I sheepishly say I live in central Illinois only a little over 2 hours away. To think that a guy who lives on the other side of the earth is now organizing a third MRF basically in my backyard is still unbelievable to me.

MRF1 - Highlight was the amazing Jeff Scott Soto set. And it was really cool to see Martie Peters Group. 7th Heaven caught a lot of people by surprise with their energy and performance.

MRF2 - The thing that stood out was the quality of vocals one after the other and the extraordinary overall guitar skill highlighted by Thorsten Koehne. Plus Crown Of Thorns appearance.

MRF3 - For me, this should easily top the other two. Besides the obvious Harem Scarem and W.E.T. appearances, I am a huge fan of Newman, Eclipse, Coldspell, and House Of Lords. This would never happen in the U.S.

My wife and I will be there for the fantastic VIP weekend. I hate to wish any time away but I'm ready to hit fast forward to September!