Having missed last year's first Malmö Melodic festival, I was really looking forward to what they'd have to offer this year. With a line-up of artists straight from the shelves of my CD collection and especially a few I hadn't seen live before, I thought that a trip to Malmö would be essential. We attended the MelodicRockFest Scandinavia in Malmö a few years ago, and really liked it. This time our resident photographer Mira didn't join me on this trip, so I took on the photographic duties as well.

My journey to Malmö began at four in the morning on Friday, when I woke up in order to catch an early flight from Turku airport. I flew to Riga and took another flight to Copenhagen from there. The a train to Malmö, and a bus to the hotel. It was too early to get a room, so I spent a couple of hours walking around the town and in the hotel
lobby, until it was time to head to the festival venue Plan B.

While the hotel was in the middle of a nice residental area, the venue was in the middle of an industrial area filled with car repair shops! A Malmö Melodic flag and the food truck advertised on the website guided me to the right building, but I didn't see where the entrance was. Luckily I bumped into my old friend PJ, who had been at the first festival, so he knew that the entrance was all the way in the back of the building. Hidden in plain sight... a bit of an "illegal bar" vibe, but that only added to the club's athmosphere! In the garden there were some weird sculptures and an old firetruck, and on the other side of the fence there was an electricity delivery center (or whatever it was), with seagulls "singing" and rabbits bouncing around. Inside there was a big bar decorated with a pentagram and skulls made out of metal wire I think. There was also a huge sign saying "Please don't do coke in the bathroom". What about pepsi then?

The venue itself isn't too big, but in many ways nicer than usual. There was plenty of seats outside and inside the building. The tables outside were really great because it was really hot inside and the air conditioning was fighting a losing battle. I had jeans on for the first day, and that mistake didn't happen for the next two!

The actual festival started at 13:00 with Swedish AORsters STATE OF SALAZAR. Them being one of the softer bands of the festival, it was a suitably relaxed and easy-going start for Malmö Melodic.

They sounded good and not quite as "yachtrock" as I remembered, although at times they sailed onto those waters too. The Toto influence was quite strong on some of the songs. My favourites were "If You Wait For Me", "My Heart Is At War" and "This Is Our World", a song written by vocalist Marcus Nygren but recorded by Toby Hitchcock.

SETLIST:

Eat Your Heart Out
I Believe In You
Always
If You Wait For Me
To The Wire
This Is Our World
My Heart Is At War
She's A Loaded Gun
All The Way

In between the bands there was a very well curated playlist playing over the PA, not just AOR classics but also tons of not so well-known but equally fantastic songs.

Second act of Friday was ARCTIC RAIN. You'd think that a bit of arctic rain would have cooled the place, but no, they really heated things up and played an intensive set of excellent melodic hard rock or hard-edged AOR, if you prefer that. In Tobias Jonsson the band has strong frontman and an excellent singer, who has a good stage presence. He kind of reminds me of a Swedish Chris Daughtry!

The band played a good selection of songs from their two albums, including my personal favourites "Free My Mind", "Lost" and "Take Me To Your Heart", not to mention a stylish cover of Journey's "Separate Ways", which pleased the crowd a lot.

SETLIST:

Laughing in the Rain
Lift Me Up
Unity
Kings Of The Radio
Friends
Fire In My Eyes
Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)
Free My Mind
Take Me To Your Heart
Give Me All Of Your Love
Lost

The next band was CRUZH, who we've seen quite a few times over the last few years. Most recently last year, when they were supporting Nestor in Finland. We haven't seen a Cruzh gig without some kind of a personnel change, and this gig was not different - the last two times have been with Johan Öberg on guitar, but this time the band's original axe hero Anton Joensson was back in the frontline. Öberg was officially added as the second guitar player to the band before the release of the band's latest album, but I don't know what his status is these days. At least he wasn't on stage at this gig. Well, the show must go on, and the one Cruzh put on at Malmö Melodic was quite excellent.

All the band members have a good grasp at showmanship, they're not bland performers, as you can see from the photos.

The setlist consisted of songs from all of their three albums, songs ranging from AOR to more Glam Metal-like tracks. They had tailored the setlist accordingly to feature more of the melodic stuff, it was Malmö Melodic after all and I don't think anyone had any complaints about that!

SETLIST:

The Jungle Revolution
FL89
Angel Dust
Turn Back Time
New York Nights
Tropical Thunder
Lines In The Sand
Set Me Free
Paralyzed
Hard To Get
We Go Together
Aim For The Head

SEVENTH CRYSTAL hasn't been on heavy rotation on my headphones, so they were a bit of a wild card for me. They played for the VIP ticket holders last year, and made a good impression on many people, so it wasn't surprising that this year they got a slot in the normal line-up. The band's main man is the singer Kristian Fyhr, who has been quite active as a songwriter on many Frontiers releases. With his own band he explores the heavier side of melodic rock, adding modern metal and progressive elements to it.

While many of the Malmö Melodic bands are firmly stuck in the eighties, Seventh Crystal looked and sounded very contemporary. Having said that, maybe it says more about me than the band, but I wasn't as awestruck with them as most people appeared to be.

They sounded good and performed convincingly, but maybe their songs didn't have enough melodic hooks for my taste. Highlights for me were "Higher Ground" and "Blinded By The Light".

SETLIST:

Interlude
Blinded By The Light/Hollow
So Beautiful
Path Of The Absurd
Higher Ground
Architecht Of Light
Million Times/Shut Up
Siren Song/Versus
Mayflower/Wonderland
Say What You Need To Say

Having been a fan of them since the eighties and not having seen them live before, BAD HABIT were the band I was most looking forward to seeing on Friday. The line-up of the band featured three original members - vocalist Bax Fehling, guitarist Hal Marabel and drummer Jamie Salazar. Guitarist Örjan Wallén is a recent addition to the band, and he reminded me of Lost Boys' Edgar Frog, all grown up and free of the stress of killing vampires... On bass the band had a temporary replacement Peter Ahlm, known from Time Gallery.

The band played a solid selection of songs from most of their albums and their latest single "Breaking My Chains", which was one of the highlights for me. There were heavier tracks such as the extra-crunchy "Retribution" and there were pop rockers such "I Wanna Be The One" showcasing the extremes of the band's catalog. The biggest crowd-pleaser of the set was definitely "Rowena" from the classic "After Hours" album. My personal favourites included the aforementioned new single "Breaking My Chains", "I Don't Want You" and "In The Heat Of The Night".

The band had no keyboard player so they had to rely on backing tapes, and apparently they had some problems with those during "A Lot To Learn", which had to be re-started halfway through. Bax Fehling didn't quite hit all the highest notes, but let's face it, some of these songs were very challenging when they were recorded back in the day...

SETLIST:
Back To Life
Everytime you Cry
I Don't Want You
Breaking My Chains
Retribution
I Wanna Be The One
A Lot To Learn
To Love You
Need Somebody
Another Night
In The Heat Of The Night
Rowena
Above And Beyond

Friday's headliners were FM (UK), the first non-Swedish band of the festival. I've seen them a couple of times before, both times in Sweden. The first FM gig for me was at Rockweekend AOR in Stockholm back in 2016, and that set still rates as the loudest set I've witnessed so far! The second time was actually in Malmö at Melodic Rock Fest 2018 in Malmö, and now they were in town again. FM's set was the best I've seen from them, with Steve Overland providing some of the best vocals of the whole event. The way he belts out those notes with seemingly no effort at all, oozing with soul and passion... had he chosen another route, he could have been UK's very own Michael Bolton! I guess I'm just glad that he chose to stay on the rock path.

The setlist was full of classic FM material from the eighties, with a few later tracks sprinkled in. I was especially pleased to hear "All Or Nothing", a track we discussed with PJ a few hours before, and of course the many classics from "Tough It Out", my favourite FM album. I remember the band hesitantly adding "Someday" to their set back in 2016, nervous of how it would turn out... and now it's 2025, it's still in the set list and a crowd favourite. One of my all time favourite songs too.

SETLIST:
Digging In The Dirt
I Belong To The Night
Killed By Love
Someday (You'll Come Running)
Let Love Be The Leader
Synchronized
Everytime I Think Of You
All Or Nothing
Does It Feel Like Love
Hot Wired
That Girl
Bad Luck
Tough It Out
Turn This Car Around
The Story Of My Life
The Other Side Of Midnight

Saturday arrived (as usual after friday), and around half past noon I headed to the bus stop again. There I met some fellow rockers, especially Dirk from Germany with whom I had a few good chats during the event. We made it to the venue a few minutes before Saturday's VIP artist Animalyze were about to start. They were a late addition to the festival line-up, replacing Constancia who had to cancel due to some unfortunate personal reasons.

ANIMALYZE travelled to the festival from Denmark, but as I understand they're from Copenhagen, so they're almost like a local band. Anyway, having played their glam-influenced album, I was a bit surprised to see them wearing Judas Priest-like "leather and studs"-outfits... but then again, Mötley Crüe embraced that look on "Shout At The Devil", so why not?

The band gave us a real kickstart for the day. Tey had studied the 80's Hair Metal stage moves well and added their own twists to them, with lots of energy. A really fun set to watch, although I wasn't 100% convinced about the song material. "Kings Of The Night" stood out for me as the best song of theirs, with its' massive "Pyromania" type of hooks and harmonies. "Hunter Of The Night" was another very good one. Otherwise, it was decent hard rock with touches of Kiss (obviously), AC/DC and maybe a bit of Autograph too.

They did the first Ozzy tribute of the day, by plaing a snippet of "Mama I'm Coming Home", a trend that would continue throughout the day.

I think Animalyze are on their way up, they already have the stage presence, musicianship and a lot of vocal power in the band. What they need now is a few more deadly sharp hooks for the album number two!

SETLIST:
Wild For Free
Dr. Chemical
Trigger For Love
X-Medication
Mama I'm Coming Home (clip)
Hunter Of The Night
Kings Of The Night

Once Animalyze had finished, the doors were opened for the standard ticket holders, and ARKADO started setting up their gear. The band is a fairly new player in the field, but their roots go back to the eighties, when they were called BB2. The current version was formed in 2018 with some new members. They have released two albums so far, "Never Say Never" in 2020 and "Open Sea" last year.

Visitors of Firefest and other festivals of this genre are most likely familiar with the band's frontman Phil Lindstrand. He has sung with Cruzh, played guitar in Find Me and was part of the MelodicRock Fest All-Stars band, just to name a few things. The band's musical engine is Mikael Svensson, who is the keyboard player, producer and main songwriter. You won't find too many photos of him or any other keyboard player or drummer, because they were all positioned under and in front of stage lights, mostly heavily backlit or in the dark! Thumbs up for the photographers who managed to get good shots of the "guys in the back", you have better skills and equipment than me. Did I just wander off the path?

I can't recall much of the first Arkado album, but "Open Sea" got a few spins before this event and I liked it. Indeed, the title track, "Running Through The Night" and "I Gave You My Heart" were my favourite tracks of their set. Some of them brought back memories of the band Fortune, they had a certain melancholic vibe that can be found in Arkado's songs too.

SETLIST:
Don't Rape the Nature
Unchain The Night
You Make Me Feel
I Gave My Heart
Never Say Never
Open Sea
Rising High
Running Through The Night
So Bad

VIOLET from Germany was probably an unknown entity to many, but they sure weren't that after their performance! Fronted by the bombshell Jamie Beckham, they took us to a ride on a time machine and we went back to 1986, to a time when things were more simple and we all had more hair. Spandex was in, hairspray was cheap and charts were full of catchy pop and rock songs.

The members of Violet were almost like characters from an 80's movie: a cool, long-haired guitarist dude, a bass player with a bit of a pop vibe (why am I thinking of Nena or some band like that?), a keyboard player with stacks of keys and a wild curly hair, a non-chalant drummer and the star of the show, a big-haired girl with wild make up and a "wild look in her eyes". They certainly put on a great show, with Jamie shamelessly flirting with the crowd.

Violet has some very good songs, like "Bad Dream", "Sophie" and "Arms Around". What made their songs stood out was that they didn't really sound like typical AOR songs, they had an 80's pop influence running through them. I only wish that the band would have played their Samantha Fox cover "Do Ya Do Ya (Wanna Please Me)", which would have gone down a storm to this audience!

SETLIST:
Mysteria
Bad Dream
Sex in Harmony
Sophie
Angelina (Talk to Me)
Blame It on the Night
Arms Around

CARE OF NIGHT was the fourth Swedish AOR group to feature a bald, more or less bearded singer... is that an obligatory thing these days? Aaaanyway, Care Of Night were a pleasant surprise for me, as I remembered them to be one of the more "westcoasty" AOR bands from Sweden, but they actually rocked and not in a yachty style. They had taken some time to think about their stage look, and "animal prints" seemed to be their chosen style. Come to think of it, why didn't Animalyze go for that, too obvious?

Good, catchy songs in the vein of Survivor or "Isolation"-era Toto and an enthusiastic performance by the guys elevated them to one of the better bands of Saturday for me.

SETLIST:
Contact
Tonight
Street Runner
Hit
Those Words
Your Perfection
Stay With Me
Melanie
Say You Will
Cassandra
Hearts Belong

DEGREED were one of the most awaited bands of the weekend, and many mentioned them as one of their favourites afterwards. I've seen them a few times before, and own most of their albums, yet they haven't won me over completely. Their set certainly had its' moments - "Into The Fire", "This Is Love", the new ballad "If It Wasn't For Me" and their excellent cover of "Bark At The Moon". Now dedicated to Ozzy of course, but it's been in their set for a long time. Then there were songs that left no lasting impressions whatsover... the melodies, the hooks just weren't there or didn't work for me.

The band's performance was spirited and they seemed to be enjoying themselves, which was kind of infectious, so they weren't a disappointment as such.

SETLIST:
Big Plans
A Little Bit
Shakedown
If It Wasn't For Me
Are You Ready
Ride Along
Into the Fire
Lost Generation
This Is Love
Tomorrow
The Scam
Bark at the Moon

Oh brother, what happened next? BROTHER FIRETRIBE - they came, they saw, they conquered! Having seen them in Finland every now and then, I knew that they'd be good, but this gig was entirely on a different level. A big part of the exceptional success goes to the international audience, who had been starving for "False Metal" for the last few years. They got the first pre-show "hey-hey-hey's", which promised good things... but the looks on the band's faces after the opening track "Number One" said it all - "what the hell is happening here?" The reaction of the crowd was something else, an eruption of cheers and applauds. And so it continued, each song was greeted with the same enthusiasm, old and new songs alike.

Before the gig I heard some people saying that they were worried that there would be "too much of the new stuff" in the setlist, not enough golden oldies. Well, the band played the "Number One" tour setlist with 11 songs from the latest three releases and only 5 older songs, nothing from the debut album. Did it really matter? I don't think so. The intensity didn't really drop during the whole set, and even a token album track "Out Of My Head" was cherished by the crowd.

The heat and the humidity of the venue must have been good for vocalist Pekka Heino, as his voice was in top-notch shape. He also gave us a glimpse of his deadpan humour, but forgot from which album the song "Battleground" is from.... well, these things happen.

All in all, possibly the best BFT gig I've seen, and I've seen quite a few.

SETLIST:
Number One
How Long Until Tomorrow
Just Another Night
Are You Ready?
Bring on the Rain
Arianne
Wildest Dreams
Rock in the City
Taste of a Champion
Battle Ground
Out of My Head
For Better or for Worse
Night Drive
Indelible Heroes
I Am Rock
Heart Full of Fire

...And this brings us to the headliners of Saturday: TREAT, one of my all-time favourite bands. They are one of the few eighties' bands who have still been able to deliver us albums, which can match the output of their "glory days". Indeed, almost half of the setlist was post-comeback songs, and I would have happily traded some of the older songs they played for some newer ones.

The band's frontman Robert Ernlund sported a brimmed hat that made him look a crazy combination of Magnum's Tony Clarkin and Bob Catley. Apparently these hats are popular in the Swedish AOR circles, I spotted a few others on and off-stage. Ernlund knew that the audience consisted of 29 different nationalities, but he kept speaking Swedish most of the time for some reason. I'm not sure but I think the Swedes were in the minority at this event. His vocals were pretty good, although a few of the higher notes were quite off. But none of us are getting any younger... As for the rest of the guys, they seemed very serious for some reason, not too many smiles around. Maybe they were just concentrating, this was their third gig of the year so far.

The band paid tribute to their first album with "Changes", the title track "Scratch And Bite" and oddly a B-side from the era, "On The Outside" played back to back. Since the debut album isn't among my favourites, they were kind of "meh" for me. The band has so many better songs they could have played. They did play "Get You On The Run", the crown jewel of "Scratch And Bite" (and "Conspiracy") a bit later, without which a Treat concert would be a travesty. And what a sing-along it became! The gig was closed with "World Of Promises", which should have been Treat's "Final Countdown", a song that should have catapulted them to stardom. It wasn't, but at least it became a much loved favourite of their fans.

Not the best Treat gig I have seen, but still a good one.

SETLIST:
Skies of Mongolia
Ready for the Taking
Papertiger
Home of the Brave
Rev It Up
Sole Survivor
Riptide
We Own the Night
Freudian Slip
Changes
Scratch and Bite
On the Outside
Roar
Get You on the Run
Conspiracy
World of Promises

Sunday's VIP band was HOUSE OF SHAKIRA. This veteran hard rock band played with a special line-up, as their original vocalist Mikael Zifa Eriksson provided backing vocals and also some lead vocals. The band's current lead vocalist Andreas Novak has been fronting them for over 20 years. Right from the start the band impressed with their singing abilities, by delivering the arabesque accapella intro to "Morning Over Morocco", followed by some high kicks by Novak. I must admit that I wasn't familiar with their material - I have a few of their albums but haven't really followed them lately. Many of the songs they played I hadn't heard before, and since they aren't particulary "instant", I didn't really warm up to them right away.

As the show went on, I somehow started to get a hang of it. The last song "Method Of Madness" featured both vocalists trading lines, and that "Hi! Hi! Hi!" chorus was very instant indeed!

Special mention to bassist Per Schelander's Frankenstrat-influenced eyebatch!

SETLIST:
Morning Over Morocco
One Circumstance
In Your Head
Toxic Train
A Tyrant's Tale
Something In The Water
Elephant Gun
Method Of Madness

The first band of the main line-up was a local act called PITTMAN COLE. Their progressive rock style was a bit different to the other bands in the line-up, but still within the boundaries of melodic rock.

The band had really paid attention to the visual side of things, as they had matching outfits and stage props with black and white stripes. That really made a difference and the band was interesting to photograph. And their keyboard player wasn't in the dark!

Their music wasn't really my cup of tea, but they were really skilled musicians and probably made a few new fans.

SETLIST:
Mirage
Coward
And I thank You
Roller Coaster
Monaco
Higher
Crawling

Having been impressed by DAYTONA's debut albm last year, I was really looking foward to hearing them live. They did not disappoint. Fronted by the charismatic Fredrik Werner, they played the highlights of their album and a cover of Foreigner's "Inside Information". Guitarist and main songwriter Erik Heikne provided tasty riffs and solos, while keyboardist Johan Berlin added athmosphere and melodic touches to the band's very 80'ies sounding songs.

Werner reminded me of Kelly Hansen, the vocalist of Foreigner and Hurricane, while the songs brought back memories of Giant and Foreigner's hard rocking numbers. "It Looks Like Rain" and "Slave To The Rhythm" were the absolute hightlights for me, both songs have been haunting me for days now - definite "earworms".

SETLIST:
Welcome To The Real World
Kelly
Looks Like Rain
Town Of Many Faces
Slave To The Rhythm
Downtown
Garder La Flamme
Inside Information
Where Did We Lose The Love

Next up was another Swedish AOR group, RIAN. They've released three albums so far, of which I remember reviewing the first one and giving it a lukewarm RRR rating. I might have to check out their albums more closely, because the overall vibe of the band's gig was a good one, they had plenty of decent songs.

Vocalist Richard Andermyr had a bit of a Bryan Adams-like style and excellent vocals, and bassist Jonny Trobro had a good grasp of showmanship! Tobias Jakobsson played some fine melodic guitar solos. The keys and most of the backing vocals were provided by a backing tape though.

SETLIST:
Carry My Wings
We Ride
In the Dark
Don't Wait for the Fire
We Belong
Dance the Night Away
Hide Away
In the Night
Out of the Darkness
Eternity

NITRATE was another act I was looking forward to seeing, as their "Feel The Heat" was an excellent slice of AOR with some synthwave stylings. It was a bit of a shock to learn that the band had gone through some line-up changes just prior to the gig. The Martin brothers Tom and James were not in the band anymore, and guitarist Richard Jaques was unable to attend, in his place was Marcus Thurston from Vega. So the band played as a quartet, with Alexander Strandell on vocals, founding member Nick Hogg on bass and Alex Cooper on drums. I don't know whether the empty keyboard stand on stage was some kind of a statement, but there it was... Obviously the band had to rely on pre-recorded material, as their songs are quite keyboard-heavy. They would have been very "bare bones" without the extras... So, this wasn't the Nitrate gig I had hoped to see, but it was good to hear these songs anyway. Thumbs up for the band for not cancelling at the last minute.

The band had saved a surprise to the end of the set, as they had brought over Nick Workman of Vega, and played a cover of Vega's breakthrough hit "Kiss Of Life". It worked like a charm and ended the gig on a high note. Oh yeah, there was another cover in the middle of the set too, "Need You To Understand" from vocalist Alexander Strandell's "main band" Art Nation.

SETLIST:
Danger Zone
Renegade
All The Right Moves
Live Fast, Die Young
Needs A Little Love
Need You To Understand
You Think You've Got It
Satellite
Feel The Heat
Wild In The City
Big City Nights
Kiss Of Life

A band that can really turn up the heat and kick off a party is CRAZY LIXX. I've seen them a few times before and each gig has been excellent. Their set at Malmö Melodic was at least as good as any of the previous ones I've seen, maybe even better. They are a local band, and had the crowd in the palm of their hand right from the start.

Kicking off with a couple of hard rocking tracks "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" and "Hell Raising Women" and then moving to their more melodic tracks such as "Silent Thunder", "Hunt For Danger" and "Blame It On Love", the band delivered a crowd-pleasing, energetic set. Great band to photograph too, they had the moves and they looked like good ol' fashioned Rock Stars. They would have been worthy of a headliner status, but there was more to come...

SETLIST:
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
Hell Raising Women
Little Miss Dangerous
Silent Thunder
Rise Above
Sword And Stone
Hunt For Danger
XIII
21 'Til I Die
Blame It On Love
Who Said Rock'n Roll Is Dead

For the last couple of years, I've been listening a lot of KISSIN' DYNAMITE, and they were one of the main reasons for me to attend the festival, especially since I had never seen them live. Many people who had seen them said that they'd be good and that I would be impressed. Were they right? Hell yeah!

I've seen a lot of bands, but this gig from Kissin' Dynamite rates as one of the best ones I've ever seen. The band are simply masters of their craft, they really know how to entertain and have so many great songs. Not all the songs in the setlist were among my favourites, but somehow they all worked live. Take "DNA" for example, a song that initially got on my nerves on the album, but damn it, in a live setting it turned into an irresistable sing-along track that got the crowd jumping. And that's guite a feat, as most of the crowd weren't youngsters anymore!

Vocalist Hannes Braun had the biggest hair of the festival (on a male at least, Jamie of Violet had quite a 'do too). It made him look a bit like Bonnie Tyler's younger brother, but he oozed charisma and was indeed a Rock Star. Great singer too. The rest of the band had a bit more down-to-earth stage presence, but they weren't overshadowed by their frontman either.

It's hard to say which were the highlights of the set as it was fireworks from the start to the finish, but "My Monster" and "You're Not Alone" both gave me goosebumps. The only thing that disappointed me was the fact that "Queen Of The Night" was in the setlist on stage, but for some reason it wasn't played. Still, I think that we might have to travel to see the band on one of their own gigs in Germany, because they definitely left me hungry for more.

SETLIST:
Back With A Bang
DNA
No One Dies A Virgin
I've Got The Fire
My Monster
I Will Be King
The Devil Is A Woman
Only The Dead
Six Feet Under
Not The End Of The Road
You're Not Alone
Raise Your Glass

Special thanks to the organizers of this event, it was a pleasure to attend. I've marked the dates of 2026 to my calendar already!

Review and photos by Kimmo Toivonen

More photos: RockUnited.Com @ Facebook