SHOTGUN SYMPHONY LOCKED & LOADED FOR FIREFEST 2010

Firefest are delighted to announce that we have finally tempted long time melodic rock favourites SHOTGUN SYMPHONY to come out of retirement to play FIREFEST 2010.

Following the withdrawal of Saraya, the search began to find not only a suitable replacement but an act that had not actively played for some time. Shotgun Symphony fitted the bill, now all we needed to do was persuade them. Easy, right? Actually NO, as Shotgun had not played live since their last performance at The Gods in Penningtons in 2002, which was for many present at that show the performance of the entire weekend.

Sadly the DVD recording of this was never released, which is a major travesty. Getting Charlie, Mike, Ed and Tracy on board was something of a task as the band hadn't performed in years, but after a few days of consideration Charlie called us back to say that the band would do it but ... it would be a ONE OFF PERFORMANCE OF THE ENTIRE DEBUT ALBUM that has never been done before.

The band simply felt that if they were to reunite for anything there had to be a reason behind it. Charlie Calv explains: "We have been asked on numerous occasion over the years could we perform the album in itś entirety. We always politely refused, not because we didn't want to but simply we were always working on something new that we felt important to include in the live set. Even our debut performance at the Gods in 1993 and the Tyketto tour that followed, we never once played the album in its entirety. We felt that this would be the perfect opportunity to finally let people hear something that we have been asked to do on countless occasions in the past. Hey, I know about FIrefest, each band has to do something special right?"

The band will also add a few tracks to this from albums such as 'Line of Fire', 'Forget the Rain' and 'Sea of Desire', but it must be the lure of hearing the debut album in itś entireity that makes this a very special occasion. Songs such as 'Highway to Tomorrow', 'Lost Child', 'Turn Around', 'What Happens to Love' and 'Way Back Home' are rightfully regarded as classics of the genre, and to this very day the Shotgun Symphony debut released in 1993 through Now and Then records retains it's place as possibly one of the greatest debut albums of the melodic rock genre. When one door closes, another one opens, and we're delighted that the five guys from New Jersey chose to walk through it - and will be delivering what undoubtedly will be one of the highlights of the weekend.

SARAYA PULL OUT OF FIREFEST

Firefest is extremely saddened that Sandi, despite making the commitment to perform at the show in December 2009 has chosen at relatively short notice to back track on her original decision. After a period of will she won't she, she finally asked for a totally inappropriate amount of money for herself personally to actually perform. Firefest had already went way beyond the original deal in an effort to make the Saraya show happen, offering much more financially than we had agreed. In fact the improved package we offered was over double what we had agreed from day 1 but apparently it was not enough. We have nothing but the highest regard and respect for Chuck Bonfante and Tony Bruno who went WAAAY above and beyond the call of duty in order to make this happen. The guys are extremely upset and annoyed that Sandi would choose to make this first time reunion about the almighty $, but sadly it appears this is the case. For the record Chuck, Tony and Barry at no stage asked for anything extra and were more than happy with the original agreement It is with great regret that we must inform you that Saraya will not be playing Firefest 2010 and a replacement act will be confirmed very shortly.

Kieran, Bruce and the gang.

When Kieran Dargan first approached us with the idea of re-uniting after 20 years, we (the remaining band members) were all immediately on board. The question was whether or not Sandi, who now leads a very different and private life, would be into it. When she responded with an enthusiastic "definitely!" we were all surprised and delighted. However, nearly 8 months later and 3 months before the show it seems she requires a great deal of money to do this. This is not what Firefest is about, and neither Firefest or the remaining band members were willing to be put in such an unexpected and unpleasant position regarding the personal demands of our former singer. Sadly we will be unable to perform at Firefest and we would like to extend our deepest and most sincere apologies to the many fans travelling from all over the world to see us.

Tony Bruno, Chuck Bonfante and Barry Dunaway

After selling out The Rig in 8 days, the Firefest Friday - featuring HEAT, Reckless Love and Crazy Lixx - was moved to the much larger capacity Trent University.

This has now also sold out! No more tickets will be available for this show, so apologies to anyone who had not bought their ticket yet. Tickets are still available for the Saturday and Sunday, but these too are selling fast.

Tickets can be bought from www.thefirefest.com or www.rocktopia.net.