Sunday, August 27, 2006

Finally it was up to the mighty FIRE to take the stage. By this time the numbers in the audience had swelled to an admirable amount. FIRE have been around for a long number of years. Hell I remember going to Laurence, Robert and Pejxa's initial concert in 1981 in the old Orpheum at Gzira!!!

FIRE started off with 'My Sharona' ... and never looked back.

Kenneth, Laurence, Charles, Robert and Pejxa are building a fast-growing reputation as being THE premier rock band in Malta...I heartily agree!

The band covered the following tracks between their own (high quality) compositions.

My Sharona (Opening song). A crowd pleaser. Soon had us jumping.

Walking in the shadow of the blues (Gary Moore). My goodness what a song. Laurence the drummer was in his trademark shorts and barefeet, belting out the pounding rhythm on his drumkit.

Don't break my heart again (Whitesnake).Another great song by Whitesnake, and really performed well by the band. Kenneth really surprised me with his singing here as Coverdale is a notoriously hard man to imitate vocally.

Speed King (Deep Purple). Who's this dude Blackmore? Give me Pejxa anytime. the guy was going absofuckinglutely nuts on his Strat. The crowd here went simply wild. Charles, the bassist was magnificent. One could see that he studies a lot of RUSH. His playing is quite similar to Geddy Lee's. Robert traded solos with Pejxa, showing their familiarity.

Play that funky music. I never heard this track in a heavy version, but I tell you it was great. A different kind of boogie, one can say.

Saturday night's all right for dancing(Elton John). Another song not usually associated with metal, but a great re-write nonetheless and a pleasure to listen to.

At this point the fuzz wanted the band to stop, since it was well past midnight. But the audience pleaded for more , and the band were granted another ten minutes.

Highway to hell. FIRE finished off their performance with this belter from AC/DC. I tell you we were past caring at that point. The crowd sang and chanted to this metal anthem as if we were at Wembley. Finally , the band regretfully gave us their farewell, and with another umpteenth reminder from Kenneth that their album IGNITE was on sale at a stall at the back, stepped down. I have been waiting for the album for a long time, and eagerly made my purchase.

I am listening to it as I write. Do NOT lose out on a piece of magnificent work. Well worth every cent of the cost. PLEASE do not copy this album. Give the band what they deserve! It is the fourth time that I have listened to the album, and each spin is better than the previous, as the tracks settle into familiarity. Surprisingly there are no filler songs in the album, as all the tracks gel into a complete listening experience.

So to the conclusion. Four bands that are easily up there with the best, and my only wonder is this. How come their music isn't heard more away from our shores? I think it is the marketing, as all of the mentioned groups are of the highest quality, and far better than some of the big names that have been hitting the metal scene lately.

I cannot imagine, for example, how much time, patience and money has been spentby Stillborn on 'Cross of Fire'. IGNITE is similarly highly finished production, totally produced locally, and the sound is far brighter and clearer than any sony or mercury production I have heard. Anyone who has heard the latest Ozzy and Metallica offerings know that they sound crap!

OK, I'm off to bed now, maybe that damned hunchback will cease his toiling, but I won't bet on it! Ah well, at least I won't hear my wife snoring! Metal rules!

Chris Grillo

http://grillochris.blogspot.com/

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