I am off work at 3pm... my girlfriend and I are ready to go. Backpacks ready with only the necessary stuff for what was going to be and AOR weekend in Madrid, the beautiful capital of Spain. We headed the airport and surprisingly we were on time! Unfortunately the airline company decides not to be on time. There was a party going on at the Revolver club (the venue of the festival) that same day. Two Spanish bands, NEXX and ICE BLUE, were carrying the warming-up-before-the-great-day duties plus all the acts were there to sign stuff and create that feeling of community that you can see in any festival of this kind. Our plane was supposed to take off at 7:25pm but Barcelona is beautiful enough to have us 4 HOURS STRANDED IN THE AIRPORT. So we departed almost at the same time NEXX was ending their set of classic melodic rock covers. ICE BLUE, who will have their debut soon released through Vinny Records, were done about and hour and a half ago. Too bad! The weekend didn't start really well.

APRIL 7TH:

Finally! we wake up in Madrid. The sun is shining and we have enough time to visit SUN RECORDS which is a great rock store wisely filled with the newest releases and some classics here and there. After that a quick meal and we head the venue. The Revolver club is a very nice place and around 500/600 people were filling it.

9 1 s u i t e
Hailing from Murcia and signed to VINNY RECORDS, 91SUITE are the first act to hit the stage. They are very young and probably don't have the enough stage experience but when the melody hits my ears I realize that they are going to be soon in the big league. Combining elements of The Storm, Bon Jovi (circa Slippery) or Danger Danger (1st record), the band have a bright future. Their ucoming debut record is being mixed by Mark Mangold and will be released in Japan and Europe very soon.

e l y t e
Not only Elyte's "Unno" is among the best AOR records released this year, they also have a wonderful live show. The band's tapestry is beyond any shadow of doubt. I would highlight guitarrist Pablo Leon who is said to perform in Gary Hughes next solo album. Julio is also a great frontman and the audience really got in the band's show from the word go. ELYTE sounded tight and their uplifting show was among the best we saw that night. Already classic cuts among the Spanish fans like "Todo a mi iempo", "Solo en la Ciudad" or "No te puedo dejar atras" sounded powerful yet melodic. Danger Danger's "Bang Bang" was also among the best best. The English version of the record should be get this band the recognition they deserve.

r a f a m a r t i n
I was looking forward RAFA MARTIN's show. In case you don't know him you seriously need to get his first album "Corazon de Hierro" which, although it is sung in Spanish, contains first-class Cannuck-like AOR in the vein of Harem Scarem (who actually play in that album!), Bryan Adams or Stan Meissner. Rafa did a very complete show that made a great listen. He played tracks from the first album plus some tracks of his sophomore effort "Cuando llegue a volar". Later after the show I had the chance to meet him and I must say that not only he's a every nice person but he is also a highly interesting guy.

a d r i a n g a l e
I think this same opinion is shared by (aprox) the 99% of the people that gathered in the Revolver club that night. ADRIANGALE were the best band of the night and personally one of the best shows I have ever been to. The band was perfect delivering the best tracks from their Hard rocking debut album "Feel the Fire" plus a Guardian cover which name escapes me for some reason. But it was not the music but the eergy they delivered the reason why everybody fell in love with Rowe and co. They are all great showmen...they move, run, jump...the audience could not stop claping or singing their songs. Jamie Rowe is a hell of a vocalist. The guy who is literally huge even goofed around with an acapella version TITANIC's "My heart can go on"(!!). The ending was superb with a cover version of Motley Crue's classic "Kickstart my heart" and about 20 people hitting the stage singing and jumping... Once again: ADRIANGALE have now 600 new fans and offer a thunderous show. Thumps up for this new yankee band!

d a r e
I was afraid of what finally became true: an unplugged show. I am a fan of their first album and "Blood from a Stone" it's quite decent... as for "Calm before the storm" well... to be honest, I think it's boring. What we got was not a full-band show but and acoustic set with only Darren and guitarist Richard Dews. Very classy and great vocals courtsy of Mr. Wharton but too much slow-paced and laid-back. The only great moment of their show was arguably when they played "Abandon". They also palyed a cover of the Thin Lizzy classic "Whisky in the Jar". I guess everyone was expecting a full-band plugged show.

h o u s e of s h a k i r a
I really wanted to see HOS live. They are among the most innovative and original melodic rock bands and I have enjoyed each one of their records. The band had spent the whole day chatting with the fans proving that they were very down-to-earth and friendly. And to be honest after the quite laid back Dare gigg I needed a good kick. The band hit the stage and developed a no-fillers show covering their three albums and featuring hits like "Who's crying now", "In my Head", "Elephant Gun" or "Method of Madness". Per Schlander had told me before the show that they woudl play JOURNEY's "Stone in Love" and obviously they played it as the encore. I would underline how good is the band's vocalist Andreas Eklund high-pitched and melodic vocals that fit perfectly the bands music. On the other hand the guys seemed a little bit cold something that much probably affected part of the audience who weren't fans of the band. Anyway, HOS did one of the best shows of the night.

h a r e m s c a r e m / r u b b er
So it was time for the headliners: Harem scarem or Rubber? Who were we going to see... BOTH! Yep, the Cannuck band performed 95 minutes filled with the best of both worlds. As it was an AOR festival the majority of the people liked their AOR heydays better and if you add how funny peculiar (??) Harry Hess was goofing with the ol'times it's not a surprise that many people left the show disspointed and even angry. All in all, the show had great moments like "Hard to Love", "No Justice" or a slow-paced version of "Slowly Slipping Away". The female vocalist of the Spanish band NEXX went onstage to sign it with the boys. Although she's a great vocalist she missed the lyrics and the melody of the chorus. Anyway, I am sure I would not have done a better job. The guys were tight and powerful, brilliant backing vocals enlightened their already classic tunes and I felt lucky that I like their new Rubber material as well. "Sunshine" sounded fantastic (great vocals again) and so did "Hapinnes" sung by Pete Lessperance. Harry had time to do plenty of his "jokes" but also said that there will be a new Harem Scarem album in February'02!.

After almost 9 hours a the Revolver club I felt battered and bruised. The shows had been awesome. The line-up was very balanced and probably I was only deceived to see Dare in such a tamed format. I wish there would be more events like this in my country. I would like to thank Jose Herrera for running the risk of putting up such a big event.