The confirmation of Firefest 5 came just too late to make the last issue, but now the full details have been announced and I'm sure everyone will agree it's going to be an awesome weekend for fans of melodic rock. One of the big bonuses of being involved in this scene is managing to get your favourite bands back together, playing live. Last year it was FM and Valentine, this year we see ex-Journey singer Steve Augeri performing with his band Tall Stories and one of the most revered AOR pomp legends, White Sister, back together after more than 20 years. Yup, sometimes life can be good! See our advert elsewhere for full details of the two-day event. Certainly not to be missed.

And as an unforeseen bonus following on from last year's Firefest 4, both Tyketto and Valentine enjoyed themselves so much that both bands have decided to record brand new albums, hopefully to be on sale at Firefest 5! Just goes to show what fan-power can achieve! Read the thought of those guys, along with all the other bands, in this issue's Bailey Brother's look back at Firefest 4.

I'm also happy to see some of the bigger bands in the scene releasing brand new albums, rather than being content just to play the hits on the same old circuit, year after year. Both Def Leppard and Whitesnake have released superb new albums, and I await with baited breath the new Journey release on the 9th of June (although how many of the new songs make the set-list is another matter!). Now, if only we could get Cinderella doing like-wise!

Now, we still need young bands to come through and take over the reigns so that the scene still has life-blood coursing through its veins in years to come. There's plenty of great young bands out there, all needing your support - and many of those appear on our cover CDs issue after issue. So if you like what you hear, check out the bands and buy their albums. These guys are the future, and we will be looking more closely at the UK scene in a future issue. Our ‘Rock Scandinavia' feature takes a break this issue, but will be back with Finland Part 2 next month, with a close look at the scene in Sweden the following issue.

The Harem Scarem DVDs from Firefest 4 finally arrived, about 2 weeks late. Sorry again for the delays and hopefully everyone who ordered will have their copy by now. All 400 NTSC sold out, and there is only about 100 of the Special Edition PAL version left. Check out our website at: www.thefirefest.com for ordering details. The FM and Valentine DVDs are coming along very nicely and should be on sale in June. Keep checking the website for details on advance orders - your support is much appreciated.

Until next time, keep the flame burning!

-- Bruce Mee