Location: Kaufbeueren (Germany), Zeppelinhalle
Concert date: 22.03.2002
Attendance: 1500
Ticket price: 21,00€
Ten confirmed shows and a tour that sticks almost exclusively to northern Germany: that’s been the hallmark of Running Wild gigs for a decade now. Why such a choice? Well, you’ve probably got all ten shows sold out anyway. This one was no different, in the famous gym-turned-venue “Zeppelinhale” (the name reminds me so much of a certain English band). We weren’t exactly packed in like sardines, but you still had to put in some effort to get a decent spot (somewhere between the first and fourth row from the stage). I was surprised by the really rich merchandise selection and the friendly prices on all sorts of stuff. It’s obvious that Running Wild are betting everything on their loyal German fans.
The show was opened by the support act “Rebbelion” at 20:00 sharp. The German five-piece presented their debut “Macbeth”. Band leader and former “Grave Digger” guitarist Uwe Lulis brought along another “ex-gravedigger”, bassist Tomi Götlich. Behind the kit sat a real metal attraction, Randy Black, who worked with Annihilator on their new record “Waken The Fury”. The band served up classic heavy metal with open riffs, woven together with slower, melodic passages. Which makes you wonder: isn’t this just another quick cash grab, with labels forcing a flood of power metal bands on us? If I may be a bit rude, the singer looked like he’d been cut straight out of Himmler’s Aryan boy catalog. The beefed-up guy has a well-trained voice, sure, but unfortunately that’s not everything. We were only witnessing a demonstration of vocal power, and beyond that there was nothing to feel in his singing. The band’s biggest embarrassment was covering the Grave Digger classics “Rebbelion (The Clans Are Marching)” and “William Wallace (The Braveheart)”, and they even dared to play the latter without the acoustic intro that normally graces the song. Of course they flopped across the board, and the singer is most to blame, since he tried his damnedest to imitate the originality of C. Bolthendal’s vocals, one of the main trademarks of “Grave Digger” music. “Rebbelion” played for almost a full hour. Then came a break of about half an hour, which meant setting up the stage for the headliner.
The impatience grew by the minute. Suddenly we found ourselves in a completely darkened hall and the first notes of the intro, taken from the album “Rivalry”, started up: “March Of The Final Battle (The End Of All Evil)”. Will it be followed by the killer riff of “Rivalry”? Poof…, explosion, the curtain opens, and there’s Running Wild on the front line of battle, welcoming us to hell (“Welcome To Hell”). It felt like I’d been swept away to the fourth dimension, wooooooow!!!!!! Without a pause the classic “Bad To The Bone” followed, which on the previous tour was only included in the “encore”. To top off the opening stretch, they carried on with material from their classic “Pile Of Skulls” and the hard-hitting “Lead Or Gold”. When was the last time they played that live? Absolutely unique. They continued with the iron repertoire and “Riding The Storm”, then calmed things down a bit with “When Time Runs Out”.
Rock’n’Rolf then disappeared from the stage, which happened a few more times later on. That killed the atmosphere of the whole show. After Rolf’s costume change and a refresher with bottled water, the show went on with “The Brotherhood”, with Rolf dressed up as an American capitalist in tailcoat and top hat, which he flung behind him into the PA like a frisbee, straight at the nearest roadie, mid-song. Another short pause followed, and then the show continued with the unsurpassed masterpiece “Blazon Stone”, straight into the main riff.
The mood in the packed hall was fired up by a spirited little group of Italians in the front row with an original banner of the “Victory” album cover, which at one point nearly swept Rock’n’Rolf off the stage. Initially reserved, Rolf soon got into it and went completely “wild” on stage.
Next came the boring “Crossfire” and the worst song on “Black Hand Inn”, called “Soulless”. With the exception of Mathias behind the drums, the guys left the stage again. Meanwhile Mathias warmed us up with a drum solo for the surprises that followed, the flying, racing “Running Blood” and “Uaschitschun” (the latter played without the intro), which once again fired the crowd up to the max. The main part of the show ended with “Victory” and a brilliant classic finish, with rockets flying into the air and fire erupting from the excellently prepared pyro bits that decorated the entire performance. And let’s not forget Rock’n’Rolf, who changed into a hussar especially for this song.
The band said goodbye, and soon cries of “Zu-gabe, zu-gabe,…!” rang out from the crowd. Of course we were answered right away with “Prisoners Of Our Time” from the debut “Gates Of Purgatory”. I don’t know what “Soulstrippers” was doing in an encore. Then came another big surprise. The ice-age relic “Purgatory”, which on Runing Wild’s official album releases can only be heard on the live recording “Ready For Boarding”. This song probably dates back to the “Granite Heart” era (1976-79), since we can’t find it even on the first Running Wild demo, “Heavy Metal Like A Hammerblow”.
So, was that it? Nope! The band came back out once more, and Rolf came with them, of course, in a new costume as a proper pirate. For the big finale they once again set everything ablaze with the eternal “Under Jolly Roger”. The show lasted just under two hours. In the end, while rummaging the floor for guitar picks, we “cooled” our heads with the intro-turned-outro from the movie “My Name Is Nobody” starring T. Hill.
The trip paid off in full and I’d wish for every one of you to catch a Running Wild show. Their performance is pure perfectionism, where the guys give it their all and really “breathe” for the crowd. Besides Rock’n’Rolf, I especially liked the wild guitarist Bernd Aufermann (ex-Angel Dust), who played all the solos in his own distinctive way on his own handmade electric guitar. Let’s hope he’ll form the core of the band going forward.
To wrap up, let me add three minuses. We didn’t hear a single song from the albums “Masquerade” and “Rivalry”. The second big minus goes to the five songs from the new album “The Brotherhood” that Rolf included in the set. And the third minus is for Rock’n’Rolf’s constant costume changes during the show, which kill the atmosphere, since all eyes at Running Wild shows are glued solely on him.
Setlist
1. March Of The Final Battle (The End Of All Evil)
2. Welcome To Hell
3. Bad To the Bone
4. Lead Or Gold
5. Riding The Storm
6. When Time Runs Out
7. The Brotherhood
8. Blazon Stone
9. Crossfire
10. Soulless
11. Drum Solo
12. Running Blood
13. Uaschitschun
14. Unation
15. Victory
—encore 1—
16. Prisoners Of Our Time
17. Soulstrippers
18. Purgatory
—encore 2—
19. Under Jolly Roger
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