Tonight is all about demonstrating longevity, and that includes the punters. As my companion and I enter the venue, it feels like the average age of the room might have just dropped by a few years, and bear in mind we’re both in our mid-fifties, so we are used to the reverse being the norm.
Judging from the age of some of the tour shirts in the room tonight, some of those were bought at gigs before I had even discovered Heavy Metal, and that’s a long time ago. But that’s nothing compared to who is actually performing on this stage. With a combined age of 157, the two frontmen delivering tonight could be forgiven for dropping the ball or playing under par, but this evening is a double celebration of 40th Anniversary release dates for two iconic albums from two legendary bands. It’s also the last night of the tour, and even for a Sunday this sold-out show crowd is absolutely up for it.
With both bands playing full sets, the venue has mistimed getting the audience in, as no-one wants to miss anything, and sadly Dirkschneider (7) are already most of the way through opening track of that magnum opus Balls To The Wall by the time I get through the joy of press lists and security. The room, however, is fairly rammed already, and the crowd know this album back to front, so the atmosphere is fair to fizzling.
It’s been a long time since Herr Dirkschneider was truly the front man of Accept on a continuous basis (OK, he’s come back a few times for reunions, but it’s not stuck and not happened for a while). His various solo efforts have produced way more original material and too many live albums to count than his period in Accept did, but for all that time people still show up because he was there for this the definitive Accept album, which we get in full tonight. This incarnation of his band seems to exist for no other reason than a legacy celebration, as no material from U.D.O. makes the set list, but let’s be honest, it’s not what the audience want to see.
I suspect the combined age of the rest of the band is less than that of the frontman (and one of them is a member of his family), and their energy and vigour balances Udo’s physical challenges on stage. Vocally however Udo is not as strong as he used to be. That vocal style is hard on the body, and he’s been pulling his punches live for a while judging by some of the recent live releases I’ve heard. It’s noticeable that other members of the band are actually delivering the distinctive style of vocal lines with more slightly more efficacy, but it’s only hard-nosed hacks like me that really notice and with Fast As A Shark closing the set as the only non-Balls track, the audience are nicely warmed up. As indeed is the building, which is hot as hell at this point…
Saxon (10) could be forgiven for just going through the motions, but they’ve earned the nickname of The Mighty Saxon by defying expectations and consistently delivering the goods for a very, very long time. I was conscious that frontman Biff Byford is recovering from cancer, and might not be up to full power yet, but he was bang on the money tonight. The band (no spring chickens either these days) have an energy and vigour to match and from the moment they hit the stage they have the crowd.
I’m often critical of older bands who crank the handle releasing frankly lacklustre new records just to have a reason to keep touring, but who deliver a set that’s 95% retro with minimal new material, but Saxon are not usually guilty of that in two ways. Firstly, their albums have been consistently good of late, particularly since Producer / touring Judas Priest guitarist Andy Sneap came into the frame. He’s notoriously pushy in the studio, gently but firmly encouraging incrementally better takes and arrangement tweaks to achieve consistently strong results, which means they’ve hit the road with a healthy batch of quality songs to choose from every time of late. Secondly, when they do tour, the set list balances well across the years and doesn’t lean too heavily on the glory days - unless perhaps they’re playing mid-table on a festival slot that just wants to hear the anthems.
They do turn down the newer material a little tonight however, although we do get a couple of cuts from last year’s self-titled release since that tour got delayed, and for once the set list is littered with classics and that’s before we get to the half way point and Wheels Of Steel is delivered in its entirety, but then 40 years is one hell of anniversary. To be honest at this stage in their career they could get away with a much more lacklustre performance, but there is a lot of wallop here tonight. The addition of Brian Tatler permanently to the line up after Paul Quinn stepped back has well and truly cemented in, and the wiry Tatler is a lot livelier on stage anyway. He’s a good fit for the band all round and has helped inject some vibrancy back into a band that used to rely on the frontman to do a lot of the physicality.
Saxon haven’t put much in the way of theatrics into their shows the last few times I’ve seen them, but a dynamic screen backdrop has been opted for this time out, perhaps out of concerns that Biff has been ill, but frankly this is a band that does not need such antics, although it’s a nice bonus and doesn’t detract from the performance. Biff is perhaps not quite as physical on stage, but to be honest everyone is glad that he is there at all, under the circumstances. The crucial part, his voice, is pitch perfect, powerful as ever and always the consummate front man, he has the audience with him every step of the way.
It's a generous set list too, with no less than twenty-one songs, another five classics being heaped on after Wheels is run through and over two hours of run time, which on a Sunday night is going to please the venue staff hoping for an early end to their shift no end. What they do leave behind is a very pleased audience, who appear to have drunk the bar dry. Not bad for a bunch of old farts. The audience that is, not the bands….
I suspect the combined age of the rest of the band is less than that of the frontman (and one of them is a member of his family), and their energy and vigour balances Udo’s physical challenges on stage. Vocally however Udo is not as strong as he used to be. That vocal style is hard on the body, and he’s been pulling his punches live for a while judging by some of the recent live releases I’ve heard. It’s noticeable that other members of the band are actually delivering the distinctive style of vocal lines with more slightly more efficacy, but it’s only hard-nosed hacks like me that really notice and with Fast As A Shark closing the set as the only non-Balls track, the audience are nicely warmed up. As indeed is the building, which is hot as hell at this point…
Saxon (10) could be forgiven for just going through the motions, but they’ve earned the nickname of The Mighty Saxon by defying expectations and consistently delivering the goods for a very, very long time. I was conscious that frontman Biff Byford is recovering from cancer, and might not be up to full power yet, but he was bang on the money tonight. The band (no spring chickens either these days) have an energy and vigour to match and from the moment they hit the stage they have the crowd.
I’m often critical of older bands who crank the handle releasing frankly lacklustre new records just to have a reason to keep touring, but who deliver a set that’s 95% retro with minimal new material, but Saxon are not usually guilty of that in two ways. Firstly, their albums have been consistently good of late, particularly since Producer / touring Judas Priest guitarist Andy Sneap came into the frame. He’s notoriously pushy in the studio, gently but firmly encouraging incrementally better takes and arrangement tweaks to achieve consistently strong results, which means they’ve hit the road with a healthy batch of quality songs to choose from every time of late. Secondly, when they do tour, the set list balances well across the years and doesn’t lean too heavily on the glory days - unless perhaps they’re playing mid-table on a festival slot that just wants to hear the anthems.
They do turn down the newer material a little tonight however, although we do get a couple of cuts from last year’s self-titled release since that tour got delayed, and for once the set list is littered with classics and that’s before we get to the half way point and Wheels Of Steel is delivered in its entirety, but then 40 years is one hell of anniversary. To be honest at this stage in their career they could get away with a much more lacklustre performance, but there is a lot of wallop here tonight. The addition of Brian Tatler permanently to the line up after Paul Quinn stepped back has well and truly cemented in, and the wiry Tatler is a lot livelier on stage anyway. He’s a good fit for the band all round and has helped inject some vibrancy back into a band that used to rely on the frontman to do a lot of the physicality.
Saxon haven’t put much in the way of theatrics into their shows the last few times I’ve seen them, but a dynamic screen backdrop has been opted for this time out, perhaps out of concerns that Biff has been ill, but frankly this is a band that does not need such antics, although it’s a nice bonus and doesn’t detract from the performance. Biff is perhaps not quite as physical on stage, but to be honest everyone is glad that he is there at all, under the circumstances. The crucial part, his voice, is pitch perfect, powerful as ever and always the consummate front man, he has the audience with him every step of the way.
It's a generous set list too, with no less than twenty-one songs, another five classics being heaped on after Wheels is run through and over two hours of run time, which on a Sunday night is going to please the venue staff hoping for an early end to their shift no end. What they do leave behind is a very pleased audience, who appear to have drunk the bar dry. Not bad for a bunch of old farts. The audience that is, not the bands….
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