It was only the end of April and already I was blessed to have attended some pretty awesome shows. But that I was super excited to see this one is clearly an understatement.
ACCEPT; one of the last great German metal bands have reformed; announced a North America Tour and made a stop in Denver, Co at the Bluebird Theater.
I knew it would be a great day and to top it off, I was able to see the whole spectacle twice, since I was in San Francisco the same day ACCEPT was playing at the Recency Grand Ballroom.
Like this fact alone wasn’t enough to squeal in excitement, I found out that the bands merchandiser is none other then THE Mr. Stoney!
(Best know as mercher for bands like Kreator, D.R.I., Stratovarius, and Celtic Frost and I haven’t seen him since 2006) Harald O. from D.R.I. was also present at the gig which was pretty sweet.
So, since I was at both shows, the review and pictures are from Denver and San Francisco, probably more from SF since they had a photo pit which the Bluebird lacks.
The supporting band for ACCEPT was none other then the Swedish power metal titans SABATON. Check out the separate review of their performance right HERE.
And let me tell you this, they did an amazing job on getting the audience warmed up for even better things to come. I have to give a quick ‘hell yeah’ to the road crew and local house guys at both places. Literally 30 minutes after Sabaton left the stage, everything was ready for the mighty ACCEPT to rock ‘n roll.
And OMG did they ever; starting the evening with “Teutonic Terror” followed by “Bucket full of Hate” both off their newest album Blood of the Nations, the guys around newly acquired vocalist Mark Tornillo played a whopping 2 (two) hours; some new material but mostly oldies but goodies.
And speaking of Mark; I interviewed original member and bassist Peter Baltes before their gig in Denver (you can watch the interview right HERE).Since the question of how, when and where Mark joined the band have been asked and answered a million times already I didn’t even bother with it. But Peter assured me that I will be blown away by his singing, just like him and Wolf were; and he was right. Holy crap! I could not picture a better front man (other then maybe Udo) vocally and visually then Mark. Dude is in his mid 50’s, but he rocks the stage like no other!
“Starlight” and “Breaker” off their 1981 Breaker album were up next; followed by another new song “New World Coming”. And this was it as far as new material for the next hour and a half.
Accept played mostly stuff from their 80’s album with the exception of “Bulletproof” from the 1993 release Objection Overruled.
After watching them play “Restless and Wild”, “Metal Heart” and “Neon Nights” the consensus of the audience was overwhelmingly ‘Udo who?’, because those ‘old-timers’ once and for all showed their fans that a new vocalist is not necessarily a bad thing.
And speaking of old-timers; there was absolutely no sign of tiredness on stage. Drummer Stefan Schwarzmann, who is the youngling of the group (46), pounded away on his kit with such joy and happiness it almost brought tears to my eyes. I am certain his cheek muscles were hurting by the end of the night, because he was smiles from ear to ear during the entire set.
Wolf Hoffmann on guitar took the cake for me both nights though. This man has an energy which is unbelievable; him and Peter (bass) had a riff showdown on stage; priceless!
And speaking of Peter, I don’t know if I ever saw a bass solo as a break for the other members of the band.
Herman Frank who did a quick stint with Accept in the early 80’s is back into the fold and he complements Wolf nicely. Shit, the whole package is to die for.Everybody had a great time performing and it showed.
Accept played mostly stuff from their 80’s albums and the fans in Denver as well as in San Francisco rewarded them with relentless applause and cheering for more.
After a short break they all came back to delight our ears with “Fast as a Shark”, another classic from the 1982 Restless and Wild album. “Pandemic”, a new song was up next and then as the last song of the night, their unforgettable hit “Balls to the Wall”.
I thought the roof of the Regency and the Bluebird for that matter would blow off because the crowd went absolutely nuts.
Whoever was wondering if ACCEPT still had it in them after all of those years; rest assured they still got it and then some. They delivered an absolutely magnificent performance that pleased old and younger fans alike and let everybody yearning for more.
Setlist for both shows:
1. Teutonic Terror
2. Bucket full of Hate 3. Starlight
4. Breaker
5. New World Coming
6. Restless and Wild
7. Son of a Bitch
8. Monsterman
9. Metal Heart
10. Neon Lights
11. Bulletproof
12. Losers & Winners
13. Aiming High
14. Princess
15. Up to the Limit
16. Burning
And for the Encore: 1. Fast as a Shark 2. Pandemic
3. Balls to the Wall
As usual for more pictures click right HERE
The review is also featured on MileHigh Feedback