As Twisted Sister was once again headlining a night at Sweden Rock Festival, and this year also marked the 25th anniversary of their classic Stay Hungry album, we could expect something quite special.

To be honest, I had not been very taken with their reunion-show in 2003 here at Sweden Rock Festival, so I was a bit cautious with what I should expect from the concert, but my worst fears were put to shame as Dee Snider and the rest of the band had actually put together quite a capable show for us.

As I mentioned, this was the 25th anniversary of Stay Hungry, and to commemorate this Twisted Sister joined in the now familiar wave of bands who play entire albums through and through in their live shows. At least two others did so just as this festival; Uriah Heep with Wake The Sleeper and Forbidden with Twisted Into Form.
This seemed to sit very well with the audience, as this is the album which holds the bands probably biggest hits with I Wanna Rock and We’re Not Gonna Take It, and it was very clear to see that the band themselves were both happy and proud to perform it. Snider, Jay Jay French, Eddie ‘Fingers’ Ojeda, Mark ‘The Animal’ Mendoza and Anthony Jude ‘A.J.’ Pero all gave a lively and engaging show, which sadly fell to the floor because the sound was not there to back it up. It wasn’t bad, it was just set much, much too low to help make the impact the band was going for.

Still, the crowd helped out in a large way as Twisted Sister started out with the title track Stay Hungry, and then quickly moved over to We’re Not Gonna Take It. Here the shouts were not loud enough according to Dee Snider, who therefore decided to redo the entire ending of the song so that the onlookers could really give it all they had in them.
After this it was over to Burn In Hell, where the lightshow fittingly turned completely red and orange, and the song also had the concerts largest pyro show going. Then the twin songs of Horror-Teria: The Beginning was pointed out as the inspiration for Dee Snider’s 1998 film Strangeland, which stars Snider himself as the psychopathic sadist Captain Howdy.
I could go on, but I guess most of you readers already know what songs are on this album, and what they are all about; so I will end this part in the same way as Twisted Sister did with dedicating the song S.M.F. to all their fans, and then leave the stage.

This could easily have been the end of it, but Twisted Sister wanted to give us more and came out again, and this time they brought friends. Together with Ian ‘Lemmy’ Kilmister and Phil Campbell of Motörhead they performed the Twisted Sister version of Rolling Stones’ It’s Only Rock ’N’ Roll (But I Like It); a version which has been noted to bring Mick Jagger to say he would vomit if he continued listening to it. Snider also took the time to thank Motörhead for being the only ones who believed in Twisted Sister in the beginning and giving them a break to get started.
Some more songs were played and for the finale with the song You Can’t Stop Rock ‘N’ Roll and another display of fireworks with flames shooting out of their logo in the background, Twisted Sister left the stage once more, this time only to return for an extended thanks and a bow.

And so the Thursday night of Sweden Rock Festival came to an end…

Setlist:

Stay Hungry
We’re Not Gonna Take It
Burn In Hell
Horror-Teria: The Beginning
    * Captain Howdy
    * Street Justice
I Wanna Rock
The Price
Don’t Let Me Down
The Beast
S.M.F.
It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll (But I Like It) (Rolling Stones cover)
Come Out And Play
Under The Blade
You Can’t Stop Rock ‘N’ Roll