Short review from Sweden Rock.
ThraX did a solid performance, not outstanding though. Maybe I was standing in a bad place but the first few songs sounded "not so good", Joeys voice drowned in the drums and bass (no other band seemed to suffer from this but anyway, it was just temporary). It got better though and by the time they got to Medusa the entire field were on their feet, jumping and moshing and Mr. Wu and co. seemed to enjoy it! The funniest thing was the guy near the moshpit with a puppet on his hand miming along with Joey, retarded and fucking funny. Danny and Joey looked very happy to be back on stage with the others. And one thing I liked better this time was the abcense of the whole Antisocial-rant. Quick and to the point!
Was it better than Anthrax last time on Sweden Rock? No. Joey is great up front and got the audience moving but John did the same while going totally apeshit on stage. Joey was just going monkeyshit. And myself I don´t care much for reunion or greatest hits tours (Mötley Crüe anyone?) because you basicly know what they are gonna play, a festival gig is hampered by the 1 1/2 hour you´ve got so a lot of songs get axed and when it´s a nostalgiashow like this it get´s even worse. Shock the audience by not playing "Got the time" and play "S.S.C./Stand or fall" instead, there are tons of great Joey-era tunes to choose from. I like surprises but on the other hand most of the people at the festival wanted just a line of hits, the ones that got played when they saw Thrax back in 87 and the tour and festival-gig are for them so I´m in the minority here. Well worth the money though.
Napalm Death were good but they were playing the main stage, guess the festivalpeople didn´t have time to put them on one of the smaller stages. Barney has the funniest mosh/riverdance I´ve seen!
Motörheads gig was great, perfect sound and tight as hell. You don´t go to a Motörhead-gig to be surprised, you´ll know what you get, "Killed by death", "Ace of spades" and "Dancing on your grave" and so on but this one was ace! Nice lightshow too.
The shock of the day was Megadeth. I didn´t have high hopes but damn they were good. Dave didn´t say much they just plowed through the songs. Dave spoke the worst attempts at swedish I´ve ever heard, he almost started laughing himself. Vocal wise he was much better than on any live-recording of Megadeth I´ve ever heard. Puritans might say that this is not the TRÜE Deth but Dave has got a great band with these guys.
Also caught most of Within Temptations show. I never understood the buzz about these opera-metalbands, not my thing. Temptation were pretty good though, I´m no sound technician and the vocals are the main focuspoint with these bands but her voice was so high in the mix that I felt it drowned the instruments. Oh, their cover of Kate Bushs "Running up that hill" sucks.
Morgana Lefay were very good. After some years split up they were back and they had a lot of people in the pit of the smallest stage (Napalm Death should have played on this instead of the main stage I think).
I didn´t see much of Accept, I was disapointed when Udo wasn´t painted Smurf-blue or wearing white pants and a cap so I left.
ThraX did a solid performance, not outstanding though. Maybe I was standing in a bad place but the first few songs sounded "not so good", Joeys voice drowned in the drums and bass (no other band seemed to suffer from this but anyway, it was just temporary). It got better though and by the time they got to Medusa the entire field were on their feet, jumping and moshing and Mr. Wu and co. seemed to enjoy it! The funniest thing was the guy near the moshpit with a puppet on his hand miming along with Joey, retarded and fucking funny. Danny and Joey looked very happy to be back on stage with the others. And one thing I liked better this time was the abcense of the whole Antisocial-rant. Quick and to the point!
Was it better than Anthrax last time on Sweden Rock? No. Joey is great up front and got the audience moving but John did the same while going totally apeshit on stage. Joey was just going monkeyshit. And myself I don´t care much for reunion or greatest hits tours (Mötley Crüe anyone?) because you basicly know what they are gonna play, a festival gig is hampered by the 1 1/2 hour you´ve got so a lot of songs get axed and when it´s a nostalgiashow like this it get´s even worse. Shock the audience by not playing "Got the time" and play "S.S.C./Stand or fall" instead, there are tons of great Joey-era tunes to choose from. I like surprises but on the other hand most of the people at the festival wanted just a line of hits, the ones that got played when they saw Thrax back in 87 and the tour and festival-gig are for them so I´m in the minority here. Well worth the money though.
Napalm Death were good but they were playing the main stage, guess the festivalpeople didn´t have time to put them on one of the smaller stages. Barney has the funniest mosh/riverdance I´ve seen!
Motörheads gig was great, perfect sound and tight as hell. You don´t go to a Motörhead-gig to be surprised, you´ll know what you get, "Killed by death", "Ace of spades" and "Dancing on your grave" and so on but this one was ace! Nice lightshow too.
The shock of the day was Megadeth. I didn´t have high hopes but damn they were good. Dave didn´t say much they just plowed through the songs. Dave spoke the worst attempts at swedish I´ve ever heard, he almost started laughing himself. Vocal wise he was much better than on any live-recording of Megadeth I´ve ever heard. Puritans might say that this is not the TRÜE Deth but Dave has got a great band with these guys.
Also caught most of Within Temptations show. I never understood the buzz about these opera-metalbands, not my thing. Temptation were pretty good though, I´m no sound technician and the vocals are the main focuspoint with these bands but her voice was so high in the mix that I felt it drowned the instruments. Oh, their cover of Kate Bushs "Running up that hill" sucks.
Morgana Lefay were very good. After some years split up they were back and they had a lot of people in the pit of the smallest stage (Napalm Death should have played on this instead of the main stage I think).
I didn´t see much of Accept, I was disapointed when Udo wasn´t painted Smurf-blue or wearing white pants and a cap so I left.
