Yax
Ancient Mariner
And I’m back from Sweden Rock Festival! As you can guess, it’s in Sweden. So, me, my girlfriend and a few friends went down to attend (and along with 30.000 others).
We camped in tents at a campingspot just 100 meters from the festivalarea along with thousands of others. So after 1 day, the whole campingarea looked like a garbagedump.
Now, to the short reviews of a bunch of bands: First off is... Nocturnal Rites.
I never heard this band before, but I’ll tell you it was GREAT. The singer’s good and sang with clear voice and the guitarists waled around a bit while riffing. And the music was awesome! They are a great liveband with fantastic songs! Check ‘em out.
Rating of the show: 4/5
Annhilator: I’ve only heard a few songs by these guys before, so I can’t give you a setlist... But I can say that they played Alice in Hell. Good song. The vocals were shared between Jeff Waters and the second guitarist. I liked both, except that the other guy has such a weak falsetto. Though he was an ok guitarist, while Waters is phenomenal. They didn’t interact very much with the crowd but since they played so well I’ll just let it be.
Rating: 3/5
Chrashdiet: I left after one song. Rating: 1/5
Symphony X: A very good band. The vocalist has a really powerful voice and is a good showman. Though the music tends to get a bit...Un-varied.
The guitarist reminded me of Yngwie, both in apperance and the playing. He didn’t move much and tended to overdo, but what the heck... Rating: 3,5/5
Dark Tranquility: I left once again after just a while. They sounded great, especially the vocalist BUT I’d SWEAR that they used playback on the guitars. Yuck.
Rating: 2/5
Axel Rudi Pell: I went to this one with my girlfriend. I would have seen Amon Amarth instead, but Axel is ok so I went to see him instead.
They played quite a few new songs, and the new singer, Jonny was really good and interacted with the crowd... Which Axel did not. Rating: 3/5
HEAVEN AND HELL: Fucking awsome! Dio was in great shape and sang like a God. Sign of the soutern cross was freakin awesome, Neon knights phenomenal (they ended the show with it) and Heaven and Hell was so immensly solid! Voodo, children of the sea and After all the dead was great too. Though Iommi didn’t seem to enjoy being onstage...
Rating: 5/5
Talisman: The final show with Jeff Scott Soto. Fantastic singer, and good band. Rating: 3/5
Aerosmith: I never really liked this band, so I left after a few songs. But oh boy, Tyler has so much charisma! He ran around onstage and really got the crowd going. (No rating.)
Blind Guardian: Hansi’s a good livesinger. And entertainer. Though I thought the show was pretty messy. The others barely moved onstage and just stood there posing.
On the other hand the music was good. Nightfall was phenomenal, mirror mirror was good and the rest ok.
Rating: 3,5/5
Iced Earth: The expectations was high I can tell you! I stood just in front of the stage, by the barrier. Ripper is usually a bit lost onstage, but he was actually really good showman this time. He interacted with the audience and covered the whole stage.
They opened with Burning Times. Awesome! But that was pretty much the only song from “Something Wicked...”. Instead, they played quite many from Dark Saga, Night of the Stormrider and Horrorshow. The Hunter, Vengeance is mine, Jack, Pure Evil. Ripper sang them godlike! After this, I’ve actually almost forgot about Barlow.
They played Ten Thousand Strong, Declaration Day and The Reckoning as well, plus a few more. And after 55 minutes, they went off stage. We screamed our arses of, but they refused doing extra’s. That was the only bad thing to be said. I must admit, I've underrated Ripper. He soundedso damn good! And he held a high note for about 20 seconds! Though he struggled the last 2 seconds.
Rating: 4,5/5
U.D.O.: Though he’s not the bet singer in th world, he does have a phenomenal stage presence. They played 50/50 U.D.O./Accept songs, including Metal Heart and Balls to the Wall. Yum.
Rating:3,5/5
Thunder: O.K. music. That’s all I can say. Rating: 2,5/5
White lion: Boring Mötley Crue wannabe’s. Rating: 2/5
Motörhead: GREAT! They brought the Bomber-rig. Lemmy sounded as harsh as usual. Rating: 3,5/5.
We camped in tents at a campingspot just 100 meters from the festivalarea along with thousands of others. So after 1 day, the whole campingarea looked like a garbagedump.
Now, to the short reviews of a bunch of bands: First off is... Nocturnal Rites.
I never heard this band before, but I’ll tell you it was GREAT. The singer’s good and sang with clear voice and the guitarists waled around a bit while riffing. And the music was awesome! They are a great liveband with fantastic songs! Check ‘em out.
Rating of the show: 4/5
Annhilator: I’ve only heard a few songs by these guys before, so I can’t give you a setlist... But I can say that they played Alice in Hell. Good song. The vocals were shared between Jeff Waters and the second guitarist. I liked both, except that the other guy has such a weak falsetto. Though he was an ok guitarist, while Waters is phenomenal. They didn’t interact very much with the crowd but since they played so well I’ll just let it be.
Rating: 3/5
Chrashdiet: I left after one song. Rating: 1/5
Symphony X: A very good band. The vocalist has a really powerful voice and is a good showman. Though the music tends to get a bit...Un-varied.
The guitarist reminded me of Yngwie, both in apperance and the playing. He didn’t move much and tended to overdo, but what the heck... Rating: 3,5/5
Dark Tranquility: I left once again after just a while. They sounded great, especially the vocalist BUT I’d SWEAR that they used playback on the guitars. Yuck.
Rating: 2/5
Axel Rudi Pell: I went to this one with my girlfriend. I would have seen Amon Amarth instead, but Axel is ok so I went to see him instead.
They played quite a few new songs, and the new singer, Jonny was really good and interacted with the crowd... Which Axel did not. Rating: 3/5
HEAVEN AND HELL: Fucking awsome! Dio was in great shape and sang like a God. Sign of the soutern cross was freakin awesome, Neon knights phenomenal (they ended the show with it) and Heaven and Hell was so immensly solid! Voodo, children of the sea and After all the dead was great too. Though Iommi didn’t seem to enjoy being onstage...
Rating: 5/5
Talisman: The final show with Jeff Scott Soto. Fantastic singer, and good band. Rating: 3/5
Aerosmith: I never really liked this band, so I left after a few songs. But oh boy, Tyler has so much charisma! He ran around onstage and really got the crowd going. (No rating.)
Blind Guardian: Hansi’s a good livesinger. And entertainer. Though I thought the show was pretty messy. The others barely moved onstage and just stood there posing.
On the other hand the music was good. Nightfall was phenomenal, mirror mirror was good and the rest ok.
Rating: 3,5/5
Iced Earth: The expectations was high I can tell you! I stood just in front of the stage, by the barrier. Ripper is usually a bit lost onstage, but he was actually really good showman this time. He interacted with the audience and covered the whole stage.
They opened with Burning Times. Awesome! But that was pretty much the only song from “Something Wicked...”. Instead, they played quite many from Dark Saga, Night of the Stormrider and Horrorshow. The Hunter, Vengeance is mine, Jack, Pure Evil. Ripper sang them godlike! After this, I’ve actually almost forgot about Barlow.
They played Ten Thousand Strong, Declaration Day and The Reckoning as well, plus a few more. And after 55 minutes, they went off stage. We screamed our arses of, but they refused doing extra’s. That was the only bad thing to be said. I must admit, I've underrated Ripper. He soundedso damn good! And he held a high note for about 20 seconds! Though he struggled the last 2 seconds.
Rating: 4,5/5
U.D.O.: Though he’s not the bet singer in th world, he does have a phenomenal stage presence. They played 50/50 U.D.O./Accept songs, including Metal Heart and Balls to the Wall. Yum.
Rating:3,5/5
Thunder: O.K. music. That’s all I can say. Rating: 2,5/5
White lion: Boring Mötley Crue wannabe’s. Rating: 2/5
Motörhead: GREAT! They brought the Bomber-rig. Lemmy sounded as harsh as usual. Rating: 3,5/5.
I couldn't go this year 
but next year I'm gonna get some tickets and give one to my wife for her 40th birthday. 