Some bands make great studio records, full of polish and Pro-tools-enhanced excitement, but then crumble when it comes to the stage. Other bands, like H.E.A.T dispense with the polish, leaving the excitement, the melodies and the energy all fully intact – something fully in evidence with Live at Sweden Rock Festival, a ferocious record of the band touring 2017’s excellent into the great unknown.
Opening with bastard of society, a track that essentially stands as the band’s theme tune with its woah woah woah intro and hook-ridden riffs, H.E.A.T are taking no chances in front of the rampant, festival crowd, hitting them squarely between the eyes with a sugar-coated chorus of gargantuan proportions. As if to prove that the opening track is no fluke, the band slam into late night lady, the greatest track Def Leppard never wrote, Erik Gronwall working the audience as if he’s been doing it all his life, the band providing the sonic firepower that backs him with deceptive ease. Crunchy riffing is the order of the day on Mannequin show, a track that, with its borderline ridiculous synths, recalls classic Europe, the band once again dragging the audience into a singalong that runs from the front of the field to the back. Slowing the pace, the band deliver a cracking power ballad in the form of redefined, a track based around the rumbling percussion of Crash and the rippling keys of Jona Tee. A perfect moment in the set to take the foot off the gas for a moment, redefined is the sort of track that would have eaten MTV alive back in the day, and it clearly fires up the crowd. As good as redefined is, it’s soon eclipsed by a blistering take on heartbreaker, a track custom built for an audience of this size. It may repeat the tricks of bastard of society, but it does so with such wide-eyed joy that you’d have to be truly mired in misery not to be caught up in it all. The brilliantly-titled shit city offers up a hard take on blues, the band clearly revelling in the slightly darker, harder sound they unleash, setting the field on fire in the process. It’s an album highlight and a brilliant song rendered even better by the electrifying energy flowing from the stage. The band hit a sweet AC/DC vibe on a massive rendition of Beg beg beg which segues gloriously into Janis Joplin’s piece of my heart as if it’s the most natural thing in the world.
With the audience threatening to spontaneously combust, tearing down the walls is a slow-burning beast that allows a touch of respite, as does eye of the storm, although the latter offers guitarist Dave Dalone a fantastic opportunity to show off his chops. The band up the tempo once more, however, with the chrome-plated riffing of emergency, Erik singing “I think I’m going to have myself a heart attack”, undoubtedly echoing the sentiments of a good proportion of the audience. Not that there’s any sympathy from a band, blazing away under the stage lights and, after a short pep-talk from Erik, H.E.A.T storm into inferno with unbridled enthusiasm. It’s another album highlight and shows the band firing on all cylinders. With the set flying past, there are only two songs left to go and H.E.A.T don’t plan on wasting a minute. First up we have Living on the run, a track with a strong Whitesnake influence and the perfect appetiser for epic finale a shot at redemption, a track that recalls Bon Jovi in their pomp and which brings the album to a suitably memorable close.
H.E.A.T are a band born to the stage. Their show, as evidenced on this recording, is a huge, over-the-top, riff-strewn delight that hooks the audience from the outset and then reels them in over the course of an hour. There’s no big secret to the band’s formula – huge, catchy choruses, easy vocal hooks to get the crowd singing along – rather it’s all in the joy of the execution, the band giving their all in front of an adoring audience. A real treat for fans of the band, and a pretty convincing starting point for newcomers, one listen to live at Sweden Rock festival and you’ll be buying up tickets for the band’s next show in no time. Well worth checking out. 8/10
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