Udo Dirkschneider, former frontman of Accept and living German Metal icon, has been a regular guest in Oslo, and once again took the time to drop by. He had moved up one step in club size – from the 100-150 people stage at Rock In to John Dee, which holds roughly two-three times that amount. It was good to see that the club was actually quite crowded this Sunday night -– impressive, considering Kamelot playing the night before. However, dogs are known to be a reliable species, and obviously this German bulldog has fans with the that same attitude.
The band’s last effort – Mission No. X – was their weakest effort in several years, which is not a good thing taking into consideration the band announcing before the tour that they were to play more solo material (and less Accept songs) than ever. The show opened with two of the aforementioned album’s best tracks – “Mission No. X” and “24/7,” two trademark punchy and Melodic/Traditional Metal tracks, which work great from the stage. The band, as most of you know, consists of former Accept drummer Stefan Kaufmann, Igor Gianola (ex. Gotthard) on guitars, Fitty Weinhold on bass, and Francesco Jovino on drums. They sounded as tight as ever, and this is definitely one of the most solid lineups in the genre, always delivering a loud, tight, and groovy performance.
With only three Accept tunes in the setlist, there was room for several hidden gems from the solo albums, which probably was a good thing. Besides the comprehensive Accept reunion from last year, Dirkschneider has toured with hugely Accept based sets for the last decade, and it was very cool to finally get to hear some of the hidden gems from the man’s very solid solo albums. Both “Heart of Gold” and “Trip to Nowhere” (from Faceless World), and “Bullet and the Bomb,” “Blind Eyes,” and “Thunderball” (from Thunderball) were very pleasant revisits.
“Independence Day,” “Man and Machine,” and “Holy” were other highlights, and when “Princess of the Dawn,” “Metal Heart,” and “Balls to the Wall” were included for the old school heads in the crowd, this became a very cozy night indeed. At nearly 54 years old, Udo is still going strong, and once again he delivered a very impressive performance.
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