It's not an understatement to call BULLET Local Heroes or prophets in their home town or something like that. When BULLET releases a new album, everyone shows up. I was quite surprised to see the quite large venue almost full when we arrived about an hour before the show was scheduled to start. The queue in to the venue was gone but there were a huge buzz of people around the place, boozing up for the show.

It's actually good to see a lot of different types of people on an event like this, I think the age span was from 3 to 70 or so. Of course, some perhaps didn't go by their own choice but at least all seemed to have a good time.
BULLET and bands alike them was a good breeze in the scene when they started popping up. Small bands that behaved like they were on an arena stage no matter how tiny the place was sweating their asses off. These bands boosted the rest of the scene too and made it a lot more fun to watch concerts. BULLET has always been on the top of the pack when it comes to stage performance and this night they proved once again that they haven't slowed down one bit.

Ok, it's not fully as intense as they were a couple of years ago, but now since they've gotten bigger they can make up for that with pyrotechnics and lights instead.
BULLET sure as hell didn't spare no expenses on this release-party! I think there were about 30 firecrackers on each side of the sage and the bombs were blasting constantly but at times like these the 105dB limit really is a disappointment. The pyrotechnics should be a part of the show, not anything that breaks it off. But that's not BULLET's fault.

A serious doze of material from the "Highway Pirates" album was served, apart from the title track "Back On The Road", "Stay Wild", "Down And Out", my favorite "Blood Run Hot" plus a few more and it sure sounds promising. The music now is maybe a little more Heavy Metal and less Hard Rock on this one, still with the catchy choruses and groovy riffs. Everything still fits perfect in the BULLET sound though. Of course, the new material wasn't all of the set, the other half was a chaplet of hits from the past. "Rambling Man" is always a killer track live and the effect in "Bite The Bullet" when Hampus, Erik and Adam spells the chorus with the words added to the back of their guitars is really cool. Another funny thing was the "keyboard kill" thing. The war between Synth and Heavy Metal seem to still be going on in Växjö.

Because the stage was attacked by a dude playing keyboards and Hell Hofer did the only thing he could do, kick-started a chainsaw and sawed the organ to pieces.

The thing to complain about is the venue though. It must have been the slowest entrance in the world, even with the scanners and bar-codes on the tickets it took forever before we got in, and at that time we had about 5 people in front of us. The poor lady in the closet was melting but at least she kept the queue away. But the BAR service, what were they thinking? There's something severely wrong in the planning when almost everyone drinks bottled beer and you have to spend 30 minutes in the bar for each order. BULLET's type of music is the best to just hang out and have a beer or two while watching. It's not the same to listen from the line in the bard dying of thirst. I guess Parken isn't used to a full house of rockers that enjoy a drink or two…

But apart from the mishap in the organization BULLET really scored the high points for everything around the party. In true carnival spirit they've arranged a quiz-walk where the number one price was a pair of studded black BULLET clogs. A fishing pond, an appreciated event for small and big kids (oh well) where you pay a little fee, throw a fishing rod with a cloth-pin on the line over a covered area and you get a bag of candy or whatever the organizer can come up with. An event for everyone to enjoy and it sure was a memorable moment.

"Highway Pirates"
"Back On The Road"
"Turn It Up Loud"
"Rock'N'Roll Remedy"
"Stay Wild"
"Down And Out"
"Rambling Man"
"Roadking"
"Heading For The Top"
"One Deal With The Devil"
"Keyboard Kill"
"Heavy Metal Dynamite"
"Blood Run Hot"
"Pay The Price"
"Dusk 'Til Dawn"
"Bite The Bullet"
"The Rebels Return"