WACKEN HOSTS ACCEPT'S GREATEST NIGHT AS THE RAIN COMES DOWN, DOWN
Wacken Open Air 2017, Thursday
4th August 2017
It was Heavy Metal uber alles on Wacken Donnerstag as the ground shook with the sheer power of the greatest music in the world.
Skyline kicked off main stages proceedings and their rendition of Savatage's 'Gutter Ballet' brought back memories of two years ago when Jon Oliva's returning heroes created history by performing simultaneously over both stages with Trans Siberian Orchestra.
Another spectacular was in store tonight with Accept due to perform with the Czech Symphonic Orchestra after dark and Doro Pesch offered a taste of true German Metal beforehand as she joined the Texans for rousing versions of Wacken anthem 'We Are The Metalheads' and Warlock classic 'All We Are' which were rapturously received.
The Ross The Boss Band were next up after near catastrophe was averted. Mike Le Pond's bass guitar didn't complete the journey to Hamburg and is still missing in action, believed to be in Warsaw, but a replacement was found in good time and Mike ended up playing an absolute blinder.
So did the whole band, as an army of immortals that stretched back as far as the eye could see sang every single word of these glorious battle hymns.
Frontman Marc Lopes told the crowd that this was the most memorable day of his life and Ross, his boss, was equally thrilled when presented with the very first Global Metal Ambassador Award just after the band had completed their rousing set.
Here's the ceremony in full - you may recognise some familiar faces from around the office. Rumours that Ross now wishes to be addressed as Mr Ambassador are quite possibly true.
Europe are held in high esteem by their contemporaries and on this showing, there is no denying that their place in rock history is set in stone. The audience lapped up every note and raised the metaphorical roof when they concluded with that song - you know which one we mean. A captivating performance full of energy and panache.
Photo Credit: Liz Medhurst
Status Quo also navigated their way through a near disastrous moment when an on-stage water spillage occurred and covered Richie Malone's pedal box, causing him problems during the intro to 'Whatever You Want' but Herr Rossi guided him out of danger and parity was restored.
It was a surprise when Quo were announced for Wacken but the decision was more than justified by the adulation from probably the biggest crowd the veteran rockers have played to for some years.
Speaking to MetalTalk during a violent thunderstorm that nearly floored the Wacken bull in the artist hospitality area, Quo bass player John 'Rhino' Edwards told us that Francis Rossi was initially unsure that they should accept this engagement but they came, they saw, they conquered and it was simply magnificent as a muddy field full of thousands of hardcore German Metalheads boogied along to some of the greatest British rock classics of all time.
The Accept extravaganza more than lived up to expectations as the Teutonic terrors blew Wacken to bits with a stunning performance that left the masses enthralled.
The three part set worked beautifully and this legendary band opened up with the world premiere of new album opener 'Die By The Sword' and blitzed their way through five top tracks including new single 'Koolaid' from 'The Rise Of Chaos' which is released today.
Wolf Hoffmann's comrades then took a break as the maestro was joined on stage by the multi-piece orchestra who really brought the songs from 'Headbanger's Symphony' to life on the world's biggest Metal stage.
The full band returned and slayed the crowd, leaving them in awe with orchestral versions of 'Metal Heart', 'Balls To The Wall', 'Fast As A Shark' and more.
Wolf told us on Friday morning that he wants to do more performances with an orchestra and you can see what else he had to say about last night's spectacular in our forthcoming article.
For now, here's last night's full Accept show, for your enjoyment. More from Wacken to follow soon.
And in case you missed it, here's the recap of Wacken Wednesday.
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