Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow Sweden Rock Festival - Sölvesborg   June 8, 2019 Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow on Sweden Rock Theoretically, the constellation Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow has all the makings to end the festival with a success. But in practice. The meeting with the festival audience is a reserved affair – which, however, is drawing to the end. Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow Location: Festival Stage. Audience: 30,000 – in round throws. But many people leave the festival grounds during the performance. Length: just over 90 minutes. Best: The end. From "the whole night" it is really, very good. Extra Plus on the sidelines because they had a good habit of playing pretty early in the evening – more like that! The Worst: Basically everything before "All night long", with particular emphasis on all uuutdrawn solos. "I'm not a guy who likes jamming and having fun, music is very serious." The Guardian's two-year interview quote basically says all about Ritchie Blackmore. The man, the myth and the hard legend look serious in the Festival stage. Alternatively, extraordinarily bored or fly cursed - it can be anything. The guitarist and songwriter, as we know, have as much charisma and charisma as a pair of wet rubber boots. And for the most part, he looks to play in his sleep. Despite the fact that Nanne Grönwall himself stands and hugs the rattle fence, which the large-screen displays notice several times. And despite that, he has the great advantage of picking the raisins from Rainbows and Deep Purples' respective song treasures along with a motley crowd of musicians. Calling the constellation of Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow is of course also misleading. The life rep is stretching far beyond the breathtaking debut album Rainbow's delightful debut album. But let's go for Ritchie Blackmore's Deep Purple Rainbow had become too long a band name. Missing Dio But a more factually correct band name had however, not saved the first half of the gig. The energy is painfully low key and cruel. And if I'm not mistaken, Blackmore's fingers happen to slip on the guitar strings already in the initial "Spotlight kid". Oops. It is also sparse in the public sea and many leave the festival area as well. In fact, I have never seen such a subdued audience in front of a headline act on Sweden Rock. Missing after Ronnie James Dio is also heartbreaking. Especially under "Stargazer", which is the world's best song - all categories. But the gig has, after all, its moments. The galloping main punishment in "Perfect strangers" floats on like a dream. And the song star shot Ronnie Romero possesses a god-worshiped voice. But unfortunately also a bland stage personality. It is also painfully obvious that Sweden Rock's audience has no relation whatsoever to the Chilean concealment. Romero bravely fights to win the audience's favor and love. For example, by trying to speak Swedish ("I can Sweden"). Turns on at the end. After many though and yet he succeeds. It requires hormone therapy "All night long" so that everyone involved should light up properly. Unfortunately, the route until then is a disappointment to pancake-like proportions. But in the end, it takes speed. "Long live rock" n "roll", "Burn" and extra number "Smoke on the water" are performed with a much-needed damn embrace - and received with an equally enthusiastic response. It's a pity that the atmosphere wasn't like this from the start. Then we had been able to talk about a successful festival ending. But better late than never, I guess... © Sofia Bergström - Aftonbladet Photo: Rickard Nilsson Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow - A sleeping pill I am so terribly sad when a magnificent song treasure, managed by exquisite musicians, becomes a boring event entirely in the absence of life and joy. I really love almost everything created by tonight's protagonist Ritchie Blackmore. Deep Purple are ancestors of modern hard rock and it is possible to stack classics on high an entire afternoon. With Rainbow, further steps were taken in the creation of classics and another afternoon can be filled with songs from that repertoire. Even Blackmore's Night can offer a long evening with great songs. And so it gets so breathless and pointless. It is really a collection of fantastic musicians on stage and Blackmore has got hold of an incredibly good singer who can carry these songs from the 70s and 80s to the present day. But it is wasted on unsafe middle-talk and really traditional instrumental parties that nobody gets happier about. I get the feeling that everyone on stage is so excited by the legend on stage, that they themselves become part of the audience. It's so sad to witness. Many also chose to look away, go home, do something else. It is not often you see so many walking towards the exit while the main attraction is playing. The last thing that happened was when Whitesnake crashed a few years ago. This performance could have been carried out in the afternoon while people were chilling in the grass. It would have been more dignified. Now it is unfortunately just embarrassing. And then all the songs are good, fantastic pieces of music history that are performed with style and perfection. I do not understand how it is possible to fail when you have this material to work with. Hope those who stayed there also lingered when the magnificent Myrath jumped in and replaced late canceled Behemoth as a nightly gig. Then maybe the evening was saved anyway. © Erik Åman Laakso - Kulturmagasinet Kulturbloggen Photo: Maria Laakso Åman Invincible rock classics at Sweden Rock's final evening It looks like a thought that Ritchie Blackmore and his Rainbow will be honored to set the spot on the biggest stage for this year's festival. We have had a Sweden Rock year that can be summed up with the same support words that can also be applied to the live band Rainbow: Safe. Traditionally. And a little boring. During the festival's last day, I see Phil Mogg deservingly putting his hat on the shelf after 50 years in UFO's service. I see Saxon doing his thing, I see Hammerfall charming a giant audience. But besides a complete freak party with the plover Green Jellÿ, most of the things I see are expected. Which takes us back to Rainbow. Blackmore belongs to the harder rock's perhaps five most important guitarists. A heavy stylist whose rifle from Rainbow and of course Deep Purple has ensured that the British guitarist's musical DNA is imprinted in all festival visitors here, regardless of age. And Rainbow is a given building block in the foundation of the hard rock. As a legend, Blackmore is thus invincible. As a band leader in Blekinge, he seems quite uninterested. In stringed leather boots, the British look like he has walked in directly from the forest. He works with small means on the stratocaster, does not want to be at the center. Chilean Ronnie Romero goes into power when he finds the very high notes but is no Ian Gillan in "Perfect Strangers" and of course no Ronnie James Dio in "Man on the Silver Mountain". He is not a charismatic frontman either. The screen display seems to be too small for generic projections. This would have been perfect in the afternoon sun. Not as closing act. Everything feels a little fresh. So what will I remember from this year's edition of Sweden Rock? Guaranteed Slayer's powerful farewell night to Friday. Possibly Kiss bombs and Def Leppard's hit machine. And the amazing weather, of course. I've probably forgotten a little gig with Rainbow already next year. Concert: Richie Blackmore's Rainbow Sweden Rock, Norje Audience: Maybe 15,000. Who: British hard rock band founded by guitarist Ritchie Blackmore in 1975 after leaving Deep Purple for the first time. Considered an important cog in the construction of heavy metal. In the beginning, Ronnie James Dio was a singer, today Chilean Ronnie Romero sings in the quintet. On keyboards is Swedish Jens Johansson. What: Debut on Sweden Rock for Blackmore's legendary band. © Anders Dahlbom - Expressen, Sweden Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow – Sweden Rock Festival 2019-06-08 In the name of honesty, I will admit that I had great expectations of finally hearing this master of classical hard rock performing their work. At the same time, I had no idea how the other musicians would be and thus expectations fell more and more to a hope that it could be good. On stage stood a drum kit without a podium, an old organ and the feeling of hearing something completely different from hard rock crawling over me. The fears flew their cows when Jens Johansson stepped onto the stage and was what really the odds of Mr. Blackmore doing something that was not in the highest class? When the whole band with his beautiful Candice Night on chanting song was on stage, Robin Hood stepped out, or was it Blackmore who was going to produce the lute? One of the tiniest things, he found the riff and started the Spotlight Kid. I don't think for a second that it was a coincidence that it was just that song that had to start the evening's gig. Spotlight Kid is in capital letters, Ronnie Romero. Here I have praised Steve Overland and Tommy Nilsson, but here really Sweden Rocks was the best singer on the go. What Romero can't handle is really not, when it comes to being able to sing everything about Deep Purple and Rainbow, which I will return to a number of times in this review. In Surrender, I really did and Blackmore still looked bluntly stubborn but Romero did his part to really cover the huge surface of the stage. A dream would have been to see Joe Lynn Turner perform it all, but this was better than the original and Romero would continue the evening. In order to be on the safe side that the Swedish audience would understand, Jens Johansson in his special way presented a number of songs. Man on the Silver Mountain, was purely epic and here somewhere, Ritchie Blackmore started thawing a little, with both guitar playing and light public contact. Jens Johansson's organ play is in pure world class and I need to mention that Romero matched Dio, albeit a little snap. This evening, it was not only offered at Rainbow but also samples from Deep Purple and Perfect Strangers did not sound perfect from Blackmore's side but "good enough" to enchant the audience. Once Black Night was pumping, Romero was once again impressed. Here he had discussed Joe Lynn Turner, Graham Bonnet, Dio and now we got to hear Gillan in top form. I hadn't expected any crackling stage shows and cool poses from Blackmore, and the music really spoke for itself. Stargazer was performed in the best possible way and besides the choir, competence was handled excellently by seasoned bassist Bob Nouveau and the youngster on drums David Keith. Somewhat chewy but completely given Long Live Rock'n'roll was performed before I was totally shocked when Burn started. For some reason, I have been told that the period with Coverdale / Hughes was not something that Blackmore was so fond of, but apparently they were completely wrong. It was here that Romero really knocked me off, when he sang both Coverdale's and Hughes singing loops to an impressive perfection without any problems. Concluding Smoke on the Water was perhaps not performed with the greatest enthusiasm but Blackmore has refused to play it sooner in Sweden so we gratefully accepted it. In conclusion, I would like to point out that I am reviewing the entire Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow and not just Ritchie personally who may not have been like great days but all right. On the other hand, as a group, I am more than happy with the performance and such should be rewarded. Rating: 4/5 Best: Ronnie Romero, a singer we will hopefully have a lot of joy for a long time to come. © Andreas Östlund - Rocknytt Photo: Effie Trikili Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow with a strong ending to this year's Sweden Rock Festival This year's fantastic Sweden Rock Festival ended the main stage (Festival Stage) with rock legend Ritchie Blackmore and his new line-up of Rainbow. The expectations for the concert were great, and many were probably also uncertain (as I was) about how the strange and sometimes erratic guitar and rock legend Ritchie Blackmore will appear during the summer night and the last festival day during the fantastic Sweden Rock Festival. Let's agree right away with the sharpest critics ... well then, of course, Blackmore isn't as he was during Deep Purples heyday with his former bandmate legends Jon Lord, David Coverdale, Glenn Hughes, Ian Paice and Ian Gillan when they in the 70's and created several of rock history's greatest albums, which include "Deep Purple In Rock", "Burn", "Stormbringer", "Fireball" and "Machine Head". Not as solid as when he left Deep Purple and created the amazing Rainbow with Ronnie James Dio and others. And released one of rock history's most unique albums "Rising" (1976). But what do you do? Sky and sea, here you will experience a fantastic legendary artist who for several years has "lashed around" with the "magic hat" on his head and played under his quirky folk rock band project Blackmore`s Night. So suddenly, and very surprising, he picks up the super strong Spanish vocalist Ronnie Romero (37), Swedish keyboard / organist Jens Johansson (55), drummer David Keith (45) and bassist Bob Curiano (65) and blows life back in the Rainbow. And it sounds great! Ritchie Blackmore was thrilled during the concert. His smile came out occasionally. And that says MUCH.... Thank you Sweden Rock for having this great concert. © Knut Eirik Myhre, Rockman - Norway Long Live Rock'n'Roll over the Rainbow Our Swedish friends, in collaboration with Live Nation, understand year after year to deliver the one fantastic festival after another. I bend in the dust, because it is difficult to put a raised index finger on anything other than that perhaps a bit of spectators were closed in. Over the years, the number of spectators is clearly increasing, and it puts pressure on food stalls (the quality of the food as they are poorly able to follow), and the pressure in front of the scenes has also increased significantly. For especially the main names, I can imagine that many people had to follow them on the big screens. Again this year I should like to point out that there were about 80 bands on the poster and there was everything from heavy metal, classic rock, melodic rock to progressive rock, thrash and much more. The festival ran over four days from Wednesday to Saturday, where Wednesday only had about 10,000 spectators and with the smaller stages in use. Wednesday June 5th: JOE LYNN TURNER **** (4 stars) The former Rainbow singer Joe Lynn Turner has lived off his years in the Rainbow ever since the band broke 35 years ago when Ritchie Blackmore was reunited with Deep Purple. Joe Lynn Turner, who was next to the poster on Wednesday, can still sing the old songs, and the set list also consisted of all the old Rainbow classics plus a few songs from the time in Deep Purple and Yngwie Malmsteen respectively. Joe Lynn Turner doesn't have a permanent band and tour with different musicians, so it gets a little "come and see the giraffe" -like. This evening, Joe Lynn Turner was flanked by the Swedish band Dynazty, who played after him on a smaller stage. It sounded really good, and the audience was also good at it. We got "Death Alley Driver", "Power", "I Surrender", "King of Dreams" and many more. The only time the toes twisted in the shoes was when the young musicians played Ritchie Blackmore's instrumental song "Difficult to Cure" while Joe Lynn Turner had a break. Perhaps Joe Lynn Turner hadn't seen the legend Ritchie Blackmore himself standing on stage as the main name Saturday, and so we got "Difficult to Cure" twice! Saturday June 8th: RITCHIE BLACKMORE's RAINBOW ****** (6 stars) I first saw Rainbow in 1977 with Ronnie James Dio and then with Graham Bonnet, Joe Lynn Turner and Doogie White. There has been a lot of water in the river since then, and Ritchie has gradually gone and become an older gentleman of 74 years. Ritchie is often criticized for his latest edition of RAINBOW, which consists of members from his primary band Blackmore's Night, who plays Renaissance music combined with rock / folk and new faces in the form of keyboardist Jens Johansen and Chilean Ronnie Romero on vocals. Ritchie has always been his own and done what was right for him, and it was clear that he was enjoying this beautiful summer evening Over the Rainbow. Rainbow in 2019 is less hard-hitting than in the old days, where Cozy Powell struck the drums, and the solos had become shorter. In 1977, they played seven tracks for 1 hour 45 minutes. On Saturday, they played 13 tracks in the same period, and it actually dressed them as there were lots of fat guitar games along the way. They set out with the "Spotlight Kid" at high speed followed by the melodic "I Surrender". Though reuniting with The Man in Black, who tonight had taken something that looked like a monk suit. But the guitar snapped, and we got a longer solo in "Mistreated". Although the concert was a Rainbow concert, there was also room for some Deep Purple songs, of which especially "Burn" and "Black Night" flashed, whereas the final "Smoke on the Water" seemed slightly understated and clumsy. We got a nice version of "Man on the Silver Mountain" and "All Night Long" that put things in place. Singer Ronnie Romero sings amazingly and hits the exquisite mood of the former singers and was not far from legendary Ronnie James Dio. We were also due to Beethoven's 9th in "Difficult to Cure" and the mighty "Stargazer" from Rainbow Rising. It was a really gratifying reunion with Ritchie Blackmore and his Rainbow in 2019. It was actually much better than I had expected based on the much previous mentions of Ritchie Blackmore and his shape nowadays. Ritchie Blackmore has always refused to play things that everyone had expected. He wants to surprise, and he wants to make another solo and just these years he is in stark contrast to all those who play the same over and over again. He's a legend ... maybe the biggest of them all! Other bands Saturday: Beast in Black, Styx, UFO, Saxon, Hammer Fall, Demons & Wizards, Danko Jones, Electric Boys, Blue Coupe and more Long Live Rock'n'Roll and thank you so much to Sweden Rock for four wonderful days with the biggest rock bands. The festival management really has the finger on the pulse and flair to put together an unmatched program with both classic and new. Sweden Rock Festival 2020 will be implemented in the days 3-4-5-6. June 2020. © Christian Weigel, Gaffa - Denmark / Photo: Henrik Hildebrandt There was little gold at the end of the Rainbow this time! Just that - Ritchie Blackmore is always Ritchie Blackmore! It was an honor to see him play, albeit somewhat unfocused. The material you chose was good but it took too long before they got warm in the clothes. Perhaps you had won on warming up as a band like how Metallica does in a small temporary repository for about 30 minutes before going up the stage. A somewhat loyal Ritchie Blackmore entered the stage on Saturday night at 21:00 at Swedenrocks Festival Stage. Or at least he felt a little laid-back anyway. When the tones sounded out of the guitar, it is still reminiscent of the color and tone that we are used to, however, it is slightly less sharp than usual. You are really looking for that sharpness that you are used to in Deep Purple and Rainbow songs, but it rarely shows up. Instead, it is singer Ronnie Romero who gives life to the concert and gets to pull a large part of the workload on stage. He sings really well, it's almost like you can sense Ronnie James Dio in the classic Rainbow material and Ian Gillan with a splash of David Coverdale bit by bit. But, just seeing Ritchie Blackmore still caressing the old stratocaster is a dream come true. At last we got to see him in his true element. There were some errors here and there at the beginning of the concert. It was almost as if the autopilot went, a bit like he was wondering if he forgot about the stove while at the same time hurrying through the first four songs on the set list. With Man On the Silver Mountain, Ritchie seemed to find out that after all, he had remembered to shut down the stove and began to bring up the glow so slowly. Unfortunately, it's not until after a version of Difficult To Cure, which feels like it never runs out, it's one of Rainbows Beethoven-inspired instrumental works from the record with the same name that usually maintains, in All Night Long that he got the heat in anyway something snap. It really was a version where it turned to properly. The fact that they then radiate the classics Stargazer, Long live Rock'n roll and Burn in the same ways is just wonderful. As an extra number they play the song they all think everyone wants to hear, Smoke on the Water - and it is not entirely untrue - it actually works like this in the evening but does not sit as completely cast as the 4 songs were run before. Despite a lot of varying delivery of the material, it became an ok concert, but I would have liked to see them warm up before the concert so they had the opportunity to deliver the same drive and perhaps sharpen the whole concert through. © Tony Asplund, Rockbladet - Sweden / Photo: George Grigoriadis Rainbow Sweden Rock It all started with Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow "Land Of Hope And Glory", which played over the P.A. while David Keith sat on drums, Jens Johansson headed to the keyboard, and Bob Nouveau focused on the stage with the bass already waiting for him. With them, but last, Ritchie Blackmore made an appearance with a serious, ceremonious face, and immediately after the "we must be over the Rainbow", as an intro he played that classic "Over The Rainbow" melody on the electric guitar that marked the start, suddenly, of "Spotlight Kid", with Ronnie appearing on stage like a hurricane to start the concert. That sounded, and very well, by the way, with adequate volume and enough clarity so that when "I Surrender" came on, all were smiles among an audience that seemed happy, nostalgic, and aware of living a unique moment. I think that was what Blackmore intended when he launched this Rock Memories 2019, and this new incarnation of his Rainbow last year. A surprising start with 2 great songs contained in "Difficult To Cure", to continue lowering the tone with a "Mistreated" that sounded intimate and extremely 'bluesy', the first reference to Deep Purple of the many that awaited us. From the first song, if anything was perceived it was that everything that happens on stage, happens because Ritchie Blackmore has so arranged it, something clear that was already expected. There was, however, at least in these first two or three songs, a feeling of tension on stage, with an excessively rigid Blackmore, who kept making subtle but constant signals to both Ronnie Romero and Bob mainly, and even some severe looks that I didn't like at all. Do you know that feeling of being in a shop and there being bad vibes between the workers and the manager? Well, something similar. "Since You've Been Gone" brought back the chants of the audience and the party in general, and "Man On The Silver Mountain" was the first reference to the Dio era, in which Ronnie naturally feels much more comfortable and transmits much more. Shall we talk about Ronnie? Let's talk about Ronnie: the Spanish-Chilean vocalist offered a real recital in Sweden. It seemed to me not only that he had no problem reaching any register, but that compared to when he started, he has distanced himself a bit from the odious comparisons with Ronnie James Dio, acquiring a more personal style, more versatile, and not so reminiscent of the legendary vocalist. There has been a change there, and I think it has been for the better. As a frontman, Romero is enormously integrated into the band, and he did not stop joking throughout the concert, even on one occasion with Blackmore himself, who also relaxed as the show ended. In "Perfect Strangers" for example, Romero even joked about translating the title into Spanish, even though it sounded bad, and back to Purple to go over "Black Night", which with this version of Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow sounds 'heavier' than ever before. It has been said and written a thousand times before, but I have to agree. I don't understand why a Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow concert has to include 5 songs from Deep Purple, out of a total of 13. The moment you take out the Rainbow logo and use their logo, it really makes no sense to me, and even more so when the cost is that only 3 songs from the Dio era are included in the set. Only 3... "Difficult To Cure" brought us back to the work of the same name, surprisingly for me, to continue with the only reference to the Graham Bonnet era, with "All Night Long", as it could not be otherwise. I should also comment that as far as the staging is concerned, the concert did not stand out for being particularly showy, simply with a rear LED screen that changed presentation with each song. In the first ones, by the way, the effects seemed pretty tacky to me, it must be said, as if it were a Windows screensaver... "Stargazer" was for me the most epic moment of the concert, and it was so because Ronnie Romero sang it that way, while "Long Live Rock 'N' Roll" was a moment for the audience to participate and the band to prepare for the end, which would come, of course, with 2 songs from Deep Purple, first "Burn", which sounded spectacular (Jens was great on the keys, how he sounded!), and "Smoke On The Water" as an encore after the band came back on stage. It was a good concert in general, where for me the best thing was undoubtedly Romero, but which highlighted a very well-coordinated band, very solvent, and worthy of playing the songs they play. Setlist and details aside... © Jorge del Amo Mazarío, Rafa Basa Sweden Rock Festival: A reluctant rocker Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow should have been on stage at the Sweden Rock Festival in 2016, but it didn't happen, and with that, some of the exclusivity of Blackmore playing rock again has been lost. It will also turn out to be a relatively uninspired guitarist who has arrived in Sweden. When "Spotlight Kid" and "I Surrender" open the show, there is a bit of sloppiness in the guitar playing, while the main character of the evening hides as far back as possible at the back of the stage. You get the feeling that Ritchie would rather be standing behind drummer David Keith, but even Blackmore sees a limit to how withdrawn he can be. The exact opposite is found in vocalist Ronnie Romero, who is located as far forward as possible on the edge of the stage, and uses the entire width of the stage. At the same time, the man sings well, and he masters the material whether it was originally sung by Turner, Bonnet or Dio, or Coverdale and Gillan, for that matter. In that sense, the man is a find for Blackmore, and with an otherwise solid band around him it all sounds fine enough, but it does falter a bit for Blackmore himself. At the same time, the old jam element is missing, and in that sense this becomes very streamlined for Rainbow. Incidentally, the track list borrows a lot from Deep Purple, and as the third song we get "Mistreated", while "Perfect Strangers", "Black Night" and "Burn" are also sprinkled throughout the set. In that sense, the whole thing appears more like a summary of Blackmore's rock career than a Rainbow concert, but that's okay, because there is little to complain about the song material being played. "Man On The Silver Mountain" is one of the cases where it is lifted a little into the jam world, and along the way the song is spiced up with a touch of "Woman From Tokyo". "Difficult To Cure" on the other hand gives both keyboardist Jens Johansson and bassist Bob Nouveau some free rein, while Blackmore himself could probably make more of this touch, but then the man could indisputably make a little more of most things. One simply wonders if Ritchie is aware that he has an audience in front of him, because with the exception of a short visit to the front of the stage, he shows no interest in the fans. The whole thing is lifted by the song material anyway, and that it is particularly pleasant to listen to "Stargazer" again is certain, and "All Night Long" is also pleasant enough. In that sense, there are things to be happy about, but the fact that the main character so clearly does not want to be here is still a party stopper. The whole thing is no more than a day at the office, which a closing "Smoke On The Water" emphasizes. © Jan Dahle, Rock and Roll Dreams Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow live in Norway On June 8, 2019, I saw Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow live at the Sweden Rock Festival in Norway. They played on the Festival Stage. My first hard rock album was Rainbow's "Difficult to Cure" (I think). However, I had never seen them live before and was looking forward to the gig at Sweden Rock. Ritchie Blackmore is a true legend. He started as a guitarist in Deep Purple and left the band in 1974 to start Rainbow (in 1984 he reunited with Deep Purple and played with the band until 1993). Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow comes on stage and starts a good version of "Spotlight Kid", which is followed by "I Surrender". What is clear from the beginning is what an absolutely incomparable singer the band has. I had never heard of Chilean Ronnie Romero before, but my God, what he can sing. Romero is clearly the best singer of all at Sweden Rock Festival 2019. The 4th song is the concert's best song by far, "Since You Been Gone". This classic is absolutely magical. What an incredible rock song! Rainbow consists of very good musicians, in addition to Richie Blackmore on guitar and Ronnie Romero on vocals, there is also Bob Nouveau (bass), David Keith (drums) and Jens Johansson from Skåne (keyboards) - as well as Candice Night and another choir singer on some songs. "Man on the Silver Mountain" is very good. Jens Johansson gets to present a few songs in Swedish before it's time for his big spot during the show. "Difficult to Cure" is an incomparable instrumental song. The beginning of the song is the end of Beethoven's 9th symphony (which is also the European anthem). Beethoven composed the symphony when he was completely deaf and it was completed in 1824. Now it is being played at Sweden Rock Festival 195 years later. Pretty cool. After 3-4 minutes, Ritchie Blackmore leaves the stage and another minute or so later it's just Jens Johansson on keyboards, but he plays and plays. At the end, the rest of the band comes back and ends in a magnificent way. Ronnie Romero sings fantastically in "All Night Long" and gets help from the audience with the sing-along. "Long Live Rock'n'Roll" is also good. "Burn" is brilliant - not least Ritchie on guitar and Ronnie on vocals. A very good concert ends with Deep Purple's classic "Smoke on the Water". The best songs during the concert were "Since You Been Gone", "Spotlight Kid", "Smoke on the Water", "Difficult to Cure", "All Night Long" and "Burn". © Live Rock Sweden Rock Festival 2019 Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow was pulling people into hell. There were heads and bodies as far as I could see and expectations were like hot, trembling petrol-soaked air over a wet asphalt motorway in an action movie. Thank God for the big screens, otherwise you wouldn't have seen a damn thing. Personally, I didn't have any high expectations of Mr. Blackmore and his new crew. I saw Rainbow with Cozy Powell on drums and Dio on vocals in 1976 and that concert has never been surpassed by them any other time I've seen them. I saw Rainbow with Graham Bonett on vocals in 1980 and they were still really good then, although not as good, I saw them with Joe Lynn Turner in 1983 and by then they had lost quite a bit and become something of a soft AOR band instead, and now, with Ronald Romero on vocals. Imagine my surprise but that guy did really well. A great singer and equally great entertainer so definitely a compliment to him. Initially, I felt quite hesitant when the band opened with “Spotlight kid” and especially the Russ Ballard torment “I surrender”, but that was rectified when they continued with Deep Purple’s “Mistreated” (which Rainbow started playing live already in 1976), and then did another Russ Ballard cover, namely “Since you been gone” from the Down To Earth LP. Yes, I know that many people like those more buttery radio songs, but they don’t appeal to me. Rainbow was best and heaviest on their first three albums and it’s these songs that I want to hear, not sauce that fits into the Calm favorites. Then comes their first single hit and the first song I ever heard with them, “Man on the silver mountain”, although in medley form together with “Woman from Tokyo”, which wasn’t completely wrong. To my surprise, they then continued with Deep Purple’s catalog and delivered “Perfect strangers” and “Black night”. They certainly do the Purple songs well, but why the hell don't they stick to Rainbow songs when they call themselves Rainbow? In fact, it continues in the same way. A couple more Rainbow songs, "Difficult to cure" and "All night long", heavy "Stargazer" and "Long live rock n roll" were performed, but after that the band is back to Purple again with "Burn" and the extra track "Smoke on the water". Why didn't it become "Catch the rainbow", "Snake charmer", "Temple of the king", "If you don't like rock n roll", "Tarot woman", "Run with the wolf", "Starstruck" or "Do you close your eyes" instead? We'll never know. In any case, the band sounded really good, Ritchie's guitar playing was anything but perfect and what caused it is another question mark this concert left unanswered. © Robert Ryttman Zero Magazine / Photo: Georg Ryttman Past, present and future Sweden Rock Festival 2019 offered everything The headliner of the evening, Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, was a big question mark, as the previous gig I saw at Hartwall Arena didn’t leave a very great impression. The band’s slight delay didn’t help matters much, knowing the headmaster’s indisposition. After “Land Of Hope And Glory” and “Over The Rainbow”, the members climbed on stage and kicked things off with the song “Spotlight Kid”. It went surprisingly well, even though the maestro’s playing seemed very cautious at times. The absolute king of the stage was vocalist Ronnie Romero, who had found a whole new level of courage and self-confidence compared to the Helsinki gig. The song came out in the best possible way, and he was probably the most qualified man for the job. Blackmore even smiled during the evening and got excited about a little prank every now and then. It was exciting to watch his expressions; how he kept the players on their toes the whole time, giving them permission to continue or stop with his expressions. The musical backbone of the evening was the rhythm section and keyboardist Jens Johansson, to whom Blackmore seemed to give a surprising amount of responsibility in front of his home crowd. The greatest value of the gig is probably still that there was still a chance to see Ritchie Blackmore in hard rock. It was great that Deep Purple's deafening "Mistreated" was played, even though it no longer reached its old tunes. Romero also got the audience singing and himself led the choir with a great performance. His performance in "Man On The Silver Mountain" was also great to hear. Fortunately, the supposedly funny chat between Romero and bassist Noveau had been omitted, but with his singing, the latter led the band into the song "Woman From Tokyo" and from there back to the mountains again, with Blackmore's permission. The audience also seemed to like "Perfect Strangers" and "Black Night". A fun detail was when someone from the audience was occasionally shown on the screen holding up a Rainbow scarf. Somehow the color scheme looked like it was a video clip from the 70s. Sometimes Romero made it fun by asking for song requests and pretending to hear “Ace Of Spades”. At first, the band was certainly the most understated headliner that Sweden Rock has ever seen, but as the evening went on, the lights came into their own. “Stargazer” was a great song to end the show on, as I still remembered the Helsinki rant with “Burn”. The setlist had changed slightly from the previous encounter, but not significantly. The band was better than I feared, but there was no point in expecting an orgasm. © Nikki Jääsalmi, KaaosZine / Photo: Michael Lindström