Accept

Metaldays - 2015

Text: Tobias Nilsson Photo: Lunah Lauridsen

The big band on campus on the third day of Metaldays, was the classic heavy metal outfit from Germany known as Accept.
An iconic band such as this was sure to draw a crowd, but could they live up to the expectations for a headliner?

Well, they sure had the looks for it! The stage was nicely decorated by several speakers, and a ramp for the drum-podium. A ramp that would later reveal smoke cannons, but we weren’t quite there yet.
The band members were also decorated, their black outfits decked with bling, as the kids of today would call it.
It wasn’t just this kind of eye candy that the band provided either. No, they were also delivering on the good old synchronized instrument swinging, and a lot of other classical power poses. This was truly a metal show through and through!
I’ve always had a hard time completely understanding what Mark Tornillo says when he speaks between songs, and this show was no different, but on the other hand his impressive pipes does well during the songs, and that’s really all we require, isn’t it?
Tornillo wasn’t the only one showing off either. During No Shelter, Wolf Hoffmann and Peter Baltes, the two original members of the band, got to show their strength in an expanded solo section, although they were tasteful enough not to let it get out of hand in length.

It wouldn’t be a true metal show, if the audience wasn’t involved as well, now would it? With a back catalogue like Accept, you just know there would be a lot of sing-along choruses filling the set. It truly began with Restless And Wild, then had some ups and downs during the show, until the night was blasted by the super hit Balls To The Wall at the end of the show.
Accept had indeed managed to pull a very large crowd, but it wasn’t one of those wild, must moshpit or die sort of events. Then again, they’re not a band that lends themselves to that kind of activity. Instead, we saw a crowd enjoying the in a calm and collected manner, if you don’t count the many headbangers in the front of course, or the few crowd surfers that sailed by once in a while. This was Metaldays after all, can’t have a concert without crowd surfers.

I too enjoyed the concert, and even though Accept has never been one of my favourite acts, they always seem to deliver a solid and entertaining show. This night was no exception, and I for one can readily accept (pun intended) them as headlining all sorts of metal festivals.

Setlist (incomplete):

Stalingrad
Restless And Wild
Dying Breed
Final Journey
Shadow Soldiers
Losers And Winners
Midnight Mover
No Shelter
Princess Of The Dawn
Dark Side Of My Heart
Fast As A Shark
Balls To The Wall

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