Stones Cross, 20 December

Final gig of another busy year for BLACKFIRE and the Stones Cross did us proud. There was even a man with a video camera recording the anarchy. Possibly for Crimewatch? And we had some good news as Von has decided to stay on and run the Stones Cross for another year. So we will be back! 

 Farriers, 14 December

A lunchtime performance which made for a slightly different crowd, including a bunch of noticeably younger (we're talking pre-teen!) BLACKFIRE fans. Nice to see they knew all the rude song lyrics. Unfortunately our attempts to secure a nativity play booking for the band have so far not come good :-(  Let's just hope that the Marquess doesn't come over all "Michael Jackson" again...

 Reckless Engineer, 6 December

A hard rockin' night was had by a nice big crowd at the Reckless and BLACKFIRE made the most of the venue to do the energetic, running around, gig thing. 

 Trout, 22 November

This just happened to be the day that England won the rugby world cup. This meant that quite a lot of the crowd seemed to have been drinking all day, making for a fun evening! They were up for the gig though and packed into the Trout to dance and celebrate with the band. Amazingly, they were still standing at the end of the night and demanding more encores from BLACKFIRE. In between sporadic choruses of "Swing low sweet chariot" of course... Oh, and Count Homer had obviously been treating himself to some new bass gear. Some of it even worked :-)

 George & Dragon, 15 November

This venue has proved rather lively at times. And this particular performance was one of those times. We don't know what the locals do when other bands play here, but formation slam diving from the bar and tables and a general frenzied mosh seems the order of the day when BLACKFIRE are in town. Unfortunately, there isn't actually a mosh pit and things were in danger of going just that bit too far, particularly after a second punter had taken a dive into the drum kit. Still, a collection at the end raised enough for some replacement gear for Thumper, which cheered him up no end.

 Bunch of Grapes, 7 November

The only bad thing about this gig is that the place just wasn't big enough to get all the people in that wanted to see the band. But BLACKFIRE were on top form and it certainly sounded good and went down a storm with the densely packed  crowd. Even after 3 encores they still wouldn't go home and were shouting for more. After the gig people were keen to purchase BLACKFIRE merchandise and express their surprise that they could see such a good band here. No offence to Colin, who is sadly leaving the Bunch of Grapes in the near future. BLACKFIRE will miss him! 

 Farriers, 31 October

Some people get excited about this date, but for BLACKFIRE it's Halloween every day! The combination of  BLACKFIRE and a Halloween party made for a very packed venue and lively gig, although the running around aspect was limited because there was simply no room left. A number of cheesy Halloween themed songs were performed to the appreciation of the crowd and BLACKFIRE got into the Halloween look as well as the sound. All in all a great night, despite some rather dubious cross dressing by members of the crowd and a punch up after the gig. No band members involved, honest.

 Horseshoe, 26 October

Perhaps it was the change in the clocks or the fact that it was a cold Sunday evening, but the audience for this gig started off a bit on the quiet side compared to the usual BLACKFIRE live performance. Fortunately, they soon livened up as Perfect and the Marquess played and fought their way through the night. Even Count Homer looked dangerously mobile at times. All the band needs now, is to get a wireless drum kit for Thumper... 

 Stapleton Road Tavern, 24 October

The Stapleton Road Tavern shook off it's normal hard core, rock'n roll image and opened its doors to the punk metal frenzy that is a BLACKFIRE gig! Things got pretty lively, including Perfect climbing up in the windows (obviously whilst still playing guitar) and there was some mad "stool dancing" by a member of the crowd. Take my word for it, it would be very hard to explain exactly what was going on! There was some bloodshed after the gig, but for a change it wasn't the Marquess who had to be taken away in an ambulance. Oh, and Perfect played a very new, very shiny and very LOUD amp!

 Old Tavern, 18 October

A straightforward BLACKFIRE experience was had. Good crowd, solid gig and a plenty of mayhem from Perfect and the Marquess. The band also benefited from a very attractive volunteer roady!  

 Queens Head, 11 October

This venue is really a tad on the small side for a band that like to take up as much space as BLACKFIRE. Things could have turned nasty when the Marquess bashed Perfect's guitar and then took his life in his hands by  also spilling Perfect's beer! Fortunately there was no blood shed, the band played on and the Marquess contenting himself with falling over the furniture for the rest of the evening.

 Louisiana, 8 October

BLACKFIRE had the honour of playing this gig with the mighty Hacksaw, who certainly made more noise than seems feasible for a 2 piece band! Once they had killed the geese and thrown bog rolls into the crowd (with audience participation) BLACKFIRE took to the stage. And then they did rock in their customary fashion, to the satisfaction of all present.

 Old Pier, 4 October

Did they know what they were getting when BLACKFIRE came to town? Probably not, but by the end of the night they had been won over to the dark side. Perfect and the Marquess staged numerous crowd invasions and Count Homer was even seen to stride forward with his dangerously pointy guitar.  After the gig, members of the audience offered to become the eternal slaves of the band if  BLACKFIRE would return for another gig. 

 Stones Cross, 27 September

Some technical problems resulted in a delayed start and a subdued guitar sound for the first set, but the crowd seemed to enjoy it regardless. Come the second set the problem had been overcome and BLACKFIRE were back to their full on, hard rockin' best. And the audience REALLY got stuck in for the rest of the evening! Of particular note was the fact that Count Homer was playing a bass guitar he had made earlier. A bit like a Blue Peter presenter, but obviously without all the drugs and sex scandals...

 Parson's Nose, 25 September

Off to darkest Wiltshire to try out this new venue for the band. Once some issues around start and finish times and volume levels had been resolved, BLACKFIRE got stuck in and delivered a first class performance. Several locals said the gig was the best they had seen at the Parson's Nose and the new BLACKFIRE T shirts proved very popular.  All were keen for BLACKFIRE to return next year. So we just might.

 Bunch of Grapes, 19 September

From the start, this was basically a packed out sweat bath. Obviously a lot of people get frustrated when they have to go a few weeks without a BLACKFIRE gig, because they certainly seemed to let it all out at this performance! Count Homer stated that he didn't want to go this long without a gig again, because he'd had to play with himself for the previous few weeks. Or something like that. Anyway, in addition to the normal  BLACKFIRE live mayhem, Perfect was trying out his new wireless system, so that meant even more running around playing guitar  than normal. When he could find room to move of course, which wasn't easy, as the crowd clearly wanted the in-your- face experience. In fact, the crowd provided more than their share of the entertainment. This including the sight of Dave the roadie trying to dance, take his shirt off and smoke a cigarette at the same time. Oh, and the lesbian floor show excited some interest...

 Trout, 23 August

The Trout is quite an intimate venue (that means small) allowing the band to really share the live experience with the audience. Once again, this gig certainly didn't disappoint. An appreciative crowd and a solid performance from the band, with the usual over the top antics from Perfect and the Marquess. Not too much blood, but plenty of sweat and beer! Nice to see the new BLACKFIRE T shirts continuing to prove very popular.

 Reckless Engineer, 16 August

Another gig that nearly didn't happen due to a change of manager at the venue, but fortunately they saw sense and honoured the BLACKFIRE booking. They were rewarded for this with a nice big crowd and some full on rock mayhem from the band. Perfect spent the evening running around liked a crazed guitar god and the Marquess made some forays into the crowd to frighten the unwary. This was also the first gig to have the new BLACKFIRE T shirts on sale and they were snapped up a treat by eager fans. So the band can afford to eat again!

 Crown & Horseshoe, 9 August

New venue for the band in sunny Oldland Common. Well, it was certainly bloody hot this day. Decent crowd, especially considering that most of Bristol seemed to have headed to the Balloon Fiesta or decided to fire up a barbeque on this sweltering evening. Anyway, slightly odd shaped layout inside with the band playing almost at the top of a flight of steps, but also appearing live on the large projection screen. On the whole everything worked well and the manager certainly added to the entertainment! Further bookings will follow.

 Farriers, 3 August

This gig started off on a bit of a downer. Hot, sunny day - one of the nicest of the year so far, playing a venue that has an outside stage. Except they have had visits from the authorities recently, so the band had to play inside after all. And the huge Regatta event was taking place at the harbour. Would anyone even turn up? As it turned out, the placed was PACKED. Obviously BLACKFIRE fans don't care about being out in the sunshine! Not only was it a great gig, but we also had some of our youngest ever fans present. One of them had even brought their own Barbie Doll to play with the Marquess. New readers will quite rightly be confused by all this...

 George & Dragon, 26 July

Definitely some of the audience anarchy in gigs of yesteryear at the G&D was resurrected for this performance. Sadly no formation slam diving from the bar this time, but the Marquess was hoisted into the air and several times the crowd ended up in a big pile of sweaty men at the feet of the band. Stewart the groupie seemed to enjoy this scene immensely. And the band experienced the joy of skating around a slick of spilt beer and cider...

 Old Tavern, 19 July

A few people had suggested that the Old Tavern would be empty, as this gig clashed with Robert Plant live at Ashton Court. How wrong can you be? The Old Tavern was packed and BLACKFIRE blasted out a blistering set. People were moved to ask Perfect how on earth can he play guitar whilst jumping around so much and why does the Marquess fall over every 5 minutes? (he did seem to have a bit of a problem with his vertical hold). Count Homer strode to the middle of the stage to stake his claim as the definitive BLACKFIRE bass player and to round off the night a bunch of CDs were snapped up by eager punters. 

 Queens Head, 12 July

Some confusion over this gig, as many people thought the venue had cancelled all band bookings due to a change of ownership. This proved to be unfounded and the BLACKFIRE faithful in attendance were treated to a show with more audience interaction than normal. Indeed, the Marquess got intimate with both Jenny and Stewart the groupie, and Perfect was treated to the revelation that Tina doesn't wear knickers...

 Horseshoe, 6 July

3 gigs in 4 days, but BLACKFIRE finished off the weekend by playing a blinder at the Horseshoe. Some of our lightweight, so called fans, only made it to 1 or 2 of the gigs though. Words will have to be had! 

 Fleece, 4 July

This was the big gig of the weekend. The Fleece was nicely packed and the sound was good and loud (our thanks to the sound man for doing a great job). Many new converts were won over as the band thrashed out a blistering 45 minutes. Perfect played his guitar in the air, on the floor and generally ran around with it a lot. The Marquess did his best to scare the crowd and the now wireless Count Homer was moved to some serious heads down bass action. The band had much fun. Cheers to Hells Bells for arranging the gig. 

 Sugar Loaf, 3 July

First gig of the weekend and BLACKFIRE held nothing back in their attempts to warm up the Sugar Loaf on a Thursday evening, much to the appreciation of the crowd. 

 Queen Vic, 26 June

Too Loud For Stroud! BLACKFIRE made their first ever Stroud appearance on the Thursday evening of  Glastonbury weekend, with none of the BLACKFIRE faithful in attendance. To be honest the locals didn't really seem to know what to make of the band for the first part of the evening, apart from the fact that they were definitely Too Loud For Stroud. However, BLACKFIRE continued to lay it on the line and by the end of the night the audience had been moved to comments such as "You guys rock" and " I want to buy your CD". Mission accomplished. 

 Bunch of Grapes, 13 June

Once again the Bunch was packed and the sweat was flowing - even members of the crowd were driven to remove their clothing. Or was this just a sign of their excitement at the storming BLACKFIRE gig? Some pictures of partial nudity have been added to the Great Unwashed page!

 Reckless, 17 May

A mixture of faces old and new in the crowd at this gig, which ended in the accepted, frenzied fashion. One Barbie Doll learnt the dangers of dancing too vigorously whilst wearing a nose ring (ouch!) and we seemed to be missing another of the regulars. I suppose hospitalisation is a fair excuse not to come to a gig - get well soon Fiona! Perfect and the Marquess did plenty of lively crowd interaction (did Perfect really play a solo whist straddling someone?) and Thumper and Count Homer completed the wall of noise to thunderous applause. 

 Tap & Barrel, 10 May

A new venue for the band in darkest Bedminster. On occcasion you can spot the tumbleweed blowing through the empty bar, but not on the night that BLACKFIRE played! Very busy (and hot) with a bunch of new converts won over to enthusiastic support, as well as the normal disreputable crowd of BLACKFIRE faithful.

 Trout, 3 May

A compact venue, but with it's own special ambience and located next to a chip shop, which seems to be a necessity for certain followers of the band! The crowd took a bit longer than normal to get really warmed up, but BLACKFIRE got them there in the end. Perfect got so excited he actually played a few solos from a completely horizontal position! And the Marquess thought he had pulled for sure, until the object of his affection walked out an left him at the end of the night...

 Queens Head, 26 April

This rapidly became a pretty lively session, with some full on audience interaction and an apparently record breaking crowd for the venue. And let's not forget the token nutter! To end the evening on a philosophical note, Count Homer managed to encapsulate the whole experience in one simple phrase "I like sausage rolls".  The man speaks from the heart and he is a poet.

 Fiddlers, 19 April

12 band all day event at the Fiddlers club. BLACKFIRE made the most of the big stage and space available and apparently had a great sound through the rather tasty p.a. Perfect and the Marquess achieved high levels of  frenzied performance both on stage and off, with Perfect in particular making some long range trips thanks to the joy of wireless guitar and a fast pair of legs!

 Bunch of Grapes, 18 April

The place was packed. It was hot. People in the crowd danced, sang along, got very drunk, split their drinks and fell over. They seemed to enjoy it very much. The band spent the evening sweating and trying to decide whether the blond woman at the front in the kinky bondage gear could possibly be wearing any knickers. 

 Farriers, 5 April

Not only a new venue, but an unusual day time slot for a bleary eyed BLACKFIRE. It actually worked out very well, despite the band having to all get up after the musical excesses of the previous night at the G&D. Perfect did some lively climbing over the furniture and "interaction" with the Marquess, plus a couple of rapid guitar changes. The Marques himself decided to go and help out the staff behind the bar. This was, of course, in the middle of a song. Still, the place was packed and keen to book the BLACKFIRE experience again.

 George & Dragon, 4 April

This gig didn't see the same level of destruction as some previous performances at the G&D, but the crowd were certainly very vocal. The night finished up with a bit of a disco frenzy from BLACKFIRE. Although this proved very popular, you have to wonder what depths they will sink to next. The ABBA set? 

 Old Tavern, 29 March

Apparently the lighting crew got into a bit of agro before the rest of the band arrived, so we had to do without them! Fortunately everything else went well. Perfect played guitar, danced on the tables and finished the gig with the most baffling array of strange sounds conjured from a guitar. The Marquess showed off his individual fashion sense by wearing the most girly top in the world, ever. Thumper and Count Homer wisely stayed out of things and just made lots of noise. And the crowd packed the place and showed much appreciation of the BLACKFIRE experience. 

 Horseshoe, 23 March

Definitely a night that will be remembered by the band for technical problems. The p.a. played up intermittently and Perfect managed to get through a guitar, guitar amp and a wireless system in one evening! Good job he brought some spares. That aside, it was a good sized crowd and they certainly enjoyed BLACKFIRE between the various breakdowns. Hopefully that's all the gremlins out of the way for another year. Oh, we are contractually obliged to mention that Dave the roadie was undressed by a woman in the crowd. Apparently she is now receiving counselling...

 Stones Cross, 15 March

The Stones Cross certainly delivered with a packed crowd (dark mutterings from some people who thought they had got there early enough to secure a seat) and the normal mix of spilt drinks and bad dancing. And that was just the Marquess. Perfect and Count Homer cranked the amps to 11 and the band got away with another barely rehearsed new song. But the question on everyone's lips was "Where's Von? Doesn't she love us anymore?" 

 Sugar Loaf, 6 March

The Marquess took the novel step of managing to break the p.a. before BLACKFIRE had even started the gig, but fortunately it was fixed in time for the normal mayhem to commence. Aside from the odd smashed glass and a few altercations between females in the crowd (!) things ran to the usual pattern. At least Perfect, Count Homer and Thumper know the songs... 

 Reckless Engineer, 22 February

Pleasing to see that BLACKFIRE managed to pull a good sized crowd to the Reckless - even more so because they all got well into the BLACKFIRE experience!  Perfect once again demonstrated the fine art of playing guitar whilst running around and climbing on things and Count Homer seemed thoroughly lost in his bass playing (I mean in a GOOD way).  The Marquess ventured from his stage to spill people's drinks in the audience and Thumper wisely stayed out of the melee behind his drum kit.  And just who was that moshing maniac doing the summersaults at the front of the crowd...?  It wasn't former band member Mad Mike (a.k.a. Dr Mick) who made a surprise visit to see his first BLACKFIRE gig in many years.

 Trout, 11 January

No ordinary gig this, as it included the debut of a new band member. Could Count Homer fill the Plant Man's shoes? Would he be beaten to death by an enraged mob of the BLACKFIRE faithful? In fact the boy done good. Even Perfect climbing on the furniture and jumping from the window whilst playing guitar, or the Marquess disappearing into the crowd for long periods didn't faze him. The whole gig went down a storm and seasoned veterans in the crowd commented on just how well how Count Homer fitted into the chaos that it is a BLACKFIRE gig.