Home from the Steel Panther / Ozzy gig in Dortmund, Germany. I am way too beat to have any energy left for blogging tonight and tomorrow it’s time for the 4-day heavy metal extravaganza SWEDEN ROCK FESTIVAL! 

So – there will be a whole writing cavalcade from the last few days’ shows and travels – next week. :-)

Videos and photos (a big thanks to Suuded for generously letting me upload her great pix as well!) from the Dortmund shows on Facebook: www.facebook.com/intherearviewmirror 

Although a good part of the whole trip was a nightmare, some things made up for it 100% and I was lucky to have great company as well! :)

More when I feel rested and get my brain back to working order. ;)

The Ozzy gig was great. My friend Bianca came from Skovde to join me and we went to Malmo stadion around 1 PM. There were a few people in the Golden Circle line. It was raining, and was freaking COLD (it took until the next day to defrost!!), but I’d been looking forward to that gig so rain was no problem, I’ve been through worse. :)

BLS with Zakk Wylde opened. I’m not going to get into that more than necessary – let’s just say that in my humble opinion, that has got to be the most boring band on the planet. Or maybe I’m just not into the “me Tarzan you Jane“-caveman macho thing. The image doesn’t appeal to me and the music sucks. I’ve probably made a few enemies now, but hey – that’s just my  simple opinion.

So, let’s fast forward to Ozzy. :-)

It wasn’t Ozzman’s best night vocally. He fucked up a few times but guess what – he’s probably the only guy in the business that can do that and get away with it. Personally I don’t care if he sounds like Pavarotti or a sick parrot, he makes me smile!

Ozzy is the most genuine, lovable artist I’ve ever seen. It’s amazing to see this 60+ man walk out on stage and smile like a young guy who’s facing a large crowd for the first time in his whole life! Cause that’s what he looks like – he’s got the enthusiasm of a boy but the experience of a man in his golden years. I love Ozzy.

And it really has very little to do with his vocal skills or the lack thereof – Ozzy is just Ozzy and he can do whatever he wants and STILL entertain people.

I would go see him anyday just as long as his contageous, enthustiastic boyish smile is there. :-)

And the “guests”? Well – I’m probably also one of the few who prefered to see his own band, I didn’t need the “bling” – the Slashs and the Zakks. Slash is damn cool, he’s a good entertainer and a cool guitarist. Zakk is… well, if you like him, you probably know why you do. I’m not the right person to say anything. I’m sure he’s a great guy and all, but as a guitarist he’s torture. I actually found my review of the Ozzy gig at Olympen in Lund, Sweden 1989 and I was complaining about Zakk being way too eager to use his wah-wah even at THAT gig, so I suppose I was just never much a fan of his either way.

But it was a great experience to see Ozzy and Geezer together on stage. That felt real and something that made sense. Cause although Slash is cool, I don’t quite see what he’s got to do with Ozzy and Sabbath. Didn’t matter, I think a lot of people came to see him actually.

I was glad to see the Greek guitar-wizard Gus G in action again, always a pleasure. So, as far as I’m concerned, it would have been ok with just Ozzy’s regular band – but sure, it was different and fun with a few surprises. Nice touch.

I’ll leave it at that for now, WiFi about to disappear anytime now. The train to Dortmund is really a “crazy train” with no power outlets (had to charge the laptop and the cell in the little toilet where I managed to find an outlet!) and no WiFi. For a 12 hour journey! I can’t believe there ARE trains like that in 2012! Unbelievable!

And the AC is blowing right in my face, if this doesn’t make me sick, I don’t know what will.

More about the Dortmund trip when I reach civilization again in about 8 hours!

Photos videos and all that – on the Facebook page – www.facebook.com/intherearviewmirror

On the train to Dortmund, Germany. Thought I would have 12 hours to work here, write and whatever…. There is NO power outlet, and no Wi-fi! I can’t believe it! Might as well have taken a horse carriage! I thought all trains nowadays were modern, especially German ones.

As long as I’m in Denmark I can write and post this, but cellphone is closed for roaming so the minute we leave Denmark, I’m screwed…

Well -Ozzy review from Malmö and Dortmund when I get home – maybe! Then Sweden Rock begins.

Phew! Pics and videos from last night can be found on my Facebook page until I get a chance to write and post more. :)

www.facebook.com/intherearviewmirror 

All my “social medias” (Twitter, Facebook, MySpace…) have been flooded with info about the new Firewind album “Few Against Many“, which has been gradually presented the past few months (and especially now in May).

They started by playing 2 new songs live (Athens in January), and I loved “Wall of Sound” in the live-version, it had a cool riff and a snappy chorus. It’s still good in the recorded version, however it sounds too “clean” and has lost some of the live-roughness, I think. But I will have to listen a few more times before I decide.

Then, there was the release of the single online – on YouTube. And then there was the live streaming of the whole album on Guitar World’s site a few days before it was released in Europe, then the US then….worldwide.

[Gus talking about the new album]

So, there has been a LOT of PR for this one. And I travelled all over the globe last year to see these dudes live. 20 gigs, to be precise, from north to south, from east to west. I’ve got some great memories from those travels (some of them in the Firewind tourblog: www.firewindtour.posterous.com) 

BUT…. I haven’t heard the new album yet. 

I actually don’t want to. I have had all the oportunities in the world really, but the thing is that I’m on vacation right now with only a small little travel-laptop, and the sound won’t do the album ANY favors.

I have learned that sometimes it’s worth waiting to get that real, good experience (see, it’s not just sex). ;-)

If I listen to it now, on a little laptop with its built-in crappy speakers, it will sound absolutely awful. And my first impression of the album will be “it sucks”. Cause you NEVER get a second chance to make a first impression.

I’ve also learned that you appreciate music more if you’ve actually had to buy it. Well, I’m old-school, if it’s a band that I REALLY like, I want a CD or a vinyl even, if there’s a special edition or something.

It’s a special feeling to get a real CD and flip through the pages of the booklet, or like back in the old days, start reading the lyrics before even listening to the album (or curling up somewhere with the lyrics while blasting the songs for the very first time).

Almost every vinyl that I’ve got at home, has a story behind it – and I remember each and every one. Those that I bought when I was still a kid, were extra special cause I had to save up to be able to buy them. Sometimes I would try to get dad to buy an LP for me by explaining how I really REALLY had to have that particular album…! He got a few Boney M-LP’s for me in the 70s, a Beatles “20 Greatest Hits” and an ABBA-LP.

One of the very first albums I bought was Judas Priest‘s “Unleashed In The East” (I’ve told that story so many times that I’ll spare you this time :-) ). The second Priest-album I got was “Screaming For Vengeance“, but the deal was that my friend Camilla and I had agreed on getting eachother Christmas-presents that we could pick out ourselves. She chose Def Leppard’s “On Through The Night” and I wanted “Screaming for Vengeance”. We simply swopped. So, in a way I guess I bought it myself – kind of. It’s still one of my favorite albums of all time.

Then I went to this “K-Mart” thing in Sweden called Åhléns in the early 80’s and bought lots of cheap vinyls that were imported from Spain or something, and so called “cut-outs” (they would cut a small bit of the cover and sell it cheaper). Got Kiss “Lick It Up” and Scorpions “Blackout” that way for instance. I can even describe how it looked where I got them and the feeling I had when I had decided on which ones I wanted. It was something else, really. :-)

[This is a “cut out”]

 In the recording industry, a cut-out refers to a deeply-discounted or remaindered copy of an LP…. When LPs were the primary medium for distribution or recording, manufacturers would physically cut the corner, punch a hole, or add a notch to the spine of the jacket of unsold records returned from retailers; these “cut-outs” might then be re-sold to record retailers or other sales outlets for sale at a discounted price. A special section of a record store devoted to such items was known as the cut-out bin or bargain bin. – Wikipedia

Fast-forwarding to 1988 when I started writing for Kvällsposten and suddenly had records thrown my way. I litterally had sacks of records waiting for me at the office every week. For years they just kept coming, from every major label there was (this was still the era where the record companies ruled, the era before the internet).

I’m almost ashamed to admit it, but I’ve got boxes of CD’s that I haven’t even removed the plastic from. Some of those are now out of print and super rare. To me they were just “junk” because I had too many records to choose from. I didn’t appreciate what I got. 

Since people stopped buying music and mp3’s are now more common than a physical CD, it’s just not quite the same. It’s very CONVENIENT and I’m as guilty as anyone else of ripping and swopping stuff back and forth instead of buying it. But the feeling is not the same.

The best example would be the DYNAZTY-album. At first, I got a link from the label, to one of those special players where you can’t download anything, you can only listen.

It was a great album, eventhough I had trouble getting that player to work properly, so they sent me a bunch of mp3’s. Still cool songs, but…. Then, there was a burnt CD-ROM thing, which was better but… It was always that “…but…“.

Then – FINALLY I received the ACTUAL REAL CD, with a note from the PR-lady thanking me for the patience and for the great review.
It wasn’t until I had the real CD that I felt it kicked major ass! It’s simply something special about owning an album as opposed to having something digital that is just abstract.

A record-collection is something quite different from having an mp3-collection on your computer. Most of those mp3’s were probably illegally downloaded and you didn’t have to look long to find them – right?

Having a record collection is almost like having a photo album – your whole life is right there. Your different phases, tastes, memories, feelings, and you had to do something to acquire it.

My point is, in order to get in the right mood for a new album, you sometimes want to make sure that everything is JUST right – the speakers, the sound quality, the album and your mood. Listening to an album on a good day will make you remember that feeling every time you listen to that album in the future.

You just never forget your first… ;) Make sure you get it just right.