Sweden Rock Festival - Friday
6 June 2008
Sölvesborg, Sweden
Friday morning consisted of a trip down to the beach. Just ten minutes walk from the campsite, the sea front was a scene of roasting flesh, way too much in some cases, bathers and drinking games.
Heading back to the festival area, first port of call was the main stage for an encounter with Tesla. The American’s were seriously impressive at their London show at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire last year and the same can be said of their performance today. There’s no thrills with a Tesla show, just a stripped down rock band giving 100%. As genuine as the ever constant smile of frontman Jeff Keith’s face, Tesla were immediately Comin’ Atcha Live with Frank Hannon and Dave Rude’s twin guitars singing like birds on this sunny day.
Following Hang Tough, Keith’s suggested, “I think it’s time to kick serious ass.” They already were but the heavy Heaven’s Trail (No Way Out) turned the heat up, boiling over for one idiot who decided to toss a beer bottle at Keith. Without dropping his smile Keith caught the beer and noted, “I like beer, but not like that.” I believe this was the only time I’d seen any missiles thrown all festival, except for the harmless toss of a Sweden shirt that again was caught be Keith during Miles Away, and was very out of character.
A closing trio of Little Suzi, Modern Day Cowboy “taking us back to the MTV years” and Edison’s Medicine (Man Out Of Time) ensured the set concluded on the high it had maintained throughout.
Tesla set list:
Comin’ Atcha Live / Into The Now / Hang Tough / Heaven’s Trail (No Way Out) / Signs / Miles Away / Love Song / What You Give / Rock Bottom / Little Suzi / Modern Day Cowboy / Edison’s Medicine (Man Out Of Time)
The guitar instrumentals of Joe Satriani took the place of Omar & The Howlers as background music to shelter in the beer tent. The guitar enthusiasts were lapping up the masters guitar skills and for those of us less enthused by guitar instrumental music, Satriani seemed to have selected a more festival friendly set with a trio from Surfing With The Alien of Satch Boogie, Ice 9 and Always With Me, Always With You well received.
Joe Satriani set list included:
I Just Wanna Rock / Overdriver / Satch Boogie / Ice 9 / Flying In A Blue Dream / Super Colossal / Always With Me, Always With You / Crowd Chant
I knew Kiss were popular, but I’d never seen anything like the size of crowd gathering by the main stage for anything other than a headline act. However, although a good portion of this crowd remained for Ace Frehley, it was in fact Team Cans that the Swedes were assembling for to join in a rendition of the Swedish National Anthem given it was Sweden’s national day. I somehow cannot imagine this happening at a UK festival and it was heartening to see the patriotism.
The Cans in question was Joacim Cans, lead singer of Hammerfall, with his team, a choir, that had recently won the TV show Körslaget, the Swedish version of the U.S. show Battle Of The Choirs. Before the anthem the choir ran through abridged versions of Queen’s We Will Rock You and Def Leppard’s Pour Some Sugar On Me and closing with their powerful version of O Fortuna.
Team Cans set list:
We Will Rock You / Pour Some Sugar On Me / Swedish National Anthem / O Fortuna
Ace Frehley’s set wasn’t far off a repeat of his excellent show in London recently. Mixing the choice cuts from his solo career with Kiss classics, Ace once again seemed on top form and was backed by a very strong band. Derek Hawkins bolstered Ace’s already strong guitar sound, whilst bassist Anthony Esposito and drummer Scott Coogan shared some of the lead vocals with Frehley.
Breakout was one of the songs Coogan took the lead on and was dedicated by Ace to the late Eric Carr, with whom he had written the song. The smoking guitar was present during Ace’s guitar solo which followed a well received Shock Me. However it was disappointing that the flashing guitar was absent for New York Groove, though given the blinding sunlight it was probably deemed superfluous. The crowd really came “Alive” with the final run in of Deuce, Love Gun and Cold Gin.
Ace Frehley set list:
Rip It Out / Parasite / Snowblind / I Want You / Rock Soldiers / Breakout / Into The Void / Strange Ways / Shout It Out Loud / New York Groove / 2000 Man / Shock Me / Rocket Ride / Deuce / Love Gun / Cold Gin
Excuse me if my Carcass coverage is a little longer than other bands but I’d been relishing seeing the grindcore legends again. Actually, whilst Carcass started off as a grindcore band, they ended up a much more melodic proposition and this afternoon we got something from all eras.
Things didn’t get off to the best of starts, with Jeff Walker’s microphone not working as Carcass opened with Inpropagation, but fortunately this was soon rectified. “I know what you’re thinking, we look so young,” joked Walker following Buried Dreams. Walker no longer has his trademark dreads whilst Bill Steer retained his hippy look that we’re used to with Firebird. Mike Amott has remained closest to Carcass’ sound of any of the ex-members with Arch Enemy of course and he and stand in band mate Daniel Erlandsson looked as they do with their usual band.
More so than At The Gates, there’s a feeling of old friends getting back together to simply celebrate Carcass’ past and there’s an element of light hearted fun about proceedings. Walker’s confusion over which song is next before Carnal Forge causes laughter on stage. Meanwhile, when Carcass reach back to the Symphonies Of Sickness album, on which Bill Steer provided some vocals, Steer grins in an embarrassed fashion after grunting his lines, something far away from his style with Firebird. Indeed his solos, whilst true to the originals had a bluesier feel which surprisingly worked well with Amott’s technical metal approach.
The band split up before any of the Swan Song material was performed live, so it was pleasing to hear Keep On Rotting In The Free World which was the only inclusion from that album. Following it with the brutal Genital Grinder showed how much Carcass changed. “We must be classic rock now we’re on a bill with Whitesnake, Def Leppard & Poison” laughed Walker.
Of course one member had been missing up until now. After Carcass split drummer Ken Owen suffered a brain haemorrhage, ending up in a coma. “He’s not dead yet, just f**king ask him!” quipped Walker, as he introduced Owen on to the stage. In a highly touching moment, the crowd chanted Ken’s name as he took a turn on the drums. Whilst it’s sad Owen is no longer able to take his place permanently behind the kit, it was clear he was loving playing a part in this reunion and he rightful reappeared at the end of the set after Heartwork to acknowledge the crowd.
Carcass set list:
Inpropagation / Buried Dreams / Corporal Jigsore Quandry / Carnal Forge / Incarnate Solvent Abuse / No Love Lost / Edge Of Darkness / This Mortal Coil / Embodiment / Reek Of Putrefaction / Keep On Rotting / Genital Grinder / Pyosified (Still Rotten To The Gore) / Death Certificate / Exhume To Consume / Heartwork
Whitesnake and Def Leppard are currently on tour together, hence it was no surprise for them to appear on the same day and whilst Coverdale’s band have headlined here a couple of times recently, they had no problem going on earlier today. Whilst Coverdale and Joe Elliot have a friendship which led to their tour, press interviews revealed a sporting rivalry in aiming to blow each other of stage each night. Had I made a bet beforehand, my money would probably have been on Whitesnake to take the honours, but how wrong would I have been.
A third of Whitesnake’s set consisted of material from their new album Good To Be Bad. Whilst Coverdale can be rightly proud of his new disc, whenever a new song was played there was a noticeable lull in the crowd reaction. Peppering those new songs through the set, including guitar and drum solos, and emphasising the slower songs mid set took all the wind out of the performance. Aside from this, it could have been blamed on the amount of dust in the air, but Coverdale was struggling whenever he went into his high register with is yelping painful to hear.
Whitesnake set list:
Best Years / Fool For Your Loving / Can You Hear The Wind Blow? / All I Want All I Need / Love Ain’t No Stranger / Lay Down Your Love / Is This Love? / Snake Dance / A Fool In Love / Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of the City / Give Me All Your Love / Here I Go Again / Still Of The Night
With a decision between Saxon and Ministry, I went with the latter as this was probably my last chance to see them. I’d already reviewed Ministry on the C U LaTour in London, where I’d been slightly underwhelmed, but had expressed the hope that conditions may be better at Sweden Rock. How right I was as Ministry were positively smoking. Essentially it was the same show as London but when they’re time slot ran out they stopped. So although that meant no Thieves, it also meant none of the anti-climatic covers to close the show.
Playing behind a fence with rear projections, as in London, Ministry’s relentless industrial beat and crunching guitars fitted in surprisingly well at Sweden Rock, being refreshingly different. Al Jourgensen kept the chatter down to a minimum, occasionally leaning over his fence to incite the crowd into reaction. The effect was like a heavy metal rave and it had me bouncing around throughout the set.
Ministry set list:
Let’s Go / The Dick Song / Watch Yourself / Life is Good / The Last Sucker / No W / Waiting / Worthless / Wrong / Rio Grande Blood / Senor Peligro / LiesLiesLies / Khyber Pass / So What / NWO / Just One Fix
With their new album, Songs From The Sparkle Lounge, Def Leppard really appear to be back on track after a number of sub-standard releases that have struggled to live up to the legacy of Hysteria. The band have not tried to replicate their well known slick sound, but have condensed it, with a modern edge, into shorter highly catchy songs. The three aired tonight go down well with the Sweden Rock crowd. The next single C’mon C’mon bounces along like a contemporary take on 1970s Gary Glitter. Nine Lives, the first single and collaboration with country star Tim McGraw is already very familiar, meanwhile Bad Actress is a burst of energetic fun.
Unlike Whitesnake however, Def Leppard wisely know that at a festival you’re playing to a wider crowd than your die-hard fans and the best route to take is to hit them with the hits. That’s exactly what they did and even the casual fan would be pushed to not know the bulk of the set. Setting aside C’mon C’mon which is about to be released, only Mirror Mirror and Bad Actress from the setlist have not been released as a single.
Def Leppard are experienced pro’s at shows of this size and easily prove that tonight. Joe Elliot used the whole stage and ensured he connected with all areas of the crowd. Meanwhile it was not long before Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell were shirtless, pleasing the ladies and making many blokes wish they had their physiques. Especially impressive given their 50 and 45 years respectively.
Of the three headliners, Def Leppard easily took the honours at this year’s Sweden Rock.
Def Leppard set list:
Rocket / Animal / C’mon C’mon / Foolin’ / Mirror Mirror (Look Into My Eyes) / Make Love Like A Man / Nine Lives / Bad Actress / Love Bites / Rock On / Hysteria / Armageddon It / Photograph / Pour Some Sugar On Me / Rock Of Ages / Let’s Get Rocked
LINKS:
Sweden Rock Festival
Def Leppard
Ministry
Whitesnake
Carcass
Ace Frehley
Joe Satriani
Tesla
|
