DYNAZTY
Sweden Stage
Swedish Metal boys Dynazty kicked my festival off. I have seen this lot numerous of times before and I have never been disappointed and I wasn’t this time either. There were some sound issues this time though that made the experience somewhat daft but the band’s energetic performance wasn’t affected in any way. The material was picked from the band’s later records when they went from a plain Hard Rock out fit to a heavier unit. As a fan of both I would have loved to hear some earlier material but it’s understandable as they’re a different beast now.
The band came on hard sand on edge and opened with “In The Arms Of A Devil”, “Firesign” and “Natural Born Killer” like their lives depended on it. The guys are visual and most of the time it feels like they have five frontmen. And speaking of frontmen, singer Nils Molin has grown into a secure and natural frontman who really knows how to grab an audience and the response was there after. The band finished the set with the über melodic “Waterfall” that holds a chorus made of superglue followed by the heavy punchers “Presence Of Mind” and “The Human Paradox”, easily one of the band’s finest songs. When the encore “Heartless Madness” kicked in it stood clear that Dynazty’s gig was a winner and I’d be surprised if they didn’t win one over at least a few new fans. Well done.
SOILWORK
Festival Stage
Even though I’m a fan of lead singer Björn Strid’s side projects At The Movies and The Night Flight Orchestra – the latter has more or less turned into his main project – I have never really listened to Soilwork all that much. Their hardcore Metal with growly vocals hasn’t really spoken to me with the expectation of a few more melodic tracks. But as I was nearby I thought I’d give them a shot anyway. And I wasn’t alone in that. Soilwork’s crowd was massive. Huge. Even the band themselves were surprised by how many showed up, something that gave the band an extra spark, most likely. And what a spark that was.
From opener “Övergivenheten” to closing track “Stålfågel”, the band gave us all a beating deluxe. As I’m not that familiar with their songs, not much was recognizable but that mattered little because Soilwork ran me over like a freight train on steroids. The whole band was on fire and their joy of playing shone through massively. If there’s something I really love it’s when I unexpectedly get floored by a band and that’s what happened with Soilwork. It was a brilliant gig, everything from sound to the songs and the performance. Way to go, guys and thank you very much.
DEF LEPPARD
Festival Stage
Def Leppard has never left me disappointed after a gig and I’ve seen the band on numerous occasions. The band has a treasure chest of songs and hits enough to last a lifetime. That’s why I have major expectations whenever I see them live and in all honesty, bands have a tendency to lose their mojo the older they get and The Leppards are now in their 60’s. They also have a new album out, Diamond Star Halos, an album I genuinely dig. The fact that they open up with a song from that record, “Take What You Want” is a brave move because let’s face it, lots of people just don’t wanna hear new stuff. But it worked. It worked really well and that song and “Kick”, a T. Rex influenced glamrocker and a new song sit very well beside the old classics. And old classics is being served big time tonight.
“Let’s Get Rocked”, “Animal”, “Foolin'” and “Armageddon It” follows before “Kick” is played and there’s no way they’re gonna lose with songs like that. And they don’t. Ballads on festivals aren’t always the best choice but a tune like “Love Bites” is a must and so is the fabulous “Bringin’ On The Heartbreak” but unfortunately Def Leppard gives us a couple of ballads too many. The new country flavored ballad “This Guitar” is ok on record but live it’s a pretty dull tune and became the set’s “let’s get a beer/take a piss” moment and the following “When Love And Hate Collides” was always a throw away and kept us at the bar before “Rocket” shook the place back into order again.
“Promises” is a tune that has become a standard for the band and rightfully so. It has all the Hysteria vibes to make it a bona fide Def Lep classic and it works really well live. The instrumental rocker “Switch 625” with an inserted drum-solo didn’t exactly kick-start the party either. I mean, I like the track but Def Leppard has at least 20 songs I’d rather hear than that one. The ending with “Hysteria”, “Pour Some Sugar On Me”, “Rock Of Ages” and “Photograph” was splendid and made Def Leppard one of the festival’s winners despite a few dips during the show. Of course with a band like Def Leppard there will always be songs you wish they’d played but hey, they can only play for so long. For me personally, Def Leppard is welcome to play SRF every damn year!
MÖTLEY CRÜE
Festival Stage
Recently most of the talk when it comes to The Crue has been about them breaking their “never tour again” contract, the dismissal of guitarist Mick Mars and if they play live or if they’re just another playback act. Personally, I don’t really care as I have been done with the band as a live act since 2005. The last times I have seen them they’ve been horrible and in 2015 it was painful to watch. Especially Vince Neil. This means that my expectations were below zero. The first thing I thought about was that new guitarist John 5 fits in really well visually and that the guy is a terrific guitarist is hardly a secret.
Did they play live then? Yeah, sure they did but they did use pre recorded tracks, sometimes more, sometimes less. To start going on about the set list here is pointless because they play the same songs on every tour so no surprises there. They opened with “Wild Side” and closed with “Kickstart My Heart” and in between we got the usual suspects. “Shout At The Devil”, “Live Wire”, “Looks That Kill”, “Dr Feelgood”… yeah, you know the drill. The only new songs added was a new track “The Dirt”, a mediocre track, mostly on backing track with Neil lip syncing his way through it and a medley of “Rock’n’Roll”/”Smokin’ In The Boys Room”/”Helter Skelter”/”Anarchy In The UK”/”Blitzkrieg Bop”. Yes a cover-medley. I could have done without that.
Mötley Crüe wasn’t as horrible as in 2015 but pretty damn close. I guess the backing tracks helped. It’s a pity because I have always been a fan of the band. Why milk this into absurdity? They already have millions. But then again, when people choose to buy tickets why shouldn’t they? No, Mötley Crüe wasn’t any good this time but I didn’t expect them to either.
CD & Festival reviews 