SHADOWS FALL Frontman Issues Post-MONSTERS OF ROCK Update

Vocalist Brian Fair of the Massachusetts metal band SHADOWS FALL has issued the following update:

"Wow. What a weekend at the Monsters of Rock festival in Calgary!! Now that I am recovered from all the flight delays and jet lag (although my airport troubles paled in comparison to Jason's [Bittner, drums] epic journey home),I can take a minute to reflect on an amazing show and one hell of a party.

"The festivities actually began the night before the show at a small sports bar next to our hotel. It started innocently enough when Jason, Paul and I headed to the bar to see if the Sox vs. Yanks game was on the tube. We didn't find the game, but we did run into some dudes that had drove out for the show and started buying rounds and shots for all. Soon the rest of the band arrived and the beers and tequila shots were in full affect. Our new friend Stubbs busted out some B.C. love to spark off the night right and set the mood. The folks at the bar fired up the karaoke machine and it was on!! First we were subjected to some of the most brutal versions of 'Bohemian Rhapsody' by QUEEN and a song by MUSE from a dude that was the spitting image of McLovin from the 'Superbad' movie. I think my ears are still bleeding.

"Thankfully, we were all saved by the performance of the night, when little James, a young fan who had driven 14 hours to attend the show, stepped up to the mic and ripped the greatest version of 'Holy Diver' in karaoke history!! I've still got goosebumps. Rad.

"After sleeping off the night's fun, we all headed over to the venue. The show was in a huge CFL football arena with a monstrous stage complete with video screens and a gigantic PA. Besides a few monitor issues during the first tune, the set was a blast. We got a nasty double circle pit rollin' during 'Failure Of The Devout' and I headed down to the crowd for a sing along during 'Redemption'.

"We wanna thank all our friends in Calgary for making the show so memorable.

"There were a ton of killer bands at the Monsters of Rock and here are a few highlights. ZIMMERS HOLE kicked things off with their insane genre-bending metal chaos. I wish I could pull off their singer's stage look but I just don't have the ass for it. Haha. PRIESTESS was up next, they are one of my favorite new rock bands; these dudes just keep pumping out killer riffs and tunes. TESTAMENT absolutely dominated; without doubt they are the greatest thrash band of all time. It was all about the towel waving insanity during HATEBREED's set; they set the place off like a hockey fight. I was lucky enough to watch JUDAS PRIEST's set from the side of the stage and was in total awe. What can I say…they are the Metal Gods. Great set list from Ozzy, mixing it up from the last time I saw him. Zakk [Wylde] decided to make some fans that day when he tossed his custom Gibson guitar into the crowd after the first song. Miraculously, the guitar made it back to his guitar tech in one piece. Unfortunately, I missed sets by 3 INCHES OF BLOOD, VOIVOD and CAVALERA CONSPIRACY while running around getting everything together but I am sure they killed it.

"It was an amazing weekend in Calgary. Now we are getting ready to head to Korea on Friday for the Busan Rock Fest. Then we head home for one day to sleep it off before heading to Dallas for the Ozzfest at Pizza Hut Park. Gonna be an insane week. I'll fill ya in when I get back."