Sweden Rock Festival 2010

Going to Sweden Rock Festival this year? Excellent, so are we watching all the action as it happens and writing short reviews and taking photos from all the stages throughout the weekend.  We will be kicking off our Sweden Rock Festival coverage on Wednesday 9th June, so keep checking back for updates and pics from one of Europe’s most popular Rock festivals

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Wednesday 9th June

Let there be rock……

Had a long drive from Stockholm down to Norje and once we got settled in our cabin, about 10 min walk from the festival area, we went down to check out legendary glam rocker Michael Monroe. This guy is energy incarnated, he flies around the stage like a rubber band in tights. The pure energy he’s giving make this show the perfect act to start this year’s SRF adventure.

Quireboys… what can you say? These guys know how to rock n’ roll. A big crowd had gathered to see them and the band got them hooked. No one in their right mind can stand still when these guys play, including yours truly.

U.D.O. – Everybody knows that this little guy rocks your balls right into the wall every time he’s on stage…. ’nuff said

Thursday 10th June

Went up to the festival area and Nazareth were playing. Experienced guys who knows what they’re doing… nothing more, nothing less as far as I am concerned, I guess the thousand of fans that attended has a great deal to say about that.

A big crowd had gathered to see swedish 80′s band TREAT whom succeeded in covering their career thanks to a medley that held the most popular songs from the early days. They have a new record out, and they let us hear a lot of song from that, which is good, cause it’s a cool album. If you haven’t heard it yet… check it out.

Y&T did a great set and honored the late Ronne James Dio with a cover of Rainbow in the Dark, Y&T-style. Singer and guitarist Dave Meniketti played like a blues god, he has a “hang” on his notes that few guitar players can pull off. Unfortunately Mother’s Finest played on the neighbouring stage, so I had to run back and forth to try to cover both sets. MF were grooving, making the crowd dance around like crazy.

Quireboys again… this time unplugged. You would think that since they played last night, people would be reluctant to see them again, this was not the case. Not only did they pack that little tent, they played with such happiness the audience went wild and called them back three times. The singer Spike couldn’t stop smiling, and I couldn’t either.

Jorn went on during Quireboys so I missed the first half of his show, but after the magic Quireboys radiated, the Jorn show felt dull and shallow. I’m a big fan on Jorn’s. Jørn Lande is a terrific singer and cool sword-metal music and I probably would have dug it a lot if he’d play at another time… sorry Jorn.

Aerosmith started off great… I thought to myself, this in going to be better that last time. BUT… after about six or seven songs I got bored of the blues jam they set up, so I went over to the DIO stage and checked out Mayhem instead. What can I say about that? I’m no death metal fan per se, so I will not attempt to review the show. But I can tell you it was loud and very visual. I really like the way the singer moved in slo-mo while the music hammered on like a machine gun on speed. It was cool.

Friday 11th June

Friday morning, I woke up and the rain from yesterday is mercilessly pouring over the festival area. I put my shorts on, grabbed my leather jacket and straw hat and headed out in the pouring rain to check out american 70′s rockers Bigelf who opened friday’s shows. A great show with a very charismatic singer/keyboard player that took the weather defying crowd back 30 years in time.

Bigelf on stage    •••  Photo 2 by Tallee Savage

Next it was MSG who took possession of the Festival Stage, a stage that felt too big for this band. However they did an alright show for scattered die-hard fans who showed up in the pour.