Im not sure where to even begin on this thread—I could write a whole book based on the experiences of the past week! I wanted to give a few highlights of how things went, and a few comments on the performances ( I will let everybody else chime in here- since I missed a lot of the sets). Most importantly, I wanted to say a huge thanks to the people who helped put this together.
This all began when Eric and I picked up the Mob Rules guys at the airport last Saturday night. After jamming them into our cars and a cab or 2, we headed out for drinks down to the local Irish Pub.. I knew instantly that the festival was going to be a hit— ALL these guys are the real thing—great people, no egos, so damn talented- and they love the sauce!! After a great few hours- I let them crash- and I headed back across the bridge –missing the freeway explosion by about 20 minutes or so!
Everybody else slowly started drifting in town over the next few days. We planned a trip to Alcatraz for Thursday night .. Its kind of funny that after 10 years of living in San Francisco- I had NEVER been to Alcatraz- I still have yet to ride a cable car- maybe next year! It was a great trip- seeing some of the closed portions like the ******** where Eric’s great-grandfather used to work were moving. But the moment of the whole trip was finding an old-school metal detector there and the faces Markus from Mob Rules was making under it—The METAL detector was going crazy with all of us there!!
Off to dinner in North Beach for some killer Italian food with the Alcatraz crew. The BOP guys showed up next after they had finished their rehearsal. I kept ordering more beers since they would not do pitchers, but they would not believe me—The chant of the day was “10 More!!!”- and that was just for me! The Aussies showed up around 10 or so after a late flight- and I knew I was in trouble—I had to go out with them to the bar next door.. DC tried to convince the band to let us sit in with their gear- but they wanted to get out of there! That would have been magic! After “10 More!” a few more times I was out for the count- I left the Aussies and DC to wander the streets and crashed out.
Load-in at the club the next day was 10AM. All the backline came in with only a few hitches. We had to soundcheck Enchant first before Spocks Beard because their flight was running late. Spocks arrived and we were able to handle the “Rubik’s Cube” of their stage arrangement – The sound crew at the venue was blown away—this was the first time they had seen all 52 channels of their board in use at once!! By this time, we were running behind, so BOP and Mob Rules pitched in to help and did a quick run through on stage, helped each other out, and even shared some gear to make this easier—Many thanks!
We were able to get the doors open on time ( whew!) and get Timeline started on-time. We had Timeline at the March show—and it was such a thrill to see my man Eric and the crew start off this festival with their unreleased 25 minute epic—That set a great tone for the rest of the show! I can’t believe Eric was able to hold together his voice after yelling all day during the load in!
Mob Rules was next.. Right before going on Matthias (guitarist) grabbed me and asked me if I would announce them—I was SO honored to do so- They were so completely polished onstage—they have done so many shows over the past few years opening for UFO, Helloween, Rage and many others their set was tight. I did not expect them to do the whole Ethnolution AD epic! They had a film crew there to capture the set and the crowds reaction—It was awesome! They woke people up and everybody chanting “Mob Rules” when they left the stage!
Balance of Power with Corey Brown for me was like Ice Cream with Brownies—2 good things that are even better together- I had loved BOP since first discovering them with Heathen Machine and then the Lance King material. Hearing Shelter Me, Heathen Machine and the NEW song!! was a great treat.. The fan reaction was also really good—I think they realized they have some serious die-hard fans that remember them here!
My buddies Enchant came up next- As I mentioned in my introduction- they were one of the reasons that this whole festival came together. Their style of music is what this whole festival was based around—the good blend of melodic rock and progressive elements delivered with an emotional affect—Their sound is thr are why I did this festival. Their set was spectacular. I had a lot of my friends and family at the show Friday that knew nothing about the music that I do and they LOVED Enchant. I also heard that Ted was walking around the crowd singing—I missed it! I hope I can see the pix and videos on this!
Finally—the mighty Spocks.. Doug from Enchant had introduced me to Dave Meros from Spocks back when we had first started talking about this festival—so it was fitting that he introduce his good friends after touring with them in Europe. Spocks was a great choice for this festival- Their latest album is one of their strongest ever in my opinion and they did not disappoint onstage. The highlight was watching DC Cooper come on stage for the Water/Go the Way You Go medley. Nick and DC’s voice blended MAGICALLY. It was fun watching them guide each other with their eyebrows as to who was going to take which part! I am looking forward to the Amaran’s Plight album with the two of them. After a few more Jagermeister shots, the night was over—moral of the story—never start your first drink of the day with Jager—BAD move!!
After the show, DC and I went back to the hotel to recap the night, chat about life and shoot the shit over a quart of malt liquor til 4AM- We tried to find the Aussies- but no luck (More on that in a separate post)
2nd day started at noon—we soundchecked Oliva first thing then CG, Zero Hour, Eyefear then got Odins Court set up. Things flowed really well thanks to the bands, crew, weather and the bitchin ears of corn at the barbeque!!
As we were getting ready to open the doors I started walking outside to talk to the fans who had come for the show. Somehow we noticed that the tickets for the show had been printed with the wrong start time- 6:30 doors, 7:00 show as well as saying that Angra was still on the bill!! It was a mixup between the venue and the ticket company somehow even though everything was fine on the site! Because we ran ahead all night last night with the set changes, I decided to push back the start time of Odins Court 15 minutes in hope that we would make it up later.
Jasun from Zero Hour came out and introduced Odins Court. It was fitting since he had made the introduction to me for them, and they in turn had introduced me to Angra’s management which got this whole thing rolling. I was pleased to see their set and their Beethoven finale—this is what this music is all about!-
Next up was Eyefear—I had been such a huge fan of 9 Elements of Inner Vision from 2 years ago and after Con and I had started talking a year ago – I knew I wanted them. I love Danny’s voice ( and don’t forget the hair!!), and Con’s great staccato guitar style. I was really blown away also by Sammy’s fat keyboards, Zains powerful ass rhythms and Rob playing a 5 string for the first time!! And then—the MAGIC moment!! (Please see the separate post—this one deserves its own post!)
After Eyefear was the almighty Zero Hour—They had also played at the March show with Enchant, Redemption and Timeline, and I was so pleased that we were able to hear them sound so good!! The Independent’s sound system made their dynamics REALLY pop in my opinion. This was the best I have ever heard them..
And then for the surprise—Jasun and Christina were just married 2 days before the show in Vegas. When Jasun and I started talking about this date for the fest, he had insisted that he could do the fest—even though he was going to be married 2 days before. It was his dream to see this happen in the Bay Area, and he was willing to do whatever it took, even if it meant cutting short his honeymoon!!
After ZH finished on stage, I came out and announced that on behalf of the BARFEST team, we were sending them on a 2 day honeymoon weekend in Capitola (down by Santa Cruz on the beach). I will never forget the look on both of their faces—Im looking forward to the pix!!
And now—for the return of Crimson Glory! Jon Drenning and I had been talking for a while about having them out here—Between the Midnight situation, and my evolving lineup with Angra, we were finally able to work this out where they could make it.. I was totally blown away! I only got to catch maybe 10 minutes of the set, but I loved it!! Wade just kicked ass—He adds a powerful dimension to their sound which I loved.. Also it was really great to see the whole lineup there- the magic of Dana on drums and Jessie Rojas on percussion was an onslaught equal to the legendary Drenning/Jackson guitar sounds. I had never seen a standing percussionist doing such great background vox!! What a great memory! For any people who didn’t see this show—they missed out—This is the real deal!!
And for the final act—The Mighty Mountain King!! I was settling up with everybody for the majority of the act- but I caught the last few songs—Jon conveys so much emotion, warmth and humour in his set and from the moments that I was able to really spend with him- it is all from inside his heart—One of the great human beings on the planet in addition to the incredible talent musically. The Streets album is in my top 10 albums ever- and somehow the redemptive theme of the album and the power of songs like Tonight He Grins Again, Ghost in The Ruins and Believe rang true for me after September 11th-
The night closed out with Ronnie Munrow from Metal Church joining Jon onstage for a scorching rendition of Mountain King—And when you think it couldn’t get any better—I looked up and saw Wade on stage singing the high “Ah Ah Ah Ah” parts—Totally magic! I hugged Christy (Wades wife) laughing as they did this—then got a big kiss from Oliva as he came off stage—what a great finale!
I actually said goodbye to the festival on the beach at sunset Sunday night—Eric and his wife, DC, Barbara and I watched the sun set with a glass of great port on one of the few warm nights on the beach that we ever get here—a perfect ending!
And now for the huge thank you thread for the people who helped with the festival!!
I can't begin to thank the bands for the contributions they have made just to be here.-- their efforts are in our minds and hearts forever--
First of all- the biggest thanks to Eric and Bear- my co-organizers who gave their heart and soul to this along with me for months—The difference was that I didn’t have a job –and they did equal amounts of work on the show while holding down their day jobs! Eric and I started discussing this festival last July around having a similar taste in music, having Enchant and Zero Hour involved and having his band featured. Your passion for the music, AV knowledge, positive attitude and desire to make me drink strong-ass beers are irreplaceable!
Bears’ contributions to this festival are enormous. He came into this at the first of the year as we started pulling this together and has proven his ability to do graphic design, gear, stage management and handle difficult situations with ease. Most importantly you have helped create the magic of this festival through the depth of your personality and humour—this is priceless!!
Damien Rasmussen- aka Stage Nazi was the guy with balls to kick this whole thing in gear and make the festival run AHEAD OF SCHEDULE along with the great crew the whole time— you rule!!
A special thanks to Marc Robillard and Henry Moreno (Imagika Drummer aka -Need some Fedex?!) for their awesome job as drum techs, crew and just damn near doing anything!! Marc drove in from Chico (4 hours away) to come to this fest. Both Henry and Marc were a huge help with the March show as well.
Another thanks to Corvin from Mob Rules and Chris and Scott from Timeline for coming back the 2nd night and helping work with the other bands and in Chris’s case working the whole night!! Mark Hopper for flying in from New Jersey and subbing as a guitar tech on Friday night when one of our techs did not show on Friday-- Thanks!
And how can we forget our INSANE driver – Drew Stevens- I think he slept less than I did and coordinated all the airport pickups/dropoffs as well as bringing the bands back and forth between the hotel and venue.. Every band commented on what a great job he did—even playing classical music while wearing his Nevermore shirt to make the bands feel at ease in the van!!
A special thanks to the VIP’s that in addition to paying extra money for the festival, also contributed significantly to helping with the festival. They are first in line for everything that I do going forward--
Rob Lebeau for working the merch booth pretty much full time and helping out the other bands as well as the festival .
Marc Gessford and Eric Dewolf for leading the Barbeque charge on Friday and Saturday.
John Hough and Brett aka RaiderBlack for airport pickups and coordinating everything
A huge thanks to the Independent owners, management, staff, sound/lighting crew etc for putting up with a long and complex festival. Especially to Allen Scott and Bryan Duquette at Another Planet and Ryan Cox for taking the risk with me on this first year of the festival and sharing their eternal wisdom on this crazy business. Also-to Tony Leong- the house manager for keeping everything in check and having the BEST attitude about everything--
Kudos to Guitars Not Guns-- the reason this is here—we raised almost $1000 for this charity through the raffle tickets and donations alone—A huge thanks to Barbara Gorin and Bruce Johnson from GNG for working the booth and helping me with picking up guitars and selling shirts—I sincerely hope that we can continue to raise money for you all.
A special thanks to my wife- “Mrs Dave” as Jax has christened her- She has let me indulge my passion over the past 6 months and came for both nights of the festival after being gone for 2 weeks from out of town to watch me live my dream. I hear she was responsible for making a few of you all tipsy—she had a blast!
And finally—thanks to all of you—the BARFEST fans—who came out to help me make my dream come true. Welcome to the BARFEST family!!!! See you next year!
This all began when Eric and I picked up the Mob Rules guys at the airport last Saturday night. After jamming them into our cars and a cab or 2, we headed out for drinks down to the local Irish Pub.. I knew instantly that the festival was going to be a hit— ALL these guys are the real thing—great people, no egos, so damn talented- and they love the sauce!! After a great few hours- I let them crash- and I headed back across the bridge –missing the freeway explosion by about 20 minutes or so!
Everybody else slowly started drifting in town over the next few days. We planned a trip to Alcatraz for Thursday night .. Its kind of funny that after 10 years of living in San Francisco- I had NEVER been to Alcatraz- I still have yet to ride a cable car- maybe next year! It was a great trip- seeing some of the closed portions like the ******** where Eric’s great-grandfather used to work were moving. But the moment of the whole trip was finding an old-school metal detector there and the faces Markus from Mob Rules was making under it—The METAL detector was going crazy with all of us there!!
Off to dinner in North Beach for some killer Italian food with the Alcatraz crew. The BOP guys showed up next after they had finished their rehearsal. I kept ordering more beers since they would not do pitchers, but they would not believe me—The chant of the day was “10 More!!!”- and that was just for me! The Aussies showed up around 10 or so after a late flight- and I knew I was in trouble—I had to go out with them to the bar next door.. DC tried to convince the band to let us sit in with their gear- but they wanted to get out of there! That would have been magic! After “10 More!” a few more times I was out for the count- I left the Aussies and DC to wander the streets and crashed out.
Load-in at the club the next day was 10AM. All the backline came in with only a few hitches. We had to soundcheck Enchant first before Spocks Beard because their flight was running late. Spocks arrived and we were able to handle the “Rubik’s Cube” of their stage arrangement – The sound crew at the venue was blown away—this was the first time they had seen all 52 channels of their board in use at once!! By this time, we were running behind, so BOP and Mob Rules pitched in to help and did a quick run through on stage, helped each other out, and even shared some gear to make this easier—Many thanks!
We were able to get the doors open on time ( whew!) and get Timeline started on-time. We had Timeline at the March show—and it was such a thrill to see my man Eric and the crew start off this festival with their unreleased 25 minute epic—That set a great tone for the rest of the show! I can’t believe Eric was able to hold together his voice after yelling all day during the load in!
Mob Rules was next.. Right before going on Matthias (guitarist) grabbed me and asked me if I would announce them—I was SO honored to do so- They were so completely polished onstage—they have done so many shows over the past few years opening for UFO, Helloween, Rage and many others their set was tight. I did not expect them to do the whole Ethnolution AD epic! They had a film crew there to capture the set and the crowds reaction—It was awesome! They woke people up and everybody chanting “Mob Rules” when they left the stage!
Balance of Power with Corey Brown for me was like Ice Cream with Brownies—2 good things that are even better together- I had loved BOP since first discovering them with Heathen Machine and then the Lance King material. Hearing Shelter Me, Heathen Machine and the NEW song!! was a great treat.. The fan reaction was also really good—I think they realized they have some serious die-hard fans that remember them here!
My buddies Enchant came up next- As I mentioned in my introduction- they were one of the reasons that this whole festival came together. Their style of music is what this whole festival was based around—the good blend of melodic rock and progressive elements delivered with an emotional affect—Their sound is thr are why I did this festival. Their set was spectacular. I had a lot of my friends and family at the show Friday that knew nothing about the music that I do and they LOVED Enchant. I also heard that Ted was walking around the crowd singing—I missed it! I hope I can see the pix and videos on this!
Finally—the mighty Spocks.. Doug from Enchant had introduced me to Dave Meros from Spocks back when we had first started talking about this festival—so it was fitting that he introduce his good friends after touring with them in Europe. Spocks was a great choice for this festival- Their latest album is one of their strongest ever in my opinion and they did not disappoint onstage. The highlight was watching DC Cooper come on stage for the Water/Go the Way You Go medley. Nick and DC’s voice blended MAGICALLY. It was fun watching them guide each other with their eyebrows as to who was going to take which part! I am looking forward to the Amaran’s Plight album with the two of them. After a few more Jagermeister shots, the night was over—moral of the story—never start your first drink of the day with Jager—BAD move!!
After the show, DC and I went back to the hotel to recap the night, chat about life and shoot the shit over a quart of malt liquor til 4AM- We tried to find the Aussies- but no luck (More on that in a separate post)
2nd day started at noon—we soundchecked Oliva first thing then CG, Zero Hour, Eyefear then got Odins Court set up. Things flowed really well thanks to the bands, crew, weather and the bitchin ears of corn at the barbeque!!
As we were getting ready to open the doors I started walking outside to talk to the fans who had come for the show. Somehow we noticed that the tickets for the show had been printed with the wrong start time- 6:30 doors, 7:00 show as well as saying that Angra was still on the bill!! It was a mixup between the venue and the ticket company somehow even though everything was fine on the site! Because we ran ahead all night last night with the set changes, I decided to push back the start time of Odins Court 15 minutes in hope that we would make it up later.
Jasun from Zero Hour came out and introduced Odins Court. It was fitting since he had made the introduction to me for them, and they in turn had introduced me to Angra’s management which got this whole thing rolling. I was pleased to see their set and their Beethoven finale—this is what this music is all about!-
Next up was Eyefear—I had been such a huge fan of 9 Elements of Inner Vision from 2 years ago and after Con and I had started talking a year ago – I knew I wanted them. I love Danny’s voice ( and don’t forget the hair!!), and Con’s great staccato guitar style. I was really blown away also by Sammy’s fat keyboards, Zains powerful ass rhythms and Rob playing a 5 string for the first time!! And then—the MAGIC moment!! (Please see the separate post—this one deserves its own post!)
After Eyefear was the almighty Zero Hour—They had also played at the March show with Enchant, Redemption and Timeline, and I was so pleased that we were able to hear them sound so good!! The Independent’s sound system made their dynamics REALLY pop in my opinion. This was the best I have ever heard them..
And then for the surprise—Jasun and Christina were just married 2 days before the show in Vegas. When Jasun and I started talking about this date for the fest, he had insisted that he could do the fest—even though he was going to be married 2 days before. It was his dream to see this happen in the Bay Area, and he was willing to do whatever it took, even if it meant cutting short his honeymoon!!
After ZH finished on stage, I came out and announced that on behalf of the BARFEST team, we were sending them on a 2 day honeymoon weekend in Capitola (down by Santa Cruz on the beach). I will never forget the look on both of their faces—Im looking forward to the pix!!
And now—for the return of Crimson Glory! Jon Drenning and I had been talking for a while about having them out here—Between the Midnight situation, and my evolving lineup with Angra, we were finally able to work this out where they could make it.. I was totally blown away! I only got to catch maybe 10 minutes of the set, but I loved it!! Wade just kicked ass—He adds a powerful dimension to their sound which I loved.. Also it was really great to see the whole lineup there- the magic of Dana on drums and Jessie Rojas on percussion was an onslaught equal to the legendary Drenning/Jackson guitar sounds. I had never seen a standing percussionist doing such great background vox!! What a great memory! For any people who didn’t see this show—they missed out—This is the real deal!!
And for the final act—The Mighty Mountain King!! I was settling up with everybody for the majority of the act- but I caught the last few songs—Jon conveys so much emotion, warmth and humour in his set and from the moments that I was able to really spend with him- it is all from inside his heart—One of the great human beings on the planet in addition to the incredible talent musically. The Streets album is in my top 10 albums ever- and somehow the redemptive theme of the album and the power of songs like Tonight He Grins Again, Ghost in The Ruins and Believe rang true for me after September 11th-
The night closed out with Ronnie Munrow from Metal Church joining Jon onstage for a scorching rendition of Mountain King—And when you think it couldn’t get any better—I looked up and saw Wade on stage singing the high “Ah Ah Ah Ah” parts—Totally magic! I hugged Christy (Wades wife) laughing as they did this—then got a big kiss from Oliva as he came off stage—what a great finale!
I actually said goodbye to the festival on the beach at sunset Sunday night—Eric and his wife, DC, Barbara and I watched the sun set with a glass of great port on one of the few warm nights on the beach that we ever get here—a perfect ending!
And now for the huge thank you thread for the people who helped with the festival!!
I can't begin to thank the bands for the contributions they have made just to be here.-- their efforts are in our minds and hearts forever--
First of all- the biggest thanks to Eric and Bear- my co-organizers who gave their heart and soul to this along with me for months—The difference was that I didn’t have a job –and they did equal amounts of work on the show while holding down their day jobs! Eric and I started discussing this festival last July around having a similar taste in music, having Enchant and Zero Hour involved and having his band featured. Your passion for the music, AV knowledge, positive attitude and desire to make me drink strong-ass beers are irreplaceable!
Bears’ contributions to this festival are enormous. He came into this at the first of the year as we started pulling this together and has proven his ability to do graphic design, gear, stage management and handle difficult situations with ease. Most importantly you have helped create the magic of this festival through the depth of your personality and humour—this is priceless!!
Damien Rasmussen- aka Stage Nazi was the guy with balls to kick this whole thing in gear and make the festival run AHEAD OF SCHEDULE along with the great crew the whole time— you rule!!
A special thanks to Marc Robillard and Henry Moreno (Imagika Drummer aka -Need some Fedex?!) for their awesome job as drum techs, crew and just damn near doing anything!! Marc drove in from Chico (4 hours away) to come to this fest. Both Henry and Marc were a huge help with the March show as well.
Another thanks to Corvin from Mob Rules and Chris and Scott from Timeline for coming back the 2nd night and helping work with the other bands and in Chris’s case working the whole night!! Mark Hopper for flying in from New Jersey and subbing as a guitar tech on Friday night when one of our techs did not show on Friday-- Thanks!
And how can we forget our INSANE driver – Drew Stevens- I think he slept less than I did and coordinated all the airport pickups/dropoffs as well as bringing the bands back and forth between the hotel and venue.. Every band commented on what a great job he did—even playing classical music while wearing his Nevermore shirt to make the bands feel at ease in the van!!
A special thanks to the VIP’s that in addition to paying extra money for the festival, also contributed significantly to helping with the festival. They are first in line for everything that I do going forward--
Rob Lebeau for working the merch booth pretty much full time and helping out the other bands as well as the festival .
Marc Gessford and Eric Dewolf for leading the Barbeque charge on Friday and Saturday.
John Hough and Brett aka RaiderBlack for airport pickups and coordinating everything
A huge thanks to the Independent owners, management, staff, sound/lighting crew etc for putting up with a long and complex festival. Especially to Allen Scott and Bryan Duquette at Another Planet and Ryan Cox for taking the risk with me on this first year of the festival and sharing their eternal wisdom on this crazy business. Also-to Tony Leong- the house manager for keeping everything in check and having the BEST attitude about everything--
Kudos to Guitars Not Guns-- the reason this is here—we raised almost $1000 for this charity through the raffle tickets and donations alone—A huge thanks to Barbara Gorin and Bruce Johnson from GNG for working the booth and helping me with picking up guitars and selling shirts—I sincerely hope that we can continue to raise money for you all.
A special thanks to my wife- “Mrs Dave” as Jax has christened her- She has let me indulge my passion over the past 6 months and came for both nights of the festival after being gone for 2 weeks from out of town to watch me live my dream. I hear she was responsible for making a few of you all tipsy—she had a blast!
And finally—thanks to all of you—the BARFEST fans—who came out to help me make my dream come true. Welcome to the BARFEST family!!!! See you next year!
To bad my own flight did not get there till pretty late, otherwise I'd so would've joined you guys!
