Firefest 2007
Rock City - Nottingham
27 October 2007
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FM Diary: Firefest IV - Nottingham Rock City - 27 Oct 2007 - Steve Overland
Hi everyone,
First of all I have to thank you all for making the Firefest IV show such a fantastic night. We were totally humbled and taken aback with the loyalty and response.
The whole thing kind of started in about February this year. We’ve always been asked to do various things, reform for this and that down the years but everybody has been busy doing various things of their own and we’d always decline. I’d been in touch with Kieran, one of the organisers of Firefest over the years and he always had another reason, an anniversary of this or that each time I spoke to him. Anyhow this year I was doing a bit of song writing with Merv, we got talking and decided maybe the time was right. We spoke to Pete and the other guys and that was it the ball was rolling. We booked a small rehearsal room just to see how it sounded. It was really strange because it was a great vibe as if we’d never been apart (although a bit rough round the edges). The hardest part of it was picking the set, as everybody always has their own personal favourites, so I hope we managed along with your help through the websites, to do something for everybody on the night.
Anyway we rehearsed and tried various running orders over the period running up to
the gig. The thing that shocked me the most was the interest and response as soon
as the gig was announced. I thought we’d able to get it together fairly low-key in
our own time but that didn’t happen. Before I knew it October was here and the nerves
were kicking in… there was no turning back. We rehearsed every day in the week leading
up to show and the band really did sound like its old self again.
Then the time came to head down to Nottingham on the Friday. It was quite a buzz to be back together on the road and we did a production rehearsal in Nottingham that night with the screens and the crew all there, we had a great laugh and retired to the hotel bar for a few bevs with lots of friends and people we hadn’t seen for a while (nothing new there).
So to the day of the Firefest. We had to soundcheck at about eleven in the morning due to the event starting so early, so that was a shock to the system. After that we spent a few hours doing radio and magazine interviews, you forget about how much extra stuff you actually have to do. After that I just spent the day relaxing and getting more nervous and excited. All day people were ringing and popping into the hotel saying the atmosphere was electric which just added to the nerves. We did a meet and greet about 6.30pm which was great, seeing so many of the FM followers that had been there for so long.
So to the gig. What can I say? You just made it so easy for us and the whole thing just seemed to pass in a flash. I don’t remember another gig, in my very long career, where the crowd have been so warm and so with us from the start. It was one of the highlights of my singing life and meeting fans from all over the world, Brazil, Spain, Italy, Greece to name a few just blew me away.
So once again guys thanks for still being there and being so patient, it was great
to see you all. Watch this space.