Ronnie Atkins, lead singer in the Danish melodic metal band Pretty Maids and guest singer in Avantasia was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer a couple of years ago. I think most of his fans thought it was over with music from him and the band after this shocking news but Ronnie fought hard and has since then released three solo albums.
One Shot, Make It Count and Trinity are all solid albums with thoughtful lyrics and reflections of Ronnie‘s state of mind during those years. All three are great melodic hard rock/ metal albums and sometimes close to what Pretty Maids have done but also a bit different in some ways. Listen and see for yourself.
Ronnie was playing in my hometown of Helsingborg in Sweden at the cool rock club The Tivoli and I was a bit worried about how many people would turn up. The same evening Hardcore Superstar (Sweden) were playing in the same town just five minutes away and at the same time so I thought most rockers would see them but there were a lot of people who wanted to see Ronnie Atkins and his band as well this evening.
The band went on stage and it is a great band which includes Chris Laney on guitar and keys (great producer and songwriter, At The Movies), Alan Sörensen on drums (ex-Pretty Maids), Pontus Egberg on bass (ex-Treat, King Diamond, The Poodles) and Marcus Sunesson on lead guitar (Cyhra and Engel).
Ronnie‘s voice was great this evening and he gave it all. The setlist included both solo stuff and Pretty Maids songs. The most surprising song was “Say the Word” from the Pretty Maids album Stripped. Ronnie said this was the first time ever it was played live.
The new songs from the album Trinity sounded great and I think it is his best solo album yet.
This was the premiere show on this little tour and it worked effortlessly and if there were any glitches we could not notice them in the audience as they all seemed very happy on stage. The drummer Alan is a monster behind the kit and beats really hard on the drums and the background vocals from Chris and Pontus are great and help Ronnie a lot. The new guitarist Marcus was also a very nice surprise as I had never seen him before. Doing all the solos perfectly.
Seeing Ronnie enjoying his time up on stage is very uplifting when you think about his fight with cancer. It must give strength to others who are battling the disease and give them hope and dream that they can make it if they want. He even has a great song about this named “If You Can Dream It, You Can Make It” and it is a really great song.
He sang the song “Soul Devine” for his grandchildren and it was heartfelt and honest. Other great solo songs were “Unsung Heroes“, “Paper Tiger“, “Trinity” and “Make it Count“. We got some great Pretty Maids songs too in “Rodeo“, “A Place in The Night“, “We Came To Rock“, “Future World“, “Back To Back” and the last song was “Little Drops Of Heaven” which got the loudest singing from the audience.
This was a really great evening and a great band on stage and I think everyone left the place with a happy face. Please come back again and I hope we will see Ronnie Atkins around for a long time to come.
Next summer there are already some Pretty Maids comeback shows announced. I hope to see them at Time To Rock Festival in July 2024.
Setlist
Intro
Rising Tide
I Prophesize
If You Can Dream It
Rodeo (Pretty Maids)
Unsung Heroes
Paper Tiger
Soul Devine
A Place in The Night (Pretty Maids)
Via Dolorosa
Godless
Say The Word (Pretty Maids)
Real
Trinity
We Came To Rock (Pretty Maids)
Encore
Future World (Pretty Maids)
Back To Back (Pretty Maids)
Make It Count
Little Drops Of Heaven (Pretty Maids)
Rating 8/10
**Photos by MetalMike71 unless otherwise noted
Read my other CGCM blogs and reviews: MetalMike71
