(
/79)
Manowar
Magic Circle - 2008
Text: Tobias Nilsson Photo: Lunah Lauridsen
Interview:
(Joey DeMaio) First of all, I'd like to comment on all the rumours floating about, concerning whether or not Def Leppard and Whitesnake will be playing tomorrow. We have just now, a few minutes ago, gotten confirmation saying that both Def Leppard and Whitesnake have chosen to cancel their shows here at Magic Circe Festival. We are at this moment working hard to make arrangements to cover the empty spaces in the program.
Q: Do you know why they are not coming?
A: (Joey) No, at this moment nothing can be said for certain, but I'm pretty sure this has nothing to do with the bands wishes. Possibly there have been some problem on the manager level, but as I said, nothing is certain at this point.
However, I would like to add that Magic Circle Festival does acknowledge that there might have been some fans that have come here for just those two bands, and we are therefore willing to make a form of compensation for those who does not wish t stay for the rest of the festival.
Q: What kind of compensation do you mean?
A: (Joey) For those people who have not entered the festival yet, and have not changed their ticket for a wristband, there will be given the possibility of a full return of the ticket-price. As for those who have already come and seen the bands so far, they will be given the option to leave as soon as we announce this on stage. If they choose to do so, they must give up their ticket and have their wristband cut off at the entrance, and they will then be given a partial refund of their ticket-price. Our hope is that this will satisfy everyone.
Q: Are there any plans of bringing the Magic Circle Festival out of Germany at any point?
A: (Joey) Well, you see, Germany is the stronghold of metal, so this was the perfect place to start this festival up. By metalfans for metalfans.
This does not mean that we wouldn't like to tour other countries as well with the festival, but the most important if we are to do so, is that it can be done without any loss of the great quality we are able to deliver here. No fans should be cheated because they choose to go to one show instead of another.
Q: More and more bands are choosing to play entire albums at live shows, as for example with Iron Maiden for their A Matter Of Life And Death tour and Amon Amarth's upcoming 4 day concert in December. How do you feel about this trend?
A: (Joey) What can I say? Other bands have always copied Manowar, because what we do, we do it for the fans. I think it's about time that other bands begin to realize that they need to do more for their fans, since without the fans, they wouldn't be around.
The real winners of this are the people who really deserve it, and that's all of you who faithfully buy the records and show up to all the concerts.
Q: To continue on this, how was it for you to prepare for this show, with so many songs not played in a long time?
A: (Joey) Oh my God, it was something of an undertaking! Funny thing is, none of us actually remembered many of the old songs, none except for Karl (Logan) here. So he had to run around and show us all what to do. This guy is absolutely amazing, he even had to show me some of the old bass solos I'd have to play.
To make matters worse, Scott (Columbus) couldn't be here since he has just suffered a series of tragedies in his family. Luckily, Rhino was going to be here with Holyhell anyway, and decided to come to our aid.
(Rhino, with a smile on his face) Yeah well, you know, Manowar's stuff isn't that difficult, so it was a pretty quick and easy job to learn all the tunes.
(Joey) Apart from the albums, we are really looking forward to playing the new single, Die With Honor, which has been handed out at the entrance.
Q: A two-night'er with six entire albums is a pretty impressive feat, how will you be able to top this in the future?
A: (Joey) I won't say anything yet, but if you stick around until tomorrow night's show, we'll make an announcement about what will happen for next year that will burn your ass-hair off!
Concert:
And now, for the moment we had all been waiting for; Manowar.
This night we feasted on the complete track-lists from their first three albums; Battle Hymns, Into Glory Ride and Hail To England. Of course, it all kicked off with the self-titled track Manowar as it should be, but after this they pretty much kept to the original order of songs.
And for good reasons most likely. A triple album show a night, that's got to take up some memory space in itself, even without reorganising every song. Most of these songs had not even been played for a very, very long time, so needless to say, this whole idea was impressive, bordering on awe-inspiring. But they pulled it off, and in what a way.
Actually, waiting for the rain to stop caused the concert to start 30 minutes late, but it only served to raise the mood even more in the audience. Also, it meant that the surroundings had time to change into a very scenic landscape, with a golden sky displaying a double rainbow ending near the ever-burning flame standing on its high tower in the festival-area.
While on stage, Manowar performance was put out with perfection, but I think it disturbed the overall feel that they choose to leave the stage as often as they did. There was a break between almost every song.
And of course there were also a couple (or four) of Joey's unavoidable speeches. First off, he gave a somewhat more cocky version of the announcement about Def Leppard and Whitesnake dropping out of the festival than the one he gave at the press-conference. It did have some points though, you have to give the man that much. I quite agree that you can't blame Manowar and Magic Circle for what happened, and the fact that they offered compensation is more than I had expected, and certainly more than I have seen from any other festival I have visited.
He also gave a thank-you speech to Germany, the heavy metal capitol of the world as it has been dubbed, for making it possible to host this festival for the last two years. Of course, there was also a thank you given to all the countries visiting the festival this year. Here he actually had a list prepared, from which he started naming all the countries visiting, but I must admit I gave up writing them down after a while. It ended up with 20+ countries being named after all, and again, that is pretty impressive.
The next speech was an introduction to the new single, Die With Honor, given right before it had its world premiere played live as an encore.
The second encore was the ever so crowd-pleasing Warriors Of The World, which got the biggest sing-a-long of the night going. After this, there was again time for a speech, this time it was the sponsors of the festival that were handed a thanks for their help, belief and support.
And then, as the big finale, Bridge Of Death was played, accompanied by an almost epic fire-show, followed by the always present The Crown And The Ring (Lament Of The Kings) played over the p.a. while everyone was still soaring high on the feelings from the concert.
For this reporter, all the speeches and what comes along with it can be a bit much to stomach sometimes, but I do feel that the songs can definitely hold their own, and seeing them all live (together with the show the night after) made the whole trip to the Magic Circle Festival worthwhile. This was what it was all about, anything else seen was just a bonus.
Setlist:
Manowar
Death Tone
Metal Daze
Fast Taker
Shell Shock
Dark Avenger
William's Tale
Battle Hymn
Warlord
Secret Of Steel
Gloves Of Metal
Gates Of Valhalla
Hatred
Revelation (Death's Angel)
March For Revenge (By The Soldiers Of Death)
Blood Of My Enemies
Each Dawn I Die
Kill With Power
Hail To England
Army Of The Immortals
Black Arrows
Die With Honor
Warriors Of The World
Bridge Of Death
The Crown And The Ring
(Joey DeMaio) First of all, I'd like to comment on all the rumours floating about, concerning whether or not Def Leppard and Whitesnake will be playing tomorrow. We have just now, a few minutes ago, gotten confirmation saying that both Def Leppard and Whitesnake have chosen to cancel their shows here at Magic Circe Festival. We are at this moment working hard to make arrangements to cover the empty spaces in the program.
Q: Do you know why they are not coming?
A: (Joey) No, at this moment nothing can be said for certain, but I'm pretty sure this has nothing to do with the bands wishes. Possibly there have been some problem on the manager level, but as I said, nothing is certain at this point.
However, I would like to add that Magic Circle Festival does acknowledge that there might have been some fans that have come here for just those two bands, and we are therefore willing to make a form of compensation for those who does not wish t stay for the rest of the festival.
Q: What kind of compensation do you mean?
A: (Joey) For those people who have not entered the festival yet, and have not changed their ticket for a wristband, there will be given the possibility of a full return of the ticket-price. As for those who have already come and seen the bands so far, they will be given the option to leave as soon as we announce this on stage. If they choose to do so, they must give up their ticket and have their wristband cut off at the entrance, and they will then be given a partial refund of their ticket-price. Our hope is that this will satisfy everyone.
Q: Are there any plans of bringing the Magic Circle Festival out of Germany at any point?
A: (Joey) Well, you see, Germany is the stronghold of metal, so this was the perfect place to start this festival up. By metalfans for metalfans.
This does not mean that we wouldn't like to tour other countries as well with the festival, but the most important if we are to do so, is that it can be done without any loss of the great quality we are able to deliver here. No fans should be cheated because they choose to go to one show instead of another.
Q: More and more bands are choosing to play entire albums at live shows, as for example with Iron Maiden for their A Matter Of Life And Death tour and Amon Amarth's upcoming 4 day concert in December. How do you feel about this trend?
A: (Joey) What can I say? Other bands have always copied Manowar, because what we do, we do it for the fans. I think it's about time that other bands begin to realize that they need to do more for their fans, since without the fans, they wouldn't be around.
The real winners of this are the people who really deserve it, and that's all of you who faithfully buy the records and show up to all the concerts.
Q: To continue on this, how was it for you to prepare for this show, with so many songs not played in a long time?
A: (Joey) Oh my God, it was something of an undertaking! Funny thing is, none of us actually remembered many of the old songs, none except for Karl (Logan) here. So he had to run around and show us all what to do. This guy is absolutely amazing, he even had to show me some of the old bass solos I'd have to play.
To make matters worse, Scott (Columbus) couldn't be here since he has just suffered a series of tragedies in his family. Luckily, Rhino was going to be here with Holyhell anyway, and decided to come to our aid.
(Rhino, with a smile on his face) Yeah well, you know, Manowar's stuff isn't that difficult, so it was a pretty quick and easy job to learn all the tunes.
(Joey) Apart from the albums, we are really looking forward to playing the new single, Die With Honor, which has been handed out at the entrance.
Q: A two-night'er with six entire albums is a pretty impressive feat, how will you be able to top this in the future?
A: (Joey) I won't say anything yet, but if you stick around until tomorrow night's show, we'll make an announcement about what will happen for next year that will burn your ass-hair off!
Concert:
And now, for the moment we had all been waiting for; Manowar.
This night we feasted on the complete track-lists from their first three albums; Battle Hymns, Into Glory Ride and Hail To England. Of course, it all kicked off with the self-titled track Manowar as it should be, but after this they pretty much kept to the original order of songs.
And for good reasons most likely. A triple album show a night, that's got to take up some memory space in itself, even without reorganising every song. Most of these songs had not even been played for a very, very long time, so needless to say, this whole idea was impressive, bordering on awe-inspiring. But they pulled it off, and in what a way.
Actually, waiting for the rain to stop caused the concert to start 30 minutes late, but it only served to raise the mood even more in the audience. Also, it meant that the surroundings had time to change into a very scenic landscape, with a golden sky displaying a double rainbow ending near the ever-burning flame standing on its high tower in the festival-area.
While on stage, Manowar performance was put out with perfection, but I think it disturbed the overall feel that they choose to leave the stage as often as they did. There was a break between almost every song.
And of course there were also a couple (or four) of Joey's unavoidable speeches. First off, he gave a somewhat more cocky version of the announcement about Def Leppard and Whitesnake dropping out of the festival than the one he gave at the press-conference. It did have some points though, you have to give the man that much. I quite agree that you can't blame Manowar and Magic Circle for what happened, and the fact that they offered compensation is more than I had expected, and certainly more than I have seen from any other festival I have visited.
He also gave a thank-you speech to Germany, the heavy metal capitol of the world as it has been dubbed, for making it possible to host this festival for the last two years. Of course, there was also a thank you given to all the countries visiting the festival this year. Here he actually had a list prepared, from which he started naming all the countries visiting, but I must admit I gave up writing them down after a while. It ended up with 20+ countries being named after all, and again, that is pretty impressive.
The next speech was an introduction to the new single, Die With Honor, given right before it had its world premiere played live as an encore.
The second encore was the ever so crowd-pleasing Warriors Of The World, which got the biggest sing-a-long of the night going. After this, there was again time for a speech, this time it was the sponsors of the festival that were handed a thanks for their help, belief and support.
And then, as the big finale, Bridge Of Death was played, accompanied by an almost epic fire-show, followed by the always present The Crown And The Ring (Lament Of The Kings) played over the p.a. while everyone was still soaring high on the feelings from the concert.
For this reporter, all the speeches and what comes along with it can be a bit much to stomach sometimes, but I do feel that the songs can definitely hold their own, and seeing them all live (together with the show the night after) made the whole trip to the Magic Circle Festival worthwhile. This was what it was all about, anything else seen was just a bonus.
Setlist:
Manowar
Death Tone
Metal Daze
Fast Taker
Shell Shock
Dark Avenger
William's Tale
Battle Hymn
Warlord
Secret Of Steel
Gloves Of Metal
Gates Of Valhalla
Hatred
Revelation (Death's Angel)
March For Revenge (By The Soldiers Of Death)
Blood Of My Enemies
Each Dawn I Die
Kill With Power
Hail To England
Army Of The Immortals
Black Arrows
Die With Honor
Warriors Of The World
Bridge Of Death
The Crown And The Ring
