Fifth Man Down - I was late so I missed these guys. - N/A
Power Quest - Great symphonic music, and Alessio's delivery kicked ass! Sometimes he was a bit over-the-top but with a band like Power Quest that's part of the fun. Power Quest (Part 1) rocks, and I can't wait for the new album! - 9
Blaze - He was great with the crowd, and he played all my favourite Blaze songs except Identity. Singing and shouting along to songs like Silicon Messiah and Ghost In The Machine ("Do you want to live forever?") was one of the highlights of the weekend. Sign Of The Cross was absolutely flawless (much as I like Blaze's style, I think he'd have ruined SOTC completely if he'd tried to "Blazify" it)! The Led Zeppelin cover left a lot to be desired, though. - 9
Saxon - Whilst I've heard great things about their live set, I've never been hugely keen on their music so I went home early (if I'd have stayed like I did on the Saturday the journey would have cost almost £10 more. Next time I'm staying in Derby or Nottingham for sure). - N/A
Mercury Rain - Missed them, I had to grab some lunch before Dragonforce's set. - N/A
Dragonforce - Their music was excellent... however I preferred the very similar Power Quest by a hair's breadth. Herman Li kicks ass, however, and Starfire was a great sing-along number. - 8
Saracen - Much as they seemed more than a little out of place with their progressive symphonic rock music or whatever you want to call it, they are now one of my favourite bands. I LOVED every song they played except maybe Jekyll And Hyde which had that silly "No, I disagree. THIS is the real me!" vocal trade-off in the middle. The only thing that let them down was a fairly lacklustre stage prescence; Steve Bettney (vocals) was the only one who looked like he was really enjoying himself most of the time. - 8 (10 for music, 6 for stage prescence)
Masterplan - I felt that Jorn didn't seem to be enjoying the music as much as he could have been (perhaps because of his flu). However, Jan the bassist almost made up for this, and for the most part the songs were absolutely flawless - a couple of differences in the vocal melodies but they may have been Jorn's deliberate improvisations. Covering The Departed was a real treat for me, it's one of my favourite Helloween songs, certainly my favourite Uli Kusch song. 8
Edguy - I was at a slight disadvantage since I've only heard one Edguy album, Mandrake. However, Tobias went out of his way to ensure that even new listeners got the most out of the show. He was in my opinion the best frontman of the weeked (only just beating Blaze, though). A top-class performance and some of the best music of the day (and that's saying a LOT). A perfect replacement for Hammerfall. - 9
Paradise Lost - I don't like their music, so their set signalled teatime for me. Speaking of which, that KFC popcorn chicken stuff rules, especially with that BBQ powder sprinkled on top! - N/A
Nightwish - A perfect end to a perfect evening. Whilst I had to miss the end again due to bus times, I loved every minute of the performance. I was proved wrong about Tarja - she was easily the equal of every male frontman I saw on the whole weekend. - 10
When, Vince, when?!
