“Between two evils, I generally like to pick the one I never tried before.” — Mae West

Marduk playing in the Gasklockorna

One of the problems with festivals with more than two stages is sometimes you have to miss an act you’d like to see. Such was the case when Marduk took the stage inside the Gasklockorna while Alice Cooper was playing on the big stage just outside. Given that I had seen Alice before (and the songs I ended up missing were Feed My Frankenstein, Clones, Poison, and Wicked Young Man–four songs I’d gladly miss again), I went with Marduk.

Mortuus doing the vocals and Devo on bass guitar for Marduk

I’m not that familiar with Marduk, although I do listen to them on Pandora sometimes. They are your somewhat typical Scandinavian Black Metal band. I find them a little less penetrable than, say, Immortal or Emperor.

Morgan "Evil" Steinmeyer Håkansson on guitar for Marduk

Summers in Sweden, especially as far north as Gävle, are not hot. However, the Gasklockorna building was extremely hot inside for every band. I split after several songs to cool down outside while watching the end of Alice Cooper’s show.

Posted on August 18th, 2011 under Other. Tags: getaway rock festival, marduk, metal. Comments Off on Marduk @ Getaway Rock Festival 2011

Alice Cooper in a storm of confetti

Alice Cooper has turned over members of his band over the past 40+ years like few others. The guitarist to the far right in the above photo is Steve Hunter, who was one (of many) on guitar for perhaps Alice’s best record, “Billion Dollar Babies.”

Tommy Henriksen plays guitar for Alice Cooper

Alice Cooper at Getaway Rock Festival 2011

Posted on August 16th, 2011 under Other. Tags: alice cooper, getaway rock festival. Comments: 3

Alice Cooper

When I first saw Alice Cooper live, back in 1987, I wasn’t very familiar with his music. Sure I had heard “I’m Eighteen” and “School’s Out” on the radio growing up, but I didn’t own any of his albums. It was beginning in 1987 that I really got into his early material. I even ended up enjoying his early 80s material (which most people don’t) like “Special Forces,” “Dada,” and “Zipper Catches Skin” (although I haven’t heard them in ages now as they only recently came out on CD). However, nothing he has recorded after 1983 has been the least bit interesting to me.

I barely stomached “Brutal Planet,” “Hey Stoopid,” and “I’ll Bite Your Face Off” at GRF, but after “Cold Ethyl” I sensed a run on annoying songs would be coming so I went to a different stage to watch Marduk instead. I, therefore, missed a bunch of (stupid IMO) songs before coming back out (as the building Marduk was playing in was far too hot to stay for their whole set) for “I Love the Dead,” “School’s Out,” and “Elected.” Maybe I’m the only one who would prefer “Steven,” “Ballad Of Dwight Fry,” and “Black Juju” over “Feed My Frankenstein,” “Poison,” and “Hey Stoopid,” but that’s just my taste.

Damon Johnson plays guitar for Alice Cooper

Alice Cooper - Getaway Rock Festival 2011

Posted on August 14th, 2011 under Other. Tags: alice cooper, getaway rock festival, nikon 50mm f/1.8, nikon d7000. Comments: 1

Alice Cooper performs "The Black Widow" in Gävle, Sweden with Chuck Garric on bass

More than 24 years separated the last time I saw Alice Cooper and his performance last month at GRF. Not much changed in his performance during those years, which is a good thing. The songs were mostly the same. The band was entirely different. Best of all, his enthusiasm and stage presence are still fantastic. After doing virtually the same act for decades on end, perhaps thousands of times, you’d think it would show. It doesn’t. There is still tons of energy and excitement in this sixty-something year old.

Fans of Alice Cooper at GRF 2011 in Gävle, Sweden

When performing in the US, Alice comes out with a flag of the USA during “Elected.” In Sweden he came out with a flag of Sweden, changed the lyrics a bit, and had the crowd ready to have him take political command of Stockholm by the end.

Alice Coooper "Elected" King of Sweden

I walked back to my hotel at 1 a.m. next to a guy holding the remains of the giant, pink ball/balloon.

Why does Alice have three guitarists in addition to a bassist? I don’t know. Go ask Alice.

Posted on August 13th, 2011 under Other. Tags: alice cooper, getaway rock festival. Comments Off on Alice Cooper at Getaway Rock Festival 2011 (part 1 of at least 3)

Glenn Danzig performs at GRF 2011

I came into Danzig’s performance at GRF with an open mind. I wasn’t a huge Danzig fan, but I didn’t necessarily dislike Danzig either. This evening in Gavle, Sweden would likely sway me one way or the other.

There is a certain type of musical entertainer who feels compelled to perform by being (or pretending to be) angry. Sometimes they are mad at the audience, sometimes their band, and sometimes it’s their road crew. Regardless of who they spew their vile at, it is not the least bit entertaining or endearing to me. Glenn Danzig is one of those kinds of people so he quickly fell out of favor in my eyes. (His music didn’t do anything for me either.) The Swedish press seemed to agree as the next day the paper gave him a horrible review. At least I think they gave him a poor evaluation. I couldn’t actually read the article as it was all in Swedish, but Danzig got a 1 out of 5 stars, and every other act reviewed scored between 3 and 5 stars.

The photo of Danzig posted above is actually very flattering. He looks better in it than he really did on stage. Danzig looked similar to Meat Loaf in reality. Given that he’s in his 50s, I shouldn’t be so negative. However, Wolf Hoffmann, who is a similar age, looked great, and even Alice Cooper, who is almost a decade older and who played later in the evening, looked much better. Also, Danzig himself once said, “I’ve always been attracted to the Nietzschean idea of perfection, and so I began trying to perfect my body.”

Posted on August 12th, 2011 under Other. Tags: getaway rock festival. Comments Off on Danzig @ Getaway Rock Festival 2011