Frontiers Rock festival is the Frontiers Record company's own festival, which first saw the light of day in 2014.
The bands on the bill are all signed to the record label and even though Frontiers nowadays signs bands from various genres, this specific festival so far has only booked bands performing melodic rock.
Frontiers Records was founded in 1996, so this year the label celebrates it's 30th anniversary. The founder of Frontiers Records, SERAFINO PERUGINO, has managed to create quite a concept among the melodic rock scene, booking many of the most famous artists in this genre to his label and with this creating a fine festival, which has gathered more followers year after year. Based on this popularity it's no wonder the festival sold out and Perugino was seen posing very happily on the social media.
The small town of Trezzo sull'Adda, where the festival was held this year, has been the place for the festival in earlier years too. Although there was a six year break, the festival returned last year and hopefully will continue as a yearly event. What started as a two day festival was turned into three days this year.
There were cancellations too. House of Lords, Robin Beck and Frontline had to cancel, but all found replacements, so the festival still had a full line-up.
Among the normal festival tickets the crowd was also able to buy VIP-tickets, which included nearly everything a fan can dream of; staying in the same hotel with the bands, meet and greets with them, special shows not seen with the normal ticket, all meals, transportation, seats at the festival and what not.
DAY ONE, FRIDAY 1.5.
Our first visit to Frontiers Festival was in 2017 when the event wasn't sold out, so it was quite a sight this year seing the venue full already on Friday even before the first band started.
The venue of Live Music Club is a big hall, which also has an outside area serving drinks and food and some seats. Finding a seat was hard though and getting a drink also, because the venue was so crowded from the start and the nice sunny weather thoughout the festival gathered people outside during the breaks.
The hostess for the festival was a recording artist herself, CASSIDY PARIS, who has released two albums so far and was one of the artists performing at the Friday VIP-event. Paris brought her youthful energy on stage as a hostess, presenting the bands on stage in astute and cheery manner.
STREETLIGHT opened up the festival just before three o'clock. This AOR group from Sweden hasn't been around for long, but clearly interested many, as the venue was already quite full from the start. It's rare for any concerts nowadays to fill up from the start, so it was a nice turn-out.
Streetlight released their debut album "Ignition" in 2023 and immediately caught the attention of the pure AOR listeners. Their sound is as clear and pure as AOR can get and the songs have been carefully crafted.
The band only had thirty minutes on stage, so the set was a tight package of their most popular songs, mostly from their second album "Night Visions" from last year. Kicking off with "Hit the Ground", the mood was set for a perfect start for the festival. This song is energetic and catchy.
The band consists of five members and what makes Streetlight stand out from many other bands is the fact, that all of its members sing live. This perfects their live sound. Their lead vocalist and guitarist Johannes Häger is a lively performer and keyboardist John Svensson performed with a wink in his eye, backed with Filip Stenlund (guitars), Erik Nilsson (drums) and Johan Tjernström (bass). The set was a tight package of AOR with great sounds and a great, cheery start for the festival.
Setlist: Hit the Ground, Straight To Video, Sleep Walk, Long-Distance Runner, Chutes and Ladders, Fly With Eagles, Captured in the Night
The only Finnish band performing at the festival was SHIRAZ LANE, who served their unique style of hard rock, blending in various styles of rock. These young guys also had a thirty minute slot, so they had to conquer the crowd fast.
Having seen the band many times before I knew these guys are a powerful live group with great showmanship. Their singer Hannes Kett is a magnetic performer with mystique to him and the whole band (Miki Kalske and Jani Laine - guitars, Joel Alex - bass, Ana Willman - drums) performs with a sympathetic touch.
The band started at half four o'clock with "Plastic Heart" from their last years album "In Vertigo", continuing with "Stone Cold Lover" from the same album. The set included two more songs from this album and the rest from their other catalogue. They seemed to have a following in Italy, as the crowd were singing along to their songs and the front rows were quite passionate about them.
The set was tight and energetic and those who knew their songs seemed to be pleased with the setlist. Their last song was the Savage Garden hit from 1996, "To the Moon & Back". Sadly no songs were heard from their 2016 debut album "For Crying Out Loud".
Setlist: Plastic Heart, Stone Cold Lover, Broken Into Pieces, Dangerous, Live a Little More, Harder to Breathe, To the Moon & Back (Savage Garden cover)
DAN BYRNE from Liverpool, UK, was up next. Byrne was playing outside of UK for the first time and at the time of the festival was going on tour with John Corabi. Byrne was known earlier from the band Departed, whom I had the chance to see at Rockingham festival (Nottingham) years ago. He also sang in Revival Black and Skin.
The style of Byrne reminds somewhat of fellow countrymen Inglorious' music, with down-to-earth groovy rock with rough vocals and heavy bass. The band sounded sturdy and had a good show with songs familiar from YouTube, if you haven't followed any other media about them or Byrne's career.
Setlist: Saviour, Like Animals, She's The Devil, Praise Hell, Sentimental, Easier, Hard to Breathe, Death of Me
Another Swedish band was up next, CREYE. They're familiar for many, who follow the melodic rock scene. The band has gone through some changes recently and had a new singer in Simon Böös. This was his first live appearance with the band, which seemed to have a nervous start.
In the thirty eight minute set the band managed to squeeze in a lot of hits. Their style of melodic rock is cheerful, but the set included some melancholic moments as well. Andreas Gullstrand is a steady guitarist, backed up by Fredrik Joakimsson, bassist Denny Karlsson and drummer Vidar Savbrant. At the end of the set Böös took on acoustic guitar and was more relaxed, and his singing got stronger towards the end.
Creye has a lot of great melodic rock songs, so if you aren't yet familiar with them, check them out.
Setlist: Something Missing, Face to Face, Bad Romance, Different State of Mind, Carry On, Only You, Rust, Weightless, Miracle, Left in Silence
RUSS BALLARD (UK) started just before seven in the evening with an hour set. This legendary artist has had a long career, but I never got to see him live before, although being a fan from the early '80's. He has been a songwriter for other artists and bands as well, such as Rainbow, KISS, Ace Frehley, Uriah Heep, Frida and America.
His band in Italy consisted of John Miller (drums), Marc Rapson(keys), Paul Bond (guitar) and PJ Phillips (bass).
Ballard, in his respectful eighty years of age, is still giving enthusiastic shows, and his set included only hits, with two songs from his Argent days.
The set began with him improvising a little, then beginning the actual show with his hit "I Can't Hear You No More". Ballard had good backing vocals live and the show packed with hits was very entertaining.
Setlist: I Can't Hear You No More, In the Night, Two Silhouettes, Playing With Fire, Dream On, A Woman Like You, Liar (Argent), Your Time Is Gonna Come, Voices, The Fire Still Burns, Since You Been Gone, God Gave Rock and Roll to You (Argent)
The evening, and the festival, seemed to be based around the AOR legend GIANT (USA) though. Even though other bands received a warm welcome from the crowd, Giant stole most of the attention. The band was supposed to make a comeback show in Italy with most of its original members, but fate had other plans Dann Huff's (guitar, original vocals) drummer brother David Huff didn't get his passport in time and was filled in by Chris McHugh (Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood, Rascal Flatts).
Then just minutes before the show was about to start a sinister sounding announcement was made, giving the impression that something fatal had happened. Before the announcement we saw two first responders rushing in and out of the stage. The crowd went silent and then started whispering what was going on. An overwhelming atmosphere took over and I hoped we had been better informed immediately, since the situation wasn't as dire as most had probably imagined.
As it turned out, bass player Mike Brignardello had broken his arm just prior to entering the stage. He couldn't play the show. It was a sad moment for both the band and the fans. Giant surely didn't have luck on their side on this trip.
The set soon started though after about a twenty minute wait and the crowd was very sympathetic towards the band, who had to play without a bass player! But the band seemed to have some backing bass tracks they used live, which helped the situation.
Singer Bryan Cole took Dann's spot on vocals and he is good. Dann seemed happy just playing guitar and Giant fans seemed more like Huff-fans, as the cameras were mostly aimed at Dann. But it's no wonder, this man is a brilliant guitarist-songwriter, having penned loads of famous songs for famous artists and bands. What a treat it was to finally see him live! He even had a spot in the set playing one of his solo album songs. The other guitarist Mark Oakley has been in Giant from the start. On keys was Larry Hall, who's worked with various famous artists.
Giant had a wonderful show despite the situation and the setlist was pure gold.
Setlist: Shake Me Up, Thunder and Lightning, I Can't Get Close Enough, Stay, No Way Out, Chained, Don't Leave Me in Love, Hold Back the Night, It Takes Two, I'll See You in My Dreams,
Can't Let Go, Waiting on a Whisper (instrumental Dann Huff song), I'm a Believer, Innocent Days, Time to Burn
The main band for Friday was STARSHIP from USA, starting just before eleven o'clock. This band has a long career behind with many hits. One might not even realize they're listening to Starship when they hear the line "We Built This City", one of the biggest hits from the eighties and one of Starship's biggest hits, which keeps on playing everywhere to this day.
Singer Mickey Thomas is of course the main guy in the band, having history already with Jefferson Starship.
They had another singer on stage too, Chelsee Foster, who joined the band in 2024, with a colourful musical background. Guitarist August Zadra joined early this year and has released a self-titled solo album before. It was great to see him live as well. The rest of Starship was Jeff Adams (bass, formerly of Jimi Jamison's Survivor), Phil Bennett (keys) and Darrell Verdusco (drums), the latter two have been with the band ever since 1995.
The Starship setlist was pure hits and the collaboration of the two singers worked well live. Foster proved to those not familiar with her, that she is a vocally skilled professional with a shining stage presence.
Thomas still manages to take his crowd and then some, he is a total professional, who is right at home on stage. The crowd seemed to listen to them carefully and even enjoyed the quirky Jefferson Airplane cover "White Rabbit", a testament to its time the seventies with the hippie movements.
Starship really shined through the set and made all of their songs sound massive live. Quite a firework of melodies finish for the evening!
Setlist: Layin' It on the Line (Jefferson Starship), Jane, Sara, Wild Again, Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now (Albert Hammond cover), Set the Night to Music, White Rabbit (Jefferson
Airplane cover), Somebody to Love (The Great Society cover), Fooled Around and Fell in Love (Elvin Bishop cover), Stranger, It's Not Enough, We Built This City,
encore: Find Your Way Back
DAY TWO, SATURDAY 2.5.
It was an early start for the second day, if you wished to see the first band of the day, FIGHTER V from Switzerland. They started just before three o'clock and like most first bands each day they played half an hour.
I've wanted to see these guys since their debut album came out in 2019 and now they've already released three albums, the latest "Deja Vu" this year.
The line-up has changed since the first album and it's now Emmo Acar (vocals), Lucien Egloff (drums), Roman Stalder (bass), Valentin Lobe (guitar).
Emmo and Roman arrived at the venue already on Friday and were seen digging at least Giant and Starship among the crowd. I wonder if they stayed up late that evening, but there were no signs of tiredness when they entered the stage on Saturday.
Emmo took an explosive start for the show, entering with a powerful somersault across the stage, and so began a fiery set full of hits, first doing "Raging Heartbeat" off their latest album.
It wasn't just Emmo who proved to possess entertainer skills. Roman was right alongside him all smiles and doing cool poses with his bass and long hair. Valentin and Lucien also seemed pleased with how well the crowd received them and rocked with a youthful energy. The crowd warmed up even more throughout the show.
Fighter V had a powerful set, and it was pleasing to hear them also play one of their slower songs, "Miracle Heart".
There were crowd sing-alongs and they were well noisy for the first set of the day. Too bad we didn't get to hear anything from their first album though and it was such a short set.
Setlist: Raging Heartbeat, Victory, Speed Demon, Miracle Heart, Deja Vu, Heart of the Young, Eye to Eye, Radio Tokyo
The Italian HELL IN THE CLUB started half four o'clock. Their style of music with rowdy vocals and attitude was something more suitable for a metal festival, but they had their share of fans here too.
They performed a dynamic show, with singer Terese Persson being a powerhouse vocalist and performer. She joined the band two years ago, replacing Davide Moras. The rest of the group has remained the same; Andrea Buratto (bass), Andrea Piccardi (guitars) and Marco Lazzarini (drums).
The band has been around since 2009 and has released seven albums so far, so they had quite the catalogue to cover in such a short set, but they managed to play something from most albums.
Setlist: Shadow of the Monster, We Are on Fire, Robert the Doll, Sidonie, The Ocean, Rock Down This Place, Magnetars, Devil on My Shoulder, The Kid
More pure AOR was to follow, as ATLANTIC from UK hit the stage an hour later. This band has been around for long.
Their debut album "Power" came out already in 1994 and sadly not until thirty years later they released the second one, "Another World".
Atlantic was a much-anticipated band by the audience. Most of their fans were middle-aged men, who enthusiastically filmed most of the show with their phones. The set was full of AOR hits and the band seemed thrilled to be in Italy.
All was going smoothly until they were about to get into the third song "Missing You". Here's where the guitarist Nick Burr broke a string, but was soon handed a loan guitar, which he seemed to be fine with. The other members are Julian D. Hill (bass), Mark Peters (keys), Mark Grimmett (vocals), Simon Harrison (guitar) and Mark Pullin (drums).
Sadly their time ran out and they weren't able to play the hit "Power Over Me" from the first album. The crowd still cheered to them loudly to continue though.
Setlist: Can't Hold On, Without Love, Missing You, Nothing To Lose, What Hurts the Most, Whole Lot of Love, Hold On, Never Enough
The Swedish DEGREED also had a thirty-minute set. It seemed like the sounds got louder now. Maybe the timing was right for that, since the crowd got noisier as the day turned into midday.
Degreed started with grunchier songs, then moved towards the more melodic songs in their third song. Delivering their contemporary hard rock with various influences, they aren't your average rock band. Live they sounded sturdy and singer Robin Eriksson (known to some from the Swedish version of American Idol and his band Robin Red) tried to get some action to the crowd, which now seemed a bit afternoon sleepy.
The band released their eighth studio album "Curtain Calls" this year and they also played the title track live, which is a raunchy rocker. The show was throughout energetic and entertaining, with rest of the group being Mats Eriksson (drums), Daniel Johansson (guitar) and Mikael Blanc (keyboards).
Setlist: Curtain Calls, Holding on to Yesterday, Shakedown, This Is Love, If It Wasn’t for Me, Lost Generation, Tomorrow, One Helluva Ride, Believe, The Scam
Another one of the most anticipated bands of the evening was HEAVEN'S EDGE from USA. These guys have a long career behind them and were among the biggest bands in the turn of the '80's-'90's in the hard rock scene.
They played an hour set, starting a bit past half seven o'clock. Mark Evans on vocals still rocked like a young dude, although he's vocals have gotten rougher through the years with so many gigs behind. The rest of the band are Reggie Wu and Steven Parry (guitars), David Rath (drums) and Jaron Gulino (bass). The band and the crowd were all having fun, it seemed like the big party everyone had been waiting to attend to.
The setlist was full of fans favourites, but they also introduced two new songs "Let's Go" and "What's He Got". The set ended to their hit "Find Another Way", where Evans jumped down the stage to greet the first row fans. It was a memorable ending from the classy band.
Setlist: Play Dirty, Rock Steady, Had Enough, Daddy's Little Girl, Let's Go, Gone, Gone, Gone, When the Lights Go Down, 9 Lives (My Immortal Life), What Could've Been, What's He Got (live debut), Skin to Skin, Find Another Way
The Swedish Η.Ε.Α.Τ was the second last band of the evening. There was no information why they were on the bill, as they were no longer signed to the Frontiers Records, but maybe that will change in the future. Or maybe they were just a surprise band.
The ninety-minute set started at ten past eight. Η.Ε.Α.Τ is a very active band touring most of the time and through the years has crafted a sparkling, action packed show, which makes their crowd go wild. Italy saw another fiery show from them.
Singer Kenny Leckremo, bassist Jimmy Jay and drummer Don Crash are the most active members on stage, although Crash is bound behind his drum surroundings. Keyboardist Jona Tee has his own show behind his keys and guitarist Dave Dalone mostly runs his show on the other side of the stage.
Η.Ε.Α.Τ has grown their fanbase through the years through touring and releasing albums quite regularly. Their fans are passionate and some even follow them around the world.
In the latest years the band has settled for a solid setlist, which keeps an uplifting tempo through the show and includes a whole bunch of catchy choruses.
Most of the live songs are from the latest albums, so one can only hope someday to hear more older songs too, as H.E.A.T has written a huge catalogue of pure hits through the years.
Setlist: Disaster, Rock Your Body, Dangerous Ground, Hollywood, Rise, Nationwide, Redefined, Cry, Beg Beg Beg/War Pigs, encore: Back to the Rhythm, Running to You, Living on the Run, One by One
Just before ten o'clock the main band NIGHT RANGER (US) hit the stage, also playing an hour and a half set.
These guys are such professional performers, who make time fly past quickly and enjoyably and leave the audience wanting more. This was the case in Italy as well.
It is hard to believe the years have ever caught up with the Rangers, watching them bounce around like teenagers and all the while singer/bass player Jack Blades firing endless stories and jokes on stage. Guitarist Brad Gillis is still in great form and could probably play these tunes with his eyes closed. These two guys and the drummer Kelly Keagy are the original members of the band, nowadays having Keri Kelli on second guitar and Eric Levy on keys.
To our pleasure three Damn Yankees songs were played too; "Coming of Age", "Come Again" and "High Enough".
These are classics from 1990, when Blades was in the band. What a treat it was and Blades still performs them as ardently as they were just released!
The Ranger classics “Sentimental Street”, “Goodbye” and “Sister Christian” were still sung by Keagy, who’s voice is now quite fragile, but they were still moving moments, reminding us all how fast our lives go by, these songs being hits already back in the 80’s. The rest of the band backed up Keagy vocally on the songs.
After their hit "Night Ranger" Keagy was surrounded by the rest of the band, who drummed away with him for a while. It seemed like an improvisation, they didn’t drum any certain song.
I haven’t witnessed this kind of spectacle before in their gigs, so it was, at least for me, a special moment.
Night Ranger had the right spot of the evening as Saturday headliners, they have an endless list of hits, an admirably long career and they perform like the huge stars they are, not forgetting humour from their shows. They’ve always delivered a world class show and they didn’t disappoint this time either.
Setlist: (You Can Still) Rock in America, Four in the Morning, Seven Wishes, Sing Me Away, Coming of Age (Damn Yankees cover), Sentimental Street, The Secret of My Success, Rumours in the Air, High Road, Night Ranger, Come Again (Damn Yankees cover), High Enough (Damn Yankees cover), Goodbye, When You Close Your Eyes, Sister Christian, Don't Tell Me You Love Me
DAY THREE, SUNDAY 3.5.
We missed the first band of the day, Italian IT'SaLIE, who just released a new album this year called "Wild Games".
Fronted by female vocalist Giorgia Colleluori, the band plays hard rock with attitude and released their debut in 2020.
Setlist: Death Road, Living in the City, Waiting for the Rain, Believers of Leaders, One Way to Rock (Sammy Hagar cover), Gates of Faith, Fire
A little past three o'clock it was time for some AOR. The USA-based group TRANSATLANTIC RADIO formed in 2020 by bass player Victor Brodén (Richard Marx, LeAnn Rimes, etc) and the same year adding members Mattias Osbäck (vocals), Chris Reeve (drums, Filter, Avril Lavigne, Tom Morello), Fred Kron (keyboards, Ringo Starr, longtime member of the J immy KimmelLive! band) and guitarist RJ Ronquillo, who has worked with Ricky Martin, Santana, Stevie Wonder, and Stone Sour. They also had a second guitarist on stage, Pelle Holmberg, who has worked and recorded with a whole lot of Swedish artists and has his own instrumental fusion band.
It took a few years, but Transatlantic Radio's debut "Midnight Transmissions" finally came out this year. Before the release their live debut was at the Malmö Melodic Festival in 2024. Live the band sounds like a mix of classic and melodic rock, offering a nostalgic '80's feeling with their melodies, but still sounding fresh.
The band also played a Signal cover "Arms of a Stranger" since they're "AOR nerds" as they put it, paying tribute to one of AOR's golden voices, the late Marcie Free. It was a sentimental part of the show. Sadly their showtime was way too short, so just as the crowd was starting to warm up, they had to call it quits.
Setlist: The Good Times, Wide Awake, All for You, Arms of a Stranger (Signal cover), That's What You Get (For Falling in Love), City of Angels
The Swedish sleaze-hard rock group SMOKING SNAKES continued the afternoon with their W.A.S.P. -influenced raw style. Their singer Brett Martin even occasionally sounds like Blackie Lawless and the band's image is all black.
These Snakes have only been around for four years, but they possess all the manners of a true rock group. Their set included songs from both of their albums, although the 2024 release “Danger Zone” was more in focus.
Setlist: Angels Calling, Excited, Sole Survivors, Run for Your Life, Broken Heart, Pleasure & Pain, There is no Tomorrow, Rocking to the Morning Light
The Swedish kept on coming from doors and windows, but who can complain, Swedes are professionals in any musical genre.
CONFESS kept the sleaze going, stylistically continuing pretty much from where the Snakes left off with, but offering more melodic content.
It had been eight years since Confess' last visit in Italy, so their fans were thrilled to see them back.
And even more so, waiting to hear their latest, 2026 released album Metalmorphosis, songs live, from which they played three songs.
Since the last visit to Italy the band has gone through line-up changes and their latest album included John Elliot on vocals (also with Crashdïet), Ludwig Viljam Nordlander and Asser Hakala on guitars, Samuel Samael on drums and Lucky on bass. Since their EP from 2012 the guitarists have changed.
We saw Confess in Finland some time before Italy, where we witnessed a tight show, but in Italy they didn't quite catch up to that level. It seemed like Elliot was struggling withhis voice, but he and the rest of the group still performed with great spirit.
They had some sort of a problem, maybe technical, as they ended their set about twenty four minutes earlier. As a last song they played a Graham Lyle cover, made famous by the late raspy voiced legend Tina Turner, the huge hit “What’s Love Got to Do With It”. Confess has actually recorded this song on their second album.
Setlist: Malleous, Metalmorphosis, The Warriors, Strange Kind of Affection, Haunting You, Wicked Temptations, What's Love Got to Do With it (Graham Lyle cover)
JOHN CORABI doesn't need much introduction, but still; this singer has been in groups like Mötley Crüe, The Dead Daisies and The Scream, the latter making an impact on me back in 1991.
It was just past six in the evening, when Corabi and his band hit the stage. He had an all-star group with him; Marti Frederiksen (guitars), Troy Lucketta (drums, Tesla), Michael Devin (bass, Whitesnake), Jeremy Asbrock (lead guitars, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley) and Paul Taylor (keys/guitar, Winger, Steve Perry).
This show was about classic rock'n'roll and playing Corabi's latest album's material. Corabi is right at home on stage and his performance was relaxed. And with his tight and skillful group behind him they put on an entertaining and balanced show. Although they concentrated on Corabi's solo material, a Mötley Crüe cover "Hooligan's Holiday" was also played, though it was rearranged to fit Corabi's present sound.
Material from his other past bands were also heard, such as the aforementioned The Scream and their song "Man in the Moon".
Setlist: New Day, That Memory, I'm Gonna Ride (The Dead Daisies cover), One More Shot, Do Own Thing (Union cover), When I Was Young, 1969, Hooligan's Holiday (Mötley Crüe cover), Midnight Moses (The Sensational Alex Harvey band cover), Man in the Moon (The Scream cover)
Only two bands to go and this years Frontiers Festival was done.
The second last band was the American NELSON, who started a bit past seven in the evening. These twins gained fame back in 1990 with various hits, but came back to fame through the TV series Peacemaker with their song "To Get Back to You", which appeared in the episode “Full Nelson”, dedicated to the band. The song was even played live, with Matthew sharing the story of how the song ended up in the James Gunn’s series and how through that they gained a whole new audience.
Before this though the band had recorded the theme song “Two Heads are Better than One” together with Dweezil Zappa for the film "Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey", the band then using a pseudonym "Power Tool". This song was also played live.
The Nelson brothers, Gunnar on guitar and Matthew on bass, are born entertainers, who share their positive energy with the audience. On stage with them were David Keith (drums, Ritchie Blackmore), J.J. Farris (guitar) and keysman Danny Roselle, who also played guitar occasionally.
The set started with two rockers, then taking it down a notch with “More Than Ever”, then continued to go through their catalogue, playing a polished and upbeat show.
It had been a whoppin' thirty six years since Nelson had last performed in Italy, but these performance back then were only part of a promotional tour, Nelson giving TV and acoustic performances. So this was their first time playing a public gig in Italy and the crowd must've been anxiously waiting to see them live. As a Finn I must say the band never even came to Finland, so through the years I had to travel to UK to finally see them live. Having seen Nelson now many times live I can say they again lived up to every previous experiences, bringing forth an outstanding stage presence, a first-class backing band and a world-class show. And their hits, even if some may say they are too soft for their taste, they have aged like fine wine!
Setlist: Fill You Up, (It’s Just) Desire, More Than Ever, Two Heads Are Better Than One, To Get Back to You, I Can Hardly Wait, How Can I Miss You, After the Rain, Everywhere I Go, Steam Roller, (Can’t Live Without Your) Love And Affection
The American Christian band STRYPER was the headline band of Sunday and the whole festival and kicked off just before half ten o'clock. These guys have been around since 1983 and with such a long career behind it was certain this years Frontiers Rock Festival was going out with a bang. And surely so it did.
Having seen Stryper a few times throughout the years it was great to see them still delivering their best on stage. The line-up stayed the same for a long time, but in 2017 bassist Timothy Gaines left the group, again, and is replaced nowadays by ex-Firehouse Perry Richardson. Oz Fox is still on guitar and the Sweet brothers Robert on drums and Michael on vocals and guitar. As his trademark Robert still plays his drums sideways to the crowd, so he's visible for them.
The setlist mainly focused on their older material and it was a sure success with that. A quirky trademark of Stryper from the past was throwing bibles to the crowd and they still apparently do that, as a few thin looking booklets were thrown to the crowd. I didn't get one to see exactly what they were though.
Among all the hits mostly from the eighties Stryper also covered Judas Priest a bit with "Breaking the Law". It's an interesting cover for them, which they recorded in 2011, paying tribute to bands who shaped Stryper musically. And it was an enthusiastic performance.
The highlights of the show were of course their own older hits, especially "Always There for You" and the last two songs "Soldiers Under Command" and "To Hell With the Devil".
It was a good move from the festival to have Stryper as headliners, as they always deliver a good show and get the crowd going. Stryper could've played even longer, as they have what seems like an endless catalogue of great albums.
Setlist: Sing Along Song, Calling On You, Free, Loud 'n' Clear, Rock That Makes Me Roll, Sorry, Breaking the Law (Judas Priest cover), No More Hell to Pay, All for One, More Than a
Man, Divider, Always There for You, When We Were Kings, The Valley, Soldiers Under Command, To Hell With the Devil
Hopefully next year Frontiers will again arrange another festival, as this year was a huge success. It was great seeing how people still travel across the world to support melodic music and stay together like a big family. This was proved by a clip you might find from the Frontiers' Instagram site, where people gather together after the Stryper show to sing the Foreigner song "I Want to Know What Love Is", all the while hugging each other. How sweet is that!
Review: Satu Reunanen
Photos: Kari Helenius
Setlists: Setlists.fm
More photos: RockUnited.Com @ Facebook