Take a big boat, I mean, a REALLY big boat, something around 34,000 tons worth of metal, add good bands, bars in every corner, tax-free beer and booze, cool DJ's and 1,800 metalheads. Then send the whole ship on a 24-hour cruise from Stockholm to Wasa and back again. Sounds like a good idea? It is, I promise.

Sweden Rock Magazine was celebrating issue No.50 with a big party on Silja Festival and what a party it was. At 7.15 pm, Thursday evening the boat left the docks heading East, the speakersystem played Metal music in-between announcements that the buffet/dinner was open, bands starting playing, opening hours for the tax-free shops and lost people etc.
First band up onstage this evening was BONAFIDE with their AC/DC-clone Rock'n'Roll. The place was quite empty at the start, guess everyone was pre-partying in the cabins still, or perhaps getting stuffed (and wasted, since beer and wine is included) at the buffet. BONAFIDE still did a really good gig, tight, well played and with a passion many bands lack. This type of Rock is not my cup of tea but it was so good I actually put them in my list for bands I want to see at Sweden Rock Festival.

Hmm, perhaps I should add that I was working onstage for this event, guitar-teching, so my position for all concerts was basically inside the guitar amplifier. Therefore I can't comment on the sound out. This far stage-left I can tell everything about the guitar playing and stage performance but not so much about what else was going on around and off the stage. The good thing is that I have a perfect view of the stage for every concert, can't get much closer to a band than this.
I guess BONAFIDE was the perfect start on the cruise; people kept walking into the place and were moved by the groove. They sure got the beer drinking started and closing the set with a Blues jam (Big Boss Man and Fill Your Head) With Rock; the 'party' mood was set too high!

CRAZY LIXX was second band onstage. And to be honest, I don't get the hype around this band. Ok. Sleaze Rock is not my cup of tea either but I've seen better bands in the same genre. Apparently I'm completely lost here, the crowd loved CRAZY LIXX and no matter what they did, they got really strong response. Maybe I need to give them a fair chance? Vic is an awesome guitar player (now also in HARDCORE SUPERSTAR) and they sure have some really catchy tunes. The response they got in the sing-along parts in Heroes Are Forever was quite spine-chilling. Perhaps they have something I've missed totally?

Time for some real Vikings then! It is fun to see a band really claiming the stage, just march up there and give everyone hell. AMON AMARTH opened their set with Valhalla Awaits Me and just mangled every impression I had of the previous two bands down to zero. But even with that conviction it wasn't the best AMON AMARTH concert I've seen, still they took this party to a completely different level. I was a little scared the security fence would give up under the pressure of too many metalheads trying being in the front row. Bringing out the big horns and making a 'beer' toast with the crowd didn't exactly calm people down either. Then ending their set with Pursuits Of Vikings, having the crowd chanting ...Oden! Guide our ships, our axes, spears and swords, Guide us through storms that whip, And in brutal war... was extremely powerful.

Last ones out on the outward journey was EDGUY with their happy-happy Power Metal, sure a contrast to AMON AMARTH. Tobias Sammet promised a special show for this event, sort of a 'best of' and the crowd loved it. Every song was received with the same enthusiasm, from the heavy Babylon to the 'oh-so-happy' Vain, Glory, Opera. Tobias is one hell of an entertainer and makes fun of himself as well as the band and the audience in between the songs, perhaps it gets a little too much talking and very little playing from time to time though. And maybe someone should have told Tobias Exxel it not such a good idea throwing the bass around on that stage; he was just millimeters from hitting his bandmates and the light 'rig'. I guess this stage was a lot smaller than the ones EDGUY normally plays on. They closed their set up with Avantasia, of course boosting the expectations on this summer's event with AVANTASIA and, then King Of Fools with a promise that EDGUY will be back with a new album in January 2009 and a European Tour in March the same year at the latest.

At 3.15 Friday morning my party started, and me and the rest of the crew headed to the Panorama bar. I've never got the hang of dancing to Metal but apparently that works, the floor was crowded and people seemed to have a good time. Snowy Shaw, Mats Leven and Oscar Dronjak had been Dj-ing during the night and were chilling out in the Panorama bar, too. I managed to catch up a little on the chit-chatting, getting some tips on new good Doom Metal and a lecture in bra-sizes, not from the same person though. I also got the chance to talk a little with EDGUY's guitar tech. So, what do you think of this event?, I ask, while a guy in only his underwear and a bulletbelt struts by. Uuuhm, a little crazy but fun!, he says and looks at the guy in the undies. If just that damn bass player could have taken it a little easy with his bass...it got stuck in the light 'rig', did you see that? He laughs, guess it wasn't such a big problem. Perhaps just an odd situation for everyone involved with EDGUY.

That was half the trip! One good thing with these cruises is that no one can leave, you have your cabin to hide out in but that's all. There's no way to get out of the party, as long as you don't jump in the water but let's hope no one was desperate enough for such drastic measures.

Friday was a little slowstarted for everyone, I guess. We set the stage for ARTILLERY, they did their soundcheck, everything in a very relaxed pace. We were done on time and they kicked off their set. Got sort of a strange look from the guitar players, like are we really playing now'; I gave them thumbs up and they just said OK. The thing is, the place was almost empty, just a few people were standing on the balcony and in the bar, no one at all on the floor in front of the stage. But ARTILLERY just said whatever and counted in the first song. It is so impressive to see a band kick major ass in front of ten people standing way in the back, but that's what they did. Started off completely merciless with Deeds Of Darkness. Normally bands can be a little laid off on the way home on a trip like this. Not ARTILLERY, and it didn't take many seconds until the first row was filled and more people kept coming in through the whole concert. An hour of Danish old-school Thrash Metal sure as hell woke me and the rest of the people up. It was a great performance and fun to watch. I think the new vocalist Soren Nico Adamsen did a great job, he fitted well into the music.

From Danish Thrash Metal to British Prog Power then. THRESHOLD was last out on this cruise. I've been trying to get into their music several times but it never gets stuck. I saw them perform at last year's Metal Camp Festival in Slovenia and even if they had some troubles with their singer and brought in their old one on a very short notice, it was still great. I gave them another chance and listened to the records when I got home, still nothing. They completely blew me away this time! This type of music is often played with a very serious attitude, there's almost never any place for having fun on stage. For THRESHOLD there is, a flawless performance and a fun show to watch just makes it simply great. And with songs like Slipstream and Falling Away, that actually get stuck after a while (did my homework as soon as I got home again) it's perfect. Damian Wilson climbs on the security fence, jumps out in the audience and makes a run for it all around the place, up on the balcony and says hello to everyone watching and just barely makes it back to the microphone in time for the next chorus. Ending the set with the very catchy This Is Your Life and the very heavy and progressive Fragmentation was a perfect end on this party.

After the bands are done it's just the fun thing with dismantling the PA system and backline, pack it and get it down to the cargo area. Guess this is the hardest part of everything, not the tearing down or packing but to get the cases through the crowd and down the elevator. By this time people have more vodka and beer in the veins than blood. A little crazy, but fun! Yeah, crazy but fun really sums this trip.