Saxon
Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton
18 April 2011
Back in the 80’s as a young lad, I witnessed my first Saxon show during the Strong Arm of the Law tour. 30 years later I have been transported back to that night. The only thing different from then too now is the cross section of ages. There must be 3 generations here. Opening the set is new tune “Hammer of the Gods”, Straight into “Never Surrender” and “Motorcycle Man” which whips the crazy Wolverhampton crowd into a frenzy! We head to Dallas 1pm before the title track of the new album “Call to Arms”. Biff makes a reference to Download Festival, or Donington as he still say’s it should be called, before introducing “And The Bands Played On”. A couple more new songs including “When Doomsday Comes”, the classic sing-a-long “Denim & Leather” before “Princess of the Night” brings the main set to a close.
After a short break we’re off again. The 1000 strong crowd lap up the encores. “Crusader” and fan favourite “747” before they leave the stage briefly once more. Curfews broken and they return to play the final 2 songs “Strong Arm” and “Wheels of Steel” which is a fitting tribute to a fantastic evening of metal. Saxon have been pumping out quality shows for as long as I can remember and tonight is no exception. Biffs voice is still amazing after all these years. They performed 22 songs tonight and with the set coming in at 2 hours not many young’s bands of today play for that long. They didn’t disappoint, always true professionals, deserving every bit of respect they received.
You’ve heard the phrase “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it” and Saxon don’t need to fix 1 single thing.
Review by Mark Howell
