HONEYMOON SUITE
Rock Stage
The last and only time Honeymoon Suite visited Sweden was back in 1985 supporting Saga. Since I was never a Saga fan and I discovered Honeymoon Suite right after their visit, I have never seen the band live. When I discovered Honeymoon Suite with their masterpiece The Big Prize (1985), it became a soundtrack to my youth, that and their self-titled debut from 1984 and the follow-up Racing After Midnight (1988) so thank you SRF for this booking, if it wasn’t for you I would probably never had gotten the chance to catch them live. The band went on early at mid-day and again it was nice to see a big crowd joining up for the ride.
The opening however, “Say You Don’t Know Me” from their fourth 1991 released album Monsters Under The Bed was a bit of a surprise as the album really didn’t do all that much. I dig the album though and the song went down well. But not as good as the following classics – “Burning In Love”, “Wounded”, “Stay In The Light” and their biggest hit “Feel It Again”. The band was in a very good mood and really thankful for being booked and it showed, the sheer love of playing was palpable and both singer Jonnie Dee and guitarist Derry Grehan worked their buts off on stage. Most people sang along to every word but the biggest sing-along came with the big power ballad “What Does It Take” – goosebumps.
The downside to the gig was that it was a pretty short set, only nine songs and even though the ending with “Looking Out For No.1” and “New Girl Now” was really strong, there was a few songs missing – especially the absence of “Love Changes Everything” was puzzling and I can’t for the world figure out why it wasn’t played. There was also some unnecessary soloing and a few songs dragged out a bit too long. We could have gotten “All Along You Knew” and “Once The Feeling” instead. Well, well, the band was damn good and I was happy as a child at Christmas that I finally got to see the band live. Please come back!
NESTOR
Sweden Stage
People outside of Sweden – at least out of Scandinavia – might be clueless of who Nestor are. Well, Nestor is the biggest hype of 2022 in Sweden. This lot has taken over the air-waves of Rock Radio, they rule the streaming services and even sell a lot of records and they tour a lot. Personally, I like the band, they have big batch of really good songs but they also borrow/steal so much it borders to plagiarism. However, I was really interested to see if they could match up the hype live and if they were a draw live at all. Well, first of all, a draw they were. I have never seen so many people in front of Sweden Stage ever – and I have been to the festival since 2003. It turned out they now have the record of pulling the biggest crowd at that stage in SRF’s history.
How were they live then? Well, I can only state that they were nothing short of fantastic. Great musicians and a brilliant singer, well rehearsed and tight as eff. And they had the time of their lives – that was so obvious. Most of their well-received debut album Kids In A Ghost Town was played, with the amazing Lollo Gardtman singing Samantha Fox’s parts in the Europe smelling ballad “Tomorrow”. What a voice. Song after song turned into a live killer this mid-day and as an encore we even got ourselves a new song – “A Losing Game” – that sounded really good. Maybe to end the set with the melancholic ballad “It Ain’t Me” when a rocker would’ve been a better choice wasn’t the best idea but it can’t take way the fact that Nestor totally floored me and delivered one of the best gigs at the festival. Stardom might just lurk around the corner for these guys. So much more than just a hype and I tip my hat. Well done.
NIGHT RANGER
Rock Stage
Night Ranger is another band that never played Sweden in their hey-day. I have seen them once – at Sweden Rock back in 2012 and they were brilliant then. I have been a big fan of this band since the mid 80’s and with a treasure chest of songs combined with the the last performance at the festival in my mind, expectations were high and I was really looking forward to seeing them again. The band kicked off with their hit “(You Can Still) Rock In America”, a song they usually end their shows with it stood clear that I wasn’t gonna leave their gig disappointed.
“Touch of Madness”, “Sing Me Away” and “Four In The Morning” kept the positive energy coming and I sang along with a smile ten miles wide. Bassist/singer Jack Blades have a past fronting supergroup Damn Yankees and just like the last time they played that band’s “Coming Of Age” and the brilliant ballad “High Enough”. I love that they did that because I love Damn Yankees but on the other hand they took up space for more Night Ranger songs. “Breakout” from their latest album ATBPO is tune I really dig and I’m glad they played it but it stood pretty clear that many of punters wasn’t really familiar with it.
A drum solo was also played and even though they made it really entertaining when Blades and guitarists Brad Gillis and Kerri Kelly joined drummer Kelly Keagy, I still would have chosen another tune over that. The ending with “When You Close Your Your Eyes”, “Sister Christian” and “Don’t Tell Me You Love Me” was superb. The problem with a band like Night Ranger is that they could have played twice as long and there would still be songs missing. That said, Night Ranger’s positive and uplifting music – I call their style Happy Rock from time to time – is perfect for festivals and the way they performed this day made them the best gig at the festival together with Devin Townsend. I wish they would visit more often.
GUNS N’ ROSES
Festival Stage
I’m really not sure if a review of this concert is the right thing to do. I only watched five songs before I left. I had looked forward to this gig. I saw the band back in 1992 and they were great then but I haven’t really bothered with them since. The last time they played the festival – 2010 – I didn’t bother. That wasn’t Guns N’ Roses anyway. This year however was something else as both Slash and Duff are back in the band and a lot of people I know saw them at their last stadium tour and everyone told me they sounded terrific. That wasn’t the case this year. Or more correctly, Axl Rose didn’t.
The openers “It’s So Easy” and “Mr Brownstone” made me puzzled. Why did Axl sound like a wounded duck? Or maybe it was Axl’s grandmother singing? He talked his way through the songs. His voice had lost all its strength and he sounded like he was on helium. “Chinese Democracy” has a good riff but is otherwise a mediocre song that I can manage without and why play “Slither”, a Velvet Revolver song? I managed to stay for about half of “Welcome To The Jungle” which was completely slaughtered – I just couldn’t take more of it. The band tried their best to make an effort so no shadow over them but they couldn’t heal what Axl’s voice ruined. It looked like it never got any better either, all the people I talked to that bit the bullet and saw the whole show said the same thing – horrible all the way through. Too bad.
CD & Festival reviews 