singing one of the best Talisman songs ever !
At this moment you could almost hear a pin drop in the venue !! There was great respect for what was done here !!
The 60 minute set was over before I even knew it....time flys when you're having the time of your life !!

"Strangeways" went on stage at 6.45 to perform the entire "Walk in the fire" album THE classic 1989 AOR album !!
Terry still suffering from his cold....needed a few songs to get into shape....but I didn't mind as his voice still sounded very good !!
Original bass player "David Steward" did make it this year , and together with the rest of the band I saw an amazing performance by one of my all time favorite AOR bands !!
70 minutes filled with some of the greatest songs I've heard !!
Terry's sister was standing in front of the stage to see her brother and his band make history !!!

At 8.25 it was time for "Steve Augeri" who was also here last year with his band "Tall Stories"...
I was planning to grab a bite to eat at that time...but my friend convinced me to stay and watch as Steve would perform some Journey songs !?
Some ???? An almost entire set with the greatest Journey songs ever !! Only one Tall Stories song.....
I was totally blown away here.....magic happened on stage (at least for me it did)
Steve was joined also by Valentine on stage and I was witnessing an amazing band with an even more amazing singer bringing us these great Journey songs !!
When I closed my eyes I could almost hear "Steve Perry" sing , YES it was that good !!!
I think I never heard the song "Faithfully" sung so perfect as here tonight !!!
This was an amazing end of the second day !!!! I went to my hotel....my mind filled with good emotions !!!

Day three : Sunday !

At 12.50 Newman hit the stage to bring us a 40 minute set of great songs.
Steve Newman is a very busy and gifted musician but he's not a great singer....still his passion for the music is just awasome !!
Having their 9th album just being released....Newman has a wide range of songs to choose from.
Infact only few weeks before this weekend Newman was added to the bill due to some cancelations witch we all heard of on the internet.
Newman gave us a fine collection of songs and a great start for this last day !!

1.50 time for "White Widdow"....already with two albums out these very tallented young guys from Australia went on stage to blow us away with their fine music.
Their latest album is one of my top 5 albums for this year so this one I had to see !!
The guys played an amazing 40 minute set filled with all their hits.
Jules is a great singer and together with his brother on keyboards and the excellent guitar playing by "Enzo Almanzi" White Widdow sure gave us what we wanted !
Can't wait to see these guys live again somewhere.

At 2.50 "Alien" came on stage in full original line up !! It has been 22 years since these guys played live together...
Alien is also one of my all time favorite bands so I for sure was looking forward for this one !
The guys immediatly blew us away with their amazing songs....even after all these years they sure know how to do things !!
Jim Jidhed is still one of the best AOR singers of all time....the man's vocal range is amazing !!
I never would have thought seeing these guys play live again such as they did here tonight !!
Alien perfomed one "new" song...infact the only song they recorded together in the last 22 years !!!
I (and I thing also many others) hope these guys will comeback with a new album !??

At 4 pm it was time for "Kane Roberts"....because I'm not familiar with the man's work (I only have his Saints and Sinners album) I didn't know what to expect !
I was hoping for some good classic rock songs...but what I got here today was a total disapointment !!
The man played a very messy set (he was accompanied by the band Talon with who he had rehearsed for quite sometime he said) but still !!
Songs from his solo albums and a few Alice Cooper songs...but all performed well below average !!
Sorry for the fans here but this was not good !
He even had to spice up his sloppy set with two almost half naked girls during the song "Dance little sister"
I think the man knew it wasn't good as he also played about 45 minutes instead of the full hour !!

"Mitch Malloy" got on stage at about 5.20 ! Mitch played Firefest in 2008 so it was a pleasure seeing him here again.
Mitch just has a new album out MM II so many new songs to hear I hope !!
Mitch himself was also glad to be back here....you could see he was having so much fun on stage !!
He brought us songs from the early days and ofcaurse many of the songs from his new album !
Mitch is an amazing perfomer so every song was brought to us by perfection !!
He was helped on stage by "Alessandro Del Vecchio" , "Anna Portalupi" , "Mario Percudani" & "Allesandro Mori"
Mitch did a special tribute song in memory of his dad that passed away and for his close friend "Steve Lee"
This song almost brought tears into my eyes....he finished his set with "All my friends" , a special song for us....His Fans !! Thank you Mitch !!

Next band was Canadian "Coney Hatch" at 6.45.....and strangely I had never heard of these guys before ?? Although these guys have been around since 1982.
So for me a total surprise thsi one ! They played a very sollid set of melodic hardrock...songs from their 3 classic albums !
Some of the songs were sung by "Andy Curran" and then others by "Carl Dixon"...
I was really surprised by this band....this was actually very good ! I'll sure check out all of these guys albums...

8.25 pm !! Finally the one we're all been waiting for. "Unrully Child" in orriginal line up with the great "Marcie Michelle Free" !!!
You could almost feel the tension in the club...I knew even before the curtain went down we were in for something special !!
The roof went off Rock city when Marcie enterred the stage !!
I was witnessing one of my all time favorite bands performing life all the classic Unrully Child songs and ofcaurse many of the new album !
What "Mitch Malloy" almost made me do "Marcie" actually succeeded to get the tears flow from my eyes !
There was som much love and respect between both the band and the fans !!
I for one was blessed to be a part of this !!
This weekend couldn't have ended in a better way....this was by far THE best Firefest !!!

This one will be very hard to top next year !
I wanna thank Kieran , Bruce , Steve , Tony , and all of the rest for putting together such an amazing line up this weekend !
Firefest is the time of year for all us melodic rock fans to get together...
I will be back next year and I suggest that every serious melodic rock fan should do the same....
Please support this amazing festival so it will last for many years more !!

365 days and counting for next year !

http://www.thefirefest.com/index.php