Yes readers, The Winners are now officially declared. It's the gold medal of music but they are not going to get just a medal...they get more! They get the main stage, a fully supported european tour and more backstage fun than a male porn star playing with his groupies. As the three days were concurrently running with the Olympic games, we told you about our very own rock and roll Olympics and how they were much, much cooler. Ours were Better, faster, drunker, sexier but most of all, more fun!. Ok, let's get serious...and the gold medal goes to: (drum roll please) HURRICANE LOVE!!!. all the way from Sweden, this synth pop project convinced everybody. Not only the crowd but the panel of judges too obviously. They walked away with the gold spot and were crowned Olympic rock and roll champions. Well, world champions in our case. There was no medal tally, no China competing nor tiny pacific islands (unfortunately) but we had some new entries such as Turkey and Poland which made it ore international than last year as every year we add some new countries

Saying world-wide winners sounds big and it is, considering bands from the many countries (some new ones for the first time) from all over the planet took part in what has been the most fun we had under the sun especially because the quality this year has been amazing and the sun was generous….could it get any better? I don't think so. It was simply extraordinary. When announced, the six piece Swedish darlings cried with joy (especially the two singers). But before we tell you more about the winner, let’s go through it…”from the start” as they say:

Band number 5, were....wait! an “equal spot” for two bands and they were: MARI MARI. from RUSSIA and THE BLENNIES from Italy. Bands 4 and 3 are AVAIVARTIKA from Japan and RHYS CRIMMING & THE TOMS from Australia respectively. A great effort from all these bands that gave their hearts and souls with their performances and proved that when they come from far away to show the judges what they could do they do exactly that: prove their worth. They get loads of prize gear to take back with them. And now for the technical prizes for individual musicians : The second best drummer is the "woman basher" from Italian band band THE BLENNIES and she gets a set of cymbals from our very good sponsors SABIAN. The second best bass player was the guy from AVAIVARTIKA all the way from Japan and he gets a gorgeous American GIBSON SG black bass (my bass playing mate standing next to me just melted as I was writing this). The second best guitar player gets a beautiful FENDER TELECASTER guitar and it goes to the guy from MARI MARI the band from Russia. The best singer was the wonderful voice supplier from I COME FROM THE SUN, the band from Germany and the results were unanimous on this decision: All agreed, he had an amazing He gets a SENNHEISER wireless microphone set. Best bass player went to the "monster" playing in THE JOKING from France and he gets a gorgeous EDEN amplifier from our beautiful sponsors MARSHALL. Best Drummer gets a drum kit from SONOR and it went to the "precision king" (please insert personal reference here) from ODETTE. Not easy working with a click track. A thoroughly deserved prize for this Spanish musician. The best guitar shredder was the young guy from THE CARNABYS and he hails from old London town (from west London as he promptly points out) He get the gorgeous MARSHALL JVM 205 head and cabinet valve amp. I suppose those guitar lessons worked.....and now, the most import “medal moment” ……The last 2 bands: Second place and silver medal went to THE JOKING from Lyon, France and the Gold went to.....take a deep breath please because your national anthem is about to be played and your flag will be hoisted to the highest spot....it was obviously the synth pop swedes from HURRICANE LOVE.

Yes, HURRICANE LOVE walked away with the top price and were crowned gold medal winners in our world championship......The Olympic rock and roll games. Saturday’s performance was absolutely sensational. They gave us goose bumps and made us dance at the same time……Thank you Sweden, we did say there's something strange in your water that makes you so good.

Ok, we wanted to let you know that ALL the bands were absolutely magic!!!!! Every single one and especially the new countries and that as always, it is incredibly hard for the jury to select just one band. Still shocked from the announcement, all 6 of the members of HURRICANE LOVE were rushed to the main stage, which is almost as big as the olympic track & field ground for a gig so good, they kicked the Taubertal Festival punters in the face with their infectious, sweet melodies and disco pop grooves. They made literally thousands of people go nuts and this is only the beginning for them if we think of the roads ahead......When the giant screen flashed 50 foot tall Swedes (and the guitarist is already tall) we knew that this was the right band to have on the podium with their medals around their necks. “Mission accomplished” the band thought as we saw the many people dancing.

The jury, which included two Marshall representatives, UK promoters, Music publishers and record distributors did a superb job and we thank them for giving us their time and they obviously thanked us for giving them the booze and the wonderful music (and the sun I suppose)

As we always say, another year has gone and many, many litres of beer have been guzzled back stage and outside our hotels in the streets. Compliments to ALL the wonderful musicians that played our rock and roll Olympics…now let's go and see SOCIAL DISTORTION and the rest of the line-up which includes PLACEBO....but please don't tell these rock stars we have better bands on the Émergenza stage......LET”S ROCK!!!!!