Live reviews and highlights from Sweden Rock festival 2015 (not in the order of appearance).
Def Leppard made a fairly good “greatest hits – show” to an excited, nostalgic crowd. Their opening song; ”Rock! Rock! til’ you drop” helped to set a nice tone to the rest of their show that continued with hits like ”Love Bites”, ”Let’s get rocked”, ”Armageddon it” and the singalong friendly ”Pour some sugar on me”.
Def Leppard never really connects with the crowd. But it’s still a great show with a great band that still loves what they’re doing and they are appreciated by their crowd no matter what. Most of them that has been with them since they started in the early 80’s.
****/ 5
Best moment: Joe Elliot singing ”Two steps behind” all alone on stage, acoustic with the audience.
Slash feat Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators
Slash feat Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators took on the Festival stage at Sweden Rock Festival Thursday afternoon. The sun was brutal and the crowd ironically very inpatient… and called him out twice to come on stage before the show had started. By the way “Slash” is very funny to say many times over, while clapping your hands, just you try it.
The music where great, the songs where great and Myles voice surprisingly good live.
The show started with ”You're a lie” and where from there a non-stop rockshow, with songs like ”Set the world on fire”, ”Anastasia” and some G n´ R of course. ”Nightrain” and ”You could be mine” helped to get the crowd going even more, but the show also allowed room for the more settled, radio friendly song ”Bent to fly”, completed with Slash on a twin guitar. The best moments of the show was without a doubt ”Sweet child O´ mine” (when Slash actually moved to the center of the stage) and played his immortal riff, and the last song ”Paradise City” when the crowd went wild and did their best Axl Rose imitations…it was a perfect way to end.
Slash jumping sideways with his guitar, combined with him hardly ever engaging with the people standing and watching him makes it look more like he’s practicing some new, sort of dance moves in his own hallway rather than debuting at Sweden Rock Festivals largest stage. One could think that it’s Myles and Co that are headlining this particular show, because they are doing a heck of a good job with Slash in the back. Hats off to Myles & the Conspirators, Slash! You need to rethink your stage-presence.
Nightrain (Guns n’ Roses cover)
AvalonBack from Cali (Slash cover)
Wicked Stone
You could be mine (Guns n’ Roses cover)
Bent to fly
World on Fire
Anastasia
Sweet Child O’ mine (Guns n’ Roses cover)
Slither (Velvet Revolver cover)
Paradise City (Guns n’ roses cover)
The Finnish rock singer Michael Monroe took on the Sweden Rock crowd right after Def Leppard´s show.
It was high volume, high speed, nothing out of their ordinary gigs. Michael Monroe is everywhere on the stage, one moment he is climbing up on something and next he´s standing on the rail to the crowd, does the split (without any effort) playing the saxophone, plays the harmonica, puts on a hat just too loose in a matter of minutes, running down to the crowd then up to the stage again. He is singing and talking to the crowd and to his band and swinging around his microphone so much that the wire gets tangled in almost everything on the stage.
The chemistry between the guys in the band is great and their music and songs are good. But all the jumping, dancing and running from Michael Monroe’s part overshadows the music in a way that isn’t that great. I guess it’s a lot of adrenaline going on. But on the stage Michael Monroe needs to take a step back, breathe and realize that their songs and music are already great and that he doesn’t need to do everything at the same time and insanely fast. We are here for the music!
With that said, it’s really nothing more to complain about except that Michael Monroe & his band deserved a bigger stage and a better show time at Sweden Rock. Michael Monroe did deliver (apart from a nice show) good news for his fans; a new record will come out this fall. Something to look forward to…
***/ 5
Best moment of the show:
"Stained glass heart" and "Man with no eyes".
Backyard Babies
Backyard Babies is a Swedish rock band that started in 1987. They are inspired by glam rock and sleaze rock with a bit of punk. Among there hits is “Minus Celsius” something to check out from the album “Stockholm Syndrome” - 2003.
First show in 5 years didn’t leave anyone disappointed! These guys really like what they´re doing and there new single “Thirteen or nothing” made a great opening song and made at least me curious about their new album that is coming out this fall. The guys are well coordinated with each other and it really shows that they enjoy what they’re doing and they have an urge to play there songs again.
It was a shame that Backyard Babies gig was right before Mötley Crüe, they lost a lot of the crowd because the crowd didn’t want to miss Mötley or risk not getting a good spot as close to the stage as possible.
So it was an enthusiastic, let’s give 100% gig, nothing to complain about.
*****/ 5
Mötley Crüe
The LA- rockers last show at Sweden Rock Festival, ever. Some people think it’s sad and some people think that it’s about time. At 23:30 they went on stage to an excited crowd, highly notable; that the most of the people at the very front of the crowd/stage weren’t even born when they started their career…
The gig made me wonder a bit what I was paying for. Vince Neil is somewhat left to drag the Mötley Crüe-final-tour-train by himself. No one else in the band does anything apart from Tommy Lee that after he’s been asked by Vince, stands up and say some words to the crowd. Nikki Sixx are far more interested in changing his outfits (Why?) than making sure that it’s a successful gig and that everyone gets to see him & snap a picture of him. He never says a word to the crowd and it doesn’t seem like he sees the kids that have styled their hair & make up just like him.
Summed up, Nikki Sixx has already left Mötley Crüe and now all he wants to do is a sleek exit. They never work as a team, as a band. It`s four individuals on one stage, Vince is tired, as he should be after a massive tour and he gets no help by the other guys to drag this show towards the end.
They do not interact with their audience at all, which they really should have. The love that their fans are sending out to them is not returned by the band.
So it’s not a bad show but it lacks all emotions and presence from the band and it actually seems that they lost all the joy for what they’re doing. They just went out on stage, played their songs then it was like “Can we go home now?” Cross our fingers that their show in Stockholm this November will be better than this and please, say something to your fans, at least a thank you.
Best moment of the show:
Mick Mars walks out on the stage so everyone can see him, Vince singing “Home Sweet Home”.
**/ 5
Hardcore Superstar
It’s a bit tricky for me to write an objective live review about Hardcore Superstar because it’s been my favorite band for years. I‘ve looked forward to this gig since I bought their latest record “HCSS” the same day that it came out, in April 2015.
HCSS did a phenomenal gig at Sweden Rock that was filled with great songs and lots of energy. “Need no Company” made a great opening song and the gig continued with several hits. It’s clear that the guys are enjoying their gig at Sweden Rock and they interact with the crowd the whole time. It’s really not one dull moment.
One doesn’t have to be a fan to enjoy them live and they’re definitely one of Sweden’s best live bands. If you get the chance go and see them!
*****/ 5
Best moment of the show:
“Run to your mama” with an empty stage and Jocke singing to and with the crowd. “Touch the sky” the song from their new album was even better live than on record.
Best moment of the show 2:
When the lead singer Jocke stayed on the stage after the last song and shouted out: “I don´t want to get off the stage!” They also took a picture of them and the crowd and although it was kind of early in the day, nearly everyone at the festival was there to see them.
Setlist:
Need no company
Last forever
Touch the sky
Last call for alcohol
Cry your eyes out
Wild boys
Liberation
Don’t mean shit
Run to your mama
Moonshine
We don’t celebrate Sundays
Above the Law
Def Leppard's guitar players Vivian Campbell and Phil Collen in action at Sweden Rock.
Martin Sandvik the bass player, always smiling.
Jocke Berg lead singer, didn't want to get of the stage.
Well, that was a few random pictures from Sweden Rock Festival 2015, hope you enjoyed it!
