Hi!!!
finally back home after our BANG YOUR HEAD appearance - we kicked ass!!
After the usual abuse at the airport fighting over excess baggage,
non-existant legroom and bad in-flight movies we arrived in Stuttgart & were whisked away to a small village a few miles away from the festival - great hotel - great food!! everyone in the town was football mad (world cup) and festival mad too!

We did the warm up show at the WOM club on Thursday just a few miles away
from the main festival site in Balingen Germany, before us was Tim
“Ripper”Owens band “Beyond Fear” - Tim sounding excellent - the new songs
especially!

We did a 65 min set & made sure we mixed it up - we made sure we did
different sets for each gig…
Heres the club set:(AS BEST AS i CAN REMEMBER!)
TAKE CONTROL(1ST TIME SINCE 1985!!!)
LIVE AT THE INFERNO
ALL FOR ONE
CRASH BANG WALLOP
BREAKING YOU DOWN
SPEED/RUN/MIND MEDLEY
INQUISITOR
ON & ON
BREAK THE CHAIN
(with bits of: “ain’t no fun..”-AC/DC, “dog eat Dog - AC/DC, “rock the
nation”-Montrose etc..)
one of the hottest club shows we’ve done - performace AND the temperature!!!
sound was great - audience crazed & we just had a blast!! The guys from
Leatherwolf, Jason from the Flots, the Death Angel guys also - came out to
see the show…
following us Tony Martin played - great melodic metal - and he played a few
Sabbath tunes from the “headless cross” era as well as “children of the sea”
- all in all a great night!

So, back to the hotel, & down to the local bar for …ice cream???? I leave
the beer to my capable cohorts!! & off to kip!!

Friday - the van arrives late, we arrive at the festival site, I am ushered
up to the stage to confer with the stage manager to be told the German
government have some officials checking all the wireless units used by the
bands & only “prescribed frequencies” can be used…fearing I’m gonna be
chained to a mike stand instead of having my headset mike I cross me fingers
& hand over my gear to the govt. guys…they come back & all is well - thank
god!

The stage has a large area backstage with 3 drum kits on risers - the change
over period between bands is an amazing 15 minutes - ultra pro crew - the old drum kit is wheeled off, the new one wheeled on..we set up our racks & pedals…do a quick line check, are introduced & we are on! weather is glorious - not sure how many people but its a LOT..and they are totally into the show!! huge stage with a platform reaching into the crowd & side wings out by the P.A. -
we are all over them of course!
TAKE CONTROL
LIVE AT THE INFERNO
LAMBS TO THE SLAUGHTER
ALL FOR ONE
BREAKING YOU DOWN
ROCK UNTIL YOU DROP
BASS INTERLUDE(TYRANT OF THE AIRWAYS BIT)
Mark’s amp blows up…impromptu bass solo follows as they get him a
Marshall…
SPEED/RUN/MIND MEDLEY
BREAK THE CHAIN
(this time with “I’ don’t need no doctor”-Humble Pie - in the jam bit…)
guitars are trashed & we all end up on the front platform taking a bow -
just THE BEST!!! an amazing reception & we are well pleased!!!

Following getting the gear together & recovering, we meet Horst - the “chef”
of the event and yack for 20 min or so - then its about 4 hours straight of interviews, taped - videoed & live on the radio - we do a signing session and finally get some food!

Great to see Chris Tsangerides after 26 years!!! and hang out with the other
bands - Foreigner play a blinder - hit after hit..squeezing “whole lotta love” into
“juke box hero” and we hitch a ride back to our hotel.

We go back the next day to hustle our demo - meet more bands - Joey & John
from Armored Saint - jeez..its been a while! - and get to watch Count Raven, the Saint(kicking ass) Pretty Maids, Stratovarius & Whitesnake ….and the stripper with the white python!…!!!

off to the hotel for more ice cream/soccer/beer..6.00am wake up and back to the airport!!!

Thanks to Horst & Jagger and all involved with the festival - and to everyone we met - and especially the fans, such a great atmosphere & reception!!!

the show was videoed & we will appear on the offical DVD - probably out next
year..
cheers, John

NOTE: all photos by The Duck & The Chief at CCPHOTOART.biz