Author: Urban Bolta
Photos: Urban Bolta
Location: Sölvesborg / Sweden
Concert date: 09.06.2011
Attendance: 33
Ticket price: €270 (4-day ticket)
The morning of the festival’s third day, and breakfast too, were still riding high on the previous day’s shows and served up more of that heated debate about heavy metal, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. It couldn’t go on forever, though, because at high noon Steelheart took the stage, and at the very same time so did speed metal champions Agent Steel – with a seemingly re-recruited John Cyriis on vocals. Since nobody has been able to be in two places at once since biblical times, I went for a Solomonic solution: around eleven I wandered over to the deserted grounds, sat down in front of the “Sweden” stage, and was probably one of ten people watching Agent Steel’s soundcheck, before I staggered over to the “Rock” stage a few minutes before twelve.
STEELHEART (Rock stage)
After last year’s onslaught of eighties hard rock at SRF (Cinderella, Y&T, Winger, Guns N’ Roses, The Quireboys, Treat, Pretty Maids…), this year’s edition had a few less acts of the kind – Steelheart were one of them. Because they arrived on the scene relatively late and were inconsistent afterwards, they never reaped any major commercial success, but their name still comes up often among glam rock fans, and they can thank the movie Rock Star (2001) for that. It starred Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Aniston and is, one way or another, tied to Steelheart and their frontman Miljenko Matijević, an American of Croatian roots who spent the first 7 years of his life in Zagreb. Matijević’s inhumanly high vocal acrobatics are Steelheart’s main trademark, so the show was the perfect chance to see for ourselves just how far Miljenko’s voice can carry him in 2011.
The first part of the set was marked by major technical problems, with both guitar and vocals, so the band’s roadie kept hopping around the stage the whole time and unintentionally killed the magic of songs like Gimmie Gimmie and Like Never Before. Things started looking up with the Led Zeppelin cover Black Dog, since Steelheart managed to dress it up in a sound all their own, which is the prerequisite for digesting any cover. They made Black Dog extremely melodic and shook off the blues, thanks mostly to Matijević’s outstanding vocal interpretation. True to the glam rock tradition, bassist Rev Jones (ex-MSG) brought a lively touch to the show with energetic, almost showman-like playing, while on the other side original guitarist Chris Risola was sucking the blood out of the audience with his utterly disinterested attitude. Only after two beers knocked back on stage did the alcohol wake him up enough to start putting some energy into the performance, and such a thoroughly amateur approach is unheard of for a musician of Steelheart’s caliber. The frontman steered the gig well toward the end and proved his quality once more on the closing ballad She’s Gone, where, over calm guitar accompaniment, the vocals stepped into the front line even more intensely, and with sky-high screams on the way out of the song he set off a real wildfire of goosebumps in the crowd. Yes, Miljenko Matijević is still the real deal, but sadly the amateurish preparation left a big black stain on what was happening on stage.
MR. BIG (Festival Stage)
The Americans in Mr. Big had the honor of opening the biggest festival stage on day three, which, with its gargantuan structure and huge “cat walk”, kept watch over the festival goings-on the whole time. After presenting themselves to European audiences on their reunion tour in the fall of 2009, they went into the studio last year, and the result is the excellent album “What If…”, released in January this year. At the end of May they set off on another two-month trek around the Old Continent, and the tour also stopped at the biggest Swedish rock festival. Mr. Big are true music professionals and masters of their craft, so a show at the highest level of execution was no surprise. They kicked off with older songs before touching the current record for the first time with Undertow. The Billy Sheehan (bass) and Paul Gilbert (guitar) duo shone, opening up the floodgates and letting the music flow freely through their veins, which resulted in numerous solo spots, with no excess, no help from the mixing desk, and a completely natural sound – the way the greatest musicians do it. The quartet on stage, led by frontman Eric Martin, was in a good mood in step with the pleasant sunny day and visibly enjoyed serving up the music. The likable, short Martin knew how to tame the pitfalls of the big stage, constantly inviting the crowd to join in and cheer, which kept him busy especially during Gilbert’s breakneck guitar feats. With Just Take My Heart, Merciless and Price You Gotta Pay, the show – a pure-blooded musical treat – raced quickly toward its end. Compared with the limp Steelheart before them, the professional approach and stage chemistry that actually works came across as a real lesson for all the aspiring musicians out there, and Mr. Big once again proved themselves a team of outstanding individuals who know how to subordinate personal qualities to a well-oiled collective. The rockers ended the show as expected with the ballad To Be With You, which, of course, thrilled especially the gentler half of the audience.
ICED EARTH (Rock stage)
Right after Mr. Big’s show ended, American power metallers Iced Earth were already calling people to the front of the stage on the other side of the grounds – no time to rest, so forget about it fast! After the summer festival tour is over, vocalist Matt Barlow will be leaving the Iced Earth story for the second time, reportedly for good, so for all the Swedish Iced Earth fans the show was a kind of farewell to Barlow – the trademark of Iced Earth’s hard-hitting front line of the nineties. Jon Schaffer and company spread out across the stage without much fanfare and opened an hour-long get-together with the song Burning Times (“Something Wicked This Way Comes”, 1998). The good sound from the very start was the precondition for pure, enthusiastic metal enjoyment, and the balance between the intensity of the guitar duels, the vocals and the rhythm machinery was well tuned. Jon Schaffer, with his recognizable galloping tempo and ever deathly cold stare, dictated what went on around him and overshadowed the rest of the band with his charisma. Vocalist Matt Barlow still handles both the higher and mid-range parts excellently, which was audible for instance on the ballad I Died For You, where the abilities of his voice came to the fore even more during the calmer acoustic sections, and he also enviably held his own with the legacy of the songs from the Ripper era, Declaration Day and Jack. The recognizable sped-up tempo and breathtaking multi-voice choruses didn’t manage to wake up the festival crowd as much as we’re used to at Iced Earth gigs, but given the excellent display of crazy riffs, technical chops and tightness, it wasn’t particularly bothersome. For the cherry on top of the cream, Iced Earth served us the onslaught of The Hunter, Prophecy and Iced Earth and ended one of the most appealing metal sets of the festival in grand style.
STRYPER (Sweden stage)
Although Stryper seem at first glance like a typical American eighties hard rock band, unlike many of their peers they’re a bit easier to catch on European stages. Stryper are known for their strongly religious conviction, which shows in their music through faith-tinged lyrics, and at their shows through in-between speeches spreading “God’s truth”. Because of this rather unusual allegiance in the world of rock, Stryper have an army of fervent fans on one side and plenty of opponents on the other, who can’t stomach their at times pathetic lyrics. Hoping for the best possible concert with the smallest possible dose of the “God” component, I too headed off toward a new melodic hard rock experience.
Right away, Robert Sweet’s drum kit stood out, turned toward the right side of the stage, so we were looking at the original drummer from the side the whole time, and he didn’t look toward the audience even once. Why that is, I don’t know – maybe he has some new phobia of crowds, who knows. After the overture Stryper immediately hit with one of their best songs, Murder By Pride, the title track of the studio album from two years ago, “Murder By Pride”, and continued with Loud ‘n’ Clear, before frontman Michael Sweet put down his guitar and devoted himself solely to vocal duties on the cover of Ozzy’s Over the Mountain. While Sweet was getting ready, Oz Fox, the lead guitarist of Stryper dressed in the signature yellow-and-black combo, delivered the first words of the day’s “revelation” to the crowd. In line with the album “The Covering”, released in February, the American rockers went on to serve up more covers, Breaking The Law (Judas Priest) and Heaven & Hell (Black Sabbath), before turning to their most recognizable melodic rock tales. The charismatic Michael Sweet took advantage of the range of his vocal abilities and, with help from the backing vocals in the choruses and excellent guitar duels, created the real melodic explosions Stryper are famous for. The choice of songs was also clearly geared toward the more melodic material, which only comes fully alive in concert and creates those indescribably ecstatic moments in the crowd. All For One, The Way, the outstanding To Hell With The Devil and the metal-flavored Soldiers Under Command wrapped up what was, in my opinion, one of the (best) shows of this year’s SRF – provided, of course, that I don’t count the constant tossing of mini Bibles into the crowd below the stage.
HELLOWEEN (Rock stage)
After the successful European winter “7 Sinners” tour, which we also caught at Kino Šiška, Helloween’s wandering around moved into the festival phase. In keeping with the resounding name of the founding fathers of European power metal, they played a prime evening slot on the Rock stage, right before the headliners. As luck would have it, at exactly the same time thrash metal champions from the American East Coast, Overkill, were tearing it up on the Zeppelin stage. Helloween did a joint tour of the Old Continent with them in the late eighties, and more than two decades later fans of both bands were put in the situation of having to choose which one to watch.
Helloween stuck to the proven setlist from the previous leg of the tour, so the start went to the first single from the current album, Are You Metal?, even before the classics Eagle Fly Free and March of Time. I didn’t expect any major unknowns or surprises from Helloween, since this was already the fourth time I’d seen them on the current tour. The band was in very good spirits that night, which showed mostly in barely noticeable stage shenanigans and in poking fun at each other, with the two elder statesmen, guitarist Michael Weikath and bassist Markus Grosskopf, leading the way. The spontaneous and mocking interludes fit well with the generally positive energy in the lineup, which of course quickly spread to the large crowd. In the first half the likable Germans treated us to solo spots, first from guitarist Sascha Gerstner and then from drummer Dani Löble, before charging on with their classic eighties material, the song I’m Alive and the medley Keeper of the Seven Keys / The King for a 1000 Years / Helloween. Time flew by while watching the whimsical goings-on on stage, but unfortunately, because of a somewhat shorter slot compared with their solo shows, Helloween skipped quite a few songs, instead of skipping, say, Deris’s marathon crowd warm-up before the exit of I Want Out. For Deris’s excessive chatter and the many solo detours at the expense of fewer songs played, Helloween deserve a good slap on the wrist, and the German heavy metal ambassadors closed the show, which had a black-and-white aftertaste, with Doctor Stein.
WHITESNAKE (Festival stage)
After the 2009 media witch hunt against David Coverdale, accusing him of using pre-recorded vocal lines at live shows, the Whitesnake mastermind threatened to end his music career and disband the group, but luckily he didn’t go through with such a radical move in the end. Good thing, too, because Whitesnake silenced all the nasty tongues after the not-so-convincing album “Good to be Bad” (2008) with a surprisingly good-sounding follow-up, “Forevermore” (2011), which also brought the band back among relevant acts in terms of studio highlights. After a short May tour across the Atlantic and before kicking off the joint tour with Judas Priest, Whitesnake presented themselves as Friday night’s headliners to the Swedish congregation at the festival, where they had already wowed people back in 2006.
Surprisingly, Whitesnake opened the show with the hard-hitting single from the previous album, Best Years. David Coverdale is obviously very proud of the 2008 record, because on the previous tour it was regularly represented by three to four songs, and one of them has held on to as important a spot as the very intro to the show as the band walks on stage. On the right stood blond guitarist Doug Aldrich, on the far left was Winger guitarist Reb Beach, next to him the newcomer to the lineup, bassist Michael Devin, and behind them drummer Brian Tichy and the almost unnoticeable keyboardist Brian Ruedy. Throughout the set, solo spots aside, of course, the band stayed in the shadow of the charismatic and idiosyncratic leader David Coverdale, the absolute chieftain of what happened on stage. Vocally, the nightingale, now almost 60, came off relatively confident, even though he was visibly saving energy wherever he could.
After the opening feeling-out, Whitesnake attacked with all guns blazing, playing the ever-present Give Me All Your Love and Love Ain’t No Stranger, served up tactically by the technically polished Aldrich / Beach duo and with a blistering vocal interpretation from Coverdale. We had barely recovered from the initial punch when a keyboard intro followed, flowing into the easy tempo of the ballad Is This Love, where the charming David Coverdale laid all his weapons on the table. Dressed in a snow-white, slightly unbuttoned shirt combined with a black leather coat, the aging lover seduced the ladies in the crowd with looks and sexy gestures right at the edge of the stage.
The middle part of the concert was entirely devoted to presenting the current album “Forevermore”. Word about this sinfully good new release has obviously reached most rock-minded souls, because Sweden Rock had a firm grip on most of the new lyrics and joined Coverdale in singing along. Steal Your Heart Away, the acoustic Forevermore and Love Will Set You Free with its intensely stretched-out finale were bang on target. On the way out of the current single, Doug Aldrich and Reb Beach “got tangled up” in a real guitar war, coaxing technically flawless passages out of the necks of their beloved axes, albeit with barely perceptible blues rhetoric – both were hard rock through and through, which is also audible in Whitesnake’s hard-edged style of the past decade. Another fresh-off-the-press song, My Evil Ways, rounded the middle part into a sensible whole, this time with a solo excursion from Tichy sitting at the drum stool, who proved he doesn’t earn his bread at Whitesnake for nothing.
Big moments followed, as Coverdale introduced the first guest of the night. It was none other than Bernie Marsden, the man partly responsible for the bluesy sound of early Whitesnake, where he stuck around until 1982. The old boy has put on a lot of weight over the years, but of course on stage that doesn’t matter – only the music counts. Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City and Fool For Your Lovin’ sounded fresh and genuine with Marsden’s delicate, refined touches, while a smiling Coverdale merely laid his verses over the original guitarist’s phrases on routine. The flow of events ran logically on with the sugar-coated American version of the hit Here I Go Again, where Marsden was joined by the second guest – the esteemed Adrian Vandenberg! Although the two were never in the lineup at the same time, they handled the job with confidence, and likewise in the encore with the evergreen Still Of The Night, where there was room on stage for all four guitarists. On this vocally demanding epic classic, Coverdale’s voice audibly slid toward the lower registers compared with the original – you just can’t escape the years, no matter how hard you try.
So how do we rate Whitesnake’s show in 2011? Those of us there could be thrilled with the choice of guests and enjoy the live presentation of the album “Forevermore”, but we could also be disappointed that only thirteen songs were played in a good hour and a half of programme. The reason lies in the abundance of solo spots, whose aim was to give Coverdale’s battered throat a rest, at least for a moment. Whether it’s worth paying a lot of money for a bit less music, I’ll leave for you to decide.
Photos: Anna Winberg (Steelheart, Whitesnake), Robert Helberg (Helloween, Whitesnake), Stefan Johansson (Stryper), Dejan Terzan (Mr. Big)
Setlist
Performers: 11:30 — 12:15 HOUSTON (Zeppelin) 12:00 — 13:15 STEELHEART (Rock) 12:15 — 13:00 SLIDIN’ SLIM (Rockklassiker) 12:15 — 13:15 AGENT STEEL (Sweden) 13:30 — 14:45 MR. BIG (Festival) 13:45 — 14:45 The BREW (Zeppelin) 15:00 — 16:15 EVERGREY (Sweden) 15:00 — 16:15 ICED EARTH (Rock) 15:15 — 16:15 ALIEN (Rockklassiker) 16:00 — 17:00 JASON & The SCORCHERS (Zeppelin) 16:30 — 18:00 DOWN (Festival) 17:30 — 18:30 ELECTRIC WIZARD (Zeppelin) 18:15 — 19:45 MUSTASCH (Rock) 18:15 — 19:45 STRYPER (Sweden) 18:30 — 19:30 MATS RONANDER (Rockklassiker) 20:00 — 21:30 ROB ZOMBIE (Festival) 20:15 — 21:30 DOC HOLLIDAY (Zeppelin) 21:45 — 22:45 CHIPS & KANTFRAN SATOR (Rockklassiker) 21:45 — 23:15 HELLOWEEN (Rock) 21:45 — 23:15 OVERKILL (Sweden) 23:30 — 02:00 WHITESNAKE (Festival) 24:00 — 01:30 GHOST (Zeppelin) STEELHEART setlist: 1. Blood Pollution 2. Gimmie Gimmie 3. Like Never Before 4. Cabernet 5. Black Dog 6. We All Die Young 7. Sheila 8. ? 9. Everybody Loves Eileen 10. Stand Up ——————– 11. She’s Gone MR. BIG setlist: 1. Daddy, Brother, Lover, Little Boy (The Electric Drill Song) 2. Take Cover 3. Green-Tinted Sixties Mind 4. Undertow 5. Alive And Kickin’ 6. American Beauty 7. Just Take My Heart 8. Merciless & Guitar solo 9. Still Ain’t Enough for Me 10. Road To Ruin 11. Price You Gotta Pay 12. Colorado Bulldog 13. Around The World 14. As Far As I Can See & Bass solo 15. Addicted To That Rush 16. To Be With You ICED EARTH setlist: 1. Burning Times 2. Declaration Day 3. Vengeance Is Mine 4. Violate 5. Last December 6. Travel in Stygian 7. I Died for You 8. Jack 9. The Hunter 10. Prophecy 11. Birth Of The Wicked 12. The Coming Curse —————- 13. Iced Earth STRYPER setlist: 1. Sing-Along Song 2. Murder by Pride 3. Loud ‘n’ Clear 4. Over the Mountain 5. The Rock That Makes Me Roll 6. Reach Out 7. Calling on You 8. Free 9. More Than a Man 10. Breaking the Law 11. Heaven and Hell 12. Surrender 13. All for One 14. The Way —————— 15. Abyss 16. To Hell With the Devil 17. Soldiers Under Command HELLOWEEN setlist: 1. Are You Metal? 2. Eagle Fly Free 3. March of Time & Guitar Solo (Sascha Gerstner) 4. Where the Sinners Go & Drum Solo 5. I’m Alive 6. Keeper of the Seven Keys / The King for a 1000 Years / Halloween 7. Steel Tormentor 8. Future World 9. I Want Out —————— 10. Dr. Stein WHITESNAKE setlist: 1. Best Years 2. Give Me All Your Love 3. Love Ain’t No Stranger 4. Is This Love 5. Steal Your Heart Away 6. Forevermore 7. Love Will Set You Free 8. Guitar Duel 9. My Evil Ways 10. Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City 11. Fool For Your Lovin’ 12. Here I Go Again ———————— 13. Still Of The Night
Photo Gallery
