Having never heard Houston, I was a bit interested in what they would achieve this night. The guys have had some great reviews for the debut CD in the press, some actually called them the big new hope for AOR. My point though is that they proved to be a tight unit and very good players. However, their gig left me a bit cold songwise. Not bad at all, but their mainstream AOR has been done a million times before and after the gig, not one song stuck in my mind. Maybe their brand is better suited for AOR purists.
On the opposite side, Treadstone were a very nice surprise. My guess is that Foo Fighters are a big influence here and though I’m not a big fan of the Foos, these guys really got me going. A high energetic performance with some catchy, hard rocking songs and a lot of groove put a smile on my face and made me want to check these guys out again.
But this night’s winner was the headliner, no doubt. When it comes to melodic hard rock, Treat really has it all. The rhythm section that are bass player Nalley Påhlsson and drummer Jamie Borger must be the tightest Sweden can bring to the table and lead guitarist Anders Wikström is so underrated it’s ridicolous. Why the guy never earned a guitar hero status back in the day is beyond me and this night he was ruthless. Together with keyboardist / rhythm guitarist Patrik Appelgren and lead singer Robert Ernlund they are without a doubt one of Sweden’s finest live acts. Not only Sweden’s, these guys are pure world-class and tonight they showed us that they meant business. Well rehearsed and tight as hell they left no space for mistakes. Their set list was heavily based on the rockier side and only two half ballads, new single ”We Own The Night” and the fantastic ”Get You On The Run” were played. The rest of the set was a killer mix of new stuff like ”The War Is Over”, ”Roar”, ”Papertiger” and ”Skies Of Mongolia” with older favourites like ”Ready For The Taking”, ”World Of Promises” and ”Rev It Up”. The band also took the chance to bring back some older stuff that they don’t usually play. ”Fallen Angel”, ”Strike Without A Warning”, ”Lovestroke” and the magnificent ”Dancing On The Edge” were very welcome back and yours truly hopes that they will stay in their set in the future. As a whole this concert was probably the best I’ve seen them and no fan of melodic rock could possibly have been even a bit disappointed. This is how the big boys do it!
Jon Wilmenius (9/10)
Setlist:
1. The War Is Over
2. Strike Without A Warning
3. Ready For The Taking
4. Paper Tiger
5. Medley:
Changes
Rev It Up
Party All Over
Too Wild
6. We Own The Night
7. Sole Survivor
8. Fallen Angel
9. Roar
10. Get You On The Run
11. Dancing On The Edge
12. Conspiracy
13. Skies Of Mongolia
14. World Of Promises
15. Love Stroke
CD & Festival reviews 