GD Take's On 2015: Warriors of the Road (Gig Review)

Saxon

The Ritz - Rock City

Manchester - Nottingham

04.12.14 - 04.02.15

Last October NWOBHM veterans Saxon embarked on their ‘Warriors of the Road’ world tour a road that would prove a rocky one in more than one sense of the word. Yours truly had planned to go to three shows, Manchester, Nottingham and London, with thirty eight dates on the tour the final dozen were to be played out in the

and

Ireland

and everyone would be home for Christmas however the course of true metal never runs smoothly.

With just five days of the tour left to go Saxon’s drummer Nigel Glockler was to fall ill and spend several weeks in a Newcastle hospital leaving the remaining shows to be delayed by exactly two months. I’d already seen the Manchester show a few days before the hiatus and now at last the Warriors tour is over it’s time for this review to go to print.

The Ritz – Manchester:

Good old British rail (or whatever they call it now) is my mode of conveyance to the North West; Manchester has undergone a metamorphosis in recent years so I’m lead to believe however upon arrival at the Oxford road railway station (a mere spitting distance from the Ritz) I find this information to be erroneous, Manchester is still pretty grim.

Way back in 1981 when a teenage GD Manofmetal was in The Saxon Militia Guard (Saxon’s fan club) I went to Manchester to meet up with fellow guardsmen and women to embark on a road trip to Holland to see our spandex clad metal heroes (those were the days) and let me tell you nowt much has changed up here over the intervening years ok they’ve now got a Pret A Manger or two but the general ambience is still that of satanic mills, flat caps, barm cakes and whippets, I know this will get me in trouble with my Manchester friends but, what a dump!

Anyway I digress, let’s get on shall we? The Ritz, what a great venue, it’s façade looks out directly onto a railway viaduct but in side it boasts a capacious stage big enough for Saxon’s massive Warriors of the Road backdrop to be seen in it’s entirety an extensive balcony area and despite the efforts of the over zealous security staff (don’t get me started) a warm and friendly atmosphere.

Although Skid row had been the main support for the European leg of the tour

England

’s very own Hell are appearing on the

and

Ireland

dates along with

Germany

’s Beyond the Black.

First up is Beyond the Black [pictured right] a female fronted hard rock band from Mannheim, lead singer Jennifer Haben has a fine voice and brings an ‘Evanescence’ feel to the band while the boys with the toys thrash out a more ‘Pantera’ like sound behind Jennifer’s vocals. I’m afraid it didn’t quite work for me but I’m sure this band will attract many fans around the world who like heavy Goth/Metal.

Next up are the main support and Hell have made huge inroads on the heavy metal scene since their reformation and the release of their debut album Human Remains on he Nuclear Blast label in 2011. The reaction they got from the Manchester crowd was amazing, Hell played around forty minutes of material from their first and second albums and it’s clear they have many fans in this part of the world judging by the amount of Hell tee-shirts being worn tonight. Front man Dave Bower [pictured right] holds the audience captive with his theatrical performance of songs such as On Earth as It Is in Hell, Land Of The Living Dead and Something Wicked This Way Comes. I don’t know if we’ve just been taken down to the satanic furnaces of the underworld but the Ritz crowd have definitely been warmed up good and proper.

The strains of AC/DC’s It’s A Long Way To The Top If You Wanna Rock n’ Roll herald onto the Manchester stage true veterans of British heavy metal, Saxon are into their fifth decade starting out as they did back in the mid 70’s when they were called Son of a Bitch. Most of the songs included in this tours sets are from the ‘Holy Trinity’ albums, that are Wheels of Steel, Strong Arm of the Law from 1980 and Denim and Leather from 1981 although several more numbers from various other albums are also included. I for one am more than happy to hear the song Frozen Rainbow from Saxon’s debut album played here, it’s been many years since I’ve seen it performed live.

With twenty two songs in tonight’s performance Saxon have definitely done the North West proud and after the release of the live album earlier in 2014, St. George’s Day Sacrifice – Live in Manchester there does seem to be a special bond with this crowd. The final song of the night, the classic Denim and Leather saw the entire venue from the back to the front bouncing around and punching the air. Front man Biff Byford seemed truly amazed and was heard to utter “it’s just like the eighties” and I wouldn’t be surprised if this crowd’s reaction is one of the best on the entire thirty eight shows. Take a bow Saxon and take a bow Manchester.

Above: Saxon Take A Bow

Rock City Nottingham

Having waited for two months for the Saxon Warriors of the Road tour to resume I’ve sadly decided to give the London show a miss so Rock City in the lovely East Midlands city of Nottingham will be the final show for me.

A mid week fixture this one so it’s a massive rush to get home from the day job and down to Nottingham in time for the start of the show, sadly Rock City have a 10pm curfew for live bands and with Saxon clocking around two hours for their performance it means that Beyond the Black are on when I’m still on the bus.

I’m in time however for Hell, you could say Nottingham is their home town as all the band members live within about a ten mile radius of the city. They were originally formed back in 1982 and today’s line-up consists of three of the original members namely Tim Bowler (drums) Tony Speakman (bass) and Kev Bower (guitar/keys) they are joined by Dave Bower (lead vocals) and Andy Sneap (lead guitar) [pictured right]. Hell tend to play one song straight after another without a break so we don’t really hear the crowds applause and cheering until about half way through the set, I’m surprised that Rock City isn’t as loud or fanatical as the Ritz audience. This isn’t anything to do with Hell’s performance because when Saxon came on it was the same for them.

Around 8.15 the AC/DC intro tape kicks in and onto the stage come Saxon there’s a slight change in personnel, Standing in for the recuperating Nigel Glockler on drums is Sven Dirkschneider (son of Udo) the rest of the gang however remain unchanged, Biff Byford (lead vocals) Paul Quinn (lead guitar) Doug Scarratt (lead guitar) [pictured left] and Nibbs Carter (bass) they open with the same three songs they did in Manchester namely Motorcycle Man, Sacrifice and Power and the Glory after that however there was many different numbers played in a diverse order. Nottingham got Never Surrender and 20,000 ft were as Manchester got Lionheart, Frozen Rainbow, Demon Sweeny Todd and This Town Rocks.

The encore at Rock City was the holy trinity Wheels, Strong Arm and Denim and Leather the crowd by this time were going mad but it took some cajoling from bassist Nibbs Carter earlier in the show to get them going. With the finale in London a few days after Rock City at last the mammoth Warriors of the Road tour is finally over it’s been a tough road one which saw Saxon go to hell and back again having a much loved colleague suffer a brain aneurysm was definitely not in the script.

I’m sure you will all join me in wishing Nigel Glockler a full and speedy recovery. Saxon have a new album to record this year and they will play several festivals over the coming months they sure as hell will never surrender… GD Manofmetal.