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Events and Reports - Sweden Rock Festival 2010 - Day 2 - Sabaton, Danzig, Mayhem
Thursday
The weather that had been warm and dry for the first day of the festival sadly took a bit of a turn for the worst on Thursday. I awoke to the sound of rain hitting the tent and made the wise decision of going back to sleep till it stopped. I emerged from the safety of the tent around 11am to a slightly soggy but thankfully not muddy camping ground.
There was still a bit of time to kill before the first band I wanted to see, so some food and beer was the order of the hour. We then headed into the festival ground to watch Treat.
I had never listened to the band before but many people had told me good things about them. Turns out they were not wrong, Treat turned in a highly enjoyable melodic rock set which drew a large crowd that didn't dissipate even though it started to rain halfway through the set.
In a way Treat were the perfect band to make the crowd forget about the weather. As highly polished tracks like "Paper Tigers", "We Own The Night" and "Soul Survivor" got the party started regardless of the rain.
There was going to be a tribute to Ronnie James Dio on the main stage directly after Nazareth so we headed over to check it out.
It turned out to be short but fitting as Jørn Lande came out to read a few words about what Ronnie meant to the metal community then held a well-observed two-minute silence in his honour. This was ended by the video for "Long Live Rock 'N' Roll" being played on the big screens. A very nice gesture by a festival that had a long-standing connection with our dearly departed metal legend.
We then decided to check out Y&T but after a couple of songs the rain started to get heavier and I made a run back to the campsite to grab everyone's waterproof jackets, which we had cleverly left in out tent. I did however get to catch their excellent cover of "Rainbow In The Dark", whose keyboard line had been transposed onto guitar to great effect.
After returning with the jackets and getting a beer, I watched Y&T run through a couple more tracks before heading over for some thrash in the form of Death Angel.
Death Angel's last album 2008's "Killing Season" was an album still not freed from the shackles of the 90's thrash curse, where almost every band in the genre forgot how to thrash and started producing alternative rock records. So I was a little worried that the band wouldn't be quite as fast and heavy as I was looking for.
However they opened with the best song from that particular album "Lord Of Hate" and then continuing with "Evil Priest", a track off their undisputed classic debut "The Ultra-violence". Vocalist Mark Osegueda still sounds excellent on the thrash numbers even if his voice does perhaps lack a little of that youthful vigour it contained back in the 80's.
The set then took a bit of a turn for the worst with the dull "Buried Alive" and the awful "Dethroned" but soon got back on track with "Seemingly Endless Time" and a thunderous "Kill As One" (Dedicated to Dio) reminding us how potent the band's thrash attack can be.
The band wrapped up their gig by giving me hope for the future with a rather excellent new song, which I believe was called "River Of Rapture". This sounded like a return to the bands thrash roots but filtered through the more progressive, complex structures of their work at the beginning of the 90's. It's always a worry when bands introduce new songs live, but this one passed the test with flying colours.
Ratt were supposed to be on the main stage next but had pulled out at the last minute with Pretty Maids stepping into their slot. I wanted to check them out as I remembered enjoying them a few years back but with a full schedule of bands from 18.15 through till 1am, I though it would be wise to head back to the camp for rest and a beer before the metal marathon begun with Swedish heroes Sabaton.
We had arranged to meet Nina and Steen down the front right hand side of the Rock Stage, as it's normally quieter than the left hand side. We found them without any problems thanks to Steen's infamous cow hat but as it turned out, it was going to be anything but quiet where we chose to stand.
Almost as soon as the band were onstage it seemed like every pissed-up moron at the festival wanted to force their way past me on their way down to the very front. In fact the first six songs of the gig was spend jostling with drunks who quite clearly didn't give a shit about the band but just wanted to get down the front, take some pictures of themselves and their mates with their backs to the stage then push their way back out.
In fact this ruined the start of the gig so much for me that the highlight of the first six songs was seeing some forty-something wanker with glazed over eyes, violently force his way to the front only to be grabbed over the barrier and ejected by security when they saw exactly what he was doing.
Sabaton sounded good and as this video shows certainly brought plenty of pyro to the party but alas their music was only a backdrop to what I had to contend with.
Thankfully by the time the band played one of my favourites "Price Of A Mile" things had calmed down slightly and I could concentrate on what turned into a great gig.
New material like "Uprising" fitted in perfectly alongside fan favourites like "Attero Dominatus" and "The Art of War".
There was a bizarre moment in the encore where an older guy called Sven Rubin was introduced to front the band for a rendition of a folky-pop song called "Langa Bollar Pa Bengt" which was appropriately adjusted to fit the Sabaton sound.
Not speaking much Swedish this whole thing left me slightly bemused but looking round I could see that there were a fair few Swedes who looked just as confused as me.
The highlight of the set was as usual a run through the bands signature tune "Primo Victoria", Jocky asked the whole crowd to jump along to the chorus and the Sweden Rock crowd obligingly went mental. If there was anyone not taking part in the mass bouncy at this point I would be shocked, as looking behind me all I could see was a mass of movement. A great set, just a shame about the crowd.
Sabaton Set-list:
Ghost Division
Panzer Battalion
Coat of Arms
Saboteurs
Cliffs of Gallipoli
Attero Dominatus
The Price of A Mile
Screaming Eagles
Uprising
Aces In Exile
40:1
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The Art of War
Langa Bollar Pa Bengt (with Sven Rubin)
Primo Victoria
Metal Machine/Metal Crue
With a bare fifteen minutes to catch our breath, get a round of beers in and get some food, we headed over to the main stage to watch Slayer whip up the crowd.
Craig, Del and I had seen Slayer two weeks previous in Scotland and we were also dead on our feet after Sabaton so we elected to stay a little further back than normal.
Slayer put on...well a pretty standard Slayer show really. The set list was almost identical to the one we had seen two weeks ago and I think the whole crowd was suffering from P.S.E (Post Sabaton Exhaustion) as they seemed a little hushed and tamer than usual.
I don't think the atmosphere was helped any by a rather quiet sound for the band despite their walls of Marshall amps. In fact there were several points where Kerry King's guitar was almost non-existent in the mix.
For reasons known only to some idiots in the crowd, several bottles of beer were thrown on stage during the beginning of the show. This lead to Tom Araya telling the crowd that "It seems like you have a drinking problem here in Sweden, you throw your beers instead of drinking them, that's a problem for me" Thankfully this seemed to stop any further flying bottles finding their way on stage.
Despite the fact I actually quite like "World Painted Blood", I felt that the set didn't ever kick into a higher gear till they had dispensed with the newer stuff and raced through about forty minutes of classics at the end of the set.
As tired as I was you can't help but feel energised when you see Slayer pound through "Hell Awaits" and "Reign In Blood" as despite the poor sound they still exude their aura of menace.
The sound improved towards the end of the set and the band finished off with a supreme encore of "South Of Heaven", "Silent Scream" and the hallowed thrash classic "Angel Of Death". I walked away from the show satisfied but with the feeling that I had seen a workman-like Slayer gig and nothing more.
Again there was no rest on this wicked night as it was Danzig's turn to stun the crowd on the Rock stage a mere fifteen minutes after Slayer departed the main stage.
I had pretty much written off ever seeing Danzig live as he never plays more than a one-off London date in the UK and rarely plays Europe so I was ecstatic when he got announced for Sweden Rock.
And I'm happy to say that the Evil Elvis didn't disappoint and turned in one hell of a show to a wild and massive crowd. I reckon he was the biggest draw on the Rock Stage over the course of the weekend.
With a star studded band that included Prong main man Tommy Victor on guitar and Type O Negative drummer Johnny Kelly, the band roared through an epic seventeen song set which included a multitude of high points.
"Twist of Cain" really got the crowd moving and the early airing of "Her Black Wings" and "Tired Of Being Alive" (one of my all time favourite Danzig tracks) got the crowd "woah-ohing" along with Glenn.
I was most impressed by Danzig's voice as I had heard rumours that it was totally shot. This is without doubt not the case and he crooned his way through "How The God's Kill" and the world live premier of "Thirteen" (originally written for Johnny Cash) in impressive style that made you forget that the one time Misfit is now in his mid 50's. And the way he bounded about the stage with so much energy and force made it clear that he still believes in what he does.
Even tracks like "Unspeakable" off the much-maligned "6:66 - Satan's Child" sounded otherworldly in their more rocked up and raw form. And every new song played from his comeback album "Deth Red Sabaoth" sounded like a classic to me!
The main set was drawn to a close with the towering "Black Angel, White Angel" and mega-hit "Mother". Danzig could have just sat back and let the crowd sing this one such was the volume of the howling along from the audience.
I was worried that "Mother" would mean an end to the set as the band took their sweet time coming back on stage, but thankfully they came back for a powerful one-two of "Dirty Black Summer" and "A Long Way Back From Hell".
I had been hoping he might air a Misfits classic or two as that would have sent me spinning skywards with joy. But the gig was so good that I was almost at that stage anyway. I may never have the opportunity to see Danzig again but I won't forget this show in a long time.
Danzig Set-list:
SkinCarver
Twist of Cain
Hammer of the Gods
Her Black Wings
Tired of Being Alive
How the Gods Kill
Do You Wear the Mark
On a Wicked Night
It's Coming Down
Thirteen
Unspeakable
The Revengeful
Bringer of Death
Black Angel, White Angel
Mother
Encore:
Dirty Black Summer
Long Way Back from Hell
We finally had time to grab a seat and another beer after Danzig before Mayhem appeared to freeze the dark just after midnight.
I had seen Mayhem twice since 2004 and had been underwhelmed both times. I was looking at this show, with their new two-guitar line up as their last chance to impress me. And to be honest it was such a strange gig that I'm none the wiser if I'll be going back to see them again.
Coming onstage 15-20 minutes late didn't help the band's cause but when they blasted into their first song I found myself reeled in by overwhelming hypnotic power and volume of the music.
It soon became apparent as the volume was actually going to be a bit of a problem as it was so loud it was quite hard to hear what vocalist Attila Csihar was singing. Adding to this problem was that the two guitar arrangements made some songs sound totally different. It wasn't till halfway through the first song that I realised it was "Pagan Fears", which is one of my favourite Mayhem tracks!
Despite this I felt drawn closer to the front of the stage, mainly by the power of Attila as a performer. Dressed as a demonic priest with a noose in his hand he didn't do much more than prowl his area of the stage and make lots of mystical gestures with his hands, but he has an imposing presence as a frontman and thankfully his bizarre and mesmerizing vocals became slightly louder and clearer as the gig progressed.
It was a strange show and I find it hard to say if was really that enjoyable but Mayhem were never a band to be taken lightly and I reckon they intended to leave the crowd this way, with a strange gnawing feeling in the pit of their stomachs and a loud ringing in their ears.
Go to...
· Day 1
· Day 2
· Day 3
· Day 4
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Mayhem
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All pictures taken by Lunah of Metal Moments - www.metalmoments.net except Treat and Mayhem, taken by Steen | Written by Stuart
Sunday, July 4, 2010 |
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