Artist: Hammerfall, Krokus & The Poodles

Venue: Bradford Rios, Bradford  

Date:  24 February 2007 

With a bill as impressive as this, it was hardly surprising that as we turned the corner to Rio’s, the crowd for tonight’s gig had already reached well beyond my expectations for the gig.  Even though the rain was pouring from the heavens, the hoards of travel weary metal-heads had turned out in force early to prepare themselves for tonight’s event.

First up on the bill are a band that were one of our main reasons for attending tonight, after hearing the bands debut album ‘Metal Will Stand Tall’ we were delighted that they had been invited to join rock legends Krokus and power metallers Hammerfall for this three pronged rock attack, as all three bands brought their own unique qualities to the stage tonight.

Led by frontman Jakob Samuel, The Poodles have taken their native Sweden by storm and by the reviews of the shows prior to this, the rest of the world have joined in the phenomena that is The Poodles.

Things got under way after the sounds of dogs barking, courtesy of the intro, with the band going for the rock jugular with ‘Forever’.  Instantly the band had the approval of the majority of the Metal-heads in the room tonight, many of whom hadn’t even heard of the Poodles before tonight’s show.   Front-man Samuel came across as a Swedish Vince Neil as he dominated the stage.  The rest of the band weren’t too shabby either, with the immeasurable talent of guitar wiz Pontus Norgren, bassist Pontus Egberg, and completing the line-up Christian Lundqvist on drums.

After giving thanks to childhood heroes Krokus, it was back to business as the band continued the set with the excellent ‘Metal Will Stand Tall’ and with the crowd singing along, it was plain to see they had well and truly won the crowd over by the second song.

Then it was a quick merchandise plug before launching back into the rock with ‘Number One’, a song Jakob dedicated to all those present tonight.

The band showed they also have a heavier side as the crowd slow clapped for the intro into the mood ridden ‘Shadows’, which saw Norgren expose just how talented a guitarist he really is.

With a limited time onstage the band could have quite easily concentrated entirely on the new album, however, they took this golden opportunity to continue things with a new song ‘Seventh Seas’, which is to feature on the bands next new album, hopefully to be released later in the autumn this year.  And if this song is a typical example of the quality of the songs to come, then is going to be another corker from these Hard Rock Heroes.

The band finished off their very impressive, but all too short a set, with the song that got it all started for the band, their entry for the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest ‘Night of Passion’.  A song that saw the band win the hearts of many of the crowd here tonight so let's hope it's not too long before the band are back on these shows.  I for one would love to see the band be part of the Firefest shows maybe on the Day 1 list of bands not yet announced for this year?  If not then perhaps as part of the main line-up for Firefest 5 next year. 

Now on to one of the finest examples of the classic rock sound, the mighty Krokus.  Led by the powerhouse vocalist Marc Storace, this is a band that I haven’t seen for at least 20 years and I for one was really looking forward to this part of the night, and I was right to be excited, as the band showed the rest how it should be done.

The band got things underway with a classic piece of Krokus, the excellent ‘Heat Strokes’.  It sounded every bit as good as it did back in 1980 when it was first released on the bands 'Metal Rendezvous' album, an album that was actually the first outing for Storace as frontman for the band.

Then it was time to bring things back to the now with the first song from the band's excellent new album 'Hellraiser' with the title track ‘Hellraiser’, and with Mandy Meier back in the band, they have found that missing ingredient that made the band so popular back in the 80’s, as he just ripped it up with some excellent slide guitar work.

The band slowed things down a bit after the rocking openers with another song from the new album, the beautifully haunting tones of ‘Angel of My Dreams’, another song that showed off Storace’s immaculate vocals, which still sounded as good as they did the first time round.

Next the band brought the rock big guns out as Meier ripped up a storm once more on the classic ‘Bad Boys, Rag Dolls’, taken from the bands 1982 album 'One Vice At A Time'.  Another song that sounded as fresh and vibrant, even after twenty five years.  The classics just kept on coming as the band once again slowed down the tempo to delve back into the bands 19 album back catalogue to pluck out ‘Screaming In The Night’.

The surprise choice of the set for me tonight was the inclusion of the bands cover version of ‘American Woman’, although it was a great cover, I felt the band have better songs that this to choose from, but maybe they’re leaving those for when they do a full headline show, which will hopefully be in the not too distant future.

It was time for a couple of my all time favourite Krokus tracks as the band went back to the 'Hardware' album for the superb ‘Easy Rocker’, a track Storace dedicated to the audience for staying true to rock music.  This was quickly followed by a rip snorting version of ‘Rock City’ before ending the set with ‘Rock and Roll’, which ended a stupendous set.

Even though like The Poodles it was all too short for my liking, and again like The Poodles I would love to see them again only next time headlining and perhaps giving us more songs from the new album, but also some of the classic songs like 'Long Stick Goes Boom', 'Bedside Radio', 'Midnite Maniac', 'Headhunter' and the like.  I suppose you can't have everything, at least I got to see them perform again live after twenty years of waiting!

Now for what a hefty proportion of tonight's crowd had come to see, Sweden’s Hammerfall.  A band riding high on the positive reviews of their recent album ‘Threshold’.

What better way to start off a set than with the title track ‘Threshold’.  Immediately the horns were thrown aloft from the crowd and even a few plastic swords and a few inflatable guitars were raised by the jubilant metal-heads in the crowd.

I was a little worried by the poor sound quality for Hammerfall, it seemed a little flat at times and you sadly didn’t feel the full impact of the twin guitar assault of Oscar Dronjac and Stefan Elmgren, but this didn’t seem too spoil it for the hoards of fans in the crowd who just erupted every time they recognised any song.

The set continued with ‘Templars of Steel’ from the bands 'Renegade' album, thankfully by this time the sound had improved a little.  Then it was time to really get the crowd pumping as the band went back to their 'Crimson Thunder' album for ‘Riders of the Storm’, which on its finish induced the chants of "Hammerfall! Hammerfall!" from now very excitable crowd.

Now it was time for frontman Joacin Cans to say a few words and thank those who had supported the band over the past ten years.  Then it was back to the metal with ‘Legacy Of Kings’, before returning back to the new 'Threshold' album for what is probably one of my favourites off the album, ‘Rebel Inside’.  Once again the crowd showed their delight at the new material as they united as one entity and hailed their heroes.

Next it was back to the bands fifth album 'Chapter V: Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken' for the next metal assault of ‘Bloodbound’.  After that it was time for the obligatory drum solo by Anders Johannson, which started rather unusually as Anders gave us a solo on the mike stand at the front of the stage before returning to the massive four bass drum kit for a hammering solo, (sorry, couldn’t resist that pun!), before he was joined by the rest of the band for ‘Raise The Hammer’.

The band were joined Cans who introduced the band to the crowd, all of whom gave out a mighty cheer as each member's name was announced, before launching back into the metal with ‘A Legend Reborn’, ‘Renegade’ and ‘Let The Hammer Fall’. Now it was time for Oscar Drunjac to show his prowess on guitar with his solo piece, before he was joined by the rest of the band for another thumping instrumental, this time 'Reign of the Hammer', also taken from the band's new opus.

Joacin announced the next song was for "all the true metal fans" as the band then unleashed the mighty ‘Hammerfall’ before leaving the stage.  With rabid chanting from the fans at deafening levels the band returned to do two encores. 

The first a three parter consisting of ‘Natural High’, the excellent ‘Glory to the Brave’ and then finishing off with ‘Heeding The Call’, before leaving the stage once more only to return to cap off what had been another excellent night with the metal tour de force ‘Hearts on Fire’. 

All of which rounded off a great night from three very different bands, all of who really got the crowd going and it just goes to show that different genres can unite a crowd if the material from all the bands are as good as this.

The Poodles Setlist: Forever, Metal Will Stand Tall, Number One, Shadows, Seven Seas, Night of Passion

Krokus Setlist: Heat Strokes, Hellraiser, Angel of My Dreams, Bad Boys, Rag Dolls, Screaming in the Night, American Woman, Easy Rocker, Rock City, Rock n' Roll

Hammerfall Setlist: Threshold, Templars of Steel, Riders of the Storm, Legacy of Kings, Rebel Inside, Bloodbound, Drum solo, Raise The Hammer, A Legend Reborn, Renegade, Let The Hammer Fall, Guitar solo, Reign Of The Hammer, Hammerfall. Encore Natural High, Glory to the Brave, Heeding the Call, Hearts on Fire.

 

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