By Andrew Bansal
[Photos by Chad Alexander]
October 4th 2013, House Of Blues Sunset Strip, West Hollywood CA: Following a short run of dates in 2011, British heavy metal veterans Saxon are back in the States on a full headline tour, this time with support bands Fozzy and Halcyon Way, and are not only bringing their legendary classic material onto the stage but are also presenting songs from their latest album ‘Sacrifice’, which is a strong release by all means and like all of their recent releases, it yet again proves the relevance and timelessness of this band. Now approaching the home stretch of the tour, Saxon visited the House Of Blues on the Sunset Strip last night to play for an audience that was more than eager to see them.
The doors opened at 8 PM and the show began at 8:30 with the first band Halcyon Way taking the stage. Unfortunately this band from Atlanta, Georgia failed to impress me or this crowd. I’d give them props for the effort and energy they put in as they tried their best to entertain this crowd, and their music had elements of old-school and modern metal, but from the point of view of this audience, it was neither here nor there. Halcyon Way weren’t really able to bring any redeeming qualities to the stage that would win them any new fans. Nonetheless, it wasn’t a terrible way to start the show by any means, and if anything it made the audience even more eager for Saxon.
Fozzy, the band led by wrestling superstar Chris Jericho, was next to hit the stage at around 9:15, and played a 45-minute set of what I would describe as modern, radio-friendly hard rock. For a metalhead in America, it’s almost impossible to form an unbiased opinion of Fozzy, because metalheads are supposed to be rebellious against pop culture and in many ways Chris Jericho is a pop icon. As I had expected, most of the Saxon fans in this audience weren’t appreciative of Fozzy’s efforts and had the pre-conceived notion that the band was going to sound bad, no matter what. As for myself, I thought Fozzy did a great job at the style of music they’re pursuing and granted the fact that it’s certainly not a hardcore Saxon/traditional metal fan’s cup of tea, Jericho, Rich Ward and the gang gave it their all and showed that they’re genuinely doing this for real. There was plenty of energy and drive in their performance, and nobody can fault them for that.
Set List:
1. Spider in My Mouth
2. Sandpaper
3. She’s My Addiction
4. God Pounds His Nails
5. Shine Forever
6. Sin And Bones
7. Enemy
8. Blood Happens
The fans started flocking closer to the stage, and by around 10:30 when Saxon appeared on stage, the general admission floor of this venue was nearly packed. They opened up with the title track off of the aforementioned new album Sacrifice, not only a very appropriate way to start the set on this ‘Sacrifice And Sin’ tour, but it’s also an excellent tune that got almost the same appreciation from the crowd as any of the old songs did. The same can be said about the two other songs they played from that album, ‘Night Of The Wolf’ and ‘Made In Belfast’. But as soon as they dusted off the classics starting with ‘Power And The Glory’, for this crowd it was ‘all systems go’. The beers were flowing, the heads were banging, the circle pits were rolling, and the denim and leather jackets were seen in plenty through every nook and corner of the House Of Blues.
To the band’s credit, they presented a largely different set list as compared to the show they played at the now extinct Key Club in 2011, and unlike a lot of these older bands that do a half-hearted, money-grabbing attempt at reviving past glory, Saxon showed that they still put in the effort to dig in to their discography and bring out different tunes not just every tour but for every show. Timeless, ageless old-school metal classics like ‘This Town Rocks’, ‘Never Surrender’ and ‘Heavy Metal Thunder’ decorated the early segment of the set, and things only got better from there onwards as they presented lovely renditions of ‘The Eagle Has Landed’ and ‘Sailing To America’, rare and much appreciated selections in the set. This audience was absolutely loving every minute of this fantastic Saxon performance, and thankfully, in contrast to your typical LA crowds, this gathering of metalheads did not shy away from expressing their gratitude towards the band, as raucous cheers and sing alongs accompanied the set at opportune moments, and at the command of frontman Biff Byford.
Talking of Biff, I was amazed by how great he sounded and honestly had to check that he was actually singing these songs. Before the show he told me he was feeling sick but you definitely couldn’t tell that by his performance last night, which is a true sign of professionalism and just pure greatness. Guitarists Paul Quinn and Doug Scarratt held their own and emanated sweet riffs and solos from their instruments, and during the set they both got their individual moments to shine as well. Nibbs Carter was solid on bass but specially good on the backing vocals which I thought was a huge part of Saxon’s live sound last night, and to round out this excellent lineup of great musicians, drummer Nigel Glockler was just as good behind the kit. Overall, Saxon treated this very grateful crowd to a true old-school metal feast, and all fans gleefully gobbled it up. The fact that Saxon isn’t anywhere near as big or popular as their British counterparts in Iron Maiden and Judas Priest is in itself a travesty, but regardless, the real old-school metalheads will hope for many, many more Saxon tours in the years to come.
Related: Video Interview With Saxon Singer Biff Byford
Set List:
1. Sacrifice
2. Power And The Glory
3. Night Of The Wolf
4. This Town Rocks
5. Made In Belfast
6. Never Surrender
7. Heavy Metal Thunder
8. The Eagle Has Landed
9. Dogs Of War
10.Motorcycle Man
11.Sailing To America
12.Rock N’ Roll Gypsy
13.Guardians Of The Tomb
14.Dallas 1 PM
15.Denim And Leather
16.Wheels Of Steel
Encore:
17.Crusader
18.Strong Arm Of The Law
19.Princess Of The Night
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