Anthrax:
I was really looking forward to see Scott Ian and his crew with the returning Joey Belladonna on vocals.
The setlist was the following:
"Caught in a Mosh" / "Got the Time" (Joe Jackson cover) / "Madhouse" / "Antisocial" (Trust cover) / "Indians" (with "Heaven And Hell" Jam) / "Metal Thrashing Mad" / "Efilnikufesin (N.F.L.)" / "I Am The Law"
And god they were good. As it turned out they were the best band of the whole festival.
From the pure rage of "Caught in a Mosh" to the haunting intro of "Indians" with a tribute to Ronnie James Dio that almost brought me to tears.
And the pumped up rebellanthem "Efilnikusfein (N.F.L.)" just summed the whole gig up nicely.
Inbetween the riff-o-rama going onstage Scott Ian also promised that they will try to bring "The Big Four"to Sonisphere in Sweden next year which didn't exactly made the crowd less enthusiastic.
Slayer:
Setlist:
"South of Heaven" / "World Painted Blood" / "Hate Worldwide" / "War Ensemble" / "Spirit in Black" / "Dead Skin Mask" / "Mandatory Suicide" / "Chemical Warfare" / "Raining Blood" / "Aggressive Perfector" / "Angel of Death"
They started with a great version of "South of Heaven" and some of the songs are pretty strong. And although the camera filming for the big screens at the side of the stage had a hard time finding focus becuase of the thundering drums constant shook the whole place to the core the band was pretty dull and uninterested.
They got away with "ok" but not much more and that and that is a shame considering that they have potential to reach so much higher.
Alice Cooper:
Alice had a pretty tough starting position considering that pretty everyone at the whole area at this point where wet, cold and just wanting to get home.
I had stiffed to the point where it hurt to move. But Alice hit the stage and really made me forget all the problems and suddenly everything felt absolutely wonderful!
The setlist was:
"School's Out" (Part) / "No More Mr. Nice Guy" / "I'm Eighteen" / "Wicked Young Man" / "Ballad Of Dwight Fry" / "Go To Hell" / "Guilty" / "Cold Ethyl" / "Poison" / "Black Widow Jam" / "Vengeance Is Mine" / "Dirty Diamonds" / "Billion Dollar Babies" / "Killer" / "I Love The Dead" / "Feed My Frankenstein" / "Under My Wheels"
Encore:
"Elected" / "School's Out"
Alice had brought the whole "Theatre of Death" scenery and it was overall a great show!
It was actually more like watching theatre than a regular rockshow. Everything just ran without any stops.
No speaks to the crowd or anything like that. Just a solid rockshow with everything you expect from Alice.
The guillotine, the abuse of the dancer, the iron maiden-execution, the fight with the giant etc.
It was all really cool!
Thank you Alice!
Mötley Crüe:
Mötley did pretty much deliever every single song you expect from them considering the compressd playing time that a festival means.
They played the following set:
"Kickstart My Heart" / "Wild Side" / "Shout At The Devil" / "Saints Of Los Angeles" / "Live Wire" / "Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)" / "Same Ol' Situation (S.O.S.)" / "Mutherfucker of the Year" / "Primal Scream" / "Dr. Feelgood" / "Girls, Girls, Girls"
I was really impressed by how good Vince sounded! I have seen some less than stellar performances on YouTube and heard some pretty bad things about his current voice condition. But he sounded really good although he let the crowd sing a little more than I prefer.
It was a good Mötley-show with cool lightningshow (though it was a bit too light for it to be able to judge it fairly), lots of fire, firecrackers filling the stage, Tommy Lee telling us that it Sweden is a great "city" to be horny in and Nikki Sixx filming with his iPhone to show them at home how "badass the mutherfuckers in Stockholm are".
Despite all this it wasn't really up to the standards of what they should be able to. Maybe it was the weather, the compressed set or that it was an outside show and not in an inside arena but they didn't really delievered the way you expect Mötley too...
Judging on the sound coming out of the speakers it was a stellar show but when it is Mötley onstage you want some extravaganza dangerous sleaze going on up among the boys too!
Iron Maiden:
They played the set with emphasis on the material of '00s that they just did throughout North America.
Setlist:
"The Wicker Man" / "Ghost Of The Navigator" / "Wrathchild" / "Eldorado" / "Dance Of Death" / "The Reincarnation Of Benjamin Breeg" / "These Colours Don't Run" / "Blood Brothers" / "Wildest Dreams" / "No More Lies" / "Brave New World" / "Fear Of The Dark" / "Iron Maiden"
Encore:
"The Number of the Beast" / "Hallowed Be Thy Name" / "Running Free"
Some say this is a brave set... I rather call it stupid! I mean why not play the best song you have or at least use at least a handful more of them. Some of the new songs actually do stand up and can be used live like "Ghost of the Navigator", "Dance of Death" and "Blood Brothers" but some of those other borefests is just frustrating to stand through. And even the band must notice how much better the crowd reacts to the classics! It is just selfish to play those shittracks like "The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg" and "No More Lies".
It was good that they finished with "Running Free" though. That was also the best song of the night from the boys in Maiden.