Author: Rok Klemše
Venue: VPK Mediapark, Ljubljana
Concert date: 19.02.2009
Attendance: 900
Ticket price: 30€
Over the last few years, metal has been going through a real renaissance, more than any other genre, probably even its second golden age since the eighties. There’s no recession in metal: new albums from both the old guard and the younger bands are raining down, more or less successful reunions of old legends keep lining up, and big-name tours come one right after another. In the first third of this year, hungry for heavy metal, we got a treat in The Metal Crusade tour, where two huge acts share the headliner slot: American power/thrash heavyweights Iced Earth and heavy metal giants Saxon.
Even though it’s a co-headlining tour, with both Saxon and Iced Earth getting an hour and a quarter on stage, Iced Earth take the opening slot all the way through. The Indiana-based band has a very colorful history behind it. The band was founded in 1984 under the name Purgatory by its boss and mastermind, and today its only remaining original member, guitarist Jon Schaffer. Ever since the first record, Iced Earth in 1990, the lineup has been in constant rotation. Apart from former guitarist Randall Shawver, the longest-serving member was charismatic vocalist Matt Barlow, with whom the band lived through its nineties golden age with outstanding releases from Burnt Offerings onward. In 2003 Barlow left the band and, in true American patriotic fashion after 9/11, became a police officer. Matt was briefly replaced by the fantastic Tim “Ripper” Owens, who sang on the overlooked and unjustly slammed albums The Glorious Burden and Framing Armageddon, and at the end of 2007 Barlow returned to Iced Earth in triumph. Despite the criticism that on the latest, admittedly seriously average album The Crucible of Man Matt didn’t deliver his best performance, he and the band already smashed that criticism at last year’s Metalcamp. This time they only cemented the fact that Iced Earth are coming back stronger and better after a long stretch of grayness. Iced Earth stepped out in front of the unbelievably lively, packed Mediapark hall at half past seven, when, with the lights out, acoustic lines and the epic choral singing of the intro In Sacred Flames boomed out of the speakers. With a static pose and heads bowed toward the floor, the band set the perfect mood for the jump into brutal chugging in Behold the Wicked Child. Not exactly the brightest moment of the new album, it came off much better live. The minor sound glitches were fixed quickly, and after a few verses we could already hear Barlow’s spectacular screaming and Schaffer’s trademark “eighth note, two sixteenths” chugging in all their glory. When Set Abominae was born on stage, the band sailed uncompromisingly into Framing Armageddon territory and with Setian Massacre presented another snippet of Schaffer’s epic sci-fi story, which he began on the cult record Something Wicked This Way Comes. Matt proved that even Ripper’s super-high vocals give him no trouble at all. In fact, he proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he’s one of the best vocalists in metal right now, with a top-notch voice that shines in the midrange as well as in the incredible heights of the vocal lines of the classic Dracula, and Barlow can pull off brutal growl moments too. The only moment Barlow strained even slightly was in the chorus of Ten Thousand Strong, but even so he’s one of the few who can reach Ripper’s heights. Iced Earth were really in the mood that night, Barlow’s banter between songs flowed nicely, Brent Smedley pounded the drums just as mercilessly as on Alive in Athens, and bassist Freddie Vidales slotted into the band fantastically: besides lively bass lines, he delivers an energetic show and good backing vocals. One of the most beautiful moments at an Iced Earth show is always the eternal ballad Watching Over Me sung together with the crowd, which gives you goosebumps all by itself, and the standard closer with Iced Earth came all too soon. In 2009 Iced Earth are alive, strong and energetic again, and just as killer live as at the legendary Athens show. A minor gripe goes to the standard setlist, but in a good hour we got a bouquet of the hits that simply can’t be missing. It’s high time for a proper headlining tour with a set like the one Iced Earth burned through on the Horror Show tour.
There wasn’t much time to rest, as the roadies routinely got the stage ready in a good fifteen minutes for the elder statesmen of heavy metal, British warriors Saxon. The legendary band was formed way back in 1977 and was then among the cream of the NWOBHM. In the first half of the eighties they became a world-famous act with classic albums like Wheels of Steel, Strong Arm of the Law, Denim and Leather, Power & the Glory and Crusader, and strongly influenced bands like Metallica and Megadeth. The nineties brought a tougher period for Saxon in which, despite quality releases, they sank into obscurity and commercial oblivion. But all good things come back, and since the turn of the millennium Saxon have been growing and growing. Today, after releasing their 18th studio album, Into the Labyrinth, they’re perhaps even stronger and bigger than ever before. The only two remaining original members, charismatic frontman Biff Byford and guitarist Paul Quinn, along with the rest of the Saxon gang, decided with the very first song, Batallions of Steel, to prove it on the Mediapark stage too. Saxon don’t come across like a band with a thirty-year career behind them, but like they’re playing their first big tour. They came out rattling the cages with a crushing, uncompromising heavy metal demolition job, and 58-year-old Biff proved that the years have no effect on him whatsoever. He was fantastic vocally (despite the occasional echo and delay effects). After the opening greeting, the gentlemen took us on a spiral of nothing but huge hits: Heavy Metal Thunder roared, Witchfinder General lit the bonfire, and we took off with a 747 (Strangers in the Night). All of it with great support from a warmed-up crowd that ate out of Biff’s hand. After the wicked, demonic, barber-shop overture Demon Sweeney Todd, Biff fired us up by asking whether we wanted to hear Dogs of War or The Eagle Has Landed, and after the thunderous response it was more than obvious the eagle would be landing. For the rest of the set we hopped on a rollercoaster that took us through an excellent Valley of the Kings and the unforgettable trio of Wheels of Steel, Power & the Glory and an incredible Crusader with Quinn’s phenomenal lines. Saxon didn’t leave us wandering in the dark for long: in the encore they first fired up Live to Rock, and by the end they wore us out with the eternal classic Princess of the Night and the anthem Denim and Leather. Saxon, with Biff at the helm, who at his enviable age still has an excellent voice and an unforgettable stage presence, with plenty of headbanging and jumping around, wrapped up a fantastic metal Friday.
The crusade with Saxon and Iced Earth was a complete success, and it’s just more proof that audiences here are hungry for bigger, higher-profile metal tours and, above all, thirsty for an honest dose of top-quality heavy and power metal! Iced Earth and Saxon served it up in generous amounts, even with a “measly” three hours!
Photos: Mojca Perdih
Setlist
ICED EARTH:
01. In Sacred Flames
02. Behold The Wicked Child
03. Setian Massacre
04. Burning Times
05. Declaration Day
06. Vengeance Is Mine
07. Violate
08. Pure Evil
09. Watching Over Me
10. Ten Thousand Strong
11. Dracula
12. Melancholy (Holy Martyr)
13. My Own Saviour
—encore—
14. Iced Earth
SAXON:
1. Battalions of Steel
2. Heavy Metal Thunder
3. Witchfinder General
4. 747 (Strangers In The Night)
5. Demon Sweeney Todd
6. The Eagle Has Landed
7. The Letter
8. Valley Of The Kings
9. Wheels Of Steel
10. Power & The Glory
11. Crusader
—encore—
12. Live To Rock
13. Princess Of The Night
14. Denim And Leather
Photo Gallery
