Last year’s inaugural ‘Malmo Melodic’ was such a success that it was swiftly clear that a 2025 version would build the brand further. The line-up was stronger, and Johan Nylen and his team from Wind Up Productions brought into the organising team more veterans of the much loved Firefest. A launch reveal on Steve Price’s ARFM show last autumn only added to the sense those days were being revived.
Shrewdly they avoided budgetary overreach with two thirds of the acts hailing from Sweden, with a couple apiece from Germany and England and one from Denmark and Finland. However in quality terms that is no hardship, with the country having been the epicentre of melodic rock for many years.
It was a melodic rock gathering of the clans with apparently fans from 30 nations represented. This included an even bigger contingent than last year from the UK, making up nearly a third of the 500 plus attendance. I joked to some of my fellow Brits it was like following your football team to Milton Keynes Dons and outnumbering the home support.
For VIP passholders, there was a small welcome party the night before, confusingly in a hall within a public park playing host to an outdoor concert by the Gipsy Kings. It included the bonus of an acoustic set from the four members of Gaeleri who had played the first festival.
Understandably, as people renewed old acquaintances and swapped tales, their own material sadly served as background noise, though I enjoyed ‘Blue Town’ which I remembered from last year. However the second half of the set went down well with some choice covers in acoustic fashion, ranging from Whitesnake to Cat Stevens and T Rex and sparking some singalongs, the highlight being a spirited cover of ‘You’re The Voice’.
DAY 1- FM, BAD HABIT, SEVENTH CRYSTAL, CRUZH, ARCTIC RAIN, STATE OF SALAZAR
Arriving at the festival venue of Plan B the day after, every guest was personally greeted by an organising committee of Kieran Dargan, Steve Price and Gav Bolton, a nice touch adding to the feeling we are all part of a valued community.
The set up was the same as last year: the main room was swelteringly hot, at least for the first couple of days, but that did not matter too much as between the bands people either chatted on the benches outside, taking advantage of the good weather (and improved catering) or joining the long queues for the room where signing sessions were taking place immediately after.
A six band bill on the opening day began with State of Salazar, one of the bands I was most looking forward to. I’d seen them on my first trip to Malmo for the Swedish AOR convention in 2019 and it appears the band had not been terribly active since then. However any early tentative cobwebs were swept away as they opened with the smooth sounds of ‘Eat Your Heart Out’ and ‘I Believe In You’ and those songs and in particular ‘If You Wait For Me’ reminded me of fellow Swedes Work of Art, with their lush west coast sound with guitars and keyboards nicely balanced and Marcus Nygren’s pure voice soaring slickly.
‘Always’ was dedicated to a couple who had used it as their wedding song while they played ‘This Is Our World’ which Marcus had written for Toby Hitchcock. One of their ace cards is having two singers, with part-English keyboard player Kevin Hosford taking lead vocals on ‘To the Wire’, sounding a little like Jackson Browne meets Dave Bickler, while my favourite ‘My Heart Is At War’ was classic early eighties AOR not least when Johan Thuresson’s guitar solo led into a classic seventies-pomp style synth solo, and ‘She’s a Loaded Gun’ saw the two singers share vocals very effectively. One of their best known numbers in ‘All the Way’ from their debut ended a triumphant return to live action and got the festival off to a good start.
Next up was a first opportunity to see another rising Swedish act in Arctic Rain, looking similar, but a little tougher in their musical approach, as they opened with ‘Laughing in the Rain’ and ‘Lift Me Up’.
Talk was who would be the first band to do an Ozzy cover and when they dedicated a song to his memory, it looked as if they would be first off the mark, but despite a Jake E Lee-like introductory riff, it proved to be one of their own on ‘Kings Of The Radio’. There was a surprise when they played ‘Separate Ways’ which is the AOR equivalent of Zeppelin’s ‘Rock And Roll’ when it comes to overplayed covers but a rearranged version put enough of their own spin on it to justify the decision.
I found their material a little inconsistent and the band a touch disjointed and lacking cohesion. However guitarist Magnus Berglund brought a very impressive and at times neo- classical feel to his playing, giving them more of an edge than State of Salazar. ‘Free My Mind’ was a good ballad and ‘Take Me To Your Heart’ more uptempo, while they saved the best to last with ‘Lost’, a typical Sandi melodic rock anthem with big hooks and backing vocals.
Next up were Cruzh, who I saw as young hopefuls at Rockingham way back in 2017. Now with three albums behind them, glammy looking bass player Dennis Butabi Borg in his fur trimmed gilet was still there but a new name was at the mike in Alex Waghorn.
The opening trio came from most recent album ‘The Jungle Revolution’ and in between the glammier rock of the title track and ‘Angel Dust’, ‘FL89’ told you musically and lyrically where the band’s heart lies (‘just like 1989’) even if they were not born then. After ‘Turn Back Time’, ‘New York Nights’ had an anthemic quality to encourage people joining in and the title track of second album ‘Tropical Thunder’ saw Alex venture into the crowd.
After coming to them with moderate expectations they were a revelation and in their mix of sleazier with melodic moments, allied to Alex’s look and stage moves, they favourably reminded me of Crazy Lixx, of whom more anon. The set really lifted the energy levels.
‘Set Me Free’ from their debut and ‘Paralyzed’ were particularly good, before a closing anthemic trio of ‘Hard To Get’ (with its big ‘ready or not give it a shot’ chorus hook), ‘We Go Together’, Alex conducting the crowd’s arm waving, and ‘Aim For The Head’ with another big chorus. All in all a real pleasant surprise to see how much they have progressed.
One by one the bands had been getting progressively harder, culminating in Seventh Crystal, who had won so many friends during their VIP slot last year and have since released their third album and heaviest yet in ‘Entity’. They were completely at the other end of the melodic rock spectrum to some of the fluffier acts, with a dense modern feel, and some technical, almost progressive metal arrangements. Yet the melodies were still very present if you listened on the likes of opener ‘Blinded By The Light’, ‘Higher Ground’ and ‘Architects Of Light’, and ‘Million Times’ boasted a particularly melodic hook.
They also had a good stage show with their own backdrops and the Viking-like figure of broad-shouldered, ponytailed Krystian Fyhr waving a band flag and commanding the stage like a rock version of Ealing Haaland. They were probably the act most equipped to carry off a Sabbath song and ‘Shut Up’ concluded with a snatch of ‘Iron Man’. After some heavier songs in ‘Versus’ and ‘Mayflower’ they ended in more accessible fashion with their strongest song in my view, the title track from second album ‘Wonderland’, and ‘Say What You Need to Say’.
Their more intense approach would certainly not have been to everyone’s taste, yet others open to a more adventurous sound had them as one of the bands of the festival. I naturally lean towards the former category but had enjoyed significantly more than when I saw them with Harem Scarem in London recently- and on this occasion the exemplary sound system here certainly did them justice.
After four of the current generation of Swedish bands, second on the bill were a band of older vintage, Bad Habit, who I had also seen headlining that AOR convention in 2019, but who date back to the mid-eighties. They had had to call on a couple of new members, but in addition to rhythm guitarist Hal Marabel with his spectacular facial topiary, they still had Bax Fehling on vocals, a pilot by day no less.
His raspy love-or-hate-them vocals were distinctive, beginning with the fine chorus of ‘Back To Life’ and ‘Everytime You Cry’. He enjoyed chatting in engaging fashion between songs, in a quirky voice that reminded me of ‘German comedy ambassador’ Henning Wehn. The only trouble was, sometimes he was still talking as the (excessive) keyboard backing tracks started to be piped in.
The set was an interesting mix from all phases of their career and while ‘I Don’t Want You’ with its soaring chorus, and ‘Breaking My Chains’ were classically melodic, others were surprisingly heavy including ‘Retribution’. For me the set caught fire with a trio of superb songs in the ballad ‘I Wanna Be The One’, ‘A Lot To Learn’ and ‘To Love You’.
There seemed to be a big crowd of fans there specifically for them who were particularly delighted by oldies ‘Need Somebody’ from their very first mini-album and the soaring chorus of ‘Another Night’. The set seemed to end very early but they returned for trio of three encores, the heavier ‘Heat Of The Night’, ‘Rowena’ which was easily the popular favourite as the crowd sang along and ‘Above And Beyond’. It was an enjoyable if unspectacular set from a band with a big, and varied, back catalogue.
Talking of which, after Romeo’s Daughter played the inaugural festival there were short odds that Britain’s premier AOR band FM would be a headliner at the second edition. I’ve seen them countless times over the past 40 years, and yet never before on foreign soil. This second and I would say most satisfying chapter in their career was kicked off by the reunion at Firefest 2007, which Steve Overland generously thanked Kieran Dargan for during the set.
A set full of classic songs ironically started with perhaps the most ordinary in ‘Digging Up The Dirt’, despite some rare slide guitar work from Jim Kirkpatrick- however the tempo was instantly lifted by one oldie in ‘I Belong To The Night’ and a more recent favourite in ‘Killed By Love’ with its overload of ‘who-oahs’.
During ‘Someday (You’ll Come Running)’ people at the front were bouncing to the chorus while ‘Let Love Be The Leader’ featured that great harmony solo between Jim and Steve at the end. ‘Synchronised’ has become established as one of their modern classics and though ‘Every Time I Think Of You’ took the pace down, it featured a nice closing twin guitar solo. Even the one choice from the bluesier ‘Aphrodisiac’ was its most AOR like song in the big chorus of ‘All Or Nothing’, then ‘Does It Feels Like Love’ saw Steve doing some mid song gymnastics to show off that still superb voice, and leading a clap along.
Quite apart from the quality of the music I was reminded quite why I enjoy FM shows more than ever and come back again and again. The band have a relaxed and affable nature and clearly enjoy playing together with their little grins and synchronised stage moves. Other than some brief introductions, the songs also come with very little padding out through solos and set pieces, but arrive one after another. With the new album only just recorded and last release ‘Old Habits Die Hard’ represented only by an intro tape, an oldie-heavy set focused on the songs dearest to people’s hearts.
The nearest to an obscurity was ‘Hot Wired’ with more of those trademark ‘who-oahs’ and Merv Goldsworthy rocking out with the guitarists as they played the closing harmony solo. From there on in it was one classic with an irresistible chorus hook after another in ‘That Girl’, ‘Bad Luck’ and ‘Tough It Out’- with both a ‘who- oh’ and a ‘yeah-eah’ in its intro- and new classic ‘Turn This Car Around’. Compared to the rather staid UK audiences – who in fairness have been spoiled- the atmosphere was noticeably more boisterous, especially when a group of younger lads near the front were twirling their shirts above their heads!
In a 90 minute set that flew by there was time for a double encore – first a keyboard intro piece from Jem Davis, who for much of the song was then Steve’s sole accompaniment on ‘Story Of My Life’, once again showing those remarkable vocal talents that he has preserved so well, and ‘The Other Side Of Midnight’ which could only have been more fun had Jem come out with his ‘keytar’ as of old. I am biased, but even as someone who must have seen 50 plus FM shows, their usual quality combined with such a great atmosphere made this one of their most memorable.
DAY 2 – TREAT, BROTHER FIRETRIBE, DEGREED, CARE OF NIGHT, VIOLET, ARKADO, ANIMALYZE
The second day opened with one of two exclusive performances for VIP ticket holders, but in a late change Constancia were unable to play for family reasons, so young Danes Animalyze (sic) stepped in at the last moment. It was clear we would be in for something different when after a lengthy intro tape the curtain fell to reveal them making synchronised moves, dressed in studded leather to the opener, the title track of their debut album ‘Powerhouse’.
On ‘Wild For Free’ and ‘Dr Chemical’, a basic but enthusiastic style was calling to mind early Ratt or Motley Crue, even with some familiar riffs. ‘Trigger For Love’ called to mind any number of mid-eighties US hopefuls, while the two songs where the guitarist and drummer took lead vocals instead reminded me of the Kiss numbers sung by band members other than Paul Stanley.
They played a verse of ‘Mama I’m Coming Home’, leading into ‘Hunter Of the Night’. Finishing with ‘’Kings Of the Night’, they were relatively unpolished: however at their young age they can already put on a lively show and to have a louder and sleazier band brought some welcome balance to the weekend.
Next up were Arkado, far more within the melodic mainstream though the presence of two hirsute guitarists in Patrik Svard and Tony Rothla gave their AOR a sharper edge. A familiar face was on vocals in Philip Lindstrand with his quirky style – eyes popping with passion and lifting his head towards an imaginary balcony.
After opening with ‘Don’t Rape The Nature’ and ‘Unchain The Night’, there was a good mix of songs from the semi ballad ‘You Make Me Feel’ to the classic hard rock feel of ‘Rising High’. ‘Running Through the Night’ boasted one of those stabbing keyboard intros that always get me going and closer ‘So Bad’ was in a similar mould. A very solid set that just lacked that bit of distinctiveness to make it a memorable one.
Last year the festival featured three female fronted acts but this year we just had the one in Violet from Germany. They are another act inspired by the sounds and images of the eighties that they are too young to remember. Indeed I later discovered band members had been among those twirling their shirts at the front at FM.
Initially I thought they were over enthusiastic and their delivery of the likes of opener ‘Mysteria’ rather drowned out diminutive singer Jamie Beckham’s voice (for the curious, an Anglicisation of Jasmin Bierschinken). As the set wore on she seemed more comfortable with songs that wandered more into pop rock territory, such as ‘Sophie’ and ‘Angelina (Talk To Me)’, featuring Bon Jovi- style ‘hey- heys’ on the intro and a sax solo.
The set seemed to have ended prematurely with ‘Blame It On The Night’ but they came back for an encore which was my favourite of the set, ‘Arms Around’, a big power ballad where Jamie conducted a mass sway, climaxing with a sweet guitar solo from Manuel Heller. The frontwoman with a teased mass of tousled hair and her youthful bandmates had certainly won many new friends.
While Violet are a new name Care of Night are now relative veterans – it’s a whole decade since I first saw them at Rockingham, and they were another promoted from last year’s VIP-only slot. Dressed in animal print shirts, the increased self confidence is palpable in their stage act.
Now familiar songs like ‘Contact’, ‘Tonight’, and the Survivor-ish ‘Street Runner’ are AOR in its purest form with Calle Schoenberg’s very melodic vocals and a good balance between keyboards and clean guitar work. ‘Your Perfection’ sparked a particularly good reaction from a big crowd, many supporting these local Malmö heroes.
‘Stay With Me’ and ‘Melanie’ were also well received but ‘Say You Will’ provided some much-needed variety with acoustic guitar. The AOR bliss of ‘Cassandra’ (were they rivalling Toto for use of girls names?) boasted a classic keyboard intro, harmonies and audience participation, and closer ‘Heart Belongs’ even saw the newly extrovert Calle taking a trip into the crowd.
If Care Of Night are as mainstream as they come, another highly regarded Swedish act who have been around for a while now in Degreed are not afraid to subvert the stereotypes.
As befits a band who took the stage to the strains of ‘Hocus Pocus’, opener ‘Big Plans’ was almost progressive in feel with both keyboardist Mikael Blanc, who unlike nearly all his counterparts over the weekend, was front of stage and guitarist Daniel Johansson given free rein to play some more elaborate and inventive instrumental passages. A friend also drew my attention to the fact that ‘you’ve got big plans for the future but no execution date’ was one of the cleverest lyrics of the weekend.
‘A Little Bit’, going back to their very first album, and ‘Shakedown’ had people singing along, while the more traditionally melodic ‘If It Wasn’t For Me’ was very good considering it was from an album of leftovers, and ‘Are You Ready’ was well received.
The diversity in style varied from one song to the next, not something that could be said of many bands all weekend, including the funky riffing of ‘Ride Along’, and an out-and-out heavy pair in ‘Into the Fire’ with almost gothic like keyboards in its closing section, and ‘Lost Generation’.
My biggest personal obstacle to fully embracing them is that bassist and frontman Robin Eriksen is far from the smooth AOR singing stereotype and at times has a harsh tone to his voice, even like Dave Grohl.
However ‘This Is Love’ was more traditionally melodic, then the second rendition of the day of ‘Mama I’m Coming Home’ led into the ballad ‘Tomorrow’. Raising the intensity again, ‘The Scam’ featured a spectacular keyboard and guitar duel, before they closed with, finally, the first full-length Ozzy cover in ‘Bark At The Moon’, carrying it off quite brilliantly, especially Daniel replicating that closing solo.
One of the most eagerly anticipated bands were Brother Firetribe, one of the very original standard bearers of the new wave of Scandinavian acts in the mid-2000s alongside the Poodles and Wigwam and even before HEAT burst onto the scene. The fact that they had toured neither Sweden nor the UK for many years only added to the anticipation.
Nightwish guitarist Emppu Vuorinen has long returned to the day job but singer Pekka Ansio Heino is still there, his cheekbones rendering him somewhat ageless. He was also the most dapper frontman all weekend, taking the stage in a dark suit jacket, though unsurprisingly in the heat, it was soon shed for the white shirt and waistcoat look.
The Finns emerged from a bit of a hiatus this year with a new EP ‘Number One’ and were obviously keen to market it as the opening quartet were all drawn from it, in the title track, ‘How Long Till Tomorrow’, ‘Just Another Night’ where an enthusiastic crowd at the front was already getting off on the ‘one step over the borderline’ chorus, and ‘Are You Ready’. Their songs are keyboard driven and relatively simple yet have their own indefinable sound and Pekka’s vocals with a slight theatrical air to them are similarly distinctive.
After things were in danger of becoming too samey with ‘Bring On The Rain’ and ‘Arianne’, ‘Wildest Dreams’ was a welcome and slightly softer change of pace, prior to ‘Rock In The City’, the Rocky soundtrack-worthy ‘Taste Of A Champion’ and the impressive ‘Battleground’.
A well-paced set moved onto more familiar numbers such as ‘Out Of My Head’ and ‘For Better Or For Worse’, and after ‘Night Drive’, ‘Indelible Heroes’, written in tribute when several greats died around a decade ago and even more relevant today, saw people punching the air.
The rabble rousing continued with ‘I Am Rock’ and reached fever pitch by the time they ended with ‘Heart Full Of Fire’. There was a pause just before Pekka and co wrapped up the song and the cacophony of noise was remarkable as if people were banging on the walls. Just like FM the night before, a great set was further enhanced by a special atmosphere.
The talk then would be that an earlier generation of Swedish pioneers in Treat might struggle to match that energy but by the time they came on the front was fairly full again. A big intro tape led into the pomp sounds of ‘Skies of Mongolia’, a reminder that, alongside FM (and arguably in contrast to contemporaries Europe), they returned stronger than ever after splitting up in the 1990s.
So after ‘Ready For The Taking’ had people singing along, another from that 2010 comeback album ‘Coup de Grace’ in ‘Papertiger’ led into a trip even further forward to ‘Home of the Brave’ from most recent album ‘The End Game’, taking a leaf out of Eclipse’s book with a celtic theme and Anders ‘Gary’ Wikstrom channelling the spirit of namesake Moore.
The one slightly odd note was that singer Robert Ernlund, looking like a benign wizard with a hat framing his long hair, addressed this international crowd in his native tongue. I lapped up a pair of eighties classics in ‘Rev It Up’ and ‘Sole Survivor’, true to the originals, indeed possibly too much so, and ‘Riptide’ barely suffered in comparison.
‘We Own The Night’ was a change of pace and though there were a couple of rather ordinary songs old and new in ‘Freudian Slip’ and ‘On The Outside’. However I was delighted to hear them go right back to the very first album ‘Scratch And Bite’ for ‘Changes’ and the title track, both not the finished article, albeit with strong bridges as well as choruses.
‘Roar’ was the final song of a ‘Coup De Grace’ quartet then Patrick Appelgren’s keyboard intro led into ‘Get You On The Run’, which every time I hear it think should have propelled them to Europe-like superstardom. There was no encore as such but I loved being in the thick of it as they ended an hour and 25 minutes set with their two traditional crowd pleasing favourites in ‘Conspiracy’ and the irresistibly bouncy melodies of ‘World of Promises’.
The relative old stagers had risen to the challenge and with a pretty definitive set reminded everyone of their influence on so many of the bands over the weekend.
DAY 3 – KISSIN’ DYNAMITE, CRAZY LIXX, NITRATE, RIAN, DAYTONA, PITTMAN COLE, HOUSE OF SHAKIRA
On day 3 VIP customers were given a very special set from House of Shakira, one of the brightest stars from the days when melodic rock re-emerged in the late nineties, albeit underground. Indeed memories came flooding back of the old Gods festival in Wigan as a lengthy and mystical Eastern sounding intro tape led into ‘Morning over Morocco’. What I didn’t expect was, in addition to Andreas Novak, an additional longer haired backing singer to the rear of the stage. He was Mikael Zifa Eriksson who left before the first album was released (with his vocals replaced) but whose upbringing in Africa contributed towards some of its unique sounds.
They always had original twists among their Journey-esque melodies and both guitarists were excellent. After ‘One Circumstance’, ‘All In Your Head’ was a case in point with an excellent closing hook, the vocalists combining well and impressive guitar solos. They played some interesting if perhaps not immediately accessible recent songs, including a couple from last album ‘Xit’ in ‘Toxic Train’ and ‘Something In The Water’.
Mikael came down from his station more permanently for a couple of those distinctive first album songs in ‘Elephant Machine Gun’, and ‘Method of Madness’ with its earworm ‘hi-hi-hi’ chant, duetting with Andreas, as the back projection they had specially prepared flashed up what I assume were the bands favourite classic albums. It was a short set, but a memorable and almost certainly unique one.
The festival outliers were Pittman Cole (who we joked sounded like a firm of solicitors). They won the prize for the best image of the weekend, all identically dressed in bold black and white striped suits that made them look like a cross between a prison chain gang and Barker and Dobson Everton mints.
They were though stretching the envelope of what we think as melodic rock, billing themselves prog’n’roll. There was some interesting musicianship, particularly from keyboardist Derek Chambers, with some vintage organ sounds on songs like ‘I Thank You’, but my biggest issue was vocally as neither of the three who shared the duties were particularly strong singers.
Derek did though sound better on ‘Rollercoaster’, which was good seventies- influenced pop, while in contrast ‘Monaco’ started like a thrash metal song before organ and guitar combined with some time signatures rarely seen in AOR. They were an unusual choice, and retained a smaller crowd than most, but were a necessary antidote to a diet of simple verses and choruses and one which I still enjoyed in places.
Moving back into the mainstream, next up were Daytona whose debut album ‘Garder La Flamme’ was released last year, but several members had a history including guitarist Erik Heikne and bass player Niclas Lindblom from Miss Behaviour. Indeed the exchange between the former and Johan Berlin’s keyboards on opener ‘Welcome To The Real World’ reminded me of that band’s slight pomp feel.
Former Osukaru singer Frederik Werner looked the part of a frontman and sounded somewhere between Brian Howe and Lou Gramm. ‘Looks Like Rain’ had an excellent chorus, but I found their material rather patchy with neither ‘Slave To the Rhythm’ and ‘Downtown’ particularly impressive and the album title track a long but rather boring epic.
I recognised a familiar song and appropriately it was ‘Inside Information’, not Foreigner’s best song, but they made an excellent stab at it with more guitar than in the original and ‘Where Did We Lose The Love’ ended a slightly inconsistent set in style.
Next up were Rian, who I had marked as one to watch a few years ago in GRTR!’s annual review. As they were introduced the question that had bugged us all was settled, it was pronounced Ry-an, (as in Giggs, Meg and Private), rather than Ree-an.
There was a nice contrast throughout between the clean and occasionally even pop inflected vocals of Richard Andermyr and the altogether heavier guitar style of Tobias Jakobsson Indeed on opener ‘Carry My Wings’ the two even combined for an FM-like harmony guitar break. ‘We Ride’, ‘In The Dark’ and ‘We Belong’ were uniformly good songs and ‘Don’t Wait For The Fire’ had a crunchier approach that reminded me of Gotthard or even Dokken, while ‘On The Night’ was even heavier.
A good set ended with ‘Out Of The Darkness’ from their first album and ‘Eternity’. However my strong initial impression had faded a little as I realised how similar most of the songs were to each other, plus they were not as comfortable as some of the other bands in building a rapport with the crowd.
I was late to the Nitrate party, only discovering them with their fourth and most recent album ‘Feel The Heat’ but after their superb live debut last year at the Tower Of Fire festival in Manchester, they were one of the bands I was most looking forward to seeing. I was not alone judging by the number of their t-shirts on view.
However they were faced with trying circumstances, losing half of that line-up when the Martin Brothers left the band and guitarist Richard Jacques was unable to travel. I understand there was even a possibility they would have to pull out and Vega guitarist Marcus Thurston saved the day by stepping in at short notice.
They took the stage with just one short rehearsal behind them but still opened with a great fist punching anthem (and not the last) in ‘Danger Zone’ while ‘Renegades’ featured excellent vocals from Alexander Strandell and some exceptional work from Marcus in that trademark fast fingered and sharp style of his.
The likes of ‘All The Right Moves’ and ‘Live Fast Die Young’ made me realise just how brilliant a job bassist and founder Nick Hogg has done with his songwriting collaborators in capturing the very best elements of late eighties melodic rock, while ‘Needs A Little Love’ had a Vega feel. The only issue nagging at my enjoyment was some prominent canned backing vocals but they were entirely forgivable in the circumstances.
Alexander dropped in an Art Nation song, which fortunately was ‘Need You To Understand’ rather than one of their less traditional sounding recent songs, and got a great reception. ‘You Think You’ve Got It’ was a grower, and ‘Satellite’ a mid-tempo song Def Leppard would have been proud to have written before the irresistible ‘Feel The Heat’, which surely would have been a rock club dance floor filler in the day. ‘Wild In The City’ was another great anthem though set closer ‘Big City Lights’ didn’t make the same mark on me.
At that point, delighted that things had turned out so well, I beat a swift retreat to buy a round before the bar got too busy, only to hear an announcer say they would be coming back for an encore with a special guest. Vega frontman Nick Workman, who I understand now lives in Sweden, came on to sing ‘Kiss Of Life’, bouncing across the stage with his Joe Elliott-like stage moves. Holding a full beer inhibited my participation, but as well as tying over those of us who miss the band, this was the surprise of the weekend to cap a triumphant set in the face of adversity.
By now I was feeling quite sad every time I returned into the venue from getting fresh air, realising a brilliant three days was coming to a close. However as Crazy Lixx opened with a pair of their more basic sleaze rockers in ‘Whisky Tango Foxtrot’ and ‘Hell Raising Women’, my attention had to compete with checking the progress of the Lionesses Euro final penalty shootout, and I know I was not alone in that.
‘Little Miss Dangerous’, the first of three cuts from latest album ‘Thrill Of The Bite’, featuring a superb closing solo from Jens Lundgren and ‘Silent Thunder’ with its early Def Leppard-like backing vocals, showed their more polished side. Their stage craft and the way both guitarist reeled off one quality riff and solo after another was among the best of the weekend.
The only dampener was that this was a relatively short set and almost identical to the one I had seen only a few weeks ago at the Mayhem festival in London.
After ‘Rise Above’ came a personal highlight in the big chorus of their cover of the Desmond Child and Paul Stanley co-write ‘Sword And Stone’ while ‘Hunt For Danger’ was very melodic. ‘XIII’ saw Danny Rexon, a Malmö boy himself, come on in horror mask as usual and wielding a dagger shaped microphone, at one point around the throat of guitarist Chrisse Olsson; hopefully no one was triggered by the macabre humour.
In the one change from that recent show I was delighted they brought back their anthem for nostalgic youth, ’21 Till I Die’, which should surely be in any set, followed by the mid-tempo ‘Blame It On Love’ showing they can do all sides of melodic rock equally well. ‘Who Said Rock and Roll Is Dead’ with a snatch of ‘Love Gun’ to conclude an excellent set, even if one without the surprise factor.
I came back from a final round of socialising to see Kissin’ Dynamite conclude the festival. To get them was a coup as they have become a major mainstream draw and even enjoyed a No 1 chart album in their native Germany with their latest release ‘Back With A Bang’. Indeed there was talk that more day trippers might come from northern Germany than eventually proved to be the case.
A band like that comes with their own sound and stage show which was assembled at some length, meaning that by the time they came on we were now over an hour late. I’d only previously seen them once at Camden Underworld just before the pandemic so was curious to see if they could live up to expectations.
As they opened with that album’s title track and ‘DNA’, two things were immediately clear. They bring the over the top, larger than life sense of fun associated with fellow countrymen like Powerwolf and Edguy but in a more commercial musical context; and Hannes Braun, sporting spectacularly back combed blonde hair, is the ringleader, orchestrating mass audience participation at every turn in masterful fashion. The crowd was the most energised of the weekend though seemingly with an inordinate number of exceptionally tall people!
Songs like ‘No One Dies A Virgin’, ‘I’ve Got The Fire’, and My Monster’ were relatively simple but delivered with great showmanship. For ‘I’m The King’, Hannes theatrically accepted a red robe and, on another occasion, signalled for the centre of the crowd to part. I thought some stage diving was about to happen, but it was to orchestrate an enormous left versus right singing contest.
After ‘The Devil Is A Woman’ and ‘Only The Dead’ I was starting to find the songs a little samey, but the adage ‘be careful what you wish for’ applied as ‘Six Feet Under’, unashamedly written to be a crossover hit with acoustic guitars was untypical and not particularly good. In contrast though ‘Not The End Of The Road’ was a stonking anthem with a positive lyrical message.
The set was significantly shorter than recent ones and I wondered if the delays had caused a song or two to be cut. However, an hour and 10 minutes which had fairly flown by featured a pair of encores. ‘You’re Not Alone’ whose earworm riff I remembered from before and another of those built for participation, ‘Raise Your Glass’.
It won’t be to everyone’s taste, but Kissin’ Dynamite have hit on an entertaining formula that works- plus, now more than ever as the greats die off, we need our new larger than life frontmen and Hannes certainly fits that bill.
It had been a memorable three days, and the organisers deserve huge thanks for a festival that met everyone’s needs, being designed and run by fellow fans. There was a universal vibe during the weekend that the small but close-knit melodic rock community is a very special one, and it looks like Malmö Melodic will be the cornerstone of it for some while to come.
Review and Photos by Andy Nathan
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April 12
David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast 8 March 2026.
UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). First broadcast on 10 March 2026
How to Listen Live?
Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)
Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.
More information and links at our radio website where you can listen live or listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com
Power Plays w/c 30 March 2026
EVA UNDER FIRE Villainous (Better Noise Music)
HOKKA Blackbird (Nuclear Blast Records)
CELLDWELLER Elaleth (FiXT)
DAEDRIC Iridescent Wings (FiXT)
ARKADO Phoenix And Stardust (Pride & Joy Music)
THE DAVIDSON TRIO Disillusion (indie)
S8NT ELEKTRIC Catacombs (Long Branch Records)
Featured Albums w/c 16 March 2026
09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)
Our occasional Newsletter signposts latest additions to the website(s). We also include a selection of recent top albums, based on GRTR! reviewer ratings. The newsletter is sent out a few times a year.
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