The first thing I want to say before I get into the review is a huge THANK YOU to Golden Goose and RayM from the Iron Maiden BB for taking me to the show.
I hadn't met Goose or RayM in person until last night. They are some KICK ASS OLD SCHOOL METALHEADS!! We only knew each other via this BB. They treat me like an old friend and we had an awesome time.
Well on to the task at hand. I drove up to Clifton, NJ which is about an hour and half from where I live. Got lost and had to call Goose to figure out where I was! Luckily I was only around the corner from his house! We said our hellos and went to pick up RayM. From there it was about a 2 hour drive to Long Island.
We arrived at the venue (club) at 7pm. The tickets said SAXON were suppose to come on a 8pm. But the guys working the door said they wouldn't be on until after 9pm. So with sometime to kill we found a bar and got a bite to eat. We exchanged war stories over a few pints! Turns out the 3 of us had been to a few of the same shows.
We decided to check out the venue again. A coupla SAXON fans had shown up and were waiting out front. The door guy let us in and the place was packed with your average bar patrons. Turns out they were having a 9/11 benefit. These people had really no idea what they were in store for. SAXON were due to come out any minute.
A few more SAXON fans started to show up. There were maybe a 100 fans there. And the band finally took the stage at 9:30pm.
The Set List
Killing Ground
Dallas 1pm
Backs to the Wall
Power and the Glory
Broken Heros (dedicated to the heros of 9/11)
Coming Home
Motorcycle Man
Court of the Crimson King
Dragon's Lair
Conquistador/Heavy Metal Thunder (drum solo)
Crusader
Princess of The Night
Encore
Solid Ball of Rock
????????? I can't remember!!!!!
This Town Rocks
As you can see the setlist wasn't very long. And they left out alot of the classics like Wheels of Steel, Denim Leather and Strong Arm. But it was a solid set and they were fantastic. And Fritz Carter's drum solo was amazing! He even had the people in the back that weren't there to see the band clapping! That guy @#%$ ROCKS!!!
Afterwards we went and got our t-shirts. They aren't Killing Ground shirts. They have the Wheels of Steel logo on the front and it says "20 Years" in the hubcap. Nothing on the back. 15 bucks and I was very happy to get one. I saw the band last night in NJ and they didn't have the shirts with them.
So being the little fanboys that we are we decide to go see if we could meet the guys. We went around the building to their tourbus. There were a few other fans waiting and the driver let us on. Biff and the guys were great! They signed everything we had. And there was alot to sign. Some of the fans had their entire SAXON collection! The guys posed for pictures and Nibbs Carter (bassist) came out and had a beer with us. He was @#%$ COOL! The guy is a maniac onstage and a @#%$ RIOT to talk to.
We had to wait for Paul Quinn to come out. So we went back on the bus to get his autograph. He signed my ticket stub. I told the band that I have been into them since I was 12 yrs old (1982). They thank me and the guys for their support. Then I told them the reason I missed them the last tour was because of a family wedding. Biff said you coulda made it to LAMOURS to catch us. We came on very late. You can blame UDO for that! Hehehehehehehe
Well it was time for the guys to shove off to the next gig @ Jaxx Nightclub in Springfield, VA. As the bus was starting to pull away the driver noticed that a fence was blocking his way. He got off the bus and said "Now I know that wasn't there before". Goose, RayM and I helped him lift it up out of the ground and move it.
Off they went! I had a blast this weekend. I made 2 new friends and got to see SAXON twice and hang with them.
Thanks again to Goose and RayM! If all goes well, I'll catch you guys at the ICED EARTH show at the Birch Hill in NJ this coming Friday.
Thanks for reading my review!
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