Rejuvenated
It was a late decision to make the trip up to Bradford to see Helloween on their ultimately short UK tour. Their latest album 'Keeper of the 7 keys: The Legacy' left this reviewer disappointed and I was fearing they would play a set which would plunder their latest opus a little too much.
The venue was packed to the rafters, all metal heads, all Helloween fans. Quite a different audience to that of Bleeding Through and Coheed and Cambria. It was a traditional metal crowd, long hair, black metal t-shirts and an average age perhaps in the thirties. It's easy to forget Helloween have been chocking out power metal for over twenty years, and have eleven albums to pick a set list from. Last time I caught up with the German five piece was in Nottingham on the Dark Ride tour, a good show but perhaps the cracks in the line-up were beginning to show. Tonight's performance however, was by a band on top of their game, a group re-vitalised with the addition of guitarist Sasha Gerstner and powerhouse drummer Dani Loble. Opening with the overblown epic 'King of a 1000 Years' Helloween were soon into their stride, the song having a lot more impact with a chunky live sound rather than the lacklustre studio production. 'Eagle Fly Free' upped the fervour of the crowd with almost everyone singing along with Andi Deris.
If you've never seen guitarist Michael Weikath perform on stage before, you'd be mistaken if you thought he wasn't interested in the proceeding and would rather be somewhere else, but this is his style. His leers, sneers and rock poses are of a man who's been grimacing for twenty years, and long may he continue. Andi Deris seemed to be suffering from tour tiredness using sustain on his falsetto notes, but his stage presence was commanding and had the crowd in the palm of his hand.
'Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part 2' was the highlight and also the surprise of the evening. The thirteen-minute epic complemented not only 'King of a 1000 Years' but also the superb 'Occasion Avenue'. Follow that with the awesome 'A Tale That Wasn't Right' and the crowd were in pumpkin paradise. The latter of the set had less of an epic feel to it with 'If I Could Fly' and 'Power,' but when I list such hits as 'Future World,' 'Dr Stein,' and 'I Want Out,' you realise that Helloween know what their fans want, and aren't afraid to play their classic material. Dani Loble's drum solo was entertaining if a little unnecessary, the whole set is like a drum solo in itself without him having a five minute spot, but put in some crowd participation in and throw them some Helloween Frisbees, and suddenly it turns into one of the more likable drum solos certainly in my memory. New guitar player Sasha Gerstner also had a spot on his own but was joined in a guitar duel by Dani, with Dani competing with a Fischer-Price toy axe, who says Germans don't have a sense of humour?
Over two hours of Helloween was value for money, a packed crowd and excellent set contributed to a great atmosphere. If only they could be persuaded to headline Bloodstock, I for one would be straight there, and perhaps everybody who turned up tonight would be in front of me. Superb.