Location: Graz / Explosiv / Austria
Date: Saturday, 28.01.2017
The day had come when the author of this piece, a die-hard Grave Digger fan with a long career of fandom behind them, set off for their (round-number) tenth show by this long-running German band from Bochum. As far as Grave Digger go, it was the first time ever catching them in Austria. In Graz. At the Explosiv club there, which over the last two years has been livelier in its bookings than ever before.
Compared with the rest of the band’s discography, the new studio album “Healed By Metal”, released just a few days before they headed out on a new European tour, isn’t exactly dazzling or a special achievement, let alone a creative peak. But still. The classics of the iron repertoire, written mostly in the nineties, remain Grave Digger’s biggest draw, even in the mature years of their career.
Kicking things off were power metal standard-bearers Victorius. The German outfit opened the show with a clichéd medley of originals that fans of the genre have long since heard. Bad sound, especially the muffled drone of both guitars; in the mix, at least, a nicely cutting, clean, melodic vocal. Heart and commitment in every single moment. The band released their new studio album “Heart Of The Phoenix” on the same day as Grave Digger and, as expected, gave it generous airtime in the set. A quintet with a fourth studio album in their pocket. Confident, professional,. Shame the sound kept getting in the way.
The sound fared no better when Mystic Prophecy, just four years older by year of formation, took the stage to present their ninth studio album “War Brigade” at this show. So we’re staying in the same genre sphere. Power metal. But you could feel Mystic Prophecy have a lot more mileage on the clock, which they proved with even more dynamic stage movement and even tighter delivery of the material. Dismal sound aside, the set was rescued by a rowdy crowd of some twenty eager Croatian diehards who not only knew the lyrics but went wild joining in with the band all the way through. That fired the band up nicely and gave them wings, because the rest of the hall, which by this point had pulled about 150 heads into the club, mostly just watched the show standing still. Perfectly fair. Nice, but nothing special. Fans of the band went home happy. Only that Black Sabbath ditty Paranoid, which every five-year-old can play on guitar, could have been swapped for another song from the band’s otherwise rich catalog. Especially since the band only had forty minutes for their set.
Grave Digger marched onstage at ten in the evening. As expected, they kicked off with tracks from the new album, but the third song blasted us back to the mid-eighties, to the second studio album “Witchunter”, from which Grave Digger fired off the title track of that cult record. About 250 people in the club, no more. Probably fewer. But the crowd was densely packed right up against the front of the stage, where the band’s Croatian fans kept the delirious outbursts and good vibes coming. Unbelievable. Unlike their own national team, which was sinking at that very moment in the world handball championship semifinal in Paris (guess who beat them), they had no shortage of energy at all. They kept the gig’s bite-y atmosphere going superbly. Grave Digger, led by irreplaceable founder, frontman and figurehead Chris Boltendahl, were in fantastic spirits tonight. They served up a magnificent sound and played brilliantly. Really. Hats off. Superb. Beyond Axel Ritt’s showboating, the man truly delivered a wonderfully fat and hellishly bristling wall of sound made of classic Grave Digger riffs. Chris Boltendahl was bursting with good cheer. The band’s warlord talked to the crowd the whole time, pulling faces, firing up the audience, flashing smiles. The legendary Jens Becker on bass was just as unbelievably active onstage. And without another cannonade of cannon-like destructive, Swiss-watch-precise, supersonically galloping double bass pedal rolls from the no less legendary Stefan Arnold, of course, there’d be no good Grave Digger show. On this tour the band also introduced a new member and keyboardist (obligatorily disguised behind a death mask), Marcus Kniep. Kniep played an organ solo interlude on the way out of the “Excalibur” (1999) classic Morgane Le Fay. In the sound mix the organ was a little hard to hear, which was missed most at the first song of the second encore, Highland Farewell, but otherwise no complaints. Boltendahl sang the material superbly. Especially for his age and considering he’s been mercilessly “mangling” his voice for more than 25 years. Because his vocals no longer reach the heights they once did, the band cautiously cut the classics Knights Of The Cross and The Round Table from the set list. These are songs that, in principle, shouldn’t be missing from any Grave Digger set. As for the album “Knights Of The Cross”, the band made up for it with Lionheart, and the standards from the fans’ favorite album, “Tunes Of War” (1996), took their obligatory place in the set. Kniep once again stepped theatrically to the front of the stage. This time with bagpipes in hand, playing the intro to the barn-burner Rebellion (The Clans Are Marching).
Boltendahl dedicated the “Return of the Reaper” (2014) track Tattooed Rider to all the tattooed gals and guys in the hall tonight and to the late Lemmy, theatrically turning the mic stand upside down and growling the song himself in that position. The growl remains distinctive, unique. The band’s recognizable trademark. An essential building block of their image. I hope Boltendahl has fun with the occasional self-parody silliness that has clung to him over the years, though at the same time, for all the theatrical seriousness and villainy of the stage show, this element works wonderfully entertainingly.
After an hour the band vanished from the stage for the first time, then came back for two encores and cunningly stretched the show by a whole half hour, playing only four songs in total. Heavy Metal Breakdown, of course, right at the tail end of the set.
An outstanding evening spent with a legendary band, who in the execution of the show naturally put the new album “Healed By Metal” front and center in the set, while delivering an incredibly sharp and convincing performance. As if the band members were a good twenty years old, with not a whiff of big veterans coasting on past glory and name. They played with everything they had and delivered a truly gorgeous live experience, worth every visit.
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
VICTORIUS:
1. Hero
2. Under Burning Skies
3. Empire of the Dragonking
4. Blood Alliance
5. End of the Rainbow
6. Lake of Hope
7. Metalheart
MYSTIC PROPHECY:
1. Savage Souls
2. The Crucifix
3. Killhammer
4. Evil Empires
5. To Hell and Back
6. Metal Brigade
7. Burning Out
8. Ravenlord
9. War Panzer
10. Paranoid
GRAVE DIGGER:
1. Healed By Metal
2. Lawbreaker
3. Witch Hunter
4. Killing Time
5. Ballad of a Hangman
6. Season of the Witch
7. Lionheart
8. Free Forever
10. Tattooed Rider
11. The Dark of the Sun
12. Hallelujah
13. Morgane le Fay
14. Excalibur
15. Rebellion (The Clans Are Marching)
—encore I.—
16. The Last Supper
17. Call For War
—encore II.—
18. Highland Farewell
19. Heavy Metal Breakdown
