Trout, 15 December

Final gig of the year before BLACKFIRE descend into their usual drunken hibernation over the festive season. The place was packed to capacity and some of the crowd seemed to have been imbibing with enthusiasm as there was a large amount of drink spillage and frenzied dancing, when there wasn't really room for either. All in all not a bad finish to a gigging year that had no shortage of wild gigs, breakages, clothing removal, fights and other everyday activities of those who follow the band known as BLACKFIRE.  

 Sugar Loaf, 13 December

Back to the normal lively sort of BLACKFIRE crowd with a few minor breakages and women removing items of clothing whilst dancing - A Merry Christmas to you all. Especially that blond woman :-)

 Robin Hood, 9 December

The Robin Hood is one of the few BLACKFIRE venues that doesn't seem to end up in a heaving mass of sweaty bodies, but the band managed to convert another group of unsuspecting punters to their dark message and send them off into the night clutching their freshly purchased T shirts and CD's.  Actually a nice break after the rigors of the George & Dragon! 

 George & Dragon, 1 December

Another packed out pub (yawn) but to call this a lively gig would be something of an understatement.  Indeed, there were a couple of points in the evening where the generally good natured crowd pursuits of drink throwing, slam diving and falling over escalated to table throwing and pretty much full-on violence!  Hopefully everyone went home happy and will wear their bruises with pride.  At least they all seem to really like the band (if not each other).  

 Old Tavern, 17 November

A cooking night indeed - the place was packed out with enthusiastic fans and finished up with the usual demands for repeated encores.  The only problem was that it was so full there wasn't enough room for people to dance!  The return of the A&S light show was also welcomed by some of the crowd, who obviously aren't the ones who have to stand under it :-) 

 Stones Cross, 10 November

The Stones Cross rarely disappoints and this gig was no exception.  Very full, very lively and many drinks getting spilled in the excitement.  People will do anything to hang around with the band after a gig - one rather nubile member of the audience even tried to hide herself inside a drum case... 

 Bunch of Grapes, 2 November

Another fine gig, with some of our newer converts going for it in the crowd and (perhaps fortunately) nothing too out of the ordinary occurring e.g. no sheets of glass fell onto the band. For once BLACKFIRE all got out unscathed!

 King William IV, (Staple Hill) 28 October

What happened? What didn't happen more like!  The place was packed and it was a truly full on and happening gig, but that's not the half of it.  A documentary is being made about BLACKFIRE (details all a bit hush hush at the moment) which meant there were a couple of cameras there.  This proved very fortuitous as a couple of large sheets of plate glass fell onto the drummer at the beginning of the first song!  The gig had to be stopped until it could all be cleared away, but we actually got it all on video.  To give you an idea of how dramatic it was, the clip has already been shown on BBC news.  Fortunately Thumper's thick Scottish skull saved him from serious injury :-) 

 King William IV, Warmley

Unfortunately cancelled at the last minute as some building work has taken longer than expected. 

 Horseshoe, 7 October

Despite appalling weather and a war breaking out people still packed the place to get hot and sweaty to the BLACKFIRE thang.  In fact, if the band were paid for how much they sweat under the lights during one of these full on gigs they would probably be able to retire now!  It's great chatting to some of the crowd after the gig, when they're really hoarse because they've been singing and shouting their heads off all night. "I got hoarse at the Horseshoe" - now there's a tattoo for you  :-)

 Reckless Engineer, 29 September

Started off steady and built up to something of a crescendo.  Crazed drunken dancers, women removing their clothing, Perfect soloing both inside and outside the building and the Marquess bouncing around and getting very wet and grubby indeed.  There was a good turn out from the faithful with a large proportion of BLACKFIRE T shirts in the crowd, and many new converts were won over by the time the nights proceedings were eventually allowed to finish.   

 Robin Hood, 23 September

Compared to most BLACKFIRE gigs this was a little on the tame side, but listening to some punters and the staff afterwards it was apparently a wild night by local standards!  Polite applause and limited dancing aside they seemed to go home happy enough.  Someone even went mad and bought a CD.  

 Sugar Loaf, 20 September

This was one of those gigs that started off fairly quiet, got more lively as the night went on and finished up as a full blown rock god frenzy!  Perfect, Plant Man and Thumper thrashed their instruments while the Marquess thrashed around on the tables and the floor and the audience did what audiences like to do.  And some of them like to do very strange things indeed when they're at a BLACKFIRE performance... 

 Lamplighter, 8 September Gig (1)

Probably BLACKFIRE's last open air performance of the year, and amazingly the sun was shining. This was an early afternoon slot at a beer & music festival. The start was delayed by late arrival of Thumper, who lives up to the typical drummer reputation for reliability!  There were actually a few sound problems in the first part of the set with the guys on the mixing desk having some difficulty with the vocal FX, but apparently it sounded much better towards the end and the band slogged on regardless.  A bunch of people bought CD's and T shirts after the show so it obviously met with some approval. 

 George & Dragon, 8 September Gig (2)

As the sun went down BLACKFIRE trotted out for the second gig of the day.  The place was absolutely packed and although the crowd were hungry for mayhem things were kept at a slightly less destructive level than some previous outings. All in all everyone seemed to go away happy without the need for intervention by the emergency services, which was nice  :-) 

 Stones Cross, 25 August

Quite a mad night out with dancing, drink spillage and stripping being prevalent amongst the crowd.  BLACKFIRE also managed to shift a dozen of the new design T shirts - not ad considering they were only delivered a few hours before the gig. 

 Under One Sky, 18 August

This was a festival gig billed as "promoting diversity and harmony in the community" no less!  Things initially looked grim as the rain fell but fortunately it stopped before  BLACKFIRE took to the stage and delivered a powerful, energetic set.  This obviously went down well because two encores were demanded despite time running short.  It was great to hear BLACKFIRE described as the best act of the day and apparently pulling the biggest crowd.

 Trout, 11 August

First gig after what felt like a long break - would BLACKFIRE remember what to do?  It would seem the answer is yes!  Cracking return to the Trout that went down well with all concerned  and after only having to restrain two over excited dancers the owner was most pleased.

 Old Tavern, 14 July

Bit quiet - in fact so quiet the BLACKFIRE didn't even turn up!  Had to scrub the gig at the last minute as Plant Man's wife had spent most of the previous day giving birth to his new daughter - best wishes to them both from us all. 

 Horseshoe, 1 July

By any standard this was another hot gig!  Lot's of people, lots of energy and another great night. One punter had to be removed from the stage as he was getting a bit too enthusiastic (and completely incoherent) but everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves. 

 Bunch of Grapes, 29 June

The words hot and sweaty would have to feature in any description of this gig. Good sized crowd were well into it and managed to enjoy the music without breaking anything or injuring themselves.  All things considered a cracking gig.

 George & Dragon, 23 June

Was this a gig or a war zone?  On the whole the crowd managed to out perform the band with every song leading to more extreme dancing, diving and generally frenzied behavior. The end of the night saw much broken glass and dazed punters staggering around covered in varying amounts of blood, sweat and beer and saying what a good night it had been.  And that was just the women...

 Sugar Loaf, 21 June

The longest day - and a storming night in sunny Easton.  BLACKFIRE were firing on all cylinders and the crowd roared with approval and didn't want the night to end.  Perfect and the Marquess seemed to be competing to see who could run around the pub the most whilst performing, Plant Man had hay fever and Thumper moaned that the press keep printing pictures of the band where you can't see his face... 

 Robin Hood, 17 June

Off to Gloucester and back indoors for another gig to round off the weekend.  Solid performance from the band and a nice run of sales of the Fast Music And Drinking CD. 

 St. Werburghs Festival, 16 June

First outdoor gig of the year!  True to the normal English summer the weather was a bit variable but it did manage to stay dry when BLACKFIRE took to the stage and shocked the punters with the "in your face" guitar thing.  Apart from the odd glitch with the PA things went really well - even managed to finish with a much bigger audience than at the start, so they must have liked it. 

 Oldbury Court, 19 May

Certainly no shortage of action here - in fact on one occasion even the band stopped to watch the entertainment!  Quote of the night had to be from the drunken bloke stood in the street afterwards who was asking if anyone wanted a fight before he went home...  Oh yeah, the gig itself went well with the bar staff joining in for a dance and all the people who didn't spend the night hitting each other seemed to have a great time. 

 King Billy, 11 May

A comparatively sane evening for a change - no fights in the crowd or equipment failures and no help required from the emergency services.  Things didn't go so well for the Marquess on a personal level as the roof of is house fell in just before the gig.  The rest of the band were of course highly sympathetic and understanding and didn't take the piss at all...

 Stones Cross, 28 April

Once again the Stones Cross didn't disappoint.  Large, lively crowd that even liked BLACKFIRE's barely rehearsed tribute to Joey Ramone (R.I.P.)  Bristol venues had better beware because there is the threat of a minibus full of Stones Cross regulars heading into town to gate crash a BLACKFIRE gig! 

 Coach House, 14 April

Another packed out venue where the audience were definitely up for a BLACKFIRE frenzy.  In fact, possibly a bit too up for it :-)  Things got rather lively with some full on moshing and crowd surges so the owner decided to call an early an early halt to proceedings. This didn't go down too well with the audience who wanted more and then there were some breakages...  Still, we sold a load of CDs! 

 Trout, 7 April

The Marquess fell over a few times (drink, drugs or just plain  clumsiness?), Plant Man cut his "bass playing" finger, Thumper threw his sticks around and Perfect had a cold. Well the Trout may not be the biggest venue in the world, but despite all this it sure was busy - packed in fact.  A good proportion of BLACKFIRE T shirts in the crowd ensured that there was much dancing to the band's own material and the audience wanted more, more, more.  

 Horseshoe, 25 March

Strewth - yet another good gig.  Nice to see people that run other venues where BLACKFIRE play also travel to see the band on their night off.  BLACKFIRE had to impose a strict 3 encore rule as the crowd didn't want to accept the concept of Sunday hours and continued calling for more long after they should have gone home.  Dirty stop-outs... 

 Old Tavern, 17 March

Much excitement before the gig even started as there was a head on smash between a couple of cars outside the venue while the band were setting up - in fact only a few minutes after Perfect had moved his car away from where the crash happened!  Once on stage things continued to be pretty wild. Good solid, sweaty gig and nearly everyone in the audience was keen to take home a copy of BLACKFIRE's new album Fast Music And Drinking. 

 Robin Hood, 11 March

BLACKFIRE were on fine form entertaining the faithful of Gloucester. There was the usual list of equipment casualties caused by the vigorous standard of performance (mic stand, drum stool, bass FX pedal etc.) but on the whole it all went very well and another crowd staggered off deafened, dazed and amused into the night. 

 Sugar Loaf, 8 March

BLACKFIRE attempted to squash their performance onto the comparatively small stage of the Sugar Loaf which resulted in some crowding when things got lively :-)  And the Marquess proved to be quite a hit with one cidered up punter after the show... 

 George & Dragon, 17 February

This was a full on mental night if ever there was one - steady queue of maniacs waiting to stage dive and much frenzied moshing!  Fortunately no one had to be taken away in an ambulance this time, but the legend of just how wild BLACKFIRE gigs can be had obviously got around and served to swell (and incite) the crowd. Top night. 

 Bunch of Grapes, 16 February

Back in the centre of Bristol for this one. Audience consisted mostly of BLACKFIRE regulars, although amongst the new converts were people who subsequently offered the band gigs in venues as diverse as Bridgewater and Bahrain - now there's a contrast for you :-) 

 Bear & Rugged Staff, 10 February

A loud and rockin' (but slightly odd) night in Southmead.  A large group of girls seemed to think it was Karaoke and sang their heads off and some blokes gave the Marquess a lot of attention!

 Stones Cross, 28 January

Time to give Midsomer Norton their wake-up call for 2001. BLACKFIRE hit the stage to rousing approval and turned their amps up to 11. Stocks of BLACKFIRE CD's and T shirts were cleaned out including one for the juke box. Now you can go F. MAD in the Stones Cross any night of the week!

 Seymours Club, 12 January

What better way to start the year than with a bit of work for charity? This was organised by the Bristol & Avon Road Runners MCC and was a fund raiser for Bristol Children's Oncology Unit. There was some bonus excitement early on as the drummer had got his dates mixed up and so was out walking his dog instead of being on stage playing. Fortunately Thumper was tracked down and after some frenzied activity BLACKFIRE took to the stage. The gig itself went really well and ran to three encores lasting into the early hours of Saturday morning. As this was a bit of a fun gig BLACKFIRE included some highly dubious heavy metal songs played as a one off for the biker crowd. The Marquess did his Ozzy Osborne impersonation and Perfect decided to be Angus Young.  I don't think anyone knows who the Plant Man was being :-)