So Kiss was finally able to continue their End Of The Road farewell tour after a two-year pandemic hold-up. And no, Kiss isn’t on their quadruple farewell tour like a lot of people keep suggesting. It’s their second. Many bands, like Scorpions, Whitesnake and Judas Priest has gone on a bye-bye-tour only to return. Mötley Crüe anyone? In all honesty, I said goodbye to Kiss as a touring band years and years ago. I love this band with all of my heart but the urge to see them live faded a long time ago. I did see them in 2017 but only because I got a free ticket and of course I’ve seen them at Sweden Rock Festival in 2013 and in 2019 because I was already there. This time me and my wife bought tickets because our son wanted to see them – and of course he should. This was the last chance so it had to be done.
Category Gigs
Ronnie Atkins – Slakthuset, Stockholm 2022-05-23
More than two years has passed since I was able to set foot at a concert and boy have I missed that. So it’s only proper that my first gig after the pandemic wasn’t considered a pandemic anymore was by an artist I have loved since Jesus went to pre-school and an artist that have two amazing solo records released in the last couple of years, Pretty Maids singer Ronnie Atkins. With him he has brought his new right hand and producer/guitarist Chris Laney with Laney’s At The Movies gang in tow – bassist Pontus Egberg (King Diamond, Poodles, Treat), drummer Allan Sörensen (Ex-Pretty Maids) and keyboarder Morten Sandager (ex-Pretty Maids) with new guy Rob Marcello (Danger Danger, Laney’s Legion) on lead guitar. To say that I was excited about this gig is to put it very mildly!
Treat, Fryshuset Klubben, Stockholm 2019-10-26
The reason for this one-off gig was to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the album Organized Crime, to many Treat’s finest moment. I’m bound to agree on that – at least it’s their finest moment on their first round as a band, a round that ended in 1993. It’s puzzling why that album didn’t make Treat superstars back in 1989. To 1989 standards, it had everything – the sound, the songs, brilliant musicians, the looks. Why that album didn’t break the band big is anyone’s guess and to me it’s a mystery. So when Treat throws a party this evening – the first time with their old-new bass player Nalle Påhlsson who left the band in 2012 and has now returned to replace his replacement Pontus Egberg who left the band earlier this year – it’s with focus on Organized Crime. As a fan, I was excited as there are many songs on that record I have never heard live. Sadly enough, for different reasons I missed openers Art Nation. A bummer because I really like that band.
Y&T – Slaktkyrkan, Stockholm, 2019-10-13
I once got a bit of bashing for calling a Y&T gig safe. What I meant by “safe” is that you don’t have to think twice about whether they will make a killer gig or not. Because they always do. This was the 10th time I have seen them live and they’ve always been amazing. Every time. What’s not safe is their setlist. Sure, they do have their must-play-songs, just like every band that has been around for a long time but they never play it safe by only going out and playing the hits and the classics, they always change the set around, playing lesser known and sometimes even obscure stuff. And those songs always go down like a charm. Somebody should tell Paul Stanley about this. Which in turn means that as fan to say that “I’ll skip this gig because I’ve already seen them so many times” is a mistake. If you do you’ll miss out because with Y&T, no tour is like the other, song-wise.
Alice Cooper/Black Stone Cherry – Hovet, 2019-09-27
I have seen ole Coop on numerous occasions throughout the years and the man himself and his band has never been a disappointment for me. Even so, I was a bit hesitant to buy a ticket for this show. Why? Well, because I have seen him so many times I actually thought it was enough already. What changed my mind – well, who, is the better word – is my 14 year old son. He’s not a huge music fan/nerd like his dad, he’s the new generation of music digesters who picks up songs from Spotify when he find anything worthwhile. The fact that he in the last couple of years has been drawn, almost in an unhealthy manner, towards old 80’s horror flicks made him discover Coop through Friday The 13th Pt 6. Alice wrote the soundtrack – “He’s Back (The Man Behind The Mask)” – to that movie, a song that I have heard more than enough in the car since then. From that song he dug deeper into Cooper’s discography and all of a sudden he desperately wanted to see the show. So tickets were bought.
Avantasia – Fryshuset, Arenan, 2019-05-02
I love Avantasia. The fact that Tobias Sammet decided to take this spectacle out on the road for the first time some 10 years ago is really cool – and a bit unexpected. I mean, it must cost a fortune to put all these musicians on a pay-roll, especially as Avantasia hardly plays arenas. I have seen them live on two occasions in the past, both times at Sweden Rock Festival. Both times, Avantasia delivered the goods brilliantly but the fact is, those were festival gigs which means shorter play-time which means that Avantasia had to cut their set for more than an hour. So when it was announced that they would play Stockholm on their Moonglow world tour, me and my wife bought tickets as soon as they were released. So what would turn into a 24 song, three hour plus show was lying in wait for us – and my expectations were high. And then some.
Trans-Siberian Orchestra – Oracle Arena, Berkeley, Oakland, CA 2018-11-28
I turned 50 in August. Ever since I picked up Christmas Eve And Other Stories (1996) and became a big fan of this ensemble, I have wished to get the chance to catch them in concert, something I never thought I’d get to do since they only tour for two months in the US and I happen to live in Sweden. Well, for my birthday, my beautiful wife Hanna gave me a present – a trip to San Francisco for a week and with the help of one of TSO’s singers, Mats Levén, we got tickets for their gig in Oakland – a smaller place that only holds around 6000 people. TSO usually plays for somewhere between 10000 – 15000 seats. So off we went to SF where we hooked up with Levén’s wife Lotta and their two kids and another friend, Sofie and together we had a nice little vacation, doing tourist stuff. I had a blast – thank you guys for being awesome!
Kiss – Tele2 Arena, Stockholm, 2017-05-06
I’ve been a Kiss fan for almost all of my life. When I was a kid, most guys were Kiss fans even if you haven’t heard a note from them. You loved Kiss and that was that. We had all seen the pics and everybody knew of them and Kiss were the shit. One day, my very cool – and three years my senior – neighbor asked me if I wanted to buy his cassette of Kiss Alive (1975) and of course, that was a no-brainer. I had never heard a note from Kiss, but Hell, it was Kiss, man – I just had to have it. So I got the money from my mom and the cassette was mine. I will never ever forget the feeling when I put the tape into my small player and the intro “You Wanted the best…” followed by the opening riff of “Deuce” broke loose. I was stunned, floored, knocked for six. I had never heard anything like it before and that was all it took for the seven-year old me to become a fan. A real fan that had actually heard their music, that is. After that, I saved up all my money to buy Kiss (and Sweet, to be honest) records and cassettes.
Y&T, Göta Källare, Stockholm, 2016-09-30
Another year, another Y&T gig – and no one is happier than me. I remember back in the 80’s when as a huge Y&T fan, I was wondering why the Hell this band never showed up in my little country. I mean, every band and their mother played here so why not Y&T? I loved the band, I had a lot of friends who loved the band and they had a pretty big following in Sweden. Hell, back in 1984, their then new album In Rock We Trust showed up at our top 20 chart, so they did sell albums as well. But nope, no Y&T concert in sight. It took all the way to 2003 when Sweden Rock Festival gave them a call and asked if they might wanna reunite for a gig. They did – it was their second reunion – and original members Dave Meniketti (lead guitar, lead vocals), Philip Kennemore (bass, 1953 – 2011) and Leonard Haze (drums, 1955 – 2016) together with new guitarist John Nymann played a fabulous gig in front of a really big crowd, a gig that made the band come back they year after to play another killer gig and with that, Y&T were back in action again and since they have visited Sweden every year to play. Due to health reasons, Haze quit the band shortly after and was replaced by Mike Vanderhule, a line-up that was consistent until bass player and the core of Y&T with Meniketti bit the dust in 2011, losing a battle with cancer. His replacement Brad Lang played in the band until this year when he left to treat his alcoholism. That meant that this gig was the first one in Sweden for new bass player Aaron Leigh.
Treat, Klubben, Stockholm 2016-04-30
This thing was really a release party for the band’s brand new record Ghost Of Graceland and a bit of a celebration that since the release, April 15th, the album had charted in many European countries and also in the US. But a release party usually happens like this: You get in the venue where the album is played in the speakers over and over and over and the band comes out and mingles a bit until it’s time for them to take the stage. Usually five or six songs are being played, most of them new ones and after that, it’s time for signing records and shirts and stuff while we all party like it’s 1999. It didn’t happen exactly like that this night. This was more set up like an actual gig with a signing session afterwards. Nothing wrong with that, but the whole night ended pretty quick after the band had played their gig and the fans had got their stuff signed. Some more heavy partying wouldn’t have hurt, but a few of us hit the town instead so we did get our share of beer anyway.
CD & Festival reviews 