Saxon – Astoria 2006

artist website

venue

impulse buy

‘A Night Out With The Boys’, as Saxon roll into London on St George’s Day for a night of nostalgia, playing tracks exclusively from their first five albums. I didn’t actually realise it was St George’s Day until singer Biff Byford mentioned it. Hadn’t heard a whisper about it until then. St Patrick’s day however (the Irish equivalent), we all talk about for days before hand and all make sure we’re out celebrating it on the day. Patriotism is a funny thing.

But metal doesn’t get more patriotic than Saxon. It’s all about England, and with the crowd booing every other country (and even every other English town) mentioned by Byford, it was apparently all about London, England. So, in honour of Saxon playing in London, England on the day celebrating the patron saint of England, a one-off (for this tour) performance of Lionheart was added to the set. And to round out the tour, equally-aging English metal institutions Blitzkrieg (brought back to the consciousness of the metal public by Metallica’s cover of their classic eponymous track) were along for the ride.

So, the one recent (2003) Saxon track aside, everything else came from the early ’80s, with only the anthemic Crusader not coming from the first five albums. What this really meant in practice was that where new tracks from the current album, whatever that may be at the time, would normally be played, rarely aired old songs were played instead, with most of the ever-green classics filling the rest of the spots as normal.

As can be seen from the setlist below, the usual appearances of 747 (Strangers In The Night), Princes of The Night, Wheels of Steel, Never Surrender and Denim And Leather came as no surprise. So unsurprising, in fact, that the two encores were pretty much spelled out by every fan in the building before the band came back on (made slightly easier by the fact that Biff had already told us they’d be playing Lionheart).

Performance wise the boys were flawless once again. The newer heavier sound they’ve been adopting since about 1995 (with Dogs of War) has revitalised the band, making them serious contenders in a time where metal really does need to be heavy to survive. With Byford in a rather jovial mood, joking and laughing with the crowd and the band alike, and newer guitarist (compared to Paul Quinn, who’s been in the band for 116 years) Doug Scarratt was on amazing form, even turning in a blistering guitar solo at the beginning of the second encore, the atmosphere was one of pure fun. Enjoyment of the show (all 2 hours 15 minutes of it!) was paramount and interruptions were minimal as hit after hit rolled out. Frozen Rainbow was a clear highlight, but the version this night of The Eagle Has Landed was also superb. It’s a shame the Astoria is too small for the famous eagle lighting rig.

With Nigel Glockler back in the band on drums after several years of retirement with an elbow injury it was about as nostalgic as Saxon can get short of the reinstatement of spandex (which Byford joked he wanted to do) and long-exiled members Graham Oliver and Steve Dawson, now of the ‘other’ Saxon. An evening for the elder statesmen of the fan base to remember what it used to be like, and for the younger fans to find out. But it was never this heavy, and it was never this good. There’s no purer metal band on the live circuit today.

“ nostalgia ”

Setlist: Motorcycle Man / Backs To The Wall / Strong Arm of The Law / Never Surrender / Stallions of The Highway / Power And The Glory / Frozen Rainbow / Suzie Hold On / The Eagle Has Landed / Dallas 1PM / Redline / To Hell And Back Again / Crusader / 20,000 Feet / Stand Up And Be Counted / Princess of The Night // Lionheart / 747 (Strangers In The Night) / Heavy Metal Thunder // Doug Scarratt solo / Wheels of Steel / Denim And Leather

Written by Andy Lye
More: Gigs, Heavy Metal, Saxon