Events and Reports - Sweden Rock Festival 2005 - Michael´s Sweden Rock 2005 Report
Written by Michael

Thursday

Once again it became time to dust off the old school t-shirts, put on the Rock star shades and load the car with beer/wine to the experience the oasis called Sweden Rock festival.

The RevelationZ camp with special guests Nice Try arrived the day before the festival, so the countdown to the first bands was long and anticipated.


Force of Evil

Since it was a slow afternoon and I was eager to Rock I decided to checkout Force of Evil. The Danish band is not really up my alley, but a few months back I saw singer Martin Steene opening for Eric Singer Project and he did a good job. Guitarists Hank Sheman and Michael Denner are living legends so I was looking forward to this Thursday's first dose of Rock.

I wasn't too impressed with the Danes. What seems to be a general problem at Sweden rock festival pretty much destroyed this concert since the sound was taken by the wind. You could only hear Hank Sherman's guitar, drums and bits of the vocals. The band seemed to experience technical problems since there were long pauses between the songs and they didn't seem as tight as I expected. Bassist Hal Patino and Martin Steene were good on stage, while Hank Sherman just stood in the background almost leaning against his amplifier.


Megadeth

The previous 2 times I saw Megadeth in concert were with Marty Friedman, Dave Ellefson and Nick Menza. Only Mr. Megadeth himself Dave Mustaine was remaining member of Megadeth 2005.

By third song Skin O' My Teeth I realized that Mustaine's voice and even more important his characteristic guitar sound, defines Megadeth. Even though I missed Friedman and Ellefson I must admit that this line-up does the name Megadeth justice.

The main emphasis was on the latest album "The System has failed" mixed with classic material like Set the World Afire, Wake Up Dead and In My Darkest Hour. Half way through the set Mustaine even threw in 2 songs from the more melodic "Cryptic Writings" namely Trust and She-wolf.



Megadeth played a flawless version of the classic Hagar 18, which cleverly went directly into Return to Hagar. Dave Mustaine seemed relaxed and calm on stage while Glenn Drover was very energetic on stage. Mustaine thanked the audience and said "Let's see if you recognize this one" and started the line "Hello me, meet the real me". As the concert progressed Mustaine really loosened up and several times he did his usual trick announcing the band in Swedish. Mustaine also heartfelt thanked the audience for their support in Swedish. Mustaine seemed very trustworthy and sincere. He scored lots of points there.

The band ended with metal classic Symphony Of Destruction and Rattlehead from the very first Megadeth album

The band received a very warm welcome back as they returned for encores; my personal live favorite Peace Sells (But Who's Buying) and Holy Wars.

Compared to my other Megadeth concerts Mustaine was very humble and after the show he kept standing in front of the audience signalling that he thanked us from the bottom of his heart and bowing. After his hand problems he seemed to take nothing for granted. Megadeth still draw big crowds, which Mustaine seemed very thankful for.

No wonder that they still draw big crowds, because Megadeth is a super tight band with a strong catalogue of songs. The new band with the Drover brothers and Bassist James MacDonough doesn't share the same charisma as the older line-ups, but they play excellent and it is a new and more humble Megadeth.

Mustaine is also a legend and one of the few real McCoys in the business. This is exemplified by his last words "You have been great and we have been Megadeth" .ha ha... Mustaine might be modest but he hasn't lost his self confidence.

All in all a really great show from Megadeth. The only disappointment was neglecting the brilliant "Youthanasia" album, which stands as Megadeth's finest moment.


Motorhead

Just like Megadeth this was also my third Motorhead concert. Unlike Megadeth I had only seen Motorhead in their current line up with Mikkey Dee, Phil Campbell and Lemmy of course

This show was as magical as my first Motorhead concert because the guys really stepped on it. The trio plays so well together and it so obvious that Rock 'N' Roll lies in their backbones. Motorhead are celebrating their 30 year anniversary as a band and the old phrase "Still going strong" is truer than ever after witnessing this concert.

Lemmy was in his usual unpretentious mood and presented a song like this "This is a song from "Another Perfect Day", which you hated. That's why we will play 2 tracks from that album". Among them was Dancing on your grave and besides the usual classic songs Motorhead also played 2 tracks from "Inferno". Lemmy pointed out that the new one is good too, referring to "Inferno" after a massive applause to Killers from that album.

Of course Motorhead played Sacrifice, Iron Fist and the ultimate Motorhead live track Killed By Death. There was also room for newer classics like the Chuck Berry on speed sounding Going to Brazil and RAMONES dedicated to Lemmy's friends in Ramones plus a special salute to the late Dee Dee Ramone.

Motorhead really got the crowd going on this perfect summer evening. As the set progressed the night was falling and Motorhead started off a pretty cool pyro show with flames from the back of the stage and 2 appropriate dressed women, who emitted fire.

The first encore was Bomber and Motorhead brought their legendary Bomber stage set where the light rig was shaped as a bomber. During the chorus the Bomber was "flying" right above Lemmy and Phil's heads and you gotta hand to Motorhead that they didn't come to Sweden only to play the same old. They had a stage show with them, which these days unfortunately are rare for festival sets.

Ace of Spades and Overkill closed Motorhead's display in dirty ballsy Rock 'n' Roll. Motorhead are probably one of the most trustworthy bands out there, since Lemmy is the definition of Rock 'n' Roll. Phil Campbell and Mikkey Dee are real rockers as well since they tour around 200 days each year.


Accept

Tonight's main attraction was the re-union of Germany's own Accept. I wasn't too enthusiastic about the reunion since I have seen UDO numerous times and he mostly plays Accept songs. However, I wasn't gonna miss out on this re-union opportunity.

The Accept show was a trip down memory lane. I had forgotten how big an Accept fan I was up till "Russian Roulette". There was absolutely nothing new from UDO and the boys. If you have the live record "Staying A Life" then you get a good feeling of this show even though Sweden Rock was 20 years after "Staying A Life" was recorded.



Accept used all their usual tricks. We got a long sing-along in Princess of the Dawn, Peter Baltes did his bass intro to Head over Heels with the crowd cheering after each note.

The only two minor surprises was that Metal Heart was played very early in the set and the inclusion of 2 tracks from "Russian Roulette", namely TV War and Monster Man.

Wolf Hoffman sounded pretty good, while UDO sounded like the blow torch he always has. Peter Baltes was okay on stage, but all in all Accept lacked charisma on stage. During the final encore Balls to the Wall there was a prolonged sing-along, which kind of ebbed away after singing "Balls to the wall" for 5 minutes. It seemed like Accept didn't know what to do next - whether to try and get the crowd going or just kick into the chorus. It was obvious that they had been apart from each other several years.

A good concert - but somehow it couldn't justify the big buzz about an Accept re-union.







Friday

A fantastic thing and actually something you don't do that often on a 3 day festival packed with bands; just walk around from stage to stage, enjoy the atmosphere and check out the stalls still selling leftovers from the 80's.

Friday I decided to do that after a very successful and eventful Jack Daniels whiskey taste in the press tent along with another RevelationZ representative Steen. Hmm - Jack Daniels answer to Bacardi Breezer is just delicious.

After quite a few whiskeys and Jack Daniels breezers we poured 2 big cups of whiskey each and a Jack Daniels breezer to begin our travel towards the stage, where Zakk Wylde's Black Label Society just begun their set. Wylde's dirty biker rock was a perfect start to a long day of Rock 'n' Roll. You gotta give us credit for trying to identify ourselves with a band whose first album cover displayed a whiskey bottle. Stillborn is probably the closest BLS yet have come to a hit single and Stillborn also closed the set.

My state was a bit muzzy so I decided to walk around and check out the area and different stages. Luckily Helix was just about to play on the second largest stage. Having read an interview with singer Brian Vollmer I knew how much he looked forward to this show so I decided to give them a try. The band was happy to be back in Europe and the crowd of around 5-8000 graciously welcomed them back. The third song was Heavy Metal Love - the only song I knew - so after hearing that one I got what I came from. After a quick pitstop (beer stop) at the tent I went for Ozzy jam. There was a tribute contest in the smallest tent and I was pleasantly surprised by the skills of the tribute band. They were inspired by Zakk Wylde's time in the band and they flawlessly did the whole middle play of No More Tears with the great guitar solo.

I walked to the main stage just as Kansas played Point of No Return. Kansas sounded really good and lots of people in their 30 and 40s had showed up for them. Kansas ironically introduced their next song as their big heavy metal hit and played the beautiful Dust in the Wind. With time only for one more Kansas played Carry On Wayward Son as the obvious closer. In my book the song is an instant classic and I was very surprised to learn that lots of Dream Theater/so called progressive fans didn't bother to check out Kansas even though they were on right before Dream Theater. For crying out loud Dream Theater even made a cover of Carry On Wayward son



Vixen

After a perfect summer day it was getting cooler as the night came down. Vixen was the first band I was really anxious to see. Even though the only original member is guitarist Jan Kuehnemund I was looking forward to hear the old classics.

The revamped Vixen had attracted every glam rocker on the festival and 2 minutes before showtime you could see people running toward the stage - probably late because they had to put on make up (not kidding). The atmosphere of the late 80's was underlined by first song - the title track off Vixen second album, the brilliant Rev It Up.

Second song was Streets in Paradise and what I didn't know was that the "new" Vixen currently were recording new material in L.A.. Lead singer Jenna said that they would try out some new tracks, but there was no need to worry, since they also would play all the songs we knew and love. Vixen played a new track called Live And Learn, which blended in great with the other songs.

Even if you weren't too fond of the new track everyone forgave Vixen since the hit single How Much Love followed directly after. The amazing ballad Love Is A Killer stood out and singer Jenna really proved she had the goods. Since her voice was so powerful I would compare her to Heart's Ann Wilson.

Of course the older songs sounded slightly different, but overall I think Vixen did a great job. Cryin' really got everybody on their feet and Cryin' was quickly followed by another rocker from the first album I Want You To Rock Me.

Of course Vixen played Edge Of A Broken Heart and I dreamt myself back to the late 80's. Jan Kuehnemund still looked pretty good also :)

Vixen dedicated Bad Reputation to Vince Neil and the rest of Mötley Crüe before they ended the show with David Bowie's Suffragette City.

Vixen in the year 2005 was a pleasant experience even though they lost some of the charisma since it was a new band. All of the 7 new songs blended in great with songs from their two major label albums. The setlist was a great mixture of old and new. After this show I look forward to the new album coming out.


Sammy Hagar

Around the camping area it had been discussed whether Sammy Hagar was justified to be the headliner Friday, since he isn't a big name in Europe unlike the US. Earlier in the day I attended Sammy Hagar's press conference and a humble Sammy pointed out that he knows he is not a big name around here. The reason why he hasn't played in Europe was because he didn't get any offers from European promoters

A fairly good crowd showed up for Sammy Hagar and you gotta hand it to him - even though this was his only European show he brought over the whole stage set. The stage was amazing. Built like a beach with a bar on the right side, big wall to wall carpets with one showing a lighthouse saying Cabo Wabo - another had 55 crossed out making references to Sammy's hit I Can't Drive 55. The coolest thing about the stage was a riser full of Sammy Hagar fans right above the band.

Sammy Hagar pretty much played a "best of" show and soon started playing his biggest solo hits. All in all Sammy was hyper energetic and he really gave himself a 100 percent on stage. His vocals were full as expected and it was almost sad to see Sammy nearly excuse to the audience since he said directed to the audience "I know we don't know each that well and therefore I will give you a short introduction to my career". Hell man - he had just played There's only One Way To Rock, Give to Live and a sparkling version of I Can't Drive 55 - C'mon - no need for excuses since they all are close to be labelled Rock classics.



The aforementioned introduction to Sammy career began with a semi-acoustic and much laid back version of Van Halen's Right Now. On the press conference earlier Sammy joked that he would play a few Van Halen songs very different from the originals. However, he thought people would recognize them when the chorus kicked in.

He continued with another "F.U.C.K" tune Top Of The World in a slightly different version as well while Why Can't This Be Love was played note for note. Fantastic to finally hear this tune live and Sammy sang it so well that it gave me goose pimples.

It was getting quite cool, which combined with a long day in the sun, lots of music and the fact that most wasn't familiar with Sammy Hagar's material, made the crowd thin out. Sammy on the other hand really did his to keep the party going. From the bar on stage he ordered lots of drinks from the lightly dressed waitresses and overall he was trying to entertain people. Whether you like Sammy or not - a tune like Mas Tequlia is a happy rocker that should get any crowd going. I must admit that I was tired as well, but still I salute Sammy and his band for throwing a party late at night. Unfortunately people started walking away from the stage, which really annoyed me. Sammy wasn't really entertaining but his band didn't have any personal magnetism compared to the red rocker

After the old Bob Dylan classic Rainy Day Women Sammy Hagar played a special song and hoped that we would like it. It was the song from the movie "Rock Star" and Sammy started screaming "Staaaaannnnddd Up and Shooout". Really cool inclusion of the song since Sammy originally wrote the song. Next song was High N Dry again, which is one of my personal favorites. Sammy once again announced "Thank you all for staying this long listening to songs you don't know. I know you don't know this next song but it doesn't matter - This song fucking rocks".

Well. I am only speaking for myself and I knew every song played except for one. Sadly Sammy was right in his assumption that Sweden/Europe wasn't familiar with his material. I was entertained and grinned several times in between the songs where Sammy screamed "Waitress - I need a cocktail"

The ending was a bit of anticlimax with Three Lock Box and Van Halen's Cabo Wabo in an easy chair version. The show ended with a big bang and red confetti all over the stage and most of the crowd.

An entertaining show hampered by tired people and a crowd that wasn't that familiar with this entertaining showman, whose songs are great contribution to Rock history.... Just check out the amazing setlist:


Bad Motor Scooter
Shaka Doobie
There's Only One Way To Rock
Serious Juju
When The Hammer Falls
Give To Live
I Can't Drive 55
Right Now
Top Of The World
Why Can't This Be Love
Red (Including a drum solo and a piece of Whole Lotta Love by Led Zeppelin
Heavy Metal
. Mas Tequila
Rainy Day Women 12 & 35
Stand Up
High And Dry Again
Three Lock Box
Cabo Wabo


Saturday


Saturday - YEAH. By far the best day with an over flood of bands and also the thing I had been looking forward to in a long time: Mötley Crüe. However, lately I picked up on Swiss Rockers Shakra and therefore Shakra was the band I was most anxious to see - next to Mötley Crüe of course.


Shakra

Shakra had the pleasure of taking the stage at 12 o'clock noon. We already had the first couple of beers and Underberg so we were ready to Rock.

Actually my sidekick Steen turned me onto the band and he was probably all happy in the photo pit when Shakra opened with Why Don't You Call Me from "Power Ride"

On Shakra's last album "Rising" they changed lead singer and naturally the main emphasis was on that album. In my book it is also their strongest album. Shakra played "Rising" songs like Done Me Wrong, Sign in The Sky and Little Stories, which made me a happy camper.

After a nervous start, where singer Mark Fox for unknown reasons left the stage after signing two lines, Shakra really got it going and more and more people found their way to checkout Shakra simple melodic rock.

Mark Fox shouted out to the audience if they liked ballads? The audience loudly replied "No" and it was obvious that Fox didn't expect that answer since he searched to get eye contact with the other band members. Well, Fox said that they would play the song anyway and very surprisingly it wasn't I will be there but the stunning power ballad Anything. The crowd seemed to like the song though.

Shakra continued with Rising High and My Life-My World, which both are power rockers from "Rising" before ending with two songs off "Moving Force" namely Don't Try To Call and Nothing To Lose.

Mark Fox was really good on stage - Shakra played flawless and proved to be an excellent live band. Guitarist and mastermind Thom Blunier was low key in his stage appearance. Shakra only played 60 minutes and they really took the crowd by storm. It was their first time in Scandinavia but a numerous crowd was attracted by the crunchy AC/DC-like hard rock.

For me this was the best show on Sweden Rock 2005. Even though Shakra played a big stage there was still room up front and you could easily get eye contact with the band members, which actually gave this show a club feel. I am not into the big shows anymore and prefer smaller venues where you get that intimate contact, which I think was present at Shakra's show.


Sebastian Bach

Saturday was crème de la crème and unfortunately I had to make a hard decision between Magnum, Sebastian Bach and up-coming rockers Gemini Five. Lately I have been listening to Gemini Five non-stop, so I really wanted to see them, but this was also a rare occasion to see Sebastian Bach, who earlier fronted one of my favorite bands Skid Row - so even though I hate to choose there wasn't much to think about.

Like a boxer ready to enter the ring Bach stood at the side of the stage eager to rock as the intro to Slave to the grind began. Bach continued with Big guns and Frozen followed by Skid Row's smash hit 18 and Life performed with an expanded intro.

Bach wasn't trying to hide from his past since almost all songs were from his Skid Row days, which ended 10 years ago - however, it was a pleasure to hear songs like Riot Act, Monkey business, Here I am and Piece of Me. I was blessed when Bach blasted out a personal favorite from "Slave to the Grind" The Threat.



The only song from Bach's solo record was Rock N' Roll, which blended in perfectly. Bach also played a song to be featured on the next Sebastian Bach record. The song was straight ahead heavy metal with a riff and groove very alike Accept's Balls to the Wall.

Bach introduced Livin' on a Chain Gang as one of the best Skid Row songs from "Slave to the Grind". Wasted Time was done as a duet with up-coming Swedish star Sophie, who recorded this tune for her album. Hmm. Props up for giving the audience something extraordinary, but I would have preferred Bach alone.



Bach proved to be a great frontman, energetic and driven by the love of Rock 'n' Roll. Bach was doing all the usual 80's stuff like headbanging and he was tossing his mike like it was a lasso. Bach was unquestionably the star of the show and his backing band was a bit anonymous even though it consisted of Halford members Metal Mike on guitar and Bobby Jarzombek on drums.

The show ended with Youth Gone Wild and after that you couldn't drag Bach off stage. He truly loves the spotlight and started singing some old Swedish folk song. He was smiling when the audience began to sing along probably because his time in the spotlight got prolonged a few seconds. When that wasn't funny anymore Bach left the stage shouting for tonight's main attraction "Crue, Crue, Crue, Crue..." . Bach seems like a funny guy that loves performing. Later on Bach was doing a signing session and he was still hyper active, but truly happy to meet and greet his fans.

A great show with a high energy level, but still Sebastian Bach's great show didn't top the rebirth of his old band Skid Row's performance in Copenhagen 2004

After Sebastian Bach's great show it was time to cool down with a few beers. I went to see a few songs by Yngwie Malmsteen but I wasn't in the mood for his guitar inferno. Instead I finally located the Perris Records stand - thanks to Steen - which I had been looking for 3 days. I got to meet Tom Mathers and bought a few CD's from the Perris rooster.

The countdown to Mötley Crüe had begun and we were all very excited about this, so we gathered at the tent camp for some beers. Time flies when you are in good company so unfortunately I missed most of Dio, which was the only regret on this festival.


Mötley Crüe


At the end of Dio's set we tried to get a good spot for Mötley Crüe but it was impossible as people already had lined up in front of the stage.

We got a fairly good spot as the show began. However, it was impossible to see everything that went on clearly but think someone got shot out of a canon where after Motley kicked into Shout at the Devil. The stage was a big inferno of flames and it was almost overwhelming finally to see this band that has been one of my favorite bands since I bought "Girls, Girls, Girls" on LP sometime in the late eighties.

Motley were joined by 2 very light dressed chicks who emitted fire - Motorhead flashback - In the beginning Motley played only songs off the 2 first albums like Too Fast For Love, surprisingly one of my favorites Ten Seconds Till Love, Red Hot and Looks that Kill.



The stage show was impressive with flames going like waves on top of both Mick Mars and Nikki Sixx's amplifiers. Because of the great stage show and the fact that Motley almost looked like matchstick men I wanted to move closer to the stage even though it was packed with people. When I finally got a great spot it was at the expense of a few songs - sadly among them the brilliant Louder Than Hell, because it was so troubled to get up front.

As I got up front the guys took a break while Tommy Lee walked around with a head set and babbled on. In typical Mötley Crüe style Tommy Lee had a titty cam and he commanded the girls to show their tits as he started to film the girls in front of the stage. One thing that bugged me a lot was Tommy Lee had a full face make up ala Kiss. After seeing a recent documentary on VH1 on the re-union and Tommy Lee's aversion of it - I couldn't stop thinking if he was making a statement that he was only in it for the money (hence the Kiss comparison).

Unfortunately the pressure up front was incredible and even though I wasn't in the first 20 rows it was impossible to enjoy the music since my feet weren't the same place as the rest of my body and my head was pushed towards the back of the 2 meter tall guy standing in front of me. I had to get away but again it was at the expense of a few songs but I managed to get to the side of the stage where it was calmer and the view was better. It was just in time for a track off "Red White and Crue" which wasn't the brilliant If I die Tomorrow but Sick Love Song. The last song was Kickstart My Heart, while Motley disappointed and played 2 cover tracks as encores Helter Skelter and Anarchy In The UK

Mick Mars played brilliant and put all doubt to shame whether he psychically was able to do this tour. Mick played fantastic and he actually moved around the stage as well. He still looked terrible with a face as white as a lighthouse but musically he was Motely's best card this evening - unbelievable how well he recovered after his surgery. Vince sang really well, not brilliant - but I thought he sounded really good.

However, it was a bit of anticlimax to finally see Motley perform - or corrected HEAR Motley perform. Since Motley brought a stage show it was an insult to most of the audience that there wasn't a big screen. If Sweden Rock wants to keep attracting those big names that draw more than 20.000 you gotta have a big screen since the ground is flat in front of the stage, which makes it impossible for around half the crowd to get any idea of what's going on. Hell - this is a common thing on all Danish festivals and even smaller festivals. Another thing that the organizers should learn is to place 2 speaker-towers around 40-50 meters from the stage as well. Since it's an outdoor show the wind often "picks up" the sound, which causes terrible sound for the audience in the back.

Since my expectations were sky high for this show they were impossible to fulfil because of the aforementioned conditions. However, Crue still got it - it was a pleasure to hear and witness a bunch of true rock stars putting on "the greatest Rock N Roll show on earth". I hope I get a second chance to witness Mötley Crüe under better circumstances.

Overall it was a terrific festival with Shakra as best act closely followed by Motorhead and runners up were Sebastian Bach and Mötley Crüe


Click pictures for a bigger version.


Special guests: Nice Try




Force of Evil




Megadeth




Megadeth




Megadeth



Megadeth




Megadeth




Megadeth




Megadeth




Accept




Accept




Accept




The Whisky taste




Vixen




Vixen




Vixen




Vixen




Sammy Hagar




Sammy Hagar




Sammy Hagar




Sammy Hagar




Sammy Hagar



Sammy Hagar




Shakra




Shakra




Shakra




Shakra




Two Shakra fans




Sebastian Bach




Sebastian Bach




Sebastian Bach





Sebastian Bach




Sebastian Bach




Mötley Crüe




Mötley Crüe




Mötley Crüe




Mötley Crüe




Mötley Crüe




Mötley Crüe




Mötley Crüe




Mötley Crüe




Mötley Crüe




Mötley Crüe






Shakra and Sebastian Bach pictures taken by Martin Borg. The rest taken by Steen
Written by Michael
Friday, July 15, 2005



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RevelationZ Comments


Comment by Andrew (Anonymous) - Sunday, July 17, 2005
"YOU GOT YOUR BALLS TO THE WALL!"


Comment by Stuart (Anonymous) - Sunday, July 17, 2005
"We fucks you up Udo!!!"


Comment by Henrik Nørskov Christensen (Anonymous) - Friday, July 22, 2005
Nice job Michael. A shame you didn´t see the show from my spot ! The show kicked major ass. One of the best I´ve ever seen.
Rock on dude and see ya out there... Chris Hendrix


Comment by Robin Zetterqvist (Anonymous) - Tuesday, October 11, 2005
I saw Mötley Crüe at sweden rock!!! They was so f**king good!!







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