On stage: Manowar

 
- Magic Circle Festival
 
- July 2007
 
- Bad Arolsen (D) -


 
- Magic Circle Festival
 
- July 2009
 
- St. Goarshausen (D) -


 
- Manowar, HolyHell & Metalforce
 
- Jan. 2010
 
- Cologne (D) -


 
- Manowar
 
- Mar. 2011
 
- Birmingham (GB) -

- Manowar - March 27th 2011 - Birmingham (GB) -






 

  


  

The night started with a drummer. Even though he didn't have a particularly memorable name, he was fantastic, especially considering how young he was (or looked, at least). He provided light entertainment before the Gods of Metal, playing what was essentially 'drum karaoke'. He was good at karaoke though. Really good. The audience cheered him on, and considering he played for quite a long time, his level of quality was incredibly consistent. From recollection, he was local Birmingham talent, which is probably why he was being shown off. He drummed to classics from the likes of Black Sabbath and Judas Priest, the audience occasionally singing along to the lyrics that they could remember as they went. They applauded as he played and they applauded when he finished, and he looked somewhat pleased with himself, and with good reason.



The wait for Manowar seemed to drag on for ages and ages and ages...however, something quite 'amusing' (for lack of a better word) happened whilst the equipment was being set up: they tested the bass drum. Yes, they tested the bass drum. How was this amusing? Well, Manowar being Manowar, the bass was so loud that the whole ground virtually shook, properly shook. That's how loud that bass was. Have you ever experienced bass so loud that it affects your heart and makes you feel like you are having a heart attack? Now imagine that sensation 10x stronger - you're getting quite close to what this was like. The bass was thankfully adjusted... The tension increased steadily, the chanting began, and Manowar made their entrance, and oh, how fearful and wonderful it was. They were still far too loud, but at least not to the extent that any member of the audience was likely to die as a result. Not that that would be a bad thing, dying for metal and whatnot, but Manowar truly were louder than Hell (however loud Hell may be). To celebrate the release of Battle Hymns MMXI, Manowar played the entire album, and they played it well. Opening with a superbly played Manowar, they worked their way through Death Tone, Metal Daze and Fast Taker with their usual Manowar prowess. The next few songs came in a glorious wall of metal sound, which, although quite the experience, did make it difficult to distinguish one song from another. Although Manowar played well and were a fantastic live band, this concert was a lesson on how being 'louder than Hell' is not necessarily a good thing - nay, it can be quite the opposite. When it got to their encore, however, the pace was a lot more relaxed, and the songs stopped being such a blur. The show was ended wonderfully, and Manowar certainly turned out to be quite the live experience.



Despite acoustic and sound problems, Manowar put on a fantastic, memorable show. It seemed to go down well with the audience, many of whom who had come from far and wide. Karl Logan is an underrated guitarist, and Joey DeMaio an overrated bassist, but the band altogether are truly unstoppable. Even for people who are not massive fans of their music, a live show from Manowar is a definite recommendation and thoroughly enjoyable.

  
  






Stephanie Malin



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- Manowar, HolyHell & MetalForce - January 31st 2010 - Cologne (D), Palladium -






 

  


  



























  
  

The last stop on Manowar's Death To Infidels Tour 2010  - with HolyHell and Metalforce - was scheduled for the Palladium in Cologne. Early afternoon the die-hard Manowar fans started gathering in front of the venue in the freezing cold, and they were lucky that at the other side of the road at E-Werk a carnival session took place and so they could grab some hot drinks. At 6PM it was doors open and the fans were getting in.

MetalForce entered the stage punctual at 7PM, even if not everybody had arrived yet. MetalForce kicked off with Metal Crusaders off their self-titled debut Metalforce, the guys were in a splendid mood and played tight. Songs like Freedom Warriors and Metal Law should follow. Guitarist Tristan Visser just joined, but did a really good job and delivered some great solos. The guys felt comfortable on stage and songs like Faster, Louder, Metalforce and Freedom Warrior they could easily win over the fans. Unfortunately they had no songs from their Majesty days on the set list, but the fans enjoyed the 30 minute set.

By now the place was more crowded and it was time for HolyHell. It's the first time for them to present their debut album on tour, and so everybody was curious to see how they manage. Maria Breon had suffered a flu earlier on tour, but was in good shape now and so the band didn't need much time to convince the fans. Maria Breon offered right from the start a goose bumping performance and enchanted the people with her powerful voice. It got even hotter when guitarist Joe Stump played some solos, so he lashed out at the strings with his cable and bringing songs like Gates Of Hell and Prophecy to perfection with his play. Keyboarder Francisco Palomo showed off his skill and using his key-tar he got closer to the audience which the fans appreciated. HolyHell could convince every critic with this performance!

As always the change over took a bit longer and due to the black curtain you couldn't see the progress. In the pit the 'ultimate fans' gathered who paid a packaged deal to get close to the band. Even the die-hard fans get a bit impatient. Then it finally start, but during the intro the curtain didn't open properly. At least during the first riffs of Call To Arms you could take a look at the stage - this time without a big set up. As always the sound was great and so it was time to party. The set list was favoring the newer songs, so the 'old' Manowar fans didn't get too much of what they were looking for. Eric Adams stopped the show, coz some fans started to pogo and so put other at danger. So he asked them to stop it or to leave the venue, the ticket would be refund at the box office. Later in the set a young fan got the chance to play a song with his heros on stage - and he was really good. To give it a visual booth they had 8 lightly dressed female fans entered the stage and two of them thought to act like lesbians would heat up the fans... The 2 hours set was over too soon and even if there are a few more stories to tell, partly embarrassing, I won't go to report these. Not everybody was happy with the set list, so in the back the atmosphere wasn't as good as up front. Perhaps they should consider to play a different set next time and to try pleasing all fans.

Something else I want to mention, this time the Manowar fans didn't even need to pay cash, there were 4 credit card readers waiting for the fans to spend their money. Guess made some spend more money as they should do... Anyway, Manowar delivered a good show and with HolyHell and MetalForce opening it was an enjoyable evening.





Set list Manowar:

Call To Arms

Hands Of Doom

Kings Of Metal

God Or Man

Swords In The Wind

Bass Solo

Die With Honor

Let The Gods Decide

Die For Metal

Sons Of Odin

The Gods Made Heavy Metal

Sleipnir

Loki God Of Fire

Thunder In The Sky

Warriors Of The World

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House of Death

Black Wind Fire And Steel

  
  







Gisela Schmitz

(translation: Claudia Ehrhardt)


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