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Firefest VI 2009
Steve Church
Firefest 6- A View From The Wings
A
few personal circumstances conspired to make ff6 more
difficult than ff4 even though we knew, from previous
experience, what to expect.
Firstly, Ali, my wife, had her leg in plaster after a
bike accident in Portugal and I had had a knee operation
4 days earlier. Smudge was going to be busy! New boy
in the crew, Warren Mead would be looking after Pete,
with me organising stage and Smudge doing everything
else.
Build up to FF6 was really relaxed and easygoing with JK
picking up everything pretty quick. Rehearsals were
mainly at Kings Langley, just off the M25, although a
couple of times we did use the old faithful at Hanwell
Football Club.
Jem’s set up is different now, with his Nord housed in a
dummy Hammond cabinet. I came to realise that every bit
of gear Jem has, is packed away and set up in an
idiosyncratic way. It should be a degree course
learning his rig!
The
other complication this year, was that Smudge and I were
also looking after Romeo's Daughter during their set.
We both went to Watford for the warm up gig so that we
had an idea of set up for each member.
We
arrived in Nottingham on Friday night and the evening
was spent trying to crowbar the band out of the bar to
sign the Vintage & Rare CDs as well as slamming down a
curry over the road.
The
best thing for me about the day was the curtain which
was put up between shows. It meant that all the bands
could tune and set up without being seen from out
front. The knock on from that is that everybody plays
with a bit more confidence and I think, are a little
more relaxed.
During the gig, everything that could have gone wrong,
from a crew point of view, did!
Romeos went on about 5pm, from memory, and after the 2nd
song I could hear the guitar starting to breaking up.
Craig the guitarist, sidled up and shouted “valve is on
the way out - might last till the end of the gig”. I
got the spares out ready and switched on the Marshall
backup just in case.
Two
songs from the end, there as a massive bang and a plume
of smoke from the back of his combo. Craig unplugged
and threw me the lead, I banged it in to the Marshall,
hit the standby switch, moved the PA mic over to the new
cab and off he went! Up and running within 10secs. I
spent the next 5 minutes nervously eyeing up the smoke
and glowing embers from the back of the combo.......
FM's turn as headliners came really quick. Everything
was going to plan. Merv had tuned up under the cover of
the curtain and was happy and ready to go. Intro tape
started which is about 2.5 minutes long. With approx 20
seconds to go before the big opening power chord of
'Wildside', Merv shouted ( in his very finest northern
accent) "Nuthin, I've got fuckin nuthin!". A lead had
gone, and after a few frantic moments we discovered
which one (after Merv had unplugged everything) and
sorted it with a spare. With seconds to spare, the rig
worked and off he went with that big grin on his chops
as though nothing had happened. There was an adrenalin
surge side stage………..
Business as usual, as far as the boys were concerned.
JK dun good and everything from here on went well. Bit
of a grin with Dave Ling, Kieran and the Ashcrofts
dressing up as 80s FM. So much of a grin in fact that I
forgot to set up and organise Jem’s Bat for ‘Purple
Rain’. (Sorry mate!)
Good stuff –
Rock City House crew as awesome as ever.
FM
crew showed we can work as a team and got it all done,
even under challenging circumstances.
FM
as crash-hot live as always!
Romeo's showing what 's to come!
Not
so Good Stuff
–
I
have always kept all my set lists from all of the gigs I
have either played in or crewed for. I saw a stage-hand
taking my set list from inside the lid of my tool box
during the load out. I couldn’t do anything as I was
the other side of the stage and occupied. Before I knew
it, it was folded up and in his pocket, and he was
gone! Mate, if you're reading this, you don’t take
anything from peoples' personal tool-boxes without
asking. If you’re a proper geezer you’ll send it to me,
because you never know, I might be your stage manager
sometime in the future……..
Thanks -
I’d
like to thank Smudge, Warren, Dave T and family (awesome
Meet 'n' Greet) and Mark Palethorpe for helping make the
day a little easier for me. You guys were awesome!
I’d
also like to thank the band for giving me the
opportunity to get involved. Brilliant weekend and
thanks PJ, for the knee bandage!
Here’s to 2010 and beyond. Something tells me you guys
are going to get the recognition you have always
deserved! |
