Sweden Rock Festival 2025

Due to circumstances we started out later this year than previous years. Tuesday morning at 10am we started the journey south and we arrived at 4:30pm. Got the tents up, exchanged our tickets for wristbands, got some food, and then we could finally get the party started. The festival started properly on Wednesday. First band I saw was Wind Rose. I had previously only heard their version of Diggy Diggy Hole so that was the only song I knew. They were really great live, though, and once they finished I ended up saving their This Is playlist on Spotify to listen more to them later.

Next up was Jinjer. A band I had heard a lot about, but never really listened to. Still, other people in the camp were going to see them so I decided to tag along. It was an experience for sure and they were really great. Amazing stage presence! Another This Is playlist saved on Spotify. 

After Jinjer I decided to head to the official merch stand and get my first Slipknot T-shirt since I was fifteen. Skillet was starting 15 minutes after Jinjer ended, but I figured I could get my shirt and head to the stage in 15 minutes. It's usually possible. However, they had payment issues and it took me FORTY-FIVE minutes to get the T-shirt. I managed to catch three songs of Skillet. Luckily one of them was my favourite song by them. Unfortunately this was probably the weakest concert I went to this year. 

After Skillet I headed to the festival brand merch shop to get this year's T-shirt (gotta have one for every year), and then I met up with a couple camp mates to watch Within Temptation. They're here like every two or three years so I've seen them like six times at this point, so my excitement wasn't peaked this time. However, they always deliver and I got chills throughout most of the concert. Stand My Ground live keeps bringing me to the verge of tears. The first song I heard by them, back when TV still had entire channels dedicated to music videos. 

Back to camp for a bit more partying before heading back in the festival area to see Slipknot. I had previosuly seen them at Metaltown 2009 and Metaltown 2013, but it's been twelve years and this was probably my most anticipated show of the entire year. They delivered. This was the show where I went so hard my neck hurt for the rest of the festival. Worth it! Only criticisms I have are that the vibe check pauses were too long, ending the set with Scissors probably wasn't their best decision, and where TF was Before I Forget?

After Slipknot we chilled with some food and drink in camp before bedtime. 

On Thursday I headed back to the festival early with some camp mates to see Brothers of Metal. Same situation as with Wind Rose in that I had only heard one of their songs earlier, Yggdrasil, and so I only knew that one. They were amazing live, though, and I saved their This Is playlist on Spotify as well. 

After Brothers of Metal we went to have an ice latte and watched Dark Tranquillity on the big stage from a bit of a distance. We wanted to see them, but neither of us were that into that band so a bit of a distance, hiding under the shade of a parasol was optimal. I've seen Dark Tranquillity before and they always deliver. 

Afterwards we returned to camp for some partying, except the sky opened up and we got torrential rain for an hour during which we all hunkered down in our tents. When the rain stopped the party continued. Later I returned to the festival area alone to see Sex Pistols. When I started to listen to them alongside Ramones and The Clash back when I was 16 I never thought I'd ever get to see the Sex Pistols live, so this was kind of a dream come true.And holy shit they delivered, it was a great show.

Back to camp for some partying and later in the evening we all returned to watch Korn, which for me ended up the disappointment of the year. Yeah they sounded great, the music was spot on, but when I left after an hour they had said absolutely nothing to the audience, the crowd work was non-existent. They went out on stage and did their thing and that was it. From time to time Jonathan would aim the mic at the audience for us to sing, but there was never any prior interaction, so whenever he did aim the mic at us everyone was caught off guard and it only ended up in awkward silences. Last time I saw them at Metaltown 2013 I remember it being very different. 

Instead of finishing the concert I went back to camp to hang out, have some food and a couple last drinks before bedtime. 

Friday was cold. The sunshine had been exchanged for clouds and strong winds. The morning had some rain, but it didn't last. Unfortunately the constant strong winds made the weather terrible. Whenever the wind temporarily lulled the day was actuially pretty warm, but the wind just ruined everything. The first band we went to see was Apocalyptica, which we watched from the opposite stage waiting for Orbit Culture.

Orbit Culture is a band I've heard a lot about, but never actually listened that much to. That will change after this show because holy shit, this was probably the best show of the year. Another This Is playlist saved on Spotify. That mosh pit was one of the biggest I've seen. There was a short spout of heavy rain during the show. Me and the camp mate I went with just looked at each other like "It'll pass" and continued headbanging. 

After Orbit we returned to the camp and spent the rest of the evening trying to be party while the wind was trying its best to make us miserable. Most of the camp had lost interest in going inside to see Scorpions in the evening, especially considering it was oh so bad the last time we saw them at Sweden Rock Festival. But me and one camp mate eventually decided to go anyway. It was definitely a weak performance. Musically they hold up, but vocally... it's bad. At least they managed to get the crowd to sing along this time ♥

After Scorpions I went directly to bed. After the chilly Friday I felt very ready for Saturday to be the last day and then go home. 

On Saturday we woke up to more of the same wind situation. At least there was no rain. We packed up half our things before heading in to watch the last show of the year. Joddla Med Siv. Back in 2023 they had them on a smaller stage and they severely misjudged how popular these guys are. The entire area was packed with people, all the way through the entrances. People were climbing the fences and the surrounding trees to watch them. So this time they put them on the largest stage, the gig felt less intimate as a result, but at least there was room for all the people. Yet they filled the entire area and it was a huge party. 

Once the show was over we packed up the rest of our stuff and headed to the car to start the journey back home. We arrived home at around 11:15pm. I had a shower and unpacked, chilled a bit in front of my PC and then went to bed. And slept for 12 hours. 

Sweden Rock Festival is always the highlight of the year and always a constant party, but at the end of the Friday most of us are always like "I miss my bed. And my shower. And my fridge. And my bathroom. And not having to queue for everything. And not having constant noise." Best damn week of the year but it's always amazing to come home. See you next year! ♥

For even more videos check out my instagram post :)

Sweden Rock Festival 2024

I was really looking forward to Sweden Rock Festival this year, but it turned out a bit different from previous years due to us missing a couple people who were otherwise always there. One of them missing meant I had to drive all the way there, which I wasn't thrilled about, but it went really well considering I hadn't been behind the wheel for seven years. 

We finally arrived around 2pm and got the tent set up. The others were already there, and this year we had invested in a cart so it was easier to transport all our stuff from the car to the camp. Setting everything up went surprisingly smooth, and as soon as everything was settled the party started. I went to bed relatively early, though, being exhausted from driving for seven hours. 

On Wednesday we only had one concert planned: Electric Callboy, and it was absolutely amazing! They played all my favourite songs and the crowd went wild for Hypa Hypa and We Got the Moves. It was great! I also saw the first couple songs by Five Finger Death Punch, but because they aren't a band I really listen to I didn't stay for the whole thing.

On Thursday I saw W.A.S.P and Journey. Two classic bands I had never seen before. Journey was really good, although I wish they had interacted more with the crowd rather than just do their thing on stage and then leave. W.A.S.P. wasn't as good as I'd hoped with Blackie being essentially stuck to one place, leaning on a stool due to either injury or illness (I don't remember). My video of Don't Stop Believing is too big to upload directly T_T

On Friday I went to see Evanescence, which was one of the shows I had looked forward to the most. I had wanted to see them since I was 13 and finally, FINALLY, I got the chance! When they played My Immortal there wasn't a single dry eye in the audience. It's a special feeling to see really big, buff, Viking-like metalhead dudes cry xD In the evening we returned to the festival area to see Judas Priest and Dimmu Borgir. Toni was stoked for Dimmu and he stayed for the whole thing, whereas I left after a few songs. 

Saturday was the last day, and we had resolved to leave in the evening after the last band so in the early evening we started packing everything up. But not before we saw Steel Panther! There was only one band I really wanted to see today: Alice Cooper. Avantasia played immediately after and most of the camp wanted to be front row for that so they camped out in front of the other stage for them, and nobody else was as stoked about Cooper so I went there alone and camped out in front of the stage. Front row for Alice Cooper! I was so excited! Eighth time seeing him live, first time at front row! It started raining halfway through his set, but it didn't matter! The ambiance was amazing, the crowd was intense, it was so great! (My phone couldn't quite manage the volume of front row though lol)

After Cooper I lingered a bit to watch the first couple songs of Avantasia and then I went to the car, where Toni and our friend (and designated driver) were waiting. We got going and arrived home just before 8am today. 

The weather this year was kind of chilly which put a bit of a damper on the party - who wants to drink cold drinks when they're already cold? But aside from that this was a really good year!

Sweden Rock Festival 2023

SRF 2014.

SRF 2015. 

SRF 2016. 

SRF 2017. 

SRF 2018.

SRF 2019.

SRF 2022.

We've been home for two days now and reality is starting to settle back in. Although my voice is still gone. This year I shared the whole thing on Instagram as well so I recommend going there for pictures :)

On Tuesday last week we got in the car at 5am and after having picked up the last person of our roadtrip gang, we finally got on the road around 5:30am. Amazingly we didn't stop for bathroom breaks or snack breaks as many times as earlier years and we arrived at the camp ground just after 11:30am. Made incredibly good time on that journey! Got the tents up and for the rest of that day it was all party.

The next morning most of us crawled out of our tents around 8am and went to find breakfast, which turned into way more of a quest than any of us wanted first thing in the morning. The regular ready-to-go breakfast bags from earlier years were nowhere to be seen and so we begrudgingly half-assed our own. At least I got morning coffee. 

My first concert of this year was Soilwork. They were the band that got me into death metal as a teenager and I used to love them, but now I haven't really listened to them much in the last ten years or so. After this concert I'll definitely pick them up again! The entire front row became a mosh-pit during their concert. It was glorious!

Airbourne was playing around dinner time and so we decided to go in and half-watch them while eating. We then returned to the camp for a short while, until it was time to go back and see Def Leppard, Avatar and Mötley Crüe. Avatar easily wins best concert of the year for me ♥

The second day started out strong with Korpiklaani and then we returned to camp until evening when it was time for Kamelot. I don't really listen to Kamelot (I've heard like two songs), but I've liked what I heard so I decided to tag along to see them. It was a really cool show! After that concert we spent the rest of the day at the camp until it was time for Deep Purple and Europe. Neither of which I was super excited about, but they both seemed like bands I shoudl take the chance to see while I still can. Deep Purple was too psychedelic experimental instrumental solo jam session for me. After every song there was a solo jam session for each band member (probably to allow the singer to catch a break). But aside from that it struck all of us how damned polite and sweet they were. All of us were just standing there like awwwwwh. Europe, being Swedish, has a huge following and it was very clear whenever one of the mor well-known songs were played.

The third day is when my voice went to shit. This year the festival area was super dusty. I don't know what they did different earlier years, but it has never been this dusty. I saw several people walking around with scarves/bandanas/masks covering their mouths and noses, and for me that's a lesson learned for next year. More than one person in our camp got red and irritated eyes from all the dust. But anyway... I had only two concerts planned for Friday and they were in the evening so most of the day was spent partying in the camp. We then finished the day with Powerwolf (amazing as usual) and Iron Maiden. Iron Maiden mainly played lesser known songs for the first half-hour and with none of us being big fans, we decided to leave after that. Once we had returned to the camp and it had been maybe forty minutes since they started playing we heard Fear of the Dark. First well-known song of that gig. 

Last day, Saturday, and I could barely speak. We had only two concerts planned for Saturday as well, which was just as well because traditionally everybody is completely beat and ready to leave and still trying their hardest to keep the party and energy levels up. To mixed results. The first concert was early, Joddla med Siv, they're a Swedish folk rock band from Skåne and they have a MASSIVELY HUGE following in Skåne, which the organizors seem to have missed or underappreciated. They were on one of the smaller stages, when they could easily have filled the second to largest stage or maybe even the largest one. People crowded in front of the stage, spilling out through the entrances and exits on either side trying to squeeze in to see them. And they delivered. It was amazing! I've seen the number 35k people in the audience thrown around...

After Joddla was done we returned to camp and started to slowly pack our things together while continuing the party. Before going in to see Ghost as the final act of the festival we made sure all our things were gathered up and then we went back inside. Ghost was really great, but Avatar still wins best concert of the year. 

After the concert there was a small celebration of the ferstival's 30th anniversary with small clips from every festival playing on the big picture screens on the biggest stage and fireworks. We then went back to camp to grab our things and head for the car. We packed our stuff and ourselves in the car and after a clusterfuck traffic jam of everybody else having the same brilliant idea, we finally got out onto the road at 00:40am. Because it was so late we ended up taking several more stretch-your-legs breaks and we arrived home at around 8am on Sunday morning. We showered, unpacked, and then fell into bed until around 2pm.

It's now 1am on the Wednesday after and my voice is still terrible, but slowly getting better. 

Sweden Rock Festival 2022

At 4.15AM on Tuesday morning we started packing up the car and at 4.30 we drove off to pick up the last person. Around 5AM we finally rolled out of the city and headed south towards a week of fun, music and friends. If it wasn't for covid this would probably have been mine and bf's 9th time at Swedish Rock Festival, instead it's our 7th time. The best part about this festival is how happy and carefree everyone is, and that ambience was extra strong this year. AFter two years of not being able to come here everyone was so exalted to be back. The crowd was happy and merry even with the not-so-perfect weather and even the bands on stage seemed extra excited to be back on stage facing the screaming crowds. It was amazing. Even more amazing than usual. 

We kept the tickets that were supposed to be for 2020, felt a bit odd to use two-year-old tickets to exchange for our wristbands, but hey! Thanks for keeping them valid for these two years!

Going to Sweden Rock Festival

We arrived around lunch and started building our camp. We're always in the same spot on the same camping. And it was so great to see all of the people again! We usually oonly meet once a year at SRF and two years without seeing each other was just too damn long! In the two years since we could last see each other the camp had gone from being (mostly) in our 20s to being a whole bunch of 30+ people, several of whom had become parents in the meantime. Crazy!

After the camp was built, bf and I went to exchange our tickets to wristbands, buy this year's merch and procure soda to make rum&coke in camp. Our mission was successful!

Wednesday was the first proper day of the festival, but me and bf had no bands we really had to see until in the evening when we went inside the concert area and watched Raubtier. I don't know a lot of songs by them and the one I know the best, they didn't play, but damn the energy they brought and the crowd had just made the whole experience magical! 

Thursday was our busiest day! We started the day with Alestorm. After a short break with food and drink in the camp we went back inside. Everyone but me was going to see Devin Townsend, but I went to see Eluveitie and that's probably the best concert of the year. The band was so extatic to be back on stage and the crowd was so excited to be there! It created a magical experience where I spent equal amounts of time jumping, screaming, clapping, singing, and thrashing around in the mosh pit. Eluveitie also taught me I'm too old for mosh-pits now. Everything hurt afterwards! xD

In the evening we went back inside to see Dropkick Murphys, Volbeat and the one band I had looked forward to for years! Nightwish! To my eternal sorrow I was only 14 when the band broke with Tarja and so I never had a chance to see them live with her, but I saw them twice with Anette and this was my first time with Floor. And wow, did she deliver! The whole band did. It was amazing and the experience was only marred by the guy who kept jumping like crazy (both into me and on me) every time they played a song newer than Imaginaerum. On the other hand, every song older than Imaginaerum had me scream-singing in his ear so I guess we're even xP

Friday was a calm day spent mostly in the camp where we got to partake in the traditional activity of "decorating" the first person to pass out in the camp. In the evening we went to see In Flames, which, surprisingly, I haven't seen before. Surprsing considering how many times they've been at SRF and Metaltown. 

On Saturday we were all pretty miserable after four days camping and drinking and head-banging. All around happy, but oh so done with sleeping in tents. That morning we were invited on a backstage tour of the festival thanks to one of our camp members being an ambassador for Hi-Fi Klubben. It was a very cool tour and we got to go up backstage on the second largest stage while Honeymoon Suite were playing. And we got to take a look at the backstage area where the bands hang out. Nothing so glamorous as a green-room on a festival, but it was still a pretty cool experience. 

We decided to leave on Saturday evening instead of Sunday morning. So for our last trip inside the festival area of 2022 we saw Hardcore Superstar and then Within Temptation. I've seen both of those bands before, three times each. But they were just as good. Hardcore Superstar has some crazy on-stage energy. Within Temptation is always extremely powerful. If I could sing like Sharon I'd never shut up. 

The band that would close the entire festival was Guns 'n' Roses. None of us are super fans of the band, and some of our camp members who've been to SRF more times than us told us about the last time Guns were at SRF and they didn't go up on stage until they were almost an hour late. They wanted to see the first few songs and give Guns a chance to redeem themselves. We decided to get in the car instead and start the 7-hour roadtrip back north. While in the car I kept talking via Messenger to the people who stayed for a bit, and found out Guns were 30 minutes late to go on stage this time. Our friends didn't even stay to hear one song. Such a shitty attitude from Guns to end an otherwise amazing festival. 

We started the drive around 10.30pm and arrived home around 5.30am. That shower after you come home after a week of camping is divine. Sleeping in your own bed is like a piece of heaven. 

Going home from Sweden Rock Festival

For more pictures and videos check out my Instagram :)

Atlas Rock 2022 @Gävle

On Friday we got on the train to Stockholm and from there changed to a train to Gävle. Neither of us had ever been to Gävle and so it was nice to discover a new city, except for the fact that as soon as we stepped off the train the sky opened up and poured heavy rain on us, which was soon joined by thunder and lightning. We sheltered in the station building for a while, to see whether the rain would calm down, before we decided to brave the weather and find the bus to the hotel. We found the bus stop with ten minutes to spare and a nice little bridge to hide from the rain under. The bus trip took about 10 minutes to the hotel where we checked in without issue. We got up to our room on the top floor (cosy forest view) to discover the most extensive staff welcome gift I've ever seen. We unpacked and chilled for a bit before we went back down to have dinner at the hotel restaurant. Burger for me, steak for him. After dinner we went back to our room to freshen up and then we asked the reception to call us a taxi to the city centre. We had googled to try to find a rock bar in the city and the only thing we found was this weekend only thing at an otherwise mainstream place. So we went there but couldn't find it. Asked the bartender who told us that they closed down the rock bar part of the establishment after the basement flooded some nine months ago. Somewhat disappointed we decided to stay there anyway and have some drinks and just chill. Around 10pm we left to find a taxi and return to the hotel. Some channel zapping on the TV later we both went to bed. 

After an amazing breakfast we went up to our room to chill a bit, have a nap, and start to get ready for the day. Just after lunch time I went back down to reception and asked them to call us a taxi for 2.30pm to go to the festival area. We got there, exchanged our tickets for wristbands, got patted down, and then we were IN! First festival and concert since 2019 and we were both feeling it. 

Not too long after we got there we realized something was wrong. The band that was supposed to be on stage at 3pm (Lucifer) didn't come on stage until 3.30pm and there was no explanation as to why. Worse yet was that they offered to information on what would happen next. Would they try to regain the lost 30 minutes? Would they ask the bands to shorten their gigs? Would they postpone someone to the next day? By the time Ugly Kid Joe got on stage they were around an hour delayed. And I decided to call the taxi company and push the pick-up time for our pre-booked taxi back to the hotel that night from 00.45am to 1.15am. Just in case. 

The first show we properly attended without walking off was Uriah Heep. Neither of us knew more than one song by them (Easy Livin'), but damn did they have stage presence, and damn could that old man sing! 

Next up was Powerwolf. Toni was super excited to see them live for the second time, and I was also really looking forward to my first time. They were great! Amazing even! I knew and/or recognized all of the songs they played even if I didn't know the lyrics to most of them (aside from a few words here and there), but the band were all amazing at getting the crowd going and making us feel a part of the performance. Perfect!

Next in line was Black Label Society. Neither of us particularly care about Black Label Society and feet were getting tired so we decided to have a sit-down in the serving area while we waited for the last act of the day. 

And then it was finally time. My sixth Alice Cooper concert. The entire reason I discovered this festival. My whole reason for going to a town 200 km away over a weekend. And I can't really put into words how absolutely stoked I was to see him live again and how happy I got when he walked out on stage and started singing. I love his entire stage persona, and his music, his theatrics, his singing voice... Everything is perfect to me. I was scream-singing along with every song, and I loved how the entire crowd sang along to No More Mr Nice Guy, Bed of Nails, Hey Stoopid, He's Back, I'm Eighteen, Poison, Billion Dollar Babies and School's Out entirely unprompted. It was magical. I had a blast. 

After the concert was over I left with a shot back, aching feet, sore throat, ringing ears, numb palms, a stupid grin, and a solid reminder why I love concerts. 

I woke up today with a medley of Poison, Bed of Nails and Fallen in Love stuck in my head on a loop. After more hotel breakfast we packed up our room, checked out and headed to the train station. Throughout the entire train ride to Stockholm I was listening to Alice Cooper songs and updating IG with pictures and highlights and checking out other people's pictures using the hashtag for the festival. Tired but happy. We're back in business. Live music has returned!

Here's a playlist I made on the setlist of Cooper's concert! Every song in the order he played them! Enjoy!

Trailer for his 2019 tour (I saw him on the Stockholm date) to give an idea of what the gig was like :3

I miss concerts T_T

Two weeks ago Facebook reminded me that it was two years since I went to my last Alice Cooper concert. September 27th, 2019. That was also the last concert I went to before covid hit. And I miss it so badly. Since 2006 I've been to at least one concert pretty much every year (that's including festivals) and somehow the thing I've missed the most while the world was ending was to be pressed against a whole lot of people jumping and screaming to my favourite musicians. 

When the world closed in March of 2020 I was still hopeful that I'd get to go to my annual festival that June. How bad could it be, was what most seemed to be thinking. But here we are 1½ years later and I've missed TWO festivals since then, because both 2020 and 2021 got cancelled and I don't even want to think about how many potential concerts there could have been...

The best memories I have from concerts are:

• Lordi in Malmö 2006. My first ever concert and it was just an amazing experience.

• Edguy in Malmö 2009. I was up front to the stage and cried when they played King of Fools.

• Disturbed in Copenhagen 2010. First time seeing them and it was a great show.

• Alice Cooper in Stockholm 2011. My first ever Cooper show and I was so happy.

• Lordi at Sweden Rock Festival 2016. First Lordi show in eight years! I cried when they played Blood Red Sandman.

• Twisted Sister at Sweden Rock Festival 2016. Farewell tour and I was so happy to finally get to see them.

• Sabaton at Sweden Rock Festival 2016. One of the best concerts I've been to.

• Edguy at Sweden Rock Festival 2017. Once again I cried when they played King of Fools.

• Aerosmith at Sweden Rock Festival 2017. I was sitting by the other stage waiting for Edguy and just watched the show on the huge monitors. When they started to play I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing the whole festival area started to sing along whether they were attending the concert or not. It was magical.

• In This Moment at Sweden Rock Festival 2018. Probably the best concert of the year.

• Amon Amarth at Sweden Rock Festival 2019. The whole show was just incredible. 

I've seen Alice Cooper live five times (2011, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2019). Disturbed, Lordi and Edguy three times each. Within Temptation and Nightwish two times each. 

Due to how things were in 2020 and in 2021 a lot of musicians started doing virtual live shows. Lordi was one of the first that I heard of and of course I was there for their Scream Stream. If that counts, then I've seen Lordi four times (and Cooper 2019 wasn't my last concert). I missed both of Within Temptation's and Nightwish's virtual shows due to work. 

I can't wait to get back into the concert crowds and fight my way to the front. Can't wait to get pressed against the fence and have my ears blasted by too loud music, while I'm screaming my throat raw and killing all my muscles by jumping and waving and headbanging for two hours straight. It's gonna be great.

And if everything can just keep going in the right direction then the next concert I have planned is an Alice Cooper show in Gävle next year. Seems almost poetic if I can have both my last concert before covid and my first concert after covid be Cooper. 

My seen live playlist on Spotify consisting of Lordi, Edguy, Nightwish, Alice Cooper, Marilyn Manson, Slipknot, Disturbed, Children of Bodom, Dir En Grey, Mustasch, All That Remains, Girugamesh, MUCC, DragonForce, Evergrey, In Flames, Lamb of God, Sabaton, Within Temptation, HammerFall, Dark Tranquillity, Avatar, Korn, Motorhead, Soilwork, Amaranthe, Black Sabbath, Rob Zombie, Alter Bridge, W.A.S.P., Arch Enemy, Powerwolf, Motley Crue, Toto, Airbourne, Hardcore Superstar, Thin Lizzy, Helloween, The Ark, The Sounds, Queen, Twisted Sister, The Hellacopters, Avantasia, Blind Guardian, Sixx:A.M., The Struts, Aerosmith, Scorpions, Ratt, Steel Panther, Apocalyptica, Iced Earth, Iron Maiden, Ozzy Osbourne, Stone Sour, Turbonegro, Tarja, In This Moment, Nazareth, Pain, H.E.A.T., The 69 Eyes, Kiss, Def Leppard, ZZ Top, Tenacious D, Amon Amarth, Three Days Grace, Black Stone Cherry, and Indica.

Lordi Scream Stream 2020

I assume that nobody missed the fact that 2020 is cancelled, right? When Lordi's 2020 tour was cancelled and postponed until 2021 they decided to do a three-hour live stream with a Q&A and concert available for a small fee. They would answer questions from the fans and play songs requested by the fans along with songs that they hadn't played in ages.

I was really excited when they announced this for Friday May 22nd and then I was totally bummed out when I realised that I worked Friday evening and Saturday morning. The stream would start at 9pm my time and continue three hours, which meant it would still be on-going when it was my bedtime (gotta get up at 5.30am for the morning shift). I was so bummed that I wouldn't be able to watch it and said as much on the band's Facebook page, where the band (or probably the page mod) got back to me and said that the stream would be available for watching up to seven days after original streaming.

Sold.

I bought a ticket and got the show going on my phone (with headphones) while also keeping an eye on things at work. This wasn't difficult as unfortunately the first 30 minutes suffered from severe lagging and then the streaming site suffered a DoS attack and the stream was unavailable for about 30 minutes while this was resolved. But when it came back up it worked absolutely perfectly for the rest of the evening, which meant I could watch a portion of the show lag free on my way home from work. Because the stream was unavailable for 30 minutes they decided to prolong the show for 30 minutes and thus ended up playing for 3½ hours. They also extended the availability of the stream to 14 days.

After dinner tonight I watched the entirety of the stream, which ends up at almost 4 hours. The setting was a lot more cosy than a regular gig and so it quickly became apparent what a group of adorable dorks the band is. Since Kalma (bassist) left the group, my favourite member simply became Mr. Lordi himself, and while he's still adorable (that's not a word you expect in relation to this band, is it?), Mana (drummer) really really grew on me over the course of this stream.

In-between songs there were short clips featuring various people important to the band behind the scenes. And because of those videos I now know a hell of a lot about Rovaniemi (Mr. Lordi's hometown) that I'm not sure I needed to know xD

The stream was amazing. I loved it. I have now officially seen Lordi live four times. Even if this time suffered from a deplorable lack of pyrotechnics ;)

I made a playlist from the setlist of the show on Spotify :)

Sweden Rock Festival 2019

We left home early in the morning on the 4th. Packed ourselves into the car and rode south. The trip usually takes around 6 hours with time for a few rest stops and this year was no different. All the way down we had heavy clouds and rain and the closer we got the more nervous we got that this was the year the weather would be crap all week long. But once we got really close the weather cleared up. And then we spent the whole week in perpetual sunlight without a cloud in sight (except for the last day).

This year we had bought a new tent so ofc it took us forever to put it up, but now we know how it's done so next year it will be quick and easy again :D During the time we put up the tent I managed to burn my shoulders, which meant tank tops were out of the question for the rest of the festival. Lucky I also brought t-shirts! The rest of the first day was then spent drinking, singing and generally having a good time in the camp. The first night is always special because that's when people move around the most and there are always random guests showing up at the camp, staying for a beer or two or a song or two and then moving on. The most wtf moment of today was that the song Space Unicorn came on exactly the same moment a dude walked by wearing a unicorn onesie.

This year we had only managed to get 3-day tickets instead of our usual 4-day tickets, so the next day went in pretty much the same style as the first day. Woke up around 7.30 and crawled out of the tent due to "I'm meeeeeelting!" and then went to buy breakfast and a 1 litre water bottle. Alcohol then recommenced around 11am when the water bottle was empty and the party kept on until around midnight.

The third day, which was Thursday, was when we could finally enter the festival area! :D For the first concert of the year we split up. Most of us wanted to see Powerwolf, but I wanted to see Three Days Grace. I wanted to see Powerwolf too, but they've been here twice in the past five years and Three Days Grace never comes to Sweden. So Three Days Grace it is! The concert was amazing and afterwards I went to buy t-shirts and food and then met up with the guys in the camp again.

A few hours later we went back inside the area and saw Amon Amarth, which is probably my favourite concert this year. Just so good ♥♥♥♥

Right after Amon Amarth was Tenacious D. Every year there is a disappointment, I'm just so sad that it had to be Tenacious D this year. The sound was off, the skits they made on stage had school play quality and there was zero interaction with the crowd. Songs like Beelzeboss and Tribute that should've been given sing-along songs got barely any response. Just such a disappointment. And we were standing pretty close too! We didn't stay for the whole thing. Def Leppard would've been cool to see but I only know one song by them so I skipped it.

Friday was mostly party all day long. We went inside in time to catch the last few songs by ZZ Top. We bought turkey legs for dinner and got some weird stares while we munched like cavemen :D

The main attraction for me today was Disturbed. It's been 10 years since I last saw them live and I was so excited. It was so so good!!! But it was obvious that the death of Linkin Park's Chester had taken a big heavy toll on Draiman. He was a lot skinnier and looked much older and more tired than he usually does, there was a big tribute to Chester and all the other rock icons who've died in the past few years during their concert, as well as a rally for awareness for mental illness. Disturbed are so amazing ♥

We decided to skip Kiss. It would've been cool to see but we were told Paul Stanley's voice couldn't carry the songs anymore. Also we were too tired. The sun had been so relentless every day and it was finally taking its toll on our energy. We went back to camp set on going to bed early but somehow ended up partying some more.

Saturday was the last day and only one of us (from our road trip gang) had something they wanted to see today so he got to decide at what point we were leaving. In the end he decided to skip his band so we packed up our stuff and left the festival at 4pm. It's the earliest we've ever left the festival, but arriving home at 9pm felt amazing and gave us the time to unpack and shower before falling into bed.

Sweden Rock Festival 2018

TL;DR - Saw six bands, bought two shirts, ate lots of food, got badly burned and there was an unusual amount of puke in the camp.

Early on Tuesday 5th we packed ourselves into two cars and drove south. We arrived around 1pm and started setting up the tents and the camp and then it was time for music and alcohol before we went off to find food and exchange our tickets for wrist bands. I also decided to buy this year's shirt early because I knew I was getting it - might as well get it the first day. Nothing more incredibly exciting happened the first day there. We arrived, we had alcohol, we met and greeted a lot of people we never saw again and there was the annual hugging party when regular camp members from around the country showed up one after the other. The first night was cold but not as cold as they have been other years.

Scrambled out of the tent before 8am the next day because I was burning up. For once I wasn't the first one up and we walked off to buy ourselves some breakfast (that coffee saves lives). And then we were back to what we were doing the first day - music and alcohol and occasionally walking away to find food. The camp next door came over with an inflatable sofa which we had a lot of fun with. We didn't go inside the festival area until dark. The only band we wanted to see this day was Hardcore Superstar. They were as good as always. Nothing new on the horizon. Though I haven't listened much to their two latest albums so there were a bunch of songs I didn't recognise.

Same deal next day. Got up crazy early and went for breakfast. After some music and alcohol we went to the festival area pretty early to see In This Moment. They were this year's highlight for me and that concert was amazing. Easily the best of the year.

Afterwards I bought one of their t-shirts and then we went to find food and the went back to the camp. In the evening we returned to the festival area to see Helloween and Iron Maiden. I have seen Helloween before and they were just as boring as the last time I saw them. For Maiden the area was packed with people. We stayed for about an hour, maybe less. Maiden played for two hours, but we were pretty far back and the wind was in the wrong direction so the sound came off all garbled which kind of ruined the experience. None of us were major Maiden fans either. So we went back to the camp.

Friday was a slow day. We spent most of the day in camp and people were getting tired. The most fun thing that happened this day was when J told us of his side quest mission to find a hat. He found a pretty pink one which he exchanged for a sock. Don't ask.

In the evening we went to the festival area to see Stone Sour. They were really good, and made for a lot of nice sing-along, especially to Through Glass. Later in the evening Ozzy was playing but most of us decided to skip him since we had already seen him as part of Black Sabbath when they played a couple years back. Apparently the concert wasn't very good, and it seemed to be the general opinion that Zak Wylde took over too much.

We decided to go home on Saturday evening. The only thing I had planned for this day was to see Tarja. But I also went to the area with Toni early in the day to see 69 Eyes, which is what caused my shoulders to get really badly burned (skin falling off bad). I'm not a big 69 Eyes fan, and listening to them on CD always makes me feel like they're a bit too much. But they were much better live.

Back at camp it was slow. More than one of the members were sleeping most of the day and the rest of us were pretty tired. An hour before Tarja started we packed up what we were bringing back home with us (Toni and I decided to retire our tent and air mattress). Tarja was great and the sound was good. With her voice and the high notes she takes the sound could easily have been coming off bad but it was really good.

After Tarja we went to the car and started the journey home. Once again we skipped Judas Priest (could they just for once not end the festival please?) We arrived home around five in the morning and immediately went to bed. Like always, the shower after waking up was the best thing ever.