Firefest has become a pivotal event in the Melodic Rock season in Europe. Born from the ashes of the ‘Gods of AOR’ festival, Firefest started in 2004 and not only did they continue the tradition of Europe’s finest Melodic Rock/AOR festivals, but exceeded all previous expectations.
Not many bands have the chance to play on ‘that’ stage nowadays and when Bruce Mee and Kieran Dargan have realized the demand for particular artists to continuing rounding up annually. Jeff Scott Soto was no stranger to ‘that’ stage. He performed at the Gods festival in 2002 putting up an amazing show that was mirrored with a live CD/DVD. So when the call came to Jeff about the new and continued version of this proven festival, he wasted no time in answering “Of course!”.
But not all good things come easily… “Unfortunately the date clashed with my commitments touring with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra in the US for their annual Winter Tour” recalls Jeff. “This meant a week of 12 hour rehearsals in the US, leaving on a Friday to land in London on a Saturday morning, bee-line it up to Nottingham for 4 hours in traffic, meet with the band for 30 minutes, as they were wrapping up the ONLY rehearsal we had prior to the show (the last time we had played together was nearly a year prior!), straight to the venue and onstage within the next hour!”
But once onstage, the warmth of the crowd and the energy transmitted by the electricity of the event was such that Jeff and his band stormed through our 70 minute set like gangbusters! It was the first time the songs from the “Beautiful Mess” album were performed in Europe and the last show the original JSS band featuring Howie Simon on guitar, Dave Dzialak on drums and Gary Schutt on bass played together.
In JSS words: “Here it is in all its glory, a little extra something for you all to help me remember this wonderful night of music and memories”.
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