Brussels/Astoria.

[Paxoman]

I really didn't think I would make it to Brussels because I have been so ill the past week. But thank god I got over it because I've just enjoyed a great weekend!

Brussels was a fantastic gig, and the gig was pretty much sold out. The setlist went something like this (in more or less this order) -

Into.
Heavy metal thunder.
Dogs of war.
Motorcycle man.
Still fit to boogie.
Court of the crimson king.
This town rocks.
20,000ft.
Dallas 1pm.
Broken heroes.
Cut out the disease.
Battlecry/Warrior/drum solo/Battlecry.
Eagle has landed.
Princess of the night.
Coming home (first time played on this tour apparently).
Crusader.
Requiem.

Encores -

Solid ball of rock.
Bass solo/Strong arm of the law.
Denim & Leather.
Guitar solo/Wheels of steel.
747.

Sammi and I met up with Saxonmckenz, his girlfriend, and his mate before the gig for a drink. It was nice meeting you Saxonmckenz. It was just a brill time in Brussels. I would definitely go again.

No sooner were we back from Brussels then it was time to go to the Astoria! Got there just after 6pm and couldn't find anyone from this site. But then after a while we ran in to Fingers and his mates. Had a good laugh and a few beers. Nice meeting you Fingers, hopefuly meet up at another gig.

I thought it was funny that Biff tore up the setlist early on during the astoria gig. But then went on to play almost exactly the same set as Brussels! Apart from Bands played on replacing Coming home. And Crusader and Strong arm of the law swapping places on the setlist. And I don't think they played Broken heroes at the astoria, which they did in Belgium. Apart from that it was the exact same setlist.

I must say there were some complete wankers down the front at the astoria. It never ceases to amaze me how stupid and ignorant some people are at the front at rock gigs. Still, all you have to do is bide your time and wait for the right song to come along, and wait for the crowd to go crazy. And then you accidently kick the fuck out of the tosser who has been pissing you off all night!

Still, apart from that it was a great night and a great weekend. As Biff would say - "it was fooking fabulous"

 

[Crusader]

God I wish I was there!

Originally posted by Paxoman
I must say there were some complete wankers down the front at the astoria. It never ceases to amaze me how stupid and ignorant some people are at the front at rock gigs. Still, all you have to do is bide your time and wait for the right song to come along, and wait for the crowd to go crazy. And then you accidently kick the fuck out of the tosser who has been pissing you off all night!

I think one of them was younger saxon fan!

 

[Fingers]

A great night absolutely excellent gig, shame about some pratts at the front. But how good was it to see the place pretty much sold out, the look on Biff and Quinny's face's at times said it all.

Great to meet you Pax and Sammi, we must meet up again.

 

[Black Lagoon]

Lucky Bastards! Glad you all had a good time. Roll on Part 2 of the tour!!

 

[Sammi951]

Yeah, I know what you mean Fingers...I commented to Paxoman myself after the Brussels gig how chuffed and proud Biff looked - he stood there looking out at the crowd and you could just see that he was absolutely loving it and enjoying himself so much

Paxoman commented that even Paul Quinn was smiling...apparently a rare thing!! I was down at the very front at both gigs

The thing that pissed me off (at both gigs, but especially The Astoria) was that there were people down at the front that just didn't "join in" at all - they didn't sing, clap, jump, point or anything, and some of them looked positively bored and some had ear plugs in!! So this begs the questions:-

1) Why the HELL go to the gig in the first place and

2) Why stand right at the front if they weren't gonna join in, why not let the real fans get down there and enjoy themselves?

Bunch of bastards, that's what I say!

 

[Sammi951]

Oh, was lovely to meet you too Fingers...bet your mate with the "nice" t-shirt will be giving me a wide berth though eh??

Hey, just out of interest, how did you guess that that was me and Paxoman? I was looking for ages down the pub, but couldn't for the life of me "identify" anyone off here by their descriptions!!

Oh well, maybe we should all have worn name badges, you know, like they do in "singles clubs" Errr, well, so I'm told anyway! Phew, got out of that one nicely, didn't I?

 

[Dan W]

saxon were fantastic

i was at the front on paul quinn's side, i clapped as much as possible and sung whenever i knew the words

my only problem is that i've now seen saxon 3 times, but i only own 2 cds (wheels of steel and strong arm of the law) so my knowledge of saxon lyrics is quite poor

despite that tho i was able to pick up the chorus of some songs 1st time i saw them and those that i had forgot i soon picked up

 

[WILKS]

Well its a long time i last saw saxon live,and what night it was.I was on the same side as Paul Quin and had the time of me life it was the best Saxon show i have ever seen.The set was fucking brill I went with a few mates who only like saxon a tiny bit but they all came away happy.At one point i turned round to see how many people were there and some big bloke lifted me up thinking i wanted to surf before i could say anything i was rolling over the crowd.Not what had in mind but it was funny.Nice to speak to those i met in the pub.What night.

 

[CONQUISTADOR]

Well it looks like I'm not the only one to have had a fucking awsome night. Emma and I made the 'Moon' for about four pm and managed to hook up with Pete form Deby and some of his mates (he said he posts here but I dont know his alias) We were then joined by Nibbs who put away quite a few strong lagers with us while helping out with much sought after questions. He really is a good lad and I wish I knew how to post a couple of the photos I took with him. He said his part of the new album is in the bag (hope I'm not betraying a confidence here) and that one or two others need to get the finger out? As for the gig itself...I can only sympothise with anybody who didn't make it and was delighted that a full house was had. Biff, Saxon and the fans bloody deserved it!

 

[Sammi951]

Ahhh, I was at the front on Nibbs side...well, where else would the laydee's be? That hair, that bod, that guitar playing, that energy!!!! Oooh!!!! I'm gutted now that I didn't see him in the pub!

 

[Peter Day]

Hi Ya Conquistador and Emma,
Well i don't bother with an alias so me is me, i use my name (mainly cause i couldn't think of any thing exciting to call meself at the time of signing on ha ha ha!)
Sounds like you had a great time...yep Nibbs is one of the lads i guess....heay the picture came out alright then... i'm surprised at that i had had a few beers by then. sorry i didn't get to much of a chance to talk to you, but then i guess that gave you more chance to speak to nibbs. I was busy chatting to Vince about Bloodstock and other things (yeah mate Pink is a superb performer i'll let you know next time she plays and maybe we can meet up and go for a lads night out).
I didn't think there were to many tossers at the gig this time round, i mean there were odd few standers! and the odd crowd surfer! Heah Wilks that was you was it, Hi again, where did you disappear to in the pub? Doug and Nibbs side of the front was pretty bouncy but not violent or unfriendly. Where abouts was you standing Paxoman?
great songs could have done with the whole of Warrior and Battlecry though in the set and also what a brilliant song Still fit to boogie is live...i had forgotten how good it is. I think that should silence the critics for some while now.
Looking forward to the next part.....
great news about Hammerfall coming to play the Bloodstock festival....gonna be a good one this year be there! (hint there are rumours of another british band yet to be added!!!!)

 

[younger saxon fan]

hi

sammi was that you down the front on nibbs side, shouting "biff show us your package" and desperate for a knome thing???? cos if you were i was the kid next to you. i convinced my mate not to rip it's head off and to give you the knome. although he did get the hat.

just wondering if it was you????

 

[younger saxon fan]

sorry if one of those wankers down at the front was me..... i was very tanked up on alcohol,
i was on the left at the front and i was the kid who ran on stage and nearly fell over trying to get up the ramp.

i feel i must apologise if it was me.............i don't think it was, but if you thought of me as a wanker.......SORRY.

 

[Dan W]

one question, are wolf meant to be a comedy metal band?

 

[Paxoman]

Peter - I was standing on Nibbs/Dougs side, the bouncy bit! And yes I was bouncing too! Don't get me wrong, if you are gonna go down the front you have got to expect a bit of pushing about and people getting pushed into you. That's no problem for me. What gets on my nerves are wankers who just try to push past you and stand right in front of you. And just generally act in an ignorant manner and show no thought for anyone around them. I had some stupid tosser deliberately push his girlfriend and himself into people just to get as near to the front as possible. But when Denim & Leather came on, every time on the chorus I raised my arm to sing "denim & leather" and punched the bloke in the back of the head on purpose! Hey I'm not a violent man but believe me he deserved it! And I must say it was very satisfying! I won't tell you the treatment I dished out to him during 747!

And there was another bloke who was wearing studded arm bands and you could see that he was deliberately holding his arms up to the back of whoever was standing in front of him. So that person would get pissed off at being studded in the back and move. And then that tosser gets a bit nearer to the front. It's that kind of thing that really pisses me off. On the whole people are as good as gold. But you get the odd wanker who is gonna spoil it for people.

Younger saxon fan - Can't say I noticed you on stage, but I don't think you were one of the 'wankers'. A good job too, because you would have got the subtle revenge of Paxoman!

Anyway, I have given too much word space to people who don't deserve being talked about. But I will say a big thank you to the tall bloke standing right at the front who let Sammi stand in front of him so Sam could see the show. Thanks mate.

It was a great night and I was so chuffed to see the astoria so full. And as Sammi said, you could see what it meant to Biff and the rest of the lads. Apparently the whole tour pretty much sold out, and I was just fearing a poor turn out at the astoria and it being a bad end to the tour. But I needn't have worried because it was packed and everyone done us proud.

If there is a better live band out there, I've yet to see them.

 

[Fingers]

Originally posted by Sammi951
Hey, just out of interest, how did you guess that that was me and Paxoman? I was looking for ages down the pub, but couldn't for the life of me "identify" anyone off here by their descriptions!!

I basically took a flyer, Pax was in a hoody with the "Heavy Metal Thunder" tour dates on so chances were he'd seen a date elsewhere.

Lucky it was you two though or I would have crashed and burned but hey I've never been a shy and retiring type.

As for my mate "Mr Curtains" he loves the attention of a bit of stick, we dig him mercilessly he's a game bloke, he has to be to wear that T-shirt !

 

[Paxoman]

Originally posted by Dan W
one question, are wolf meant to be a comedy metal band?

I don't know about Wolf. But judging by the way the roadies were taking down Nocturnal Rites gear while they were still playing, I think they must have been the comedy act! It was very Spinal Tap!

 

[saxonmckenz]

Brussels was fooking fantastic. I was worried on the Friday night as i couldn't see one advertisement for SAXON, even at the venue. However on the night it was a complete different story. 2000 hardcore fans, most wearing saxon shirts, irons, or AC/DC.
Brilliant crowd and venue. They were recording it for a radio show as well. PAX and SAMMI- great to have met you. There was only a few scattered seats in the balcony that were not filled. I even managed to sell my spare ticket outside.

If SAXON play Brussels again on a Saturday, i am definately going again. The hotel was great only 5mins from the gig and ten from the train station. The airport is the cleanest i have ever seen. Everything was fantastic. Biff and the boys were shocked and proud with the crowd. I,m glad that the ASTORIA was packed. SAXON deserve these venues.

 

[Sammi951]

Younger Saxon Fan - nah, it wasn't me shouting for Biff to show me his package!! But you just reminded me of something - 'cos of all the talk about Biff's "package" on here, I did say to myself some time ago that I would check it out...anyway, I went to TWO gigs and never ONCE had a look in that department!! Damn!! I'm obviously losing my grip on reality...mind you, I was too busy admiring Nibbs I think, but again, I didn't look at his package either! What the hell is wrong with me?? The girls at work will disown me if they knew!!

 

[Sammi951]

Fingers - aww, well I'm glad your mate wasn't upset about me saying he looks like a pervert!! But yeah, he does!! I have to say, I did feel awful the next day about saying it though!! It's up to him what he does, but I'm glad he aint my man!! I did find the t-shirt highly amusing though - so I DO have a sense of humour!!