Friday started of rainy too and since me and my gang commuted between Kilafors and Gavle we decided to have a lie-in and skip the first few hours of the festival also, I didn't wanted to challenge my camera the same way again. It actually stopped raining on the way to the festival and the weather had been better up north so at least the ground hadn't been more rain soaked. Still it was very hard to drive on and off the parking lot so the farmers had a lot of work to do with their tractors.

Local Punk legends PURE MANIA were the first band to hit the stage after arrival to the festival Area. They pissed of the mainstream and gained a few new friends of the underground when doing a RAMONES influenced version of Swedish mega music export ROXETTE's the look back in the early 90's. And PURE MANIA is the type of Punk that still works even 20 years later. Ok, they're probably more Rock than Punk and you're never too old to Rock 'N' Roll, right? And this is probably one reason it still works so well, Punk 20 years later will not give a very good impression, there's no way middle aged men can be as furious as they were. But when it's mixed with Rock it absolutely works. It's always fun to see bands you've grown up with but nostalgia or not, PURE MANIA did a great job. It sounded good, just as filthy as Rock must be to be good. As long as the band is having fun on stage and that is reflected in the music these re-unions are fun to watch. PURE MANIA was absolutely fun to watch but I'm not sure the ones who didn't know them back in the days would say the same.
One small stop in the Bar after PURE MANIA served the most bizarre show of the festival. Bollnas locals KORP played when we got there. It's always fun when bands do that little extra to give a good show. But when one out of four goes all the way it sort of turn to parody. And perhaps this was more for fun than a real gig. The musical direction was a little weird too, mix primitive Black Metal with Iggy Pop and place Glen Danzig at the microphone. It wasn't bad at all really, it sounded ok, especially with the bizarre expression and the sort of party friendly music. Far from best of the festival but still a quite nice surprise in the early afternoon and as a change it's nice to see a band having fun with their gig.

The real reason though we took place in the beer tent was ISOLE. The Gavle based doomsters was one of the main attractions for me. So? There's nothing wrong with being a little local patriotic from time to time. It hasn't so much to do with patriotism as the fact that ISOLE is a great band though and it's great to see local boys play away from home. Really, ISOLE's latest release "Silent Ruins" sure is an amazing piece of epic Doom and they deserve all credits they get. There's something really special to see bands you've seen for ages on real stages, with a real crowd, lights and everything. Doom is perhaps not first music that comes to mind when it's supposed to be a party. But played the right way it works as good as any other style. ISOLE do everything right, they have the drive despite the heavy tunes, they have the intensity and they're heavy as hell without losing the musicality. Of course they stuck with their standard and put on a great performance. One of the best gigs of the festival, absolutely.

PARADISE LOST had picked a very nice goodie bag for 'Rockweekend', a best of from past years. The hits even perhaps! It was absolutely horrible to hang in the photo pit during "Hallowed Land", that's a song I've been longing to hear live again for a very long time. When they actually play it, I'm stuck with a camera. Well, it could have been a lot worse, a lot of people actually missed them since there was a last minute change in the running order and GEMINI FIVE were put on PARADISE LOST original slot. The ones who got the information thought it was perfectly clear and well done but of course it's hard to reach everyone at a big festival. PARADISE LOST have been really good the last times I've seen them but the setlists have been a little odd to say the least. Almost nothing at all from the classics like "Icon" and "Draconian Times" but who am I to complain? I want bands to do things like that. But now, what the hell have happened with the band? In the beginning of the 90's PARADISE LOST was a really great live act, unfortunately that faded the more the Metal was excluded from the music. They managed to restore the live reputation when the Metal was back in the music again but this was not PARADISE LOST standard. Such a tired live act is not common at this level. I can understand the boredom in playing what people want to hear but if they felt it was this boring it absolutely would have been better to stick what they normally do. Songs like "Pity The Sadness", "Embers Fire", "Say Just Words" and "As I Die" should live by themselves but even those felt tired. I really hope this was just a onetime thing because this is not how they've been live lately.

MUSTASCH was also on the bill in 2008, then with local boy Bollnas Martin on guitars. That lineup didn't hold for long though and since from a few months before 'Rockweekend' SPARZANZA guitarist David Johannesson have been handling the lead 6-strings. Ralf Gyllenhammar, or Riff-Raffe or Daddy as he called himself was really quiet to start with. The MUSTASCH concerts have been a mixture of Rock and stand up comedy the last years and his mouth is normally busier than a cashier at a super sale. It only took a few songs and everything was back to normal again. Sure it's fun to listen too but the speeches between the songs can't take overhand over the music, at least not on a music festival. Well, it didn't this time, it was just enough talking and joking between the songs. Before they started playing whisperings throughout the festival visitors were telling about a surprise. In the middle of the set, during "6:36" and "I Lied" a big crane swung over the audience with a huge net filled with something swinging threatening over the field. It appeared to be blow up balls, the ones you play with on the beach, with Jack Daniels-prints all over them. I can easily say a lot of people missed the moving crane looked a little bit surprised when the balls started bouncing. MUSTASCH was good as usual, they're that type of music that goes perfectly with sun and beer. Yes, the sun was actually shining all day and the ground started to dry up a little. They hey spread over the ground helped a lot and it was really nice to be able to walk unhindered at festival Area. I get a little annoyed with myself from time to time and dismiss MUSTASCH as a party band only. That's far from the truth, even if they're not one of my favorite bands all their records have been really good straight through. And "Down In Black" or "I Hunt Alone" wasn't just one time luck, for each and every record they've released there's been at least one more song that will be classified as a must in the live set for years to come, "Double Nature" and "Black City" for example.

MUSTASCH setlist:

It sort of felt like the 'Rockweekend'-crew had gone for a quite safe line-up this time. W.A.S.P. always delivers, ARCH ENEMY, MUSTASCH, D-A-D do too and who is steadier than the godfather of German Heavy Metal Udo Dirkschneider? Ok, safe can be boring but with these bands it's bound to be a good festival. U.D.O. never disappoints the crowd and this was no exception. The band is a very fine ensemble of musicians and never fails. And who could complain about some classic Metal tunes in the early evening? ACCEPT classics as "Metal Heart", "Midnight Highway" and "Princess Of The Dawn" will cheer up even the saddest and they are bound to boost the already frantic party. Even if most people gets happier when U.D.O. plays the ACCEPT classics, U.D.O. as the band sure have created classics of their own in the same quality, songs that are bound to be classics too. It's a little unfortunate that these albums are looked past and for this event even excluded from the set. Almost 50/50 split between U.D.O. and ACCEPT songs in the set is absolutely too few U.D.O. songs. But of course, no matter what songs U.D.O. choose to play it will be great at least. It's amazing to see these bands tour after tour, do sort of the same things, equally good one time after another and still feel a little unsatisfied afterwards. The sets could always have been a little longer, they could always have squeezed in a few more songs.

U.D.O. setlist:

CHICKENFOOT setlist:

(photos by "Princess Of The Dawn" Erika)