Category Gig/Festival Reviews

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UDR/EMI

When both Steve Dawson (1986) and Graham Oliver (1994) had been erased from the band pictures I sort of left the fold too. From late 1982 onwards SAXON were my heroes, but I thought I´d bought my last album after the uneven “Metalhead” in 1999. When former members started SON OF A BITCH, Later OLIVER/DAWSON SAXON around 1994 I followed closely as they were faithful to the old songs.

Fast forward to 2013, and the release of yet another SAXON album, their 20th studio outing I believe. The cover is just about the same as the previous three or so, but the music. At long last Biff has lead his cohorts back in time, 25 years or so, and created an album almost filled with modern sounding NWOBHM...

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Stället är en sportbar i Gamla Stan och jag blir osäker på om jag kommit rätt så jag frågar vakterna om det är här banden ska spela. Och det ska dem, nere i källaren där klubben Pussy A Go Go huserar och jag känner mig genast mer hemma i de nedre regionerna där det är mörkt och mysigt än bland de fjantiga sportfånarna
När Styggelse från Göteborg gör entré ökar mysfaktorn ordentligt och deras punkiga black gör sig finfint från den här lilla scenen. Det känns exklusivt. Det hörs att Styggelse hämtat näring från den riktigt tidiga blacken och det råa, opolerade angreppet tilltalar mig mycket. Bandet har funnits sedan 2003 och under dessa tio år färdigställt några demos, en EP och fullängdaren ”Heir Today-God Tomorrow”...

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For a band that had a 50 person crowd and a keyboardist with a broken left hand, the Hurricane Kids were surprisingly relaxed for their first ever show. Friends in the crowd were given waves and smiles were exchanged between the band. The vibes onstage were calm and carefree as they prepared their equipment before their set, suggesting that the members are all experienced and natural performers.

And what performers they were. After leaving Jared and Willy to settle onstage for some time, the speakers erupted with thunderous bass. The band walked over to their instruments one­-by-­one to a beautiful and ambient version of a familiar tune that’s eventually recognized as their debut single Tonight­ and by some miracle of fantastically rehearsed timing ­ they burst straight into the song...

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Refused

Jag har aldrig varit så förtjust i punk eller hardcore. Visst, låtsaspunkare var jag ju en tid på 80-talet eller kanske skinhead? För några månader sen mötte jag ett nytt gammalt band och blev störtförälskad. Jag såg ett youtubeklipp där REFUSED spelade New Noice och jag var fast. En hemlig spelning på Umeås kultförklarade scen Scharinska villa i vårvintras var tydligen fenomenal. Jag visst när det skulle var men hade tyvärr förhinder. Scharinska var fullsmockad med folk. Människor klättrade på ytterväggarna för att komma in och en projektor spelade upp konserten på husväggen.

Under året har rapporter strömmat in om Refuseds enorma framgångar från alla kontinenter. Det var bestämt att bandets sista gig skulle vara i Umeå...

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Folkkära Sabaton bjuder på humor, spelglädje och en sjuhelsikes show.

Sabaton är ute på sin gigantiska Swedish Empire Tour som tar dem runt hela världen. Hur de orkar hålla igång som duracell-kaniner kväll efter kväll är ett mysterium.

Efter två intron varav ena var den fantastiska covern på Status Quos Into The Army Now, som likväl hade kunnat framföras live, klättrar publiken nästan på väggarna i all sin iver! När såväl dalmasarna for ut på scenen och smäller av med Ghost Division tänds det en gnista mellan bandet och publik som inte kommer släckas under hela kvällen. Mejeriet i Lund är slutsålt och visar verkligen varför scenen är populär bland artisterna med sina olika avsatser och balkonger.
Sabaton får en helt annan kontakt med publiken än de är vana ...

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This was a gig I’d been looking forward to for a while – three great bands on one bill. These days it’s quite normal for the venue to be half empty for the support bands with lots of people staying in pubs and only arriving for the headliner, but that certainly wasnt the case tonight – even before The Treatment came on, the venue was probably 90% full and people kept on coming in. This meant that when The Treatment took to the stage at 7.30pm they were playing to a capacity crowd.

The Treatment have been going from strength to strength lately with some great tours, most recently supporting KISS and Motley Crue on their US tour – an impressive tour for any band to be on, let alone a band who’s members are so young (I’m not sure any of the band are actually old enough to drink alcohol in the...

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One of the best rock-metal competition of Sweden is getting close to its finish in the year, finding again notable groups to rock with them. Who loves the fresh blood? So, lets headbang hard in the end of the month, -the programme is not less, than ’young fighters’ with Hardcore Superstar in Stockholm- on 21st of December.

Released and unsigned is a competition in Sweden from 2010, clearly for unsigned, talented, and naturally impassioned bands. Guys are coming from everywhere, with different styles, and feelings, but who cares the ruins- just play us, ”nice boys, play, play, play rock ’n roll..”

The prize is huge: winner get the chance to play at Sweden Rock Festival in the next summer, so the stakes are really high, and the flurry also. But the rock audience likes the trilles…

Aft...

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First up tonight were The Howling. They were on stage pretty soon after the doors opened thanks to the venue having an early curfew so they could run a club night after the gig. As a result the place was pretty deserted when they hit the stage, but filled up steadily during their set so by the time they finished, the venue was around half full. This young five piece band blend rock and punk and put in a suitably high energy performance. The bass levels seem excessively high though as you can feel it vibrating the floor and that does detract slightly from the quality of the sound. The singer drops or throws his microphone down regularly with a loud thud – presumably an attempt to show how ”punk” he is but really just making him look like a clumsy fool...

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Tonight’s gig had four bands, but sadly they decided on a stupid idea of opening the doors at 6pm on a weeknight, so too early for most people to get home from work, change and come to a gig, so the first band apparently played to a pretty small crowd. Like most people, I missed them and only arrived just in time to see the band I’d really been looking forward to seeing – German power metal band Orden Ogan.

Orden Ogan are a German power metal band whose latest album (To the end) is very impressive, so I was looking forward to hearing them play some of the songs live. Right from the start they played as they meant to continue – heads banging furiously as they played some great guitar-heavy power metal...

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The night started with the support band – Seven, who come from the Czech republic. Doro fans may know of the band purely because of their guitarist, Honza, who guested at Doro’s 25th anniversary show in 2008, which was recently released on DVD. That is the only reason any of the fans here tonight are likely to have heard of this band. They play progressive metal, but really don’t seem to excite tonights crowd – while they get applause between songs, during their set the crowd seem fairly unimpressed and theres little sign of enthusiasm. Perhaps Doro’s crowd isnt the right audience for Seven.

Next up was the Metal Queen herself – Doro Pesch...