Location: Zagreb, Tvornica Kulture
Concert date: 27.10.2004
Attendance: 900
Ticket price: 90,00 HRK
What a tour! Packed with dates all over Italy, then Graz, Zagreb,… and, as always, no Slovenian stop this time either. At half past seven we were in Zagreb, firmly believing we were closing in on the venue. Of course, we’re talking about “wandering around” yet again. After an hour of stumbling and bumbling across the vast expanses of Zagreb, we somehow managed to thread ourselves onto the bypass, “koja izbija direktno na Šubičevu” (“which comes out directly on Šubičeva”), as the guy at the OMV station advised us while my buddy and I were already asking, slightly desperate, “which way, where to”. Still, it’s not as bad as Italy when it comes to exit signs. At times it’s even worse, grrrrr… well, the first time is always something special.
We missed the Germans Chinchilla (a chinchilla is an American rodent, a kind of bigger, chubbier mouse, and btw what does that have to do with metal? Some kind of “metalmouse” or what? ). Nobody was bothered, even though they supposedly play some seriously heavy power metal. The hall was nicely full. The staff were super friendly, even the security guys. I felt right at home. Especially seeing the hustle and bustle. Slovenes everywhere: “Ker zakon ejga!” as a modern-day Slo-metaller would put it. Intro at 21:30. Biff& co on stage. Surprise: they kicked off with the mid-tempo Lionheart. A great warm-up. During Lionheart I started looking for a spot with nicely balanced sound for the ears. By the mixing desk, back in the middle. Perfect. That’s where I stayed for the whole gig. Behind the band, the stage was decorated with a backdrop taken from the cover of the Saxon debut (“Saxon”, 1979), and right from the opening number the band whisked the crowd back to the distant year of 1979 with Backs To The Wall, and the atmosphere and temperature slowly climbed through the classics Power & The Glory and Motorcycle Man (Biff: “Here comes the motorfuckin’cycle man!”, translation: “motor jebeni kotač čovek” ). Then Saxon deftly hopped over to the mid-tempo, atmospheric Beyond The Grave, one of the highlights of the latest record. The newly recruited member, the seasoned Jörg Michael, fit in brilliantly. With him, Saxon got even more detonating power from the drums, both live and in the studio. No doubt about it. A guy who forged his chops in bands like Rage, Grave Digger, Running Wild, Axel Rudi Pell, and who until recently spent a good while writing history with Stratovarius, luckily saved his skin by jumping off the sinking ship, full of self-destructive energy, of Stratovarius leader and guitarist Timo Tolkki straight over to Saxon, to replace the legendary Fritz Randow (Sinner, Victory). The story goes around that Fritz was late to rehearsal just once and immediately got Biff’s boot, which I don’t believe myself. Saxon are the very definition of great metal drummers, and even with this change they didn’t dare betray their philosophy, their tradition or their fans. Jörg Michael was without a doubt one of the attractions of the night.
At Rock The Nations Biff says: “We’ll do a song, which we haven’t done yet on this tour!” Saxon mixed it up nicely and the second surprise followed, Are We Travellers In Time (“Metalhead”, 1999), and then the all-out partying started, because Saxon rolled on with the famous Crusader. Next came another track from the new album (To Die By The Sword) with Unleash The Beast woven into it, a song I’d been craving, since I’d never heard it live before. “Unleash The Beast” (1997) is my favorite Saxon record, and I was losing my mind. Another fantastic anthem followed, one where we could happily chirp and screech at the top of our lungs: The Eagle Has Landed (minus the eagle on stage). Saxon seasoned the whole thing with Dogs Of War too, which the crowd was thrilled about. Between the legendary firestarters 20.000 FT, Strong Arm Of The Law and Princess Of The Night they slipped in Witchfinder General (“Lionheart”, 2004) with its “Running Wild-ish” opening charge, backed by Michael’s supersonic double bass pedal clatter. A hell of a song, a hell of a show, hell of a sound and attitude, holy cow, the regular part of the concert flew by. And of course the people were in full swing. The first encore opened with the phenomenal Solid Ball Of Rock, followed by the classics Never Surrender, the killer semi-ballad 747 (Strangers In The Night), where the crowd literally exploded with excitement, and Denim & Leather, where people were bathing in the heat of a Thursday night .
The crowd ecstatically demanded one more encore. Doug Scarrat wandered onto the stage and fired off a guitar solo. It wasn’t anything great, but then the others came right out and kicked off the last number. Wheels Of Steel, where the double bass pedal in the outro of the song stood out absolutely phenomenally. Two and a half hours of excellent show, for a good three grand, 25 songs, partying till you pass out. An excellent party.
Here’s how we rated the individual members.
1.) vocals: Biff is a seasoned performer with a thoroughly professional approach. During the show he put on various pieces of clothing handed to him by the audience, which amused Biff no end, and he also hung a checkered flag (what else, in the middle of Zagreb) with the inscription “Saxon” from the Croatian fans on Jörg’s drums, where it hung for the whole show. Biff cleverly saved his energy, of course, and didn’t force his vocals at all costs, which showed especially in the higher parts, where he quite often deliberately chopped up the melody in the verses and finished the verses off earlier here and there than we’re used to from the studio albums. Biff is one big routine act.
2.) guitars: The other legend, Paul Quinn, is a seasoned pro too. He played great, totally into it. He outshone Scarrat, who got tangled up a few times, especially at the entrances or exits of solos, where he was coming in late or rushing. Scarrat was wound up and so stiff as a board on stage, but the riffing of both guitarists was tight, and so was the interplay of the solos, except that this time Quinn shone across the board compared to Doug Scarrat.
3.) rhythm section: And now the guys who undoubtedly gave their all. Nibbs Carter, the excellent bassist, was constantly headbanging wildly, his arms like tentacles, he was all over the stage, and alongside Quinn he mostly growled the backing vocal lines too. A few times Nibbs pulled off the propeller, and even my neck vertebrae stung just watching it. Truly, if anyone left their soul and heart on that stage, it’s Nibbs. My analytical hypothesis here would be that Nibbs, who is a good number of years younger than Biff, is probably already calculating that when the bell tolls for Biff and co (read: nobody lives forever), he’ll still be in full swing and looking for another reputable band, so he’s working his tail off to prove himself now. And finally, Jörg Michael. It was a true honor to watch him. A metronome, of course. What power, what a sound, what bombardment,…I don’t think Saxon even know exactly what a monster of a metal drummer they have, and whether they’ll know how to use all his strengths, time will tell. For now, unfortunately, they haven’t convinced me personally all that much with “Lionheart” (2004).
The new album is very monotonous, they’re trying to follow power metal trends, so it plays to the souls especially of freshly baked power metallers, who mostly think heavy metal started with the “hail-hailo crybabies” HammerFall . When Saxon opened the first encore with Solid Ball Of Rock, Biff introduced Jörg Michael as the new member of Saxon. He was the only one of the band members he introduced to the audience. Before Solid Ball Of Rock, Biff strapped on a bass guitar and helped catch the right beat with the first note, together with the rest. Biff with a bass guitar, who’d have thought?
Saxon are an incredibly solid band. Full throttle for two and a half hours, as if the years don’t show on them one bit. Live, they burn it down till you pass out. One of the hottest metal parties in all my years of going to gigs, and so far the most spontaneous and genuine contact with the crowd, and the approach itself too, of everything I’ve seen from Saxon (4x). Zagreb rules, and Saxon remain an indestructible metal fortress , worth every visit.
The setlist was pretty good. I won’t say excellent, because they stuffed too many songs from the new album into it, and we mostly missed songs from the records “Innocence Is No Excuse”, “Destiny”, “Forever Free” and “Killing Ground”, so I’d happily give them a good tug by the ears!!! The sound was excellent, at the back, 20m from the stage in front of the mixing desk, the sound was at its best, and the crowd was wild and, of course, maxed out . Up to Motorcycle Man the bass was a little too loud, then they turned the sound up nicely. Oh, one more thing. The day before they played in Graz (the Orpheum hall). Supposedly, besides Rock The Nations, they didn’t play 747 (Strangers In The Night) and Are We Travellers In Time either, and the show was 20 minutes shorter too.
A Saxon concert is a must for anyone with muddled ideas and prejudices about what heavy metal is. A party up to the heavens !!! And once again Saxon didn’t let anyone down on stage in any way. It’s truly always a pleasure to watch them up there.
Setlist
1. Return (intro)
2. Lionheart
3. Backs To The Wall
4. Power & The Glory
5. Motorcycle Man
6. Beyond The Grave
7. Flying On The Edge
8. Heavy Metal Thunder
9. Rock The Nations
10. Are We Travellers In Time
11. Crusader
12. To Die By The Sword
13. Unleash The Beast (back to To Die By The Sword and the end of the song)
14. The Eagle Has Landed
15. Man And Machine
16. Dogs Of War
17. 20.000 FT
18. Strong Arm Of The Law
19. Witchfinder General
20. Princess Of The Night
——-first encore
21. Solid Ball Of Rock
22. Never Surrender
23. 747 (Strangers In The Night)
24. Denim And Leather
——-second encore
25. Guitar solo – Doug Scarrat (intro)
26. Wheels Of Steel
