H.E.A.T
Festival Stage
When Erik Grönwall announced that he was leaving H.E.A.T I was worried. I was never a huge fan of the band’s two first records and the first time I saw them live was after the debut and I wasn’t impressed. Everything turned when Grönwall joined. That’s when I became a big fan of the band. I saw them live plenty of times with Erik and they were fabulous. Now, I know Kenny Leckremo is a great singer but Grönwall’s shoes aren’t all that easy to fill. Their latest album Force Majeure proved that I had nothing to worry about, it’s awesome but I was yet to be proven that Kenny could fill Erik’s shoes live. So I was both excited and a bit intimidated when I went to catch the old-new H.E.A.T in concert.
When the band opened with the leading single off the latest album, “Back To The Rhythm” it took about 30 seconds for all my worries to take a hike. The deliverance was total and the band fired on all cylinders. Kenny also proved that he had no problem bringing the Grönwall songs home with the three following numbers “Dangerous Ground”, “Rock Your Body” and “Redefine”. Kenny nailed them. The new song “Hollywood” went down a storm and it was obvious that the crowd knew their new stuff as well. “Tainted Blood”, a deep cut, kept the ass-kicking going and so did “One By One”, another deep-cut. “Beg Beg Beg” and “1000 Miles” are both songs every H.E.A.T fan knows and they became big sing-alongs.
Kenny made the brilliant “Living On The Run” his own and the fast-paced “Nationwide” brought on some bonafide Hard Rock headbanging in the front rows before my favorite H.E.A.T song “A Shot Of Redemption” ended the set in the best of ways and made sure H.E.A.T were a winning unit this noon. H.E.A.T showed us – like so many times before – that they belong in the Hard Rock first division because they’re a pure world-class as a live act. Kenny’s a brilliant frontman and I noticed that I didn’t miss Erik at all – the guy was all over the place, running around like a parboiled rat and I started to wonder whether the guy would have a heart-attack in the heat of the sun.
The only thing that confused me a bit was why they got such an early slot. After 15 years and a growing popularity they sure would have deserved a spot later in the day. They’re way past being an opening act at a festival like this. Judging by the size of the crowd, no one was complaining and fact is, their music really suits a daylight gig. Also judging by the size of the crowd they could might as well had been a headliner – they sure deserve to be. Due to a killer setlist, a marvelous performance by all members and the sheer love of playing shining through H.E.A.T was one of this festival’s real highlights.
TNT
Rock Stage
I don’t know how many times singer Tony Harnell has been in and out of TNT by now but the fact is, he’s back in the band together with original members Ronni Le Tekro (guitar) and Diesel Dahl (drums) and that’s the only TNT that interests me. The last time I saw this line-up back in 2014 they were really damn good so I had some high hopes. Unfortunately sound issues showed its ugly head during opener “As Far As The Eye Can See” and Le Tekro’s guitar wasn’t audible at all. However, that was fixed pretty quick but more problems came around almost directly as there was some slack in the monitors which gave a scraping sound through out the concert.
To follow a classic with “She Needs Me”, a “newer” song that few knows wasn’t a great move either even though “Tonight I’m Falling” rescued the situation. However, the same mistake was made again. “My Religion”, “Downhill Racer” and “Invisible Noise” are all good tunes but it stood clear that very few in the audience knew them judging by the lukewarm reaction. I love the Realized Fantasies (1992) and therefore I welcomed “Downhill Racer” but I was pretty alone in doing that. And when when those songs were over they followed them with a ballad. “Northern Lights” is a brilliant song but it’s hardly anything that raises a festival pulse, especially not after three songs that hardly anyone knows. Bad move.
But somehow TNT managed to save the situation with the remaining four songs “Intuition”, “Forever Shine On”, “10 000 Lovers” and “Seven Seas”. Everyone knew them, that was for sure. All in all, TNT played a good gig but after watching H.E.A.T only moments before TNT felt way more laid-back. I know they want to play songs from their whole catalogue but the fact is they made a gig that could’ve been great only good – tops. I mean, where was “Everyone’s A Star”? “Caught Between The Tigers”? “Take Me Down”? And why didn’t they open with “Tell No Tales”? My final judgement will still be that I was disappointed. I had hoped for more. More recognizable songs and truth be told, more action.
IRON MAIDEN
Festival Stage
When I saw Iron Maiden at SRF back in 2018, I hadn’t seen the band live since 2000. I was floored then and damned myself that I had missed them on so many occasions. So, when they were booked again, I was very, very pleased. Now we all know that Iron Maiden doesn’t do bad gigs. Ever. They don’t know how to that. But it also matters how much of a fan you are. Iron Maiden fans can be hardcore. So hardcore that they love everything they play as long as they play. I’m not such a fan. I have my favorites and I have my dislikes. The word that they would base their set on the Somewhere In Time album was inauspicious for me as I’m not a huge fan of that album. It’s my least favorite 80’s Maiden album after the weak Killers albeit not a bad album per se.
They opened up with “Caught Somewhere In Time”, a song that I do like and it sounded brilliant. “Stranger In A Strange Land” was never a favorite of mine but somehow got a new life this evening. Again it sounded awesome. So of course they decided to play not only one newer track but three in a row. The first one, “The Writings On The Wall” is a killer on record and it worked good enough for me but “Days Of Future Past” and “The Time Machine” made my mind drift elsewhere and didn’t work at all. “The Prisoner” was a nice surprise though. A phenomenal tune that I had never witnessed live and brought me back into action – for a little while at least.
“Death of The Celts” felt like a million years long and I found myself moving away from the crowd and I spotted the trio of “Can I Play With Madness”, “Heaven Can Wait” and “Alexander The Great” was heard from afar. Sure, it sounded good but my mood was down. The closing with “Fear Of The Dark” and “Iron Maiden” sounded pretty good from the bar and then when the band left stage, I left the Festival Stage area which meant that I missed the encores. “Hell On Earth” (really?), “The Trooper” and “Wasted Years” were said encores. Again. Maiden are never bad but the setlist wasn’t really for me, I guess. Also, this is a festival so keep the new stuff to a minimum. Iron Maiden has a treasure chest of classic and most of those classics weren’t there tonight.
I don’t ever wanna hear “Rock And Roll All Nite” again but if I see Kiss I want them to play it. There are numerous of songs like that. Iron Maiden have them too. “Run To The Hills”. “The Number Of The Beast”. “Two Minutes To Midnight”. “Hallowed Be Thy Name”. It’s a bit of a shame because the band really seemed to enjoy themselves this evening. They had fun. Bruce Dickinson was in a brilliant mood. He laughed, he joked, he sported a youngster-like behavior that was contagious. He also sang like a motherfucker. Brilliant. This time Iron Maiden didn’t get the full monty from me, their gig was part a sleeper, part damn good.
THRESHOLD
Blåkläder Stage
To close a festival at the smallest stage of the festival after a band like Iron Maiden had played couldn’t be the easiest task in the world. The audience that showed up was probably all fans and very few “check-outs”. At midnight people are usually pretty tired after a whole day of checking out bands and partying. For me, it wasn’t even under discussion. I have loved Threshold since I first heard them back in 2007 and I wasn’t going to miss out on this. Also, the last time I saw them, at Sweden Rock back in 2013, I was a bit disappointed due to very poor sound.
This time sound issues reared its ugly head once more as the guitar disappeared here and there during the first two songs but that was fixed pretty quickly. The setlist was dominated by songs from the Glyn Morgan fronted albums of lately. Which left me kind of disappointed as I love the earlier stuff. I can see no reason whatsoever why they would leave out a song like “Slipstream”. On the other hand, the band is out there promoting the new stuff and playing a festival means a shorter set so some songs have to go. This doesn’t mean that Threshold played a bad set. Quite the contrary – I thought they were awesome.
Now, Threshold is no Kiss so there was no real show to talk about and the members wear the same clothes as they wear when they go grocery shopping. Fact is, I probably wouldn’t recognize any of them if I ran into them. But they can play – and then some. Threshold plays prog-metal the way I want it to. Songs and melodies in focus and instrumental escapades second. And they know how to write killer songs. From opener “Haunted” to closer “Small Dark Lines” not one weak track was played so “Slipstream” or no “Slipstream”, I was really satisfied in the end. Stuff like “Mission Profile”, “Snowblind”, “Lost In Translation” and “King Of Nothing” were superb and Morgan proved that he sounds killer not just on record but also live. I’d love to go see these guys on their own and maybe get a longer set.
CD & Festival reviews 