Dave Mustaine and his Megadeth is back at the Sweden Rock Festival to finish the first festival day on the Rock Stage. Guitar player Kiko Loureiro has been replaced by Teemy Mäntysaari, a Finnish guitar slinger known for his services with bands like Wintersun, Imperanon, Induction and Smackdown. Is there a real difference musically with this new force? Not really! Megadeth always sounds like Megadeth because of the one and only Dave Mustaine.
What about the music. The setlist doesn’t hold any surprises. The first night back on their Crush The World Tour kicked ass as Dave said so himself. Two songs from the most recent release The Sick, The Dead And The Dying in the form of the title song and We’ll Be Back are mixed in nicely with the older and well known stuff. Sweating Bullets, Tornado Of Souls, Symphony Of Destruction, Peace Sells and all those other ‘hits’ are performed really tight and heavy so Mustaine and his boys receive an A minus. Why the minus? Only thirteen tracks and a gig time of one hour and ten minutes including the encore! Come on Dave. We know you’re getting older but as a headlining band you must take your responsability and perform at least one and a half hour. Maybe next time???
Meanwhile Five Finger Death Punch is doing their thing at the Festival Stage. This is a band that is somewhat new to the big festival headlining bunch. We see a shift because a lot of the classic headliners are no longer with us, are not touring anymore or are getting too old. So we have to get used to the fact that in the near future classic bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Scorpions, Deep Purple and many more will not be top of the bill anymore. Does a band like 5FDP deserve a headlining spot or not? Everybody has to decide for themselves.
Anyways, the place is packed long before the band hits the stage. They seem to be the proud owners of a large fanbase. The American metal band was formed back in 2005 back in Las Vegas. Their first six albums all sold over one million copies, except for the first one and that makes them one of the most successful heavy metal bands of the decade. Their musical style has been described as heavy, groove, alternative, hard, nu, trash and even arena rock metal. Whatever one calls the music it’s a fact their fans just love everything they do. Seventeen songs from seven different albums and a cover The House Of The Rising Sun…what’s not to like!
Rival Sons is an American rock band from Long Beach California and one thing is for sure! They are on their way to the top. They are almost ready for a spot as a true headliner for festivals around the world and most certainly for the Sweden Rock Festival.
The firepower and musical style are simply electrifying and addictive and at the same time they all dress so elegant. The five of them have captured the music of the seventies and enhanced it to a 2024 musical standard and seem to establish a true connection with their audience. A roaring voice, lots of slide guitar and a steady rhythm section supported by a wonderful keyboard sound gives their music a somewhat carefree vibe. It’s just rock and roll in the rawest form possible.
The live set at Sweden Rock consist of songs from all albums released except for their first one and their latest 2023 release Lightbringer and that’s somewhat strange. Nevertheless Open My Eyes with a thunder and lightning groove, Pressure And Time with that Led Zep feel, a soulful Too Bad, a very heavy Feral Roots with a glorious interaction between guitar and keys and other great tracks turn this gig into a high standard musical feast. For many a more than succesful visit again!!!
If the name Winger doesn’t ring a bell you are either way too young or you have been living under a rock. This American institute started out in 1987 and gained popularity in the late eighties and early nineties. They released two platinum albums called Winger and In The Heart Of The Young but disbanded in 1994 just after the release of their third album Pull. They reunited in 2001 and in 2006 the fourth album in thirteen years saw the light of day. In 2009 the fifth called Karma was followed by Better Days Comin’. The most recent one Seven came out in 2023. Some time ago Winger announced their farewell after thirty plus years and so their passing at the Sweden Rock Festival will be the last one ever in Scandinavia.
The set is an overview of the band’s career spanning nearly every album. Highlights are Down Incognito from Pull, Miles Away from In The Heart Of The Young with special guest Jeff Scott Soto and Easy Come Easy Go from that same release. Kip Winger’s singing is superb as is Reb Beach his guitar escapades supported by a well oiled rhythm machine. Sad to see them go but as it goes with many bands saying goodbye…you never know what the future brings!!!
Michael Schenker is still on the road with his 50th Anniversary Tour. He is the iconic Flying V guitar axeman responsible for putting bands like Scorpions and UFO on the hardrock map. Playing gigs around the world under different names like Michael Schenker’s Temple Of Rock, McAuley Schenker Group, Michael Schenker Group, Michael Schenker and Michael Schenker Fest for over fifty years is quite extraordinary. At the age of nearly seventy years old Schenker is completely clean and does seem really fit for his age.
Today his band consists of the wonderful Robin McAuley with Dutch bass player Barend Courbois, Steve Mann on keys and guitar and the powerful Bobo Schopf on drums. No surprises in what the man himself serves us on a silver platter and that is almost all tracks from the most important MSG records. Attack Of The Mad Axeman, Let Sleeping Dogs Lie, Looking For Love and On And On from the 1981 release MSG showcase these tunes stand the test of time. Desert Song, Rock You To The Ground and the title song from Assault Attack from 1980 do the same thing as do the tracks Armed And Ready, Cry For The Nations and Into The Arena from the album The Michael Schenker Group.
Only strange thing is that when you hire someone like Robin McAuley you should let this vocalist extraordinaire sing some of the songs you recorded with him. Such a shame because altough he does a great job vocalising these tunes you never get the feel of the authentic singers. Maybe it would have been better to celebrate over fifty years in the music business with the Michael Schenker Fest with the likes of nearly all great Schenker vocalists.
Biohazard from Brooklyn New York is probably the first band mixing hardcore punk with hiphop and heavy metal. What the band brings this day and age is a perfect mix from their first three albums and it must be said that these raw sounding tracks stand the test of time and still are relevant. The performance is really intense, filled with many mosh pits and an avalanche of sound…even when you have seen the band before. Two deafening tracks from their first, three from their third release and five what have you from their most loved and second baby Urban Discipline are blasted out of the speakers at the Sweden Stage and there are more than a hundred people banging their heads if you know what I mean. An unforgettable performance from a band who truly adores their fans!
Swedish metal band Dream Evil are well known in Scandinavia but for many visitors from other European countries it’s the first time to experience this band live and what better place than the Sweden Rock Festival right?
They started out back in 1999 assembled by producer Frederik Nordström. The name as you might suspect comes from the fantastic Dio song and even had Gus G from Firewind and Ozzy Osbourne handling the guitar parts for five years. You can tell the band has some live experience the way they act on a stage and musically they tend to play classic hard rock with some influences from heavy metal. They seem to like what they do and are happy with a spot so early on the Blaklader Stage.
Talisman fronted by the amazing Jeff Scott Soto is paying tribute to the late Marcel Jacob, his good friend an bass wonder and former of Talisman. Jacob took his own life back in 2009 after many personal and health issues. Soto is well known for his collaborations with Yngwie Malmsteen, Journey, Sons Of Apollo, WET, Trans Siberean Orchestra, Art Of Anarchy, Axel Rudi Pell, Takara, Human Clay, Humanimal, Soul Sirkus, Ellefson and many more. Six stringer Pontus Norgren is handling the six strings, vJamie Borger is hitting the drumpieces and Johan Niemann from Evergrey had to take the weight of the bass parts which he did with excellence. As usual Soto did an excellent job concerning the vocal parts although he suffered some minor microphone problems in the beginning of the set and it seems they didn’t get enough time to rehearse but who cares. This is rock and roll and a hommage to a lost brother. As for the choice of songs to perform they brought an excellent selection of Talisman greats. Break Your Chains, Dangerous, Mysterious, All Or Nothing, If U Could Only Be My Friend, Tears In The Sky, I’ll Be Waiting and a few more gave you chills down your spine despite the minor mistakes and technical mishaps.
What a real treat this band is! This Aussie rock gathering is the perfect start to a festival. It looks like frontman, singer and guitarplayer Cal Kramer was transported by a time machine directly from the seventies including hairstyle and stage movement. With little time given to perform they are the perfect band to open. It feels like nothing can go wrong while they are serving AC/DC like songs but still classic rock orientated from Down Under. It’s impossible not to move when tracks like Stan Qualen, Chasing After Love and Cigarettes are filling your ears with uncompromising swinging rock and roll. The Southern River Band is on the rise…horns up!!!
Journey, the American legendary AOR band, is headlining the second day of the Sweden Rock Festival. Just like Michael Schenker they are celebrating their 50th anniversary. They have gone through a lot of singers but Arnel Pineda has been with them since 2007 and that’s quite an accomplishment for a Journey vocalist. Guitarist Neal Schon is in fact the only original member left. As we speak there are some legal issues between him and that other long time member Jonathan Cain and this is probably the reason why there aren’t any photographers allowed in the photopit.
What about their performance at Sweden Rock? Journey is the proud owner of sixteen studio albums but they serve their fans fifteen tracks from only six of those wonderful albums together with two long guitar solo’s and one piano escape. Five songs from Escape and five more from Frontiers both released in the early eighties and five more taken from Infinity, Departure, Evolution and Raised On Radio all recorded before the nineties. This means Pineda doesn’t sing one track he recorded with the band and that’s a real shame because their are some great tunes amongst them. All by all this is a great performance because Pineda sings his ass of, the band sounds really tight and the finale with Wheel In The Sky, Seperate Ways, Any Way You Want It and Don’t Stop Believin’ can simply not be topped. Great performance but is it truly memorable?
JOURNEY MANAGEMENT DID NOT ALLOW PHOTOGRAPHERS IN THE PIT TO CAPTURE THEIR 50TH ANNIVERSARY.
MY 63 YEARS OLD DANISH FRIEND AND PHOTOGRAPHER WORKED HIS WAY THROUGH THE HUGE CROWD TO SNAP SOME GREAT SHOTS AND WAS KIND ENOUGH TO PROVIDE ME WITH SOME OF HIS PICTURES SO THANKS A MILLION HENRIK HILDEBRANDT!!!
Parkway Drive from Down Under is serving the Sweden Rock Festival metalcore on a silver platter with the addition of fire and flame. They produced seven albums and they perform songs from all of them except from their first release. The genre is described as true metalcore but the earlier albums had some deathcore influences and more recently they used some heavy metal sounds. It all comes together in their energetic and lively performance. It’ s hard to pick favourite tracks because every song stands out on its own. Performing four tunes from Reverence, three from Darker Still, three from Ire and one each from Atlas, Deep Blue and Horizons seems to be the perfect mix and an excellent overview of their musical career so far. Parkway Drive is on of those bands who will be a true headliner when all the classics are gone or retired. Well done!
Blackie and his WASP have been around since 1982 and was well known for his shocking act and lyrics during live performances. The shocking act is no longer there because audiences nowadays are used to that stuff anyway. What is shocking is that Blackie Lawless is sitting on a chair for his Sweden Rock appearance. According to the man himself some doctor treated him poorly so standing up is not an option for the whole show. One thing you have to admit is that the man in black knows how to please his fans. Opening with Blind In Texas sets the mood for the only nine tracks long set. Followed by Love Machine and Crazy nothing can go wrong now. His fellow guitarslinger Doug Blair is running around like crazy so you get the impression there is someting happening onstage. Then comes The Idol and Chainsaw Charlie quickly followed by Miss You bringing the softer side of Lawless. Ending with Wild Child, The Real Me cover from The Who and I Wanna Be Somebody gets the crowd ecstatic but the climax also means the end. Too short for many and strange to see the Wild Child getting up from his beloved chair. Rematch next time!
One of the most anticipated acts this year is the The Black Crowes. They formed way back in 1984 and the driving force behind the band are the brothers Chris and Rich Robinson. Mainly influenced by southern rock they headed towards a blues rock sound. The brothers released ten studio albums but endured several break ups during their existence to explore and to broaden their own musical horizon. In 2019 they seem to have overcome their differences and now they are back in full force. They sound like they have never left the spotlight. Mainly taking songs from the early days entwined with a few from their 2024 release Happiness Bastards is the right formula to please the old and the new fans. Highlights are for sure Remedy, Jealous Again, Twice As Hard and the Otis Redding cover Hard To Handle. Four tunes from their debut Shake Your Money Maker, five from the second one The Southern Harmony And Musical Companion, the title track from By Your Side, three from the well received last studio effort and two covers says it all. The Black Crowes are back and here to stay…hopefully!
The other half of trash metal institute Slayer is booked for this year’s Sweden Rock festival. After one of the big four decided to call it a day Kerry King released his first ever solo album with the appropriate title From Hell I Rise. In the studio drummer Paul Bostaph from Slayer, bass player Kyle Sanders from Hellyeah, Phil Demmel formerly from Machine Head and vocalist Mark Osegueda from Death Angel helped him out to do the job he had in mind. What to expect from a Kerry King performance? Pure and fast true trashmetal without one single resting point. Performing nine from the thirteen album tracks in combination with three Slayer ‘covers’ if you will sets the tone for the ultimate trash experience. Kery King is known for playing at high speed with atonal guitar solo’s and the variety between powerchords and loops and that’s exactly what he serves today. There’s a huge crowd in front of the stage and they are proof Kerry King can do his thing without Slayer altough rumours are in the air about a possible reformation in the near future. Without a doubt one of the best performances of this year’s festival!
Funk metal band Extreme are back at the Sweden Rock festival. The last time they performed at the festival was back in 2015 to celebrate twenty five years of their second release Pornograffitti with the worldwide but unexpected hit More Than Words. Extreme saw the light of day in 1986 but broke up ten years later. Driving force and guitar virtuoso Nuno Bettencourt pursued a solo career and singer Gary Cherone replaced Sammy Hagar in Van Halen for just one album. A reunion started in 2005 and at the end of 2008 Saudades De Rock was released and the rest as they say is history. Today’s performance includes five songs from their best known album Pornograffitti or in full Extreme II Pornograffitti A Funked Up Fairy Tale and it must be said that Decadence Dance, Get The Funk Out, Hole Hearted, It’s A Monster and of course More Than Words are among the best songs the band has ever written. Performed in excellence along three beautiful tracks from III Sides To Every Story, two from their debut, Rebel and Rise from the new one Six and a fabulous solo spot from Nuno Bettencourt gives the audience a fantastic overview of the band’s most succesful career. Hope to see you back when Pornograffitti turns fifty!
German rockers Iron Savior from Hamburg have been spewing power metal since 1996. They released nine studio albums and three extended plays since their formation. At one time they even had the godfather of power metal Kai Hansen joining the ranks for almost five years. It is however their first gig at the Sweden Rock Festival. Jan Bertram from Paragon filled in for the band’s guitar player who suffered from back problems but nobody knew and nobody cared so it seems. As in many power metal bands vocal efforts are usually reasonable but without excellence except for the happy few bands as Symphony X who can count on a singer like Russell Allen. Piet Sielck who is the leader, guitarplayer and singer does an acceptable job but isn’t the greatest vocalist. They present a perfect mix of old and new and the sun is shining. What more can one ask for? Highlight is their most known tune Heavy Metal Never Dies from their release The Landing, quite cliché but who cares!
Up next is Primal Fear as many tend to say the second most important band after Scorpions coming out of Germany! They open the Rock Stage on the second day of the festival just after midday and it must be said that this is an ungodly hour for the power metal they serve. Nevertheless their fanbase and a few others are gathered in front of the stage to enjoy extraordinary vocalist Ralf Scheepers and the other band members strutting their stuff. One hour of playing time is just enough to perform ten songs from eight different studio albums with the emphasis on their 2023 release Code Red. Another Hero, Deep In The Night and The World Is On Fire blend in perfectly with the older tracks like Metal Is Forever, King Of Madness, Chainbreaker and Rollercoaster. Primal Fear has a superb live performance track record and this one is no exception. Only downside is the absence of Matt Sinner, bass player and producer for Primal Fear. Alex Jansen is filling in for the blond bass god. Sinner has serious health problems and is on hiatus from performing with the band since 2022. Everybody hopes he can soon rejoin his beloved band.
The Priest is back! This English metal band started out in 1969 and they are back at the Sweden Rock festival for the sixth time. What can one say about Judas Priest? They have earned their place in music history and they are together with Iron Maiden one of the most important bands in the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal and there is no doubt about that. Truly spoken they are not the same band anymore without band members KK Downing and Glenn Tipton but they do still matter. Back in 2011 KK Downing stepped down or was fired and replaced by Richie Faulkner who played the guitar parts in the band of Steve Harris’ oldest daughter Lauren. In 2018 Tipton stepped down from touring because of Parkinson’s disease and producer Andy Sneap filled the spot but it’s still sounds like Judas Priest and it always will. Looking back at their 2024 performance at the Sweden Rock festival there are some things to be said. Rob Halford is still one of the greatest singers in the genre but his vocal range is not like the early days but being in his seventies that is forgiven. Faulkner plays a very important part in writing and performing songs since he joined The Priest as is Andy Sneap he’s moving forward more than in the beginning of his Priest live adventure. After the intro with War Pigs from Black Sabbath and the Invincible Shield anthem they hit it of with Panic Attack from that same Invincible Shield. Going into You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’ from Screaming For Vengeance and Rapid Fire from British Steel they turn to Breaking The Law again from British Steel and get the crowd to sing along as they always do. Continuing with Lightning Strike from Firepower, Devil’s Child and Riding On The Wind again from Screaming For Vengeance and Sinner from Sin After Sin the Priest feast comes to a climax. Invincible Shield and Painkiller from albums with the same name and the Fleetwood Mac cover The Green Manalishi close down an impressive show of force. Encores come in the form of The Hellion on tape, Electric Eye, Hell Bent For Leather and Living After Midnight. While Judas Priest is saying goodbye to an excited crowd Queen’s We Are The Champions leaves the audience with a feeling of great satisfaction and they truly are the champions. Only one thing left to say is the playing time only one hour and fifteen minutes…
Norway’s Dimmu Borgir is playing black metal as simply said as that. This is the reason why the Sweden Rock festival is so great. Very different musical genres can be seen playing live at the festival. There truly is something for everybody. Typical for Dimmu Borgir is the voice of Shagrath, some influences from classical composers like Richar Wagner, very fast drums called blastbeats, many agressive guitar riffs and the use of symphonic synthesizer sounds and all present in today’s performance. The set consists of ten songs from nine different albums and according to insiders captures an excellent overview of their musical black metal career. Even if you don’t like the genre it’s quite interesting to observe a band like Dimmu Borgir playing their compositions live on stage.
Australian deathcore from Thy Art Is Murder, a band formed back in 2006 in Blacktown Australia and the first deatcore band to have their 2008 EP Infinite Death entering the charts. Like many other bands in the genre they suffered quite some changes in the line up. Perhaps the most important one is the replacement of vocalist Chris CJ McMahon by Tyler Miller who does a terrific job by the way. Today’s performance brings the audience thirteen songs and nearly half of them are from the latest 2023 release Godlike featuring Miller first ever recording with Thy Art Is Murder. A lot of moshpits going on and an exhilarating performance from these Aussies!
Evanescence is an American female fronted rockband from Little Rock Arkansas consisting originally out of Amy Lee playing piano, harp and guitar besides singing and Ben Moody on guitar and piano. They met at a camp and their musical taste seemed similar so they started writing songs and Evanescence took off. Many years later Amy Lee remains the true leader of the band and she sees Evanescence as a rock band producing epic, dramatic and dark music. Often incorrectly categorised as gothic because of her pale face and black dresses, corsets, dark colors and jewelry with pins Evanescence mainly showcases elements of nu metal. The set offers a sublime blend of sixteen songs from four different albums. Six tracks from their most recent release The Bitter Truth really stand out musically. Lee has the voice of an angel and is backed by a well oiled band. The lyrics in her songs are nearly all about bad relationships, sadness and shit happening when one goes through life. Everything she touches seems to turn into gold. When she plays the piano in combination with that heavenly voice the world stops for a minute or two and it makes you forget about your daily problems. Let’s hope the Sweden Rock team invites Evanescence back as soon as possible. My Immortal must be the absolute highlight of this performance!
Battle Beast is on the rise! The band from Finland is working its way up to the top. A huge crowd has gathered in front of the Rock Stage. They have six albums out in metal land and for today’s performance they don’t perform one single song from the first three albums and that has probably something to do with the break up between Anton Kabanen and the rest of the band. Main attraction within the band is female singer Noora Louhimo who is the proud owner of a powerful voice. Besides that the dress code has changed in comparison to a few years earlier. She is a whole lotta woman but she doesn’t care and does her thing the way she likes and want to. The crowd is frantically singing along with most of the tunes due to the tightness of the band and the excentric show Noora puts on. Five songs from their latest baby born in 2022 Circus Of Doom mixed with five more from Bringer Of Pain from 2017 and two tracks from No More Hollywood Endings including the title song. Maybe next time they get to play the festival stage.
Heavy Load is often seen as the first Swedish heavy metal band ever but isn’t that well known on an international level. The Wahlquist brothers formed the band way back in 1976 and broke up around the year 2000 when their Thunderload Studios got damaged due to a waterleak to reform back in 2017. Producing their own work and others makes it worthwhile to check out what the band has to offer. They released only four studio albums but that is enough for the Sweden Rock team to grant them a spot on the festival stage. Truth must be said that these vikings know how to write catchy songs. Heavy Metal Angels from their second release Death Or Glory dating from 1982 seems to be their anthem but other tracks like Ride The Night, Walhalla Warriors, Run With The Devil and We Rock The World have stood the test of time. People born in Scandinavia think of Heavy Load as heroes and pioneers in Swedish metal and they are probably right. They do deserve that spot on the main stage even when the oldies are taking a lot of time in between songs!
Carcass from the UK are considered to be pioneers and trendsetters for genres as grindcore, goregrind, death metal and melodic death metal. They came onto the scene in 1985 but besides remaining an underground band they gathered some international fame resulting in playing live on some mainstream festivals as is the Sweden Rock festival. Carcass endured many line up changes but still remains one of the most important bands in their genre. Swansong is the only Carcass release that doesn’t reach cult status amongst their fanbase because of the mainstream sound on that album, still two tracks make it to the setlist. Today they deliver the goods and present raw, energetic and uncompromised death metal or whatever you want to call it as far away from mainstream metal music as possible.
Treat is another great melodic hard rock band from Sweden dating back to 1981. Formed by singer Robert Ernlund and guitarist Anders ‘Gary’ Wickström they had success in Sweden as well as on a international level. Playing the Monsters of Rock festival back in 1988 in Germany, opening for WASP on their first Swedish tour and opening for Queen in Sweden in 1986 make them a force to be reckoned with. Influenced by bands like Whitesnake, Journey, Van Halen and even Kiss they released their first one Scratch And Bite in 1985 while changing the name from The Boys to the name we know today. With a total of nine recordings in over forty years the band is still relevant today. Coup De Grace from 2010, their first with Frontiers music, takes away most of the attention. Paper Tiger, Roar, Skies Of Mongolia and We Own The Night just grab you by the balls. Classics like Conspiracy and Get You On The Run blend in perfectly with the new stuff from The Endgame with the likes of Freudian Slip and Home Of The Brave. Nearly seventy years old Ernlund still has his voice and the band seems to have a really good time on stage despite the early hour. Great music, great vibe and a perfect start for another festival day.
Alice Cooper in real life also known as Vincent Furnier is the one and only true shock rocker and is closing the Sweden Rock Festival 2024 on the festival stage. Going on 77 next year in February the old rocker sometimes still acts like he is 21. He probaly is one of the most active rockers around putting out records on a regular base and with a full touring schedule year after year. Alice Cooper is destined to die on stage for that matter. An Alice Cooper show is all about straight forward hard rock, theatrical settings and shocking acts altough he toned them down in comparison to the early days. Completely sober he performs every show as it was his last one. Nobody knows where this energy comes from. Through the years he worked with lots of famous and less famous musicians like Kip Winger, Jonathan Mover, Al Pitrelli, Derek Sherinian, Reb Beach, Stef Burns, Jimmy DeGrasso, Kerri Kelly and many more. Nowadays his band consist of his daughter and dancing actress Calico, Chuck Garric on bass, Ryan Roxie on guitar, Tommy Henriksen on guitar, Nita Strauss also on guitar and Glen Sobel on drums. These are all musicians who know his music through and through. The Alice Cooper band therefore sounds like a well oiled and perfect working machine and that in the most positive sense of the word.
Today as for every other performance Mister Alice Cooper has the advantage of selecting from an extensive musical produce. There aren’t many surprises but then again one has to ask himself if Alice Cooper has ever written a really bad song. The setlist today is filled with singalong songs and hits, needless to mention them all and everybody knows at least half of them. Outstanding performance and visually fantastic! See you live somewhere in time!
Tobias Sammet’s Avantasia has the honour and at the same time most difficult task to close down the festival on the Rock Stage. Difficult because after a four day event like the Sweden Rock festival people are tired, worn out or hung over and to say it simple they want to go home. The Sweden Rock team did a clever job asking Avantasia because of the diversity in musicians singing and playing tunes they were selected for on the studio albums. Tobias Sammet remains the most important character but there are some real heavyweights performing at his side who lift these monumental pieces to a higher level. This time around Bob Catley from Magnum, Ronnie Atkins from Pretty Maids and the incredible Geoff Tate orignal singer from the mighty Queenryche help Sammet out to perform these tracks to perfection. Eleven musical highlights from eight different Avantasia projects is a real treat and many rockers stayed through the rain to take this fascinating music all in. Only downside to the whole experience is Mister Sammet talking too much in between the songs, he could have added two more pieces instead!
Another Swedish powermetal band carrying the name Hammerfall is a most welcomed guest at the Sweden Rock festival. They have been here before and they always deliver the goods. This time is no exception. Since 1997 they released twelve great studio and two live albums and they seem to be on tour all the time. Opening the set with Brotherhood from the 2022 release Hammer Of Dawn is a smart move. Fans feel they are in for a treat. Two tracks of Avenge The Fallen, Dominion and Legacy Of King are being mixed perfectly with another new tune together with one of each from Built To Last, Chapter V, Crimson Thunder, No Sacrifice No Victory and of course Renegade and so you get a perfect view of what these guys stand for and have accomplished. Great performance from a band that still has a bright future ahead!
This man in his sixties doesn’t need any introduction but for those who do need one here it is! Bruce Dickinson is the lead singer for the mighty Iron Maiden and did vocals for Samson back in 1977. He is also known for being a pilot, radio personality, author, fencer and many more things. He has also pursued a solo career and this year marks The Mandrake Project as the number eight release under the name Bruce Dickinson. Giving the fans three songs from that latest release is the least he can do but he wrote some real gems and opening song Accident Of Birth is one of them, what a great song this is and always will be. His fifth album The Chemical Wedding from 1997 is represented with the title track, The Alchemist and The Tower. Accident Of Birth and Balls To Picasso give us two from each and probably the best ones from those releases. Even Skunkworks, an album that was put to the trash by the critics, gets and even chance with Faith. You have to be Bruce Dickinson to do a stunt like that. Highlight is the magnificent rendition of Tears Of The Dragon. In conclusion an outstanding performance from a band fronted by one of the best singers in the genre of all times and an Iron Maiden tune in sight!
Beast In Black is quite new to the metal landscape and started out in 2015. Founder Anton Kabanen however used to be in Battle Beast until he was kicked out or left the band. Who can tell? The band blends power metal with eighties pop and electronic music and this seems to work really well. Beast In Black has three albums out there and is performing twelve tracks in total selected evenly from all three. Opening with the really really fast tune Blade Runner sets the tone for the rest of the gig. Greek vocalist Yiannis Papadopoulos does a great job singing all of these danceable songs and the rest of the band is really working hard to get the crowd going. Even if you are not familiar with their work some of these choruses keep hanging in the back of your mind while it’s hard not to move around and dance.
Steel Panther! What is left to be said? They are an American cliché glamrock band from Los Angeles California. Fronted by lead singer Michael Starr they started out as Metal Shop and were also known as Metal Skool before turning into Steel Panther around 2008. The band is mostly known for their explicit lyrics about tits and ass, pussy and other sexual references. Besides that the music is quite good but their performances seem to rely on parodying the glamrock lifestyle from the eighties. They get girls to show the upper part of their bodies while using over the top sexual language. Eleven songs with titles like Asian Hooker, Gloryhole, 17 Girls In A Row and lots of dirty talk seems to be entertaining enough for large crowd consisting mainly out of women and men who are trying to see the upper parts of female bodies. If you seen them a few times before you know what’s going to happen. After a while it tends to get boring.
Peter Tägtgren is known as leader for the band Hypocrisy and his collaboration with Till Lindemann from Rammstein. Pain is a side project with is a fantastic mix of industrial rock and dark metal so you never know what to expect espescially live. The new Pain album was well received in the press and Tätgren must have had the idea to visualise the songs in a live setting. There are tunes on the setlist from each and every album Pain has released. The new one even gets three and Push The Pusher is the strong opening track and has its live debut. Go With The Flow also makes a live debut and Party In My Head is simply hilarious. MIxed up with two tracks each from Coming Home, Cynic Paradise and Rebirth and one of each from Dancing With The Dead, Nothing Remains The Same, Psalms Of Extinction and You Only Live Twice paint a perfect picture of diversity! Job well done!
Richie Kotzen is well known for his services with Poison, Mr Big, Vertu, Wilson Hawk, the Winery Dogs and his collaboration with fellow guitarslinger Greg Howe. What many don’t really know is that Kotzen has an impressive solo career releasing albums for 35 years. Today he’s playing the Sweden Rock festival for the first time. His musical style is quite diverse ranging ranging from rock to jazz and fusion. Above everything else he has a great soulful voice to accompany some of his tunes. His performance at Sweden Rock is small selection of some great tunes he has written over the years. It’s hard to select ten tunes from over twenty solo releases but he did and he executed all of them with panache!