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The legendary Monsters Of Rock festivals took place until 1988, later there been some similar festivals called SuperRock and now there is a indoor-festival called Monsters Of Rock. The kick-off was scheduled for April 15th in Herne. Due to some problems we came in just before Victory got on stage.
About a decade ago Victory were part of Germany's premier hard rock league. Now they are back with some new faces - singer Jioti Parcharidis and drummer Achim Keller. In reviews I read that Jioti can easily keep up with his predecessors Charlie Huhn and Fernando Garica. Well, he is a great singer, but in my opinion not suitable for this hard rock act. The youngster tried to entertain the fans, but has to work on his stage performance which was a bit stiff. The band of guitarist Tommy Newton and four-stringer Fargopedda played a kind of best-of-set including songs like On The Loose, Temples Of Gold and Don't Tell No Lies. It was great to hear this tracks again, but the more power metal-based vocals of Jioti didn't let me enjoy the show. Perhaps he's better when he's doing songs written for him... Next time he probably can convince me...
Next in line Jon Oliva's Pain. Savatage haven't been active for awhile, there last tour took place in 2002 and since then Savatage guitarist Chris Caffery and mastermind Jon Oliva presented solo albums. No surprise that Jon Oliva played with his Pain old Savatage tunes from the days he was Savatage's singer and a few new ones, too. On this big stage they had enough space to do some stage acting which mainly new guitarist Shane French and bassist Kevin Rothney took over. Jon Oliva partly sat at his keyboards and sang, partly entered center stage and concentrated on the vocals. The master was in a good mood and made some jokes. A real entertainer. Unfortunately the band isn't able to produce the magic Savatage always had. Between songs like Gutter Ballet, Agony And Ecstacy and Hounds they played from their current album Tage Mahal the tracks The Dark and People Say Give Me Some Hell which fit well into the set. When they played at the end of the set Hall Of The Mountain King and Sirens the people went crazy. This was the kick-off of Jon Oliva's Pain's tour and so there are some headliner shows ahead where they can play a few more songs. Watch out!
The Finnish Sonata Arctica are on tour with Doro and out to promote their CD / DVD For The Sake Of Revenge. And so they presented a kind of best-of-set - it was the night of the best-of-sets, it seems - including old and new songs like Misplaced, FullMoon, Black Sheep and last, but not least Vodka which is their version of the traditional Jewish Hana Magila. A good show, even if they had some technical problems - like almost everybody today.
During the change over the crew tried to eliminate the technical problems. Unfortunately it took a bit longer and so Doro had to cut down her set. Germany's metal queen started off with 2 new songs - Haunted Heart and You're My Family. A nice change after years of kicking off with I Rule The Ruins, but they played this one later in the set. It was obvious that her fans knew the latest release and so they appreciated it. The quintet played several new tracks off Warrior Soul, but some classics were still in the set list and that were the songs where all metal fans sang along. Another professional show with a great light show. In Germany Doro will headline the tour and so they have more stage time. A good reason to go to another show.
Time for the British to show that they still deserve the headliner spot - and Saxon were fantastic! The heroes of NWoBHM played mainly old songs and that was what the fans wanted to hear. Singer Biff Byford seems to get better every time I see Saxon. The band is very tight and make the songs sound fresh, even if they are 20 years old. They have to play songs like Wheels Of Steel, Strong Arm Of The Law, Crusader and Dogs Of War. The oldsters rocked the house! It's amazing to see how Biff is controlling the audience. It seemed that everybody sang with him the refrains. As usual the band mainly stayed in the background and gave Mr. Byford the spot-light. Too soon the show was over, but they had a curfew, so no chance to play more. If you know Saxon, you know that if they are in the mood then play more then 2 hrs.! They were in that mood, but couldn't. Thanks for another great show!
At the end something in general... It's a good idea to revive the legendary Monsters Of Rock, even if compared with the original this was just a little monster. If they want to continue they have to bring bigger names next time and should look for a better location in this area. It's almost impossible to get a good sound in this arena and it was chilly, so that many kept their jackets and it didn't really heat up til the very end. Fans who have a car will find the location okay, but for younger fans it means that they have to leave earlier to get back home. If Monsters Of Rock shall come back as an indoor event then they should bring big names and present it at Dortmund's Westfalenhalle instead of Gysenberghalle.
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