ECLIPSE
Rock Stage
First band out for me this day was Swedish melodic hard-rockers Eclipse who got a surprisingly early spot. Eclipse has grown bigger and bigger by every released album and by the looks of the size of the crowd they deserved at least an afternoon slot this year. Well, it really didn’t matter as the weather was great and so was the spirit of the crowd. No big hangovers seemed to be present as the crowd were with the band from the first chord to the last which infected the band who delivered a passionate and energetic set – not even Magnus Henriksson’s technical guitar problems became an issue.
The opening with “Roses On Your Grave”, “Saturday Night (Hallelujah)” and “Run For Cover” was lethal and showed a world-class band that should be way, way bigger than they are. Professional but with a whole lot of passion, spark, edge and shitloads of pure love of playing music. “The Storm” gave us some über-catchy melodies and slightly Celtic driven influences while their Eurovision Song Contest (Sweden) contribution “Runaways” worked like a charm. “Jaded” didn’t, for some reason, get a big reception. Weird as it’s a groovy rocker with huge melodies and hooks. In my book, it’s perfect for the festival stage. “The Masquerade” and “The Downfall Of Eden”, however, felt like bonafide classics and the crowd loved every minute of them. How is it possible to not be a massive band with songs like that in their catalogue?
The heavy and darker laden “Black Rain” – one of my absolute favorite Eclipse songs – might not be the typical upbeat festival party stomper but it worked splendidly this noon and they did follow it with the über-catchy “I Don’t Wanna Say I’m Sorry” and the hit-single “Twilight” which made the huge crowd go bananas. They ended the set with the Power Metal flirtatious “Viva La Victoria”, a punchy metal-belter with another infectious refrain.
I have seen Eclipse live a couple of times before and they always stun me. With all those magnificent tunes and a live performance easily as good, if not better, as any of the big-time monsters out there, I can’t for the hell of it get it through my skull why they haven’t reached headline status yet. A great performance by a great band.
LEE AARON
Sweden Stage
I remember as a teen drooling over pictures of Lee Aaron and listening a great deal to hear album Metal Queen (1984). But after that record I more or less forgot about her even though I loved her self-titled AOR-laden 1987 record. The last time Aaron played the festival I missed her gig but that wasn’t gonna happen this time. Unfortunately, Aaron’s concert this year was embossed by technical difficulties, so much that they had to take a break – a pretty long one – and when they came back, their monitors on stage didn’t work. Still, it was all smiles from Aaron and her band. Opening up with the opener from her latest album Radio On, “Vampin'” worked great even though I got the feeling that few people were familiar with it and as the third track her cover of Janet Jackson’s “Black Cat” showed up – both worked very well.
Older 80’s and 90’s stuff like “Some Girls Do”, “Sex With Love” and “Watcha Do To My Body” were mixed with new stuff like “Fire And Gasoline” and “Soul Breaker” and it was nice to see how well the songs blended. Of course, the song most people was waiting for was indeed “Metal Queen” which went down very well. Fact is, Aaron’s gig went down just fine despite the technical crap and again, like true professionals all the musicians kept the spirit up and gave it their best shot – Aaron herself was all smiles all way through. I might not be a drooling teenager anymore but it’s safe to say that at 60 Aaron is still a very beautiful woman but more importantly, she still have her pipes intact, a damn fine singer indeed. I really enjoyed this concert but I must say I was disappointed that a magnificent tune like “Powerline” was left out.
DEVIN TOWNSEND
Rock Stage
I have only been into Devin Townsend for a couple of years and I must admit I’m still about to discover his back catalogue with all the different projects he has done in his career. The project I’m the least familiar with is Strapping Young Lad. My discovery of his Devin Townsend Project records made me buy a ticket for a solo gig in Stockholm before the pandemic hit and even though no songs from any of those were played that evening I was completely floored. That in turn made the booking of Townsend one of the absolute must-see gig this year – and I wasn’t alone in thinking that apparently as the crowd in front of Rock Stage was enormous.
As a performer, Townsend is a natural and extremely entertaining and it doesn’t matter if you don’t know his songs, you’ll be entertained anyway. Only his stage-rap is worth the ticket price – at times it’s close to Heavy Metal stand-up comedy. So unpretentious. This time, there were a couple of songs I knew – “More”, “March Of The Poozers” and opener “Failure” which was nice but to be honest, I didn’t really care because I loved the whole set. Strapping Young Lad stuff like “Aftermath” and closing track “Love?” were blasting, hard-edged numbers that hit hard but never without melodies and “Deadhead” from his Devin Townsend Band was another belter I really loved.
Townsend’s take on Progressive Metal might not be for everyone and it’s certainly not-soak-up-the-sun-with-a-beer festival music but this is so damn good it works everywhere. This was without a doubt one of the highlights of this years festival – if not THE highlight. If/when he ever returns to Swedish soil with his brilliant band – all killer musicians – I will be there. Just splendid.
ACCEPT
Festival Stage
Despite it’s 12 years since Mark Tornillo joined Accept as their singer, he’s still referred to as the new guy and the version that exists now is the new Accept. Well, the new Accept to me is just as much Accept as the Udo line-up. Well up until now that is. While the band sound exactly like Accept should, with only guitarist Wolf Hoffmann as the remaining original member and the new members being very anonymous, Accept feels more like Wolf Hoffmann’s solo band now that Peter Baltes left the ship. When Baltes was still around, it felt more like a real band and as a live-act they have impressed the hell out of me every time I’ve seen them.
The band’s two latest albums, however, weren’t Accept strongest unfortunately but as I live act I have no doubt they will deliver the goods as usual. And they did. That being said, the opening with two new songs, “Zombie Apocalypse” and “Symphony Of Pain” felt a bit stale, like not too many in the very big crowd weren’t familiar with them. But things changed right off the bat when first “Living For Tonite” and then “Restless And Wild” turned up. Classic songs that sent out sparks big time. A couple of the lesser known newer songs took the edge off slightly but nothing that made the gig less killer.
“Objection Overruled” was a happy surprise and Tornillo songs like the brilliant “Shadow Soldiers” and “Teutonic Terror” worked like a charm and to point out just how well the trio of “Princess Of The Dawn”, “Fast As A Shark” and “Metal Heart” were received is completely unnecessary. It’s really mind-blowing just how little Udo is missed on the older classics. The ending is nothing short of phenomenal with first the medley of “Demon’s Night”/”Starlight”/”Losers And Winners”/”Flash Rockin’ Man”, then the mighty “Balls To The Wall” and the surprise that was “I’m A Rebel”. Accept did a killer concert even though it felt like the Hoffmann/Tornillo show and if it was up to me, I would have taken o few new ones out and replaced them with some oldies. It’s a festival gig after all. The guys seemed to have the best of times, though and my guess is that Accept isn’t going away anytime soon. Thankfully.
CD & Festival reviews 