It is not uncommon to see the field in front of either of Wacken’s main stages filled with people when a show is about to begin, but honestly, this was getting ridiculous. I was heading towards the True Metal Stage from the side of the Black Stage, and I could hardly reach further than straight out from the video-screen!

So what had brought about this storming of the holy land of Wacken?
Why, it was an Iced Earth show, and if that wasn’t reason enough in itself, this was to be a very special Iced Earth show; this was the farewell show of the bands longest running vocalist Matthew Barlow, who was (once again) leaving the band for other commitments.
Barlow has always been the favourite vocalist of Iced Earth, and generally seen as the ’real’ one even though he did not join the band until the third album, and as the third vocalist at that. Because of this, it was not surprising to see the many people who had shown up to bid him farewell, and when it had to be done I can’t imagine a better setting than here at Wacken.

1776 rolled out of the speakers prior to the shows beginning, and when the band entered the stage to loud cheers they spared no time but went straight into Burning Times, the classic opener of the Something Wicked This Way Comes album (incidentally the same album that features 1776).
The band was really going at it, and the air was thick with the atmosphere of this epic happening, but still something was wrong; something wicked really had come, and it was the (in)famous Wacken live sound which can most easily be spelled by an S, an H, quickly followed by an I and ended with a T. The capitals are intended.
This time though, Wacken was really outdoing themselves in utter crapiness on the soundbit, and it was especially sad since this was an event which really didn’t deserve it. Thankfully they tampered and improved upon it during the entire gig, but this only meant that it went from bloody awful to bad, and throughout the entire thing, this was certainly the concerts biggest drawback.

On the upside we had a band which really put its heart and soul into performing!
The first three songs were played back to back, but after this Barlow began speaking to us between the songs on topics varying between normal introductions of the coming songs to more personal stuff like his warm family feelings towards the band and especially Jon Schaffer (which he in fact is related to via being married to the guitarist’s sister). These feelings came especially much to their right towards the end of the concert, where Schaffer also said goodbye to his old friend on behalf of the band and himself after which they hugged it out, and it even looked like Barlow got a bit wet at the corner of his eye.
The crowd didn’t hold back in showing their own feelings and shouted loudly in response to the feelings on display, and also to bid their own farewell to the great singer.

The set showed a nice variety of songs from Iced Earth’s old and recent history, with the main focus on Barlow’s time in the band. It held a few surprises, but on the whole it was some very recognisable and a bit predictable songs which had been chosen for the concert. What surprised me the most though was not an inclusion of a special song, but rather the complete exclusion of the bands entire last album, The Crucible Of Man: Something Wicked Part Two. I guess they felt they had played enough of it on the tour of that album, but still, ending with Come What May would have been a nice touch...
One of the exceptions to this rule came with a comment from Barlow about how they always started out by saying that it was a love-song when they came to the song taken from Horror Show, but it wouldn’t be today, unless of course you had a really sick and twisted sense of love. Ok, so it wasn’t going to be Dracula, that much was clear; in my heart I made a silent wish for Damien, but was not to be as we instead got to hear Jack. An excellent song in many ways, but far from the strongest one on the album.
The end came about much as the beginning had, i.e. songs being delivered back to back without breaks. This time it was the three first chapters of what is known as the Something Wicked Saga (Prophecy, Birth Of The Wicked, The Coming Curse) which saw the band displaying one of the highlights of their career.
After this there was a short break, after which the band re-entered the stage, and with the help of the audience the final track of the day, Iced Earth, was called down on us. When it was done, the band had another hug-out as they bid one last farewell to Barlow, and then they proceeded to throw picks, sticks and stuff out to the fans who eagerly awaited some form of memorabilia of the concert.

What may be seen as one of the most remarkable shows in the history of Iced Earth could certainly have been helped better along the way by a longer setlist with a few more surprises in it, and most certainly by a sound worthy of such a successful act; on the other hand, the heart, nerve and atmosphere did lots to weigh up for this, and in the end I can’t think of a better way or place to end the Barlow era of Iced Earth.
Let us only hope that the future career of the band will be able to live up to its great history...

Setlist:

1776
Burning Times
Declaration Day
Vengeance Is Mine
Violate
Last December
I Died For You
Jack
The Hunter
Prophecy
Birth Of The Wicked
The Coming Curse
Iced Earth