Phoenix FM's First Birthday



VIDEO OVERLOAD! See all 16 of the songs played live in the studio



Easter weekend marked Phoenix FM's first anniversary as a full-time station, and there's no better way to celebrate than by festooning our little corner of the shopping centre in a sea of bands, cakes, beverages (non-alcoholic and the other sort) and purple and orange balloons.

The first band of the day were already tuning up in the studio before 9am. Echo are on the fringe of the Phoenix coverage area in Epping, and we welcomed Sam, Harry and Jon down to the station for the first time. they played three songs for us on Mark and David's breakfast show - Systematic Failure, Paint It Black and Highway.



Oliver Rowe was next on air and welcomed Billericay's Sinister Ways, all current pupils at Mayflower School. They played two songs live - Inside and Ain't Talking About Love - and Oliver also played a couple of songs from their current CD.



Anna Patching and Tom Earle welcomed two bands to the studio. First up we had Ghostwood Shanks, with Kat and Paul playing three excellent songs - Leather-Clad Free Marketeers, Do The Hop and Be My Wife.



After that, we had a visit from Liam Tolan from Phoenix FM regulars Soprano. He gave us a solo rendition of three Soprano tunes - Dirty Tricks, Secrets and Last Night I Fell In Love. Liam also had a chat and a great big cuddle with Tom and Anna



Blind Vision were one of the first bands to play on the full time Phoenix this time last year and we had another visit from Josh Woo and Reece from the band who came down to give us a rendition of three songs - Mist, Undercover and How Time Flies.



Long time Phoenix friends The Thirst were the last band to play live on the day. Hotly tipped after a series of fantastic recent performances and fresh from their recent visit to SWSX, they knocked out acoustic versions of two of their songs - My Everything and Sail Away. Sadly their antics in the studio when we were playing Soulja Boy were not caught on camera for posterity, but you can imagine ...



All that was left after all of that was to crack open a few beers, down a few pints of champagne, and welcome a few guests including presenters, bands, and some of the many people who've been supporting us over the last 12 months, including regular visitor and supporter and Brentwood's Mayor, Cllr Frank Kenny.

Thanks to: Dave from Creative for the loan of the mike stands and leads, Gaiety for the balloons, Belgique and Marks and Spencers in Brentwood for the nibbles, and everyone who brought down cakes, chocolates and booze.

And thanks to Tom for contributing this and this!

10/05 Blur
17/05 Pink Floyd
24/05 blink-182
31/05 The Beatles
07/06 Oasis
14/06 Embrace
21/06 Meat Loaf
28/06 Beck
05/07 Linkin Park
12/07 Super Furry Animals


All times UK.
Current UK time is 11.53 PM