tivolirock_2006_07

» Tivolirock 2006 07 15

~Written by David, July 2006
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Tivolirock is a part of Kristianstadsdagarna, another one of those city festivals, which every town with dignity in Sweden must have once a summer. But it is also a music feast for itself, with an impressive number of visitors and with a quite varied lineup. The headline act was Thåström, famous since his punk rocking days in Ebba Grön and Imperiet. We also got a reunion of Dia Psalma, another old punkpop band, pop with Eskobar and Whyte Seeds, humor with Joddla med Siv and rap with Snook and Advanced Patrol. But MetalCovenant did as usual, and picked out the ugly raisins to eat the sweet biscuit. In other words, here are the metal acts:

Sabaton

About ten minutes late Sabaton entered the stage at Tivolirock in Kristianstad. Some problems with the sound equipment had led to panic and a very short soundcheck in the last minute. Amazingly enough it sounded quite okay (although not that loud), at least after a couple of songs. Unfortunately the arrangers had underestimated the interest for the band and given them only 45 minutes. With the delay there were not much time left to please the quite big crowd. But the band was eager to play again after a couple of months rest.

We got two and a half songs from the new album Attero Dominatus. Nuclear Attack of course, which they played already in March in Växjö. To my pleasure Rise Of Evil was the other. The epic history lesson about the Third Reich was slightly shortened to eight minutes but took up a big part of the set. It takes some courage to play an unreleased song that long, but since it is the best song on the forthcoming album, it was the right thing to do. At the end of the set, Metal Machine faded into Metal Crüe, with Christian Eriksson from Skyride as guest singer/screamer. Before that there had been community singing on Primo Victoria, as usual. If there is one band that can pour out the maximum out of 40 minutes, it is Sabaton. But nevertheless one wants more.

SETLIST:

Panzer Battalion
Wolfpack
Into The Fire
Rise Of Evil
Nuclear Attack
Primo Victoria
Metal Machine/Crüe

7 chalices of 10

As usual, I (almost literally) ran into the band members a couple of times. Although Attero Dominatus is not yet released, they are already looking ahead to the next album. Or even the one after that… Bassist Pär Sundström promised that Joakim Brodén already has written a lot of amazingly qualitative material for the next record. Some of it was even in question for this release, but they chose to save it.
- Joakim has not reached his peak yet as a songwriter. It will take another three records at least. He is full of ideas, Pär emphasized.
Brodén himself promised that next record will be a step forward, after the 'twin' albums Primo Victoria and Attero Dominatus.
- You cannot do the same thing a third time. I am glad that I have these amazing guys in the band, who always take their time to listen to my crazy song ideas before rejecting them, Joakim said.
One can only say that - if true - it sounds promising for the future.

Hardcore Superstar

Hardcore Superstar is a band that I never thought about including in my tight schedule at Sweden Rock Festival this summer. But at a festival like this, they suddenly appear as one of the top interests to check out. Thence I had no particular expectations on Sweden's answer to Mötley Crüe, but they delivered a show full of energetic sleaze rock. They attracted a great crowd at this late evening and everyone got what they were looking for. Although the only song I immediately recognized was the recent hit We Don't Celebrate Sundays, I stayed the whole set though. The band might look as a young, but already impressively shabby, version of Rolling Stones. Or perhaps as the cast from Pirates Of The Caribbean. But besides from a sudden power failure, which left the band without sound in the middle of a song, it was a great concert.

(sorry, no setlist)

7 chalices of 10

Soilwork

Knowing that Soilwork has been reviewed two times already on MetalCovenant in a couple of weeks (by Anders from Peace & Love and by Thomas from Metaltown), I will keep it short. Soilwork is a great live act - tight musicianship, energetic stage movements and a mighty front man in Björn Strid. But after having seen the same set two times in a week, I must say that although they have a couple of great albums in the catalogue, there is something missing in the song material. Perhaps they lack that hit song everyone is waiting for - or tired of. Now it is more of an even mass of melodic aggression. A lot of "hm, Follow The Hollow/Stalemate/As We Speak is a great song" and few "I can't believe that I finally get to hear this live", so to speak. Anyway I'm glad that I got to see them so soon after Metaltown. That concert almost got lost in the merciless sun and heat.

(sorry, no setlist)

7 chalices of 10

David, July 2006