Sweden Rock Festival
Day 3
11 June 2005
The unfortunate unforeseen circumstances mentioned at the start of my review of Sweden Rock really took their toll on day 3, meaning I missed quite a few sets I intended to and only saw small portions for many others.
The first band I caught was Magnum, though again, I really didn`t see enough to warrant a review. The weather was fine, the band was in great spirits and the crowd of faithful followers seemed to be lapping up the pomp rock on offer.
Magnum set list:
Brand New Morning / Back Street Kid / Need A Lot Of Love / How Far Jerusalem / Les Morts Dansant / Soldier Of the Line / We All Run / Two Hearts / All England`s Eyes / Vigilante / Kingdom Of Madness / Scared Hour
On at precisely the same time as Magnum was Sebastian Bach and I`ll probably get grief for saying this but I though the performance was dreadful. Now don`t get me wrong, I do like Skid Row and in fact the band with new singer Johnny Solinger had impressed me greatly, the problem today was that Bach`s voice sounded shot. Where it was once clear it now sounded like he was gargling whilst singing.
Bach`s backing band are certainly capable of delivering carbon copies of the Skid Row material, though there was something slightly odd about watching the great Steve DiGiorgio playing I Remember You on a double neck bass.
A new song, which I believe was called We Are One, was introduced as being written by journeyman guitarist "Metal" Mike Chlasciak but was frankly poor. Bach brought out a Swedish pop star Sofia to join him to sing Wasted Life and in his favour her vocals were worse than his.
There seemed to be a complete split of opinion on this set with some people I met thinking it was one of the best of the weekend and others as disappointed as myself.
Sebastian Bach set list included not in any order:
Here I Am / We Are One / Piece Of Me / 18 & Life / Livin` On A Chain Gang / Rock & Roll / Wasted Time / I Remember You / Youth Gone Wild
Swedish bruisers Face Down are back with a great new demo and bounded around the Spendrups stage as if it were still the mid-90s. Back then, Machine Head were ruling the roost and Face Down were their Swedish equivalent.
In the interim frontman Marco Aro took the mic with The Haunted for two albums and it was great to see him back stalking the stage today. His vocals are as uncompromising as ever and the new music, such as Heretic, is perhaps even a tad more aggressive.
The band have effectively picked up where they left off, but with the turning tide towards metalcore, perhaps their timing is more ripe than ever.
Face Down set list included:
Weak / Dead Breed / Self Appointed God / Heretic / Strife
Endless arpeggios on the main stage can only mean one thing, Yngwie Malmsteen is in town. A brief look is all I had time for and probably all I needed to be honest. I Am A Viking was well performed with Doogie White belting out the classic rock vocals. It`s all eyes on Malmsteen though, with the end of each song seemingly signalling another solo section.
Malmsteen certainly looked like he`s cut out the donuts, as he unleashed the fury of his guitar playing on the crowd whilst twirling, posing and kicking plectrums in the air. Those that were into it lapped it up.
Yngwie Malmsteen set list included:
Rising Force / Never Die / Masquerade / Don`t Let It End / Far Beyond The Sun / I Am A Viking / Baroque & Roll / Demon Driver / Fugue / You Don`t Remember, I`ll Never Forget / Black Star
I wish I could have stuck around for Sonata Arctica but it wasn`t to be. The band played this stage two years ago and the crowd was certainly much bigger today. Misplaced kicked things off as expected for the band to wrong foot most of the crowd with the rather obscure, but visibly enjoyed, Dream Thieves.
Blinded No More took the pace down before Victoria`s Secret had the crowd rocking out again at which point I unfortunately had to leave.
Sonata Arctica set list included:
Misplaced / Dream Thieves / Blinded No More / Victoria`s Secret / Broken
Back to the main stage and there seemed to be great expectations for the return of Candlemass. Three large white crosses adorned the stage and lit up just as the band launched into comeback album opener Black Dwarf.
The rest of the band may appear more casual dressed than in their late 80s heyday, but Messiah looks exactly the same, stomping onto the stage in his monk`s robe and doom dancing on the spot. Following the pace of the opener, Mirror Mirror was the perfect follow up to keep the crowd going.
Of course Candlemass, and particularly bassist Leif Edling are revered for their huge riffs and Under The Oak certainly provided those. Guitarists Mats Bjorkman and Lasse Johansson churned out the monoliths of rock with Marcolin`s semi-operatics perfectly layered on top.
It`s often difficult for a band who have reformed with a legacy of albums considered classics to return with a worthy product. However, repeated listens to the self titled comeback album have been very rewarding and the pairing of Assassin Of The Light and Copernicus fitted seamlessly into the set.
Now if I`d been upset trudging away from the stage during Sonata Arctica, then having to do the same as Candlemass churned out Solitude was a painful as that song is sorrowful. Reports from friends who saw the full set were hugely positive.
Candlemass set list included:
Black Dwarf / Mirror Mirror / Under The Oak / Assassin Of Light / Copernicus / Dark Reflections / Solitude
Issues out of the way, and with Dio`s demon Murray`s red eyes looking out at us it was time to enjoy the rest of the festival.
I was pleased to hear Killing The Dragon has been maintained in the Dio set. So often bands of a certain age put out a new album, play a couple of songs from it and then drop them on the next tour. Later Shivers, which Ronnie rightly pointed out was apt given the temperature, was the sole representative of latest album Master Of The Moon.
However, I guess this was a festival crowd and Dio certainly obliged with a set packed with classics from Rainbow, Black Sabbath and Dio. Those songs are way too familiar to bother going into a long description and the performances were solid with Craig Goldy in particular handling them well.
It was therefore a surprise that one of two low points in the set was Goldy`s solo opportunity. I actually wondered whether he`d bothered to rehearse this and whilst understanding Ronnie deserves a couple of breaks in the set, Goldy aimlessly chugging away was not a good way to fill in time. Likewise Simon Wright`s drum solo after only four songs was frankly dreadful.
Despite those minor quibbles a set that finishes with Heaven & Hell, We Rock and Rainbow In The Dark could only leave smiles on faces which it clearly did.
Dio set list:
Killing The Dragon / Egypt (The Chains Are On) / Stargazer / Stand Up & Shout / Holy Diver / Sunset Superman / Don`t Talk To Strangers / The Man On The Silver Mountain / Long Live Rock ‘n` Roll / Shivers / Gates Of Babylon / Heaven & Hell / We Rock / Rainbow In The Dark
So finally to the current reformation carnival that is Mötley Crüe. An introduction featuring a midget dressed as a clown welcoming us to the show before being escorted away by some scantily clad ladies gave way to the stage bursting into flames …literally! Huge explosions of flame pots lit fire right across the top of all the amps as Shout At The Devil opened the show.
Thus followed an almost chronological run through of Crüe classics. The overall sound was a little distorted and at times Vince Neil sounded like he was singing in the Vic Reeves club style. However, Tommy Lee was his usual thuggish self braying his kit, but big plus points must go to Mick Mars. The man has taken a lot of unfair flack over the years and today was obviously not in the best of health, yet he was clearly loving being on stage and his playing was faultless.
The theme of the show was a carnival/circus cum-freakshow and that`s what we got. Tommy Lee`s cringe worthy titty-cam came out before Live Wire, with Lee encouraging ladies to bare their breasts for him to film. Girls, Girls, Girls featured strippers, surprise, surprise. The midget was dragged out on a lead by a stripper during Don`t Go Away Mad and another semi naked woman ran an angle grinder over her metal plated nether regions, before causing sparks to light and blow up a keyboard Nikki Sixx was performing a bizarre solo on.
…and there was music too! Wild Side and Primal Fear kicked ass, Home Sweet Home saw a sea of lighters raised aloft and Kickstart My Heart rocked out.
Overall the show was enjoyable and a fitting finale to the festival with the only negative being that Tommy Lee`s much reported flying drum solo was omitted.
Mötley Crüe set list:
Shout At The Devil / Too Fast For Love / 10 Seconds To Love / Red Hot / Looks That Kill / Louder Than Hell / Live Wire / Girls, Girls, Girls / Wild Side / Don't Go Away Mad / Primal Scream / Home Sweet Home / Dr. Feelgood / Same Ol' Situation / Sick Love Song / Kickstart My Heart / Helter Skelter / Anarchy In The U.K.
Mötley Crüe
Dio
Candlemass
Sonata Arctica
Yngwie Malmsteen
Face Down
Sebastian Bach
Magnum
|
