August 17, 2002 - Ringfest - Cologne, Germany
MANOWAR 17.08.2002 – Popkomm Cologne
In spite of our fear that in course of the Popkomm MANOWAR would present only their latest single "An American Trilogy" in full playback we went curious to Cologne. When we arrived the area in front of the VIVAplus stage was already packed with metalheads who have been waiting for THE event on that tepid afternoon evening. Due to shortage of place the fans climbed
traffic light pylons, were standing on trees or sales booths to see their Metal Heroes. Then short before 9pm the announcement came: "Only 3 minutes till MANOWAR", "Now only 2 minutes...", "Only 1 minute..." and after the mandatory intro, which opens every Manowar show, it started with the eponym song "Manowar". Eric Adams, Joey DeMaio, Scott Columbus and Karl Logan bristled with joy of playing and fired short after that with another classic into the audience, just before they warmed our hearts with "Herz aus Stahl" and made us feel like in seventh metal heaven. After the bass solo by Joey DeMaio which followed right after that we could not be happier, because with "Warriors of the World" they played the song for which most fans have been waiting for! The sea of people in front of the sage sang along each word of this mega-hymn and celebrated its Heroes. Visibly feeling happy about the reception they got, the band fired 2 musical grenades into the crowd, putting to flight each attendant fan of techno.
Here MANOWAR also attached great importance to the involment of the "Metal-Crowd", which shared the singing with Eric and didn't miss a single inset! After the last mentioned song there came an entertainment part by Joey DeMaio who explained that the townsfolk complained about the loudness and what the hell do they want, since it's Saturday and nearly nobody is going to work the next day. After miscellaneous "Fuck"-slogans and, of course, an encomium on German beer, another classic - "Black Wind, Fire and Steel" - have been played, after which Joey ripped off the strings of his bass and Eric Adams used the two guitars as phallus symbols. Only left to say: "Why isn't there such a great free concert on each Saturday?". But don't worry, in December Manowar are going to sweeten the yule tide for us with a Tour in Germany, so what else could one expect? Hmm... maybe MANOWAR and LOST HORIZON together?
Torsten Anlauf
dark-tales.de
Germany
After all the other bands have finally left, one could promptly see that it was Manowar's turn, they built up their huge boxes and they attracted as usual a big amount of fans. Finally it's 9pm, I am standing with my friends in the frontrow, the intro resounds and the Kings kick off with "Manowar", immidiately after that "Kings of Metal", then "Herz aus Stahl", almost completely sang by the fans, and then "Black Wind, Fire and Steel", it rocked completely. From the latest album they played "Warriors of the World" and "House of Death", besides Joey's speech went down well and the ripping his Bass strings off anyway. I would say 1 hour full of Manowar and it was for free. "MADE VERY WELL", even when I think they do not need to go to such events.
Hail
Marc Teschler, Germany
