Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Venue: Rockhouse / Salzburg / Austria
Concert date: 19.11.2011
Attendance: 550
Ticket price: 30,00€
No sleep for Saxon. No sleep for their fans. It’s been 32 years since their debut “Saxon” (1979). This year they put out their 19th studio album, “Call To Arms”. Just a few days before the album’s official release, Saxon rolled through Slovenia on the first leg of their European tour, for the fourth time in their career (RockLine’s report by Rok Klemše is HERE), where we got to see for ourselves just how bulletproof and defiant these untamed old-school crusaders still are.
The second leg of the European “Call To Arms” tour was the perfect chance for the band to pull off what wasn’t meant to be in autumn 2009. Back then, singer Biff Byford’s illness forced them to cancel a tour on which they were supposed to be supported by the legendary Canadian rock n’ roll dirtbags Anvil. A two-year delay finally made it happen. Saxon and Anvil, both with new albums out this year, finally on the road together at last!
Hell knows what keeps dragging us to Saxon shows. Is it their almost biblical defiance? Surely that’s part of it. After years of unbending consistency, the face and the work of a long-lived band grow into a kind of legend, if not an outright myth. And the dinosaurs Saxon are among those die-hard defenders of the old-guard heavy metal craft, who don’t budge from that awareness by even an inch.
Saxon are old acquaintances at Salzburg’s Rockhouse. Ever since I’ve been following the band actively at gigs, Saxon have visited this club three times between 2003 and 2011 (over their whole career probably more than three). For the second leg of the “Call To Arms” tour they kept the youngsters Crimes Of Passion along for the ride, who grind out clichéd heavy metal with plenty of possible parallels to the forefathers of the N.W.O.B.H.M. movement, to which they add a touch of hard rock make-up. Revivalism on the march. Crimes Of Passion’s set was announced for 8:00 PM, but the lads hit the stage already at 7:45 and in a half-hour set rattled off material drawn from both of the band’s studio albums. Definitely an interesting band for everyone who fits the band’s birth-year demographic, but nobody’s missing anything if they skip them or just don’t catch them. The youngsters drone along nicely tight, and a pinch of glam is added to their stage presence by the curly-haired, jingly singer Dale Radcliffe. The quintet from Yorkshire strolled ear-friendly through their usual live set, got excellent support from the mixing desk, which made for an optimal use of the 30 minutes they had to introduce themselves, and earned a warm applause from the hall, where up to that point some 150 heads were milling about.
A totally different picture awaited when the Canadians Anvil took the stage. The little hall was packed to the last corner. That is, somewhere near 600 heads. Rockhouse is a nifty venue. Long and “tube-like”, the sound doesn’t scatter, so the sound distribution works optimally at many spots in the hall. The whole point of Anvil revolves around the stage presence of singer and guitarist Steve “Lips” Kudlow. This excellent musician has developed a special approach to entertaining the crowd over his career. He does it by constantly milking the huge elastic flexibility of his face-pulling (hence the nickname “Lips”), a special kind of black humor, which “Lips” slips into the shows through sparkling remarks he effectively “sells” to the audience, and on top of all that come the guitarist’s screaming into an unplugged guitar jack, playing solos on the guitar with a giant dildo, etc… All of this is forgivable, because “Lips” is a proven one-of-a-kind musician. A great guitar soloist who never stops fascinating by combining the aforementioned clowning with shredding fairly demanding guitar parts at the same time. Everything about “Lips” seems unbelievably relaxed, genuine and spontaneous. Backed up, of course, by a booming manly voice that never runs out of energy beyond the show. Anvil got the whole RockHouse on its feet, and a real heavenly rock odyssey filled the air, which the band led in a straight line and built up to a concert peak right at the end of the set, when they grabbed hold of the classic Metal On Metal. The bulk of the set was dedicated to the band’s current studio album “FukenEh!” (2011). Anvil crowned their great mood with a phenomenal performance, where you simply can’t get tired of their grimacing jam spots or stop watching them. Though somebody might have wished they’d played another song or two instead of “teasing” the crowd, it all works so well that you just can’t take that away from the band, as you’d be stripping out part of the essential component of the stage act itself.
Saxon had announced a full two-hour show. Well, that didn’t happen, even though they took the stage at exactly 10:00 PM and stayed up there for an hour and 35 minutes. The little hall was instantly wrapped in such thick fog that you could barely see your finger in front of your nose. The steel gentlemen are on stage, the hall explodes. Rockhouse was actually sold out and jammed to the last corner. The place is boiling. The proverbially reserved Austrian crowd let loose this time and carried the band with fantastic involvement. Especially so the small group of hot young fans gathered on the right side, in front of guitarist Paul Quinn, who knew at the very least all the choruses in detail and so ate out of Biff Byford’s hand whenever the legendary singer felt like it. Biff is a fox and knows how to lead a crowd by the nose. He loves selling tall tales and does it so convincingly that you fall for it easily. You’d better believe what Uncle Biff says, or you’ll get a spanking!
A Saxon show is a one-of-a-kind experience whether you’re seeing them for the first, second or third time. This time, though, it has to be admitted that the theft of minutes stung. First off, Saxon didn’t play two hours, but an hour and 35 minutes. Despite cramming a whole 21 songs into that frame, which is enviable for a band with such a long track record, it got annoying that between the songs Denim And Leather, Wings Of Steel, 747 (Stranger In The Night) and Strong Arm Of The Law, the band invariably steals the crowd’s time by forcing them into one long repetition of the chorus chants. You say “okay” if the band does that once during their set. But if they keep repeating it, it’s not hard to conclude they’re saving energy,
Saxon keep changing the set list throughout the tour. Every night they play four to five different songs. For a spoiled long-time fan who came to hear some cult classic Saxon haven’t played in years, this time the Salzburg show was surely not the right address. At this very gig, in the slots where they swap the set around from night to night, Saxon slipped in more new songs, especially from “Call To Arms”, from which they played as many as five. The twin Rock The Nation/Battle Cry, which they also play on this tour, was replaced here by the classic The Eagle Has Landed, the “sweetie” Rock N’ Roll Gipsy was sacrificed for the new Surviving Aganist The Odds, and the more recent Attila The Hun from the album “The Inner Sanctum” (2007) also made its way back into the set list. For younger Saxon fans and those few who couldn’t care less what Saxon play on stage, there was definitely no reason to complain. Luckily, the lads also brought the classic Power And The Glory back into the set list after a few years.
The sound was excellent. Especially if you stood in the middle of the hall. Perfect. Biff, who kept unshakably prowling under the spotlights with sweat pouring off him in streams, once again confidently sailed through the set with his mighty pipes and showed that nothing can stop his defiance. Saxon are great on stage. They don’t slip up. They’ve got so much routine and mileage that nothing throws them off. Besides Biff, who demands the most stage space for his performance, the risk of a Saxon show feeling static is also kept at bay by the seasoned bassist Nibbs Carer, who, say, in Heavy Metal Thunder alone plays his lines in a way that has him jerkily whirling his head and wildly flailing his hair all through the song, calling to mind the old performances of the legendary former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted.
Saxon once again fully satisfied the vast majority of the crowd. That was also the band’s goal, since gigs are their bread and butter, the thing that lets them survive. Still, with so many songs in the set, a few more classics would have fit better than overstretching some of the classics of the iron repertoire, which even sparrows on the roof can chirp from memory.
So I can conclude that Anvil are the quiet moral and totally unnoticed winners of the evening, since in a mere three-quarters of an hour they fully won everyone over with their unbridled combination of sparkling stage entertainment and excellent tight playing, with which the band authentically and honestly cast a wrecking-ball spell over a full RockHouse. Incredible what just a combination of three people can do. If Lips were just a tad better looking, Anvil would surely have stolen the show from Saxon!
photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Setlist
SAXON: 1. Hammer Of The Gods 2. Heavy Metal Thunder 3. Never Surrender 4. Chasing The Bullet 5. Motorcycle Man 6. Back In ’79 7. Atilla The Hun 8. Surviving Against The Odds 9. Dallas 1 P.M. 10. Call To Arms 11. Demon Sweeney Todd 12. The Eagle Has Landed 13. 747 (Strangers In The Night) 14. When Doomsday Comes (Hybrid Theory) 15. Denim And Leather 16. Wings Of Steel —encore I.— 17. Crusader 18. Guitar solo (Doug Scarratt) 19. Power And The Glory —encore II.— 20. Strong Arm Of The Law 21. Princess Of The Night ANVIL: 1. March Of The Crabs 2. 666 3. School Love 4. Juggernaut Of Justice 5. Winged Assassins 4. On Fire 5. This is Thirteen 6. Mothra 7. Thumb Hang 8. When Hell Breaks Loose 9. White Rhino 10. Fucken Eh! 11. Metal On Metal CRIMES OF PASSION: 1. Body And Soul 2. I Think I Can Save You 3. Love Is To Die For 4. Pretty In Blood 5. Hell and Back 6. Blackened Heart 7. Blown Away 8. Accidents Happen
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