SWEDENROCK FESTIVAL 2010
MARKO SYRJÄLÄ, ARTO LEHTINEN, PATRICK CLEMENT
Jävlä Swedenrock, här kommer vi igen. The annual roadtrip to Swedenrock by the Finnish Metal‑Rules.Com team is already the tenth time in a row. The 2010 line‑up presented a wide range of metal and hard rock. Therefore, over 70 bands offered nothing but an utter blast and a helluv an experience for the attendees to enjoy metal and rock. Swedenrock has been successful during the past ten years as the festival has always been sold out. This year wasn’t any exception as the fest was sold out despite the lousy economomic situation worldwide. As mentioned in the first sentence, this is the tenth time in a row when Sweden Rock has been featured on Metal‑Rules.com, so it is quite logical for us to give a real in‑depth article of several bands performing at Sweden Rock. The weather wasn’t ideal compared to previous years. It either rained or was windy with a little sunshine. But we were there for bands, not for having some beach party. We are not able to cover every bloody band, but hopefully you will have a pleasant reading experience… Enjoy or die !!!
WEDNESDAY
ALESTORM
The Scottish band Alestorm, relying on the pirate metal theme, have gained massive success during the past years. The four piece has crisscrossed Europe by playing at several festivals. Therefore their appearance at Swedenrock was expected. The band’s success was obvious as the whole field was entirely packed. Some maniacs had brought hilarious looking plastic swords. The band took the stage by storm and expressed happy and joyful pirate metal. That kind of joyful pirate metal sounded refreshing and great for sure. But in the long run some songs may start sounding a little bit repetitive. However the sense of humour and good intention on the stage is the more important. Seriously though, if these guys are into pirate metal they should have paid more attention to the way they look. Having stupid looking Bermuda shorts doesn’t give a nice impression.
STEELWING
Steelwing is one of those Swedish true metal gems together with Enforcer, Bullet and Wolf. The old school true metal rolled. The guys have learnt the lesson by banging their head while listening to classic metal. That pointed out Steelwing may sound like Iron Maiden on steroids. The singer’s voice is incrediblly great and powerful. It will be nteresting to see how long the five piece SteelWing will fly in the future.
3/5
MICHAEL MONROE
Former Hanoi Rocks singer Michael Monroe was the first truly interesting performer on Wednesday evening. The band headed on stage at 9:00 PM and kicked their set off with Demolition 23 classic “Nothing’s Allright” followed by Hanoi Rock’s “Motorvatin” and another Demolition track “Hammersmith Palais”. Michael still has tons of energy on stage and during the show all he did all his old manners like splits and climbing in the stage pillars. Although there was still free space in the front of Sweden Stage, the band managed to get the crowd going on quite well with them especially during old Hanoi Rocks songs. Only two tracks played from Michael’s earlier solo albums which was a slight disappointment but on the other hand, the three brand new songs from upcoming album sounded really promising. Overall Michael and his all star band: bassist Sam Yaffa (ex- Hanoi Rocks, N.Y Dolls), Ginger (The Wildhearts), Steve Conte (N.Y Dolls) and drummer Karl Rockfist (ex-Danzig) offered us good and entertainment show with tons of energy which later on was sorely missed from many other bands performances during the festival.
4/5
Nothin’s Alright
Motorvatin’
Hammersmith Palais
You’re Next
Not Fakin’ It
Dysfunctional
Another Night In The Sun
I Wanna Be Loved
The Boulevard Of Broken Dreams
Love Song
Motorheaded For A Fall
Back To Mystery City
Malibu Beach Nightmare
Dead, Jail or Rock ‘n’ Roll
Ain’t Nothin’ To Do
QUIREBOYS
London’s very own Quireboys were set, for one reason or another, to play on the Dio Stage which was the smallest of the actual stages there. There is nothing else wrong with that but there were so many people in the crowd right from the beginning that it was really hard to even get into photo pit prior show. The band opened their show with their debut album classic “There She Goes Again”. The lead singer and founding member Spike was in really good spirits. He did some excellent raspy vocals and rolled across the stage like a maniac while the rest of the band concentrated on playing . “It’s Seven O Clock” and "Hey You" got the best response but there was nothing wrong with newer material either. All in all there was nothing special here but if you’re a fan of good, basic rock ‘n roll show then Quireboys is your band.
3/5
Intro
Bite The Hand That Feeds
Have a Little
The Finer Stuff
Tramps And Thieves
There She Goes Again
Roses and Rings
I Love This Dirty Town
Whippin’ Boy
Mona Lisa Smiled
Man on the Loose
Hey You
Sweet Mary Ann
It’s 7 O’Clock
I Don’t Love You Anymore
Sex Party
U.D.O
The German metal icon Udo has kept himself by touring effectively and putting albums out almost every year. Udo headlined the first day of the fest and delivered an unbelievable set of monsterous metal sounding tunes such as "Dominator","Independence Day and "Mastercutor". The set mainly contained the newer Udo material leaving the older ones out apart from the ANIMAL HOUSE song. Surprise surprise what a surprise all in all eight Accept tunes belonged to the set. The five piece back-up band sounded hard and heavy. The guitarist Stefan Kauffman is a splendid axeman along side with Udo. The rest of the guys had got important roles in the stage performance in terms of moving and singing all the chorus Enjoyable gig and killer metal hymns. But more older Udo tunes are missed for sure.
4/5
The Bogeyman
Dominator
Independence Day
The Bullet And The Bomb
Flash Rockin’ Man
Thunderball
Vendetta
Princess Of The Dawn
Midnight Mover
Infected
Man And Machine
Mastercutor
Animal House
Metal Heart
Holy
Balls To The Wall
I’m A Rebel
Burning
Fast As A Shark
Tags: Aerosmith, ANVIL, Billy Idol, Cinderella, Danzig, Gary Moore, guns, Jorn Lande, magnum, Michael Kiske, MICHAEL MONROE, n roses, Raven, SLAYER, Stratovarius, U.D.O., UNISONIC, WASP, Y&T
Posted in 2010 | Comments (0)
