Nightmares in Nottingham: or how the Ronster saw at least some of Saturday's Firefest

Although I've been to Nottingham a few times now, I always have a hard time of it once there.
The drive over is pretty long but straightforward, until you actually hit the city centre. The city is compact, with narrow twisty roads and filter lanes everywhere but the real problem is the sheer AMOUNT of traffic that is always trying to get through these roads. I had brought along the sat-nav hoping it would guide me to my hotel, which I booked the night before (or so I thought - more later); it did, but there was absolutely nowhere where I could park the Pugmobile nearby, meaning a search for a car park! I know that there is one close to the Rock City venue itself, but it was hard work finding it. You make one wrong choice and you're worse off than Mark Thatcher in a desert, it is so hard to get your bearings. I must have spent at least an extra 30 minutes just trying to find my way back to where the hotel was, then trying to get to Rock City's car park from there. Anyway, after a tortuous half-hour in the Pugmobile I eventually parked up and set out for the hotel. It's just a short walk away, but once out of the car and on the street, once again I found myself walking the wrong way! I don't know what it is about the city, but although I'm the first to admit I've a poor sense of direction, I don't have this much trouble in other towns!
(That said, I even managed to walk straight past my hotel in Tampere this past summer, on the straightest street you could wish for!)

Once I found the hotel, my troubles were just beginning. I had printed out my reservation form before setting off, and presented it to the young lady on reception. She then informed me there was no reservation in my name!! Gobsmacked, I pulled up the copy of my email on my phone (dont'cha just love the N95!) which gave me the link of the company I used in order to book the room. With this information, the receptionist gave me a telephone number to call, but ultimately I was faced with either taking whatever room was available there, or sleeping in the car park! So I checked in, using my emergency cash to pay for the room and set about calling this company to make sure they'd not hit me for another charge. After two attempts, I did eventually speak to a (real!) person who was most apologetic, he assured me that they had not charged my debit card when I booked online, and assured me that this would not happen again. It DID happen to me though, and I was lucky that there was still a room available.

In short - do not use Active Hotels when booking rooms online!!

With two bags on me, I was glad to get into the room eventually. By this time it was already close to 5pm, and I'd missed a few bands already. I had intended to see two acts above all: Jeff Scott Soto and that day's headliners, Tyketto. These two acts were yet to come on stage when I eventually entered Rock City, so despite the eventful arrival in the city, it was not a disaster.
Firefest is a two-day event, now in it's fifth year, specialising in the melodic rock sub-genre. The already packed venue suggested to me that this kind of music is far from dead, and I could just imagine a stray Kerplonk! journalist walking in, sighing 'it's as though Grunge never happened', then walking out again having decided it was not cool enough!

(As an aside, and it's my blog - I can go off on a tangent if I want! - I love it when the rock press come out with statements like that, as though only the current approved style should be permitted. What a load of bollocks, you failed to stamp out classic rock with Punk, you failed again with Grunge, and you failed spectacularly with Nu-Metal - get it through your heads, you report on music, not dictate what we should all like! Rant over!)

For all that, I can't call myself an aficionado of Melodic Rock specificially; yes I do like some stuff in this genre, but I've always been a bit of a headbanger at heart, and do like my Heavy Metal as well!
So for once, I didn't feel 'part' of this scene; I certainly couldn't name every member of every band there!
Put it this way, I felt my Alter Bridge t-shirt might well have been frowned upon had I worn it that day!
One of my other reasons for wanting to attend was to meet some friends I rarely see; however the place was extremely busy (and dark! There was a band on as I went through, I only caught the end of their set but their singer must have been gutted to miss out on the gig singing for a much better-known Melodic Rock band - he had all the moves and the look of that band's most fondly-remembered singer ;-)

I found my friend Janette on the steps to the side of the stage; it was packed in that area but I managed to find a good spot on those steps for the JSS set which was next up. It's been a long time - almost 2 years - since I last met Janette and it was wonderful to see her. It's been even longer since last I saw JSS!
This was only the second time I'd caught the former Journey (and Yngwie!) singer live and in truth, I'm not well up on his music. For the Firefest stage, he brought out the funk, much of the material played was new even to this crowd but it still went over well, much to Soto's relief! He did make sure they got some songs they knew, performing material from 'Prism' (the only album by him I've got!) before ending with a light-hearted cover of Wild Cherry's 'Play That Funky Music'. This was padded out with snippets of other songs, including the Commodores' 'Brick House', and even New Kids' 'The Right Stuff' (changed thus: 'Wo-oh-oh oh-oh, THIS SONG SUCKS!') JSS guitarist Howie Simon is equally at home gettin' funky as he is shredding, he was excellent. I should look out for more from Soto really, he was electric onstage, and had the crowd in his hand throughout.

Following that set, I went for a wander round the venue - having got myself a beer, I almost took a tumble down the steps from the bar to the floor. I wasn't drunk (honest) but it was dark, and it is very easy to misjudge that first step. The floor is black, but subsequent steps are covered in that steel floor stuff, and I almost took down some poor woman when desperately trying not to tumble head first! I think it's something that should be looked at, I actually misjudged the step twice that day, but that time was pretty dangerous. From the back of the venue I watched some of the set given by Pink Cream 69. They were not bad, but not terrific either (and I really hate that name!), they just didn't *grab* me as anything special. As I say, I'm not a specialist in this music, so I'm sure a MR expert would be able to point out where I'm wrong here, but I just didn't get them. So I finished my beer and headed to the steps outside, whereupon I met Janette, and also Eleanor chatting outside. At around this time a minor commotion took place when Tall Stories singer Steve Augeri showed up. He signed a few things and greeted fans, he even greeted me! I'd not sought him out (his band were playing the Sunday, which I was unable to attend) and had nothing to sign, but he still gave me a cheery handshake on his way in! Shortly after that, we filed back in ourselves, in order to catch Tyketto, the headliners that night.

I decided to go into the main crowd for this set, the others headed back onto the steps for the vantage point. The band were billed as Tyketto, but this line-up had more resemblance to the Vaughn line-up of the early 2000s. PJ Zitaroza lined up on guitar alongside long-time Vaughn collaborator Tony Marshall, with Michael Clayton Arbeeny back on drums after 'the shortest retirement ever' according to the singer (!)

The set was a pure nostalgia-fest, Danny led the band through their best loved songs and delivered everything magnificently. It's not the first time I've seen Danny Vaughn perform, but whereas before when I've seen him, I've been impressed with his singing, this time I was totally blown away. He was absolutely fantastic, when in this form he can wipe the floor with almost anybody. It really was one of those times when you're watching a guy at the top of his game, wondering why he is not a massive star. On introducing the song 'Standing Alone', Vaughn himself joked about his own standing ('I'm not driving a Ferrari, in fact not even a Fiat Punto!'), before stunning everyone present with an exemplary rendition.
The gig flew over, and it went down an absolute storm. One thing I didn't get was the sporadic booing of Tony Marshall; I suspect it's some sort of in-joke because he did nothing wrong, and was far from put off by the booing, in fact he seemed to play up to it!

As I said earlier, I was unable to make the Sunday event and so trudged back to my hotel via the nearest branch of Subway (!), the city was in full swing for a Saturday night but I was tired, and so hit the hay!
Whatever was served up on Sunday however, it would have had to go some to top the performance of Danny Vaughn on the Saturday night. Hopefully he will get the recognition he deserves - even though that would mean we would no longer see him in intimate venues, he is worthy of top billing anywhere.

As a postscript to the night, I found one of my friends from Finland outside the club - Ede had travelled over for this event and I'd spent quite a while trying to find her while inside, to no avail. It was great to catch up, albeit briefly and I hope to meet her again when in Helsinki for Whitesnake's concert in December. That's not too far off now, but there are still a lot of gigs to see between now and then in this country! :)