Gothenburg, the second largest city of Sweden and located on the west coast, has never had a real big rock or metal festival until now. On Saturday, June 19th, 2004 it was time for the first edition of Metaltown and the headliner was none other than legendary shock rocker Alice Cooper.

We arrived to Gothenburg a couple of hours before the first band was to enter the stage so we spent some time in the city and had something to eat before going to the festival area at "Frihamnen" (the free harbour). I actually ordered a kebab plate at a Chinese restaurant which was really nice as the meat was warm for once.

Arranging an outdoors festival is always linked to certain risks and the most apparent one is the weather. This particular day the weather gods was not with us as the rain poured down for almost the entire day. Luckily one of the three stages (the small one where the not so well known bands played) was located indoors and, needless to say, that place often got rather crowded after a concert when everyone wanted to get away from the cold.

At half past one Mustasch opened up the festival. It was hard to take the band's frontman seriously when he did his stage walks and little dance steps but he for sure is a real showman who always does his best to please the audience. A true entertainer. This is a band who has stepped out of the shadows during the past couple of years with TV appearances and a tour together with Motörhead. There is also a kind of Motörhead feeling about their music which is based on heavy, dirty and gasoline smelling hard rock riffs. When the singer announced their radio hit "Black City" the crowd was on fire and Mustasch managed to perform very well despite just having performed at the biggest multi-genre festival in Sweden - the Hultsfred festival. A good start to a day that promised more.

Local bands were highly over-represented at the festival and not only did Mustasch please fans on their home arena but so did the next band. I now stepped inside to take a look at Snowy Shaw's own project Notre Dame where he shares his interpretation of modern shock rock / metal. The whole concept is quite interesting but unfortunately the albums released so far has lacked that little extra. Snowy Shaw is another showman who is obviously even less serious than the frontman of Mustasch. While listening to his Gothenburg accented words during the band's show I couldn't help but wonder what an interview with him would be like. Perhaps he can put on a serious face once in a while, at least I hope so for his sake. Chains, cages, masks and sledgehammers were part of their show but unfortunately the female member Vampirella was not with them as she had to take care of some family business in Italy (if that was seriously meant no-one knows...). There was something missing but I'm glad that Notre Dame did their number one hit in my opinion namely "Blacksmith", a crushing horror shock with perfectly executed vocals by Snowy himself. A band that I have big hopes for in the future.

I could not stay and hear all songs from Notre Dame as Evergrey was about to enter the metal stage (one of the big stages; the other one was called the rock stage and that was where Mustasch played) and, forgive me Snowy, this is a band that I would not want to miss out on. As expected their set list consisted mostly of songs from their three latest albums which did not bother me as they are definitely my favorites and, judging by the crowd's reactions, many share my views. Evergrey were also lucky enough to play in their home town but they are not the talkative type of band and I can't remember one word spoken to the audience during their entire show. I don't mind much personally when front man and only remaining original member Tom Englund has a voice that sends shivers down your spine. I don't know what it is about it but there is something magic in those vocal chords that makes him one of the most unique and impressive metal vocalists. Evergrey's music is very technical and it was nice to see that they managed to pull it off live as well. They are not the perfect live band but definitely one of the best bands in Sweden right now. I was just a little disappointed that they didn't do their cover version of Dilba's "I'm Sorry". If you don't know already I can tell you that Tom is a really big guy. I felt like a midget while standing next to him.

Snowy Shaw had a busy day as he performed with two bands. He now sat down behind the drums for Europe's own Kee Marcello who did one of his few live shows with his new band K2 whose third member is former Transport League member Ken Sandin. They just recently released their debut album "Melon Demon Divine" for Italy's Frontiers Records. Unfortunately for Kee and his companions the response from most of the audience was less than enthusiastic but there were some very lively fans who made themselves known in front of the stage. I must admit that I myself was not too impressed with their own material either. Once or twice the songs moved me with a heavy riff or melodic solo from Kee himself but the highlight of their show was their take on Europe's "Superstitious" where they had incorporated Bob Marley's "No Woman No Cry". Highly unusual but still appreciated. Kee's voice did not quite pull off "Superstitious" which was in need of Joey Tempest but it was still nice to see these guys have fun together on the stage.

I went inside shortly again to take some photos of the Swedish power metal band Rising Faith who released their debut album "The Arrival" last year. Unfortunately I can not tell you much about their show as I was more or less only in and out to take the photos. They do seem pretty much like a typical Limb Music band, performing competently played power metal but without the song writing skills needed to take them to the top.

One of the reasons why I didn't stick around to listen to Rising Faith was that Edguy was about to play outside and although I am not a huge fan of their music (their new album is great though so be sure to check it out if you havent' already) I wanted to see what they were like live. I was not to be disappointed. The first thing Tobias Sammet did when he rushed out onto the stage like one of those Duracell rabbits whose energy never expires was to knock down his microphone setup. That he managed to do a couple of more times before they left the stage for good. To be able to impress people live you need to have something extra that makes you stand out in some way and for Edguy that little extra is Tobias Sammet himself. His appearance on stage is very relaxed and you never know what is to come next when he is around. He even tried to climb up the stage once but soon decided that it was a little bit too risky which was probably a wise decision. Edguy is a band that should be experienced live and even though you don't like their music you have to appreciate their show which is full of energy and every band member seems to have a lot of fun on stage. The set list did not offer any big surprises but they did one Avantasia song.

As the stage times didn't match perfectly during the day I was now getting rather tired of running indoors to catch a couple of songs of the bands performing there which meant that of Ram, Totalt Jävla Mörker and Debase I only heard one or two songs from Totalt Jävla Mörker which were seemingly ok harsh punk / hardcore. I have a problem with the general punk attitude but the music sometimes has a lot to offer and Totalt Jävla Mörker has had some success in Sweden lately, having appeared on national radio as well.

Next to enter one of the rock stage was Norway's Turbonegro who started off by saying "Hi there! We're Edguy from Nazi Germany.". That was just one of several imbecil and silly statements these guys had to offer during their set. Musically their heavy rock music has little that gets me going and their overall appearance did not help out at all. They went on attacking gothic rock, synth, Rammstein and charity events while they had nothing against drugs. Their meaningless show got even more meaningless when they poured out theatre blood over the audience during "Drenched In Blood". How original and thoughtful of them. Definitely the disappointment of the day.

I have already had the opportunity to see Dimmu Borgir live twice before but I was nonetheless very anxious to hear how the songs off "Death Cult Armageddon" would sound like live. The Norwegian black metallers did what was expected of them and in this aspect they were similar to Evergrey. They did not speak or interact with the audience in anyway but just executed their set without surprises nor noticable mistakes. The band looks good on stage and Simen's voice sounded more powerful than ever before. The good thing about this festival was that the sound was great all the way through. I would have wanted to hear one or two additional songs but they did their classic "Mourning Palace" which is simply amazing even by today's standards. I have said it before but it can not be repeated enough. A band who have reached as far as Dimmu Borgir have should be able to do something special with their live shows. It doesn't take a lot of money, even Gorgoroth manage to do well with limited finances which was highly successful in Poland.

While Dimmu Borgir displayed their skills in the black arts on the metal stage people started crowding in front of the rock stage where former Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx was to appear with his new band Brides Of Destruction which was a band that many had come to see. In my opinion their debut album left much to wish for but I have to admit that these guys are really something on stage. They still have the good old 80s hard rock looks and just like Edguy they had lots of fun on stage. Vocalist London LeGrand also managed to tear down his microphone set but this time it ended up in the photo pit and landed on one of the photographers' camera. For me the highlights of their show was by far when they did the Mötley Crüe songs "Live Wire" and "Shout Of The Devil". This was one of the bands that got me into the heavier side of music and I have a lot to thank them for. The music of Brides Of Destruction didn't leave much of an impression on me though. It was heavy and aggressive but the magic is simply not there anymore. Let's wait and hope for a Mötley Crüe reunion instead.

In Flames is a band that most Swedes are familiar with by now and playing in their home town is something that they're used to as well. They did luckily not do a simple straight off show but pulled out all of their pyro-technics which was really nice except for the photographers who were not allowed to move freely in front of the stage. Frontman Anders Fridén proved once more that he is a true showman as well and definitely able to compete with Tobias Sammet and Snowy Shaw this rainy day. He read some words from an article in a big Swedish paper called Aftonbladet where one of their reporters had chosen the provocative title "Hard rockers are stupid". Of course Anders and the crowd did not agree with him and he dedicated the song "I Like You Better Dead" to this particular reporter. I wonder what the photographer from Aftonbladet thought about that? An explosive and intense show made everyone realize that In Flames is no doubt the No 1 live band in Sweden today. They did not play many songs from their earlier albums this time either though which are still my favorites.

The evening had come and the legendary headliner was to enter the stage. The rain had only stopped for a few minutes now and then and everyone was cold and wet but people willingly awaited the aging shock rocker. For a man of his age Mr. Alice Cooper was very much alive this evening and it seems as if he is still enjoying himself on stage. I think a man with such an image should address the audience a little bit more and in that way he seemed a little bit as if he didn't really care what people thought about him. He did his songs, the strait jacket thing and had his famous stick with him but it felt a little as if he was just doing it for the show's own sake, not for himself and not for the audience. Alice Cooper conquered the stage for a set that lasted one and a half hour and it all came to a climax towards the end with the major radio hit "Poison". The highlight for me though, who have never been a big fan of his music, was the three man drum performance midway into the set. That was some highly impressive stuff and I wish I had it on tape.

When we headed home the thing that I remembered the most was to finally have seen Alice Cooper live but the best performances were no doubt those by In Flames and Edguy. In the stereo Dimmu Borgir beat most bands that appeared this day but unfortunately they do not come off as strong on stage. Metaltown 2004 was a huge success both for Swedish metal but also for all participating bands. The indoor bands had somewhat of an advantage thanks to the bad weather but people did not care too much about what poured down on them. They had paid for their ticket and wanted to see the bands no matter what. I also like the varied line-up but why not add a death metal or a thrash metal band next time? Metaltown is arranged by professionals and everything worked smoothly regardless of the bad weather. For next year - even more variation and sunshine!