The band and myself the morning after the night before !!!

What a gig.....what a performance lads. I am so proud to have witnessed you all perform such a tight and spectacular set. The whole album was played and Tony Mills joined the band for the second half of the set. Rolf asked if I minded filming the set for him which although I said yes, I was only kidding him on and was glad I did as it was a great gig to have recorded. We only had a limited time on the battery and could not get all the set filmed. So I missed Broken Defence and Mountain Inside The Stone. I am really annoyed about missing Mountain as it was absolutely perfect and rocking so hard it has made me think this song should be in my top 2 !!!  It was that good. The best song of the set for me was my favorite Leon. Hellsing my man....you are one hell of a singer. I honestly mean that. It sounded so much better live and not once during the whole gig did I hear a bad note from you. 

I am, like many other live gig fans, an avid "AIR GUITAR" player. But with the bass playing of Lars on The Family Secret I am now learning "AIR BASS GUITAR". We had so much fun after the gig playing our bass riff in the club and in the streets...not to forget the hotel room !!!  What a memory to have and to keep. Broken Defence was also such a wonderful song. Beautifully sung and perfect on the guitar. Nice touch with the drums near the end which we don't have on the album. In Your World was "ROCKING" like hell. Man the place was jumping when this came on. I looked around and heads were banging in unison. Sicknote nailed the backing vocals with me as we "un-officially" sang our version of backing vocals to Maximus's splendid Air Guitar. A lump in my throat when Hellsing announced that they were going to play A Battle, and then promptly said,"This is for you Cradle". I felt a warm glow inside and a cold tear glaze my eye. Thanks Hellsing.

Rumours At Speak was again a great rocking song and the crowd were with these guys on the stage. The previous 3 band got nowhere near a response from the crowd that WinterStrain got. Sail was "ALMOST" perfect but for a minor technical glitch near the beginning of the song. Sail was exceptional guys. Then just before the last song Hellsing thanked the audience for listening to WinterStrain. He thanked Crewe. He thanked England and then thanked Scotland as he gave me a look and a big smile. Damn....where are the tissues again. Another Time finished off the set and Crewe.....Z ROCK were won over by a fantastic performance of 5 little Norwegian brothers I now have in my family.

Rolf played the gig with his new DW9000 double bass pedal and his new Paiste cymbals. He was on fire and you could feel the happiness from Rolf as he took great pride in playing his new equipment for the first time. Arnulf was full of energy and fully enjoying himself. Lars was rocking away to the left of the stage with Karl just in behind him. Hellsing warmed the stage with his presence and even managed to crack a few jokes in between songs which had the crowd laughing….especially when he said," We are WinterStrain. We are from Norway. The last time us Vikings came to England it was not very good". Brilliant.

Sicknote,Maximus,Richy and McOphie al took the journey to Crewe to see WinterStrain. We had one hell of a time before, during and after the gig.

But finally I just want to say to the band members that made my weekend more than just a gig. It was a gathering of friends and although we had to say goodbye at 10.30 am on Monday morning I was happy and content that I would be flying over to Norway on Thursday the 29th of June for a 5 day break which will include watching WinterStrain play the Polar Rock Festival. I will have plenty time to get to know Norway as well as the friends and family of the band and extend my family even more !!!

I am counting the days already guys !!   ;o)