Sunday concerts at 013 in Tilburg are early, in this case doors open was at 3 PM and the Italian support band Rain should enter the stage at 4 PM - and they been on stage punctual. The band was founded back in 1980, but from the founding members only bassist Gianni Zerani is still part of Rain. Since the 2003 album Headshaker the band been through changes and returned in 2008 with Dad Is Dead. The fivesome presented traditional heavy metal with high-pitched vocals and even as they are around for so many years it's my first encounter with the band. From the first moment on stage the guys rocked and even if at the beginning there are only about 20 people, they acted like there been thousands. As I'm not familiar with the guys I can't tell you much about their show, but they offered a mix of songs from Dad Is Dead and the 2003 release Headshaker plus some more. At Energy singer Francesco 'Il Biondo' Grandi cheered up the fans and get some singing along. After the song guitarist Alessio 'Amos' Amorati took over the microphone.. "Hello, we are from Italy! We aren't here to smoke dope, we are here to play metal!" And they head into The Cult cover Rain which they covered on their last album. I never been a huge fan of The Cult and so I enjoyed the metallic version. Next in line was Mr. 2 Words and it was time to introduce the band. With Heavy Metal they offered a tune from their 2000 release Bigditch 4070 followed by Only For The Rain Crew and a cover of Highway To Hell. Time for the Italians to leave the stage. During their set more fans arrived and it seems that Rain has made some friends here...
After a change over it was time for Blaze Bayley! I have seen Blaze a couple of times, but haven't seen Blaze Bayley band yet. They kicked off with The Man Who Would Not Die. After Smile Back At Death Mr. Bayley talked to the fans: "It's a real honor to spend a Sunday afternoon with you! Thank you for this 2 days in Holland, it was absolutely fantastic!" And to thank their fans they kicked off The Clansman. The band played tight, even if Larry Paterson's drums didn't deliver the necessary punch - but that was only a hardware problem! With Lord Of The Flies the fivesome offered another track from Blaze's Iron Maiden debut. Especially the part of the set with Identity, Kill & Destroy and Ten Seconds was welcome by the fans, time to get back to The Man Who Would Not Die! Bassist David Bermudez and guitarists Nic Bermudez and Jay Walsh delivered - together with Larry on drums - the playground for Blaze's vocals and rocked the house with Samurai, Voices From The Past and Crack In The System. Time to talk to the fans again... "The labels only want your money, our money! They tell you, you are a star, but they take the money. We have no deal, we do everything on our own now! So, if you buy the CD, you support us, not the label! If you come to see us live, the ticket will help to bring us back on tour! Thanks to everybody who buys our album and comes to our shows! Thank you, you keep this band alive!" After Future Real and Born As A Stranger it was time for Man On The Edge. They were running out of time and closed their set with Robot. As usual Blaze Bayley delivered an energetic show, nothing to complain. A good set with highlights of Blaze solo albums, some new tracks and some hits from Bayley's days in Iron Maiden. The fans were satisfied and as always Blaze walked off the stage and straight to the merchandise booth to talk to his fans, sign CDs and let his fans take photos with him. I bet most of them will come to shows when the band is playing this area again.
During a little chat Blaze told me that the DVD release was delayed due to difficulties while they were working on the material. He really feels bad about it, coz some fans already ordered the DVD through the website. As soon as they are back to England they will try to finish the DVD before they hit the road again. So, if you ordered the DVD, they are working on it! Be patient!