This shindig was billed Farewell to Accept, and it was a proper farewell tour–with a 90-minute set and a four-song encore that covered all the classics from I’m a Rebel to Russian Roulette. They even unearthed a couple numbers I’d kinda forgotten about (“T.V. War,” “Wrong is Right”), although “Too High To Get It Right” was notably absent from the set list. 😉
Now, I’ve seen Accept a handful of times since they reunited with new singer Mark Tornillo; I also caught U.D.O.’s last Toronto show at the Mod Club, almost four years ago–and he played a few Accept tunes there, too. And while it’s somewhat strange that they both exist as separate touring entities, it’s certainly not unprecedented–anyone remember Eat the Heat?
I guess the deal was that after reuniting for some festival shows seven or eight years ago, Herr Dirkschneider decided that he didn’t want anything to do with Accept anymore, even though his longstanding solo project has always played some of his original band’s stuff on the road–mostly in Europe, mind you. But seeing that there hasn’t been any new U.D.O. material in a while, he figured he’d teach his boys a full, proper Accept set–and his backing band delivered!
It was basically the same backing band he brought on the road in 2013, except the drummer this time wasn’t actually in Accept at one point. But while they didn’t write any of the riffs, these younger guys brought a lot more energy to the stage–and while they only played to about 300 people, they put on a performance fit for 13,000! My throat is still hoarse from all the expected crowd participation…
And hey, I gotta say that after seeing that set, I no longer have any need to catch U.D.O. or Accept in concert again. I really don’t think either outfit could match that output going forward!
