Manowar in Munich what more can i say.
Flew all the way from England to see them as they don't play here any more ( The English music scene is shite). Me and my wife made a small holiday to see Manowar and see Munich at Christmas time ( what a great place). The people are great, the food is great, the beer is great and most of all the music is great!!!!!!!!!!
The band were absolutely brilliant and the sound from the Sennheiser custom PA was just awesome. A great song list contained all the classics my favourites being Black wind Fire and Steel, Warriors of the World, Hail and Kill and House of Death really had the crowd whipped into a frenzy. One of the highlights was the acoustic section which really showed what talented musicians they are and what a wonderful soulful voice Eric has.
The crowd loved them.
It was a fantastic show and i wish they would play in Britain and really show them how it is done.
All Hail
Phil + Marion
At around 5 PM the time was right for moving my ass to the Hall. 9 subway stations later I was in Freimann, the neighbourhood where Zenith is situated. Finding the Hall wasn't hard and I was pleasantly surprised to see so many people waiting in queue to enter it even more than 2 and half hours before the show!
After a long wait in the rain & wind the doors finally opened. On the way in we were given some shit like metal magazines (unfortunately in German), sample cd's (ANVIL!) and condoms (finally something worthwhile!). I was impressed by the size of the place - from the entrance you could barely see the steage on the other end of it, it's so fucking huge! Like a motherfucking football stadium! I thought to myself - if one third of this place ends up full it will be a great succes. Guess I didn't know about the Power of Heavy Metal in Germany. But more about that later.
The new tourshirts are awesome (hooray for Ken Kelly!) so I picked one up, naturally and rushed my way to the beer stand. After enjoying a sandwich and some beers while Heaven And Hell was blasting from PA, it was time for BLUDGEON to take the stage. Their show was good. Nothing special but they were far from sucking. They played almost everything from the debut album which has some asskicking songs like Smoke Screen, Tortured Through Lies and Crucify The Priest. Naturally, I loved those best. Yeah, I gotta mention their bass player - pretty fucking wicked! The crowd response was okay - they weren't booed or spat on or anything.
After that, the moment of revelation came - I went to take a piss and since the WC was on the opposite side of the Hall I had to walk there. It was then when I realised that this entire Hall (the biggest concert Hall in entire Munchen they say) was completely fucking packed! All the way to the bottom. It's really hard to say how many people were there but I'd say anything between 8000 and 12000 would be a good call. Un-fucking-believable! And you barely could move through the crowd - it was that tight. I knew ManOwaR are big in Germany, but I didn't know their fame took such gigantic proportions! Fans I talked with told me that the place was never this full, not even for Maiden show 2 years ago (no other metal bands usually play that Hall since it's too huge). Getting back was tough but I ended up pretty close - 8th row or something. The wait was pretty long and around 9:20 PM the lights faded out. It was MANOWAR time!
As the majestic Ben Hur theme blasted from the PA, the technicians uncovered the stage - best I've seen in my entire life. It is simply breathtaking, and the light system is most elaborate so far - state of the art, nothing less. Orson Welles' deep and manly voice announced ''Ladies and gentlemen, from the United States of America - All Hail ManOwaR'' and the title song was off to a bombastic start.
Joey and Karl entered the stage from different sides of the drum riser (without any dry ice or smoke this time) and Eric joined them after the first verse. Immediatelly I noticed that the guys are in great shape and ready to kick some major fucking ass! The sound was even better than on the summer show, thanks to the new sound system with well over 100 speakers and 100000 Watts of pure power.
Since I was in ecstasy - screaming and jumping around - by the end of the song I found myself right in the very front - FIRST ROW. Ofcourse I positioned myself to the left because that's Joey's side of the stage ;-) I could see every knuckle on his fingers as he started the riff to Brothers Of Metal. This one went very well, really a treat to hear it live for the first time since none of the live albums include it.
In the usual ''no-stopping'' fashion, Brothers Of Metal went into Spirit Horse Of The Cherokee. It was then when I realised how good the sound system is and how awesome Eric Adams' voice sounded. MAGIC! Also, the stage was very well lit so I could see every single detail - like Eric Adams constant spitting ;-) He was also sweating a whole lot - it was literally dripping off him as he screamed the chorus in highest imaginable voice!
Next up was Warriors Of The World United - the big hit in Germany. And it showed - there was not a single person in the Hall that didn't sing this one together with the band. Great feeling.
5th song in the row was Kill With Power, and it was then when the place EXPLODED! Everyone was jumping, banging, fist-pumping and there was a whole bunch of crowd-surfers, too. The security guys took these from the crowd pretty violently so Joey came down the the security guy right in front of me (still playing!) pushed him and told him to cut it out. You could really see he was angry at such behaviour coz he broke his usual ''stone-face'' and cheered us on to go even more crazy! And naturally I went - that's where the single greatest moment came - I'm going fucking berserk during the chorus, loooking Joey straight in the eyes. Ofcourse, he can't miss that, so he points to me and nods his head affirmatively!!! Greatest moment ever or what?! But it doesn't stop there, no!
After Karl's extended rendition of My Spirit Lives On (it is really cool they have this ramps for every side of the stage now so the guys can step down to the crowd while playing - ofcourse, they all did it a lot, Karl in this solo, too) Eric came out (in new outfit :-) ) and announced ''our new single'' I Believe. Hell fucking yeah! I was really hoping they'd play this one since it's already one of my fave songs ever! Ofcourse, it's brand new and not many people knew the lyrics, but I sang it off the top of my lungs. No way Joey could miss that too,he was looking in the part of the audience I was in most of the time since it was right in front of him, so I get another long eye-stare and nod. During Call To Arms he AGAIN pointed at me - wow, I was really making a break here! I'd also like to emphasise that Joey didn't point at ANYONE ELSE for the entire show :-) (unlike Eric who pointed his finger at almost anyone all the fucking time).
Call To Arms didn't sound as amazing live as I'd expect it, but they made up with Kings Of Metal (B E S T S O N G E V E R) and Sign Of The Hammer (this one was fucking frantic!) which were next. After that everyone leaves the stage, except for Eric which started to work the crowd with the ''oooohhh''s and screams and stuff - great idea, went out very well and he was extremely happy with the crowd response. He them announced how ''Mr. Joey DeMaio is gonna show us how to play the bass guitar''.
Joey's solo was another high point of the show in my opinion - he started with something that sounded like Black Arrows and then turned the distortion off for some flamenco and other familiar stuff. It went for pretty long and when Scott joined him on stage I knew what's coming next - Sting Of The Bumblebee. Another B.S.E. - no words for it. Joey leaves the stage and Scott (with his hair tight in a pony-tail now) starts the beat from Gods Made Heavy Metal - another of the show's highlights. Eric had a new outfit again - his pants are fucking S T E E L! And he also swapped the cowboy boots for some futuristic steely heeled shit. Looked awesome!
Next up was Hail And Kill which concluded the first (regular) part of the show. It was played with the album intro this time, something that I miss on the live album. Crowd response was at the maximum - it's obvious this one is in every fans top 5. After the usual ''You have been great - goodnight! KILL!'' and 5 minutes of instrument trashing ManOwaR left the stage.
But everyone knew this show was far from over...
The entire stage was in complete darkness and silence for the next few minutes. In the meantime, the technicians took away the setlists which were stuck to the floor and brought new ones - this was a good sign! Suddenly, Joey and Eric appear with acoustic instruments! All of them then sat on the drum riser and after a few minutes of Joey's soloing on acoustic bass ;-) he started (to my huge surprise, expecting Swords In The Wind by the setlists I've read on the internet) the intro to Heart Of Steel! The surprise turned into a positive shock when Eric started with ''Ein Feuer brennt - tausend Meilen weg'' - yes, it was Herz Aus Stahl, the song crowd loved more than anything else. The reaction was really warm and moving. Beautiful. The lightshow during this acoustic set was really something special, providing an intimate feeling in this huge-ass Hall. The sound was also excellent, finally Eric's voice was at the top of the game (and not buried behind wall of sound from Joey's amps ;-) ). Swords In The Wind was next - also completely acoustic, as was Master Of The Wind, which was played entirely faithful to the album original; even Scott had a special drumkit with effects for this song.
The final song of this part of show was probably the highlight of the entire thing for me - Courage. I lack words for this one. It was simply unbelievable and Eric's vocals will forever stay cut into my heart with this one. I was a little suspicious how this one will work without the ''heavy'' part but it worked great - way better than every other versions (including the '86. original). Karl's acoustic guitar solo was out of this World. Mesmerizing.
After that, the darkness embraced Zenith once again, as guys left the stage followed by 5 minutes long ovations. The technicians took away some parts of the stageset as Heavy Metal Thunder flooded the PA - yes, ladies and gentlemen, it was time for their majesties Harley Davidsons. The machines look as awesome as they sound and every guy brought a cool chick with him, too (Joey's one was ofcourse topless, so she showed her tits to the crowd. Naturally, everybody loved that!).
The air was still filled with smell of gasoline and exhaust fumes when ManOwaR launched into the most ferocious set so far: Outlaw/The Power/House Of Death. These songs just grabbed the audience by the throat and kicked their fucking ass! Total fuckin' craziness. Karl's solos ruled on these and Scott pounded away faster and louder than ever. Eric went down the ramp and highfived the entire first row (including me!) in a long run from left to right!!! I love it how they distort his vocals on House Of Death - freaky stuff! This encore was really fucking exhausting and I was almost completely dehydrated when I saw this ManOwaR technician standing by the side of the stage with a beer. So I point at him and make a sign that I'm really fuckin' thirsty and he gives me his barely opened can of Beck's - thanks dude, that saved me!
At this point, the band leaves the stage once again to leave Joey with a beer and a microphone - it was time for a speech. I don't want to repeat the speech now, I'll just say it was long and awesome and that you should remember one thing: Do Not Take Fucking Shit From Anybody (as well as Fuck You to all those who don't like ManOwaR, Metal, Munich or Deutschland - The Land Of True Heavy Metal ;-) ). Joey is the single most charismatic speaker ever. After the speech it was time for beer drinking (and hell raising ;-) ) and a conversation in German with this girl who came from backstage (it was one of 6-7 girls that the guys picked up from the crowd during the show). I didn't understand much since my German is pretty bad (except for ''you gotta speak louder honey, scream like you will when I fuck you later tonight'' :-) ) but it was obviously funny because the crowd laughed and applauded.
After the speech Joey returned with his legendary Little Demon (the piccolo bass) and started the intro to the final encore of the evening - the trademark closer Black Wind Fire And Steel. This song is one of my all-time faves and the guys again did it with dignity and pride. The 10 minute long outro with strings tearing, showing the Sign Of The Hammer and everything was pure magic. First Eric then Joey hailed the entire audience and promised to return - as I promised to see them again deep in my heart. And I know I will.
Joey threw his pick and strings and Scott his drumsticks as the guys left the stage for the one final time while the majestic The Crown And The Ring marked the end of this wonderful and majestic evening - the best in my life.
And to make things even better I managed to persuade one of the technicians (not the Harley guy from the video :-) ) to run on stage and get me one of the setlists (from Eric's side of the stage) - it's boldly stuck on my wall right now and forever will be (togeter with a footprint from Karl or Eric!).
Feeling exhausted but happy as man can be I left the Hall and walked into the cold Munich night. The show went on for almost 2 and half hours, 10 less than I had to travel the next day to get back to Croatia. Ah well, at least the loving memory of the show kept me warm for the entire time.
HAIL & KILL!
MARKO ELIJAŠ (a.k.a. ManOwarrioR) from CROATIA
