TED NUGENT – Sweden Rocks

Just when you thought he might be slowing down a bit, “The Nuge” decides to travel to Sweden of all places to showcase his animal magnetism and his “Motor City Madman” mystique onstage with his Gibson Byrdland. Hailing from Michigan and Texas (his second home), he is one of the true Detroit Rockers left that can still bring it with the best of ‘em as Sweden witnessed first hand on June 10, 2006 at the Sweden Rock Festival. He simply put on a blazing performance with an exceptional ensemble of musicians: none other than Mick Brown (Dokken) and Barry Sparks (Michael Schenker Group, Dokken, and Ted Nugent).

It is mind boggling how at 59 years of age this guy has more energy than most people half his age and can run circles around most individuals. Not only does “Nuge” tour and record new music from time to time, he also has time for some of his favorite personal hobbies. He authors several newspapers and magazines, is an avid outdoorsman and hunter, is a political activist and controversial spokesman on many topics including the Constitution, and will debate anyone on just about any topic. He has the balls to say what is on his mind without fear of being politically correct. God bless him! It must be all that clean living he has talked about all these years or that fresh game he loves to hunt and eat — yeah that’s right, no booze or drugs ever.

The newly released Sweden Rocks CD will be followed up with a DVD (June 10, 2008) of the same concert. Diehard Ted Nugent fans will probably want to purchase both of these. The show doesn’t disappoint either with many of Ted’s earlier classics played with conviction. Among some of his fan-fav’s you will find “Stormtroopin’,” “Snakeskin Cowboys,” “Free For All,” “Hey Baby,” “Dog Eat Dog,” “Stranglehold,” not to mention two of the all time best tunes “Wang Dang Sweet Poontang,” and “Cat Scratch Fever.” After all it was these songs that made Ted Nugent an everyday name back in the time and earned him a shitload of cash that he desperately needed to keep his ex-wives, girlfriends, mistresses, etc. all happy. He could have blown it on drugs and booze, but got something much better in the long run if you think about it – TONS OF POON!

Not to be forgetful of some other classics, Ted decides to include “Wango Tango” in the line-up and “Great White Buffalo” as an encore. Two newer tunes “Raw Dogs & Wart Hogs” from his 2002 album Craveman and a brand new “Still Raising Hell” complement the classics. There are two special treats thrown in that are quite unexpected to say the least. Nugent does a remake of Sam & Dave’s famous “Soul Man,” which the Blues Brothers made even more famous. After all, “The Nuge” is from Detroit, which everyone knows is the home of Motown. The highlight is Ted performing a brilliant rendition of Jimi Hendrix’s “Red House” right after “Wang Dang Sweet Poontang,” although he does a shortened version. Even Jimi had to take notice while Ted was going to town on that one.

All in all this CD is another Ted Nugent classic. If you are a fan in the slightest, you will eventually want this CD added to your collection. Furthermore, you will most likely follow it up with the DVD when it comes out. This is about as good as it gets when you talk about bottom line, no pulled punches, good ole’ fashioned Rock ‘n Roll. “The Nuge” has been doing it for a long time and is still holding his own. As a matter of fact, this summer marks the 50th anniversary of Ted Nugent performing in Detroit since the 4th of July event will mark his 6000th concert performance. Not too many bands can claim fame to that, now, can they!