How many times in a lifetime do you think you'll get the chance to meet a Metal God and see him perform live? Well, personally this was the first time I ever got to meet Udo Dirkschneider, once singer of the legendary Heavy Metal monster, Accept.
Udo was here (in Greece) for two live shows, as part of his "Thunderball" (new album - click on the album's name to read a full review of the album) tour. I was set to attend his second concert (in a row), in Athens, so I got up early that Saturday morning.
I went down to Rodon Club, where the concert was going to be held, to Interview Udo Dirkschneider…as I did eventually and you'll have the opportunity to read the interview in a couple of days!
That night, Innerwish (Greek Heavy Metal band) was going to open the concert for U.D.O. but gossip had it that because U.D.O. were late with their sound check and Innerwish hadn't arrived yet at the venue…that Innerwish wouldn't play at all.
I don't know if the gossip was 100% true but at 21:00 Innerwish came on stage in front of 400 metalheads and started their set-list. I really like this band (and I'm not the only one from the Magazine who does) because they always make me feel great sympathy for them whenever I see them on stage. They might not be Metal Gods but they sure seem to love what they do and trust me, they do it well!
They started playing songs from their new album, "Silent Faces", which is pretty good and you ought to buy it from some record store somewhere. I really enjoyed "Dancer Of The Storm", "If I Could Turn Back Time" and "Silent Faces" live, off of that album (most of their songs on the se-list were from "Silent Faces"). What I was waiting for though, was for three specific songs from their first album, "Carry Your Cross", "Ready For Attack" and "Spacerunner" which they did play that night and I was more than just glad to be there. They closed their appearance with "Ready For Attack" managing to get all the metalheads in the venue (fans of theirs or not) sing the lyrics of the song out loud, together with the band. As I said, a great Metal band that deserves your attention, worldwide.
After Innerwish it was time for U.D.O. to appear and the 400-500 fans (a disappointing number if you come to think that the venue can take up to almost 1.000 people) were anticipating to see their favorite Metal God live. Then, the lights went out and Udo and his heavy metal gang came on stage…The crowd went ecstatic! You don't see 400 people go that wild and make you feel as if they're 1.000 every day.
U.D.O delivered that unchanged feeling of classic Heavy Metal we all grew up with and still love! Fans, promoters, journalists, security guys all banged their heads (including me of course!) to the sounds of "Metal Heart", "Balls To The Wall", "Fast As A Shark", "I'm A Rebel", "Son Of A Bitch", "Midnight Highway", "Princess Of The Dawn" and other all-time Accept classics (well, they didn't play "Breaker" but that's ok)! Except for the Accept songs, U.D.O. played a number of songs from his (Udo's) solo albums (the tour followed the band's release of "Thunderball") including "Pull The Trigger", "The Bullet And The Bomb", "Thunderball" (the concert's opening song) and "Blind Eyes" from their new album.
I absolutely loved the band's energy on stage (despite guitarist Stefan Kaufmann's sound problems from time to time) and so did the crowd (which was headbanging like hell – a guy in the front row fainted, I hope it wasn't serious). I mean, Udo Dirkschneider and Stefan Kaufmann have been doing this for more than 20 years and when you see them on stage it's like seeing Accept at their early years. God these guys surely enjoy what they do and how couldn't they when once upon a time they set the foundations of Heavy Metal together with bands like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath etc.
I also loved Udo's costumes during the show. He appeared as a priest, as our well-known "military" Udo and as a crossbreed between a man and machine (am I forgetting something here? Hehe).
Finally I'd like to add that Igor Gianola (second guitar) was fantastic and his solo cut really rocked. Lorenzo Milani is one hell of a psycho and his drum solo also kicked some ass. Last but not least, Fitty Wienhold's a "huge" guy with a huge bass and I really admired him on stage.
What more can I say about a concert that had 500 people acting as if they were a thousand (or more), a band that shook the entire place to the ground and myself smiling with joy and banging like hell for more than two hours? If Heavy Metal's exactly what your neck desires then that's what you'll get with U.D.O.!
Special Thanks to: Dimitris Symeliadis of the Greek Heavy Metal Hammer (for shooting my photo with Udo), Ismini Koskori of S&V Megatherion (for setting up the Interview), Harris Katinakis of Didi BigStar Promotions (for his help at the concert)and Alex + Dimitra (our editors) for sharing this amazing experience with me!
