IT WAS THE BIGGEST AND THE BEST VIPER BEER FEST YET. They came from far and wide to eat, drink and dance quite badly! The band started up at 3pm with a full house, the rain lashing down so hard they had to close the tent, but the band (including the excellent Lou from Squabbler sitting in on drums for Stef for the afternoon) took the stage and warmed the cold, wet crowd up with a storming combo of 'Matchbox' (Carl Perkins) , 'Pride and Joy' (Stevie ray Vaughan) and 'Wishing Well' (Free).

Later on as the band and the crowd warmed up even more there were some great guest performances from Amy Howe ('Live n' Let Die' / When September Ends) and Connor Bath (Use Somebody). Eventually the day turned into night and the crowd got (much) bigger than we'd ever seen before at the Viper, the last two sets were a blur of dancing bodies and waving arms - The band did some new/old stuff like 'Who's got a match' (Biffy Clyro - great lead vox Uncle Ian), 'How does it feel' (Slade - great lead vox Uncle Chris) and a brilliant old Madness song called 'Madness' (good call Kev) had the (frankly, pissed) crowd skanking like their lives depended on it! The final set almost brought the tent down with the usual blockbusters Dakota/Monster/All these things/Play that Funky music/Mr. Brightside/Sex on fire/Won't get fooled and of course Kev's tour de force 'Comfortably Numb'!



We didn't think it was possible to top previous years but thanks to an awesome bunch of people (the audience, not the band) it was an incredible day, and we are so pleased and proud to be a part of it! Thanks to Donna and all the Viper staff who never stop working. Thanks to our WAGS who are getting more outrageous every time, thanks to Lou for a fantastic perfomance on drums in the afternoon and finally, thanks to all our friends who go out of their way to come and see us every time - you are bloody brilliant - here's to year number 6!!!

As usual Leena (our own paparazzi) has taken some great photos of you all, which will end up here on the site over the next few days.

Friday 8:00pm: Paul & Louise's wedding.
We kick off the weekend at Maiden's Barn somewhere in deepest, darkest Essex. The Best Men' s speeches were excellent and Paul & Louise want 'Chasing cars' as their first song and we nailed it. The evening got better and better, the DJ from Sound One Events was a great bloke, doing the lights during our sets and giving us some great introductions. We sent Paul & Louise off happy and got home relatively early (1-ish).

Saturday 10.00 am: Kilimanjaro Charity Ball - Stockbrook Manor Golf Club
Have to get up and get over to Billericay to set up the gear for tonight's charity bash. Room looks great, all dekked out and we've actually got a stage big enough (just) for once! Turn up in our monkey suits for the evening do. Nice meal, plenty of drink flowing and a chat with some old friends, then into the set. Sounds good - big echoey room, with loads of reverb - lovely. Everyone up from the first number, which was er... 'Chasing cars'. Played through til 1:15pm, got home at 3:00am, happily knackered... Big thanks goes out to Deb, Bev, Wendy and everyone who helped arrange such a fantastic night, and everyone who helped make some money for such a great cause.
Click here to see more photos!


Sunday 12.30 pm: White Hart Beer Festival - Margaretting Tye
Happy birthday Wendy! Band turned up on time, except for Chris who had the van with our equipment. So, with nothing better to do, we had to start sampling the real ale. Chris turned up and hour later looking very sheepish (until he started on the real ale). We kicked off at 2:30pm, did an excellent 2 hour non-stop set until Beth and Richard came on for an acoustic session at 4:30pm which was superb. More acoustic stuff from us (Weather with you/Why does it always rain on me? and other fine weather related songs) then into our second serious set. At 6.30 time for the jagged eyes to make their full band appearance doing all their own stuff, 'Twilight skies' still my favourite, They just get better and better. We came back on (by now very worse for wear) about 7.30pm to finish the night off, with some kicking versions of Mr. Brightside / Comfortably Numb / Hysteria / Dakota. Mr. David Barrett doing his stuff as only he can do, whipped the audience into the kind of frenzy only they can do. Off stage about 9-ish home by 10.45pm, trying not to think about work tomorrow... Happy Birthday Ian!!! Click here to see more photo's

Another great stocks gig. Thanks to the regulars and the newbies who weathered the sweaty conditions. Special thanks as always go to Dave Barrett (the best looking cheerleader in Ingatestone), the sweaty dancing bar staff, Laurie and to Mr. David Shalloe on Bass guitar for the best ever version of 'Hysteria' (Muse - who they?).

Just got back from the 'Never Ending Tour of Duty' mini tour of Holland. ! In 4 days we've managed 1000 miles of driving / 4 hours of Ferrying / under 15 hours of sleeping / over 10 hours of playing and we've still got huge smiles after one of the best Holland stints EVER! Massive thanks to everyone involved - Jagged Eyes / The DOG of ROCK / Jonny Roscoe / Dave Standen  / Dave Barrett / Trev n' Pod / Dimi, Sean & Bianca / Godelieve / George / all the hard drinking, long suffering WAGS / Terry / a special thanks to Ray, Connie (Poppy), Cheryl & bump, Chana & the twins. Thanks to all of the crowds that turned up at the gigs - you were truly amazing and you made our weekend. There will be stories, there will be pictures - no-one will be spared - not even the innocent! But for now we need to catch up on some much needed kip (that's chicken to you Pete...).

If you have any stories to tell from the trenches, then please share by commenting on this post. See other posts in the guestbook now...
We love ya all!

The boys from BFC