ROCK I DALEN
Outdoor Festival in Örkelljunga, Sweden
Saturday, May 26, 2001
How many festivals can boast of having bands of as high a caliber as Abramis Brama, Blind Dog, Sub Second Rocket, Siena Root and Mothercake on the line-up... not many...
Sometime before noon I headed out to the car and was on my way. I had loaded up with Pepsi (caffeine en masse to keep awake while driving), a couple of sandwiches... and a bunch of good records to get in the mood for the festival (among others both the "Dazed and Confused" soundtrack CD´s... great mix of driving tunes). After about three hours of driving (a little to fast) I got into the town of Örkelljunga... Agnes Strange on maximum volume on the car stereo... After parking my car I headed up to the festival area... it was located in a small valley with stage on the lower end, which created something almost like an amphi-theater...
At this time there were something like a 100 people sitting in groups in the grass drinking beer and (more or less) listening to some dude with an acoustic guitar singing some awful (and typical Swedish) kinda tunes (like a bad acoustic version of Cornelis Wreeswijk, if you know anything about Swedish music)...
After a while I saw a tall fella come walking towards me... Janne from Half Man. I talked with him and one of the dudes from Mothercake for a while... then I went and got my new camera outta the car. When I got back there were a young metal band on stage... pretty good, but not great (not really my bag nowadays either). When I was sitting there in the grass sipping on a coke I saw yet another familiar face coming towards me... Patric from Half Man, we talked for a while, then it was time for Sub Second Rocket to hit the stage...
Sub Second Rocket was just as good live as I had thought... they just released yet another demo with a sound that was plenty heavier than the previous two demos. Since this was the first I saw `em live I can´t tell how much their live sound have changed over the years... but it was plenty heavy... and all but one song was from the latest demo (see setlist below). They also played a brand new tune called "Horsepowers" which also was in the same vein as the other songs from the latest demo...
Sub Second Rocket
Live at Rock I Dalen
May 26th, 2001
(Click photos for larger versions)
After that it was time for The Siena Root. I had seen these dudes on stage at the DIST festival last year... they wasn’t that bad to begin with, but now they really kicked ass. They had added a guy that handled most of the vocals to the line-up... which was a very good idea, since the vocals didn’t get to the same great level as the music last time I saw `em. I’ve yet to hear their latest demo (with the new guy), but the stuff they played tonight was heavier than the tunes I heard last year, `cept for one song that almost felt like a joke among the other tunes... "Raggamuffin", you guessed it, a reggae tune with the guitarist on vocals... `cept for that tune I liked all their songs...
The Siena Root
Live at Rock I Dalen
May 26th, 2001
(Click photos for larger versions)
Should’ve written this "feature" before I got the photos back from the shop... now I’m having a hard time remembering in what order the bands took the stage... I missed most of the set of a Danish band called Sons Of Tomorrow, they were billed as sounding like Sabbath... but from what I heard they sounded more like a cross between Alice in Chains and Mindfunk... kinda good band, but they paled in comparison with the next must-see band on my list... Blind Dog!
Blind Dog
Live at Rock I Dalen
May 26th, 2001
(Click photos for larger versions)
Blind Dog (together with Abramis Brama) was the main reason I took this trip. Ever since I got their self released edition of the "The Last Adventures Of Captain Dog" CD in my collection I’ve been dying to see `em live. My review of that CD was the first one I ever wrote, that CD was so good and no-one seemed to know it was released... so I just had to write a review of it (Now it´s of course officially released by Meteorcity... Buy It Now! If you don’t already have, it´s one of those must have "stoner" albums). Blind Dog played a bunch of my favorite tracks from the CD and they even played a new (and great) tune called "Let It Go". (The MeteorCity version of "The Last Adventures of Captain Dog" is available for purchase in our All That`s Heavy Online Music Store)
"If you’re gonna play outta tune, could you please, at least, play it the right way" - Quote from Tobias Nilsson (Blind Dog, vocals & bass) when Joakim Thell (guitar) messed up the intro to one of the tunes...
After the Blind Dog set I got to talk a little with Mattias (Nisse) Nilsson from Tectonic Break (and producer of all the Half Man releases)... Hey man, get Tectonic Break to play next years festival... if so, I won´t probably be able to stay away...
Up next was Mothercake... I had only heard the songs they had on the Half Man/Mothercake split 7" (and a few earlier tunes in the MP3 format). I wasn’t prepared for the kinda rock `n´ roll mayhem they created on stage, I had to stand further from the stage during their set since it was kinda wild in front of the stage... I didn’t want my camera to get busted to pieces on it´s premiere photo-shoot. If you like the kinda "stoner punk" that bands like Smoke Blow does, then you would love Mothercake. They hit you with so much energy from the stage that even I would be slammin´ like crazy, bad back and all, if I hadn’t brought the camera...
Mothercake
Live at Rock I Dalen
May 26th, 2001
(Click photos for larger versions)
After this I just had to take a break and go sit down in the car and have something to eat... I just sat there for a while trying to relax... When I was walking back to the festival area someone shouted my name... It was Dennis Berg (from Abramis Brama), he was doing what I had just been doing... sitting in the car and relaxing for a while... the only difference... he and the rest of the dudes in Abramis Brama were about to get on stage soon...
Abramis Brama
Live at Rock I Dalen
May 26th, 2001
(Click photos for larger versions)
And man, when Abramis Brama hit the stage, they did it with a vengeance... they must be the best live band in Sweden... at least in this genre... nah, they’re the best no matter what genre. I never got to see `em live with Christian Andersen on vocals... but he would have to be amazing to top the performance of Ulf Torkelsson... that dude can sing, what a stage presence. And it doesn’t stop with that, Abramis Brama have an awesome rhythm section with Fredrik Jansson on Drums and Dennis Berg on Bass... and some stunning riffing by Per-Olof Andersson. I was so caught in the moment when they played that I can’t really remember much other than that they kicked some serious rock `n´ roll booty on stage. I think the song "Blödande Hjärta" was a new one, and I also think they closed their set with a November cover that wasn’t on the setlist I got after the gig... I think it was the November tune "Men Mitt Hjärta Skall Vara Gjort Av Sten", but then again my memory isn’t that good nowadays... If Abramis Brama ever plays in your neck of the wood... Go!... You won´t be disapointed...
Finally I’d like to thank all the great bands and the people arranging this festival... great job! I wish there were more free festivals of this caliber in Sweden...
And a special thanks to Blind Dog for the CD and the Abramis Brama for the Tee... see ya’all next time around(?)
