It is not often raw and dirty metal is invited into the beautiful fairytale land of Tivoli, not even during the summer concert-evenings collectively known as Fredagsrock (Friday Rock), but when it is done, it is apparently done in style.

One of Denmark’s pride and joys on the field, the old melodic heavy metal band Pretty Maids had the honour of opening the 2011 season of the concerts, and the hot night in late April was perfect for it.
Earlier in the evening, the beginner band L.A. Prostitutes had provided some background music while people got their thirst quenched by beer, and now the ten-something-thousand of people gathered on the grassy field in front of the stage were ready for some action, and action they were to get…
Pretty Maids kicked the show of with the rather dark title track of their latest album, Pandemonium, an album which they would return to more times this evening, without taking space from the old classics like Back To Back and ending rocker Red, Hot And Heavy.
A total of fourteen songs were run through, and Pretty Maids kept the show very dynamic by constantly changing between the harder songs and a large selection of ballads; and then Ronnie Atkins threw a good deal of audience sing-along’s in there as well for good measure. This was a sure win for the band, no doubt about it.

I know I was not overly impressed with the bands efforts at last years’ Sweden Rock Festival, but any fear I might have had lingering from that show was quickly put to shame; the band was on fire this night, and they had the perfect audience giving them all the credit they so rightly deserved.
Pretty Maids was also working better as a unit this time around, and it was easy to see how much fun they all had playing together, while at the same time rocking the socks of the otherwise so nice and sweet surroundings of the fun park.
The fact that it was a fun park, open-air and in the middle of central Copenhagen, sadly also provided the one main drawback of the show; the sound. Although well-mixed and sounding great, it was never allowed to go beyond a certain decibel level, and as the seasoned concert and festival goer I believe I can call myself at this point, the lack of power was a bit annoying.
Still, this was a minor flaw in the larger scheme of things though, and couldn’t bug enough to lose sight of the truly entertaining show that this was.
From now on, I will surely look forward to coming Pretty Maids concerts with a larger anticipation than what has been the case so far.

Setlist:

Pandemonium
I.N.V.U.
Hell On High Heels
Walk Away
Clay
Breathless
Back To Back
Sin-Decade
Rodeo
Please Don’t Leave Me (John Sykes cover)
Love Games
Future World
Little Drops Of Heaven
Red, Hot And Heavy