Gods Of Metal in Milan – A Glam Paradise!

Arhiv Arhiv Last updated 11 June 2026

Concert date: 05.06.2007
Attendance: 2
Ticket price: 12000

Italians are a funny bunch. Well, at least to me they’ve always come across as proper characters. That goes especially for the way they get rock culture, which, hand on heart, you won’t find a match for even in the remotest corner of Kamchatka. Basically, these guys take the whole thing in a very interesting and all the more personal way. As a regular at concerts in Italy, I got used to that ages ago. Still, my heart was in no way ready for the “macaroni” version of the glam metal scene! It truly goes beyond all limits of good taste. So don’t be surprised if, next time you show up at some similar event, you’re greeted by a division of wild crossbreeds between Samantha Fox and Sly Stallone in near-Rambo mode. Living madness. The legions of Motley Crue fans made it clear from the get-go that this would be, above all, a day for lovers of the kitschy sounds of the eighties, with a few exceptions of course. Worth singling out are Velvet Revolver and Thin Lizzy, those pumped-up legends in today’s Sykes edition. Both made my working weekend a whole lot easier, and I’ll be grateful to them for a long time. Lucky for me, too, because next to the Motley Crue sets and especially the long-awaited acrobatics of the “Bundesliga boys” Scorpions, the rain that kept soaking my chilled body seemed like the least of my problems.

Planet Hard 11.00 – 11.15

The first day of this year’s Gods Of Metal was opened more than decently by local hard rock warriors Planet Hard. The guys build their sound on a traditional twin-guitar approach, which, as the end of the day proved, served as a gorgeous overture to everything that happened on stage on this wet Milanese Saturday. Their set overflowed with classic rock vibes, and with that Steve Perry-style vocal approach, the audience was filled with a special feeling of contentment the whole way through (how lovely it would all turn out if the gentlemen would just change their name). From the very start the guys bravely “wrestled” with the burden of playing such big stages. Even more than that, you got the feeling they’d been doing nothing else their whole lives. For that alone, the guys deserve special praise, at least from my side. Too bad the organizers showed them the way to the dressing room after just four songs. The old boys obviously weren’t considered ready for more stage time. Anyway, Planet Hard will clearly have to wait a little longer for their chance.

Glyder 11:30 – 12:00

If there’s one thing a band at a festival doesn’t want, it’s to go on right after the energetic show of whoever played before them. That’s exactly what happened to Glyder. They’re a really fun Irish band who shamelessly draw their inspiration from the musical legacy of the seventies. All well and good, if only our drinking brothers didn’t cross it so often with modern approaches in the style of HIM and similar circus acts. Glyder obviously try to keep up with the times, which their old-school training simply won’t allow. Unfortunately, their message gets lost far too often in the headless hopping from those “ancient” motifs of the distant past to more modern ideas, which creates no small amount of confusion in the band’s overall musical identity. Even the nicely executed and generously extended guitar duels turn out totally impotent in Glyder’s case, forever strolling between the Thin Lizzy and, at moments, even Iron Maiden legacies. A really weird combo…

Eldritch 12:30 – 13:00

Next on the list of those in charge of warming up the cold Saturday afternoon were the metallers Eldritch (another rather suspicious name). The Italian band is no snot-nosed kid, but a collective kicking around since 1995, and this year they put out their eighth album, called Blackenday(?). The numerous Milanese crowd was clearly well acquainted with their work too, and in scenes of biblical chaos it filled the space in front of the stage in the blink of an eye. Eldritch quickly got down to the point, which little old me sadly missed. I haven’t heard a vocalist that awful in a long time (only the unforgettable Klaus Meine topped him, but more on that later). Still, I was clearly in the minority, since the crowd kept singing along tirelessly to every tune. The famous Eldritch showed similar enthusiasm, especially frontman Terence Holler, who certainly didn’t hold back on energy. Not that it helps him much, since he spent most of it on completely expressionless, boring screaming. The old Italian heroes dedicated most of their set to promoting their new project, which is understandable given such a rich repertoire. And that’s about all that seemed logical about Eldritch.

Tigertailz 13.30 – 14.15

The moment for all lovers of true island glam arrived with the Welsh tomcats Tigertailz. The band, just about to release their fifth album Bezerk 2.0., thoroughly shook up the proud owners of purple teased hairdos with a nicely rounded bouquet of old hits like Call Of The Wild, Dirty Needles and Love Bomb Baby. Old tomcat Kim Hooker still relies on his version of the Mark Bolan approach after all these years, and it suits him perfectly. I’ve personally never been all that thrilled by this sort of makeup-heavy stuff, but you have to give Tigertailz credit for completely nailing the image a band is supposed to project on a big stage. A routine yet very energetic show, full of funny musical interludes and the usual singalong choruses, pulled everyone present along with it. Tigertailz are simply masters of their trade, no doubt about it.

White Lion 14:45 – 15:40

The glam paradise tipped into its second half with the appearance of the American bouncers White Lion. Of all the bands listed so far, these guys left by far the best impression. In my nastiness, I could even say the little lions picked up decisively where Tigertailz “crapped out”. Their show was also relaxed and totally routine in mood, loaded with a strong bond between the crowd and our New York zoologists. White Lion sawed their way through an ear-catching minestrone of their biggest hits, which of course included some romantic numbers for a possible slow-dance clinch (Broken Heart represented that one with dignity). Considering I was in Milan completely on my own, one of those would have come in real handy in the increasingly unfriendly weather. The best of the lot were the opening Hungry, the fun Radar Love by the legendary Golden Earing, and above all the excellently performed Lady Of The Valley, during which even I caught the jumping fever. Fun stuff, no question…

Thin Lizzy 16:05 – 17:00

Thin Lizzy have always been one of my favorite rock bands. Those legendary Irish working-class warriors, riding on the wings of the unforgettable Phil Lynott, delivered plenty of unforgettable moments. Sadly, with Lynott’s death in 1986 the story of this great band came to an end too. Today’s offshoot simply can’t be linked to the Lizzy glory of the past, no matter how hard Sykes and Gorham try. That said, it has to be clearly stated that both gentlemen, together with their old colleagues Marco Mendoza and Tommy Aldridge, shocked with a dose of adrenaline that was, at least for me, completely unexpected. From the opening, characteristically sharp chord of Jailbreak onward, this Sykes-led Thin Lizzy crew came across as incredibly committed, as if after all those years of making music they still had plenty left to say. Still, you have to understand that this Lizzy reincarnation serves mainly as an occasion for nostalgic trips down memory lane. Any other reading of events would be blasphemy of the worst kind. Sykes and company are of course aware of that too, and they gave it their all at Saturday’s show. An excellent set, held back from the top mark only by Sykes’s overly Lynott-ish vocals. They also did surprisingly well in the eyes of the crowd, who happily sang along to the classics Rosalie, Don’t Believe A Word, Cowboy Song and of course The Boys Are Back In Town.

Scorpions 17:35 – 19:00

By this point the weather had gotten drastically worse. Especially during the set by the German heartbreakers Scorpions, it looked like a cloud had burst right over our heads. So for a long time after their show I comforted myself with the thought that I was simply too soaked and cranky to be writing such an unkind critique of the “scorpions”. But that wasn’t it. Scorpions, who are currently busy promoting their latest release Humanity Hour 1, shaped their set accordingly. A heap of new songs stood up to defend themselves against classics like Big City Nights, Rock Me Like A Hurricane, Still Lovin You and so on, which is not a problem at all. What the gentlemen tried to sell us really doesn’t deserve the slightest bit of praise! Above all, I have to point out Klaus’s dreadful vocals, which made every hair on your body stand on end (not to mention the hair falling out). It’s truly awful to listen to the old tunes we grew up with in such a completely unrecognizable package. By 321 the situation had become so unbearable that the gentlemen quickly decided on a short bass intermezzo, which Meine used to gather some much-needed strength. How these gentlemen, whatever status they hold in the encyclopedia of hard rock, dare to show themselves on stage in such a state remains a big question, mostly for their fans.

Velver Revolver 19:45 – 21:05

The undisputed winners of this opening GOM day were definitely Velvet Revolver. The combination of Axl’s former buddies and Veiland’s “stoner” vocals is downright scary. The Velvets have clearly outgrown the teething problems they showed at Križanke in Ljubljana. With their second album Libertad coming out soon, they’re now spitting fire from every cannon they’ve got. Their tight stage presence is a real pleasure to watch. Throughout the whole show we watched with great delight as their newest songs worked with total confidence, the most outstanding of them being the wicked She Builds Quick Machines. Besides the entirely expected old numbers, which are all the more unnecessary today, like It’s So Easy and Mr. Brownstone, Velvet Revolver this time even tackled Wish You Were Here! It was an interesting interpretation that revealed plenty of the band’s previously well-camouflaged potential. If the guys keep up the energy and determination they showed us in Milan, we can surely expect plenty of the good old thoroughly dirty rock & roll from them in the future.

Motley Crue 21:30 – 23:30

For most of those present, Motley Crue’s set was of course the highlight of the evening. I have to admit I was waiting with impatience and a pinch of caution myself for the moment when the, as we used to like to call them, “most dangerous band in the world” would appear in front of me. And finally that moment came. After five hours of standing guard in the rain, Tommy Lee appeared on stage, all the way from distant California, just for us. His characteristically sharp rhythm pattern kicked in, and the crowd immediately went into delirium. Dr. Feelgood summoned the rest of the trio, Mars, Sixx, Neil. Neil especially seems to have gotten none of the hoped-for results from the liposuction shown on VH1, since the guy is as round as the Chernobyl reactor. Back to the music, which was anything but. Look, Crue aren’t and never will be good musicians, which, to their credit, they’ve never hidden either. So the gentlemen shamelessly put all their hopes in the atmosphere of a typical “American style” show, full of assorted pyrotechnics, sassy blondes strolling around the stage and all the other junk they evidently need. Anything that can mislead the average attendee in any way was therefore more than welcome. In that spirit the entire Motley Crue “theatrical performance” went by, and the Italians received it with approval. Primal Scream, Too Fast For Love, Shout At The Devil, Kickstart My Heart and similar indispensable Crue gems put a smile on the faces of many of their faithful sheep. They didn’t impress me personally. To be honest, I didn’t even expect them to. Even though in the safe shelter of my warm home I happily put on Shout or Girls, Girls, Girls every once in a blue moon, Motley Crue live regularly leave me cold. Especially in all this rain. Awful..