Blind Guardian & Grave Digger Conquer Anaheim

Review & photos by Andrew Bansal

image

November 21st 2015, City National Grove Of Anaheim, Anaheim CA: It is not often that German power metal veterans Blind Guardian tour the United States. In fact, as what has become a rule of thumb for the band, it happens only once every album cycle. But whenever a Blind Guardian show gets announced, fans get excited uncontrollably and most of them purchase tickets the day they go on sale, and as a result, every Blind Guardian visit is an event in the real sense. Now 30+ years and 10 albums deep into their career, Blind Guardian are currently touring North America in support of their 2015 Nuclear Blast Records full-length release ‘Beyond The Red Mirror’, and played a show at the Grove of Anaheim last Saturday November 21st. It was their only Southern California appearance of this run, the first since the gig at Fonda Theatre in Hollywood in December 2010, and the first Anaheim show since 2006. Besides the rarity of their own live show, there was also the added bonus of fellow Germans Grave Digger as support act, on their first ever tour of this continent. Metal shows usually do not draw well at the Grove, but this one certainly did, and an excellent turnout here witnessed an unforgettable show.

Grave Digger
Grave Digger

Doors opened at 7, and promptly at 8, Grave Digger took the stage for a 10-song, 50-minute set that served as a glorious representation of everything they stand for. From the looks and sounds of it, they succeeded in drawing their own fans to the show, as was evident from the loud chants of their name in between songs, and the volume of the crowd during the singalong segments of the music. They catered to this demographic, labeled ‘nerd metal’ by Blind Guardian singer Hansi Kürsch, but were musically far different from the headliner, presenting more of an old-school Accept-like metal sound with unapologetically cheesy lyrics not based on any mythological themes. ‘Excalibur’ was without doubt one of the highlights of the set, given singer Chris ‘Reaper’ Boltendahl’s enunciation of the ‘bur’ part and the crowd singing along to it in the exact same manner. Grave Digger has as many as 17 albums in their catalog, the latest effort ‘Return Of The Reaper’ released in 2014 via Napalm Records, and the band played two songs off of it in this set. But the most entertaining portion of their performance was definitely the set-ending ‘Heavy Metal Breakdown’, with the band stopping the it mid-way, the frontman getting the crowd roaring, and then resuming to finish the song. It was as if Grave Digger did an encore without even doing so. A fantastic set that warrants the return of this legendary cult band to these parts sooner than later.

Photos:

Set List:
01. Headbanging Man
02. The Round Table (Forever)
03. Witch Hunter
04. Ballad Of A Hangman
05. Season Of The Witch
06. Excalibur
07. Tattooed Rider
08. Highland Farewell
09. Rebellion (The Clans Are Marching)
10. Heavy Metal Breakdown

Blind Guardian
Blind Guardian

At 9:15, Blind Guardian appeared on stage and began what would end up being a 130-minute set, playing just about everything their fans would have expected or hoped to hear, and in the process presenting a truly comprehensive, career-spanning set that gave the paying attendees far more than their money’s worth. Three songs into the set, frontman Hansi Kürsch announced that the show was being recorded for possible inclusion on a Blind Guardian live album slated for release in the near future, and the crowd’s excitement went through the roof as the collective roar went on at least a couple of minutes. It wasn’t like these fans needed any additional motivation to reciprocate the band’s performance with maximum energy and volume, but they sure got it with this announcement, and from then on, the atmosphere reached a peak that was maintained throughout the show.

Five songs in, one dude in the front yelled out a request for the song ‘Majesty’, and spreading like wild fire, the whole crowd started chanting for that song, so much so that the band actually played it immediately. Considering that the song was already listed as #15 on the set list, it was quite rare and commendable on the band’s part to go with the crowd’s request and change the set on the fly, instead of simply telling the fans to wait for it. The song’s original placement in the set was apt, as it would have taken the audience into delirium 14 songs into the performance, but it was clear that this crowd was already at that point just 5 songs in. The band’s rendition of the song as well as the crowd’s response were beyond incredible, and if they’d kept playing ‘Majesty’ on an endless loop for the whole show, everyone would still be rocking out. “Can we please play the regular set from now on?” said the singer after this song, and the band did resume the originally planned set, but added ‘Into The Storm’ in place of where ‘Majesty’ would have been.

image

Every item in the set was a gem in itself, whether it be the newer material or the classics, and each song was appreciated to the maximum by the crowd, leaving Blind Guardian with absolutely not regretting their decision to record this show. Hansi Kürsch revealed in a pre-show interview with Metal Assault that three of his bandmates were ill, but you couldn’t tell that based on the performance. As for Kürsch himself, he was at the peak of his powers as a vocalist and frontman. Every time he takes a stage around these parts, he proves himself to be the most metal frontman with the most un-metal personality. The fans absolutely love him, and whether or not one has any clue about any of the fantasy themes he refers to while introducing the songs, he holds an undeniable sense of command over the entire audience, and all his prompts and instructions are gleefully obeyed.

There are a lot of bands that enjoy an equally large or larger fanbase as compared to Blind Guardian, fans that invariably pay money to buy albums and concert tickets to support these bands, but in terms of sheer dedication and in-depth knowledge, Blind Guardian fans are second to none, and one can tell from being at a concert like this that the fans really know everything about the band’s music. The band’s supreme professionalism in the performance combined with these qualities of the crowd make Blind Guardian shows thoroughly enjoyable events. Metal Assault has attended and reviewed more than 300 shows in 2015, and this was hands down one of the very best. After playing 12 songs in the main set followed by two 3-songs encores, the band said their final goodbye, promising to not take another nine years before returning to Anaheim.

Blind Guardian and Grave Digger combined to orchestrate an overwhelmingly triumphant event here at the Grove of Anaheim, and attendees certainly found it to be worth the wait and then some.

Photos:

Set List:
01. The Ninth Wave
02. Banish From Sanctuary
03. Nightfall
04. Fly
05. Tanelorn (Into the Void)
06. Majesty
07. Prophecies
08. The Last Candle
09. Lord Of The Rings
10. Time Stands Still (At The Iron Hill)
11. Bright Eyes
12. Imaginations From The Other Side
Encore:
13. Sacred Worlds
14. Twilight Of The Gods
15. Valhalla
Encore 2:
16. Into The Storm
17. The Bard’s Song – In The Forest
18. Mirror Mirror

Remaining Tour Dates:
11/24/2015 Gas Monkey Live – Dallas, TX
11/25/2015 Warehouse Live – Houston, TX
11/27/2015 The Masquerade – Atlanta, GA
11/28/2015 The Plaza Live – Orlando, FL

If you like what you’ve read, support Metal Assault and buy us a drink:

 

Comments

comments