Once I heard Anvil was going to be back in the country to support their recent album release, Anvil is Anvil. With a full UK tour, making a stop at the Gloucester Guildhall, I had to jump at the chance to go and see the legendary Anvil!
Upon arriving at the venue, I was greeted with probably the best Anvil merchandise I had have ever seen at one of their shows; been to five Anvil gigs (I'm a fan), this by far was a treat and wasted no time in supporting the band and getting a shirt!.
Once I had made it into the main hall for tonights show, it didn't take long for the first support band of the night to hit the stage, Mystery Blue.
Mystery Blue hailing from French are led by Nathalie Geyer on Vocals, Frenzy Philippon on guitar, Sylvain Ebersoldt on Guitar, Vince Koehler on the Drums and Steph Noerberg on Bass.
Founded back in 1982 by Frenzy Philippon, this French band hit the top and then sadly decided to call it quits after in-band combustion, the band reformed and after a few line-up changes, hit the stage at the Guildhall.
Mystery Blue put on a very entertaining but a hard hitting metal riff show for the fans in attendance. The guitar playing of both Frenzy and Sylvain was very early Judas Priest and at times Slayer like which I enjoyed.
The band had a very tight playing sound and just flowed very smoothly on stage, not at any point did Mystery Blue lose any of the momentum that they hit the stage. Would defiantly see Mystery Blue again!
After a quick set change Germanys young thrashers Rezet was up!
Founded in 2003, Rezet are a fresh, fast paced, young thrash European metal band. As soon as they hit the stage at the Guildhall they took no time ensuring that the crowd if they wasn't headbanging after the opening riff that they would soon be. Leading the heavy sounding thrash attack is Ricky Wagner on Lead Guitar and Vocals, followed by Lucas Grümmert on Lead Guitar and Back-Up Vocals, Bastian Santen on Drums and Back-Up Vocals and Bjarne Otto on the Bass Guitar.
The guys put on a solid set, providing all the genres of metal; speed, thrash and death, with the Rezet touch. Just as Mystery Blue, Rezet was very tight sounding and the guitar solo by Lucas Grümmert was faultless, the double bass pedal work of Bastian Santen had me tapping my foot along the best I could at times. The highlight of their set was the song Gargantua, this was a proper heavy thrash metal song. Just check it out online and if you get a chance go see Rezet live so you can experience this beast live!
After a major stage swap over, the mighty Anvil logo and iconic drum kit where set in place, the time had come for the Canadian legends to hit the stage and show the dedicated fans in attendance, why theyare classed as the pioneers of many genres of metal.
As the mighty Robb Reiner took his seat behind the drum kit, he was shortly followed by the very talented but entertaining Chris Robertson on bass, this only left the main man Steve "Lips" Kudlow to make his entrance and as always he made sure he gave the fans at the Guildhall the best metal show they have seen. As soon as he walked on to the stage he gave the fans in attendance a surprise by climbing down the stairs, near the stage and made his way into the crowd with his guitar. After a quick introduction and speech within the crowd, Lips and the band hit off the set with the instrumental belter March of the Crabs; which Lips played every second of that song surrounded by the fans; why cant all metal bands take the opportunity to get this close to their fans!
Once the song came to a close. Lips made his way to the stage, to join his band mates for the rest of the evening, in no time wasted band got into their next song 666, then followed by Ohh Baby which has been rarely played on their previous tours, this was a special treat for myself as I highly rate the album this is from Hard and Heavy.
Anvil played all their regular hits during their set such as Winged Assassins, This is Thirteen and Metal on Metal. While filling out the rest of their set with newer tracks from their recent album Anvil is Anvil with songs Daggers and Rum and then Die for a Lie.
There was a few highlights of the night, first up was jaw dropping drum solo from Robb Reiner, very few bands nower days are giving their band members a chance to shine and Anvil make sure each member has their moment with the fans, I clocked Robb Reiners drum solo in at 4 or 5 minutes long, proving why he is the legend that he is on the mighty Anvil drum kit! Next was the Lips trademark guitar solo with a dildo during the song Mothra, he shows you what you can really do with a guitar and dildo during a guitar solo, seeing is believing, just check out a youtube video of it. Then lastly, which was a real treat as Anvil very rarely do covers, covered the song made famous by Mars Bonfire, Born to be Wild and boy did the guys nail it spot on.
Every time I see Anvil they put on a great show and if your not a fan of old school metal or rock, for the entertainment of the show, you won't be leaving disappointed after the show.
Mystery Blue 4/5
Rezet 4/5
Anvil 5/5
Review By Rob Knight |
