{"id":1678,"date":"2015-06-09T16:29:44","date_gmt":"2015-06-09T23:29:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/metalassault.com\/articles\/?p=1678"},"modified":"2015-06-18T09:18:54","modified_gmt":"2015-06-18T16:18:54","slug":"tour-blog-return-of-the-demon-part-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/metalassault.com\/articles\/2015\/06\/09\/tour-blog-return-of-the-demon-part-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Tour Blog: Return Of The Demon – Part 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Andrew Bansal<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Following seven shows in seven days on the East Coast, Night Demon rolled into our most anticipated and eagerly awaited portion of the tour: the Ohio chapter. For Night Demon, this is the heart of it all, and deserves its own blog entry. So this part of the tour blog chronicles our experiences in Hilliard and Cleveland, but before that, check out Parts 1<\/a><\/strong>, 2<\/a><\/strong> and 3<\/a><\/strong> first if you haven’t yet.<\/p>\n

Day 33 (06\/03): Satan’s Den<\/strong><\/p>\n

We arrived in Hilliard, which in itself was historic because it is highly improbable that anyone had done a show in the town of Hilliard prior to this momentous event at “Satan’s Den”, a garage that belongs to one of Night Demon’s biggest fans on the planet, Steve Yoder. As the van pulled in to the parking space outside the garage, the scene was just incredible, with everyone dressed in Night Demon shirts, the garage and the adjoining house surrounded by vast stretches of open fields. It was like a metal oasis in the middle of no man’s land, and all the metalheads were already gathered here even before us. The sheer sight of the amazing Night Demon cake these people had prepared specially for this gig was surely a telling sign of what was to follow. Jim ‘Nostradamus’ Bartek was the first to greet us on arrival. This is the guy who made headlines by listening to Judas Priest’s Nostradamus album for 524 days straight, and now he’s on a 135-day streak with the Night Demon album. Let that sink in for a second. The dude who listened to Judas Priest for a year-and-a-half is now trying to do the same with Night Demon.<\/p>\n

The actual setup for the show, including the stage, the PA, the merch area and everything else, was a lot more professionally done in comparison to some of the clubs we’ve visited on this tour, which says a lot for the effort put in by Steve Yoder and his crew. Seeing the unmatchable level of enthusiasm amongst Hilliard\/Columbus locals in the leadup to the gig, we expected great things but the show eventually exceeded all of our expectations and turned out to be the best house\/garage party we have ever been a part of. Loading in and loading out was easier than ever, with so many people willing to lend helping hands. There were Night Demon picture collages, records, celtic crosses and posters displayed on the wall, and we were treated to a hefty supply of Iron Maiden Trooper beer cans, aptly stored in coolers with Night Demon stickers on them. Night Demon played every song in the catalog to deliver an epic 18-song set to these superfans and they loved every moment of it. I got the biggest cheer I’ve ever had for my appearance as Rocky, and after the set I was being asked to sign autographs on the tour program, which hadn’t happened before on this tour, not to this extent. This will go down as an unforgettable occasion in the band’s history, and I get a feeling only the Yoders can surpass its magnitude with an even larger-scale house party the next time. I would even encourage them to organize shows with other bands performing at Satan’s Den on a regular basis and convert it into a legit venue, because they’ve clearly shown that they can do anything for a band they love.<\/p>\n

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The fan-following for the band has been so great in the state of Ohio, it leaves us in no doubt that the band’s most dedicated American fans reside here, and that’s why we invested in a super-limited edition shirt design made exclusively for Ohio, with the state’s outline and motto printed on the front. These shirts sold like hot cakes in Hilliard, as people were definitely thrilled by the fact that Night Demon cared to make them a special shirt, so much so that at one point I was getting worried about whether we’d have any left for the Cleveland show. Hilliard treated Night Demon like royalty, and it felt unreal.<\/p>\n

More photos (click to enlarge):<\/strong><\/p>\n