We went for a practice session at midday to go through the set and final preparations for the gig, Paul joined us later and we went to get some food before we packed down to load the van. Kris then joined later with a couple of crates of beer, would be rude not to drink them!
We loaded the van around 5 and set off to Fruit.
All the bands got to Fruit at roughly the same time so was nice to all chat and mingle while we soundchecked and set up all the merch and the CD's
Things were a little late kicking off, there was a few sound issues with the drum mic's but things got sorted and people who were waiting outside for the doors to open got let in around the 7:15 mark.
Incubated kicked things off with a blinding set around 7:45, the crowd really seemed to get into them which is awesome to see as they've always been good friends of ours/
Battalions were up next and for the people who never saw them before, they were in for a treat. The bnad also played a corking set, again the crowd loved them
Pastel Jack took to the stage around 9:30 (yes the gig was running a lot late, but there was loads of people there so noone cared) Most people know that the PJ guys and us are all great friends so was a pleasure to have them as main support, they're also one of the most popular bands in Hull so the crowd really stepped up for them.
As soon as PJ left the stage we hurried on and set up our stuff, we then give the nod to start!
We opened with 'Triskaidekaphobia' our fastest tune which then led into 'Breaking Point' Dan encouraged people to move to the front and the people didn't disappoint 'Longest Day' was next up and i must say i think this was the best live performance of the song we have ever done. The title track was up next and people seemed to be really getting into the set by this point!
We paid tribute to 2 fallen rock gods next we played a 40 second clip of the legendary Deep Purple song 'Smoke on the water' in memory of Jon Lord followed by 'The Devil Cried' originally done by Heaven & Hell. We wasn't quite sure if people knew the song as it wasn't one of the more popular Dio tracks to play but its one of the bands favorites.
We realized by this point we wouldn't have enough time to finish our full set so we cut a few songs out and decided the next song would be 'When God is gone...The Devil takes hold' This would be the first time we have ever played this live but again it went down great and was lots of fun to play something new on stage.
We finished the set with 'Fuckin' Scum' and this went down so much better than anticipated with the crowd, they were chanting along with us, we even let them sing some of the words, when your up on the stage and people in the crowd are participating like this you cant do anything else but smile like a little kid...Amazing stuff!!
So a perfect end to an amazing day and the end of the 'North of Nowhere' journey as regards to actually releasing the damn thing! Its been a crazy 18 months in the band and this gig was just like a huge weight off our shoulders of everything that's happened within them!
We would just like to say a massive Thank You to everyone who's helped us along the way and everyone who bought anything from the merch stand and most importantly who just came along to support us and the Hull metal scene!
THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING!!
