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Events and Reports - Sweden Rock Festival 2008 - Day 4 (Stuart) - Stormwarrior, Primordial, Avantasia
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
The last day of the festival started off with the toughest of choices; go see Lizzy Borden or Stormwarrior featuring Kai Hanson. I decided to give Lizzy a bash first and thoroughly enjoyed the first half hour of their highly theatrical set with "Notorious" sounding particularly striking.
I then moved over to the Sweden stage just in time to see the legendary Kai Hanson walk out for a run through some early Helloween material. It soon became apparent that Stormwarrior where going to fall foul of the same sound issues that ruined Carcass for me the day before. The sheer volume of the double bass drums made it difficult to make out the other instruments. I persevered though; as there was no way I was missing "Murderer", "Victim of Fate" and "Heavy Metal (Is The Law)" live, even through murky sound.
I had decided very early on in the day to take it a bit easier during the hottest hours as the heat and levels of dust around the festival site were taking its toll on me. I really wanted to see Apocalyptica but wasn't sure I could take the extreme heat at three in the afternoon.
I came across a novel way of enjoying the band which made sure I didn't suffer any adverse effects from the weather. I found a good spot midway between the band and the beer tent and lay down to enjoy the set. Then whenever a Metallica song reared its head, I leapt to my feet to enjoy the performance. Now this isn't a comment on how bad their own material is, I just did not have enough energy to stand through the whole thing.
The Metallica covers were highly impressive with "Seek and Destroy" and "Creeping Death" working particularly well. It was an unusual sight watching 4 guys with cellos headbang their way across the stage but I soon got into the swing of things The version of "Nothing Else Matters" was actually very moving with the soothing, gentler sound allowing the crowd to be heard singing along with every word.
After meeting up with Craig and Andy Nutt who had been watching Glyder we headed over to the Main Stage to catch the Blue Oyster Cult. Again we chose a space a bit further away from the main stage than normal to allow us to relax and watch the show unfold on the big screens. Sadly despite enjoying the opening few songs (which included a fine version of "Burning For You") BOC's music, not to mention the temperature eventually lulled me into sleep.
I awoke as the band were around halfway through "Godzilla" and in a panic asked Steve, who had joined us by this point, if they had played the heaven sent slice of genius that is "Don't Fear The Reaper". Thankfully they hadn't and a few songs later I was carried away on a wave of cowbell-induced hysteria as "Reaper" sent chills down my spine despite the heat.
After having snoozed most of BOC away, I decided go see ex- Uriah Heep members Ken Hensley and John Lawton over on the Sweden Stage. Despite not knowing much Heep material I though the band turned in a great show with John Lawton sounding absolutely spot-on when he got the chance to take centre stage. They got a pretty decent crowd considering they were up against RATT and soon everyone was singing along to classics like "Easy Livin" and "Lady In Black". I also discovered the delights of the Quarter Rib Burger from one of the food stalls. I just wish I'd found out about them before the last day.
If the day time was fairly relaxed then the evening made up for it with a run of 3 bands in a row. First up were Primordial on the Zeppelin stage who put on a passionate performance to a small but devoted crowd. Their latest release To The Nameless Dead has never been to far away from my stereo since I bought it and I was pleased when the started with a fearsome rendition of its opening track "Empires Fall". Face painted front man Alan Nemtheanga was performing as if his life depended on it. He certainly makes a striking focal point and allows the rest of the band to weave their epic Black Metal enchantment. Fan favourite "The Coffin Ships" was also aired along with the grand, folk influenced "Heathen Tribes". My only complaint was that seeing the band in the daylight robbed them of some of the force and majesty that a darkness shrouded setting would have granted them.
Sadly we had to leave the Irishmen before the end of their set to ensure we were right down the front of the crowd for a band I had been excited about ever since they had been announced Avantasia.
I've been a massive fan of the band since I was first introduced to them, which is strange as I don't care too much for Tobias Sammet's main band Edguy. But for some reason his metallic opera side project sounds just perfect to my ears.
They came on stage to "Twisted Mind" and immediately I was a little worried as the band sounded somewhat rough around the edges with several of the musicians missing their queues slightly. This continued into the second song "The Scarecrow" as the two guitarists Oli Hartman and Sascha Paeth seemed to struggle gelling together as the solos flew from stage right to left. The song didn't suffer too much though as some fine vocal performances from Sammet, the outstanding guest vocalist Jorn Lande plus backing singers Amanda Somerville and Claudy Yang pulled it through.
Lande stayed on stage for a run through the bombastic "Another Angel Down" and despite seriously enjoying it I was slightly worried about the lack of old favourites. I needn't have worried though as the band pulled "Reach Out For The Light" out of their bag of tricks. Former Angra singer Andre Matos bounded on stage to fill in for the absent Michael Kikse, who being his usual spoil-sport self had declined to take part. But sadly all the obvious enthusiasm on display by Matos was for naught as someone had forgotten to turn his mic up. This meant his vocals were barely audible over the rest of the band (a problem which to my disbelief was still not rectified two songs later when he appeared to contribute vocals to "Shelter From The Rain")
One of the best parts of the night was when Bob Catley was introduced and sang a tremendous duet on "The Story Ain't Over". It is one of my favourites of the newer Avantasia songs basically as its sounds almost exactly like Meat Loaf in his prime. I certainly didn't expect it to get played but I will be eternally grateful to the band for doing so.
Some sloppy musicianship and mic problems stopped the aforementioned "Shelter From The Rain" from being too enjoyable as I started getting rather annoyed at the artists on stage for, as far as I could see not putting enough effort into preparing from this one-off run of festival shows.
No sooner had I though this then the bands theme song "Avantasia" was introduced and suddenly things started to change. The band seemed to hit their stride and a sense of confidence exuded from the stage. This set up the concert for a terrific last 40 minutes which pretty much blew me and the rest of the audience away.
Highlights are almost too many to mention with "Serpents In Paradise" sounding out of this world, Lande returning to rip up the stage on "The Promised Land" and then the masterstroke of having King Kai Hansen stroll on stage in a top hat, swinging a cane to own the crowd on "The Toy Master".
Sammet is nothing if not a showman and clearly knew how to save the best for last. As the show drew to a close the stirring keyboard intro to Farewell floated over the audiences heads and sent 30,000 people into a mass of waving arms, singing voices and tear stained faces (or was that last one just me?). He absolutely nailed the high coda at the end which stands as one of my favourite sections in pretty much any Metal ballad ever.
The rapture was not finished there as the band crowned the night with an utterly masterful rendition of "Sign Of The Cross" which segued into the chorus of "Seven Angles" from The Metal Opera pt 2. It was a moment of magic seeing Sammet, Catley, Lande, Matos and the rest of the band wrap up the gig in such style and the sheer volume of applause at the end of the song was deafening.
After such a defining Sweden Rock performance Poison were always going to struggle in my eyes. I was pleased when they were announced at first but saddened when I found out they were headlining. To be honest I don't think they have the songs to fill out a true headline spot.
I was proved both right and wrong as the band certainly held my attention but didn't push me over the edge like I'd seen artists such as Priest, Accept or Europe do at Sweden Rock in the past.
The band did themselves no favours by coming on stage twenty minutes late but made up for it by playing the hits and nothing put the hits. Starting out with "Look What The Cat Dragged In" and sticking almost 100% to the first three albums the band didn't really put a foot wrong. Songs like "Talk Dirty To Me", "Cry Tough" and "Your Mama Don't Dance" had the entire crowd moving. And let's face it, can you think of a better couple of ballads to hear at a festival than "I Wont Forget You" and the ubiquitous "Every Rose Has A Thorn"?
The only problem is that Poison don't really have that many truly amazing songs and after not even an hour and a half on stage the gig and the entire festival was rounded off with "Nothin But A Good Time". This was accompanied by showers of green confetti from either side of the stage. It was a pretty good way to end the festival but possibly not as excellent and fitting as it deserved.
Still despite a few minor down points the Sweden Rock organisers should pat themselves on the back as they have yet again provided 30,000 people with the perfect way to spend four sunny days in June. See you all next year!
| Click pictures for a bigger version.
Stormwarrior
Stormwarrior
Avantasia
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All pictures taken by Steen | Written by Stuart
Sunday, July 20, 2008 |
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