SAXON
Nosturi, Helsinki, Finland / 29.11.2001
Reviewed
by the Finnish Metal Rules Team
Saxon in Finland… Oh my… That was something
really unexpected. Let's think now when the British metal legends
visited up here last time… Hmm.. It was back on the "Eagle Has
Landed" tour back in 83, so it was a long time ago anyway!
It was definitely a huge surprise that they even bothered coming over
as Biff Byford already announced in the early stage of the gig that they
loose a lot of money when coming over, but it is great to see the wild
and enthusiastic crowd. But unfortunately lousy 400 people had taken
their bearings to the Nosturi club, which is basically damn good as
arranging metal gigs in the middle of the week and especially on Tuesday
ain't the most idealistic and perfect time because of the crowd mainly
consisting of quite the middle aged people which are supposed to get to
the work in the next morning.
That seemed not to dismiss the general atmosphere of the gig at all,
just on the contrary as becoming and turning to be quite intensive
especially when Biff encouraged and demanded people to bang their heads.
When people kept yelling all classic songs all the time, Biff
sarcastically inquired "What do you want to hear ?, If you shout at
the same time it makes it sound "blymghk" for me!", and
the whole audience started laughing. Well after all Biff decided to tear
the whole set list apart as some people happened to keep shouting the
stuff all the time as knowing the whole track list in advance, at least
one editor of the Finnish Metal Rules team was responsible for that…
And Biff announced that the set has now got a new total direction, no
more set list and the audience were splitting their sides laughing. And
in general the metal veteran vocalist and the whole band all in all was
extremely amused as well as thrilled about the people's insane
reactions. The audience's rhythmic and loud Saxon shouts only fed the
flame of the combo to unleash the beast.
The
band appeared to be in the damn good strike. Definitely better compared
for example to another British metal legends Judas Priest whose visit
to Finland a couple of weeks ago was more lifeless. In general as
for the vocalist Biff Byford's stage appearance, he really is a showman
in every meaning of the word. Bassist Tim "Nibbs" Carter also
collected many new fans because of his excellent live performance. He
really enjoyed being on the stage with LOTS of energy and he was also
only member of the band who dared to perform without any shirt. Both
guitarists the only and original now really "shorthaired" Paul
Quinn and Doug Scarratt also performed quite well, so did newest member
drummer Fritz Rainbow (ex-Sinner) who showed what kind of showman can
drummer also be during his short drum solo.
Saxon have kept the wheels of steel rolling all throughout those
tough years in the beginning of the 90's and toured continually and
achieved a reputation for being an excellent live band. It was quite
funny to witness how vital, active and energetic the whole five-piece
was on the stage, they truly rocked. The whole 2 and ˝ hour gig was an
excellent cross-section of their career from the late 70's till the
present time. Actually they played at least one song from every album
they have released, except nothing from mid 80's Rock The Nations and
Destiny
But the real heavy metal blow out was experienced in the encore
containing the most cheered Saxon battle hymns: Crusader, Denim And
Leather and Wheels Of Steel. The whole front of the stage was rapidly
packed by older and younger diggers singing the lines by heart and
almost banging brains out of their heads.
Saxon literally surprised and satisfied all the 400 heads entirely.
Once again it was marvelous to have another metal legend standing for
the NWOBHM to visit Finland. They gave a lesson of what real metal heads
should be!!!!
SET LIST
Intro
Killing ground
747
Backs To the Wall
Court Of the Crimson King
Never Surrender
Thin Red Line
Broken Heroes
20 000 feet
The Preacher
Dragon's Lair
Conquistator/drum solo/Heavy Metal Thunder/Conquistrator
Dogs Of War
Forever Free
Coming Home
Dallas 1PM
Solid Ball Of Rock
Crusader
Denim And Leather
Princess Of The Night
Wheels Of Steel
