Sundays aren't perhaps the best days for concerts but still though, a name like Tim "Ripper" Owens would draw more than that. The floor was completely empty when THUNDERBOLT kicked their set off. I've only seen these Norwegians once before, then they did great so, my expectations were quite high on them that evening.

The thing they should deserve the most credit for was trying hard by pushing, nagging, begging the few people in the crowd to come forward, to scream, sing along to the chorus lines. They've actually managed to get the people away from the comfortable seats in the bar, out on the floor and got everyone screaming, singing and dancing too. Ok, perhaps the ones who actually made it felt a little sorry for them and were quite easily teased and started but without THUNDERBOLT's hard job nothing at all would have happened.

The next really impressive element was vocalist Tony "Thunder" Johannessen. He has one touch of Bruce Dickinson and one of Rob Halford and a whole lot of good Power Metal influences in his voice. I tried to pinpoint more similarities so Ralf Scheepers came also to mind. One thing I had in mind from the last time I saw this band was that they had a lot of action going on-stage. I don't know if it was the quite limited space at the stage because there wasn't much action going on at all unfortunately. THUNDERBOLT do have a few really interesting songs and when they play the little heavier ones as "Call Of The Lions" and "Fight" everything was really good, the more plain Heavy Metal/Hard rock songs has a little more to wish for so the general impression was little up and down. But for that kind of gig they did a really great job.

THUNDERBOLT setlist:

1. "Call Out To The Lions"
2. "Bad Boys"
3. "Fight"
4. "The Moderators"
5. "Love & Destruction"
6. "Special"
7. "Lidless Eye"
8. "Crucified"
9. "Mental Tide"

After a quick changeover it was time for the main attraction. Tim "Ripper" Owens is one hell of a singer, there's no doubt about that. No matter what people says he did great in JUDAS PRIEST, the BEYOND FEAR album is a kick ass Metal album. I didn't really believe he would do good with Yngwie Malmsteen because Ripper's voice is both more brutal and Metal oriented than the ones who previously been in Yngwie's band. But he did great there too and showed off a far more gentle side of his voice compared to his other bands. Even if I really like Ripper as a singer he's not always been the most vibrant and inspiring front man. With HAIL he even seemed bored and annoyed.

There's no question about getting a reaction if you kick off a live set with "Painkiller", that's beyond cocky but it worked. The tiny little crowd fired up right away. I really thought Tim and the band would be turned off by the sparse number of heads in the venue. He looked a little skeptic at first but went out pretty hard for the next song with screaming "What's my name"… The effect of the crowd couldn't be else but he kept going "At least you didn't say Tim as they did in Oslo". It all was with a completely different attitude compared to how it has been. Everything was pure joy from start to end, Tim and his band seemed to have a really good time on stage and that reflected to the crowd because everyone in there tried their hardest to do the best of the situation. The sign placed on the acrylic glass wall used to mute the drums saying "don't feed the drummer" shows they really can have fun together. "Scream Machine" couldn't have been a more suitable song for Ripper, damn that sounded good. A few JUDAS PRIEST songs more, one from each of the albums he sings on and a few of their classic hits.

All of those weren't such a big surprise but the BLACK SABBATH classic "Children Of The Sea" I really didn't expect. Of course, a tribute to Ronnie James Dio is always in place and it sounded really good, "Gates Of Babylon" worked fine too even if it sounded a bit forced on a few occasions. But the interaction with the crowd made this concert a really fun event. Great songs from a great band but the concept of the whole thing, I didn't really get that. Even if I love the tunes he played, those weren't the ones I wanted to hear going to a Ripper concert. Perhaps neither BEYOND FEAR nor his solo album "Playing My Game" got the response he expected.

I think four out of sixteen songs from the Ripper-albums felt a little cheap. Maybe that's just me because I'm a little tired of cover bands, I would have preferred more of his own songs. But all in all it was a very nice evening and Tim and his new band did a really good concert.

Tim "Ripper" Owens setlist:

1. "Painkiller"
2. "The Ripper"
3. "Burn In Hell"
4. "Scream Machine"
5. "Running Wild"
6. "Death Race"
7. "Children Of The Sea"
8. "The Ides Of March" / "Wrathchild"
9. "One On One"
10. "Gates Of Babylon"
11. "Desert Plains"
12. "Breaking The Law"
13. "The Hellion" / "Electric Eye"
14. "Starting Over"
15. "Hellbent For Leather"
16. "Living After Midnight"

(photos by the 'Hellion' Erika)