Author: Rok Klemše
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Ljubljana / CUK Kino Šiška / Slovenia
Concert date: 12.06.2013
Attendance: 400
Ticket price: 22,00€ / 25,00€
It’s been a good two years since heavy metal institution Saxon last invaded Ljubljana, and the veterans show no sign of switching off their heavy metal thunder anytime soon. And thank goodness, because they’re still an unmatched live treat and one of the few classic bands that still puts out good studio albums. Two years ago Saxon answered the call to arms (with the album Call To Arms); this time they sacrificed their fresh record (Sacrifice) to the gods of heavy metal, playing Ljubljana for the third time in four years.
The incredibly early start was something we’re not used to, and sadly the victims of it were the very first act, Slovenia’s own heavy metal standard-bearers Metalsteel, who played to a pretty empty hall. After a longer absence from the stage, Metalsteel are back on Ljubljana stages, getting nicely warmed up ahead of a new album that’s currently in the works. They premiered the new songs a good week ago at the MetalDays warm-up, but this time they built their set around their classic material. From a band that’s been raging across Slovenian stages for more than ten years and diligently putting out albums, you can’t expect much more than a polished, superbly played show, and that’s exactly what Metalsteel delivered again. Rok and Beny’s guitar work remains sparkling and packed with catchy riffs, Matej’s bass lines are the very definition of quality bass playing, and Daša’s pounding on the skins gets more merciless every time. Metalsteel wrapped up their (way too) short set before eight with the classic Heavy Metal Is Our Religion, and the wait for the new, already fifth studio album just got even harder.
We’re used to the quality of the support bands dropping with every act that follows. Before Saxon’s last visit, the energetic Dutch band Vanderbuyst warmed us up nicely, then Britain’s Crimes of Passion bored us, and this time it was the criminally pointless, brand-new German outfit AC Angry. The Germans already tortured us back in February 2009, as Taletellers, supporting Grave Digger, and clearly the name change didn’t help their music one bit. In a good half hour AC Angry gave us a peek at their upcoming studio debut Black Denim and managed to prove only that they play a boring and not particularly successful mix of heavy metal and hard rock. Their performance was admittedly confident and energetic, but they didn’t get many heads moving. The guys try hard with the posing and the old-school thrash getup, but they have nothing in common with that genre. The rhythm section is poor and pretty hollow, the riffs generic and half-baked, no matter how earnestly the two guitarists struck “Maiden” poses with their guitars raised. The icing on the cake was the dumb lyrics and the over-the-top strutting – if the guys want us to swallow it without choking on a bone, they’ll have to spit on their hands properly and spit out something musically way better than what they served up in Šiška.
If two years ago they opened with the Hammer of the Gods, Hammer of the Gods, this time Saxon, after an ominous symphonic intro, sacrificed us right away with the title track of the current album, Sacrifice. That’s, mark my words, the twentieth studio album from the unstoppable Saxon, who show no sign of fading even after more than thirty years! The crushing opening, with cranked-up riffs and torpedoing drums, made it clear from the very first notes that Biff and his Saxon horde had come for blood again. Saxon dedicated this show to a hefty promotion of the new album, which got as many as six songs. Live, they made it clear that Saxon are in great form in the studio too, since there are no major dips in quality across their studio records, and Sacrifice is, in this respect, a very good album from the old heavy metal tomcats. Saxon didn’t stop for a second at the start, they floored the gas pedal and already in the first part of the show strung together classics like Power and the Glory, Heavy Metal Thunder and Crusader. The performance of a band whose members are all carrying fifty-odd or sixty-odd years on their backs was once again stunning, as the grey-haired gentlemen, with Biff at the helm, own the stage to the core. Doug Scaratt confidently strode to the middle and the very edge of the stage during his solos, and fingers flew over guitar necks as if greased, especially during the gorgeous twin harmonies that Scaratt and Paul Quinn coaxed out of their instruments. Saxon squeeze more energy out of themselves on stage than many a band that’s only just getting started. Mostly thanks to bassist Nibbs »the human spinning top« Carter (who, with his nonstop jumping and marathon headbanging, proved that even at (almost) fifty (!) there’s no time to rest) and the white-maned British lion Biff Byford, Saxon are a band with the blood of twenty-year-olds running through their veins. On top of that, the state of Biff’s vocals, their power and conviction, is simply astonishing. Biff sounds downright phenomenal, and on the classic anthems he’s right up there with the studio recordings! Still, Saxon did their thing this time with a slight feeling of routine, as they flew through the (admittedly long) set. Nevertheless, they strung together a few wonderful moments, from the intro to one of the better songs on the new album, Made In Belfast, for which Quinn strapped on a white beauty with a double neck, through the ever-fantastic classic Crusader, to the surprise of the Metalhead track Conquistador and the beautiful acoustic ballad Iron Wheels, which Biff wrote for his father. Saxon were too predictable in the encore, where they dished out Denim and Leather and Princess of the Night, and it would be nice if the guys shook up their picks a bit – how would something like Killing Ground, Broken Heroes and Ride Like the Wind fit in…
Still, Saxon shook Šiška for a full hour and forty minutes and strung together nineteen songs, something only a few bands as old as Saxon can pull off. Sadly, the turnout disappointed this time, with barely four hundred people in the hall. There are probably so many reasons and excuses that there’s no point hunting for them; I can only hope, and urge the younger generation – thanks to whom bands like Sabaton sell out the same hall – to look a little wider and give their attention to the bands without which metal as we know it wouldn’t exist. Saxon promised they’d be back soon – as long as they keep coming, so will we!
Setlist
1. Procession (intro)
2. Sacrifice
3. Wheels of Terror
4. Power and the Glory
5. Heavy Metal Thunder
6. Made in Belfast
7. Crusader
8. I’ve Got to Rock (to Stay Alive)
9. Night of the Wolf
10. Conquistador
11. Drum solo
12. Iron Wheels
13. Solid Ball of Rock
14. Stand Up and Fight
15. Dallas 1 PM
16. Guardians of the Tomb
17. 747 (Strangers in the Night)
18. Strong Arm of the Law
19. Wheels of Steel
—encore—
20. Denim and Leather
21. Princess of the Night
Photo Gallery
