Nothing On Fire Here
A very early slot coupled with the gates only opening half an hour earlier makes for a minimalist audience for City On Fire as they come on stage. Fortunately, more people filter in it picks up a bit and they end up with around 150 or so, which is not bad all things considered!
In terms of the music City On Fire fall into the rock / metal bracket. The vocals are particularly impressive, delivered in a strong clean style. The riffs are big and for the first band on they get straight into their stride with ease. This is City On Fire’s first big gig and they do an admirable job of striking rock poses, clearly buzzing off the thrill of playing at Donington.
The second song of the set starts in a similar vein to the first, with a quiet intro building to a crescendo before breaking into hard and heavy riffs. This is followed by an absolute monster of a riff in song three before descending into the predictable slower verse. After three songs you do get the feeling that it's all following the same pattern and it would do them no harm to mix it up and play an out and out fast song. They duly oblige and break the mould a little in the fourth song.
With only twenty minutes to make an impression they do as much as they can, they have a good front man, a tight band and City On Fire could well be one to watch out for in the future. The last song however (dedicated as one for the ladies) returns to the familiar formula of the first songs and for longevity's sake they may well have to inject some more variety.