Sweden Rock Festival 2009: Demon - 5th June 2009
Setlist: Night of the Demon / Blackheath / Blues Skies In Red Square > Commercial Dynamite / Wonderland / The Spell / Life on the Wire / Sign of a Madman / Don't Break the Circle // One Helluva Night
This is the reason I was here in Sweden. Demon. My boys…
Pre-gig is always an unusual experience, both for the boys in the band, and for someone like myself, who is, at heart, a fan, a punter, and a friend of the band. As a fan, your one of main objectives is to get backstage, meet the band, and experience all that stuff that you imagine to be rock and roll heaven. Well, yes, some of it is like that, such as being able to watch your favourite bands from the stage. That said, the view of the band from the stage is all arse and onstage sound is really crap, most of the time. Then again, it is damn cool. But, it is not how you think it will be.
My roll within the Demon camp is one that a lot of the fans would maim some of their closest relatives for, but it is not all beer and skittles. I mean, I have to drink beer, eat food, hold guitars, do artwork, take photos and video of them, chat to them before during and after gigs, socialise with them, I mean, it’s a tough life, but someone has to do it ;-) Only kidding. It’s great! I love it and, actually, there is a fair amount of beer, but no skittles. Maybe the odd bag of peanuts... Demon are a great bunch and I have a whale of a time with them and I can’t think of a better way of spending a weekend, at my age. When I don’t want to do stuff like this I’ll know I’m ready for the long dirt nap.
Anyway, I’m digressing. It was a big gig for Demon, their first appearance here for a few years and they were seriously psyched about playing. The crowd were unaware that Dave C had been learning the Swedish National Anthem and intended to play it as an intro to Life on the Wire. Serendipitously, the following day was Swedish National Day, so this could be a big factor in the way the band went over with the fans.
Shortly before going on, Fazza had a small problemette with the keyboards, meaning that after every song he would have to reset the damn thing. Not insurmountable, but it was added pressure. The other thing was that before Demon’s set was finished on the Zeppelin stage, UFO would be starting their set on the Rock stage… this could cause the fans watching Demon to migrate… Streeeeesss…
I checked my camera (and my video camera, as I wanted to get Life on the Wire on vid) and made sure I had my long lens and wide lens, and a spare battery in the pockets, then took a couple of pics of the boys just before they went on. I was glad that the stage was a good size, cos I was going to be wandering around on the stage whilst they played, getting some serious close ups with my new Canon EOS, which I had bought two days before flying to Sweden. Hell, I was making this up as I went along; all my pictures could turn out crap, and the last thing I wanted to do was fall on my ass on the stage… I need not have worried; there was plenty of room to roam around, even for me. I can’t deny that there is a bit of a thrill taking photos of a band from the stage. It gives you a kick, for sure, and it sure makes it a hell of a lot easier to get some great angles and some awesome photos. The weird thing is that it is also bloody hard work and you sweat like a bastard, but it’s possibly a career I should have embarked on when I was younger, because it’s a real blast. I think I did a reasonable job of the pics; one or two aren’t half bad.
Demon played a blinder. Mr Hill was not actually on his best form, he’d been feeling unwell at the Leek warm-up gig the weekend before and was still not 100% but, being the kind of chap he is, not one of the people watching would have guessed. His voice sounded as strong as ever and his distinctive vocal is the signature sound of Demon. Dave’s anthemic intro to Wire went down a storm, Ray was on fire, and Andy was enjoying himself, as was Neil (my Hero) keeping time at the back of the stage, pounding his Quality Street tins for all he was worth. Fazza did a great job too, in spite of his difficulties. The boys have done a fine job of arranging the tunes to suit their new, heavier style, Fazza’s keyboard parts, in particular, have made a big difference to the overall sound. Ray and Dave work so well together, feeding off each other, making a very strong dual guitar sound. This line up just seems to have an edge over other versions of the band that I have seen. They are really together and are having fun playing, and it shows. The crowd that assembled in front of the Zeppelin stage started out strong and just got bigger. You can clearly see from the pictures I took that the place was packed and very few left to go to see UFO until Demon had finished.
Post gig, the mood was definitely up. Mr Hell went pretty much straight from the stage to do an interview, whilst the rest of the band discussed good and bad points of the performance. Not that many bad points it has to be said! As for me, I continued to take photos, video, for use at a later date…
Then, after a suitable come down phase, it was off to the VIP area for a very nice meal… It’s a dirty job, but someone has to do it, and I’m just the man for the job.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see UFO (although I did get the great pleasure of meeting one of my all time favourite vocalists, Mr Phil Mogg of UFO, as we were leaving the VIP restaurant!) and I only got to hear Foreigner… did I mention the VIP restaurant?
Suitably fed and watered, I headed off to the Sweden stage for Johnny Winter… It’s all go, isn’t it?
Pre-gig is always an unusual experience, both for the boys in the band, and for someone like myself, who is, at heart, a fan, a punter, and a friend of the band. As a fan, your one of main objectives is to get backstage, meet the band, and experience all that stuff that you imagine to be rock and roll heaven. Well, yes, some of it is like that, such as being able to watch your favourite bands from the stage. That said, the view of the band from the stage is all arse and onstage sound is really crap, most of the time. Then again, it is damn cool. But, it is not how you think it will be.
My roll within the Demon camp is one that a lot of the fans would maim some of their closest relatives for, but it is not all beer and skittles. I mean, I have to drink beer, eat food, hold guitars, do artwork, take photos and video of them, chat to them before during and after gigs, socialise with them, I mean, it’s a tough life, but someone has to do it ;-) Only kidding. It’s great! I love it and, actually, there is a fair amount of beer, but no skittles. Maybe the odd bag of peanuts... Demon are a great bunch and I have a whale of a time with them and I can’t think of a better way of spending a weekend, at my age. When I don’t want to do stuff like this I’ll know I’m ready for the long dirt nap.
Anyway, I’m digressing. It was a big gig for Demon, their first appearance here for a few years and they were seriously psyched about playing. The crowd were unaware that Dave C had been learning the Swedish National Anthem and intended to play it as an intro to Life on the Wire. Serendipitously, the following day was Swedish National Day, so this could be a big factor in the way the band went over with the fans.
Shortly before going on, Fazza had a small problemette with the keyboards, meaning that after every song he would have to reset the damn thing. Not insurmountable, but it was added pressure. The other thing was that before Demon’s set was finished on the Zeppelin stage, UFO would be starting their set on the Rock stage… this could cause the fans watching Demon to migrate… Streeeeesss…
I checked my camera (and my video camera, as I wanted to get Life on the Wire on vid) and made sure I had my long lens and wide lens, and a spare battery in the pockets, then took a couple of pics of the boys just before they went on. I was glad that the stage was a good size, cos I was going to be wandering around on the stage whilst they played, getting some serious close ups with my new Canon EOS, which I had bought two days before flying to Sweden. Hell, I was making this up as I went along; all my pictures could turn out crap, and the last thing I wanted to do was fall on my ass on the stage… I need not have worried; there was plenty of room to roam around, even for me. I can’t deny that there is a bit of a thrill taking photos of a band from the stage. It gives you a kick, for sure, and it sure makes it a hell of a lot easier to get some great angles and some awesome photos. The weird thing is that it is also bloody hard work and you sweat like a bastard, but it’s possibly a career I should have embarked on when I was younger, because it’s a real blast. I think I did a reasonable job of the pics; one or two aren’t half bad.
Demon played a blinder. Mr Hill was not actually on his best form, he’d been feeling unwell at the Leek warm-up gig the weekend before and was still not 100% but, being the kind of chap he is, not one of the people watching would have guessed. His voice sounded as strong as ever and his distinctive vocal is the signature sound of Demon. Dave’s anthemic intro to Wire went down a storm, Ray was on fire, and Andy was enjoying himself, as was Neil (my Hero) keeping time at the back of the stage, pounding his Quality Street tins for all he was worth. Fazza did a great job too, in spite of his difficulties. The boys have done a fine job of arranging the tunes to suit their new, heavier style, Fazza’s keyboard parts, in particular, have made a big difference to the overall sound. Ray and Dave work so well together, feeding off each other, making a very strong dual guitar sound. This line up just seems to have an edge over other versions of the band that I have seen. They are really together and are having fun playing, and it shows. The crowd that assembled in front of the Zeppelin stage started out strong and just got bigger. You can clearly see from the pictures I took that the place was packed and very few left to go to see UFO until Demon had finished.
Post gig, the mood was definitely up. Mr Hell went pretty much straight from the stage to do an interview, whilst the rest of the band discussed good and bad points of the performance. Not that many bad points it has to be said! As for me, I continued to take photos, video, for use at a later date…
Then, after a suitable come down phase, it was off to the VIP area for a very nice meal… It’s a dirty job, but someone has to do it, and I’m just the man for the job.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see UFO (although I did get the great pleasure of meeting one of my all time favourite vocalists, Mr Phil Mogg of UFO, as we were leaving the VIP restaurant!) and I only got to hear Foreigner… did I mention the VIP restaurant?
Suitably fed and watered, I headed off to the Sweden stage for Johnny Winter… It’s all go, isn’t it?