Just a few days on from Poets and I re-assembled at the Brixton version of the Academy clan to bare witness to those pesky Swedes, Sabaton once again. It's basically like an annual pilgrimage going to see the Saba boys. I am not sure how many times I've seen them but it's probably around 7-8 since I first saw them in the Purple Turtle in front of 150 all those years back. This time there was the added draw of legends Accept and new comer adventure metallers Twilight Force.
Sadly even though I got in the venue not much after the allotted 7 o'clock door time, Twilight Force were already well into their set and were in fact playing their last song, their namesake Twilight Force. A sorry state of affairs indeed and I am not sure how they started so early.
Anyway I have seen those guys before and hopefully I'll see them again if they play a headline slot here soon.
Next up were legends Accept. The guitar sound was immediately much thicker and better than the one song I heard for TF. The band is a well oiled machine these days. I think it's safe to say that they sound better on the Tornillo era songs than they do doing the classic era. I recently saw UDO performing his final Accept song shows and it was so much better than how Tornillo sounded to me. The metal heart was stronger and the whole vibe sounded cooler though maybe that's just me. Accept were god even great if you like but I was here for my dose of the Swedish war machine and I wanted to hear some new tunes!
The all important setlist has thankfully been changed since the last time. They still open with Ghost Division which is getting very old now but I guess it's a just great rabble rouser of a song and they wanna stick with it. However of course on this tour we would be getting many new songs from The Last Stand.
The band sounded as good as ever and new guitarist Tommy from Reinxeed fits in like a glove. In fact he makes the band sound a bit more musical and I hope they let him contribute to the song writing next time round as the guy is a great writer of power metal tunes in his own right. The night flew by in a flash as we were treated to many cool tunes and a couple of surprises even.
My fave tunes were Blood of Bannockburn, Carolus Rex with it's mighty chorus, Winged Hussars which sounded amazing live, the acoustic version of The Final Solution which was one of the surprises I was talking about, Night Witches and the almost unknown little played Union from a few albums back.
The encore started with the set staple Primo Victoria which will probably be played from now until the last ever Sabaton show, the magically catchy and fun tune Shroyama and the flute laden and extremely catchy To Hell and Back.
And so the night was over and everyone is left with smiles and horns as they leave having played their biggest ever show in the UK to probably close to 2000 people although the venue was not sold out as I was expecting. Sabaton is a band that seemingly unites the metal community here in the UK at least. Even those hardcore black metal guys can smile and wave a fist at a Sabaton gig..well for a minute or two at least!
Intro..In the Army Now
The March To War
Ghost Division
Sparta
Blood of Bannockburn
Swedish Pagans
Carolus Rex
The Last Stand
Far From The Fame
Winged Hussars
The Final Solution (acoustic)
Resist and Bite
Night Witches
The Lion from The North
The Lost Battalion
Union (Slopes of St. Benedict)
Encore:
Primo Victoria
Shiroyama
To Hell and Back
Showing posts with label Accept. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Accept. Show all posts
Saturday, 21 January 2017
Tuesday, 26 April 2016
UDO - Live at the Islington Academy
A special night at O2 Academy in Islington with the grand daddy of German metal Herr Dirkschneider playing Accept songs for the final time. Now I must admit I am no huge Accept fan but I was so impressed with the normal Udo gig last year that I gave his the time of day again. Thankfully, so did 400 and more punters as well!
The first support band was called Icon and they are a local band. They play heavy British sounding modern metal. Not really my cuppa. They were bloody heavy though.
Next up were Anvil. To be honest I'm not actually a fan although I've seen them before. Oddly enough they were actually rather good. Lips sounded ok for someone who can't really sing and the band sounded tight. Their songs are just not that interesting to me but they played excellently and got a great response from the crowd.
Soon it was the turn of the German metal warrior Udo and his band of merry men to t metal machine for one last time. Udo looks a bit more rotund and older than last year but he still has the perfect snarl for the classic Accept material. I don't even know all the Accept tunes but every single song had a great riff pretty much and the crowd was loving every second of it.
A very enjoyable night to reminisce over old tunes from the teutonic legends for one last time.
The first support band was called Icon and they are a local band. They play heavy British sounding modern metal. Not really my cuppa. They were bloody heavy though.
Next up were Anvil. To be honest I'm not actually a fan although I've seen them before. Oddly enough they were actually rather good. Lips sounded ok for someone who can't really sing and the band sounded tight. Their songs are just not that interesting to me but they played excellently and got a great response from the crowd.
Soon it was the turn of the German metal warrior Udo and his band of merry men to t metal machine for one last time. Udo looks a bit more rotund and older than last year but he still has the perfect snarl for the classic Accept material. I don't even know all the Accept tunes but every single song had a great riff pretty much and the crowd was loving every second of it.
A very enjoyable night to reminisce over old tunes from the teutonic legends for one last time.
Friday, 18 March 2011
Accept and Wolf Live Report
Can't count myself as a fully fledged member of the Accept fan club but since the comeback album was so immense, I had to venture out to this gig in case the earth shook and boy did it shake! This gig clashed with Turisas down the road so there was competition alright as far attendance goes, however the Accept guys are a big enough draw in their own right now and the Garage was pretty solidly full with I'd guess around 500 or so metal hearted warriors.
First up were killer old school heavy metal heroes, Wolf. Been loving these guys since the first album and the new one is not too far away either. Seen them live before and they were pretty cool. These guys love galloping away in Maidensque fashion and then some of course and that they did for the duration of their 45 minute set. They played songs from their latest albums in the main plus a couple of older songs. The sound was clear enough for a support band although the vocals sometimes got lost. I think they went down well with the older Accept crowd and made for a great pairing. As the singer quipped from stage, "We even named our band after the guitarist in Accept!" which raised a few horns of course. I enjoyed Wolf's set a lot and it was fun to nod along to the cool riffs and gallops.
After they left the roadies got the stage ready for Accept and after a fairly long wait of around half an hour the lights went down and it was time for the old German warhorse to lay waste and what wasting! The sound was absolutely huge and yet crystal clear. It sounded 10 times louder than Wolf and much crisper and I thought the Wolf sound was actually good. This sound completely dwarfed that!
They started the set with new songs off of Blood of the Nations and boy did they rock like a beast. The band looks ultra lean and mean these days and in Tornillo they have a front man who I can stomach much more than Udo to be honest. I have mainly been unable to get into Accept as a band due to Udo's unique and nauseating snarls, but this Tornillo character I find much more palatable. Granted he's not a million miles away from Udo in gruffness but his voice just doesn't grate as much as Herr Dirkschneider does.
Anyway the band was in shit hot form all night. Crisp, groove-some riffs, mean and moody headbanging stares from Wolf and taut angular bass thumping from the bass dude. The bass sound was very tight and high in the mix and almost crunchy. There was a great guitar and bass duel in one of the songs, I forget which and it was very cool to witness that. The new songs sounded immense live as if they didn't already on plastic.
Accept had the crowd eating out of their hands basically and whilst some say this isn't really Accept without Udo, I don't really share that view since the real Accept never meant that much to me in the first place. The more familiar songs such as Breaker, Restless and Wild and the immensely catchy Metal Heart near enough blew the roof of the Relentless Garage. The band just sounds like a tight, well oiled machine with not a note out of place. Son of a Bitch with it's stupid lyrics had everyone singing along with venom and was hellishly fun. Princess of the Dawn was the melodic highlight of the set.
At the main set's end the crowd chanted vociferously for an encore of course and they weren't disappointed. Three of the band's biggest anthems and songs which I suppose are synonymous with the Accept live gig were played, ultimately ending with their most well known song which I actually have never really been a fan of hehe. But heck it was miles better live than it is on record. I still wouldn't call myself an Accept fan but I must admit that they really deserve all the praise coming their way with this comeback. Udo fucked up!
First up were killer old school heavy metal heroes, Wolf. Been loving these guys since the first album and the new one is not too far away either. Seen them live before and they were pretty cool. These guys love galloping away in Maidensque fashion and then some of course and that they did for the duration of their 45 minute set. They played songs from their latest albums in the main plus a couple of older songs. The sound was clear enough for a support band although the vocals sometimes got lost. I think they went down well with the older Accept crowd and made for a great pairing. As the singer quipped from stage, "We even named our band after the guitarist in Accept!" which raised a few horns of course. I enjoyed Wolf's set a lot and it was fun to nod along to the cool riffs and gallops.
After they left the roadies got the stage ready for Accept and after a fairly long wait of around half an hour the lights went down and it was time for the old German warhorse to lay waste and what wasting! The sound was absolutely huge and yet crystal clear. It sounded 10 times louder than Wolf and much crisper and I thought the Wolf sound was actually good. This sound completely dwarfed that!
They started the set with new songs off of Blood of the Nations and boy did they rock like a beast. The band looks ultra lean and mean these days and in Tornillo they have a front man who I can stomach much more than Udo to be honest. I have mainly been unable to get into Accept as a band due to Udo's unique and nauseating snarls, but this Tornillo character I find much more palatable. Granted he's not a million miles away from Udo in gruffness but his voice just doesn't grate as much as Herr Dirkschneider does.
Anyway the band was in shit hot form all night. Crisp, groove-some riffs, mean and moody headbanging stares from Wolf and taut angular bass thumping from the bass dude. The bass sound was very tight and high in the mix and almost crunchy. There was a great guitar and bass duel in one of the songs, I forget which and it was very cool to witness that. The new songs sounded immense live as if they didn't already on plastic.
Accept had the crowd eating out of their hands basically and whilst some say this isn't really Accept without Udo, I don't really share that view since the real Accept never meant that much to me in the first place. The more familiar songs such as Breaker, Restless and Wild and the immensely catchy Metal Heart near enough blew the roof of the Relentless Garage. The band just sounds like a tight, well oiled machine with not a note out of place. Son of a Bitch with it's stupid lyrics had everyone singing along with venom and was hellishly fun. Princess of the Dawn was the melodic highlight of the set.
At the main set's end the crowd chanted vociferously for an encore of course and they weren't disappointed. Three of the band's biggest anthems and songs which I suppose are synonymous with the Accept live gig were played, ultimately ending with their most well known song which I actually have never really been a fan of hehe. But heck it was miles better live than it is on record. I still wouldn't call myself an Accept fan but I must admit that they really deserve all the praise coming their way with this comeback. Udo fucked up!
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Encore:
-
-
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)