Friday, 24th of July, we woke at 3:30 in the morning and headed to Turku Airport. Conviniently it’s just a 20-minute drive away from home. Our first flight took us to Riga, and from there we flew to Copenhagen, Denmark. Another 20 minutes in a train and we were in Malmö, Sweden. Four countries within a few hours, RockUnited.Com world tour...
At 11:50 we were at the venue Plan B., ready for the 3-Day Melodic Mayhem to begin. Unlike last year, I wasn’t there on my own but with our esteemed photographer Mira. As much as I enjoyed taking the photos then, I didn’t really miss being in the sauna-like photo pit. Thankfully the weather wasn’t as hot as the last time, and apparently it was a bit more tolerable in the pit.
The first band was one of the many Swedish acts in the line-up, CAUGHT IN ACTION. There’s been a change in the band’s line-up earlier this year, when Danish vocalist Henrik Brockmann joined the band. He’s of course known as the original lead singer of Royal Hunt, he sang on the band’s two first albums, not to mention several other projects. I have to admit that I didn’t realize that until I did some research for this review... no wonder why I got the impression that he’s a seasoned veteran of the rock scene. Very solid performance from him!
The band kicked off with a trio of their strongest songs (”Shot In The Dark”, ”Nathalie” and their namesake song ”Caught In Action”), so Malmö Melodic 2026 got a really strong start. The next few songs weren’t quite as good and the intensity of the gig went down a bit. The last song ”If I Could Change Your Mind” seemed to be one of the more familiar ones to the crowd, and ended the gig on a high note.
Setlist:
Shot In The Dark
Nathalie
Caught In Action
I Will Wait
Miracle
Alone Without You
It Is What It Is
Devils Tango
If I Could Change Your Mind
EMOTIONAL FIRE have released one full album so far, but they’ve been around for a few years. The band was put together around 2023 by Ron and Nina Dahlgren, also known for dreaming up the Gathering Of Kings project. They were Initially designed to be an all-female AOR band and named after a song first recorded by Cher. Out of the original line-up only vocalist Therés Enström and drummer Linnea Waljestål remain, the other positions have been filled by male musicians Daniel Myhr (keys), Oliver Lee (bass) and Pär Eriksson (guitar).
Therés Enström has a very strong stage presence and powerful vocals, while Linnea Waljestål provided the backbeat, not to mention a lot of backing vocal support. The guys were more in the background, maybe apart from Pär Eriksson who delivered some fine solos. As for the songs, they played most of the first album’s tracks and their new single ”Into The Night”, which sounded really good. Highlights for me were the punchy ”Breaking Me Up” and the power ballad ”Fire In Your Eyes”, but I did enjoy the whole set. I was disappointed that they didn’t play their ”title track” ”Emotional Fire”, which is a fantastic AOR anthem and the audience would have loved it. Then again, it wasn’t on the ”Rising” album either. Good show anyways!
Setlist:
Somebody
Like A Phoenix
What’s This Life?
Neon Glow
Breaking Me Up
Fire In Your Eyes
Into The Night
Turn Around And Walk Away
I Want You Here With Me
Next up was SARAYASIGN, representing the heavier side of melodic rock. I’ve tried to get into their music but haven’t really succeeded. For my ears they’ve sounded a bit too similar to Perfect Plan, Arctic Rain and others, only heavier and less catchy. Now that I’ve seen them live, I have realized that they are more of a metal band than AOR, and I think I understand their mission a little bit better now. They’ve got an epic, theatrical style that’s definitely closer To Queensrÿche than Journey. The band themselves call their music ”cinematic melodic hard rock”, and apparently there’s going to be 4 albums about the fictional world of Saraya. Three have been released so far. There are no links to the band Saraya whatsoever, I believe...
Vocalist Stefan Nykvist was the master of ceremony on stage, and his antics reminded me strongly of Geoff Tate and Roy Khan, formerly of Kamelot. His vocals were brilliant too. The band didn’t have a keyboard player on stage, but they did have a female backing vocalist whose name I didn’t catch. Sarayasign had their share of fans in the crowd, I saw a lot of their T-shirts worn and I believe they sold a decent amount of merch afterwards. As for me, they sounded good but somehow their hooks didn’t catch me, and the songs did start to sound a bit samey after a while. But not bad, not at all.
Setlist:
Worlds Apart
Shades Of Black
Shadows Of The Dying Light
Everdying Light
The Lion’s Road
When Worlds Collide
When All Lights Go Out
Last year I saw Alexander Strandell fronting Nitrate under somewhat special circumstances, this year he was at Malmö Melodic with his ”main band” ART NATION. The band has released 5 albums so far and they’ve evolved from their beginnings as a rather typical Scandinavian melodic hard rock band into something more modern and metallic, yet still melodic. Strandell himself is a captivating frontman with a great set of pipes, and guitarist Christoffer Borg and bassist Richard Svärd aren’t standing in the shadows either. The drummer, whose name I didn’t get, was mostly a silhouette in front of the digital screen, but that’s how it was for all the drummers. Solid drumming anyway.
Although the band’s sound has evolved, I think that the two songs from the first album (”Need You To Understand” and ”Don’t Wait For Salvation”) got the best reception.The newer material did get its’ share of love too, the band has a knack for writing anthemic, hooky choruses. In fact,I just put together a playlist of all Art Nation albums and I will dig into it ASAP! The next year it could be Strandell's third band Crowne's turn? I certainly wouldn't object to that!
Setlist:
Brutal & Beautiful
Don’t Wait For Salvation
The Real Me
Echo
Thunderball
Julia
Kiss Up Kick Down
Paralyzed
Lightbringer
Halo
Need You To Understand
One of the bands I was most looking forward to seeing was MIDNITE CITY from UK. They’ve released 5 albums so far, each one celebrating the glory days of late eighties. The band’s live show is a celebration of that era too, they have the look, the sound and the moves nailed down. Back in the eighties, I thought that young bands who dressed and sounded like the Beatles or Elvis were hopelessly old-fashioned and uncool - I wonder whether the kids of 2026 feel the same way for these 80’s styled bands? Anyway, at Malmö Melodic, there wasn’t a lot of youngsters in the audience and Midnite City’s throwback style was greeted with much enthusiasm. Old-fashioned? Maybe, but then again, the 80’s style keeps coming back again and again... and uncool? Not in my books, quite the opposite!
The band’s songs are carefully constructed of tried and tested elements of our favourite melodic hard rock tracks. Echoes of Alice Cooper, Bon Jovi, Van Halen, Danger Danger, Blue Tears can be heard... The hair metal anthems shake hands with keyboard-driven AOR tracks, and vocalist Rob Wylde keeps the party going on. The riffs are catchy, the choruses are big, the keys are swirling... what’s not to like? My favourite songs of the setlist were ”Heaven In This Hell”, ”Girls Gone Wild” and ”We Belong”, just to name a few.
Live Like You Mean It
Lethal Dose Of Love
Heaven In This Hell
Atomic
Hardest Heart To Break
Worth Fighting For
Girls Gone Wild
When The Summer Ends
Give Me Love
We Belong
ECLIPSE were a last minute replacement for Heaven’s Edge, who had to cancel because of some medical issues. They are a hard-working band we’ve seen many times before, but I wasn’t complaining about this change in the line-up. Eclipse are a reliable band, they do not tend to disappoint. This may not have been the best gig I’ve seen from them, but it was still good. They have such a huge discography and a dozens of songs to choose from, and I might have wanted to hear some older songs they didn’t play, but there were still more than half a dozen absolute bangers in their set. Songs like ”Falling To My Knees”, ”Saturday Night (Hallelujah)”, ”Downfall Of Eden” and ”Viva La Victoria” are among my favourite songs of the last 15 years or so! Not just favourite Eclipse songs but songs in general.
The band were very energetic on stage, with Erik Martensson as the ring leader, with guitarist Magnus Henriksson and bassist Victor Crusner joining in on the fun. Especially the towering Crusner has a very strong stage presence, and his backing vocals are excellent. Henriksson’s guitar skills are "second to none" (those who get it, get it!) and with Martensson they are quite a pair of axemen.
Robin Nilsson, the drummer of The Cruel Intentions made a cameo appearance during ”Viva La Victoria”, while Eclipse drummer Adde Andreasson took over the bass duties and Crusner just sang backing vocals. A massive sing-along ended the show in grand fashion.
Setlist:
Roses on Your Grave
Falling to My Knees
All I Want
Things We Love
Twilight
The Downfall of Eden
Blood Enemies
Battlegrounds
Saturday Night (Hallelujah)
Black Rain
The Hardest Part Is Losing You
Runaways
Anthem
Viva la Victoria
The headliner of the first day was none other than TYKETTO. The band came into the scene in 1991 with their first album ”Don’t Come Easy”, and they were maybe a couple of years too late. The tide had already started to turn, and despite being on a major label, they didn’t really manage to break through. What they did achieve was a cult status and the album became a favourite of many melodic rock fans, me included. I still rate the three first songs of that album as possibly the most consummate opening trio of all time - ”Forever Young”, ”Wings” and ”Burning Down Inside” are all 10/10 songs as far as I’m concerned.
Tyketto may have had some hiatuses and line-up changes over the years, but I have to hand it to them, they’re still active and playing solid gigs and releasing new material. Vocalist Danny Vaughn is one of the few eighties singers who doesn’t seem to have lost none of his vocal skills, and if it wasn’t for the gray hair, he could easily pass for a man half of his actual age! Ged Rylands on keyboards has been in the band since 2012, and bassist Chris Childs (known from Thunder as well) since 2014, though he was away for a few years. The latest recruitments are Johnny Dee on drums and guitarist Harry Scott Elliott. Dee played with Vaughn way back in the eighties in Waysted, while Elliott is a young gun with impressive style and stage antics.
Kicking the set off with ”Rescue Me” from their second album ”Strength in Numbers”, the gig got a nice, uplifting start. Next up were two of those aforementioned three songs, and damn, I got goosebumps! Easily one of the finest moments of this festival! The third of the classic songs was left to the end of the set, and yes, weird skin conditions occurred again...
The rest of the set contained a lot of newer material, some of which I enjoyed and some which I would have swapped with other songs. Although we were in Sweden, the Roxette cover (that I didn’t know was a Roxette cover) ”Harleys & Indians” didn’t work for me at all... not Per Gessle’s greatest songwriting, and I do like many of his songs. The crowd didn’t seem to know it too well either. My favourite song from the band’s latest album, ”Starts With A Feeling” wasn’t in the setlist, which was a bit of disappointment. Then again, the older tracks ”Strength In Numbers”, Standing Alone” and ”Lay Your Body Down” did not disappoint, and all In all, it was a good gig.
Setlist:
Rescue Me
Wings
Burning Down Inside
Higher Than High
Strength in Numbers
Reach
Closer to the Sun
The Run
We Rise
Circle the Wagons
Seasons
Harleys & Indians (Riders in the Sky)
Standing Alone
Lay Your Body Down
The Brave
Forever Young
That concludes our Friday. There was an afterparty going on at the hotel, but we headed to our room right away... it had been a very long, but rewarding day!
DAY 2 - Saturday
According to Elton John, ”Saturday’ Night’s Alright For Fighting” but nothing like that was going on at Plan B. and Malmö Melodic. Saturday was alright for listening to good music and having a good time. At noon we were already at the venue, less tired and more energized than the previous day. A good night’s sleep and a big breakfast does wonders.
Last year, CONSTANCIA were supposed to play for the VIP guests, but they had to pull out because of personal reasons. This year they were ready to play, and in fact this gig was their first ever live performance! I was quite surprised of this, as they’ve already released 4 albums and have been around for quite a while.
The band has recently recruited a few new members, most notably a new frontman Jonas Erixon and keyboard player Marcus Zerath. Both of them will appear again in this story later on… Erixon impressed me with his voice and ”stagecraft”, he reminded me a bit of Glenn Hughes and David Coverdale.
Constancia’s music wasn’t particularly familiar to me, I have one of their albums but I didn’t know many of their songs in the setlist. Still, they left a good impression on me with their no-frills melodic hard rock and I intend to check out their back catalogue and the newly released new EP ”The Next Step” ASAP.
Setlist:
My Redemption
Blame It On Love
Stronger
Forget Me Not
Built This House
Feel My Heartbeat
Fallen Hero
You Don’t Know Love
Brave New World
MOTHER MERSY were the biggest question mark of the festival for me. A local band I hadn’t even heard of before the were announced. Naturally I had checked out their material but it wasn’t exactly my cup of tea, so I didn’t have high expectations.
Even though their retro-seventies-rivalsons-zeppelin type of hard rock didn’t particularly win me over, their performance was very good. The band has a superb frontman in Emil Starbrant, he instantly made his presence known and had all eyes on him. Serious vocal skills too! A star in the making, mark my words. The other guys were raw and raunchy performers too, so it was fun to watch their show. Favourite song: ”Desired”.
Setlist:
Kiss Me
Armageddon
See Right Through Ya
Desired
Stand Up
Sweetness
Attention
Your Thing
Can’t Move
SAFFIRE had the unofortunate slot to follow the energetic youngsters, but they managed to hold their own. As with Constancia, I only have one album of theirs so I wasn’t that familiar with their stuff. Their classic, Hammond-fueled Purple/Rainbow sound pleased many in the audience but for me they were just okay. Great vocals from Tobias Jansson, very much in the style of the late Ronnie James Dio and otherwise solid performance from everyone. ”Taming The Hurricane” was my favourite song of the set.
Setlist:
Broken Crown
Triumph Of The Will
Roses (Electrify)
Hard To Keep, Hard To Find
Casters Of The First Stone
Magnolia
Read Between The Lines
Taming The Hurricane
By now, I was ready for the fireworks to begin, as the rest of the Saturday’s line-up was filled with my favourites. First one was a fairly recent discovery, the Swiss rockers FIGHTER V. They’re a new’ish band with only 3 albums under their belt, but have already made a reasonably big splash in the scene.
The band came with all guns blazing and hair swinging to the stage… and sounded horrible. There was a low, rumbling noise underneath everything and I was seriously worried that the PA might explode or something. ”Raging Heartbeat” was a bit too raging! Thankfully the crew sorted it out and when the noise disappeared, the band got a round of applause before they had even finished the first song.
The band’s performance polarized the crowd somewhat, as some people didn’t care for vocalist Emmo’s very unique style and couldn’t get over the first song’s technical issues. I generally liked their show and I think Emmo’s vocals are what make this band different to many of its’ contenders. I do question their setlist choices though. Many of their best songs we didn’t get to hear, and the Journey cover was unnecessary and maybe not suitable for Emmo’s voice. They recently released a very decent cover of Meat Loaf’s ”Blind Before I Stop”, why wasn’t that in the setlist? To sum it up: good, but could have been great.
Setlist:
Raging Heartbeat
Made For The Heartache
Victory
Miracle Heart / All Your Love
Speed Demon
There’s No Limit
Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)
Deja Vu
Eye To Eye
Can’t Stop The Rock
Dangerous
I had my doubts about BOULEVARD. Their latest album ”Talk Without Speaking” left me a bit cold, but I’ve seen them live a few times and knew that they were capable of creating sheer magic. And guess what? That’s what they did!
These Canadians gave us a lesson in professionalism, smoothness and musicality. Some bands might sound just like they sound on albums because most of the music you hear comes from the actual albums, but Boulevard were totally live. Great playing, great singing, great sound. That’s how it is done!
I have no complaints about the setlist. There was just one song from the latest album and one from the new EP, and they both worked quite well live. Otherwise it was just classic BLVD material, including two tracks from their previous album ”IV - Luminescence” which were great. ”I Can’t Tell You Why” got stuck in my head for days. ”Why” you ask… I Can’t tell you!
The biggest surprise was the inclusion of ”Where Is The Love”, a track the band has rarely played live. Apparently it’s been the most requested song, and I can understand it - it’s an AOR classic and deserves to be played as often as possible. On behalf of everyone who has requested it - thank you, Boulevard!
Setlist:
Life Is A Beautiful Thing
Dream On
I Can’t Tell You Why
Crazy Life
Far From Over
Ready For The Fall
Ready To Let Go
Where Is The Love
Talk To Me
Never Give Up
I had my doubts about ALIEN as well. Their latest album was just ok, and I really didn’t know what to expect. Would Jim Jidhed’s voice be in shape? Would they concentrate on the new stuff? Who’s in the band these days? All kinds of questions were running through my mind.
Well, Alien came and showed that European bands can deliver consummate AOR performance too, and played a very polished, classy gig. The setlist was excellent, with an emphasis on the classic first album. The new album’s tracks sounded better live, especially ”If Love Is War” blew me away. It was an excellent to move to have two backing vocalists (Jonathan Jaarnek Norén and Kajsa Borg) on stage, and during this track the joined Jim in the front, harmonizing with him beautifully. Goosebumps!
The crowd (and me) loved the classic tracks such as ”Go Easy”, ”Brave New Love” and ”Tears Don’t Put Out The Fire” from the debut, and sang along to every line. I was very pleased that ”In Love We Trust”, one of the best latter-day Alien songs was included in the setlist. There was an instrumental song (or guitar solo, depends how one sees it) with Tony Borg paying tribute to his dog Henley, who had passed away last autumn. It was emotional and touching, with a slide show of his companion shown on the screen.
As for Jim Jidhed… another masterclass in singing is what we got. So much soul, so much emotion. His banter was good too. ”We had songs in a movie called ”The Blob”, some kind of a monster attacking. While a couple got called in a car, this song was playing.” That was his intro to ”Feel My Love”. Don’t know about you, but I thought it was funny.
The third original member Toby Tarrach was solid as ever behind his kit. This time we had some photos of the keyboard player (Mikael Bäck) too, because he was up front. The line-up was rounded up by bassist Fredrik Karnell.
Setlist:
Easy Livin’
Go Easy
If Love Is War
Tears Don’t Put Out The Fire
Instrumental
In The End We Fall
In Love We Trust
Brave New Love
Only One Woman
I Belong To The Rain
Dying By The Golden Rule
Feel My Love
I’ve Been Waiting
HARDLINE had a difficult task to follow two fine AOR sets. Their show had altogether different kind of energy and vibe though. Vocalist Johnny Gioeli was bolting from one side of the stage to another like a thunderball, while Anna Portalupi (bass) and Luca Princiotta (guitar) tried their best not to get in the way! He really was the most energetic vocalist of the festival, but it has to be said that despite all that bouncing, he deilvered excellent vocals all the way through. He was very talkative too, there were some lengthy monologues during the set. He was pretty funny though, and some of the chitchat between him and keyboard player Alessandro Del Vecchio was hilarious. ”Alessandro is new to music. He has only rmade some 6000 albums and plays in 492 bands. He can’t even remember all the bands!”
The setlist consisted of 8 songs from their legendary debut ”Double Eclipse”, three from the latest album and a couple of songs from the albums in-between. A crowd-pleasing set for sure, but if they had cut some the ramblings and extended versions, there would have been room for at least three more songs. It was a bit ironic that a song called ”In The Hands Of Time” lasted something like ten minutes!
Highlights for me: The opener ”Shout” with Gioeli running around like a maniac, ”Dr. Love”, The AOR gem ”Everything” and of course the should-have-been-a-hit-single ”Hot Cherie”.
Setlist:
Shout
Rise Up
Dr. Love
Bad Taste
When You Came Into My Life
Everything
Danger Zone
Life’s A Bitch
In The Hands Of Time
Hot Cherie
Rhythm From A Red Car
Takin’ Me Down
Fever Dreams
Day 3 - Sunday
Mixed feelings: it's the last day, soon it'll all be over... then again, some amazing bands to look forward to, including the the return of Brother Firetribe to Malmö!
CREYE were the VIP band of Sunday. The line-up of the band has been notoriously unstable, especially when it comes to vocalists – we've seen them with 3 different singers, one of which was a stand-in guy. They've recorded music with 4 singers, including Alexander Strandell and Robin Jidhed, who didn't do any live shows with the band, as far as I know.
The line-up of the band in Malmö featured Simon Böös on vocals, along with mainstays Andreas Gullstrand and Fredrik Joakimsson on guitars. The rhythm section was Denny Karlsson on bass and Vidar Savbrant on drums. Even though keyboards are very prominent in the band's sound, they came from a hard disc, as the trend seems to be these days. Young aspiring musicians, if you want to play live, stick to stringed instruments, drums or singing... keyboard players are the first to go when bands streamline their line-ups!
When we saw Creye for the first time, they were young guys, kind of like an AOR boyband. The boys have turned into men and they may have lost some of that novelty, which has been replaced by experience.
New vocalist Simon Böös hasn't played too many gigs with the band, and seemed a bit nervous, but eased into his role as the show went on. He didn't strike me as a rockstar type of a frontman, more like a likeable guy next door with a good voice.
The latter day Creye material is pleasant enough, but for me, the first album's ”Christina” stood out as the highlight of the show. If you ask me, the ten songs listed below are not the strongest Creye songs. Nevertheless, a nice, laidback start for the Sunday.
Setlist:
Something Missing
Face To Face
Carry On
Christina
Bad Romance
War Of Love
Broken Highway
Rust
Miracle
Left In Silence
PROUD were definitely not a boyband, as all the members were probably 60 or more. In the crowd there we a lot of Proud T-shirts, they had mobilized their supporters well! Their last gig was apparently something like 40 years ago, so this gig was a big thing for them. And they did okay, I would say. Sure, they're not the most visual or exciting band to watch, but I liked most of their songs, even though I hadn't heard most of them before. Their most recent material worked the best, so for me they're not riding on past glory.
Setlist:
Magic
Hold On
Fly Like An Eagle
Don’t Look Back
Fighting For Love
Dangerous
Got To Get Back
Born For Your Love
When ALICATE took the stage, I realized that some of these guys I've seen there before. Vocalist/guitarist Jonas Erixon and keyboard player Marcus Zerath were both on stage with Constancia. Now they were playing with what I understand is their ”main band”, and more in AOR style.
I've only heard the latest Alicate album and liked it, but didn't know that they've actually released several albums and were originally formed in the eighties. I must investigate further... Anyway, their set was a sprited one, with Zerath swapping keys to guitar every now and then and moving to the frontline to throw some good ol' guitar hero shapes. I though they had Nalle Påhlsson of Treat on bass, but no, it was band's founding member Fredrik Ekberg, who just happens to look a lot like Nalle.
Highlight of the setlist for me was ”Don't Turn Around” with the kind of chorus hook that comes out of the blue and knocks one out, just the way I like 'em. Plenty of other good songs too.
Setlist:
Changes
Too Bad To Be Good
Heaven Tonight
Save Our Love
Are You Ready?
Done For The Weekend
Butterfly
Don’t Turn Around
Let It Out
I Can Run
MICHAEL BORMANN'S JADED HARD is Bormann's latest band, which does have their own songs too, but this time they played songs from Jaded Heart exclusively. In case you aren't familiar with the back story, Bormann was the frontman and main songwriter in Jaded Heart from the nineties to 2004, before he and the rest of the band went their separate ways.
Back in the day Michael Bormann got his big break on a TV show, where he performed as the ”German Bon Jovi”. Whereas Jon Bon Jovi is struggling with his voice these days, Michael's voice is still very strong.
The band had to get a stand-in guitarist at the last minute, and Constancia's bass player Stefan Rosqvist accepted the challenge. He seemed like he'd been with the band for ages! Very impressive. A shout-out to keyboard player Chris Ivo, who brought a lot of positive energy to the show, he was all smiles and headbanging and he was positioned in the front of the stage, so we actually have decent photos of him!
The set included several Jaded Heart classics such as ”Anymore”, ”Dangerous” and the Beatles cover ”Help!”, which they also have released on their ”Slaves And Masters” album. Yeah, a good show!
Setlist:
No Hesitation
Dangerous
The Dream Is Over
Heaven Is Falling
Anymore
Help!
Take My Soul
Live And Let Die
Inside Out
WHITE WIDDOW made the longest trip to the festival, flying all the way from Australia. Despite being from there, their sound has always been very much in the vein of ”Scandi-AOR”, so they fit the bill quite well.
Keyboard-heavy hard rock was the name of their game, big choruses and melodies. The band does have a bit of a ”Jules Mills and the backing band” vibe, as vocalist Jules is the only one with a rocker look and he is the only one that really moves on stage. Well, the music sounded good and I was pleasantly surprised in their cover song choice – Diving For Pearls' ”Never On Monday”. ”This is one for the anoraks”, Mills quipped... I don't know what he was talking about..
The band was celebrating the 15th anniversary of their second album ”Serenade” and played several songs from that one. As always, there were songs I was hoping to hear that weren't played, but then again, they didn't play any weak songs.
Setlist:
Cry Wolf
Below The Belt
Strangers In The Night
Tokyo Rain
Do You Remember
Stranded
Angel
Second Hand Heart
Reckless Nights
Never On Monday
Broken Hearts Won’t Last Forever
WIG WAM's singer Glam (Åge Sten Nilsen) was battling a fever and a cold, which naturally had its' impact on his performance. I have to hand it to him, he did the best he could under the circumstances and still put on a good show.
Just like the previous band, Wig Wam were celebrating an anniversary of an album. ”Wig Wamania” was released twenty years ago, and we got to hear 6 songs from it in the beginning of the set. The rest of the setlist was filled with songs from different eras of the band. The biggest crowd pleasers were the Peacemaker theme song ”Do You Wanna Taste It” and the band's Eurovision hit ”In My Dreams”. The latest songs went down quite well too.
All things considered, a good, fun show.
Setlist:
Rock My Ride
Dare Devil Heat
Kill My Rock’n Roll
Bygone Zone
Gonna Get You Someday
The Riddle
Do You Wanna Taste It
Human Fire
Out Of The Dark
Non Stop Rock And Roll
Bless The Night
Forevermore
I Turn To You
Hard To Be A Rock’n’Roller
Never Say Die
In My Dreams
After last year's triumphant first visit, our fellow Finns BROTHER FIRETRIBE were invited back to be the headliners of the festival. Many of us were present last year and remembered the band's superb gig, so the expectations were high, and so was the anticipation. Or tribulation, in this case?
The curtain was opened, and the band broke out the set with ”Break Out” from the first album. Melodic mayhem started immediately, people sang along each line and basically this continued pretty much all the way to the end of the set.
The band had put together an amazing setlist that included all their biggest hits but also some deep album cuts that they hadn't played in ages, such as ”Lover Tonite” and ”Strangled”. Out of all their gigs, this was the right place to play those, because they were playing to a room full of their die-hard fans who truly appreciated these choices.
Vocalist Pekka Heino showed again what a fine singer and a fine entertainer he is. His deadpan humour worked with this crowd perfectly and he had us in the palm of his hand. No lengthy ramblings, just precise killer one-liners and then some!
The band's set was probably one of the longest ones they've played, with 18 songs in total. We've seen the band many times, and honestly I can say that this was the best gig I've seen from them. The final of ”I'm On Fire”, ”For Better Or For Worse”, ”Bring On The Rain” and ”Heart Full Of Fire” was melodic mayhem at its' best, with the crowd shouting along to every word, as if trying to drown out the band. Malmö Melodic couldn't have chosen a better band to close this year's event! Now that it's been a couple of weeks since the festival, I've heard that people have asked for 'Tribe to become a fixed part of the line-up. I wouldn't mind that, but I guess it's unlikely to happen. They might have to change the name to ”Tribefest”...
Setlist:
Break Out
I Am Rock
Number One
One Single Breath
Chariot Of Fire
Strangled
Arianne
Shock
Midnite Queen
Just Another Night
Lover Tonite
Wildest Dreams
Valerie
Night Drive
I’m On Fire
For Better Or For Worse
Bring On The Rain
Heart Full Of Fire
The three days we spent at the festival were an absolute highlight of the year, and I'm still on a high from it as I write this. Everything worked fine, and we were very happy how well we were taken care of by the MM crew. Can't wait to return to Malmö next year!
Images by Mira Suutari-Toivonen
Words by Kimmo Toivonen
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