When the news came in that Joe Stump is coming to Düsseldorf - and brings Ian Parry with him - it sounded like a good chance to check out the HolyHell guitarist. The place he played is more known by sports fans and is not the best place for concerts, but in this case it worked well.
The opener at the German dates was Mike Stone - not the Queensrÿche guitarist - and to be honest I can't tell you much about them, coz it was my first encounter with Mike Stone. The first surprise was delivered when they started, coz Axxis guitarist Marco Wriedt has joined them. Later drummer Anja Assmuth told me that Marco just jumped in for the shows. They presented some rock tunes and obviously enjoyed playing. I can't tell you much more then that, coz I'm not familiar with their music, but I enjoyed their set. In the middle of their set guitarist Marco Wriedt used a hair dryer to attack his guitar and created some unique sounds - others use electric drillers... Afterwards they headed into a jam. Some bluesy rocker and they came to an end.
Around 10 PM Joe Stump came out and started a long instrumental, then left again... Like they did a short sound check... About 20 minutes later guitarist Joe Stump and his pals returned and kicked off the set with a Purple-ish instrumental. Even if I know that Joe released some albums with Reign Of Terror I only know the HolyHell stuff - and I never been good at identifying instrumentals. Sorry. Then Ian Parry joined them on stage and they played No Forgiving. Ian Parry were rocking as he had to entertain thousands of fans, giving more then 100%! The rhythm section - bassist Jay Rigney and Vengeance drummer Eric Stout - delivered the playground for Joe Stump's guitar play. "Are you ready?" shouted Ian a few times til he got the response he was looking for. Then he announced Sacred Ground, and more songs from Joe's albums should follow - like Sign Of The Cross and Last Time. Especially Sign Of The Cross was welcomed by the fans. Time for some more instrumental music. First a bit Blackmore-ish and later slower, more balladesque... Bassist Jay Rigney and drummer Eric Stout showed their excellence in varying the basic rhythm while Joe Stump laid down his guitar lines. 
Singer Ian Parry returned and they head into a song from Reign Of Terror - as far as I understood. During the song Ian introduced the band and a jam part followed. Especially the 'duel' between Ian and Joe was very cool! When they kicked off Man On The Silver Mountain the fans got loud and started to sing along the chorus. Next in line was Mistreated and towards the end Mike Stone joined Ian for the chorus - and later returned to join in for the refrain of Burn. These classics were most welcome and perhaps they should have included a classic earlier in the set... These songs rock! But Burn was the last song of the set and showed again the talent of everyone in the band. The foursome returned for some more - first another instrumental incl. citations of Grieg's Peer Günt - and then the Rainbow classic Kill The King. It got late, but some fans would have loved to hear some more classics. But they have to wait til Joe & co. will hit the road again.