Scandinavian wonderland in the Decibel
Geek Swedish Headquarters (ie: tent)!
The overly expensive camping mat that I purchased at the Sweden Rock
Supermarket yesterday seems to have done the trick as I awoke
quite warm and even rather refreshed after only a few hours of sleep. It was not necessarily my choice to wake so
early, but it gets light here in Sweden at somewhere around 3:30am at least, maybe
earlier, so I was up and ready to escape the (beginning to take on an odour all
it’s own) DBHQ. Here we go with day
number three of the Sweden Rock Festival……and it’s a big one today!
Friday June 7th,
2013
7am-Beginning to formulate my routine, learn my way
around and just how everything works, I was in the press tent quite early,
something around 7am give or take, working on my Festival diary and charging my
electronic equipment.
11am-(approx) I texted and met up with Mark Niessenbaum to
try and get a better countdown photo for the Monsters Of Rock Cruise that we
have both been on two years running. It
would be nice to take one with a band, but at least this will be something to
post, sporting the MORC colours in Scandinavian Sweden. It’s also the first ever countdown shot for
both of us, so that among many, many other things discovered in quick
conversation do we have in common.
Audrey Horne (Norway)
12:10pm-it’s off to Audrey Horne and Mark tags along, his
agenda being clear for the moment. We
made an important pit stop to grab the first frosty beverage of the day, Mark
had proclaimed that he would not be drinking today, well, sorry to corrupt you
sir…..and he even bought! In line at the
bar, bellied up to, if you will, we encountered a Swedish fellow and had a chat
for a few minutes. I must say that
everyone here is so friendly, most speak very good English and are happy to do
so, not looking down on you for not speaking the language as I’ve encountered
in some places. He showed us his system
for navigating the festival, by pulling out a paper schedule on which he had a
highlighted colour system. Four colours
from order of importance to see their sets, Audrey Horne was done in green for
“must see”. Mark had never heard of them
and he watched a bit with me before it was time to attend to pressing business
elsewhere. Once Mark moved along, I
crept closer to the stage, fairly easy to do at this time of the day with this
level of band. They were not high on my
list even though I have two of their albums back home, but they were incredibly
tight, ripping up the stage in one of the earliest time slots of the day. In my creeping I realised by the pungent
odour assailing my nasal passages that I had seemed to have managed to position
myself downwind of the aforementioned street urinal and adjacent outhouse! What a stench after the first two days
deposits and it’s already been baking in the sun for a few hours, this will
just not do at all! The first beer went
down so smoothly that it called for another (and a chance to escape the nostril
abuse), Mark may take the day off, but today may be my drinking day! I caught two and a half Audrey Horne songs
before heading out to DBHQ to drop off my bag and laptop and head to Hardline.
Treat (Sweden)
12:30pm-I can clearly hear Treat on the Rock stage from my
camp as I drop off my gear and grab a change of shirt. Party All Over, Sole
Survivor and Too Hot all sounded pretty
good from this distance away as I headed back into the festival grounds,
pausing on my way at the newly discovered shower trailer and washrooms. Fifteen minutes later I was at the stage for
Treat and caught We Own The Night from the back of the crowd. It was another packed house here near the end
of their set and they did sound awesome, too bad I’d missed their show as this
would have been a good one for sure. They
were ripping through Get You On The Run as I made it over to the Sweden Stage for Hardline.
Hardline (US)
1pm-Hardline was originally scheduled for a 1:30pm start on
the Festival stage, but had to be moved around in order to allow enough time to
dismantle KISS’ giant spider. Since
Witchcraft had cancelled their festival attendance, it freed up the 
The sun here seems
to be way more harsh that that of the Caribbean during the Monsters of Rock
Cruise. Everything was the next treat
and as I turned around I was happy to see that there was a sea of people behind
me, although I guess that there are so many people here and so many different
styles that it would be hard not to gain a crowd at your show. Again from the new CD Danger Zone we got
Fever
Dreams and these new tracks fit squarely into the back catalogue,
maintaining Hardline’s sound. During the
guitar solo the singer, Johnny Gioeli gave some instructions to the sound guy
before announcing Josh Ramos on guitar.
They powered through into Dr. Love now and again I was
mesmerised by the lady of the bass guitar, just something about chicks with
instruments. The Ballad In
This Moment followed from the 2009 Leaving The End Open
CD. Johnny apologised to the crowd saying that they’d owed Sweden this show
since 1992 as the band took a break leaving just Johnny and the keyboardist. This
ballad included a short keys solo as Johnny introduced Alessandro Del Vecchio. The rest of the band joined the stage again
for The
Voices, also from Leaving The End Open. The bassist, Anna Portalupi, had an almost
mean/angry expression on her face as she plunked with conviction as Life’s
A Bitch came out next. I
marvelled at how Johnny’s voice sounded just like the CD and watched the veins
popping in his neck as he sang with force and intensity. He was intense and emotional and obviously a
great front man, captivating the audience during Weight. I watched the fingers dancing across the bass
strings followed by a short guitar and keys solo before they charged into the
hit song Hot Cherie and I had the thought that this was certainly
one of the best shows here so far. They
closed out with Rhythm From A Red Car and I caught the drummer’s name of
Mike Terrana as Johnny made the intros and thanked the crowd.
Firewind (Greece)
2:10pm-I headed over to catch 
2:30pm-I passed by the crowd building for Asia with no
intention of stopping on my way
back to DBHQ for a change of shirt and a quick freshen up. I could clearly hear Firewind absolutely
killing a version of Maniac which always makes me
think of the movie Tommy Boy.
2:45pm-found me back in the press tent furiously typing away
on my keyboard while keeping half an ear on the Doro press conference. It was my first official press conference, so
I was not sure what to expect. Doro came
in all smiles and took a seat behind the table as the questions began one at a
time. Questions followed about choosing
her wardrobe on stage, favourite heavy metal t-shirt, what were her favourite newcomer
bands (Sister Sin was of course in her answer), plans for her 30th anniversary
coming up, feelings on festival vs club shows and the name change from Warlock
to Doro, things along those lines. One
question that really stuck out for me was “How do you still do it when you are
sick, or catch a cold, your voice never seems to change?” This stuck out for me as Wally and I had an
interview scheduled with her back in February in Toronto , but she was not feeling well and
cancelled. During the show we could both
clearly see that she was not feeling well as she kept ducking behind the drum
kit which we could see from our vantage point and made heavy use of a box of
tissues. Doro gave a more elaborate
answer to the question, but summed up that it basically boils down to the fans. She truly does love the fans and that’s what
keeps her going through anything. She
also enjoys playing more now than she did in the 80’s and without music she
would be lost. The pint sized blonde
seems to have a very good sense of humour and puts you at ease quickly
obviously loving what she does and truly loving the fans. I wish I’d had the foresight to bring my
questions prepared for the failed interview in Toronto as I would have been able to ask some
good ones I'm sure.
3:15pm-I’ve been relaxing in the press tent and the VIP bar
trying to get up the gumption to get my ass over to Newsted or even Asia (ugh),
I'm missing live music right now and that’s not cool. As I drained the last drops of my Sofiero
beer I noticed that the guys from Corroded were hanging out all wearing biker
vests with Corroded Sweden on the back.
I would have liked to see even a part of their set last night and I enjoy
the CD’s of theirs that I was able to find before leaving Toronto , but KISS tired me out and I didn't
make the Corroded set.
Newsted (US)
3:35pm-I finally made it over to the Sweden stage for
Newsted, by way of the Doro stage set-up on the Festivel stage and Asia pumping
out tunes from the Rock stage for the huge crowd they had gathered. I'm not stopping unless I hear Heat of the
Moment and even then…..I was able to catch Long Time Dead and Good
To Be King from Newsted’s set, before moving forward angling for
food and towards the Festival stage for a good vantage point for Doro due on at
4:30pm. I noticed quite a crowd building
for Axxis on the 4Sound stage and they 
are also a band that I wanted to check
out, knowing a few songs, but was not prepared to sacrifice Doro for them. This was the start of the big run now for
concerts for me today, so I’d better fuel up with water and food as from here
it is Doro on Festival stage to UFO on the Rock stage to Krokus on Festival to
Saxon on Rock stage all back to back and four of my all time favourite bands,
all appearing in my “in progress” sleeve tattoo. After that if there’s any gas left in the
tank it’s Europe on the festival stage.
4:05pm-I have sought out a decent location up front to the
left side of the massive Festival stage for Doro’s show and I can clearly hear
and even see on the big projection screen Asia on the Rock stage as they
finished up with Sole Survivor and Heat Of The Moment. Twenty minutes later the crowd began to
tighten up around me and I could feel the effects of the harsh sun beating down
on the back of my neck along with the lack of sleep as I almost passed out,
catching my self awake during mid fall and was able to straighten up.
Doro (Germany
4:30pm-with the sun moving behind the trees I was out of it’s
direct path as Doro and her band charged the stage with I Rule The Ruins. Burning The Witches came next
as the pint sized
blond asked us if we like some old school metal. It is easy to see, especially when she’s up
on stage that she really does not just love this, but lives and breathes it. She hit us next with Rock Till Death
from her latest release Raise Your Fist. Doro may be short in stature but she’s
definitely a tower of metal power at the same time with her voice sounding
strong and clear. I had only seen Doro
the one time before in 
displaying the "horns", bassist Nick Douglas joined
her on the protruding centre platform or catwalk, plunking on his bass for Night
Of The Warlock’s chorus.
Doro then called for the audience to bang our heads like crazy as they jumped into the Warlock classic Metal Racer. Amazing Guitarist Luca Princiotta took the
catwalk for Metal Racer’s guitar solo. Doro informed the audience that she will
always remember her first time in 
with the great Ronnie James Dio, Sweden will always remain deep inside her heart as it was time for the tender ballad Fur
Immer from the Triumph & Agony
record. Hero was next and is her tribute to the late, great Ronnie James Dio from the latest Raise Your Fist
album. Doro Pesch led her band next
through their Judas Priest cover of Breaking The Law and then she
took a moment to introduce the next track.
At the meet & greet session she had met a group of people from
UFO (UK
6:10pm-Fellow cruiser Mark had secured an area right in
front of the stage for UFO. Like myself,
he had seen them aboard ship on the inaugural voyage of the Monsters Of Rock
Cruise, but unlike me
he had made friends with the bass player Rob
De Luca and I was hopeful that I would
get to meet the boys later on over a beer or two. They opened up with Lights Out and were
sounding great just like they did on the cruise, the only other time that I’ve
been able to see them live. Mechanix,
while they don’t prefer it, is my favourite UFO recording and also one of the
first rock albums, I’d ever purchased, so if they actually play something from
it tonight, I may lose my mind! Mother
Mary was the next treat before Phil apologised for his lack of
Swedish and his rambling accent and they ripped into Fight Night from
the latest release Seven Deadly following right up with Wonderland
from the same record. It’s great to see
that this band, with a couple of member changes such as Rob De Luca on bass and
the addition of Vinnie Moore on guitar are not only still pumping out great
music, but some of the best of their career with the
last two albums, The Visitor and Seven Deadly. Cherry from 1978’s Obsession
record was next followed by one of vocalist Phil Mogg’s possibly patented, tell-tale rambling monologues which are actually quite funny, this one having to do with
proclaiming that Vinnie was cheap! Let
It Roll was followed by another pause for Phil to address the crowd
“Skol” (or cheers) he said as he took a swig of a Sofiero beer “Hey this stuff
is 5.2%” he proclaimed as he announced Burn Your House Down. After the song Phil pointed out into the
crowd back a bit on the right side and said “to the two ladies in pink who came
in part way through the last song….very distracting”! What a good time for Only You Can Rock Me
and watching Phil, you could see the emotion on his face and the squinty eyes
as he gave everything he had into singing these classic UFO tracks. Love To Love was next and is
often mis-titled as Misty, Green and Blue to those that don’t know the band
overly well. “How long have we got?", Phil asked someone off stage.
“Twelve
minutes, well that’s one of Vinnie’s solos alone!” he proclaimed as they rolled into Rock
Bottom. During which Vinnie
did indeed enter into a lengthy solo for which Phil kept pushing him back out
onto the short catwalk as he tried to retreat.
I shouldn’t say it was a solo as the rest of the band still played along
as well, making it a melodic enjoyment for the audience. Doctor, Doctor and Shoot Shoot came next as I
checked the time and decided to head back over to the Festival stage for
Krokus, whom I’d never had the chance to see live. As I wandered away I heard Phil thank Sweden
Rock Festival for having them and for the generous gifts back stage. Knowing that Michael Schenker was here in the
park, slated for a guest spot with Europe later that night, I was hoping to see
him join former band mates on stage, but knew that I was dreaming.
7:30pm-time to stop for a refreshing adult beverage now that
the blisteringly evil sun has retreated and my danger of passing out from heat
exhaustion passed. I stopped at the beer
tent between the Rock stage and the Festival stage, listening to the tail end
of UFO’s show. This time I noticed
something rather cool behind the bar area.
Behind the servers in the background there were a few workers opening
the plastic beer bottles making it easier and faster to serve when the order was
placed at the counter. The cool thing
was that they had a, for lack of a better description, mass bottle opener. The case of brown plastic bottles was on a
flat open tray verses the closed case that we often see here in North America and the flat was slid into the
machine. There was a plate on top of the
simple machine and a handle on the right side.
Once the case of beer was in, the handle is pulled down, lowering the
plate over the tops of the bottles.
Obviously the plate had clasps or something on the underside that
corresponded with the bottles as when the handle was raised, bringing the
plate along with it, the little metal caps were neatly popped off all
bottles. Cool.
7:45pm-I secured, once again, a spot close up front to the left
side of the long catwalk protruding from the main stage. This festival is great and I'm surprised how
close I can get (barring the photo and security pits of course) to most of the
performances. I have been waiting to see
Krokus for many, many years. I first was
introduced to them through the compilation cassette White Hot that included
Midnite Maniac among other songs from great bands that I was introduced to via
that cassette that circled around our group.
From there I started to collect the records, back when there were records,
although vinyl is making a comeback I notice recently. While I settled in up front I couldn't help
but overhear the conversation from some of those around me. I gathered that a lot of them were from
a Europe fan club or forum or something along
those lines. Some had travelled a ways
I'm sure for this show and they were marking their territory up front,
prepared to wait through Krokus until 11:30pm to be front row for Europe, now
that’s some dedication, (not as much as me though I'm sure …lol), but
Europe? What am I missing here? I didn't think they had a following anywhere
any more, but then again I guess they are from Sweden and have released some good
albums of late.
Krokus (Switzerland)
following shortly after. Marc was dressed in a rail road cap pulled
rather low, hiding his face, perhaps the sun was getting him too. They opened up with Hallelujah Rock N' Roll from the newest release Dirty Dynamite.
Another cut from that record which continues what started on Hoodoo
with the return of most of the original line-up and long time band members Fernando Von Arb, Chris Von Rohr, Marc Storace, Mark Kohler and Mandy Meyer with Go Baby Go. Marc
took a moment here to address the audience proclaiming this a “great night
for Krok and Roll”. The 80’s classic and
personal favourite of mine Long Stick Goes Boom was next on the roster and I was
impressed at how good they sounded.
Sometimes when you see a band that you've looked forward to for 25 years
it can be a disappointment because it’s hyped up too much in your own mind, at
least I've done that to myself before, but my fears and worries were put to
rest by the third track when I realised that they were in top form. They ripped into another new song, Better
Than Sex after the classic and then followed it up with Winning Man. I was elated to
hear Winning Man as the album that it appears on, Heart Attack, is one of my favourites, although I would have
rather heard Everybody Rocks or Wild Love from it. I should mention that the Heart Attack version is a re-recording of the original that made it's debut on Hardware six years earlier. Marc announced that this time that they were
here in 
take a trip to Tokyo", Marc invited us now as they chugged through Tokyo Nights. Two old school
Krokus classics were up next in Easy Rocker and Bedside Radio before Marc told
the audience that the next song was about
Saxon (UK)
9:45pm- found me back across the field at the Rock stage for Saxon. Man, I'm starting to wear a path here! After a rather long recorded intro, the Barnsley boys stormed the stage, wasting no time
and blasting into Sacrifice, the title cut
from their latest CD. With the smoke
machine billowing out it’s product and the coloured floodlights flashing on and
off in time to the music they roared into Wheels of Terror, also from the
Sacrifice record. From there it was back
to the fan favourite classics with The Power & The Glory followed by Heavy
Metal Thunder. This was my fourth time
seeing Saxon, who are one of my favourite bands and their logo appears in my “in
progress” sleeve tattoo as well. This was, however, the first time seeing them on a
larger stage with the first being a club show in Toronto and then the two
performances aboard The Monsters of Rock Cruise last year and they just seem to
get better and better. Back to the Sacrifice CD for Made In Belfast, a great song and these new tracks fit very well into the
set mixed with the classics and the crowd cheered them on at every step of the
way. While I was checking in at the airport to begin this journey here to Sweden I had my headphones on and it was rather fitting that as I waited in line the song playing was Standing In A Que also from the Sacrifice record! Someone from the crowd tossed a
shirt up on to the stage and vocalist Biff Byford picked it up, displaying it
for the crowd. He then hung it off of
Nigel’s drum kit, showing the Saxon 1 that was printed on the back. Biff then addressed the
fan. The lighting banks
in between the amps now flashed Nigel’s name through out the solo. Solid Ball of Rock was next and is one of my
top ten Saxon tracks, can’t explain why, just love it. During the song Biff filmed us a bit for a
podcast and the horse and rider banner dropped revealing a giant eagle in
lights, a Saxon trademark. Another cut
from Sacrifice was next with Stand Up and Fight after which the eagle lowered
showing off a red coloured banner with the Saxon logo for
11:20pm-with only about ten minutes to get back across the
way for Europe ’s performance back on the
Festival stage I stopped by the Sweden Rock Shop to purchase a t-shirt. Mostly because I wanted the shirt with all
the bands listed on it to commemorate my adventure, but also because it was
friggin’ freezing again and I was shivering like crazy!
Europe (Sweden)
11:30pm-I was shuffling closer to the Festival stage for *****All photography (except the banner and logo at the top of the page) taken by The Meister on location in Sweden, June 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th, 2013.*****
The Meister
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