Events and Reports - Sweden Rock Festival 2007 - Michael´s Festival Report
Written by Michael

This year's Sweden Rock festival was enlarged to a 4 day festival. Once again it was a true pleasure to meet up with like-minded sharing the passion for Rock music.

Crazy Lixx

In spite of Crazy Lixx only released two singles they were invited to play Sweden rock festival on Sweden Radio's stage, which was a stage set up only for day one with a capacity of 2.000 people.

Lots of local fans showed up in support of Crazy Lixx. The band went on stage and while someone introduced them, guitarist Vic Zino was impatient and all on fire like a boxer just before the fight starts.

Opening song was On Your Marks, Get Set, Rock!, which was a perfect opener because of the lyrics and the "nod-your-head" bouncing rhythm. As a live band Crazy Lixx was quite heavy and Vic Zino´s riffs were massive. The vocals of singer DC Danny were strong and full live - Crazy Lixx certainly is one to watch.

Crazy Lixx played all their released songs Do or Die, Death Row (crowd favorite) and ended with the latest single; the amazing Heroes are Forever. The band proved that they are ready for recording their first album and on stage they already were a tight live band with a great stage presence.

No one questioned the importance and pride Crazy Lixx felt playing Sweden Rock. DC Danny still had wristbands from the last couple of festivals, where he attended the festival as guest. He swore to tear those wristbands off when he himself was on stage at Sweden Rock ...... ... and so he did.

The band was quite cocky and told us that "we'll see ya next year on the main stage" :)

Throughout the whole festival there were lots of people wearing Crazy Lixx t-shirts and the band simply came, performed and ROCKED. A great start to the festival!

CrashDïet

Last year CrashDïet definitely was the band I desired most to see live. In the meantime singer Dave Leppard sadly passed away and I wasn't that excited to see CrashDïet even with "Rest in Sleaze" being one of the best albums to come out in years.

The big issue was whether the new lead singer Oliver could follow the footsteps of the late Dave Leppard. The answer was; not quite! The show was actually all right, but there was something missing. Maybe it was the magic of Dave Leppard?

Oliver was well received among the die-hard CrashDïet fans and to my surprise he sounded best when he hit the high pinched notes, which I thought was impossible to imitate - kudos to Oliver.

After a long intro Knokk you Down opened the party followed by Queen Obscene (69 shots). The "Rest in Sleaze" record is so strong, so the party was secured no matter what with Breakin The Chains, Riot in Everyone and Back on Trakk as highlights. The 3 original members were tight as a band. Even though it's been a while since the band toured they sounded really great with special praise on the backing vocals.



The talk in between songs was a bit clumsy and meaningless. Oliver needs to find his place in the band, but the fans really appreciated him and he loosened up as the set progressed. He sang It's a Miracle while he climbed a wire on the side, which was part of the stage construction.

Guitarist Martin Sweet was left alone on stage and started playing the riff to Out of Line. He sang a few lines and the crowd took over

The concert wasn't bad at all! It was actually pretty good but the feeling of something missing surely permeated the overall experience. Still I look forward to the new material and I am sure it will work out fine with Oliver. Especially later on since CrashDïet will have some material that people associate with Oliver, so he can step out of Leppard´s shadow and CrashDïet can continue down the path as the most promising Sleaze band in Sweden.

Tokyo Dragons


On day 2 Tokyo Dragons had the pleasure of opening the outdoor Zeppelin stage at 11:30. Ever since the band supported The Quireboys I wanted to see the band.

The band is very alike Sweden's own The Hellacopters both musical and stage presence wise. Even though I wasn't familiar with the music of Tokyo Dragons this kind of straight ahead Rock N´ Roll is perfect live. 2 guitars, one bass and a drummer that's really all it takes.

Because of the early stage time the crowd was a bit sleepy at first, but Tokyo Dragons grew on the crowd. The band tuned guitars after each song which gave some pauses in the Rock N´Roll bombardment. Otherwise we were treated to great tunes like Rock the Stew and C´mon Baby (Give me Fear).

Tokyo Dragons was guitar Rock in the best possible shape and a good live band.

Thunder

Thunder has always been among my favorite English bands. This was my third Thunder concert and just like the previous two, the band proved that they are a real live band.

AC/DC´s Thunderstruck was used as intro with everyone screaming along for "THUNDER"! ha ha. It's just another thing that understated that Thunder are a humorous band and don't take themselves too serious.

Loser opened the party. The groovy song got every head nodding, which was followed by 3 live favorites from different records. River of pain has been an encore for several years, Higher Ground is a steady live favorite off the first album and Low Life in high Places was the song that granted Thunder airplay all over Europe.

In the later years Thunder has continued to release high quality albums and the band aired 3 tunes off the latest album "Robert Johnson's Tombstone".



The band knows how to work a crowd - on You cant Keep a Good man Down and Dirty Love we got a big sing-along, where Danny split the audience in 3 parts to compete against each other. It worked and no matter whether you were fond of this British blues based band you could not avoid be dragged on to their magnetism and joy of playing.

The highlight of the show was simply the band. These 5 guys know how to entertain and their musical skills are dead on. Singer Danny Bowes cracked jokes and didn't miss a note. On Low Life he proved to have a wide range. Chris Childs is a bit anonymous on stage but his playing is fantastic. Ben Matthews didn't play as many guitar solos as when I saw the band last in Watford, England. However, he and drummer Harry James are the solid backbone of Thunder. Luke Morley was on fire and I got goose pimples when he played the intro riff for Love Walked in on the acoustic, which is one of the best power ballads ever written.

One word describes this concert accurate: ENTERTAINING

Loser
River of pain
Higher Ground
Low Life in high Places
Robert Johnson's tombstone
You can't keep a good man down
Devil made me do it
Backstreet Symphony
Love Walked in
I Love you more than Rock N´Roll
Dirty Love

Quiet Riot

For the first time in Sweden and for the first time in ages in Europe I present Quiet Riot.

Drummer Frankie Banali and singer Kevin DuBrow were only original members left, but Chuck Wright on bass also played on "Metal Health album" - so it was almost the original line up. Alex Grossi played guitar. Grossi is a diverse player and has adapted to Quiet Riot's blues feel in contrast when I saw him last playing guitar for Love/Hate.

The band cleverly opened with the intro riff for Metal Health, which got everyone storming towards the scene, since no one wanted to miss this classic. The riff was a teaser only since the band kicked into Put up or Shut up from "QR III"

Singer Kevin Dubrow looked cool and in his own words "Did overdress for the Swedish summer", since he was wearing a big velvet coat.

The setlist was varied including most of Quiet Riot's albums of course neglecting the brilliant album with Paul Shortino. The songs from the latest album "Rehab" stood very strong - particularly Free and South of Heaven. The band even played Red Light Red Hot, which Kevin Dubrow introduced as from the album "In for the Kill", which actually is a Kevin Dubrow solo album.

The band ended with their two monster hits off "Metal Health". Cum on Feel the Noize and Metal Health. Those two songs really got people on their feet and ended the show on a high note. Those 2 songs broke the deadlock after both a bass and guitar solo.

It was great finally seeing Quiet Riot and they probably was my most anticipated band on this year's festival. It was a good concert - not great. I grew up with "Metal Health" and seeing DuBrow and skin basher Frankie Banali was a childhood dream come true. Kevin DuBrow still sounded absolutely fantastic and he still has his own bluesy tone. One song that I truly missed was Don't Wanna Let You go.

Put Up or Shut Up
Slick Black Cadillac
Free
South of Heaven
Mama Weer all Crazee Now
Red Light mama Red Hot
Run for Cover
Old Habits Die Hard
Sign O the Times
Bass solo
Wild and the Young
Let's Get Crazy
Guitar solo
Cum on Feel the Noize
Metal Health

Zan Clan

Zan Clan was supposed to have a new album out, but Chris Laney´s health problems have forced them to postpone the album till autumn. The band proclaimed that they would play "We are Zan Clan, who the f**k are you?!!" in its entirety and that news made me look forward to this show even more.

The band was brilliant with new guitarist Rob Love playing excellent and I wasn't missing Pontus Norgren at all. Rob Love is an up-coming star and I look forward to hear him soloing on the new Zan Clan album.

Go Go Go opened the festivity followed by the groovy rockers Heart N' Soul, High Speed Junkie and So Damn Good. The guitars were crunchy and singer Zinny J. Zan was in an excellent mood and gave it all.

A small crowd showed up for Zan Clan and they witnessed a great show that got even better when Zan Clan introduced Ryan Roxie from Alice Cooper/Electric Angels. Roxie joined in on the party for Silver Bullet Toy and before the solo Zinny laughed and screamed "Ryan knows what's going on" where after Roxie blew a great note by note solo transcribed directly off the record.



This was turning into Sweden Rock´s highlight, but Chris Laney´s amp wasn't working during Déjà vu. Laney was clearly annoyed earlier in the show since he had obvious sound problems. The band had to leave the stage after Heart Died Young (dedicated to Dave Leppard) for the stage technicians to fix the problem.

We stood waiting for around 15-20 minutes and with no information people started to leave the tent to catch Thin Lizzy instead. The crowd size was a bit small to begin with and when Zan Clan finally returned to the stage most people had disappeared. The band only got to do one song more because of the time schedule. Zan Clan played a great version of Zinny´s former band Shotgun Messiah´s Don´t Care ´bout Nothing. That tune was a reward for those true Zan Clan fans that patiently waited and defied the amateurish failure on stage from the organizers. Since the band only was scheduled to do one hour it was a huge disappointment that we only got around 40 minutes because of problems with the gear.

Too bad that so much of this review has to deal with sound problems because Zan Clan deserved better. Look forward to the up-coming album - I am sure it's a killer!

Heaven and Hell

Heaven and Hell equal Black Sabbath Dio era was the first headliner to take the stage. The stage was built as a graveyard with tombstones among amplifiers and the stage underlined the occult and spooky atmosphere, which characterized Black Sabbath back in the day.

Now Heaven and Hell is a bunch of people in their sixties and they hardly scare or offense anyone anymore. The band focused on the 3 albums that Dio made with Black Sabbath with main emphasis on "The Mob Rules" and "Heaven and Hell", but we also got a couple of tunes from "Demunaizer"

Iommi has created some crushing riffs and especially "Mob Rules" contains some great riffs and melodies. The heavy bouncing riff to Voodoo was so distorted, that it sounded like a Nu metal band. Mob Rules, Sign of the Southern Cross and Falling on the Edge of the World was among the highlights of the concert.

Vinnie Appice did a drum solo where the elderly gentlemen could take a well earned tea break. Tommy Aldridge just did his drum solo 2 hours earlier during Thin Lizzy´s set and in general drums solos tend to bore me very quickly.

After a long day in the sun Heaven and Hell wasn't the most obvious band to end a long day. While I could use a shot of party rock Heaven and Hell's mid-tempo music and "still standing" stage show only succeed because of their strong material. Heaven and Hell and Neon Nights ended the show.

Dio is a better singer than Ozzy Osbourne, but still something was missing seeing this act. I would have loved to have seen them in 1981, but tonight they just seemed like a mediocre blast from the past.

White Lion

Mike Tramp is the only original member of White Lion. Mike did joke about the line-up saying "it's the same guys, they just changed their hair colors and put on some weight".

Even though I am a huge Vito Bratta fan and would love to experience the original White Lion, this band probably is better and tighter than the original White Lion who has been on hiatus since the early nineties. Comprised of musicians from 3 continents Mike Tramp has gotten together a tight band.



Troy Patrick Farrel was better than when I saw them in Copenhagen in November and guitarist Jamie Law is stunning. He plays just like Vito with all the fills and licks. His playing is jaw dropping and certainly helps White Lion being true to their original sound.

Tramps pipes were strong as always and he sounded great throughout the show. Mike Tramp introduced Lady of the Valley as his personal favorite and overall it was like living home with my parents again going over the songs below. Well, the thing is that I still play those songs since they are timeless and White Lion proved that they still sound relevant and fresh live. An amazing concert!

Setlist:
Hungry
El Salvador
Little Fighter
Living on the Edge
Broken Heart
If my mind is evil
All the fallen men
Tell Me
Wait
When the Children
Radar Love

Talisman

It seemed like everybody was playing Friday night right after each other, so I had a tight schedule. I had to leave Hardcore Superstar in favor of the last Talisman show ever. I expected the show to be touching with a stint of sadness and maybe guest performances by the various Swedish Talisman members during the years. However, there wasn't much sentimental about this show and no guests.

Talisman was amputated since Frederik Akesson now plays with Arch Enemy full time and for this tour Talisman brought in American guitarist Brian Young from David Lee Roth's band.

I saw Talisman play a splendid show at Sweden Rock festival 2003 and I saw Jeff Scoot Soto play a splendid solo show in Hamburg 2005. This concert was more a Jeff Scott Soto solo show than a Talisman show. Jeff played a few songs solo by the piano just like at his solo shows and he was running the show.



No wonder Journey recruited Scott Soto since his vocals sounded superb. He is a powerful singer, which is very energetic live. Bass player Marcel Jacob played his characteristic lead bass, but he looked more like the manager of the local camping-site than a rock star.

Jeff Scott Soto announced that this was their last song and that they wanted to go see Skid Row as well. Standing on Fire from the first album was the song closing the last ever Talisman show on home ground.

A good show, but the show will mostly be remembered since it was a farewell show and not a musical highlight.

Note - since Sweden Rock festival Journey decided to move on without Jeff Scott Soto, so who knows if there might be a reunion/comeback tour in a few years.

Setlist - not in exact order

Break your Chains
Day by Day
Tears in the Sky
All or Nothing
In make Believe
Back to the Feeling
Just Between Us
Crazy
I'll Be Waiting
Standing on Fire

Skid Row

Sweden Rock is an cornucopia of bands so no complaints that we had to run 100 meters very fast to catch the beginning of Skid Row directly after Talisman. Since Skid Row wasn't on stage there was time to go get a beer. While we were in line for the beer someone told that Skid Row had gone on stage. Impossible!! We could not hear anything and we were close to the stage - however, it was true and Sweet Little Sister was opening song with a sound level that my 30 dollar ghetto blaster could match.

Skid Row ranks among my all time favorite bands, but this concert was a disaster. Not because of Skid Row who looked like they were giving themselves a 100 percent, but because it was the lousiest sound I ever experienced. Earlier Pretty Maids had sound problems on the same stage, but that was nothing compared to Skid Row. I repeat - this was a disaster. Johnny Solinger sang great, but you could not hear any of the guitars. No freakin´ guitar sound throughout the whole show.

When Skid Row played riff based guitar songs like Slave to the Grind and you see Snake and Scotti Hill playing like wild men, it seems tragic comic that the audience only got vocals and a messy rhythm of bass and drums.

Again Johnny Solinger sang fantastic and his voice sounds excellent and not worn out like some of his colleagues. Solinger almost excused that they had to play new material as well. He said that bands like Aerosmith and Skid Row gotta put out new material and from their latest album we got Disease, which should be dedicated to the one responsible for the sound.

Solinger also said that this was the New Generation of Skid Row and unfortunately New Generation was the only track from the great "Thickskin" album. Rachel Bolan took over the microphone for Ramones´ Psycho Therapy.

Snake grabbed the acoustic (even though we couldn't hear it) for the power ballad I Remember You and the band played their punky version of I Remember You (II)as one of the last tracks.

The show ended with Get the Fuck Out, which I gladly will dedicate to the soundman and no Skid Row show is complete without Youth gone Wild

Its just not good enuff! WHAT A DISSAPOINTEMENT SWEDEN ROCK. This was a big dark cloud over the festival. Next year we want Skid Row back for a real show and the soundman could take a vacation for the occasion or maybe Sweden Rock should stop serving strong alcohol in the mixing tower.

Go read a review of Skid Row live at this direct link because the band doesn't deserve this publicity on one of their rare European shows.

Aerosmith

Aerosmith definitely was the headliner of the whole festival. The biggest stage had been rebuilt with a platform in the middle.

The show started with a video sequence with sound clips from the many hits of Aerosmith.

Another cool thing was that clips from their classic videos were shown during the performance of the respective songs. I really enjoyed hearing Cryin´ since I got a chance to take pleasure in Alicia Silverstone!

Aerosmith played it safe with all the hits from the late eighties and nineties spiced with their big hits from the seventies. Only deviation was the bluesy Baby, Please Don´t Go from their latest studio album and a beautiful version of Seasons of Wither, which Joe Perry and Steven Tyler performed sitting down as the toxic twins.

Aerosmith is a top professional and well oiled machine. They sound good and got the songs that appeal to a wide audience. Just check out the setlist below:

Love In An Elevator
Dude (Looks Like A Lady)
Falling In Love (Is Hard On The Knees)
Cryin'
Eat The Rich
I Don't Want To Miss A Thing
Jaded
What It Takes
Baby, Please Don't Go
Hangman Jury
Seasons of Wither
Dream On
Last Child
Livin' On The Edge
Stop Messin' Around
Sweet Emotion
Draw The Line
Walk This Way

Fastway

The heat peaked when Fastway was to play the Sweden stage on the last day. Fastway had the sun behind them so everyone, who attended the Fastway show either got a suntan or sunburned

Fast Eddie Clarke is best known for his work in Motorhead (he was on the "Ace of Spades" album)and Fastway certainly isn't alike the aforementioned band. Fastway played a great set of melodic Hard Rock, which wasn't as polished live as on record.

Last minute addition was singer Toby Jepson, formerly of little Angels, and his vocals suited songs like Misunderstood and Steal the show.

The band delivered a surprisingly strong and consistent set. The hit Say you will got the best response and Jepson proved that his voice still is powerful on the bluesy Telephone and Feel me Touch Me

Fastway was much better than I remembered and since I always have been a fan of Toby Jepson I really enjoyed this concert.

Reo Speedwagon

REO Speedwagon was on a rare European visit in support of their new album "Find Your own Way Home".

As I approached the stage I wasn't sure whether it was a CD playing or REO Speedwagon live, because Don't Let Him Go sounded fantastic and was perfected by these skilled musicians.

When you open with Don't Let Him Go and fire off the brilliant Take it on the Run as song three I was sure that it only could go downhill from there. I was wrong and REO Speedwagon played one of the most memorable concerts in a beautiful setting as the sun was going down behind them.

The set was a greatest hits mixed with splendid songs off the new album. Singer Kevin Cronin told us a long story about the song Dangerous combination and it became clear that the Americans were here not only to win back lost territory, but also new fans.

Scorpions

This festival was marked by bad sound and against all odds Scorpions had a fantastic sound. They were loud and clear with emphasis on loud in-your-face guitars.

Behind the drum rig there was huge carpet displaying the artwork for the new album "Humanity" and the band opened with Hour 1 off the new album followed by 2 classics Bad Boys Running Wild and The Zoo.

Schenker and Jabs were a dangerous duo when they blasted off the guitar driven Coast to Coast, Blackout and Tease Me Please Me. The setlist left room for 2 songs from the great "Unbreakable" and furthermore Scorpions played Humanity and 3,2,1 Rock from the new album.

2 thumbs up for the energetic performance. James Kottak was really on fire on the drums and Kottak plus Schenker acted as a tight rhythm section. Scorpions didn't get the response they deserved. The audience was real tired after 4 days of non stop rocking. This could have been just another Scorpions show but then they pulled out Uli Jon Roth and played Pictured Life, He´s a Woman She´s a Man and Fly to the Rainbow with Uli Jon Roth on 7-string guitar. Especially Pictured Life stood out with Uli Jon Roth´s precise playing and great soloing.

Personally I was tired and had to capitulate just before the encores. Scorpions played a great concert and it seems like they got renewed energy, which the new album proves. I had to experience the 4 encores lying in my tent hearing 3 of my all time favorites In Trance, Still Loving You and When the Smoke is going Down.


In brief
One of the cool things about this festival is just walking around and checking out the various scenes. Besides the bands already reviewed I got a chance to see most of these bands as well

Vanity Blvd: Someone handed me a flyer saying that Sleaze Rock band Vanity Blvd. was playing the "restaurant stage" - a free stage. The guitarist was pretty cool, but I couldn't get into the female vocals

Pretty Maids: Ronnie Atkins sang great, but they band wasn't sparkling and a dark loud bass sound hampered the overall impression. The crowd seemed to appreciate Pretty Maids though.

Hardcore Superstar: Last year Hardcore Superstar played one of the best concerts at the tent scene. They were now upgraded to the biggest stage and the intimacy from last year was lost. I only heard around 30 minutes and wasn't too impressed by seeing them play a huge stage.

Meat Loaf: Bought "Bat out of Hell III" prior to the festival even though I swore never to buy any Meat Loaf album. My intuition was right. Meat Loaf can't really sing and tried to disguise it by a bombastic stage show with lots of people. Former Anthrax guitarist Paul Crook did blast out some great solos and overall Meat Loaf was quite guitar-based live.

Trouble: All right, but failed to really catch my attention.

Motorhead: Once again a terrible sound. You couldn't hear the drums or Lemmy´s thunder bass. Motorhead brought the Bomber rig and played Whorehouse blues acoustic as encore. The concert was ruined though, since all you could only hear was vocals and guitar, which sounded like it had the treble button on 11.

Quireboys: Spike and the lads ruled the tent. The place was jam-packed and everyone was singing along to the tunes. The crowd really appreciated Quireboys and it was a great show. Read review of Quireboys´ performance 2 weeks later in Denmark.

Wrap up

This year's festival will be remembered by the lousy sound that characterized too many converts - especially on the Rock stage. It totally ruined the concerts from Skid Row and Motorhead. I have never been to a Motorhead concert where you rarely could hear the music and furthermore it sounded like a bad ghettoblaster with no bass and treble only. All you could hear was Phil Campbell's guitar. No kick drum and No bass - C´mon its Motorhead.

I can deal with the bad food, expensive Swedish beer - but I demand quality sound at what I consider as Europe's most important Rock festival.

Sweden Rock festival is a great place for like-minded to meet up and share the passion of rock music. The new initiative with the Swedish Radio scene was great and with such a strong local underground scene I would suggest more Swedish Glam and Sleaze bands for next year's festival. Below is a want list for next year, which I am sure lots of people will back me up on

1. Cinderella
2. Ratt
3. Van Halen
4. Poison
5. Warrant

From the up-coming local scene:

1. Vains of jenna
2. Babylon Bombs
3. Innocent Rosie
4. Loud N' Nasty
5. Panzer Princess



Click pictures for a bigger version


Crazy Lixx



Crazy Lixx



Crazy Lixx



Crazy Lixx



Crazy Lixx



Crazy Lixx



Crashdïet




Crashdïet




Thunder



Thunder



Thunder



Thunder



Thunder



Thunder



Thunder



Thunder



Zan Clan



Zan Clan



Zan Clan



Zan Clan



White Lion



White Lion



White Lion



White Lion



White Lion



White Lion



White Lion



White Lion




Talisman



Talisman




Talisman



Talisman




Skid Row



Aerosmith




Aerosmith




Quireboys




Scorpions




All pictures taken by Martin Borg
Written by Michael
Monday, July 30, 2007



This article has been shown 5050 times. Go to the complete list.





RevelationZ Comments


Comment by Dennis the Menace (Anonymous) - Monday, July 30, 2007
My respect for the review, I really enjoyed reading. Aerosmith must have been the classic maineventers they are. I completely agree with you on your wishes for 2008. Put in Dokken and Shameless and the Menace will definitely appear up north next year. See ya...


Comment by Owl (Anonymous) - Wednesday, September 5, 2007
How Was The Band Black Oak Arkansas Can Someone Please Send Me A Review Of Their Performence..? PLEASE..! Here Is My E-Mail: bogondrel@hotmail.com
THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH; MUCH LOVE ; FRIENDSHIP AND CONSISTANT PRAYERS TO ALL..!!!!!!!!!
GOD BLESS.!
Sincerely
Owl


Comment by Stef (Anonymous) - Friday, September 14, 2007
Nah, i think it was not that fair reviews. Given crazy lixx and crashdiet that good review. the better bands that played was hardcore and vanity for sure, i dig em u all should to!







Daily Spotlight
D:A:D - Riskin' It All
CoverThis was my first D:A:D album and in fact the first time I really started taking notice of Rock music back in the day. 1991 t....
Read full review















Retro Reviews

(Steen)
Saviour Machine - Legend - Part I
CoverDubbed as "The unofficial soundtrack to the end of the world" the Legend project gives new meaning to the term concept album. This ultimate study of end-times Biblical prophecy was originally planned ....
Read full review






(Stuart)
Queen - A Night At The Opera
CoverSince I'm normally the go-to guy for the heavier end of the metal spectrum on RevelationZ, I thought I would branch out and review something a little different. And quite frankly you wont....
Read full review








Archive
 · Albums of the month
 · Retro Reviews
































Back to the top - © 2002-2011 RevelationZ Magazine - Back to the top