I hate to self-plagiarize, but this line is good enough for me to recycle: “This was my third time seeing Accept in the last three years, something which, had you told me I’d be saying come 2012 back when I was, well, 12, I’d probably have assumed they’d just invented time travel by then or something.” And since I reviewed the other two gigs for this website (here and here), I figured I’d put up a few words here for posterity–the end of the trilogy, if you will.
First of all, Accept has been a part of some odd couples when it comes to post-reunion North American tour packages. King’s X, Sabaton, and now Kreator. Don’t get me wrong, it’s entirely possible that Mille Petrozza and company cut their teenaged teeth on “Breaker” and “Fast as a Shark,” but their music is much more aggressive and violent than Accept’s. That said, perhaps the oddest part of this pairing was that the (slightly) younger band played last. I guess those old guys need their beauty sleep…
In any case, the veterans put on a solid, if not-quite-spectacular supporting set. Limited to 80 minutes without an encore (although they did dim the lights for the Nazi-era intro to “Fast as a Shark”), there was a greater emphasis on newer material this time around, especially from their latest record, as “Pandemic” and the modern-day anthem “Teutonic Terror” were the only cuts included from Blood of the Nations. To be fair, while I hadn’t given Stalingrad too many spins since its release, I put it on the other day, and hey, it’s a pretty solid modern old-school metal album, indeed. (Seems to me I gave it about an eight at the time–make that an 8.5.) That said, as a longtime fan, I’m more geeked-out to hear old chestnuts like “Aiming High,” “Son of a Bitch” and “Head Over Heels,” which didn’t make the cut this time around.
From a visual standpoint, the band beefed up its backline, adding a whole whack of branded cabinets (which are actually replicas, though they look pretty cool). They still pull off the same vintage stage moves however, with Tornillo being somewhat more expressive than in tours past, and even offering us a bit of stage banter this time around–albeit I don’t think his bit about dedicating “Shadow Soldiers” to the troops goes over as well in Canada as it does in the good ol’ US of A. And yes, they still played all the hits, “Fast as a Shark,” “Restless and Wild,” “Breaker,” “Princess of the Dawn,” “Balls to the Wall” and “Teutonic Terror”–the latter of which firmly belongs in the Accept canon. If they can pull a couple more “Terrors” out of their army helmets in the next studio session, I know I’ll be back for Round 4 (and comeback album number 3)…
In the meantime, you can check out my pictures of Accept, Kreator–and even opening band Swallow the Sun over here.
Peace,
Greg
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