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Events and Reports - Sweden Rock Festival 2011 - Day One and Two: Crashdïet, Oz, Joan Jett, Accept, Gwar, Morbid Angel and Judas Priest
Sweden Rock Festival is quite possibly the best Rock/Metal festival in the world. Every year, thousands of people loyally return to the Swedish fields, to enjoy warm beer, sleeping on the hard ground and some of the best music in the world. Yes, the festival always manages to create a perfect mix of Hard Rock, Glam, Metal and a little Thrash or Death, so there's something for everybody, attracting everything from old schoolers, that were actually alive and following Metal in the early 80's, to young teenagers, just discovering these bands. And everyone in between, like myself, my husband and my friends, who fall somewhere in the middle. What makes us return year after year, apart from the unique line up with such a diversity and often bands that plays exclusively at the festival that year, is the nice surroundings, and that the festival is so tremendously well arranged. Everything from security issues, toilet facilities and getting the festival wristbands (in our case, backstage passes - a true nightmare at for instance Wacken Open Air), etc. just works smoothly. A big hail goes out to the people making this festival happen!
We arrived on Wednesday, and immediately put up a nice little camp close to the festival ground, and started drinking, partying and warming up for four fun filled days of music.
Wednesday, June 8th
Crashdïet
The Swedish glamsters were to kick off the warm up day, and thus officially the entire Sweden Rock festival. I saw the band not too long ago (link), delivering a satisfying, but not spectacular show in Copenhagen. Today the guys played the exact same setlist, but delivered a more confident and passionate performance. Crashdïet is an amazing band, and I really have a huge weakness for their music, but with this type of band, I expect a certain live show. An image with that much teased hair, eyeliner, tight leather, spandex and what have you, calls for full blown rockstar attitude, confidence and devil-may-care behavior on stage, or it simply doesn't work. I am happy to report that that was the case today, nothing was held back, as the band gave it their all, among impressive pyros and lots of smoke and fire. The new songs, like Down With The Dust and So Alive worked very well, and the band played tight and passionate, big smiles on their faces and a lot more moving around on stage than when I saw them last. After a convincing version of the crowdpleaser Riot In Everyone, frontman Simon Cruz played a little mouth organ to set the mood for Native Nature. Simon Cruz' vocals fit the music of Crashdïet like a tight leather glove, and he is about to evolve into a great front figure as well. Having a huge backpatch on your leather jacket saying "Sinner" raise certain expectations, which he fulfilled by, among other things, entering the stage on a motorcycle before the band set into Rebel, a great way to bring a classic, wild Rock 'n' Roll feeling to the show. The gig ended with the excellent titletrack of the latest album, Generation Wild, just a perfect Hard Rock tune in my opinion and one that had the large crowd go bananas. Crashdïet proved that their new and old songs blend perfectly, are equally strong and work well live, the ultimate test of a song's quality. Crashdïet could easily have been a one hit wonder, after the untimely passing of Dave Leppard, had they not been able to pick up the pieces and continue writing great material and getting a worthy frontman. Thankfully, they did just that, and I have high hopes for the future of the band.
Setlist
Breakin' The Chain
Down With The Dust
So Alive
Riot In Everyone
Native Nature
Queen Obscene (69 Shots)
It´s A Miracle
Chemical
In The Raw
Armageddon
Rebel
Generation Wild
After the great show from Crashdïet, the festival had officially started, and to celebrate, we drank some beers outside the nearby supermarked. Not too long after, it was starting to rain, and when I say rain, I mean it felt like huge buckets of water was thrown at us from the sky. Everyone stormed the supermarked, and I was rather annoyed, as I wanted to go check out Hardcore Superstar. Not a band, I am very familiar with but I´d heard so much good about them. We decided to brave the storm and watch the band anyway, and it turned out their fans were no fair weather friends, as the place was jampacked and the sing along was loud and proud. Hardcore Superstar was a very active band on stage, singer Jocke Berg was a true adrenaline bomb, jumping and running around like crazy. The music of Hardcore Superstar seems very unique, blending a lot of different influences, and the delivery was spirited and energetic. I can only image fans of the band have been totally satisfied!
Thursday, June 9th.
Oz
Oz is a great band I have recently discovered. If you are not familiar with the band, I can tell that they play brilliant NWOBHM-ish Metal and hails from Finland. I saw the band perform a few weeks before this gig at the excellent Muskelrock Festival in Sweden, where they played a great gig. Today's performance was an exact replica of that show, which was cool. Starting out with the great, fastpaced Searchlights, the band grabbed the attention of the crowd, despite the early time, and got some heads banging. That the band lives the Metal lifestyle, and that they had been having a good time the night before was obvious; it took a little while for them to shake the hangover, singer Ape DeMartini was a bit rusty to begin with, and only after a little warm up, was back to his signature hightpitch. Also, he was sporting band-aids on both knees, so it could possibly have been a wild night. His voice improved quickly during the set, and the band delivered a very cool performance. After a few old songs, Oz introduced us to the titletrack from their forthcoming album, Burning Leather, which seemed alike a cool song.
The band's old bassplayer, Jay C. Blade, was playing with them in the beginning, but later their new bassist joined and Oz performed their classic Fire In The Brain with two bassists, while Ape DiMartini put on a gas mask and grabbed a fire extinguisher, spraying the audience with the white powder inside to put out the brainfire. A fun and original way to add a show element to the gig!
Setlist
Searchlights
Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
Dominator
Total Metal
Seasons In The Darkness
Gambler
Burning Leather
Turn The Cross Upside Down
Fire In The Brain
Joan Jett And The Blackhearts
Joan Jett is quite an institution in the US and hailed by many as the original Punk queen. To many others, she is simply known as the woman responsible for the mega hit I Love Rock 'n Roll. I am not really in the know, when it comes to Joan Jett, but my better half is obsessed with the punkette, so I decided to join him and see what all the fuss was about. Joan Jett appeared energetic on stage and in a great mood, greeting the crowd with a big smile, and obviously enjoying the performance. Clearly experienced on a stage, Joan Jett used body language, gestures and friendly chit chat between song to connect to the crowd and make the fans feel welcome.
Jett played a set focused on classic songs, fitting for a festival. The band hasn't visited Scandinavia since a very long time, and I bet some old fans were very happy to see the band in action. The music is easy to enjoy for someone listening to it for the first time, like myself, it's simple and catchy, from a time where two accords was all you needed to write a hit. No fuss, no gimmicks, just straight a head rock 'n' roll.
The gig suffered a bit from what could be called "The Final Countdown syndrome": Just like some people always scream for The Final Countdown from the first note of any Europe concert, a small but loud minority kept screaming for I Love Rock 'N' Roll during the entire show - please try to listen to the other songs as well! In the end, the band did of course play the classic hit to a massive response from the crowd. A very nice show!
Setlist
Bad Reputation
Cherry Bomb
Do You Wanna Touch Me
Change The World
You Drive Me Wild
Fetish
The French Song
Love Is Pain
School Days
Fake Friends
I Wanna Be Your Dog
I Love Rock N Roll
Crimson & Clover
I Hate Myself For Loving You
Encore:
AC/DC
Accept
Accept is one of my favorite bands. I have been in love with their German brand of classic Metal since I was a young teen, and was awestruck, when I saw them perform on the reunion tour. But today, something had changed.classic frontman, Udo Dirkschneider, had turned down the offer to continue their highly successful reunion by doing a new studio album and a full tour. In a day of so many half assed reunions, I can only have the greatest of respect for Udo's choice to follow his own wishes and ways, even though he could have played for much bigger crowds as a part of Accept than as a solo artist. Unfortunately, I don't find Mark Tornillo to be a fitting replacement. He is an Udo clone, sounding a lot like Udo, but lacking that personal touch that makes Udo who he is, and that is paramount in a singing style like this. I really had hoped, that Accept would have gone for someone with an own personality (maybe vastly different from Udo´s), instead of relying on someone copying their old front man. It's taking the easy way out.
Opening with the first song from the new album, Teutonic Terror, got the crowd on their feet from the get go. Bucket Full Of Hate showed another song that fitted Marks vocal style, before he butchered Starlight, he just could not deliver the same pitch and stamina as the old singer. Yes, he has a nice voice, but the oldest songs still had an incomplete feeling to them.
On stage, Mark has zero charisma, and leaves old fans with a lacking feeling. This is something that may or may not improve with time.
When all my bitching is over, I would like to admit that rocking along to songs like Breaker and Restless And Wild melted this old heart like butter and put a huge smile on my face! I will always love the music of Accept!
Herman Frank had suffered a few broken ribs and a punctured lung during the US leg of the tour, so he was absent today, leaving Wolf Hoffmann with all guitar duties. Wolf Hoffmann is my all time favorite guitar player, and showed world class today, as always. To me, Wolf is the prototype of a perfect guitarist; his style adds something magical and back up the music, without completely overshadowing it, as some guitarists can do. He seems like a fish in water on stage, big smile on his face, making it all seem so easy.
When the first iconic notes of Metal Heart sounded, I got goosebumps! That song took me to heaven, it was even so powerfully performed that the stage collapsed in one end!
I was happy to hear the band play Bulletproof, off my very first Accept album, Objection Overruled, which brought back a few memories. Also, this was the only slight surprise on the setlist, that was otherwise focused on the band's biggest hits, as should be the case at festival shows.
Princess Of The Dawn always invites to a highly enjoyable sing-a-long session, German style!
The crowd was too large for the Rock Stage, Accept could and should have played the biggest stage. Nevertheless, it was a pleasure to see that many people struggle and mosh to see the German legends!
Of course, the gig could end in no other way than with the anthem of all anthems; Balls To The Wall, backed up by an enthusiastic choir of fans. At a moment like that, I forgot all about the right or wrong frontman, and just surrendered to the energy and splendor of thousands of fans singing a long to this classic! Fortunately, there were many of these moments, where I just got lost in the powerful music, and that is what made the concert a success, despite an uncharismatic singer.
Setlist
Teutonic Terror
Bucket Full Of Hate
Starlight
Breaker
New World Comin'
Restless & Wild
Metalheart
Bulletproof
Losers And Winners
Princess Of The Dawn
Up To The Limit
No Shelter
Fast As A Shark
Pandemic
Balls To The Wall
Gwar
Being a little fascinated with gore, blood and these kinds of showbands, I have always been a little drawn to Gwar, even willing to ignore that their so-called music is horrible beyond words. I am sure there is a special place in Hell, where Gwar's music is played on endless repeat.
Singer Oderus Urungus is of course always very provocative on stage, and started out saying that the first act wasn't going to shock the Swedes very much, because they are so used to enjoy sex with animals. He then proceeded to "rape" a stuffed dog, and it´s blod sprayed the frontline of the crowd. Charming! Not too much later, the English queen herself payed a visit on stage, only to have her shirt ripped open and her titties slashed, so the audience once again got a nice little bloodbath. This is pretty normal at a Gwar show, and I'm referring to both the bloodshed and the teenage "tits, ass and vomit" kind of humor. In other words, great entertainment.
Mid show, I got a rude awakening to the real world, as some guy was starting fights among the audience. As a bystander, it can be hard to figure out who hits who first, but it looked like this one guy was attacking several others, not even accepting when one of then stretched out his hand for a handshake to stop the fight. Some clever guy got the security guards immediately, and they promptly threw out the troublemaker. Great to see a fast reaction to something, that could have gotten pretty ugly. Dammit! Violence is only fun when faked on a stage, in a movie or wrestling show, not in reality!
Gwar proceeded to play yet another terrible piece of music, and Oderus Urungus went on to tell us what he liked about Sweden: that they had so many nuclear weapons, just a shame they don't use them. "We could use them to, for instance, bomb all the homeless.and people with AIDS! How about that?" Loud cheer. "You want to bomb people with AIDS? Are you serious? You people disgust me.!" The way he turned the joke around by stepping out of character as the evil maniac for a second, was actually the funniest part of the show.
The band usually parodies a current flavor of the mouth celebrity, and this time they had bought Lady Gaga with them. Why she was dressed as a toilet, shall remain a mystery (ohh yeah, because her music's s**t, how clever.).
The final battle between gigantic human puppets in g-strings took place on stage as the band played their last song. It was a pretty entertaining show, but with far less blood and gore then when I've seen them do indoor shows, though Oderus Urungus said goodbye in the only way he knows: by spraying the crowd with green goo from his enormous fake penis! Consider it a "thank you for showing up"!
Morbid Angel
As a visitor of Sweden Rock Festival for more than ten years, it's not uncommon to discover that bands I love frequently play at the same time. This year, though, wasn't bad in that respect; there was only the clash of Saxon and Morbid Angel. Since Morbid Angel is possibly my fave Death Metal band ever, and I've seen Saxon on numerous occasions, the choice was rather simple, though. Keep in mind that I hadn't yet listened to the new Morbid Angel record, which seems to be one of the most hated records ever released.
I met up with Dodge, a friend from Scotland, and some of his friends before the show, so I was in good company. Everyone was psyched to see Morbid Angel, and the guys were even kind enough to do a little wrestling show for me, very entertaining.
The band started out strong with Immortal Rites and proceeded to deliver songs from the first albums. After playing a slew of old school songs, the band introduced the first song off the new album, by saying: "Well, we have a new album out.please just try to act excited." haha, apparently they know people don't like it. Funny thing is, the crowd actually boo'ed at the new album!
Without a doubt, Morbid Angel delivered on of the finest performances of the entire festival. The band is nothing short of amazing live, and though I have seen them several times, I was just blown away by their tightness, fastness and flawless playing. Regular drummer Pete Sandoval was absent today, and Tim Yeung had taken over the drum duties. Pete is known for being one of the world's fastest drummers, but Tim surely gave him some competition for that title, he was ultra fast! The passionate solos of Trey Azagthoth were the icing on the cake. It is great to see Dave Vincent back in the band, even though some complain he is the one steering them in a bad musical direction, I must say he has a bad ass growl and does the Death Metal vocals better than anyone. In short, the band is out of this world great live, and I really enjoyed the show which offered many old classics and focused on the first three albums in particular. I am sure the choice of songs must have delighted any old Morbid Angel fan.
Morbid Angel was one of the highlights of the festival for sure!
Setlist
Immortal Rites
Fall From Grace
Rapture
Pain Divine
Maze of Torment
Sworn to the Black
Existo Vulgoré
Nevermore
I Am Morbid
Angel of Disease
Lord of All Fevers and Plague
Chapel of Ghouls
Encores:
Dawn of the Angry
Where the Slime Live
Bil Ur-Sag
God of Emptiness
World of Shit (The Promised Land)
Judas Priest
Judas Priest is currently doing what they have proclaimed will be their last tour ever, so I really couldn't miss this one.
I've been a big Priest fan for ages, but their last performance at Sweden Rock Festival wasn't up to par with the band's standard in my opinion. Though it hurts to say, I must admit that time hasn't been kind to Rob Halford's vocals. His highpitched voice, unparalleled in his youth, hasn't aged as well as the band's timeless music.
The British gents started out with Rapid Fire, a great opening that got the crowd fired up. I was excited as they had been rumored to play two songs of each album, and it would be interesting to hear some of the lesser played songs. Metal Gods and Heading Out To The Highway continued the show before the first post-reunion song, Judas Rising, was performed. Starbreaker showed a great improvement in Rob's vocals since last I saw the band, he did this one well, and he even did the insanely high notes in Victim Of Changes quite well. That song is just amazing, so emotional and it really got a hold in the audience tonight. The lightening and effects of the show was splendid, a huge lazershow that was equal part 80's nostalgia and technical finesse and a huge screen in the background displaying various album covers and classic Priest images were the main attractions. The visual side of the show was larger than life! Halford even changed costumes a dozen times, which further added to the feeling of a complete, grand show.
The musical side of things was great, the band played tight and you can just never go wrong with any classic Priest song live, songs like Diamonds And Rust, Beyond The Realms Of Death and The Sentinel grabs you every time you hear them, and Blood Red Skies have en amazing atmosphere, tension filled and melodic. So great to listen to that one live.
Judas Priest fits perfectly at a festival that has such a wide crowd, ranging from teenagers to men and women in their 60's, the band has such a broad appeal and made so many songs every one can sing along to. Must-play song like Breakin' The Law and Painkiller transformed the field in from of the stage into an ocean of voices and raised fists.
In a manner of extremely poor timing, K.K. Downing left the band right before the tour, and the band has instated Richie Faulkner as a replacement. I didn't really known anything about him, but he worked fine as a band member, though of course he didn't get much playing time compared to Glen Tipton. He did have a little solo at the end though, and I think overall, he did well.
Hell Bent For Leather and You've Got Another Thing Comin' closed a great show and a worthy final goodbye from one of Metal's greatest!
Setlist
Rapid Fire
Metal Gods
Heading Out To The Highway
Judas Rising
Starbreaker
Victim Of Changes
Never Satisfied
Diamonds And Rust
The Prophecy
Nightcrawler
Turbo Lover
Beyond The Realms Of Death
The Sentinel
Blood Red Skies
The Green Manalishi (With The Two-Pronged Crown)
Breakin' The Law
Painkiller
Electric Eye
Hell Bent For Leather
You've Got Another Thing Coming
|  Crashdïet
 Crashdïet
 Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
 Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
 Accept
 Accept
 Accept
 Accept
 Accept
 Accept
 Accept
 Accept
| Written by Nina
Thursday, August 11, 2011 |
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