Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Graz / Explosiv / Austria
Concert date: 28.01.2017
Attendance: 300
Ticket price: 31,50€
The day had finally come: after a long career as a die-hard Grave Digger fan, the author of this article set off for their (crowning) tenth show by this long-running German band from Bochum. And for the first time ever, a Grave Digger show in Austria. In Graz. At the Explosiv club, which over the past two years has been livelier than ever when it comes to its bookings.
The new studio album »Healed By Metal«, which the band released just a few days before heading out on a new European tour, isn’t exactly dazzling next to the rest of their discography, let alone a creative peak, but still. The iron-clad classics, written mostly in the nineties, remain Grave Digger’s biggest draw, even in the mature years of their career.
Power metal up-and-comers Victorius opened the night. The German outfit kicked off the show with a clichéd pamphlet of originals that fans of the genre have long known by heart. The sound was bad, especially the muddy drone of both guitars, though the vocals cut through the mix nicely, clean and melodic. 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 plenty of room in the set. A quintet with a fourth studio album under their belt. Confident, professional. Shame the sound kept getting in the way.
The sound didn’t get any better when Mystic Prophecy, a mere four years older by year of formation, took the stage to present their ninth studio album, »War Brigade«. So we stay in the same genre sphere. Power metal. But you could tell Mystic Prophecy have a lot more mileage on them, which they proved with even livelier stage movement and even tighter delivery of the material. Beyond the dismal sound, the set was saved by a rowdy crowd of some twenty eager Croatian diehards, who not only knew the lyrics but went wild with the band all the way through. That fired the band up and gave them wings, because the rest of the hall, which by this point had drawn some 150 heads into the club, more or less just watched in static silence. Totally fair. Nice, but nothing special. Fans were 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 rich discography. Especially since they had only forty minutes for their set.
Grave Digger marched onstage at ten p.m. As expected, they opened with tracks from the new album, and the third number blasted us back to the mid-eighties and 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 packed tight right in front of the stage, where the Croatian fans, in great spirits, kept up the delirious outbursts and the great atmosphere. Unbelievable. Unlike their national team, which was sinking at that very moment in the world handball championship semifinal in Paris (guess who beat them), they were not short on energy at all. They kept the gig buzzing superbly. Grave Digger, led by irreplaceable founder, frontman and figurehead Chris Boltendahl, were in outstanding form that night. They served up a splendid sound and played fantastically. Really. Hats off. Superb. Beyond Axl Ritt’s face-paint shtick, the man really delivered a superbly fat, hellishly fired-up wall of classic Grave Digger riffs. Chris Boltendahl was bursting with good cheer. The band’s warlord talked to the audience throughout, pulled faces, egged on the crowd, flashed smiles at everyone. Just as unbelievably active onstage was the legendary Jens Becker on bass. Without another barrage of cannon-thunder, Swiss-watch-precise, supersonic galloping double bass pedal work from the no less legendary Stefan Arnold, of course, there’d be no good Grave Digger show, and on this tour the band also introduced a new member and keyboardist (obligatorily masked under a death mask), Marcus Kniep. Kniep played an organ solo interlude on the way out of the classic Morgane Le Fay from »Excalibur« (1999). The organ was a little harder to hear in the mix, which was missed especially during the first song of the second encore, Highland Farewell, but otherwise no complaints. Boltendahl sang the material superbly. Especially for his age and considering his voice has been mercilessly “grimacing” for more than 25 years. Because his voice no longer has the range it once did, the band cautiously cut the classics Knights Of The Cross and The Round Table from the setlist. These are songs that, in principle, should never be missing from a 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), naturally got their obligatory spot. Kniep once again stepped theatrically to the front of the stage. This time with bagpipes in hand, playing the intro to the crowd-rouser Rebellion (The Clans Are Marching).
Boltendahl dedicated the »Return of the Reaper« (2014) song Tattooed Rider to all the tattooed girls and guys in the hall that night and to the late Lemmy, theatrically turning the mic stand upside down and growling the track into it in that position. That growl remains distinctive, unique. The band’s recognizable trademark. An essential building block of their image. I hope Boltendahl has fun with the occasional goofiness of self-parody that has clung to him over the years, because for all the theatrical seriousness and villainy of the stage show, that element comes across as seriously entertaining.
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 full half hour, though they played only four songs in total. Heavy Metal Breakdown, of course, came right at the tail end of the set.
An outstanding evening with a legendary band, who built the set around songs from the new album »Healed By Metal«, while still delivering an incredibly sharp and convincing show. As if the members were a good twenty years younger, with not a whiff of great veterans coasting on past glory and name. They played with all their might and delivered a truly beautiful gig experience, worth every trip.
Setlist
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
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