Greek Gods
Greek outfit Firewind have been going in one form or another for ten years and have clearly spent this time building up a healthy following as the Gibson Tent is full, with the crowd chanting the bands name before they come on.
Put briefly Firewind play out and out power metal; it’s all very European sounding and these days wouldn’t be out of place in the Eurovision song contest! With five albums behind them since they became a full band, they have a solid back catalogue to draw on and their set reflects this with older songs such as ‘Till the End of Time‘ rubbing shoulders with new songs like ‘Head Up High‘ (taken from the recent album ‘The Premonition‘). The vocals of the exotically named Apollo Papathanasio are strong and work well over the music, which features some very impressive shredding from guitarist Gus G.
The sound isn’t too great unfortunately with the cymbals in particular sounding like rusty bin lids. Despite this they successfully build the momentum throughout the set. At times it is a little predictable but you’d have to concede that they couldn’t have done a better job and the over impression is that of an exceedingly talented and tight band. The crowd love it and give them a rapturous reception and for most in the tent their 25 minute set is way too short.