Scandinavia, and Sweden in particular, is the undisputed epicentre of the melodic rock community with a seemingly endless stream of bands emerging. There have been festivals in Malmo pre-pandemic (Melodic Rock Fest and the Swedish AOR Convention) so when last year a new three-day festival was announced in Malmo Melodic, it was a very tempting proposition, mixing many of the new Swedish generation with some of the most enduring greats of the genre.

It was held in Plan B, a converted warehouse with decent space if a tad dark, a side room for merch and meet and greets, and plenty of outside areas to make the most of the pleasant weather between bands, and the atmosphere was very relaxed.

There was a very respectable attendance for the first year- I would guess averaging 500 a day – with the biggest number from a large travelling contingent being my fellow British fans. Part of the attraction was that (to adapt a famous Murray Walker-ism) the chances of most of these Swedish acts coming over, which were nil before, are now absolutely zero, post-Brexit.

However the UK has also been an unlikely AOR stronghold having held festivals like Firefest and Rockingham for so many years. Indeed a number of key members of the original Firefest crew were present, including Kieran Dargan whose stentorian tones introducing acts over the PA generated a warm sense of nostalgia.

Although not formally part of the show, there was also a warm up the night before in the restaurant of the official festival hotel, with Houston singer Hank Erix and bandmate Erik Modin, their voices and acoustic guitars.

Over two sets, the show mixed some of Houston’s best songs (of which more later) and the odd Hank solo song (‘Way To Go’) with some choice covers, with the set bookended by Danger Danger songs- opener ‘Feels Like Love’ and closers ‘Don’t Walk Away’ and an improvised ‘Beat The Bullet’.

These included rarely attempted songs like Richard Marx’s ‘Angelia’, Survivor’s ‘I See You in Everyone’ and even FM’s ’That Girl’. What was not to like? Only the fact I could hardly hear many of these above the chatter – some people’s natural enthusiasm in getting together spilling into rudeness when it comes to shouting over a performer.

DAY 1- PERFECT PLAN, ROMEO’S DAUGHTER, HOUSTON, GRAND, NUBIAN ROSE, ALICATE

The honour of being the first band to play a Malmö Melodic was Alicate. I knew nothing about them and assumed from the band name they may be sleaze rockers, but on opener ‘Are You Ready’ lead singer and guitarist Jonas Erixon, wielding a Eddie Van Halen ‘5150’ guitar, had the deep and bluesy tones of vintage David Coverdale, as so many Scandinavians seen to do. Keyboards were also prominent on the intro to ‘My Last Goodbye’, and ‘Under The Gun’.

There was a good mix of songs, from the ballad ‘Butterfly’ where he sang the opening alone, to a fun rocker in ‘Done For The Weekend’ while the heavy pomp keyboards of the title track from latest album ‘Heaven Tonight’ and ‘Rise Up Again’ reminded me of Shotgun symphony). ‘I Can Run’ closed a pleasantly impressive set.

Next up was Nubian Rose who I saw for the only previous time way back in 2013 at HRH AOR. One thing has not changed in that time, the soaring voice and visually striking figure of Sofia Lilja, with her cascade of curls and painted face, but much of the music was much heavier than I remembered, verging on symphonic metal with some added progressive touches at times.

I did find ‘Higher’ more accessible, while ‘How Am I’ with Sofia on keys was a melodramatic ballad. A couple of songs off their debut in ‘Will I Ever See Your Face’ and another heavy one in ‘Mountain’ closed an eclectic set, if one perhaps slightly out of place for this festival.

One of the unique opportunities this festival offered was to hear quite so many of the younger breed of Scandinavian acts that have made an impact in recent years, the first of them being Grand who have released two very well received albums on Frontiers in the past couple of years.

Singer Mathias Olofsson has a somewhat higher register which allied to his floppy hair reminded me a little of Airrace’s Keith Murrell. Among a couple of fairly average songs early on, the elegiac ‘When We Were Young’ impressed .

‘Out Of The Blue’ had a smooth west coast feel but on the likes of rockier songs such as the dirty grooves of ‘Rock Bottom’ and ‘Sweet Talker’, what was impressive was how Mathias’ voice still hit the notes in controlled fashion; on ‘Johnny on the Spot’ he was even reminding me of Von Groove’s Michael Shotton.

‘Too Late’ boasted a synth solo (and with such an able keyboardist was there really a need for so many backing tapes?) although ‘Lily’, about his daughter, was rather saccharine.

An already impressive set really hit its stride in the closing stages with a series of catchy hooks in ‘Make It Grand’, ‘Caroline’ and ‘Kryptonite’. Their enthusiasm was also engaging so they achieved the rare feat of being brought back for an encore in ‘Leave No Scar’, with lyrics from which latest album ‘Second to None’ borrows its title.

Houston have a rather more chequered history, and indeed singer Hank Erix always reminds us Classic Rock raved about them when they emerged in the scene in 2010, before moving on to the next big thing.

From those early days (the cheese factor of the UK debut show at the Borderline with the white sporting outfits and female guitarists came up more than once with friends), a line-up with Hank the only remaining member has refined their sound to the super smooth sounds as epitomised by opener ‘She Is The Night’.

They’ve made seven albums, and though the trio of ‘Relaunch’ are nominally covers albums, the choices have become so obscure that a pair in ‘Live Forever’ and the West coast-ish ‘Slipping Away’ felt like new songs to me, Calle Hammar bending the notes in his solos in a fashion as smooth as his white t-shirt and trousers.

‘You’re Still The Woman’, ‘On The Radio’ and ‘Hero’ all boasted some marvellous melodies and ‘A Lifetime In A Moment’ grew on me as a great song, with Hank’s wonderfully smooth vocal tone.

Rather boldly they saved those statement first album songs till last and there was a great surprise as Sofia Lilja appeared unannounced mid song to do the female duet part on ‘Truth Slips’, prior to ‘Hold On’.

Boasting it was their signature song (even if originally a cover) with over 2 million You Tube hits, ‘Runaway’ perfectly epitomised the Houston sound with the guitars and Richard Hamilton’s keys in perfect balance, before ‘1000 Miles’ ended an AOR masterclass of melodic bliss that was definitely one of my favourites of the weekend.

While I’ve seen them more times than I care to remember, both back in the day and post reunion, Romeo’s Daughter were one of the bands most hotly anticipated by the natives, as surprisingly this was their first ever show on Swedish soil.

It was not without its challenges though, as the heat was stifling both in the front of the crowd and on stage itself, momentarily disturbing the usual affable serenity of ageless singer Leigh Matty.

Sound problems also undermined ‘Heaven In The Back Seat’ (with guitarist Craig Joiner sharing the vocals and one of two openers, along with ‘Attracted To The Animal’ that show off their early Mutt Lange influence).

Beginning with the urgent power pop of ‘Fake’ from last year’s album ‘Slipstream’, the focus for a while was on post reunion songs and I have now got to the stage where I enjoy these at least as much as the oldies.

Whether ‘Radio’ with its swaying hookline, ‘Alive’ with its bouncy chorus or ‘Enemy’, I’ve said it before that these are simple songs on first hearing but it takes real class to make them sound so effortless and natural.

A sandwich of ‘Trippin’ Out’ in between a pair of new songs in ‘Over You’ and ‘Inseparable’ represented a rockier side of their repertoire with the rhythm section of Steve Brennan and Andy Welsford (didn’t he used to go by the Wells surname?) excelling themselves.

After the pop rock bliss of ‘Bittersweet’ with its ‘who-oah’ outro, ‘Have Mercy’ saw Craig allowing himself a guitar solo of unusual flash.

From there on in it was debut album favourites in ‘Inside Out’, complete with singalong, ‘Don’t Break My Heart’ with an improvised intro that sounded like ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ and ‘I Cry Myself To Sleep At Night’ concluding with a marvellously tasteful Craig solo.

Band and crowd rocked out together to ‘Wild Child’, famously taken on by Heart, to end a set which for me was just more of their reliable excellence but was hopefully a revelation to the home crowd.

Oddly enough the obverse was true for headliners Perfect Plan. The seasoned Swedes are firm favourites of mine that I have longed to see since their debut album came out in 2018, but when they pulled out of last year’s Rocknytt Cruise through singer Kent Hilli’s illness I thought I was jinxed.

In particular 2020’s ‘Time For A Miracle’ album is among my two or three favourite albums of the past decade, period, so it was with an even greater sense of anticipation hearing the military style intro to the big arrangement of the title track.

There was therefore a slight anti climax as once again the opening song saw the band and Kent in particular struggling to find the right sound balance.

After the Whitesnake-ish ‘Bad City Woman’, they really hit their stride with a trio of melodic rock classics from the said ….’Miracle’ album, in ‘What About Love’, ‘Better Off Alone’ and above all a power ballad for the ages in ‘Fighting to Win’.

Just as I was thinking at that point Kent Hilli was Jimi Jamison reincarnated, not just as a singer but in his stage moves and even tinted glasses and black jacket, right on cue they played a flawless cover of Survivor’s ‘Didn’t Know It Was Love’.

It was impossible to maintain that quality all set long and not quite at that level was the bluesy classic hard rock of the likes of ‘Nobody’s Fool’, ‘Never Surrender’ and ‘Heart To Stone’, particularly songs such as ‘Gotta Slow Me Down’ from their third album ‘Brace For Impact’ which is more in that style.

Kent made a joke about songs with girls names introducing ‘Emilie’ while the band were tight with Rolf Nordstrom the star of the show: a more than tidy guitarist he also pulled poses with a grin on his impish face and even entertained us with Freddie Mercury’s trademark call and response.

The set had to be slightly shortened with the festival overrunning. However it ended on a high with a couple from their debut album – ‘Heaven In Your Eyes’ concluded with some spot on vocal harmonies before the crowd joined in the song where it all started, the classy ‘In And Out Of Love’. While their set fell slightly short of the consistency of Houston and Romeo’s Daughter, it had nevertheless been well worth that long wait.

Day 2- DARE, ROULETTE, WILDNESS, TRANSATLANTIC RADIO, JD MILLER,BOYS FROM HEAVEN, 7^TH CRYSTAL

One of the perks for the VIP package was early access to catch an additional band on two of the days. I wondered if this might be a low key acoustic affair but no, these were full performances on the main stage before ‘ordinary’ ticket holders arrived and on the first day the ‘Brucie bonus’ was 7th Crystal, who have released a couple of well received albums, with singer Kristian Fyhr also gaining songwriting credits for other bands.

I remember them being another decent addition to the endless line of Scandi melodic bands, but from the opening ‘Wonderland’, ‘Silence’ and ‘Higher Ground’ were something different to how I remembered them, with a full on metallic sound, almost verging on prog metal at times. Whether this was a natural evolution in the live environment or a conscious change in sound I am not sure.

What I do know is that they played some unreleased songs in the discovery themed ‘Mayflower’ and ‘Versus’, with its metal twin guitars, and set closer ‘Blinded By the Light’, alongside more established ones like ‘Say What You Need To Say’.

However though the music was heavy, almost brutally intense, the vocals of Kristian, sporting a Viking like blonde mane under his baseball cap, were sharp and crystal clear (excuse the pun) and keeping the overall sounds just the right edge of melodic.

Proving that the melodic rock genre, often decried for sameiness, is actually a very broad church, the rather dubiously titled Boys From Heaven could not have been more of a contrast with 7th Crystal. Their sound mixed a west coast smoothness akin to Michael McDonald era Doobies or even Steely Dan, with at times the supple rhythms of a Go West or Level 42.

They had not one but two keyboard players and Opener ‘I’ll Wait’ included a synth solo from Jonas Klintstrom Larsen. Yet on the proggy ‘The Dream Is Gone’ he switched to the saxophone (always a Marmite instrument in the melodic rock world) and his flamboyantly delivered sax solos were prominent on songs like ‘Sarah’ and closer ‘Sailing On’.

They were the highlights from a set which cherry picked their two albums to date together with a new song in ‘How Long’. Dandyish singer Chris Catton had an impressive voice though I was puzzled when he said he was from Copenhagen, in a distinctly English accent! While this would not normally be quite my scene, I and others came away highly impressed.

Sadly all female band Emotional Fire who had shown great promise on last year’s Rocknytt Cruise had to pull out through illness at short notice. However rather than leave a gap in the schedule JD Miller - a band and not to be confused with any other famous JDs, from whisky distillers to English pub chains to vice presidential candidates- stepped in to save the day with a second set, already having been scheduled for the final day.

They style themselves as ‘the heaviest AOR band’ around, which is almost a contradiction in terms. Certainly the sound was very different to most of the other bands with the drumming relatively dominant, allied to liberal use of backing tapes. (I’m afraid the overall evidence of the weekend is that my view that every sound should come from the players on stage is now considered old-fashioned).

Shinedown or current day Kris Barras was probably the nearest comparison of a modern rock act that can appeal to melodic rockers- but is definitely not AOR! Neither were the Weiland-like mannerisms of singer Peter Hallden who swiftly discarded his shades and leather jacket and strutted around topless (and also spoke largely in Swedish).

To their credit, they played two totally different sets – this one was largely based around their previous album, 2019’s ‘Afterglow’. During the semi-ballad ‘In the Afterglow’, there was a touching scene as Peter brought on stage a young girl with industrial level ear defenders who I assume was his daughter to sit on his shoulders for a moment to treasure.

The commercial ‘The Desire’ with its catchy ‘can’t live without your love’ chorus was way more to my tastes among more brutal fare like ‘Burned Alive’, ‘The Answer’ and ‘Inside a Dream’. While grateful for their short notice efforts, I can’t honestly say they were really my thing.

Another new name to me, Transatlantic Radio stood out for two reasons. One, in common with their name, that they featured the only Americans to break the Scandi-UK monopoly of the festival- including people with high-profile musical accomplishments in the wider worlds of pop and the TV and movie industry.

The other was they were the newest act on parade with only four singles to date an album not released until later in the year, and the bare minimum of in person rehearsal time. To add to the challenge their regular guitarist had caught COVID, yet you would never have known from the way Pelle Holmberg stood in, with his highly fluent playing.

‘The Good Times’, ‘My Runaways’ (at least that’s what it sounded like) and ‘Against All The Odds’ were all top class slices of mainstream AOR with the pedigree of the players shining through.

However I had reservations about the raspy and at times slightly wheezy tones of singer Mathias Osback (a Swedish naval officer, no less!) which did not really seem to fit the smoothness of the music. On the other hand I suspect I was in a minority with a friend on the way out observing that he liked the vocals for exactly the same reason!

In the absence of sufficient original material they showcased their talent with covers of some AOR classics in Starship’s ‘Its Not Enough’ and (with a spoiler alert from the crowd) Stage Dolls’ ‘Love Cries’. However we were treated to a couple of songs being aired to the world for the first time ever in ‘All For You’, with fine synth work from Fred Kron and a great ending, and ‘First To Be The Last’.

Former Mitch Malloy bassist Victor Broden acted as the chief frontman in the most transatlantic of accents, fittingly enough, and described ‘Fever Dream’ as their synthwave influenced song though I found it a little too lengthy and a little repetitive.

He then introduced what he said was the best AOR song ever made (few of this discerning audience would quibble) in a very authentic cover of Signal’s ‘Arms Of A Stranger’. Debut single ‘That’s What You Get For Falling In Love’ ended an impressive debut by a band we will be hearing a lot more of.

One of the younger Swedish bands Wildness were familiar to me, though their UK appearance at Rockingham in 2018 was overshadowed by singer Gabriel Lindmark overdoing the partying and panting his way through the set. He has long since been replaced by Erik Forsberg who had a good vocal range (well supported by backing from drummer Erik Modin, doing double duty over the weekend) yet totally different from his very considered speaking voice!

They were also far heavier than I remembered, even at last year’s Rocknytt cruise, and tight but aggressive in the mould of bands like early Skid Row and Heavens Edge – plus more than any other band this weekend, they looked the part of rock stars with guitarists Pontus Skold and Adam Holmstrom and bassist Marcus Sjosund tossing their flowing hair back and pulling some great shapes together.

From opener ‘Die Young’ through songs such as ‘Renegades Of Love’, ‘Tragedy’, and ‘My Hideaway’, the pace had been unrelenting but I found the somewhat more melodic ‘Borderline’ and ‘Nightmare’ even more satisfying. Belatedly going back to some older favourites, ‘Turning The Pages’ and ‘Cold Words’ ended in style an hour-long set that had flown by and was exhausting to watch.

Way up second on the bill were some fellow countrymen who bridged the old and new. Roulette were hopefuls back in the late eighties who never got a record deal. Those unreleased songs sneaked out much later, followed by an all-new album ‘Now’ in 2019, though I was unfamiliar with the music before the festival and only knew them by reputation.

Openers ‘Ready For Friday Night’ and ‘Never Enough’ were both somewhat average but the hooks of ‘Another Night’ suddenly turned my initial impressions around and ‘Keep On Dreaming’ was infectious. ‘Secret Room’ was a brilliant ballad with singer Thomas Lundgren accompanied in the main solely by keyboards and ‘Love’s The Drug’ was a good new song.

None of the songs would win marks for distinctiveness or originality, but the band scored top marks for sheer likeability. The likes of Thomas and extrovert bassist Hansi Fellbrink showed the conviviality that saw them hanging out seemingly all weekend at the venue and the festival hotel, and the between song chat and upbeat lyrical messages showed an inspiring optimism we all desperately need at the moment, the fun ‘Summer Day’ and ‘We Can Make It’ being prime examples. The mid pocket ‘Only the Strong’ with great harmonies, particularly on the intro, and crowd favourite ‘Right By Your Side’ concluded a highly enjoyable set.

From a new band to me to one only too familiar in headliners Dare. Unlike their fellow Brits Romeo’s Daughter, they gig regularly in Sweden and Darren Wharton regularly spoke of their love for the country and expressed ‘tusen tack’ to his hosts. The current line-up has finally successfully fused the various moods and styles of Dare history and the band were on top of their game.

‘Born In The Storm’ was a suitably rocky opener before some mellower moments, featuring Darren’s whispered tones, which are quite unique in the world of melodic rock, on the warmth of ‘From The Cradle To The Grave’ and the stirring gaelic- influenced anthems ‘Home’ and ‘Until’. After the ballad ‘I’ll Hear You Pray’, ‘Road To Eden’ was cheekily retitled ‘Road to Sweden’ to win over the home crowd even more and ‘Fire Never Fades’ saw guitarist Vinny Burns rocking out.

I didn’t warm to their Celtic folk influenced 2000s phase at the time, and yet I now heard ‘Sea Of Roses’ with the same affection I used to reserve for the ‘old stuff’. However after ‘Silent Hills’ I was ready to go back to those classics – from the full on ‘Blood On Stone’ rockouts of ‘Wings Of Fire’ and the Lizzy-esque ‘We Don’t Need A Reason’, to perhaps the most glorious 1-2 of opening songs on an AOR album in ‘Abandon’ and ‘Into The Fire’.

Then atmospheric ‘The Raindance’ taking the pace down a notch before Darren’s tribute to mentor Philip Lynott in ‘King of Spades’ with some beautifully tasteful lead work from Vinny, especially on the extract from Black Rose – whetting the appetite for when I see the same players in the ‘Darren Wharton’s Renegade’ project. They were the usual six songs that close this rather static setlist, but they all have a special vibe to them.

There was a slightly unusual if lyrically appropriate encore in ‘Every Time We Say Goodbye’ but fortunately time for a more familiar closer in ‘Return The Heart’. As Darren conducted a mass swaying and chanting, in between putting his arms around Vinny and bassist Nigel Clutterbuck, I looked from my position in the wings near the front across a sea of fellow fans and the atmosphere was very special indeed, concluding a contender for my favourite set of the weekend.

DAY 3 – RONNIE ATKINS, CHEZ KANE, REMEDY, JD MILLER, STREETLIGHT, GAELERI, CARE OF NIGHT

A Monday is an unusual day for a festival but there was a good turnout of VIP fans for an exclusive performance by Care of Night. On my previous two sightings of them either side of the North Sea, they had a rather diffident stage presence but this time band members seemed more extrovert and singer Calle Schonberg more confident, no longer sporting his thick glasses.

‘Street Runner’ showed a slightly beefed up though no less melodic feel as the majority of the first half of the set was taken from new album ‘Reconnected’ including ‘Tonight’ and ‘Stay With Me’.

This was AOR at its most mainstream with clean guitars and keyboards nicely balanced and Calle’s perfectly pitched upper range tenor. Particularly flufftastic were a pair of those songs with girls names in ‘Cassandra’, the anthem that first got them signed, and ‘Melanie’, while on the faster closer ‘Hearts Belong’ that confidence was reflected in the way the singer took a trip into the crowd then proudly displayed a banner on stage.

gaeleri (sic) were a new name to me but I was surprised to learn their four albums actually go back over 30 years. A wonderful opener in ‘Blue Town’ was very different from the weekend’s mainstream, a mellow song with the acoustic guitar and deep baritone of Anders Vidhav, looking the old school rocker with his long hair and waistcoat over a bare chest.

Sadly, it was an outlier as beginning with ‘Ready Or Not’, a band that looked to have heavier influences notably Flying V wielding guitarist Niklas Rollgard played some workman-like blues rock such as new song ‘Loving You Is Killing Me’ and ‘Navigate Me’.

‘Maybe My Eyes’ was a rare return for the acoustic/electric combo, while ‘Welcome to Judgement Day’ saw a guest appearance from Chris Laney, of whom more anon, on guitar. The set did end well with ‘Time Has Come’ which was quite catchy, and ‘Wannabe’ though in front of one of the smaller crowds of the weekend it lacked the excitement of some of their younger contemporaries.

One of those that I was eager to see was Streetlight whose self titled album last year was enough for me to pick them out as a band to watch in GRTR!’s end of year selection. They had a clean cut and casual look to them but again a warm stage manner.

After opening with ‘Awake’, ‘Caught Up In A Dream’ featured a classic AOR keyboard intro from John Svensson, then ‘Hit The Ground’ was followed by an impressive and brand new song in ‘Late Night’. I was puzzled when singer Johannes Hager said they would go in the other direction to one 40 years old but a cover of ‘Endless’ was very well done, hardly surprising as the short-lived Fergie Frederiksen incarnation of Toto is a good reference point for them.

‘Chutes And Ladders’ was a blissful piece of Scandi AOR of the type patented by Street Talk and Urban Tale and more recently Work Of Art, and ‘Closer’ a ballad. Yet there were rockier numbers by their standards like ‘Fire Burning’ and the faster paced ‘Love Riot’, the latter reminding me of Joe Lynn Turner’s Rainbow.

The Americanised ‘Malibu Pier’, complete with synth and even organ solos ended a very good set, just as on their album, even if they didn’t quite make the impact on me that some of the other young bands did on me during the weekend.

Now it was time for JD Miller’s second set in their original spot. There were a few changes- singer Peter Hallden remembered to speak in English this time and the album they showcased was the brand new ‘Empyrean’. The theme was arguably even more modern rock oriented than the day before, although ‘Inside the Night’ and ‘Out of Control’ (with its chorus ‘this is how I choose to live’) still had catchy hooks.

A series of quite aggressive sounding songs were watched by a noticeably smaller crowd of confirmed fans including family and friends. Nevertheless ‘Enemy’ was quite brilliant, during which the young girl was again brought on stage, even adding a mini gymnastics display to her repertoire. A good band, but I cannot help think they were out of place at this particular festival.

One Swedish band who did buck the trend and make it to the UK this year were Remedy, who were one of the bands of the Tower of Fire festival In Manchester just a month earlier only whetting my appetite for more.

The first part of the set was similar to that night with the classic melodic rock choruses of ‘Living On The Edge’ and ‘Marilyne’ complete with classic stabbing keyboard intro from Jonas Ojvall, then the heavier ‘Crying Heart’ and ‘Sin For Me’ with some great guitar arpeggios from Roland Forsman.

Both his sweet solo and the high pitched vocals of Robert Van Der Zwan graced the ballad ‘Sunday At Nine’ (with ‘I forgot to charge the ipad in the room’ the most unusual lyric of the weekend) while the catchy chorus of ‘Moon Has The Night’ had your correspondent and a few others bouncing.

There were two slight differences from that Manchester show – one a longer, hour-long set so they could play other songs including ‘Poison’, albeit not my favourite. The other was that in front of a home crowd they seemed fired up to produce an even more dynamic and energetic show than before.

That fed back to the crowd as a packed front grew ever more raucous to the likes of ‘Thunder In The Dark’ (though it sounds to me virtually the same song as ‘Living On The Edge’!), ‘Emelina’, ‘I Wanna Have It All’ and ‘Girl’s Got Trouble’.

There was a final treat that time constraints had put paid to in Manchester – encore ‘My Devil Within’ had so much going on, from a Gregorian chant intro, Robert singing falsetto, Roland playing guitar behind his back and the two of them wielding their guitars in synchronised fashion. It was the icing on the cake of one of my favourite shows.

In contrast to Dare and Romeo’s Daughter I’d not seen enough of the third British act Chez Kane on home soil – just the once supporting Crazy Lixx, after in the worst possible timing her debut a London show was the same night and in the same complex as Dare.

Her chief songwriter (and Crazy Lixx lead singer) Danny Rexon was in the crowd as the petite singer, sporting a black and leopard print outfit, opened with one of her strongest songs in the big chorus of ‘Too Late For Love’, and it was clear that her line up (including a remarkably youthful looking new bassist in Lewis Watkins) had come on in leaps and bounds in terms of confidence and stage presence.

‘All Of It’ was an anthem made for fist punching live, while there was a generous selection from her sophomore ‘Powerzone’ album, including first single ‘I Just Want You’, a perfect blend of muscle and melody and ‘Nationwide’.

While other singers may hold back or drop the odd octave live, if anything her live vocals had a range and power only hinted at on album. She also had an engaging stage manner and gave a special shout out to her many fellow Welsh in attendance.

Of the two hirsute guitarists, it initially felt to me that Harry Scott Elliott, now playing with distinction in Tyketto, was playing the more technical material with James Ready focusing on pulling the most rock and roll shapes imaginable. However the latter took ‘Better Than Love’, reminiscent of the great female fronted AOR artists of the eighties into a fresh dimension with a great solo. After ‘Things We Do When We’re Young In Love’, ‘Love Gone Wild’ was a showcase for more remarkable solos, especially from James.

It was exhausting just watching the sheer energy of Chez and her band and even the supposedly mellow ‘Defender Of The Heart’ had a much sharper edge live before stepping on the gas even further for a series of anthems. She even leapt deep into the crowd during ‘Ball And Chain’ – my attention wandered as I was trying to place which Desmond Child co-write it most reminded me of!

After ‘Get It On’ and the Def Leppard- like ‘Rock You Up’ stirred the pot further, ‘Powerzone’ turned into a furious guitar jam and saw James and Harry pull more classic poses.

There could only be one encore in one of the other songs that launched her solo career in the ultra catchy ‘Rocket On The Radio’. If I was agnostic before, I was definitely a confirmed fan after this whirlwind of a dynamic and energetic show was one of my favourites of the weekend.

After a farewell speech from Kieran Dargan and a lengthy changeover, not least as the headliner had brought in their own sound, the weekend closed with Ronnie Atkins, making the short journey from Denmark across the iconic Oresund bridge. As well as a rare solo show from the Pretty Maids frontman who has released a trio of albums under his own name in quick succession, it promised to be an emotional one, as some while ago he was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer.

Opening on a more brutal fashion than we’d seen for most of the weekend with ‘Rising Tide’, ‘I prophesize’ and ‘If You Can Dream It’ were also heavy yet at the same time quite melodic. Apologising that his Swedish was poor and he would be speaking in English, he said the set would mix solo material with some Pretty Maids material and ‘We Came to Rock’ made fans of the former happy.

‘Make It Count’, the title track of his second album benefited from the piano of fellow Pretty Maid Chris Laney, switching between guitar and keys on what I think of as the Paul Raymond role, while latest album ‘Trinity’ was represented by ‘Paper Tiger’ and ‘Soul Divine’, written about his granddaughter.

‘Godless’ and ‘Unsung Heroes’ were also heavy, with a ferocious band including some neo classical guitar flourishes from Marcus Sunesson. However the sound engineering for me did the melodic side no favours.

He did not dwell on his mortality, other than through some of the lyrics, and indeed looked not much different from before- though his style has always been very physical, sweating and straining his voice and body to their fullest extent. There was only the odd sign of his illness such as occasionally pausing to catch his breath between songs.

An unexpected deep Pretty Maids cut in ‘A Place In The Night’ from debut ‘Red Hot and Heavy’, impressed me and as the gig reached a climax, ‘One Shot’ had a poignant and anthemic lyrical message. However impressive those recent solo albums are, it was always going to be the Pretty Maids songs that hold a special place in people’s hearts and the last song, ‘Little Drops of Heaven’ saw the crowd take over the singing.

Then on a pair of contrasting encores, the guitar keyboard battle intro heralded a storming ‘Future World’. The crowd had thinned a little but a packed knot of fans at the front were punching the air before Marcus cranked out one final riff and I could not help myself bouncing to the chorus of ‘Rodeo’. May this great old warrior enjoy the best health he can for as long as possible.

By all accounts Malmö Melodic was a stunning success, reflecting great credit on Johan Nylen and Wind Up Productions, to whom, to borrow the words of Darren Wharton, we owe ‘tusen tack’. Plans are already being hatched for next year, and with luck it will become a regular event.

Review and Photos by Andy Nathan

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Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections

Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)