Location: Velden am Wörthersee (Vrba na Koroškem), Carinthia / Bluesiana Rock Cafe / Austria
Date: Tuesday, April 25, 2017
On April 25, 2017, Mr. Blaze Bayley played the famous Carinthian temple of music known as Bluesiana Rock Cafe for the second time in his career. He’s the revered former voice of Iron Maiden, and the author of this report has been catching him live, one way or another, for twenty-two years running now. On this return visit to Bluesiana, Blaze presented his recently released album »Endure And Survive«, which is actually the second part of the announced sci-fi trilogy »Infinite Entanglement«.
Before Blaze Bayley hit the stage, the venue was warmed up by Italians Secret Rule, from Rome. The quartet, fronted by vocalist Angela Di Vicenzo and rounded out by Andy Menario (guitar), Michele Raspanti (bass) and Andrea Miazzetto (drums), couldn’t squeeze any real feedback energy out of the crowd, but these heavy metallers came across as a superbly tight, compact unit that does its job with professional routine, meaning confidently and very tightly. The only thing that bugged me was the sound: the drums were way too loud, so Angela was a bit harder to hear, and even the guitar solos, otherwise polished and razor-sharp, didn’t quite come through. The band plays classic heavy metal at hellish speed, and in true Italian style, Secret Rule also serve up a hefty dose of highly refined melody and musicality. Pomp, in other words! Solid, but no earth-shattering jolts of the »never heard before«.
The day before visiting Ljubljana, Blaze Bayley and his regular backing crew, Chris Appleton (guitar), Martin McNee (drums) and Karl Schramm (bass), who also »work« as »three quarters« of the band Absolva, delivered a superb live show, even though the event once again »suffered« from a smaller turnout than we’d hoped for. In his trademark style of »incorrigible sharp-tongued doctor«, Blaze addressed the crowd soon after hitting the stage, telling them not to be surprised that fewer people had shown up this time, because he had personally allowed only his most extreme and fervent fans to attend, and banned everybody else from coming.
Either way, Bayley and his superbly tuned, well-oiled crew of musicians played a great gig. As expected. He was in an especially good mood that night, and with his famous banter with the crowd, which is part of his obligatory, well-established live routine and really an essential building block you can’t miss at any of his shows, he delivered another great performance. Not only was he in top vocal form that night, but the whole band kept having a blast the entire time, cracking jokes at their own expense too. One of those highlights was the stretched-out version of the Wolfsbane classic Man Hunt, played in the encore, where a cheeky Blaze Bayley, in a cheerful mood we’re not used to seeing from the eternally gloomy Englishman, couldn’t hold back long bursts of laughter anymore.
That night the quartet played a set that was, somewhat surprisingly, built mostly around the last two albums, in other words presenting the first and second parts of the trilogy in the making. Of the older songs, meaning the ones from the era when he fronted his own band under the name Blaze, we got the classics Silicon Messiah, Stare at the Sun and Alive, and the crowd got just three Iron Maiden classics from his time singing for them this time around, which we can count off the top of our heads: Futureal, Clansman and Man on the Edge. As always. What you see is what you get. A great show, packed with plenty of inventive stories between songs. All in that famous vocal style and under the command of the infectious charisma this musician has always delivered with his whole heart. At the end, Bayley nailed it down that he’s definitely coming back to Velden with the third and final part of the trilogy, due out next year.
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
photos: Nataša Pišljar & Aleš Podbrežnik
Setlist:
1. Endure And Survive
2. Escape Veolocity
3. Futureal
4. Blood
5. Silicon Messiah
6. Alive
7. Eating Lies
8. Samurai
9. Human
10. Fight Back
11. The Clansman
12. Calling You Home
13. Stare at the Sun
14. Man On the Edge
15. Dark Energy 256
—encore—
16. Man Hunt
17. A Thounsand Years
